The latest from Paul & Wayne:
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From: Paul J. Baicich [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 9:53 AM
Subject: Birding Community E-bulletin - August 2007
THE BIRDING COMMUNITY E-BULLETIN
August 2007
This Birding Community E-bulletin is being distributed through the
generous support of Steiner Binoculars as a service to active and
concerned birders, those dedicated to the joys of birding and the
protection of birds and their habitats. You can access an archive of
our past E-bulletins on the website of the National Wildlife Refuge
Association (NWRA):
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html
and on the birding pages for Steiner Binoculars
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin.html
RARITY FOCUS
Our rarity of the month is Western Reef-Heron. The normal range of
this species' nominate race is western Africa from Mauritania to
Nigeria, casually north to the Azores, Cape Verde Islands, and
Spain. A second population occurs from the Persian Gulf to western
India. Curiously, this species is also appearing with increasing
frequency in the Caribbean (e.g., St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad,
Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and if not already breeding
there, may soon do so. The first record of Western Reef-Heron in
North America was on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts from 26
April to 13 September 1983. Previously in the E-bulletin we reported
on the second North American record, an individual seen in mid-June
2005 at Stephenville Crossing, southeastern Newfoundland, that
remained through July of that year.
Then in late June last summer, a Western Reef-Heron, North America's
3rd record, was discovered at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In early
August the bird disappeared, but later in the month an adult
dark-morph Western Reef-Heron was discovered in southern Maine and
nearby New Hampshire. That bird remained for over a month on the
Maine-New Hampshire coast.
Were these recent annual summer reports all the same bird summering
in the northeastern U.S. and Atlantic Canada? Thats certainly a
real possibility.
So it was perhaps no surprise when a Western Reef-Heron was
discovered on 8 July in Brooklyn, New York. The bird was at Calvert
Vaux Park, a site formerly known as Drier-Offerman Park. This bird
frequented the tidal edges of the flats on the east side of the
park, and also nearby channels and an abandoned grass-covered barge.
For weeks, this rare wader was found at the Brooklyn site, but
sometimes it went missing for days. It was, however, also
infrequently seen at other locations in the greater New York Harbor
area, including reports from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and South
Beach, Staten Island, New York. The bird remained in the area
through the afternoon of 25 August. Birders looking for the bird
carefully tracked its whereabouts, and its occurrence was featured
multiple times in the greater New York media.
Local conservationists hoped that the reef-heron sighting might
encourage New York City to re-examine its plans to create a nearby
marine waste transfer station - part of a controversial citywide
compromise approved by the City Council last summer, but one still
requiring a state permit approval.
For photos of the Brooklyn Western Reef-Heron by Lloyd Spitalnik,
see:
http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com/v/Wading_Birds/Western+Reef-Hero
n/
For other photos of the bird taken by Alex Wilson, see:
http://www.digitalmediatree.com/arboretum/heron/
FRIGATEBIRD CONTENDER
A major contender for rarity honors this month was the probable
female Lesser Frigatebird observed in northern California (Humboldt
Co.) by half a dozen birders on 15 July. This species is restricted
to the southwest tropical Pacific and a portion of the tropical
Atlantic; it has appeared just three times before in mainland North
America: Maine, Michigan, and Wyoming. For details and photographs
of this one-day wonder, see:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/Frigatebird.html
MORE IVORY GULL PROBLEMS
In the March issue of the E-bulletin we reported on the negative
impact of the loss of ice and snow-cover in the high arctic on Ivory
Gulls:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/marSBC07.html#TOC05
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/march07.html
Population counts done in Canada during the early 1980s could
account for about 2,400 birds, while a survey done from 2002 to 2006
by the Canadian Wildlife Service could only account for several
hundred birds - a drop of 80 per cent.
There is now increasing evidence that mercury is an additional
culprit in the decline of Ivory Gulls. Indeed, the Ivory Gull may
have more mercury in its eggs than any other seabird in the Arctic,
according to Birgit Braune, a research scientist with Environment
Canada who studies toxic chemicals in Arctic wildlife, and who
specializes in seabirds. Upon examination of Ivory Gull eggs from
Seymour Island, a tiny island just north of Bathurst Island, in
1976, 1987, and 2004, she ran tests for persistent pollutants, such
as PCBs and DDT. Most tests revealed few surprises, until she tested
for mercury.
