This week in birds - #84

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

Photo courtesy of ABC.

The White-breasted Thrasher, a bird of the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia, has been named by the American Bird Conservancy as the Bird of the Week. This species is endangered. There are believed to be about 1900 left in the wild. The White-breasted Thrasher is a close relative of our own Gray Catbird. The main threats to its continued existence are loss of habitat and predation by introduced species.

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Did you ever think you might be hauled into court for feeding birds in your yard? An elderly couple in New Jersey was, apparently after complaints from their neighbors. The case had dragged on for several months, but this week a municipal judge dismissed the complaint.

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Artificial noise and light in cities alters the biorhythms of urban birds. They tend to start their "dawn chorus" earlier than birds that live in rural, darker areas.

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A blog post this week about Sleepy Orange butterflies in New Mexico reminded me of pictures that I took of that species at Big Bend National Park last fall. The little butterflies were everywhere that we went in the refuge.

Color variations of the Sleepy Orange butterfly photographed in Big Bend NWR.

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Black Cockatoos in Western Australia are recolonizing abandoned and rehabilitated mining sites, proof that an ecosystem can come back, given time and maybe just a little human assistance.

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A deadly virus has killed over 400 dolphins along the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. over the past several months. As cooler conditions prevail in the North Atlantic and the dolphins migrate south to warmer waters, more deaths are expected.

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Plans are under way to turn an abandoned World War II era airfield in Britain into a pastoral refuge for birds and other wildlife.

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The Nez Perce in Idaho are protesting the transport through their lands of oil field equipment bound for the tar sands of Canada.

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Alternative sources of energy can prove hazardous for birds even as the extraction of oil and gas can. We know about the problems with wind turbines, but it appears that solar panels can be deadly as well. A solar generating station in California has reported a few dead birds around the station, some of which appear to have suffered burns. With solar power being increasingly used, this is a concern to conservationists.

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The fragmentation of forests by human development can lead to a rapid decline in the diversity of mammals in the ecosystem because of extinction of species, studies in Thailand have found.

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Urban birds appear to fare better in very cold winters than their rural cousins. Scientists believe this is due to the fact that they may be less reliant on one source of food. Plus, of course, in populated areas, many people provide supplemental food for the birds.

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Recent studies show that even though DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, it is still killing the endangered California Condor. The pesticide persists in the environment for a very long time. That should be a cautionary tale for us to stop and think before we introduce any chemical into the ecosystem.

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In recent years, there has been concern that the population of House Sparrows in Britain was on the decline and might be threatened, but it seems that the numbers have now stabilized. Actually, if the population needs replenishing, I'd be happy to donate all the dozens that call my yard home!

Wordless Wednesday: On guard

This week in birds - #83

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

Red-faced Warbler photo by Greg Lavaty, courtesy of ABC.

The appropriately named Red-faced Warbler is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. This little warbler spends summers in Arizona, New Mexico, and Western Mexico and heads south to Southern Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras for the winter. They prefer high elevations with fir, pine, and pine-oak forests. Their population is thought to be declining.

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One of the big stories in the world of birding this week has been the Blue-footed Boobies that are turning up across Southern California and as far north as Marin County in the state. The invasion has, of course, delighted birders far and near, but environmentalists are wondering just what the implications are. Why have the birds suddenly started appearing in an area where they are not normally seen?  

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The Ig Nobel prizes in science were awarded this week and, as usual, there is a lot to think about and puzzle over in these awards. 

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And this may sound like something worthy of an Ig Nobel, but it is actually serious science. Scientists are studying the ear wax of blue whales to try to learn more about their lives. It seems that the build-up of wax in the ears of whales acts somewhat like the rings in a tree's growth and apparently a lot can be learned from it.  

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A ten-year project that studied and remapped the brains of birds has found that avian brains, in fact, look and act a lot like mammal brains.

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But one way in which birds are different from humans is in the absence of an important anti-inflammatory protein. Humans have it; birds don't.

