Birds Die All the Time (Alternative Title: A Preview of BP's Next Shameless Excuse)

From Marginal Revolution (again), Here are the number of birds killed annually by a variety of sources.

Number of birds killed by the BP oil spill: at least 2,188 and counting.
Number of birds killed by wind farms: 10,000-40,000 annually.
Number of birds killed by cars: 80 million annually.
Number of birds killed by cats: Hundreds of millions to 1 billion annually.


There was also a fascinating if depressing recent New Yorker piece about the mass-killing of song birds in Europe, millions a year in Italy, Malta and Cyprus.

Pleasing photo series - sad backstory

After the devastating wild fires in Australia last summer, wild animals - like the koala below - had to go looking for new sources of water. Here's one who ended up at a house and was well taken care...