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Bird News Items

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Oct 09, 2021

1. A dispatch from the Andaman Sea: By the end of 2019, I was ready for a change of scenery. Working as a natural history photographer, I’d spent the previous two years tracking snow leopards in the Himalayas. Then, one snowy afternoon, I received a brief call from Dr. Rohit Naniwadekar, a bird biologist with the Nature Conservation Foundation. He asked me to get to a small volcanic island in the northern Andaman Sea as quickly as I possibly could. Narcondam Island, a designated wildlife sanctuary where Dr. Naniwadekar planned to conduct his research, gives new meaning to the word “remote.” Situated about 80 miles to the east of the main spine of the Andaman Islands and totaling only about 2.6 square miles (twice the size of Central Park). The team’s main goal was to study and document the Narcondam hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami), which is endangered and endemic to the island. (via The New York Times)

2. Meet Walnut - not a crane to be trifled with: When Walnut arrived at the Front Royal, Va., endangered species breeding center, back in 2004, she was the most genetically valuable white-naped crane in captivity. At 23, she had yet to produce a single chick, and she had a reputation for murdering her mates. Two male cranes that made amorous overtures toward Walnut had been found dead, with their bellies sliced open by her sharp claws. That, at least, was the rumor. Chris Crowe, SCBI’s newest keeper, was assigned to the case. “Walnut had this whole ‘black widow’ thing going,” Lynch recalls. “I told Chris, ‘Be careful with this one.’ ” He would be so careful, in fact, so thoughtful and patient and understanding, that whether Walnut would become pregnant would be just one part of what transpired between them. Because the larger story was how Chris Crowe won over Walnut’s wild heart. (via The Washington Post)

3. Seeing our world through the eyes of a migratory bird would be a rather spooky experience. Something about their visual system allows them to 'see' our planet's magnetic field, a clever trick of quantum physics and biochemistry that helps them navigate vast distances. In early 2021, scientists from the University of Tokyo announced they had, for the first time ever, directly observed a key reaction hypothesized to be behind birds' (and many other creatures') talents for sensing the direction of Earth's poles. Importantly, this is evidence of quantum physics directly affecting a biochemical reaction in a cell – something we've long hypothesized but haven't seen in action before. (via Science Alert)

4. The power of eBird (yet again): Subramanian Sankar who sees himself as a lifelong student of bird calls, recently resolved what has been a head-scratcher of a question for chirrup-loving citizen birders in India. It is about having the curlew sandpiper “authentically” on record. Recording a curlew sandpiper’s call that is entirely a curlew sandpiper’s has been a challenge. Recently, the eBird platform got off the mark in terms of having a validated curlew sandpiper call recording from India. “There must be other recordings of the curlew sandpiper from its wintering grounds in India, but this is the first recording of the species’ call on eBird from India,” observes Subramanian (‘Subbu’ in citizen-science birding circles). (via The Hindu)

5. Grim news from CA: Crews raced Sunday to contain the damage from a major oil spill off the Orange County coast that left crude spoiling beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands. The spill, first reported Saturday, originated from a pipeline off the coast of Huntington Beach connected to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure caused at least 126,000 gallons of crude to spill into coastal waters creating a slick that spanned about 8,320 acres— larger than the size of Santa Monica—and sent oil to the shores of Newport Beach and Huntington Beach early Sunday. Oil from the spill also infiltrated Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre ecological reserve in Huntington Beach that is home to dozens of species of birds. (via Los Angeles Times)

6. Struggling in captivity: Researchers have discovered that intelligent birds have unique welfare needs in captivity. These findings may apply to other brainy captive creatures including great apes, elephants and whales, said the head of the research group, Dr. Georgia Mason, Director of the University of Guelph’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare. "Our findings could help pet owners identify which species may be more challenging to cater for as pets, because of their welfare requirements” added one of the lead authors, Dr Emma Mellor from the University of Bristol. The study revealed for the first time that this issue can in particular hinder large-brained parrots’ in confinement. (via Technology Networks)

7. Another cut on an earlier story (and it’s no surprise): Julie Johnson, who owns and operates Tres Sabores on the westernmost edge of Napa Valley, has been welcoming barn owls since 1987. She is one of several winemakers quick to praise birds’ inherent ability to protect and sustain the land. Once they’ve ripened for harvest, vineyard grapes are quite tasty, attracting peckish birds and other animals such as voles or rabbits. Many vineyards keep these intruders at bay through the dedicated, instinctual service of owls, falcons, bluebirds and more. Some grape growers, including those who cultivate fruit for organic wines, eschew pesticides and man-made pest control methods. Conditioned, trained and managed by Rebecca Rosen of Authentic Abatement, these birds of prey adeptly control the area’s problematic pest population. (via Wine Enthusiast)

8. On an early morning in 1975, H. Douglas Pratt awoke in his tent pitched on Hawaii’s Alakaʻi Plateau to the song of the Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō. The bell-like vocal clarity was unmistakable, though the bird was extremely rare; the species was listed as federally endangered in 1973, with an estimated population of 36 surviving individuals. The mostly black bird with tufts of striking yellow feathers on its thighs was last seen in 1985 and last heard in 1987. No one will ever hear it sing in the wild again. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) declared 23 species across the United States extinct and proposed they lose protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Eight of those species, including the Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō, are Hawaii forest birds. (via Audubon Magazine)

9. Snow buntings are equipped for winter even while migrating to their breeding grounds, shows a recent study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. There have been major declines in biodiversity around the world and the snow bunting population has dropped 60% over the last 45 years. The specific cause of this drop is unknown, and this study is among the first to look at the physiological changes that occur during the different life stages of this species. This work provides clues into the future survival of snow buntings, as well as new insights into how species generally endure the harsh cold of the Arctic. (via EurekaAlert)

10. Getting along is possible: A new bipartisan bill sets aggressive clean energy goals and puts North Carolina on a path toward meaningful climate action. In an era of rising seas and extreme weather, that’s a significant win for birds and people, especially those most impacted by our changing climate. The original version of House Bill 951—introduced by lawmakers over the summer—fell far short of the bold clean energy action needed to protect birds. Two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction because of changes in our climate, including more than 200 species that nest, winter, and migrate through North Carolina. Audubon advocates across the state spoke up against the bill, asking for a bold commitment to climate action. (via Audubon)

11. A mynah bird that was brought from Afghanistan by a girl fleeing the Taliban has learned to say “bonjour” after finding a new home with France’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Ambassador Xavier Chatel said he was moved by the little girl, who arrived “exhausted” and carrying the bird, named Juji, at the Al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE during the chaotic evacuations from Kabul. The girl was left in tears after being told she could not take her pet on the onward journey to France for “sanitary reasons”, Chatel said in a series of tweets. Juji now has a “girlfriend”, a dove that visits him daily, and after much coaxing finally said “bonjour” – a moment that “went straight to my heart”, Chatel said. (via The Guardian)

12. Staying warm in the winter: When winter arrives, animals can’t just pull on a giant puffy coat and earmuffs like us humans. They have their own ways of keeping warm: penguins huddle together, lemmings hunker down in tunnels, and Japanese macaques hang out in hot springs. Some birds migrate to warmer climes to ride out the winter—but what about those that don’t? Researchers wondered how these birds managed to keep warm. Small birds in cold climates do warm up a little by shivering, but scientists had a hunch that the birds’ blood may play a role too. (via Indiana Public Radio)

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