1. It's not often we can pull from the MIT Technology Review, so let's begin with the Review's piece on how the Cornell Lab and others used Artificial Intelligence tools to "crack this nut" - this "nut" being nighttime flight call identification: A small songbird soars above Ithaca, New York, on a September night. He is one of 4 billion birds, a great annual river of feathered migration across North America. Midair, he lets out what ornithologists call a nocturnal flight call to communicate with his flock. It’s the briefest of signals, barely 50 milliseconds long, emitted in the woods in the middle of the night. But humans have caught it nevertheless, with a microphone topped by a focusing funnel. Moments later, software called BirdVoxDetect, the result of a collaboration between New York University, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and École Centrale de Nantes, identifies the bird and classifies it to the species level. (via MIT Technology Review)
2. "An obsession with color - and how to define it" - an excellent piece from Audubon: On a sunny afternoon on the Pacific coast, Rhys Newman was sketching a pair of California Gulls when he had a realization. As an independent designer and birder who helps companies like Casper and Nokia define their visual identity, Newman thinks a lot about how colors go together—how certain combinations become distinct, recognizable, and associated with certain brands. So when gulls, with their gray feathers, yellow bill, and black wingtips, sat before him, “I just had that very kind of stupid, overly obvious observation,” he says. “You never look at [a bird] and go, ‘Ah, those colors don't hang together, do they?’” Birds, it seemed, combined colors in a way that served a purpose. After his seaside sketching session, Newman decided to look into whether anyone had tried to capture and categorize the colors of birds. It turned out someone had—more than a century ago. In 1912, taxonomist Robert Ridgway created an entire color dictionary based around bird hues, grouping avian-themed hues like Peacock Blue and Duck Green into systematic grids. Newman was stunned, then embarrassed. How, in all his years of birding and design experience, had never come across Ridgway’s work? (via Audubon)
By Hap Ellis, Cooper's Hawk - Millennium Park, Boston, MA
3. A look at some extraordinary habitats: Extraordinary places cover the Earth’s surface, providing essential refuges and environments for birds, other wildlife and local communities to thrive. Without these Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) around the world, many ecosystems would cease to function. Only 2/3 of ‘areas of particular importance for biodiversity’ are fully protected. Key Biodiversity Areas are the most vital places globally for species and their habitats. Identifying, mapping, monitoring and conserving these areas is fundamental to safeguarding them from impending human threats and the global environmental crisis. (via BirdLife)
4. Help is on the way for this gorgeous, but declining, warbler: Nestled within the canopy of mature forests across the eastern United States and southern Canada, the Cerulean Warbler is a songbird perfectly suited to treetop life. Males flaunt sky-blue and white plumage, while females display rare blue-green hues that blend into the forest's high reaches. Spotting this tiny warbler is challenging not only because of its lofty haunts but also because of a dramatic population decline of nearly 70 percent since the 1980s. Symbolic of older-growth deciduous forests in the breeding range, this species is increasingly difficult to find. (via Audubon0
5. Can this be an "irruption" year for Snowy Owls? We hope so!: A welcome sign of winter are snowy owls appearing along rocky shorelines and in empty fields throughout Wisconsin. A varying number of these charismatic raptors — with their bright, white plumage, feathered feet and large, yellow eyes — migrate south from their nesting grounds north of the Arctic Circle every year. “They come all the way from these Arctic islands at the far northern end of Canada, almost to the North Pole,” said Ryan Brady, a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “They’re not that common and they move unpredictably. There’s no guarantee of seeing one. So if you do, you’re not going to take it for granted.” (via Wisconsin Public Radio)
6. From the Chandigarh Bird Club (think India), a shoutout to three tiny songbirds who make an arduous journey of more than 6,000 km from their breeding grounds in the Siberian Tundra to the northern plains of India: The mention of bird migration immediately conjures up images of ducks and geese forming the V-shaped skeins across the autumn sky, along with a host of other waterfowls and waders. These large, conspicuous birds are eagerly awaited, heralding the changing season. However, a parallel migration goes largely unnoticed. At the same time as these large waterfowls traverse the sky, tiny non-descript songbirds make an equally arduous journey of more than 6,000 km from their breeding grounds in the Siberian Tundra to the northern plains of India. Both groups use the same Central Asian Flyway, yet their experiences are starkly different. (via Tribune India)
By Hap Ellis, Merlin - Brookline, MA.
