Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

This 'blue-green jay' may be the first climate change-created bird hybrid found in nature. Here's why that's good news

Joined by his faculty advisor, integrative biology professor Tim Keitt, Stokes confirmed that the bird was, in fact, a male offspring of a green jay mother and a blue jay father.

Marc Airhart, who interviewed Stokes for the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences, jokingly referred to it as a “grue jay” — but the hybrid does not have an official name.


The grue jay is cool, but it is long preceded by the grolar bear (aka pizzly bear).

US bird populations continue alarming decline

2025 State of the Birds Report calls for urgent conservation action.
The 2025 U. S. State of the Birds Report, produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations, reveals continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats, with 229 species requiring urgent conservation action.

The release of the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report was announced today at the 90th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The report, produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations, reveals continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats, with 229 species requiring urgent conservation action. The report comes five years after the landmark 2019 study that documented the loss of 3 billion birds in North America over 50 years.

Key findings from the new report show that more than one-third of U.S. bird species are of high or moderate conservation concern, including 112 Tipping Point species that have lost more than 50% of their populations in the last 50 years. That includes 42 red-alert species facing perilously low populations, such as Allen's Hummingbird, Tricolored Blackbird, and Saltmarsh Sparrow -- birds that are at risk without immediate intervention.


Remember what I just said about the butterfly apocalypse? No butterflies and moths --> no caterpillars --> no birds, because most terrestrial birds raise their chicks on nature's hotdogs.

Grand Prairie Friends is our local nature organization, currently managing about 1200 acres of land around central Illinois. The biggest is the Warbler Ridge Conservation Area at 1059 acres. Some is actual prairie with native grasses and wildflowers. Some is a mix of upland forest and riverbottom; we have multiple riparian zone patches. If you're in the neighborhood, drop by for a hike, forest bathing, or some creative inspiration!

Here's an update on federal funding in the current situation -- it's okay for now, and backup plans are in place should it disappear. There are links where you can donate or otherwise support the cause if you are concerned about its economic safety and/or just want to support healthy habitat.

How are your local nature organizations doing now?

Carnivorous squirrels documented in California

First evidence of ground squirrels hunting and eating voles in Bay Area. California ground squirrels hunt, kill and eat voles, reveals a new study documenting evidence of widespread carnivorous behavior among squirrels.


O ... kaaayyy. That's weird. 0_o

If you live in California, you might want to watch for them raiding your suet feeders.

Discovering the traits of extinct birds

Analysis of 216 extinct species by biologists found birds endemic to islands, occupied ecologically specific niche, lacking flight, with large bodies and sharply angled wings were the ones likely to disappear the soonest after 1500.


In other words, humans are lazy and hungry, also prone to bring pests.  :/

Fossil of huge terror bird offers new information about wildlife in South America 12 million years ago

Evolutionary biologists report they have analyzed a fossil of an extinct giant meat-eating bird -- which they say could be the largest known member of its kind -- providing new information about animal life in northern South America millions of years ago.
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The bone, found in the fossil-rich Tatacoa Desert in Colombia, which sits at the northern tip of South America, is believed to be the northernmost evidence of the bird in South America thus far.

The size of the bone also indicates that this terror bird may be the largest known member of the species identified to date, approximately 5%-20% larger than known Phorusrhacids, Cooke says. Previously discovered fossils indicate that terror bird species ranged in size from 3 feet to 9 feet tall.


I love terror birds. I mean, I'm glad they aren't around herenow, but they really are awesome. It's like they missed the memo that they weren't supposed to be big scary dinosaurs anymore.

Study suggests US droughts, rainy extremes becoming more severe

Severe drought in the American Southwest and Mexico and more severe wet years in the Northeast are the modern norm in North America, according to new research -- and the analysis suggests these seasonal patterns will be more extreme in the future. The middle of the United States, meanwhile, can expect bigger swings between wetter wet periods -- high-rainfall years known as pluvials -- and drier summers through the rest of this century, the study predicts.


This is a big problem. Some plants and animals have adapted to dry conditions. Some have adapted to soggy conditions. But very few can withstand large, unpredictable swings between both extremes. The same is true of extreme swings between heat and cold. When plants can't keep up, more soil gets exposed, leading to erosion; and that degrades water quality in rivers and lakes.

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Today we drove down to Toledo and Greenup to view the eclipse where totality would last a couple of minutes. We had a nice drive down.

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