Birds of Botswana.
Bird News Items
1. Let's start with a wonderful piece from the FT on a restored love for birding: I don’t know who the woman was, but I remember her words exactly. She’d signed up for a bird walk as part of the Galle Literary Festival, a celebration held every year in the fort town on Sri Lanka’s south coast. For most of our walk she’d seemed vaguely baffled. But then she’d looked through borrowed binoculars at the paddy-field marshes across the road. There, softened by mist and distance, was an extraordinary number of birds: pond herons, black-tailed godwits, greenshanks, wood sandpipers, pheasant-tailed jacanas resembling animate china ornaments and little green bee-eaters that glowed like neon bulbs. Flocks of whiskered terns rose and fell like slow breaths in the dusk air. When the woman lowered the binoculars her face was bright with revelation. “Oh,” she breathed, “I get it now.” (via Financial Times)
2. Bird killer no more - an update the infamous McCormick Place in Chicago from the New York Times: The morning promised to be deadly. High above Chicago, in the predawn dark, flew an airborne river of migratory birds. It was peak spring migration traffic, in late April, and the tiny travelers were arriving at one of the most perilous points along their journey. These birds, inhabitants of forests and grasslands, do not perceive glass as solid and get confused by its reflections. Bright city lights seem to attract them, luring them into glassy canyons. The gleaming buildings of Chicago, curving along the shore of Lake Michigan, are especially lethal. A call went out to volunteers across the city: Be ready to hit the streets early to rescue the injured and document the dead. (via The New York Times)
By Hap Ellis, African Jacana - Okavango Delta, Botswana.
3. To you and me the "Corn Belt", to a bird migrating north a barrier: The vast agricultural landscape of the U.S. Midwest known as the Corn Belt acts as a barrier for migrating landbirds, causing them to adjust their flight behaviors similar to when crossing natural barriers like the Gulf of Mexico, according to a study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. In research published May 27 in the journal Conservation Biology, the team analyzed five years of weather radar data from 47 stations across the eastern United States to examine how birds modify their migration patterns when crossing the Corn Belt, compared to more forested landscapes. They found that birds fly faster and are more selective about flying with favorable tailwinds when crossing the Corn Belt – a vast agricultural region where more than 76% of the original forests and grasslands have been converted primarily to cornfields since the 1850s. (via Cornell Chronicle)
4. More migration insights - like "running nonstop without food, water or rest for days at a time": Weighing in at a single ounce, the white-crowned sparrow can fly 2,600 miles, from Mexico to Alaska, on its annual spring migration, sometimes traveling 300 miles in a single night. Arctic terns make even longer journeys of 10,000 miles and more from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica, while great snipes fly over food-poor deserts and seas, sometimes covering 4,200 miles in four days without stopping. During migration season, many bird species become continent-spanning, high-endurance athletes. “They’re flapping their wings several times a second for up to eight hours at a time,” said Soren Coulson, who studies migration physiology at the University of Memphis. For humans, an equivalent feat — say, running nonstop without food, water or rest for days at a time — would be unimaginable. (via Quanta Magazine)
5. Using feeders to expand their territory - a look at the Anna's Hummingbird's range expansion: Hummingbird feeders are a beloved pastime for millions of backyard birders and a convenient dining spot for the birds. But for the Anna's hummingbird, a common species in the western United States, feeders have become a major evolutionary force. According to research published this week in Global Change Biology, artificial feeders have allowed the birds to expand their range out of Southern California up to the state's northern end. They have also driven a transformation of the birds themselves. Over just a few generations, their beaks have dramatically changed in size and shape. "They seem to be moving where we go and changing quite rapidly to succeed in their new environments," says co-lead author Nicolas Alexandre, who conducted the work when he was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley and is now a geneticist at Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Dallas. "We can think of Anna's hummingbird as a commensal species, similar to pigeons." (via Science)
6. Audubon's take on the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" that passed the House last week: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill this week that removed provisions that would have allowed for sales of public lands but moved ahead with other harmful provisions. These include mandates for oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the removal of tax incentives for large-scale renewable energy development, and the repeal of billions of dollars in funding for conservation and restoration. “We are glad to see the provision that would have authorized the sale of public lands removed, and that there remains a continued commitment to conserving important lands in the West. However, we are disappointed that these fixes did not extend to protection of the fragile ecosystems in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that provide critical bird habitat,” said Felice Stadler, vice president of government affairs at National Audubon Society. (via Audubon)
By Hap Ellis, Grey Go-away-bird - Okavango Delta, Botswana.