Some gull eggs contained enough mercury to prevent certain other
bird species from normally reproducing. Such high mercury levels
were also thought to possibly impact the behavior of the birds,
especially during the crucial nestling period. Just how these high
mercury levels may affect Ivory Gulls is unknown, just as are the
origins of mercury in the high Arctic. (Ivory Gulls are scavengers,
however, and are high on the food chain, where chemicals such as
mercury, regardless of its source, would accumulate.)
Last year, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in
Canada listed the Ivory Gull as an endangered species.
BIRD EDUCATION NETWORK STARTS TO MOVE
There was a highly successful "Bird Conservation Through Education
National Gathering" that took place in Austin, Texas, in February.
At the end of the conference, the 150+ attendees resolved to
continue support for broad-based bird education and to begin
developing a comprehensive strategy for education on birds and their
conservation.
To that end, a follow-up Bird Education Working Group meeting took
place last month in Denver, Colorado, that was charged with
following up on tasks created during the Austin bird-education
gathering.
The major questions raised were: 1) what should be included in the
content of a strategic plan for bird education that would contain a
solid conservation emphasis, and 2) what is the best way for a bird
education network to proceed organizationally? The beginnings of a
much needed and long-overdue bird education strategy were outlined,
and the group agreed that a coordinator would be necessary to
effectively move this project forward.
The Working Group continues to be supported by the Council for
Environmental Education:
www.councilforee.org/
To remain connected to this important activity, join the
bird-education listserv. Those interested can send a blank e-mail
along with the word "subscribe" on the Subject line to:
MORE REVEALING BIRDING TRENDS
Last month, we described some of the preliminary findings of the
USFWS survey, "2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and
Wildlife-Associated Recreation," where "wildlife watching" (with
birding the lion's share) reflected an upward trend.
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/julSBC07.html#TOC07
or
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/july07.html
Some people have also recently had an advance look at the
preliminary numbers for the popular Forest-Service's National Survey
on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE), so now we can share these
figures with you as well. Again, an upward trend in watching birds
is maintained.
The new NSRE numbers put bird watching in the U.S. at 81.4 million
participants (2006). The survey asked whether a person did or did
not participate in any bird watching activity, and whether it was
their primary activity, or was associated with some other activity.
(If the interviewee did any loosely associated birding whatsoever,
it was counted. The degree of birding "avidity" was not measured.)
The NSRE researchers also tracked birding days, with the most recent
number standing at an astounding 8.2 billion annual birding days!
Current and previous figures are as follows:
Years Participants Days
1994-1995 54.4 million 4.8 billion days
1999-2000 70.9 million 5.8 billion days
2001-2003 69.6 million 6.5 billion days
2004-2006 81.4 million 8.2 billion days
While one can certainly quibble with the estimates, the overall
trends are convincing.
For more information (where these numbers should be posted soon),
see:
http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/nrrt/nsre/index.html
BIRD-ORIENTED QUOTATIONS ON NABCI SITE
Are you looking for that perfect birding and bird-conservation
quotation for your next flyer, birding festival, IMBD, or bird-talk?
Have a look at a new collection of such phrases found on the North
American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) website. It currently
has approximately 75 pithy, bird-oriented quotes and quips, wise
words taken from famous and not-so-famous women and men, and ranging
from poets to presidents:
http://www.nabci-us.org/quotes.htm
CERULEAN WARBLER SUMMIT SUMMARY
We have previously written about concern for the future of the
Cerulean Warbler, in June 2006 and January 2007:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/janSBC07.html#TOC03
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/jan07.html
In mid-February of this year, a "second summit" on the plight of the
Cerulean Warbler was held at the USFWS National Conservation
Training Center (NCTC). The draft proceedings of the event are now
available on line. The content may be overly technical for some
readers, but for those intimately concerned about the future of this
handsome warbler, the presentation summaries are very meaningful:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eco_serv/soc/birds/cerw/cerw_summit2.html
MID-CONTINENT DUCK NUMBERS SHOW SLIGHT INCREASE
In early July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its
preliminary report on mid-continent breeding ducks and habitats, a
report based on nesting surveys conducted in May of this year.
