Poop Week will start tomorrow and run through next Saturday. Are you prepared for the classiest week in bird blogging history?
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Well, as long as you do not expect to get paid, that is. We are looking to add new writers. Please contact us for details if you are interested.
Bring it!
Here’s some poop for thought on the influence of seabird guano (and introduced predators on subarctic islands
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/307/5717/1959.abstract
Introduced Predators Transform Subarctic Islands from Grassland to Tundra
D. A. Croll1,*,J. L. Maron2,J. A. Estes1,3, E. M. Danner1 and G. V. Byrd4
Abstract
Top predators often have powerful direct effects on prey populations, but whether these direct effects propagate to the base of terrestrial food webs is debated. There are few examples of trophic cascades strong enough to alter the abundance and composition of entire plant communities. We show that the introduction of arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) to the Aleutian archipelago induced strong shifts in plant productivity and community structure via a previously unknown pathway. By preying on seabirds, foxes reduced nutrient transport from ocean to land, affecting soil fertility and transforming grasslands to dwarf shrub/forb-dominated ecosystems.
hello
what is poop week
bye