In addition to saving human lives, a new device to detect bacteria in drugs and medical tools could save those of horseshoe crabs and birds.

Detecting bacteria in drugs and medical equipment ensures that no endotoxins will trigger dangerous immune reactions in human patients. The new sensor uses chemical compounds harmlessly obtained from frog skin, forgoing the four-decade-old process of using crab blood extracted through a potentially lethal process.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Michael McAlpine and his team of engineers developed the sensor and published their findings last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Manu Mannoor GS, who worked on the project, pharmaceutical companies have used horseshoe crab blood to test for bacteria for the past 40 years. A solution containing horseshoe crab blood, called limulus amebocyte lysate, or LAL, congeals when in contact with harmful bacteria. The companies extract 30 percent of a crab’s blood, and nearly one-third of the crabs used die upon return to the ocean.

In their lab, the researchers synthesized antibacterial peptides from the skin of African clawed frogs. These antibacterial peptides, which are tiny amino acid chains, guard the frogs against infection. McAlpine said this new method does not harm the frogs.

McAlpine and his assistants engineered a way to connect the antibacterial peptides to an electronic chip. When this chip is exposed to pathogenic E. coli, salmonella and other harmful bacteria, it sends out electrical alerts. 

“The new electronic chip is very robust,� McAlpine said. “It is a significant improvement for monitoring water quality because instead of sending the water sample away to a lab, the sensor can test it right away.�

People have used the LAL method for sensing contamination since the 1970s, and prior to its implementation, patients often contracted fevers from deficient sterilization.

The heavy use of horseshoe crabs has strained their population and affected other species in the their ecosystem, especially red knot shore birds, which feed on crab eggs.

“Even though horseshoe crabs are in the ocean and these birds are flying around terrestrially, they affect each other,� said Cleo Chou, a graduate student in the ecology and evolutionary biology department.

The population of a flock of red knots from the South American islands of Tierra del Fuego, for example, decreased to 27,000 from 51,000 between 2000 and 2002, according to a study by researchers at the University of Toronto.

Ecology and evolutionary biology professor David Wilcove said the crab eggs are a vital food source for the red knots, who annually migrate thousands of miles from Tierra del Fuego to the Canadian Arctic. During their spring migration, they stop at Delaware Bay to feed.

“The birds put on fat deposits equal to almost half their body weight by feasting on the crab eggs, and they use that energy to complete their northward migration,� Wilcove said.

In an effort to stymie population decreases, New Jersey banned crab harvesting, and Delaware, Maryland and New York capped the number of crabs harvested at 150,000 per year.

The red knot population, as measured at Delaware Bay, has shown signs of recovery, growing 33 percent between 2008 and 2009. The 2009 population of 24,000 does, however, fall far below the 100,000 to 150,000 counted 20 years ago.

“We should be able to get to a realm where we are able to compete with the horseshoe crab blood LAL method,� McAlpine said. “The next important step is to find ways to make the chip’s sensitivity better, and we have ideas for how to do that.�

[Jays]

To add to the Jays that Dale, Donna, Gayle, and Patti posted . . .

Here are some of my photos (and antics) of the blue jays that I had this summer.

http://iowa2nh.blogspot.com/2010/06/bue-jays.html

--Mardean

Very nice pics Mardean. Thanks!

  Yes I read it! I sometimes have to read things more than once to comprehend it. Had this problem all my life! There's probably a name for it, like CRS. (can't remember &(%$) 

Can't spell either!!! 

[pink]

Hey where's the pink? 

Did you read?

Barely one year old, the lost pelicans still sport fledgling grey feathers. Only later will their back plumage turn into their more famous pink hues.

   

Good job MAK on the Digi-Nocing this am. Here's Beauty eating on the base of Mercury. 

[Sadness, seething over swan killing in SF]

Sadness, seething over swan killing in SF

SAN FRANCISCO — There will be no swan song at the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon.

Caretakers mourning Saturday’s brutal killing of a swan that lived in the landmark pond are hell-bent on finding the murderer and looking for a new bird to be donated so that the last surviving swan isn’t lonely.

Mute swans, so called for their quiet demeanor, have waded at the Palace of Fine Arts since the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. While they’ve added to the aesthetics of the scenic lagoon, they’ve been targeted several times by cruel visitors.

Sometime between 2 and 6 a.m. Saturday, someone broke the neck of the younger of two remaining swans, Hagerty said. Fellow caretaker Judy Whilt found the body of the 5-year-old bird, named Monday, floating in the lagoon. Empty beer cans were also spotted at the crime scene, she said.

That night, there was a “huge beer party� on the Baker Street side of the lagoon, Whilt said. San Francisco Animal Care & Control is investigating.

“They say most serial murderers abuse animals in their youth, so we might have one in the making,� an angry Whilt said.

