There’s quite a bit of bird stuff in the news in the past few days:

First, there’s a new article questioning the validity of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker observations in Arkansas that will be published in Science Magazine, by four authors including David Sibley (you may have heard of him) and Maine’s own Louis Bevier. Take a look at this critical evaluation of the science behind the sightings, but also read the rebuttal. Furthermore, a discussion has begun on the birding listserve ID-Frontiers, thanks to a post by another huge name in birding, Kenn Kaufmann.

Down in Washington, D.C. efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act continue, and the American Bird Conservancy has issued a new report on the topic.

Meanwhile in the “Very scary but true and far too much like the movie The Day After Tomorrow Category” comes news of the documentation of a major Ecosystem shift in the Bering Sea. (Unfortunately, I can only find the abstract online). This one hits close to home for me, having spent three summers working in St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands, and seeing the decline in seabird productivity first hand. This is some scary stuff.

But, to leave things off today on a positive note, I thoroughly enjoyed the one lone male Snow Bunting that was at Portland’s Dragon Field this morning. It was well on its way to the striking breeding plumage that I so enjoyed while up in the Pribilofs. Most of the Snow Buntings we see in Maine are in subdued winter garb, but in early spring we can occasionally come across a northbound migrant who is in near-complete breeding plumage.