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The major floods in Colorado have dominated the environmental news this week. Those floods will almost certainly have long-term environmental effects, but it is uncertain at this point just what they will be. It's somewhat easier to predict short-term effects as a result of the leaks from oil and gas wells in the area.

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The Scientific American tackles "The Five Biggest Myths About the Endangered Species Act." Number one on the list is the lie that it doesn't work. Tell that to the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, not to mention the Brown Pelican.

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This is the prime season for hawk watching. Hawks are on their fall migration and can often be found in large flocks, or kettles, as they catch thermals in their flight. Visit the HMANA website to find the best spots in your area for watching hawks.

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Goldenrod had long gotten a bad rap as a likely cause of allergies, but, in fact, the native plant is innocent and as gardeners are beginning to become educated on that point, more and more of them, including me, are using it in their landscapes.

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It's well-documented that PCBs are not a good thing to have in one's diet, but a new study from Cornell University shows some unexpected effects of the chemicals. They found that the songs of Black-capped Chickadees and Song Sparrows were altered by ingesting PCBs. 

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A new species of legless lizard has been found right next to the runway of LAX airport. It was one of four new species of such lizards that have been found in Southern California, according to a recent announcement. 

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The Dead Sea is becoming even deader. Water is being diverted that would normally flow into the sea and, as a result, the sea is slowly drying up. 

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Around the backyard:

It was an exciting week as evidence of fall migration picked up. A lot of the increase was among the hummingbirds that continue to pour through, but other unusual birds showed up this week, too.

On Thursday, I showed you the Dickcissel that visited my backyard that afternoon. Well, while I was attempting to photograph that bird, something unexpected happened. The Wilson's Warbler that I had seen the day before turned up again. I assume it was the same bird, although it could have been another one. Most Wilson's Warblers look much alike after all. But this time at least I had my camera in hand and was able to get a few pictures.

 It was late and the lighting was poor so the pictures are not as clear and crisp as I would like, but at least I was able to document the visit this time. Wonderful little bird! Very active.

I hope you've had a good week of birding. Fall migration is one of the most exciting times of year for birders. It certainly has proved to be so in my backyard this week.

Another day, another new bird

I was at my usual post late Thursday afternoon, watching the birds in my yard as they had their last snacks for the day and began to settle down for the night. I was watching a group of juvenile Northern Cardinals that were gleaning seeds that had fallen from my backyard feeders when I suddenly realized that, as the Sesame Street gang used to teach my kids, "One of these things is not like the other."

Even in the fading light, I could clearly see that the bird in back was not a cardinal!

In fact, it was a Dickcissel, a lovely little bird that is supposedly endemic to this area in summer, but I rarely see them.

 This was only the second Dickcissel I have ever seen in my yard.

The Dickcissel is a bird of prairies and meadows. In migration they may be found in any kind of grassy or weedy field, which I suppose my backyard qualifies as.

They generally migrate in flocks, sometimes of hundreds of birds, but I only saw the one on this occasion. In feeding habits, they are similar to House Sparrows and do sometimes flock with them. They winter in Central America and Northern South America and no doubt that is where this particular bird is headed. I was happy that he dropped in for a visit on his way out of town. I only wish the light had been a bit better and I had had a bigger lens on my camera so that I might have gotten a better picture, but, in my experience, the "perfect shot" almost never happens, so I'll settle for what I can get.

Wilson's Warbler arrives

Late yesterday afternoon, I was relaxing on my patio, stretched out in the chaise and staring up at the dusky sky where Chimney Swifts were wheeling about scooping up the flying insects they found there. There were a dozen of the birds and they were putting on quite a show. What fliers they are!

It was around 7:00 P.M. when my peripheral vision picked up movement in the crape myrtle to my left. There is a hummingbird feeder hanging there and earlier I had been watching several hummingbirds do battle over it. At first I thought this movement was one of those birds, but as I looked closer I realized that the bird I was seeing was a bit bigger.

I picked up my binoculars to get a closer look and bring the bird into focus and saw a tiny warbler flitting around the branches of the tree. It was a yellow bird with a rather dull black cap. I recognized it as a Wilson's Warbler.

