1. “I am, above all else, a birder”…in Ukraine: One year ago, Oleksandr Nastachenko traveled to the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson Oblast, with his 14-year-old nephew, Igor, in search of a Rustic Bunting. The migratory passerine is a rare visitor to Ukraine, and one of the relatively few birds in his home country Nastachenko hadn’t yet spotted. During five-plus hours trekking the marshlands outside the territorial capital of Kherson, uncle and nephew logged 59 species, but, in a story familiar to any birder, the pair missed out on the one they had journeyed nearly 200 miles to see. Back in his hometown of Dnipro the following week, on the morning of February 24, Nastachenko woke to the news of airstrikes across his country. Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine had begun. (via Audubon)
Also, on a lighter note, there is wonderful book about a soldier’s birding experience while serving in Iraq: “Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq” by Jonathon Trouern-Trend
2. Sadly, Russia’s aggression has effected biodiversity conservation efforts far beyond Ukraine: The Russian invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has sent economic, social and political shock waves around the world. In a newly published policy brief, we and other researchers and conservation scientists describe how these effects extend to biodiversity conservation efforts far beyond Ukraine. As one example, efforts to save the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) from extinction are now at risk as a result of the war in Ukraine. These petite birds nest in the Russian Far East and migrate during the Northern Hemisphere winter to Southeast Asia. Owing to hunting and habitat loss, fewer than 600 of the birds remain. (via Alaska Beacon)
3. “Looking skyward”…wonderful story about two brothers in India, a movie and a visit with Flaco: Birds of prey have preoccupied me lately. One is Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who has chosen a life of freedom in New York City’s rodent-abundant Central Park over captivity in the zoo. The others are the imposing, trash-eating black kites of Delhi, chronicled in an Oscar-nominated documentary called “All That Breathes.” I’ve been following Flaco in real life and, I confess, somewhat obsessively online. I’ve been in a bit of a birdy head space, thinking about how we live with each other in big, fast-moving cities like New York and Delhi — us creatures who can’t fly and them that can. (via The New York Times)
4. A nice piece on Spring slowly creeping up on us – even in February: “The most serious charge that can be brought against New England,” naturalist Joseph Wood Krutch, wrote, “is not Puritanism but February.” Some years, the month of February has been utterly bleak, one gloomy, gray day following another, often with squalls of snow turning to icy sheets of sleet. Not so this year! February has been rather glorious, with unusually warm days and enough rain to wash away the last of the dirty snow. Think spring! Spring is definitely in the air. Though as we move toward March, let’s not be fooled by fickle Mother Nature. Persephone is such a tease, enveloping us in this false spring when we know fresh snow is right around the corner. With such lovely weather, though, all thoughts turn to birding. (via The Berkshire Eagle)
5. An elegy to 5 extinct birds comes to Stanford: Carolina parakeets, great auks, heath hens, Labrador ducks, and passenger pigeons once thrived in abundance in the North American landscape from the Labrador and New York shores to the Midwestern plains. The five species are now extinct, but sculptor Todd McGrain’s large-scale bronze sculptures of the birds, an ode to vanished species, can be seen on the Stanford campus. The temporary installation of the sculptures is courtesy of McGrain and a collaboration of Stanford Live, the Anderson Collection, and the Office of the Vice President for the Arts as part of a range of programming exploring art and sustainability. (via Stanford News)
6. When the US Army embraces Citizen Science (and the GBBC): Volunteers like Cassie Bray and her 7-year-old daughter Briley Bray ventured out to Kouma Village on a chilly Friday morning, Feb. 17, to volunteer alongside community members and Fort Hood biologists. The Adaptive and Integrative Management Team hosted a Great Backyard Bird Count and Trash-Off event at Cantonment E Pond. Helping to improve wildlife habitat, the small group of volunteers collected 360 pounds of litter in about two hours. They filled up several bags of trash; removed items like a cat tower, swimming pool and folding chairs; and sorted the waste, separating recyclables like metal cans and plastic bottles. (via U.S. Army)
7. A “whacked-out winter” in Chicago: As I stepped out to walk Lady Tuesday, about 15 robins, first of the year for me, flitted between our maple and the neighbor’s crabapple tree. I started checking off spring signs in my head. What a whacked out winter. On Jan. 19, Ron Wozny messaged a photo of daffodils and tulips popping after a few days of sun and rain. I cracked that they would be in for a rude awakening. Well, no, on Wednesday, he sent followups of them growing well. Many reported significant movement of sandhill cranes around Chicago the second weekend in February. Those reports continue from readers north, west, south and in Indiana. Over the last 20 years, sandhills became the primary indicator of seasonal change around Chicago for regular people. (via Chicago Sun Times)
8. Exploring theropod dinosaurs for insights into early bird flight: Modern birds capable of flight all have a specialized wing structure called the propatagium without which they could not fly. The evolutionary origin of this structure has remained a mystery, but new research suggests it evolved in nonavian dinosaurs. The finding comes from statistical analyses of arm joints preserved in fossils and helps fill some gaps in knowledge about the origin of bird flight. (via Phys Org)