Overall, duck populations for the ten surveyed species increased 14
percent since last year, with an estimated 41.2 million breeding
ducks registered in the area surveyed. Only Northern Pintail numbers
were shown as slipping (down 2 percent from last year and 19 percent
long-term). As a result of winter snowfall and good precipitation in
late 2006 and early 2007, habitat conditions are similar or slightly
improved compared to breeding conditions in 2006.
For more details see:
http://www.fws.gov/news/NewsReleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=BFF1C2E5-08
D7-793F-AE61EF990EE17CB6
BIG SIT: BIRDING'S MOST SEDENTARY EVENT
On Sunday, 17 October 2007, the annual "Big Sit" will take place. In
1992, the New Haven (Connecticut) Bird Club started The Big Sit, and
it is now annually hosted by BIRD WATCHER'S DIGEST and sponsored by
a number of other organizations as well. (The event's official name:
"The Big Sit!")
This is much like a Big Day or a bird-a-thon where the object is to
tally as many bird species as can be seen or heard within 24 hours.
The difference lies in the area limitation - observers must remain
inside a 17-foot diameter circle while they are tallying birds.
Sometimes likened to a "tailgate party for birders," The Big Sit! is
often done just for fun, sometimes as an education effort in a
popularly visited site, or sometimes as a fund-raiser for a bird
club or specific conservation effort. This year, a special effort
will be made to engage National Wildlife Refuges in their growing
birding and "children and nature" efforts.
For details on The Big Sit! this year, or to plan your very own
event, see:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/funbirds/bigsit/bigsit.aspx
PLIGHT OF THE AMERICAN KESTREL
Next month, at the joint meeting of the Hawk Migration Association
of North America (HMANA) and the Raptor Research Foundation, at Hawk
Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, there will be a special
symposium on the status of the American Kestrel. Once considered one
of North America's most common diurnal raptors, the species is
experiencing a significant recent decline.
Four hypotheses raised to account for the species' drop include
environmental contamination, loss of open and semi-open habitats,
increased predation (e.g., Cooper's Hawk), and West Nile Virus. For
a summary of the case, see the article by Ernesto Ruelas, as
published in HMANA's Spring 2007 journal:
http://www.hmana.org/documents/AMKE.pdf
For details on the meeting and the special symposium organized by
Dr. David Bird, see:
http://hawkmountain.org/media/booklet.pdf
For details on the biology of the American Kestrel and the
opportunities for nest-box stewardship, see the Hawk Mountain
Sanctuary publication on the subject:
http://hawkmountain.org/media/kestrelnestbox.pdf
IBA NEWS: A NEW STATE IBA BOOK
The Important Bird Area (IBA) efforts seem to be moving along well,
and its often difficult to keep up to date on all the IBA
activities across North America. The release of at least one new
state IBA book certainly deserves mention, however.
This is from Wisconsin, a book of 240 pages with details on 86
sites:
http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/IBA/IBA-book.htm
For more information about National Audubon Society's Important Bird
Area program, please visit:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/
BIRD-SAFE BUILDING GUIDELINES
NYC Audubon has announced the publication of their "Bird-Safe
Building Guidelines," written by Hillary Brown and Steven Caputo.
This manual which is targeted for architects, landscape designers,
engineers, glass technicians, developers, building managers, city,
state, and federal officials, and the general public reveals the
magnitude of bird-collisions with glass and buildings and describes
guidelines and strategies that complement the well-known LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) used in the Green
Building Rating system. Most important, perhaps, is that the
document describes ways to retrofit existing buildings.
To download a pdf containing the guidelines, visit:
http://www.nycaudubon.org/home/BirdSafeBuildingGuidelines.pdf
MEGA FARM BILL PASSES HOUSE, AWAITS SENATE ACTION
A five-year, $286-billion, Farm Bill passed the U.S. House of
Representatives in the last week of July. It included conservation
to help farmers - estimated at over $20 billion by some observers -
to improve watersheds, provide bird-and-wildlife habitat, and
similar measures. The House-passed version of the Farm Bill has
several important features that deserve watching, including:
Conservation Reserve Program: This crucial element in
the bill was not increased in the House, but was maintained at 39.2
million acres, a good starting point.
