Tag Archives | birds

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Mystery of the Red Tide

I stood with my feet buried in sand, staring at the ocean waves as they touched the beach. It was mid-October. To my untrained eye, the Monterey Bay shoreline looked like a child’s bubble bath. To California Fish and Wildlife scientists, it was a terrible déjà vu. Nine years ago, an algal bloom wreaked havoc—and…

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Clermontia montis-loa is a Hawaiian plant that has lost its native pollinator. Photo courtesy: Clare Aslan.

Can non-native birds save plants from extinction?

As most native Hawaiian birds have gone extinct, “widowed” flowering plants are missing their lifelong partners – the birds that pollinate them. The loss of these partnerships threatens to drive some Hawaiian plant species to extinction, as many of these plants are not found anywhere else in the world. Biologist Clare Aslan investigated whether a…

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Researchers and conservationists are giving some seabirds and extreme home makeover on Año Nuevo Island (photo: Erin Loury)

Not Your Average Birdhouse

On a little island off the coast of central California, researchers, conservationists and artists are teaming up to help some threatened sea birds raise their next generation. The helping hand comes in the form of some stylish new housing. The Rhinoceros Auklet is a small seabird that researchers call the “the penguin of the North…

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