Sanctuary Islands.

Bird News Items

1. Let's begin with a look at one of our favorite birding spots - Sax Zim Bog: Nothing stops a chat between birders faster than a flash of feathers in the sky. Just a few steps into their stroll through Sax Zim Bog, three naturalists go hush at the sight of a Canada jay, a gray-and-white songbird with a fluffy coat of plumage to insulate it through harsh winters. It’s also called a camp robber for its inquisitiveness around picnics. “I love Canada jays. They’ve been associated with humans probably forever,” said a delighted Sparky Stensaas. “They’re extremely intelligent corvids, but they also associate people with food.” Stensaas founded Friends of Sax Zim Bog to protect this unique habitat about an hour north of Duluth, Minn., that attracts wildlife enthusiasts from around the world. In addition to drawing tourists, it’s also become a hub for scientists studying how climate change is affecting boreal species. (via WBUR)

2. Smoke - Yet another threat to grassland birds: On a hazy day in June 2023, doctoral students Trifosa Simamora and Timothy Boycott noticed that the birds at their field site had gone quiet. Now in a study published Feb. 19 in Biological Conservation, they show that the culprit was smoke from that summer’s record-breaking Canadian wildfires. The smoke dampened the songs and vocalizations of multiple species, with a particularly negative effect on already imperiled grassland birds and birds with ranges specific to the eastern U.S. The reduced communication came at an important time in the birds’ breeding cycle, when vocalizations attract mates and establish territories. (via Cornell Chronicle)

By Hap Ellis, Crested Caracara - Celery Fields, Sarasota, FL.

3. Kakapos and the rimu tree: Not all superfoods are indeed super, but one just might help save a critically endangered parrot species that can be found only in New Zealand: the kakapo. The peculiar birds are mating at a record pace this year, making the most of one of the best bumper crops in decades of the fruit from coniferous rimu trees, according to scientists. The fruit, which resembles bright red berries, is rich in calcium and vitamin D, providing what researchers described as critical nourishment to chicks. So far this year, 52 chicks have hatched on several sanctuary islands off the country’s South Island, said Andrew Digby, a scientist and kakapo specialist at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. (via The New York Times)

4. "Not alright" - North American Breeding Bird Survey results: Orange, black, blue, green, brown, red. Birds are like the artist Jackson Pollock splashing color on our daily tapestry. But the rainbow of colors birds bring to our lives is dimming. A new study shows that despite conservation efforts, birds are continuing to decline. Imagine surveying a 24.5 mile route as part of a Breeding Bird Survey. You stop every half mile, get out and listen intently for three minutes. You count and note every bird you see or hear within a quarter mile radius. If you were doing this survey in 1987, you may have seen around 2,000 birds during the course of such a survey. Now, let’s say you go back and run the same survey in 2021, 17 years later. (via Environment America)

* Another take here: Billions fewer birds are flying through North American skies than decades ago and their numbers are shrinking ever faster, mostly due to the combination of intensive agriculture and warming temperatures. Nearly half of the 261 species studied showed losses important enough to be statistically significant, and more than half of those in decline have seen losses accelerate since 1987. The study is the first to look at trends in their decrease, where they are shrinking the most and what the declines are connected to, rather than total population. (via Los Angeles Times)

5. A shout out for winter waterfowl: I’ll explain the unusual formation in the title photo in a bit. But first, some background on the site and weather. It was Valentine’s Day, or as we called it when I was a kid, St. Valentine’s Day. Two of my BBFs (Best Birding Friends) went to Port Huron with me, hoping to enjoy the end of the arctic freeze and see some good winter waterfowl. As usual for a Port Huron run, we started at the point furthest north and worked our way south. In case anyone missed WordsandBirds’ winter waterfowl story about Red-throated Loons from last week, check it out. Even though we’re a couple thousand miles apart, waterfowl birding makes winter something to look forward to for both areas. (via Daily Kos)

6. Meet the "bird wizard" - Philip Unitt, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the San Diego Natural History Museum: Phil Unitt can tell you which bird is flying overhead anywhere in San Diego just using his ears. Half a century working at the San Diego Natural History Museum will do that to a man. Unitt began volunteering for the museum at age 17 and never left, eventually earning the department’s top role as curator of birds and mammals and chair of ornithology. He has a message for generations choosing smartphone over their brain: Your AI-powered birdsong identifier, like Merlin ID, isn’t always correct, Unitt said with a laugh. (via Vice of San Diego)

By Hap Ellis, (The illusive) Sora - Celery Fields, Sarasota, FL.

7. Should have been the Florida Scrub-Jay: As if flamingos weren’t showy enough, the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) has officially been elevated to a new celebrity status. The Florida House of Representatives and Senate have designated the species as Florida’s official state bird. The long-legged American flamingo is one of the largest flamingo species in the world, and gets its iconic cotton-candy pink hue from a pigment in its food. The birds live on South America’s northern coast and in the Caribbean. In the United States, they only exist naturally in Florida. The move replaces the mockingbird, or northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) as the official state bird. The bill also designates the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) as Florida’s official state songbird. Clearly, those involved in the two decisions were going for color. This songbird endemic to Florida is starkly blue. (via Popular Science)

8. From Down Under, targeted "song tutoring" restores a lost traditional song: Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and the Taronga Conservation Society Australia have successfully restored the lost traditional song of one of Australia’s most endangered birds, offering new hope for the survival of the critically endangered regent honeyeater. The new study reveals how targeted “song tutoring” at Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo has revived a disappearing cultural trait vital to the species’s survival. The findings arepublished in the journal Scientific Reports. (via Australian National University)

