Pythons upsetting ecological balance in Florida

There are several stories in the news today about a recently released scientific study on the impact of an invasive species, the Burmese python, on Florida's wildlife. The study focuses on the Everglades and on the devastation of the small mammal population there. There are areas where raccoons, o'possums, rabbits, foxes, even bobcats, and other small mammals have virtually disappeared as a result of the introduction of these big snakes. The snakes also prey on reptiles and, to some extent, birds, but their preferred prey is mammals.

Pythons probably first got into the wild after being released by pet owners when the snakes got too big for them to deal with, but natural disasters such as hurricanes have also played a part when pet stores that had sold the snakes were destroyed and animals escaped. Because of the year-round warmth of the Florida climate and the abundance of prey animals, including domestic cats and dogs, the animals had no trouble surviving. The last two winters had brought cold weather to the state which had knocked the snakes back a bit and killed many of them, but this winter's mildness has been a boon to them, and it seems likely that they are on the march - or on the crawl - again and expanding their range. There is a fear that the warming climate will allow them to move into other areas, particularly across the Gulf states and even into South Texas, where their presence could create havoc in the ecology of the region.

While it is true that the bigger snakes mainly prey on mammals, the smaller ones do take birds as well as bird eggs and chicks during nesting season, but even if they never preyed on birds, upsetting the balance of Nature affects all the animals in it and, generally, the effect is not benevolent. Florida's wildlife officials, along with conservation organizations like the Nature Conservancy, are, of course, well aware of this and they are waging war on the python. They kill or remove from the wild as many of the snakes as they can find and they destroy nests when they locate them.

This picture, taken by Mike Rochford of the U.S. Geological Survey, shows the size that these creatures can reach. This one weighed in at 163 pounds.

But how do we stop an invasive, highly adaptable and fertile species? Is it even possible? Unless we get an assist from Mother Nature, in the form of colder winters, it seems likely that these snakes will continue to expand their range, despite our best efforts. Will the day come when I find one crawling in my Southeast Texas backyard?

This week in birds - #7

Here is the round-up of this week's news about birds and the worlds of Nature and science. Follow the highlighted links to read the full story.

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has posted (via YouTube) some wonderful pictures, along with commentary, of Snowy Owls in honor of this winter's irruption by the Arctic birds. 

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I hope you are planning to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count which is coming up in less than a month now on Presidents' Day weekend. In Great Britain, their similar citizen science project is called the Big Garden Birdwatch and it is taking place this weekend.

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Songbirds that prey on caterpillars learn to focus their hunts on the species of  trees where the butterflies and moths lay their eggs.

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Since 1990, at lease 87 species of marine mammals have been served as food in 114 countries around the world. This is true in spite of greater environmental awareness of the importance and the intelligence of these mammals. In fact, the use of marine mammals for food has been growing in recent years.  

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The biggest trees in the world are declining due to human use of forests, pollution, and habitat invasion. Now they are under new threat as a result of global warming.

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A new forest management plan has been released by the Obama administration. It is designed to accept increased input from non-governmental sources and it is hoped that it will reduce litigation. Several conservation groups have praised the new rules.

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For the second year in a row, a pair of endangered Short-tailed Albatrosses have produced a chick on American soil on the island of Midway. Environmentalists are delighted and hope this means that the pair will continue to return to the island to breed each year.

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Scientists have discovered new strongholds and populations for another endangered seabird, the Japanese Murrelet.

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Another record "Big Year" has been reported for 2011, this time for the Washington, D.C. area. The new record-holder  is Jason Berry, a researcher for the American Bird Conservancy, and he recorded 218 bird species, beating the previous record of 214.

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Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which blew out in the Gulf of Mexico nearly two years ago, is not liable for some of the pollution claims arising from the fatal accident, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled on Thursday.  However, the judge further ruled that Transocean  would be subject to any pollution fines levied under the federal Clean Water Act, and its share of punitive damages, if any were assessed. Such costs could run into the billions of dollars.

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Archaeopteryx, the prehistoric flying dinosaur, had black wing feathers, a new study shows.

