MNN Daily Briefing: Birds in the Urban Forest

Good morning! And welcome to the Daily Briefing for the weekend of May 22. To stay on top of Earth-friendly news all day, visit us at Mother Nature Network. THE BIRDS AND THE TREES: As songbirds migrate across the United States each fall and spring, even tiny urban forests may offer a big boost to their chances for survival, according to a new study in the journal Landscape Ecology. Researchers used data from radio tags to learn the Swainson's thrush (pictured) often rests and refuels in small tree clusters while making its grueling cross-country trips, and they even deduced how the bird decides when to pull over. "We were able to record how long the birds were staying, and we found that it was not necessarily the forest size that was influencing the birds," one of the study's co-authors tells the BBC. "Instead, they were responding to internal factors, such as [the amount of] fat reserves they had." In other words, it's like a hungry family settling for fast food on a road trip instead of holding out for something better. But unlike McDonald's and Taco Bell, bird-friendly forests may be getting harder and harder to find, the authors write: "With the expansion of urban areas worldwide, migrating songbirds increasingly encounter fragmented landscapes where habitat patches are embedded in an urban matrix." Since land birds spend up to 90 percent of their migrations resting and regaining energy, the researchers say their study shows the importance of even minor tree-conservation efforts. "These findings suggest that remnant forests within urban areas have conservation value for Swainson's thrushes and, potentially, other migrant land birds," one says. "Obviously, larger forest patches are better, but even smaller ones are worth saving." (Source: BBC News)   CAR TALK: Toyota has announced that it will purchase $50 million in stock of the electric car company Tesla during its initial public offering of stock later this year. The joint venture will operate out of the recently shuttered auto plant known as Nuumi in Freemont, Calif. Listeners of the popular This American Life radio show will be familiar with the Nummi plant, which revolutionized car assembly in the mid-1980s. (The radio show recently dedicated an entire hour to a report about the unique plant.) As MNN's car blogger Jim Motavalli reports in the New York Times, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the new facilities "could create more than 1,000 green jobs in California." The Associated Press reports that the embattled Toyota is hoping, among other things, that its investment in the up-and-coming Tesla will help its recently tarnished image over faulty car components. As for Tesla, the investment comes with the added benefit of years of Toyota know-how. "We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota's legendary engineering, manufacturing and production expertise," says Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive (who, apparently, was the inspiration for Iron Man's Tony Stark). (Sources: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, This American Life, Associated Press)   DISPERSION IMMERSION: The chemical dispersants being used to break up the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are just too risky, the EPA has decided, just a few weeks after the agency gave BP its blessing to use them. In a statement released Thursday, the EPA said that, "Because of its use in unprecedented volumes and because much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants, EPA wants to ensure BP is using the least toxic product authorized for use." BP has already sprayed nearly 700,000 gallons of Corexit dispersants onto the surface oil slick as well as the leaking oil well located a mile underwater, shattering the previous record of about 160,000 gallons used for a single spill. The EPA gave BP 24 hours to identify a less toxic alternative to Corexit, and 72 hours after that to make the switch. Corexit is made by the Illinois-based Nalco, which has hired some senior executives from major oil companies, Wired reports. According to EPA testing data, at least one competitive product, U.S. Polychemical's Dispersit SPC 1000, is already known to be less toxic and and more effective than Corexit. U.S. Polychemical tells the New York Times that it has received an order from BP and will boost its production to 20,000 gallons a day, and eventually up as high as 60,000 daily. A BP spokesman, however, also defends the company's use of Corexit up till now: "Corexit was an EPA-approved dispersant that had been widely used in the Gulf and was available in the quantities we required." (Sources: New York Times, Wired, EPA) Check out all of the news for the weekend. Quick Links: > 5 cheap ways to save 1,000 gallons of water a year (good for Earth, good for the wallet) > Nearly barefoot: Three awesome minimalist shoes that may improve your running.  Looking forward to your visit, The team at Mother Nature Network