The surviving swan is Monday’s sister, 13-year-old Blanche. The death hasn’t yet sunk in for the sibling, who is now enjoying more grub than usual, Whilt said. Their mother, a 19-year-old swan named Friday, went missing from the lagoon in April.

In the last 25 years, three swans have been killed. Six years ago, there were as many as 13 swans in the lagoon, though most were given away, partly because it can become expensive to care for them, Hagerty said.

Caretakers pay out of pocket to offer daily monitoring and nourishment for the swans, Hagerty said.

Finding a companion for Blanche will not be easy. Recent laws prohibiting sales of swans will mean one must be donated, Hagerty said.

“I talked to the breeder and he has none,� she said. “The breeder is looking to people he knows to have donated to us.�

The caretakers are offering a $500 reward for information leading to a conviction in the Saturday swan murder case. That reward is expected to grow, as locals have expressed interest in donating funds, Hagerty said.

Marina district residents are “dumbfounded� by the killing, Whilt said.

The swan caretakers said they hope the death will encourage a larger police presence at the Palace of Fine Arts, particularly at night when much of the area becomes pitch black, Whilt said.

Lagoon’s grand dame may have been found

A swan that disappeared in April from the lagoon at the Palace of Fine Arts may have been found, caretaker Gayle Hagerty said Tuesday.

“I have a lead on her,� Hagerty exclaimed.

The bird, named Friday, may have been stolen, Hagerty said. Friday was the mother of 5-year-old Monday, who was killed at the lagoon on Saturday.

“She was my queen,� said Hagerty of the 19-year-old Friday, whom she had cared for since the bird was 2 years old.

About six months ago, San Francisco Animal Care & Control found a mute swan, the same type of swan as Friday, in the backyard of an undisclosed residence in San Francisco’s avenues, Hagerty said. It is not yet known whether the swan was Friday.

After the find, Animal Care & Control did not contact the Palace of Fine Arts swan caretakers. The agency found a new home for the swan, caretaker Judy Whilt said.
“If it’s happy where it is, we will leave it,� Whilt said.

Sole survivor: Gail Hagerty, one of the caretakers of the swans at the Palace of Fine Arts pond, feeds Blanche, the last remaining swan, whose sister was killed last week.

BARNAUL, Russia — A flock of African pink pelicans en route home landed in Siberia on Tuesday, astounding local residents after Russia's abnormally warm weather threw them off course.

"I left home early in the morning and what a sight!" Vladimir Pyagin, a resident of the small village of Suslovo in the Altai region, told Reuters.

"When I got closer, I immediately realised they were pelicans ... Everybody in the village started trying to catch them to save the exhausted birds from the dogs."

Residents managed to capture four of the exotic birds, which have been moved to a zoo in the regional capital of Barnaul, 120 miles northeast of the village.

The remaining three of the addled flock took flight.

Russia's Bird Conservation Union said the birds were migrating back to their native Africa from neighboring Kazakhstan.

"This is a unique case. Some reports suggest pelicans last flew here over 100 years ago," said union director Alexei Ebel. Russia, famed for its freezing temperatures, is breaking records for abnormally warm November weather with temperatures in Altai hovering around 41 Fahrenheit. In other parts of the country, there have been reports of bears and hedgehogs that had delayed hibernation.

The Barnaul zoo director said the pelicans would remain in the zoo out of fear the birds would not survive the upcoming winter.

"We're not yet talking about letting the pelicans go free ... We have already prepared a heated aviary for them and in the spring we'll build a pond," he said.

He added that the zoo would seek advice on how to care for their "unusual guests" from the Moscow City Zoo, but in the meantime the birds were being treated to an expensive diet of pike, perch and carp.

Barely one year old, the lost pelicans still sport fledgling grey feathers. Only later will their back plumage turn into their more famous pink hues.

"They just lost their way and went in exactly the opposite direction: Instead of Africa they somehow chose the Altai region."



MSNBC

It's beginning to look a lot.....

Lovin it


or....The First Snoel!!   

They are absolutely cool looking birds. Just curious what they are doing on that Sheep? Picking bugs, I hope. Very very nice pics Aafke.  

[I miss you Henry, where ever you may be.]

Speaking of Jay's, remember Henry from a few years back? He's the Blue Jay my dad rescued in his yard when he was a baby. Henry was like a dog, he followed my dad and me where ever we went. I was painting down the road from my dads house when suddenly, there's Henry, he found us. He landed on my shoulder and wouldn't leave us alone while we were painting.

Henry posing for a pic.



I always carried peanuts during Henry time.