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The once-abundant mountain yellow-legged frogs of the Sierra Nevada may now be deemed endangered. They have lost as much as 90% of their population due to a fungal disease. Amphibians all around the world are being attacked by fungal diseases and are losing ground rapidly in the battle for survival.

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While restored wetlands may be better than no wetlands at all, they are not as successful in protecting and enhancing biodiversity in the environment. Just one more reason that we should fully protect the ones that are already in existence.

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Around my backyard:  On one of our morning walks this week, I was delighted to encounter a large flock of American Robins (maybe 50 of the birds) along with an even larger flock of Cedar Waxwings. Both species were devouring juniper berries.

In some winters, we hardly see robins here, but this winter, on most days, I can find one or two of the birds in my yard.

An American Robin looks around for a snack.

I haven't actually had much of a chance to observe the birds in my yard this week, but this afternoon, after refilling all the feeders, I sat down to watch for a while.

I didn't have long to wait until a beautiful Pine Warbler showed up.

While I was watching the warbler, my attention was drawn to the nearby hummingbird feeder where my wintering Rufous Hummingbird was having a meal. But while I was watching the little bird, I heard a chittering sound off to my left and I looked at my bare-limbed redbud tree to find a second hummingbird there! I had thought that the sugar syrup was disappearing pretty rapidly. Now I know why. I believe this second bird is also a Rufous, but I hope to get a better look at it to confirm its identification tomorrow.

Hedwig's cousins flood the country

In my weekly news recap a couple of weeks ago, I made note of the irruption of Snowy Owls particularly in the Northwest of the country. In fact, these birds of the near Arctic are pouring south this winter in record numbers. They are being seen all across the northern tier of states right into the Mid-West.

At least one of the birds even made it all the way to Hawaii! It turned up at an airport there and airport officials shot it because they were afraid it would interfere with air traffic. Honestly, the bird flew all the way from the Arctic region; couldn't they have trapped it instead of shooting it? The continuing ignorance of humans about the natural world is so profound as to be appalling.

Elsewhere, the birds are being met by joyous birders hoping for one glimpse of the beautiful white owls. White animals always seem to evoke special human interest, even among non-birders, perhaps because it's a somewhat unusual color in the wild. There is also the added interest among people of a certain age for Snowy Owls because of Hedwig, Harry Potter's owl.

Scientists, of course, are busily speculating and trying to figure out just what is causing this unusually large irruption. Apparently, the birds had a particularly good breeding season last year. Food was plentiful and more chicks than normal survived. Now, it may be difficult for all those birds to find food during the harsher winter weather and so they are having to disperse farther south.

So, keep your eyes peeled. If a Snowy Owl could make it all the way to Hawaii, surely one could make it to Southeast Texas. If it does, let us hope that it meets a kinder fate here.

Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide by Steve N.G. Howell: A review

Trying to see and pick out the field marks on a tiny warbler hidden among the leafy canopy of a tree is one of the harder tasks to be undertaken by a birder. An even harder task though may be that of pelagic birding, trying to distinguish between the almost identical species of petrels, for example, while standing on a moving boat in the middle of the ocean.


Petrels, Storm-Petrels, and Albatrosses live their lives on the wing, over the oceans of the world, and those who would add them to their life lists must venture out upon the briny deep in order to see them. Moreover, these are birds that are all colored in shades of black, white, and gray, many with few distinctive field marks. They are mostly fast-flying and difficult to get a good look at even under ideal conditions, but conditions on a pelagic birding trip are often not ideal and birders need all the help they can get.


Along comes Steve N.G. Howell to provide some of that help. He is an acclaimed field ornithologist and writer and an international bird tour leader with WINGS. He obviously knows these seabirds, in the family known as tubenoses, very well indeed. He has written a book which should be very helpful, I think, to anyone planning a pelagic birding trip.


Now, I am a simple backyard birder and so I may not be the best person to review this book, but it seems very comprehensive to me. The author spends time explaining about ocean habitats and about the latest developments in taxonomy relating to these birds. He arranges his species accounts of birds into groups for comparison and contrasting in ways that should prove helpful for identification in the field. Key identification features such as plumage variations related to age and molt and the manner of the individual species' flight patterns are included as part of the detailed species accounts. Photographs of the birds in question help to illustrate key features.


