1. Arguably the most extraordinary migration story (which BNI covers yet again): Tens of thousands of bar-tailed godwits are taking advantage of favorable winds this month and next for their annual migration from the mud flats and muskeg of southern Alaska, south across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, to the beaches of New Zealand and eastern Australia. They are making their journey of more than 7,000 miles by flapping night and day, without stopping to eat, drink or rest. It is so extreme, and so far beyond what researchers knew about long-distance bird migration, that it has required new investigations. (via The New York Times)
2. Just off a splinter of land sitting midstream in Brazil’s Rio Negro, a crew of scientists in two boats intently scan the sky. The island, known locally as Ilha do Comaru, is submerged as it is every year in March, and only the trees’ crowns poke above the surface. A handful of Purple Martins dart by, their notched tails and angular wings splitting the heavy air. Then a flock amasses into avian clouds, the birds’ tempestuous movements like particles in Brownian motion. Vast numbers of the swallows pass through one roost in the heart of the Amazon before winging their way to North American birdhouses. Studying it could provide clues to the species' decades-long decline. (via Audubon Magazine)
3. Kind of fun (and funny) – you be the judge: I have driven and flown them places to look at birds for many years. I have only remained sane by keeping a mental list of weird but fascinating things about this hobby, and I am ready to share them with you! 1.First, please don't say "birdwatching." Birders go birding, and die a little inside when non-birders call it "birdwatching." I only put "birdwatching" in the title because my editor said people wouldn't understand it otherwise. 2.Birders are never defeated by lack of sleep. 3.When an unusual bird is spotted, or a common bird is spotted in an unusual place, the birders come out in DROVES. 4.Like when a Steller's sea eagle, normally seen in Asia, got lost and ended up in Maine in late 2021, more than 2,000 people traveled to Maine and Massachusetts to see her. (via Yahoo! Life)
4. Two takes on the same work – 1: A team of researchers led by a Brown University biologist has discovered new insights into how the woodpecker’s brain works. The discovery suggests their drums may have evolved through vocal learning, which is the same way that songbirds learn to make their own more melodious sounds. The researchers hypothesize that the same brain mechanisms that helped birds develop the motor control involved in creating and voicing songs is also what helped woodpeckers develop their drumming system of communication. (via Brown University)
5. Two takes on the same work – 2: To a woodpecker’s brain, drumming against a tree is a lot like birdsong. The findings reveal substantial similarities in the brain circuitry behind hearing and executing these two major acoustic activities in birds, meaning that they may be modifications of a shared evolutionary template. For some birds, vocalisations come naturally – a hawk doesn’t have to learn how to screech, for example. Songbirds and parrots, on the other hand, must listen to and mimic older birds to produce their tunes, and special circuits in the brain allow them to do this. (via New Scientist)
6. Amazing numbers: The hawks, tens of thousands of them each autumn, have been flying over Hawk Ridge here for centuries, maybe millennia, but it wasn’t always safe passage. In the 1930s and '40s, and probably before that, a few local residents would go to what was then called Hawk Hill with shotguns and boxes of shells and shoot raptors as they flew over on the migration south. Despite state laws against shooting hawks, and city ordinances against shooting birds within the city limits, the hawk killing continued into the 1940s. Birdwatchers and city officials would put up “no shooting” signs only to see them shot down. But the Members of the Duluth Bird Club club members persisted, and even patrolled the area during peak migration in fall to see that the laws were enforced. By 1951, the hawk shooting had stopped, for the most part, and the hawk counting began. As more people got more interested in hawks, the counting got more frequent. Bird experts and researchers showed up to count. On Sept. 15, 1961, Jan Green counted 15,000 hawks in one day, the record at that point. (via Duluth New Tribune)
7. Yet another story on the importance of this technology (spoiler alert: tiny geolocators): A joint plan to save an endangered bird species from extinction is benefitting from an experimental tool – tiny solar-powered backpacks. Plains wanderers are small, fawn-coloured, ground-dwelling birds with speckled throats that live in the semi-arid grasslands of north-western Victoria and the New South Wales Riverina. Recent estimates suggest there are between 500 and 1,000 plains wanderers left in the wild. The Australian government declared the plains wanderer critically endangered in 2015. Now 15 birds have been released into Oolambeyan national park in the NSW Riverina region. It was protected in perpetuity in 2002 due to its high conservation value as critical habitat for the plains wanderer. (via The Guardian)