7. A new Yale study on climate and birds published in Nature Ecology and Evolution: As rising global temperatures alter ecosystems worldwide, animal species usually have two choices: adapt to changing local conditions or flee to a cooler clime. Ecologists have long assumed that the world’s bird species were best equipped to respond to the pressures of climate change simply because they have the option of flying to higher altitudes or towards global poles. But a new Yale study finds that few bird species are able to escape the realities of a warming world. The findings were published May 28 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. (via Yale News)
8. Then there is this possible solution to bird strikes on wind turbines (we're hopeful, but skeptical): Wind turbines kill a lot of birds, particularly eagles and other raptors. The exact number is unknown, because many of the world’s wind farms don’t monitor bird deaths. One mitigation idea to reduce these numbers—and assuage a political argument against wind turbines—is gaining traction: Paint one turbine blade black. Ecologist Roel May spoke with IEEE Spectrum about his 11-year study to reduce raptor deaths, and his surprise at the lukewarm reactions from wind-turbine engineers. How bad are wind turbines for birds? Roel May: It depends a lot on where you put the turbines, and whether there’s breeding or foraging areas nearby, and the species of birds. If you put wind turbines smack in the middle of a vulnerable population, the effect can be quite large. (via IEEE Spectrum)
9. Evidence of birds in the Arctic 73 million years ago: Newly discovered bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds have been breeding and nesting in the Arctic for at least 73 million years. “Which is kind of crazy, because it’s not easy to live in the Arctic and have newborn babies up there,” says study author Lauren Wilson at Princeton University. Today, about 250 bird species have adapted to thrive at Earth’s poles. Some migrate great distances and only spend the summers there, with 24 hours of light each day. Others stay over winter too, enduring frigid temperatures and perpetual darkness for weeks on end. But very little was known about how and when these birds first got to the highest latitudes of Earth. (via New Scientist)
By Hap Ellis, Lilac-breasted Roller - Okavango Delta, Botswana.
10. Acting locally - this foundation doing its part to arrest bird population declines (in Indiana): It’s hard to believe that there has been a net loss of nearly 3 billion birds since 1970! What’s even more shocking is that 46 different species have lost half of their population! “Another way to think about that is that we have lost one out of every four birds in North America since that time,” according to Allen Pursell, Director of Forest Programs for the Sam Shine Foundation. He’s also based in Floyd County, Indiana. That’s why there’s a new program called “Forestry for the Birds” to bring awareness to the issue—and to educate Indiana’s landowners. He tells Hoosier Ag Today that we could see as many as a dozen different species of birds completely disappear in Indiana—much like the Prairie Chicken. (via Hoosier AG Today)
11. From NPR, a look at hybridization in action (in Oregon): In Portland, Ore., two distinct species of geese have paired up and laid eggs. It's not completely unheard of for a Canada goose and a white-fronted goose to mate — but it's unusual. (via National Public Radio)
12. This is one way apparently to keep predators away from your nest: Birds may decorate nests with artificial objects and feathers to deter magpies and ravens from taking their eggs. Many birds have been observed placing human-made objects in their nests, such as plastic, wires or even anti-bird spikes from buildings. Often, these things seem to have no role as insulation or structural support, and may make nests more conspicuous to predators. (via New Scientist)
13. Yikes! This shipment (from a hatchery) goes wildly wrong: Thousands of baby birds are safe after a harrowing journey. In a press release, the Delaware Department of Agriculture revealed that, on May 2, the postal service informed them that they were in possession of an undeliverable box of baby birds. The department proceeded to facilitate the transfer of the orphaned chicks to First State Animal Center. Upon their arrival to the animal shelter, workers were stunned to find thousands of birds. The baby birds in question included chicks, turkeys, geese, quail, and chukars. Despite the rescue efforts, around 4,000 birds were deceased when they arrived to the shelter. In a Facebook post, First State Animal Center shared details about the conditions in which the baby birds were found. (via Vice News)
By Hap Ellis, Yellow-billed Stork- Okavango Delta, Botswana.
14. Protected habitat that benefits people can benefit "tipping point" birds: We know that birds are declining globally, but more fine-scale information on population trends is needed to guide conservation efforts. Johnston et al. used participatory data from eBird to track 14 years of population changes across the ranges of 495 birds in North and Central America and the Caribbean. Almost all species showed areas with population increases and areas with declines, often with the strongest declines occurring in areas where species were most abundant. Most species were declining overall, suggesting a worsening situation for birds. However, areas of population increase may offer refuge or point to conditions that could facilitate recovery. (via Science)
15. Finally, One enterprising young Cooper's Hawk: Vladimir Dinets was driving his daughter to school one morning when a flash of movement caught his eye. He watched as a young Cooper’s hawk darted out of a tree, soared low to the ground along a line of cars and dove into a nearby front yard. Dinets is a zoologist at the University of Tennessee who specializes in animal behavior and intelligence, so the scene naturally piqued his curiosity. But when he watched the exact same scenario play out a few days later, Dinets realized something scientifically interesting might be going on. He decided to investigate. The bird seemed to understand that, whenever a human pushed the pedestrian crossing signal, a long line of cars would back up down the street. The savvy creature then used the vehicles as cover to launch a sneak attack on a group of unsuspecting birds gathered in a nearby home’s front yard. Dinets details the hawk’s clever behavior in a new paper published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Ethology. (via Smithsonian Magazine)
Bird Videos of the Week
Video by BBC Earth, Arctic Tern Chick vs. Polar Bear.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Cornell Hawk’s Nest.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - American Kestrel chicks.