Did I have my camera on me so I could record the visit? Of course I didn't! I never do seem to have it handy on these occasions. So, I imported this image from Wikipedia.

My bird's black cap was not this bright and distinct. It may have been a young bird or just the result of a normal molt.

Wilson's Warblers are very small birds, only 4.75" in length and with a wingspan of 7". And on those tiny wings, they fly all the way up into Canada and Alaska to nest in the spring. Then in the fall, they fly all the way back across the continent, many of them passing through our area on their way to Central and South America for the winter. The trips that such birds make on migration twice a year never cease to amaze me.

I will look for my little migrant today and carry my camera with me while I do, but I really don't expect to see him. He looked to me like a bird in a hurry. I imagine he'll be several miles farther south today. I'm just glad that serendipity brought him into my view for a few minutes on a late summer afternoon.

Wordless Wednesday: Ruffled feathers

This week in birds - #82

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

Photograph by Nick Athanas, courtesy of ABC. 

The pretty little Sincora Antwren has been designated Bird of the Week by the American Bird Conservancy. This bird is endemic to the state of Bahia in Brazil. It lives in upland shrublands on the slopes of stream valleys, high plateaus, or exposed ridges. It is considered to be near threatened, although the true status of its population is little known. Its range is quite small and loss of habitat is the greatest threat to its continued survival.

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Turbines at wind farms are known to have killed at least 67 Bald and Golden Eagles in the last five years, but the number is likely to be quite a bit higher than that, according to a new scientific study by government biologists.

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The California State Senate has approved a bill that would ban the use of lead ammunition in hunting in the state. If the bill becomes law, it will go a long way toward helping to protect such birds as the endangered California Condor, many of which have died from lead poisoning by ingesting lead bullets in carcasses left in the field by hunters. 

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Ugly animals need protection, too, and the people of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society devote themselves to seeing that these less charismatic animals receive the help they need. They recently held a contest to pick the ugliest animal in the world. It was really no surprise that the winner was the blobfish.

 Blobfish image from Greenpeace.

Not a colorful bird or a cuddly mammal, but the grumpy-looking, gelatinous blobfish needs a little love, too. 

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Big-brained birds like corvids and parrots are able to cope with stress better than their smaller-brained relatives.

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Ducks Unlimited Canada has announced the purchase of more than 6,000 acres of grassland in Alberta which will be preserved and protected for wildlife habitat. 

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Vultures often have a serious image problem in many parts of the world, but a nature conservancy group in South Africa is working to improve that image with education about the important role that these rather amazing birds play in the ecosystem. 

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And vultures in Africa need all the defenders they can find. In nearby Namibia where elephant and rhino poaching is rampant, the poachers often put out poison for the vultures so that they will not give away their location. Hundreds of the birds have been killed.

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A study of bear hair collected on both sides of a 50 mile stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway that cuts through Banff National Park in Montana, proves what the researchers had suspected and hoped: wildlife underpasses and bridges are helping enough bears move safely back and forth across the highway to keep the populations healthy.

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A new species of snail that is translucent has been discovered to be living in the deepest cave in Croatia, the Lukina Jama-Trojama system.

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When we think of bird migration, we generally think of long-distance flights, but one species of endangered goose, the Orinoco Goose, does all of its migrating within the Amazon basin.

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Two years ago in September 2011, a gray wolf from Oregon made news by wandering into California, the first confirmed sighting there since 1937. Since then the wolf, a young male designated as OR-7, has wandered back and forth between the two states, but now he appears to have settled down back in his state of origin.

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The boreal forests of Canada are extremely important habitat to very many of the continent's birds, as well as many other animals. And like forests all over the world, they are under attack by encroaching humans. A new study by a scientific panel in Canada recommends that at least fifty percent of the remaining forest should be preserved and protected for wildlife habitat. 

  

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Around the backyard:

Things are still rather quiet here. The numbers of White-winged Doves are way down from what they were in spring and most of summer.  Instead of ten to twenty, I now see just one or two around the yard most days.

Hummingbird migration continues. Most of the birds I've seen passing through this week have been juvenile males.