8. Perfect example of the importance of stopover/waypoints during migration: Albania’s pelican colony was bouncing back. Now it faces the threat of a new airport. Half a dozen Dalmatian pelicans fly off as we approach the Narta lagoon, a marshland near Vlora in south-west Albania. Migratory birds use the lagoon as a stopover during their long journey between Africa and central and northern Europe. They are key Mediterranean wetlands, the type of habitat that covered much of the whole Albanian coast until Enver Hoxha’s dictatorial regime drained large swaths of it in the 1950s and 60s, in an attempt to eradicate malaria and develop the lowlands for agriculture. (via The Guardian)
9. Beyond sad: Uniquely coloured songbirds are at high risk of extinction, because they are in demand as pets, research has shown. The pet songbird trade in Asia has already driven several species close to extinction, with birds targeted primarily for their beautiful voices. Now a study has revealed that particular colours of plumage put birds at greater risk of being taken from the wild and sold. Researchers say breeding birds in captivity for the trade could help. "That won't work for all species," said lead researcher Prof Rebecca Senior, from the University of Durham. "But there's hope that we could shift the sourcing [of some pet birds] - so they're captive-bred rather than caught in the wild." Supplying, rather than fighting, the songbird trade might prove controversial, but these researchers say it could be a practical way to prevent species from being lost from the wild. (via BBC)
10. And so is this: The African grey parrot population in the wild is dwindling at a rate of 21% every year. Found in West and Central Africa, the birds are sold by illegal wildlife traders as exotic pets, and their natural habitat is being destroyed. Licensing policies and practices regulating ownership of the parrots are not widely known and rarely implemented. The birds face extinction in Ghana, with almost the entire population lost to trafficking. In 2017, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) moved the African grey to the list of species threatened with extinction, which prohibits trading except under exceptional circumstances. (via Eurasia Review)
11. But this is encouraging: There are hopes Britain's largest native bird of prey could be reintroduced to the Solway Coast. The white-tailed eagle was once common in the county more than 100 years ago but persecution and habitat changes led to their extinction in the UK. While there are successful breeding programs in parts of Scotland, conservation work has been carried out to reintroduce them on the Isle of Wight. The initial study looked at the suitability of the North Cumbria habitat as well as potential ecological impacts of introducing the birds, which could lead to a tourism boost. (via BBC)
12. As is this, but more money needed: The Department of the Interior today announced that more than $31 million in grants has been approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, which will conserve or restore 116,305 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds in 18 states. The grants, made through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), will be matched by more than $60 million in partner funds. In addition, the Commission, which is chaired by Secretary Deb Haaland, approved more than $13 million from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to conserve land on seven national wildlife refuges across seven states. (via Department of the Interior)
13. And this, but more quail likely needed: The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is beginning a program to restock quail in the state’s wild areas. Stocking is the process of raising birds up to a certain age before releasing them into a designated habitat. A total of 20,000 quail are set to be stocked in seven locations around the state through October with 12,000 already having been released since August. The program, called the “Governor’s Quail Stocking Initiative,” is of personal interest to Gov. Jim Justice, who is an avid fowl hunter. He said he hopes to see a regeneration of 10 to 30 percent in the state’s population. (via WPB Radio)
14. And finally, from Audubon: Birders and conservationists don’t take forests for granted. Audubon appreciates the rich biodiversity they support, and recognize the high stakes of cutting them down. Both are abundantly clear in The Fall 2022 Audubon Magazine’s cover story. The Northern Spotted Owl may have survived the Timber Wars of the 1980s and ’90s, but the aggressive logging of old-growth forests that first put the bird in peril left it vulnerable to new threats. Now, preventing its extinction will require drastic action—including shooting another member of its genus. Saving the Spotted Owl and other species will also require smart stewardship of the complex forest habitats where birds live. In this issue, we showcase landowners learning to conserve woodlands and land managers striving to make forests more resilient to climate change. We also follow one man on a highly personal quest: Jeff VanderMeer’s effort to rewild his forested backyard. (via Audubon)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Hap Ellis, Young Bald Eagle, Kennebunkport, ME.
Bird Videos of the Week
By BWB, “Birding Basics & Beyond: Birding Ethics & Etiquette”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - California Condor.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Savannah Great Horned Owl.