9. Unlocking insights into peak roosting activity for swallows and martins: Birds including swallows and martins – known as aerial insectivores – control insect populations and insect-borne disease and provide hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of pest control for agriculture. But these feathered friends to humanity are declining at an alarming rate, with species in North America declining more than 30% from 1970 to 2017. Two recent Colorado State University studies out of the Warner College of Natural Resources used weather radar to track the movements of aerial insectivores and explore how their patterns have changed over the past 20 years. They examined changes in the birds’ roosting habits to try to determine why the species are declining. (via Colorado State University)
10. And speaking of martins, this from Smithsonian on purple martins’ decline: Brazilian ecologist Jonathan Maycol Branco had a problem. Unlike the migratory birds he was studying, he couldn’t fly north. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had hindered the University of São Paulo graduate student’s plans to head to Northern Arizona University to complete his master’s thesis on the eastern North American subspecies of purple martin. The migratory bird, which molts in the Amazon Basin and then flies north to breed in North America, has declined over the past five decades, at a rate of almost 1 percent a year. But why? Branco and his advisors in both the United States and Brazil suspected the birds were being contaminated by a specific heavy metal prevalent in their wintering home in South America. (via Smithsonian)
11. Good news from Down Under: The federal government has confirmed its commitment to tackling Australia's extinction crisis by announcing a plan to strengthen protections of globally important waters off the south-east coast. An area roughly the size of Germany is set to be added to Australia's protected marine zones, safeguarding the future of millions of penguins, seals and sea birds on Macquarie Island. The remote and rugged island, halfway between the main island of Tasmania and Antarctica, hosts up to 100,000 seals and 4 million penguins, including the royal penguin, which is found nowhere else in the world. Its shores are the breeding ground for several species of albatross, including the endangered Grey-headed Albatross, and an abundance of sea life that visit its waters, including whales. (via ABC News)
12. And then there is this from Down Under - A “plague” or a “free weeding service”? Read on: Clouds of corellas are filling the skies across parts of Victoria, South Australia, and southern New South Wales, creating a cacophony of sound and more than a few headaches for farmers and councils. They damage sporting grounds, strip seals and fittings from buildings, dig up crops, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Councils have tried various programs to deal with the problem, ranging from replanting ovals with different grasses to firing off "sound cannons". But nature writer and ABC wildlife expert Tanya Loos says the birds cannot be blamed for their prevalence. (via ABC News)
13. Travel alert - A birding destination to consider: With a such a wide range of exciting bird families being found here, any time spent in the field in Sabah is likely to yield some wonderful sightings. A range of excellent lodges with great facilities offer opportunities to watch terrific birds from the forest floor right up to the high canopy tops. Sabah is located in the north of Borneo and is home to 688 bird species, boasting 33 endemics among these. It is one of the best birding and wildlife areas in Malaysia with a global appeal for travellers and birders of all abilities. May to October is considered the best period for viewing the fruit-eating species, as this is when they breed. (via BirdGuides)
14. And another – If it is a cruise you are looking for, there’s this: While destinations like Daintree National Park and Lake Wollumboola have earned worldwide acclaim for their incredible bird diversity, there’s one particularly fascinating Australian region that tends to fly under the radar when it comes to ecotourism. Known as The Kimberley, this sprawling slice of Western Australia coastline is a veritable paradise for hardcore birders and casual nature lovers alike. While it’s possible to explore this region by car, seafaring offers an incredible perspective on the coast, allowing visitors to access isolated islets that would be hard to experience otherwise—and fortunately, Abercrombie & Kent's Kimberley Cruise is perfectly equipped to deliver the perfect journey, offering a seamless blend of immersive ecotourism and lavish amenities. (via Forbes)
15. Finally, check out this prize-worthy picture: “Wherever there’s salmon there’s going to be chaos.” This was Karthik Subramaniam motto as he camped out near the shore of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Alaska, waiting for action. It was the final day of his week-long photography trip and just a few hours before his ferry departed, but the software engineer-turned-hobbyist photographer stayed, watching as bald eagles swooped in and out of the fishing grounds. Haines, Alaska, a southern tip of land sandwiched between two inlets, hosts the largest congregations of bald eagles in the world every fall, when around 3,000 arrive in time for the salmon run. This choice spot put the eagles in proximity to the shore, where their peers would sometimes arrive with the spoils of a successful hunt: a freshly caught salmon. (via National Georgraphic)
Bird Photo of the Week
Photo by Hap Ellis, Willet – Longboat Key, FL.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Mark Lewis Phd, “FPV drone flies with red-winged blackbird swarm”.
And if you want to learn more: “Blackbird swarm video shows normal behavior” (via AP News)
Cornell Live Bird Cam - West Texas Feeder.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Ontario Feeder.