This guide also includes information about seasonal occurrence patterns and migration routes, as well as distribution maps. The author offers useful tips on how to observe and identify birds at sea.


Reading passages of this book, one gets a sense that Howell has a real passion for these birds and that he wants to pass that passion along to others. It is obvious that he genuinely loves the ocean and its inhabitants and that he wants his readers to share that love. I think that anyone planning a pelagic adventure who picks up this book will find it very useful in getting to know these enigmatic birds and in making the most of their time on the ocean.


(A copy of this book was provided at no cost by Princeton University Press for the purposes of my review.)

This week in birds - #6

Here's a recap of the news stories of the week that were related to the worlds of birds, Nature, and science. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire story.

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Do birds play? There is ample evidence that at least some do and the clearest examples of playfulness come from members of the crow family, certainly among the most intelligent of bird species. A video that gained popularity on YouTube this week provides the latest proof. It was recorded somewhere in Russia and features a Hooded Crow at play, snowboarding!

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The biggest news in the world of conservation this week was the Obama administration's decision to deny a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Congressional Republicans had inserted a provision in the bill that extended the payroll tax reduction that insisted that a decision must be made on the pipeline within 60 days. The State Department could not perform the due diligence necessary to ensure the protection of the environment, most importantly the aquifer that supplies water to much of the Mid-West, within that time frame and so the permit was denied. Proponents of the pipeline will be reapplying for a permit and likely seeking another route for the pipeline, one that will entail less risk to the environment.

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The warming climate is creating serious problems for European species of birds and butterflies. Their migration and breeding patterns are being upset. They are having difficulty adjusting their behavior to fit the new norm in temperatures.

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One of the wonders of the natural world is the silent flight of owls on the hunt. They have evolved to hunt in darkness and their ability to move quietly through that dark world has long amazed scientists. A new study of Barn Owls seeks to explain how they are adapted to achieve that silent flight.

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NASA has determined that 2011 was the ninth warmest year on record. They have an animation which shows the warming of the earth since 1880. Notice how the reds and yellows on the map increase dramatically beginning around 1980, until now almost all the areas are covered in red. Mesmerizing and worrying.

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The native birds of Hawaii seem beset on every side as they struggle to survive in an island environment that has been radically changed over the last 100 or so years. Now comes word of another problem for forest-dwelling birds. They are having difficulty completing their annual molt which is a necessary event in the life-cycle of birds. The cause seems to be that they are unable to find enough food to sustain them through this energy-draining process.

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On his blog this week, ornithologist David Sibley had a post about telling male goldfinches from female. When they are in their breeding feathers, the male American Goldfinch is one of the most distinctive of birds, but at this time of the year, male and female are virtually identical. No problem, of course, for the distinguished ornithologist, and no problem for me either. I'm just happy to recognize a goldfinch, whatever the sex!

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How many different species are there on earth? The true answer is that no one knows for sure and probably never will, but scientists keep discovering new species all the time. In 2009, for example, over 19,000 new species were documented. Of that number, seven were birds and 9,738 were insects!

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Migrating birds face so many obstacles along their route that it is a wonder to me that any of them ever arrive at their destination. Now we have evidence of a new barrier that they must get past. The lights on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is a major migration route for North/South American migrants, create confusion in migrating birds which causes them to fly into the Gulf where they are winding up in the bellies of tiger sharks. 

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White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, has wiped out six million bats in the northeastern United States. It is a disease that attacks bats while they are hibernating, and it has been recognized for several years, but so far nothing has been able to stop the course of the disease. There is a good possibility that it could spread to other parts of the country and could have a devastating effect on our bat populations. This, in turn, could have devastating effects for humans because bats are major pollinators as well as consumers of vast quantities of flying insects.  

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Around the backyard: I haven't had a lot of opportunity to observe the birds in my yard this week, but I can tell you that the goldfinches are very hungry. I've had to refill the feeders that they frequent a couple of times this week.

Hungry goldfinches!