And the molting continues. The birds that show up at the feeders these days look really scraggly.

Soon we should be seeing more of the fall migrants coming through and, slowly, activity in the yard and especially around the feeders will pick up once again.

Happy birding! 

Wordless Wednesday: Preening time

This week in birds - #81

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

Photograph by Dave Palmer courtesy of ABC.

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the graceful, strikingly marked Swallow-tailed Kite. This kite rarely flaps its wings while flying, but almost continuously moves its tail—sometimes to nearly 90 degrees—to maintain a flight path, make a sharp turn, or circle. The species’ northern populations are migratory and come together with the non-migratory, southern populations in the wintertime.

In North America, this species once occurred up the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, along the Missouri River, and north along the Mississippi River into Kansas and Missouri. These northern populations were extirpated when the bottomland and riparian forests along these rivers were cut in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Swallow-tailed Kites have expanded their range in recent years and they now appear regularly in my neighborhood in summer.

The main threat to this kite is habitat loss and degradation, especially the loss of tall trees due to logging, clearing for agriculture, or other development. Although the species’ U.S. population seems to be increasing due to re-growth of trees in many riparian areas, the trend may not be long-lasting, as these trees are now threatened by development. 

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It was confirmed this week that the massive Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park was caused by a hunter's illegal fire.  This fire is now coming dangerously close to sending years of research at the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest up in flames. That forest has been the site of research on forest fires since the 1920s.

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Meantime, scientists say that increasing incursions by humans into forests, coupled with altered forest ecology and climate change, will make fires bigger and more destructive, with implications for air quality as well as homes and infrastructure. So the Rim Fire may just be a foretaste of forest fires to come.

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Nutmeg Mannikins, an introduced species that has long had a foothold in my area, are now being added to the official state bird list of California.

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Emperor Penguins have been shown to be able to dive to depths of more than 500 meters and to stay under water for as long as 27 minutes. That is deeper and longer than any other avian species.

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It may be true that there is nothing new under the sun, but it is apparently also true that there are plenty of things there that we haven't discovered yet. New species of animals are frequently being found. Lately, it has been five new species of bats in West Africa.

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And in the Philippines, three new species of birds have been found, including a ground-warbler that has the skills of a ventriloquist. It is able to disguise its location by "throwing" its voice.

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Wild animals live everywhere, including on city streets. An amazing diversity of animals has adapted to life in the city.

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A long term study of red cedars' tree rings proves that forests have become healthier since implementation of the Clean Air Act has reduced pollution.

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Birds are a valuable source of pest control on coffee plantations. They eat many troublesome insect pests, thus making it economically advantageous for owners to protect local forests where the birds live and nest. 

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The ongoing catastrophe of Fukushima is even worse than previously thought. Officials had been using the wrong tool to measure the radiation levels. When the right tool was used, it was found that radiation levels were 18 times greater than had been reported!  

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September 4 marked the 50th anniversary of the last confirmed live sighting of an Eskimo Curlew. The last Eskimo Curlew on record, a single bird, was seen and fatally shot in Barbados on September 4, 1963. It seems likely that the bird is, in fact, extinct.

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Scientists have long dismissed any ability by birds to smell things, but a new ground-breaking study in Michigan suggests that assumption was dead wrong. In a study of Dark-eyed Juncos, the researchers were able to show that the females used scent to select their mates and that odor reliably predicts their reproductive success. I wonder what other unsuspected skills or senses our feathered neighbors might have.

Birding Brazos Bend

Brazos Bend State Park is one of the many accessible birding hotspots that are easy day trips from my home. I am fortunate to live in the center of one of the birdiest regions in the country, and I really don't take as much advantage of that fact as I should. But at least a few times a year, I do attempt to make the tedious hour-and-a-half drive down to Brazos Bend, because it is one of my favorite birding spots. Yesterday, we made that trip again.

We spent a good portion of the day exploring the park and looking for birds. They were a bit harder to find than usual because the vegetative growth this summer has been amazingly dense. Most of the water on the lakes was covered with gigantic lily pads and other water plants. Easy then for all the water birds to hide among the green stuff. And it's really mainly the water birds that I look for here. Most of the song birds and raptors are birds that I can more easily see in my own backyard, so I want to see something different at Brazos.

