100 FLYING BIRDS: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight
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ADVANCED READING FOR CHAPTER 7: RAPTORS
THE COMPOSITION OF RAPTOR TALONS
The specificity to birds and reptiles of the type of keratin, Beta-keratin, that is seen in raptor claws is discussed in this article:
Botswick, Kimberly. 2016. “Feathers and Plumages.” In The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology (Third Edition) edited by Irby J. Lovette and John W. Fitzpatrick, 104. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
OSPREY DIVES SUCCESS
The authors of the following paper observed 1,320 Osprey dives in Nova Scotia. I calculated the average success rate of 62% from a weighted average of the data in Table 1.
Fleming, S.P., and P. C. Smith. 1990. “Environmental Influences on Osprey Foraging in North Eastern Nova Scotia. J. Raptor Research 24 (3): 64-67.
The paper is accessible here:
SORA: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jrr/v024n03/p00064-p00067.pdf
THE PLIGHT OF FLORIDA’S SNAIL KITES
A 2013 US Department of the Interior report on the relationship between Snail Kites and Apple Snails may be found here:
can be found here:
Pomacea Project, Inc. 2013. Literature Review of Florida Apple Snails and Snail Kites, and Recommendations for Their Adaptive Management. Final Report. Submitted to National Park Service, Everglades National Park by the Pomacea Project, Inc., Pensacola, Florida.
https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/upload/ASS10-3FinalReportSecure.pdf
SNAIL KITE DEATHS FROM PESTICIDES
The effects on Snail Kites of spraying the anti-Apple Snail pesticides pentachlorophenol and endrin are described here:
Vermeer, K., R.Risebrough, A. M. Spaans, and L. Reynolds. 1974. “Pesticide Effects on Fishes and Birds in Rice Fields of Surinam, South America.” Environmental Pollution 7: 217-236.
Doi: //doi.10.1016/0013-9327(74)90068-8.
THOMAS WRIGHT BLAKISTON IN JAPAN
A somewhat sycophantic account of Blakiston’s life and times in Japan can be found here:
Hokkaido Government. 1968. “Thomas Blakiston in Japan.” In Foreign Pioneers.
Accessed 12 August 2019
BIODIVERSITY ON OCEANIC ISLANDS.
The unique challenges facing wildlife on oceanic islands is discussed in:
Wilson, E. O. and F. M. Peter (eds.). 1988. “Diversity and Biological Invasions of Oceanic Islands.” In Biodiversity, Chapter 20. . Washington D.C.: National Academies Press (US).. The chapter can be viewed here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219297/
Accessed August 12, 2019.