7. Has our luck "officially" run out with H5N1?: Yesterday, America had one of its worst days of bird flu to date. For starters, the CDC confirmed the country’s first severe case of human bird-flu infection. The patient, a Louisiana resident who is over the age of 65 and has underlying medical conditions, is in the hospital with severe respiratory illness and is in critical condition. This is the first time transmission has been traced back to exposure to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks. Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after weeks of rising infections among dairy herds and people. In Los Angeles, public-health officials confirmed that two cats died after consuming raw milk that had been recalled due to a risk of bird-flu contamination. (via The Atlantic)
8. And then there is this report on the first severe case: A Louisiana resident has contracted the country’s first severe case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a human, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. The unidentified person is believed to have been infected with the virus through sick or dead birds on their property that were not part of a commercial poultry flock, though federal public health officials declined to provide more details on a call with reporters, citing patient confidentiality. The virus is also called bird flu, or H5N1. “Previously, the majority of cases of H5N1 in the United States presented with mild illness, such as conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms, and fully recovered,” Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said during the call. (via Louisiana Illuminator)
9. "Inconsistent" - From Ducks Unlimited, insights on the Fall waterfowl migration: Early-season cold fronts up north fired up the migration, sending ducks streaming into the Mid-South. But just as quickly, mild weather tapped the brakes. Birds became quickly educated and settled into familiar patterns. It's the classic "December lull." Change, however, is in the air for some states. With colder temps in the forecast and fresh rainfall in southeast Missouri, west Tennessee, and western Kentucky, the stage may be set for a bit of a shake-up. Here's the rundown. (via Ducks Unlimited)
By Hap Ellis, First Snow (Hooded Mergansers) - Brookline, MA.
10. Wind and birds - A detailed look at the huge windfarm under construction in Wyoming: Biologists like Mike Lockhart, who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for more than 30 years, claim that large wind farms are more than just an eyesore and will negatively affect wildlife in Wyoming. Raptors, eagles, passerines, bats, and various migrating birds frequently collide with the blades, which typically span 165 feet. “Most of the [Wyoming wind energy] development is just going off like a rocket right now, and we already have eagles that are getting killed by wind turbines — a hell of a lot more than people really understand,” warns Lockhart, a highly respected expert on golden eagles. In a recent conversation with Dustin Bleizeffer, a writer for WyoFile, Lockhart warned that wind energy development in Wyoming, in particular, is occurring at a higher rate than environmental assessments can keep up with, which means it could be having damning effects on wild animals. Places with consistent winds, as Lockhart explains, also happen to be prime wildlife habitats and most of the big wind farms in Wyoming are being built before we know enough about what their impact could be on bird populations. (via CounterPunch)
11. That time of year - Bald Eagle season in Missouri: Have you noticed more bald eagles in the sky recently? That’s because it’s officially bald eagle season here in Missouri, which takes place from December through February. “During the winter months, migratory eagles travel south along the Mississippi River in search of resources and food,” says Emily Connor, education manager at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton, Missouri. “Typically, the colder our winters are, the more migratory bald eagles we will see.” (via Ladue News)
12. Long live the long-lived Carnaby's Black Cockatoo: Western Australia’s endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos can live up to 35 years in the wild, making them one of the longest-lived bird species, according to a study that began in 1969. Eight Carnaby’s cockatoos aged between 21 and 35 years have been recorded, according to research published in Pacific Conservation Biology. The oldest bird, at 35 years old, was first recorded as an egg in August 1986. The report co-author Peter Mawson, a researcher with Western Australia’s biodiversity department, said the male cockatoo “looked as healthy as the day he left the nest”, and was still breeding when last sighted in 2021. (via The Guardian)
By Hap Ellis, Red-tailed Hawk - Brookline, MA.
13. Shape-shifting birds?: For wildlife, climate change is a bit like the “final boss” the protagonist faces in a video game: big, hulking and inescapable. This formidable enemy has forced wildlife to alter where and how they live. Higher temperatures exert so much stress on wildlife that over generations, they are forced to change and adapt. We wanted to better understand how this pattern of change was playing out in Australian birds. Our two pieces of recent research identified that, in response to warming, more than 100 species of Australian birds have developed smaller bodies and bigger beaks over time. (via The Conversation)
14. Finally, enjoy this article on a very cool bird that loves very cold winters in the Rockies: The dark profiles of the Rocky Mountains loom against a star-studded sky. Amy Seglund, a species conservation program manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, hikes up a steep trail inlaid with rocks stacked like stairs into a high-elevation basin. As she climbs, her headlamp beam falls on smaller and smaller pines and spruces, then willow thickets, and eventually clumped grasses and plants with leaves and petals smaller than buttons. In the dim blue light of dawn, Seglund strides onto the alpine tundra, holds up a boombox-like machine, and blasts the raucous, chattering cry of a male Southern White-tailed Ptarmigan. The birds are masters of camouflage—finding one just by looking is unlikely to impossible—so scientists use this device to call them in. During breeding season, males of this grouse species will rush out at that call, ready to defend their mates. With breeding season over by this late August morning in 2023, some birds may no longer bother, making them hard to spot. But finding ptarmigan here at all is becoming less reliable. (via Audubon)
Bird Videos of the Week
Video by City News, “Hundreds of Calgarians participate in annual Christmas bird count”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Tufted Titmice.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Pine Grosbeaks.
Many thanks for sharing an excellent summary. KBAs do indeed need to be properly protected!