9. "Trait-mediated effects of anthropogenic noise on bird behavior": Expanding human noise is not just background sound, it’s disturbing the peace of some bird habitats and altering their behaviors. Noise pollution is widespread and affects birds across North America. Many studies have shown that human-made noise affects birds. What hasn’t been clear is how bird species’ lifestyles shape their responses. Researchers performed a global analysis of 160 studies across six continents to examine how noise pollution affects bird behavior, growth, physiology and reproduction, based on their traits. The study found that noise pollution reduces reproduction, increases aggression, communication and foraging. (via Wildlife)

10. New study finds rainfall plays "a powerful role" in shaping bird populations: Scientists have long focused on rising temperatures to understand how climate change is reshaping the natural world. But there’s a critical blind spot in that picture: rain. A new global study reveals precipitation has been largely overlooked in studies of how climate change impacts birds, even though it can be just as influential as temperature.The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show rainfall patterns play a powerful role in shaping bird populations, but also reveal how those effects unfold and which species are most vulnerable as precipitation becomes more erratic in a warming world. (via Phys Org)

By Hap Ellis, Sandhill Cranes - Celery Fields, Sarasota, FL.

11. The "inherent value of existence": In Mandarin, there’s a particular character: 青 (“qing”). The word generally is translated to blue or green. It’s not as commonly used nowadays, as there are also separate words for blue and green, but I always think about it whenever people can’tagree on if something is blue or green. I bring this up because it reminds me of a bird that we’re going to discuss today. Odds are good that you’ve seen a blue jay. And if you’ve been to southern Texas, you might have even spotted a green jay before. (If you’re not familiar, look up a green jay; I promise whatever you’re picturing is not the same as the real thing.) But how about a jay that’s both? (via Daily Campus)

12. A second - and concerning - look at the 2021 winter storms in Texas: The ‘Great Texas Freeze’ of 2021 wiped out up to a quarter of the state’s much-loved purple martin population, a study in Nature Ecology and Evolution has found. Now, conservationists worry it could take decades for the birds to recover, and fear for the repercussions of future extreme weather events. For nine days in February 2021, two back-to-back deep freezes gripped the Gulf Coast, bringing record-low temperatures, ice and snow across Texas. Millions of homes lost power. More than 200 people died. The weather was not kind to wildlife either and people were concerned for the purple martins, North America’s largest species of swallow. The migratory birds are one of the earliest arriving birds to the US Gulf Coast each year, typically appearing in January and February. To find out how they were faring, researchers harnessed the power of citizen science. (via Discover Wildlife)

13. News from the Amazon - Not one species but five, and two are completely new to science: Scientists have discovered that a widely recognized Amazonian antbird is not one, but five distinct species – including two completely new to science. This revelation of hidden biodiversity was achieved by integrating artificial intelligence, vocal analysis, and traditional museum work, demonstrating how cutting-edge technology can transform our understanding of life in Earth’s richest ecosystems. The study was conducted by Vagner Cavarzere and his master’s student Enrico L. Breviglieri from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil, together with curator Luis F. Silveira of the University of São Paulo Museum of Zoology, and was published in the open-access journal Vertebrate Zoology. (via Eureka Alert)

(Photos from Friends) By Elizabeth Rand - Australian Ibis - Syndey NSW.

14. Capturing the silent travelers: Millions of birds invisibly migrate through the night sky each autumn, most flying in near silence toward their wintering grounds. Now, scientists have developed a way to see and identify many of those birds for the first time. In a study published in Ornithology, researchers describe how they used thermal imaging optics, flashlights, and high-speed photography to detect and photograph birds in flight after dark. The technique allowed scientists to identify low-flying species across three fall seasons in Cape May, New Jersey—including thousands that would have gone undetected by other monitoring tools. (via Cornell University)

15. Yes it is! Spring is in the air: Brilliant, yellow daffodils, pink rhododendrons, camelias and skunk cabbage are all making their presence known and are giving us the happy message that spring is virtually here. Robins are everywhere and this too lets us in on the nearness of spring. Northern flickers are chasing each other from branch to branch and tree to tree. Wings are flapping and heads are held high in the air, all in the name of spring and the breeding season. A trip to Skamokawa to visit a friend was full of hints of spring’s arrival. (via Chinook Obeserver)

16. If a Pokémon-style app is what it takes, then...: Out of all the hobbies I’ve encountered over my life, birdwatching has felt the most tedious. Yes, there are some interesting birds in the wild, but successfully identifying a subspecies of sparrow has never excited me in the way it does others. Perhaps this is all thanks to my dopamine-addicted Gen Z brain, as apparently all I needed was the right kind of gamification to go from thinking “Yep, that’s a bird,” to “Oh my god! Another Blue Tit!” without the faintest hint of sarcasm. The app that changed my mind on birdwatching is Birdex, which marries the mundanity of birdwatching with the irrational thrill of collecting Pokémon. It’s not just another free mobile game; it forced me to identify birds instead of relying on an algorithm. It turns out that yes, education is fun. (via Android Police)

17. Let's finish with a fun report on birding our national parks from a data analyst turned citizen scientist: Everything about birds fascinates me. I’m not an ornithologist; in fact, I’m a data analyst with a PhD in psychology with no background in biology, ecology, or any fieldwork. Lucky for me, birds are everywhere and the Newman Exploration Travel (NEXT) Fund allowed me to find them in places that they may someday disappear from, understand efforts to educate and engage the public on birds, and learn valuable field skills that I plan to take into my continuing volunteer work to save the world—or, at least, save some birds and make some graphs. (via WashU)

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Bird Videos of the Week

Video by CBS Evening News, “Why flamingos are returning to Florida”.

Cornell Live Bird Cam - Close-ups of several tropical species visiting the Panama Fruit Feeder Cam.

Cornell Live Bird Cam - Common Ravens.

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