Wetlands Reserve Program: The House Farm Bill restores
funding for WRP at a new cap of 3.6 million acres ($1.6 billion).
There is an extension of WRP to include riparian areas, a change
that could have enormous benefits for habitat conservation efforts
in the arid Southwest.
Grasslands Reserve Program: The House Farm Bill restores
funding for GRP at 1 million acres, action which would provide
incentives to protect native grasslands. Still, it is funded below
needed levels.
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP): This effort
is also maintained, but funded below urgently needed levels.
Sodsaver: This provision creates minimal protection for
native old prairie and adds safeguards for what might be America's
most ignored and fragile ecosystem. It is a limited version of what
was originally intended, now disallowing benefits (crop insurance
and disaster payment) only for four years after native prairie is
converted to cropland. For background on the original Sodsaver
intent see our E-bulletin for August 2006:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/augSBC06.html#TOC05
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/aug06.html
The action on the 2007 Farm Bill will now move to the Senate's
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, where efforts are
underway to draft a parallel version. Conservation may actually do
better on the Senate side, but only if pressure is maintained.
MASSACHUSETTS FISH HATCHERY SLAMMED
Now and then, we hear of birds being thoughtlessly shot or otherwise
killed by landowners or vandals. But a case recently resolved in
Massachusetts seemed particularly egregious.
The owner of a the Mohawk Fish Hatchery in Sunderland, MA, Michael
Zak, was ordered to serve six months in a federal halfway house and
pay a $65,000 fine for killing hundreds of protected fish-eating
birds on his property in the last several years. U.S. District
Judge, Michael A. Ponsor, also ordered Zak to serve five years'
probation and have no contact with firearms. A second defendant,
hatchery worker Timothy Lloyd, was given two years' probation and a
$1,500 fine by Judge Ponsor. Zak was found guilty of violating the
Golden and Bald Eagle Protection Act for shooting a Bald Eagle
feeding at his uncovered fish hatchery in 2005. Zak and Lloyd
separately pleaded guilty to shooting approximately 200 fish-eating
birds, including Great Blue Herons and other federally protected
birds on the same property.
Judge Ponsor said that he was baffled that Zak never installed
netting over the fish runs, a tactic typically used by most other
hatcheries. The bird-killings were "dramatic" and crimes that could
have been easily avoided, Ponsor said." He's killed hundreds of
birds rather than do something that is not all that hard and not all
that expensive," the judge said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini, who specializes in
wildlife cases, said that the sheer volume of the slaughter called
for prison time. "If not for 200 birds, then how many?" she asked.
ANOTHER SWIFT NIGHT OUT
With swifts having finished raising their young this year, our birds
begin to congregate in communal roosts prior to their migration in
the fall. Some roosts can host hundreds or even thousands of swifts.
In response, once again the Driftwood Wildlife Association will be
hosting "A Swift Night Out" wherever congregating swifts can be
found.
Upon locating where Chimney Swifts (central to east coast) or Vaux's
Swift (Pacific coast) go to roost in your area, take close notice of
a roost-site starting about 30 minutes before dusk. Estimate or
count the number of swifts that enter on one evening over the
weekend of August 11, 12, 13, and/or September 8, 9, 10. When you
have finished your tabulations, send in your results. For more
details, see:
http://www.concentric.net/~dwa/page56.html
NEW ENGLAND ALBATROSS: RIP
In June we described a story of a near-shore Yellow-nosed Albatross
and the saga of a captured individual that was initially released on
Cape Cod, Massachusetts:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/junSBC07.html#TOC02
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/june07.html
Unfortunately, after a second release in offshore waters, this
radio-tracked bird was subsequently found dead on a beach at
Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts. The ultimate cause of death
remains uncertain.
- - - - - -
You can access an archive of past E-bulletins on the National
Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) website:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html
and on the birding pages for Steiner Binoculars
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin.html
If you wish to distribute all or parts of any of the monthly Birding
Community E-bulletins, we simply request that you mention the source
of any material used. (Include a URL for the E-bulletin archives, if
possible.)
If you have any friends or co-workers who want to get onto the
monthly E-bulletin mailing list, have them contact either:
Wayne R. Petersen, Director
Massachusetts Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program
Mass Audubon
718/259-2178
OR
Paul J. Baicich
410/992-9736
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