"Sochi — Just outside the Olympic Park in Sochi, where the Winter Games open on Friday, is a green space with benches, artificial ponds and a couple of hides. 'Ornithological Park', the sign declares. The problem is that there is not a bird in sight in the park, which was set up as a replacement for sensitive wetlands that were covered over for the construction of Games venues."
"TORONTO -- Canadian health officials said Wednesday a fatal case of H5N1 bird flu has been reported in Canada, the first such case in North America. The victim was travelling from China when symptoms first appeared."
"Hash marks went down next to each species on [Mike] Newhouse’s clipboard. With a gloved hand, he brushed flakes off the paper. Forget about a white Christmas, this was a white Christmas Bird Count, part of Audubon’s 114th annual census of our feathered neighbors."
"The Interior Department is on the cusp of finalizing a rule that would give wind farms 30-year permits that authorize killing eagles."
"Bird watching, hunting or just picnicking. Whatever the reason, visits to the nation's 561 wildlife refuges are big business."
"One afternoon last winter, Julie Ellis unfurled a long, white tarp under a stand of trees near Coes Pond where hundreds of crows roost. Her mission: to collect as much bird poop as possible. Back in the laboratory, Ellis’ colleagues combed through the feces. Testing its bacteria, they discovered something unusual -- genes that make the crows resistant to antibiotics."
"Nearly 1 million chickens and turkeys are unintentionally boiled alive each year in U.S. slaughterhouses, often because fast-moving lines fail to kill the birds before they are dropped into scalding water, Agriculture Department records show."
"California's namesake condors nearly went extinct in the 1980s, and only intensive management and captive breeding efforts brought the birds back from the brink. Lead from ammunition remains a major threat to condor recovery, and a new California ban on the toxic ammunition for hunting could help protect the iconic birds, as well as other bird and mammal species."
"'It's a jungle if you're an eagle right now on the Chesapeake Bay,' says Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. 'You have to watch your back.'"
"NORTH GRAFTON, Mass. -- A loon was beached on Cobbossee Lake in Winthrop, Maine, a maggot-filled wing wound keeping it from flying or resisting capture from a game warden."
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