This week in birds - #77

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Akohekohe photographed by Luke Seitz, courtesy of ABC. 

The Crested Honeycreeper or, as it is known in Hawaiian, the Akohekohe, is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. Like too many native Hawaiian birds, it is critically endangered and its numbers are thought to be declining. It lives in high elevation rainforests on the island of Maui. It is a brightly colored and boisterous bird whose raspy, guttural calls make it easy to locate. It feeds mostly on the nectar of native flowering trees but also takes insects. Its existence is threatened by deforestation and the introduction of exotic species to the island.

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Dolphins are dying at an alarming rate along the East Coast this summer. Nearly 120 corpses had washed up on shore through the first week in August. Scientists are scrambling to determine the cause of the high death rate. At least some of the animals have tested positive for a virus similar to measles.

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Meanwhile, in the estuaries around the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manatees, pelicans, and dolphins have all been dying recently. It's believed that the cause is runoff of nitrogen from farming operations.

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The National Rifle Association is attacking conservation groups and zoos that are trying to save the critically endangered California Condor. One of the main culprits in the deaths of the big birds in the wild is the lead bullets they ingest when they eat carrion from animals killed by hunters and left to rot. The conservation groups and zoos have been leading a drive to have lead bullets banned. There are alternatives that are just as lethal but that would not poison carrion-eaters. But the NRA says, no, no, we have to have our lead bullets! Who wants to kill something with a synthetic bullet? (Like, it wouldn't be just as dead!)

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The Prairie Ecologist is declaring this bee week and is trying to encourage us all to think of landscapes as they appear to bees and other pollinators and to make those landscapes more pollinator-friendly.

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At Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, some of the office buildings have "green" roofs and on those roofs, there is a corporate life for bees where new colonies pollinate the plants on the roofs and produce honey for the lucky tenants working below.

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The emerald ash borer is a scourge to forests but a boon to some birds that live in them, particularly woodpeckers like the Downy, Red-bellied, and Hairy, as well as other birds like nuthatches that glean from the bark of trees.

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Atrazine is a toxic pesticide that threatens wildlife and people across the country in some horrific ways -- it's found in our water supply and can cause endocrine disruption, birth defects, fertility problems and certain cancers. It also can have the effect of chemically castrating frogs and toads. Conservation organizations are leading a drive to get the EPA to ban use of the pesticide.

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Do fake television shows like the ones you typically see on the hyped "Shark Week" make it harder to gain protection for the real animals? Research indicates that it certainly doesn't help and such shows certainly do not educate their viewers.

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There is growing concern about the treatment of animals in places like Sea World, particularly of highly intelligent animals like orcas. Many feel that it is morally indefensible to keep these animals in such captivity.

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Climate change and deforestation are increasing the numbers of parasitic flies that prey on nestlings in Argentine forests.

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Mice and other small mammals can be carriers of Lyme disease through harboring the black-legged tick. The timber rattlesnake preys on these animals and thus is one means of helping to control the spread of that terrible disease. 

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Around the backyard:

My main job for the birds these days is to make sure that birdbaths and other water providers in the yard are kept cleaned and filled with fresh water. The birds crowd around the receptacles that provide water to them and, of course, birds poop and they preen and lose feathers there, particularly at this time of year when they are molting. All in all, the areas can become very messy very quickly and that is an invitation to disease. It's most important that we clean them and that we replenish the water on a regular basis. I do it in my yard and I hope you are doing in yours.

Stay cool, and enjoy your birds.