Brazos Bend is famous for its alligators and that is what many visitors go there to see, and it's certainly something that I wouldn't see in my backyard! We saw only a couple of 'gators on this day. This one was about a six-footer.

But I came to see things with feathers, not leather!

 At this time of year, there are plenty of young birds around, many of them still tagging along with their parents, like this Common Gallinule and her chick.

Or this American Coot with chick.

A young Common Gallinule on his own reaches for something in the duckweed covered water.

Among the water birds, there were also blackbirds with their young, like this female Red-winged Blackbird, top, who was feeding two young ones who were as big as she was, one of them shown here. She was gleaning tiny caterpillars that were feeding on the lily pads and taking them to her hungry, demanding chicks.

A Yellow-crowned Night Heron considered himself (herself?) hidden among the vegetation at the edge of Elm Lake. I love the piercing stare of those eyes.

This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron may not look much like the adults yet, but he's got the stare already!

 A Snowy Egret, still in his breeding plumage, hunts for dinner at the edge of the lake.

A Green Heron - there were plenty of those around - balances on a lily pad.

There were plenty of Anhingas around as well. This one sat on a dead tree limb and attempted to cool himself.

 A Common Gallinule searches for morsels on a lily pad.

 This pair of White Ibises were the only ones of their kind that I saw this day.

This sweet young Tufted Titmouse perched in a tree near the wildlife observation deck where I was standing.

A Little Blue Heron perched on the railing of the deck itself. Incidentally, I did not see a single Great Blue Heron at the park on this visit. That may be the only time in recorded history that that has happened.

A Pied-billed Grebe showed itself briefly among the lily pads and then disappeared under the water's surface once again.

Isn't this Great Egret an elegant beauty?

When I go to Brazos Bend in the summer, there is really one bird that I'm looking for - the Purple Gallinule. This colorful member of the gallinule family spends summers along the Texas coast and one of the places it often stops is Brazos Bend. I looked in vain for any adult Purple Gallinules on my latest visit, but they had been there. In fact, there could have been hundreds of the birds hiding among the thick vegetation even today, but at least there was some indisputable evidence of their presence - babies.

I got lucky with this young Purple Gallinule who was not very wary and let me snap away with my camera. That leathery frontal shield on its head will one day be pale blue. You can perhaps see a hint of that already.

And as the bird stretched his neck to look for something tasty under the lily pad, I could see that the feathers at his shoulder already contained just a hint of the purple they will become.

So even though I was a little disappointed to have missed his colorful parents, seeing this and some of the other babies that were still present was definitely worth the trip.

If you live in this area and love birds - otherwise why are you reading this blog? - then a day trip to Brazos Bend is highly recommended.

Swirling Swallows

Most swallows are gone from my area by now. The Purple Martins are long gone. They left in July. The Barn Swallows that used to swoop and dive over my backyard in the late afternoon lingered a bit longer, but they are gone now, too. I haven't seen the Cliff Swallows and Cave Swallows that built their mud nests under bridges and overpasses for quite a while now.  But when we went on our early morning walk today, we encountered a large flock of swallows swooping and swirling over the pond that we circle on the walk. Swooping, swirling, and sometimes dipping into the water as they chased insects for their breakfast.

I didn't have my binoculars to get a really close-up look at them, but after observing them for a few minutes, I decided they must be Northern Rough-winged Swallows. The color and the shape of the tail was right and their behavior was right. I'm reasonably sure that's what they were.

These swallows live throughout most of the country, including our area, during the summer. They generally migrate a bit farther south for the winter, although some may linger in the southernmost parts of the country. They are an early migrant in spring, sometimes returning to parts of their summer range as early as January or even late December.

With their graceful flight and soft, musical voices, plus the habit of many of the species of living in close proximity to humans, swallows are very popular birds. As I smiled at their acrobatic flights in today's early morning light, it was easy to understand that popularity.