I made a couple of interesting observations on my daily walk today. As I approached a neighbor's house, I counted seven Black Vultures in her front yard. Then I looked up and saw four more on her roof. What could attract eleven vultures to a suburban front yard? As we got closer I could see that it was a cat. It had probably been killed on the street and the birds had dragged it into the yard. The sight brought home two points to me: 

(1.) Cats should be kept inside or restrained in an area where they will not be prey to automobiles, dogs, coyotes, or the other deadly dangers that the world holds for them. I love cats, but they should not be allowed to roam, for their own good as well as for the health of small animals. The tragedy of this animal's death reinforces that belief. 

(2.) Vultures are amazing birds. We don't give them enough credit for the services they perform. Without them, our world would be a much smellier and more disease-ridden place. Moreover, they are intelligent birds. They make much of their living along our roadsides, but how often do you see a vulture as roadkill? I'm guessing probably never. Most often they will drag the animal (if it is small enough) from the roadway to the side of the road where it is safer to dine. They may not be the most handsome of birds, but if "handsome is as handsome does," then they are certainly among the most attractive birds around.

My second observation today was a much more pleasant one. One of our neighbors has three large eastern cedar trees in their front yard and they are loaded with their distinctive blue berries at this time of year. Today, they were also loaded with about a hundred Cedar Waxwings. I often see and hear flights of waxwings over my yard but they haven't spent much time in my yard this winter. Now I know where they are all going!

Wordless Wednesday: House for rent

What to feed the birds

Putting out food for the birds is a very popular hobby among Americans, especially during the winter. There is a recognition that harsh winter weather can make it difficult for birds to find enough to eat, resulting in death by starvation for some birds. The difficulty in finding food is exacerbated by human development and occupation of much of the land and many humans feel a natural sense of responsibility for trying to assist the birds. And besides, feeding the birds and watching their activities at the feeders is just great fun, a sufficient reward for our efforts and sufficient reason to do it.

But what should we be feeding the birds? There are certainly plenty of different types of seed mixes to choose from, but what is best and which should be avoided?

First of all, what should be avoided are those mixes that are heavily milo or millet seed. They may be cheaper than some of the others but, if you are interested in attracting the most beautiful and interesting of the backyard birds, they are not a good choice. If you are interested in attracting House Sparrows or members of the blackbird family, then milo and millet will do very well.

I make no claim of expertise on bird nutrition, but I can tell you what I feed in my yard and I can recommend all of these foods for I know they work well and attract a wide variety of birds.

Black-oil sunflower seeds:  If I could only present one food to the birds in my yard, this would be it. It is a food that is high in fat and the other nutrients that seed-eating birds need and it is the seed that is most acceptable to the greatest number of species from woodpeckers to warblers to wrens.

Fruit and nut mix:  I used the Royal Wing brand that I get at Tractor Supply but there are other equally good brands out there. They all typically contain several types of nuts and dried fruits, as well as the big striped sunflower seeds. The mix is favored by fruit eating birds like the Northern Mockingbird and is also especially liked by Northern Cardinals and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, but almost all the birds that visit my feeders will stop by the tray feeder where this mix is offered and will find something there to tempt their palate.

Mixed seed cakes: I use the Birdola brand, but again there are different brands that birds will like just as well. Woodpeckers particularly like these cakes, as do wrens. One of the big ones will last about a week to ten days in my yard at this time of year.

Nyger, or thistle seed:  This is, of course, a specialty seed utilized by finches, including American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, and, sometimes, House Finches. At this time of the winter when the goldfinch numbers have reached their peak, these seeds disappear very fast.

Sunflower seed hearts; I've just recently started offering this food in one of my feeders and I find that the goldfinches like it very well indeed. In fact, I would say they like it about as well as the thistle seed. The Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice are very fond of it, too.

Suet cakes: I offer these in various flavors and mixes, some with seeds imbedded, some with fruits or with insects. The birds seem to like them all. Except the one featuring green apples. For some reason, they don't care for that combination. They will leave it until last before finally eating it.

These are the foods that I routinely offer in my yard, and, of course, this winter, I've added sugar water for my little Rufous Hummingbird visitor. There are other foods which will attract birds - peanut butter or pieces of fruit, for example. Some swear by safflower seeds, although the birds in my yard tend to treat them the same way they do the suet cakes with green apples. You would do well to experiment a bit and find out what the birds in your yard prefer. After all, each bird is entitled to his/her opinion!