Hello tweeties,

this week's Birds in the News is now available. This issue features a truly unusual parrot, the Brown (Duyvenbode's) Lory, Chalcopsitta duivenbodei, a nectar-feeding parrot that is endemic to the lowland rainforests of New Guinea (this is one of the species i have studied, bred and lived with);

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/08/birds_in_the_news_142.php

I also want to congratulate the large international team of research scientists, veterinarians and medical doctors who will be publishing news of their discovery of the etiologic agent of the dreaded psittacine disease, proventricular dilatation disease (PDD). this contagious disease not only kills more than 50 species of parrots, but it also kills birds from five other avian taxonomic orders and worse, it threatens the continued existence of one of the world's rarest parrot species, the Little Blue (Spix's) Macaw. Read more about this accomplishment;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/08/cause_of_deadly_psittacine_dis.php

oh, and one more thing, Steve Mlodinow: do you have a relative named Leonard?

cheers,

GrrlScientist
Devorah
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
Roosting high up a tree somewhere in Central Park, NYC