We thought Henry would never leave as he had imprinted on us and he stayed around for about 9 weeks after he learned to fly. When I walked up the path to my dads house, Henry would land on my head, out of no where. He waited for my dad every morning, sitting on the porch railing, waiting for his peanuts. One morning, when my dad went out to greet Henry, he wasn't there. This was in late Oct. We like to think that he found himself a girl and lived happily ever after.



I miss you Henry, where ever you may be. 

DOVER — A bird of a different feather swooped by the city this week.

A peregrine falcon — the fastest creature on the planet — was spotted downtown in the Orchard Street parking lot Monday.

The bird is considered endangered in New Hampshire and Maine and typically found in the northern, forested parts of the states. Sightings in cities are rare.

Animal Control Officer Kathy Ladisheff responded to a report of a large falcon and snapped a remarkable photo of an adult peregrine with a dead sea gull in its grasp.

"I was really surprised," said Ladisheff, who has never encountered the bird before.

The peregrine is a fearsome hunter. It's distinguished by a black-tipped, snub-nosed beak and black, tear-shaped stripes on its cheeks.

The peregrine feeds almost exclusively on other birds, dive-bombing them from above at speeds over 200 mph. It uses a unique, deadly tomial tooth on its beak to incapacitate its prey.

Ladisheff said after the peregrine devoured its meal on a pile of pine needles, it flew up to a street light for about 20 minutes before taking off.

The bird may have been in the midst of migrating from Canada to South America, said Karen McElmurry, director of the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine.

A peregrine nest was spotted several years ago in an old warehouse at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The birds have been spotted in other urban areas such as New York City and Chicago with tall buildings. The birds like to nest in high, protected ledges.

McElmurry said an injured juvenile peregrine from New Castle was brought into the Center for Wildlife a few years ago. It was nursed to health and released. The center has an in-house female peregrine, Freyja, that's used for educational purposes.

The bird lives everywhere except Antarctica. Its numbers were decimated after World War II with the introduction of the pesticide DDT. It was taken off the federal endangered species list in 1999, but the peregrine is still considered endangered in some states where its numbers remain low. Its population is about 3,300 in the United States and Canada.

McElmurry said she wasn't surprised the peregrine spotted in Dover took down a sea gull.

"They are designed to take down prey very efficiently," she said. "They're at the top of the food chain."

 Caption: A peregrine falcon — the fastest creature on the planet — was spotted downtown in the Orchard Street parking lot in Dover on Monday.

Fosters.com

["What they do is they will cover this bird with poison, remove the feathers from the back of its neck and will apply the poison to it, and they will either clip one of its wings or break one of its wings and put it into the quarry for the peregrines," he said.]

Pigeon fanciers in Londonderry have voiced their anger after they were blamed for poisoning peregrine falcons.

All but one of a family of the birds died after an incident at their nesting site in Claudy in July.

The Raptor Study Group claimed "rogue elements" in the north-west believed the birds were preying on their racing pigeons.

The Londonderry Racing Pigeon Society disputed the claim that pigeon fanciers were involved.

The society's Martin Gallagher said that huge numbers of racing pigeons were taken out by peregrine falcons, but there was no evidence that people involved in pigeon fancying had targeted falcons.

Earlier, Brendan Dunlop of the Raptor Study Group said he believed that someone had deliberately baited a pigeon which had been found dead near a young chick, also found dead.

"What they do is they will cover this bird with poison, remove the feathers from the back of its neck and will apply the poison to it, and they will either clip one of its wings or break one of its wings and put it into the quarry for the peregrines," he said.  sick!!

"When it sees the peregrines it panics and it can't fly away and it's an easy target for the peregrines."

He said that this tactic would wipe out a whole family of birds because the dead pigeon would be taken by the adult to the nest to feed to the chicks.

"Unfortunately there is a rogue element within certain factions in the north-west who target these birds because they feel that they prey on their racing pigeons."

Most of a family of peregrine falcons were killed in a poisoning incident in July

BBC News Northern Island

[scroll down to vote! You can also add your own entry.]

     

Vote for Audubon California’s 2010 Bird of the Year

In an effort to raise awareness about bird conservation in California, Audubon California this year will again recognize its Bird of the Year. And while our Board of Directors has selected six finalists for the award, you the public will have the final say.

Vote below for the bird species you believe deserves the recognition. Vote as many times as you like.

Votes will be accepted through Dec. 8, 2010, and those who vote will be the first to learn the winner

http://ca.audubon.org/ Click on "vote for bird of the year" scroll down to vote! You can also add your own entry. LIKE PEREGRINES!!

This was sent to me by NYCBird....so let's vote for our favorite. Thanks.

I'm trying - even tried cheating, but I couldn't

Nope, there's no way!

[Current Rank 22nd]

C'mon, let's move these guys up...please vote. Current Rank 22nd

http://www.refresheverything.com/leaderboard