Monthly Archives: March 2012

Return of a Classic Beetle

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“The last documented American burying beetle in Missouri was collected from Newton County (southwest Missouri) in the mid-1970s,” says a US Fish and Wildlife press release. “Historically, It was recorded in 35 states, including 13 counties throughout Missouri, and was most likely found throughout the state.”

In June, the federally endangered beetle will return to the Missouri prairie, with the reintroduction of American burying beetles bred at the St. Louis Zoo. The zoo-bred beetles will be released on The Nature Conservancy’s Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie (link to more info about the reintroduction).

Local news reports seem to be focusing on the fact that this population has been declared “experimental,” so the usual Endangered Species Act protections don’t apply.
Springfield News-Leader
St. Louis Public Radio

Photo courtesy of US Forest Service

When the Weather is for the Birds

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Black vulture range lags behind climate change

The Black Vulture has expanded its range northward and now occurs in parts of Massachusetts where the minimum winter temperature is similar to that in Baltimore, Maryland in 1975. Photo by Liz Malyszek

Citizen scientists noticed the impact of a mild winter in the United States and Canada this year, reflected in the species composition of the birds tallied during the Great Backyard Bird Count, reports an article in ScienceNow, the online news service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). You can also read the press release from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

However, birds are not responding quite so quickly to overall climate trends, says a paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology (fee or subscription required to view entire article). It’s more work from the Cornell Lab of O, but this time the press release is from Cornell University.

Chronic Wasting Disease Update

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CWD risk in Ontario

Three more cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) were confirmed in wild white-tailed deer in Missouri last week. These deer had been killed within two miles of the free-ranging deer found to have CWD last fall.

Read the Missouri Department of Conservation press release, here.

The situation in Virginia is similar. “Two new cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) have been detected very close to where CWD-infected deer were found in 2009 and 2010,” the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries press release says.

CWD has been found in mule deer in New Mexico for 10 years, but this year it was detected in deer not far from El Paso, Texas, which has the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on alert. Read an article about this in the Lonestar Outdoor News.

There’s no CWD in Ontario, Canada yet, but they are keeping an eye out for it, since it has been found in the neighboring US states of New York, Minnesota and Michigan. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources recently released a seven-page report about its surveillance program. (Be forewarned, that link will pop up a sizable PDF.)

Happy Bird Day to You

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No, today is not your Bird Day. International Migratory Bird Day is typically on the second Saturday in May, with adjustments encouraged to make sure birds are migrating through your area on the day you celebrate. (It’s the second Saturday in October, south of the equator.)

This year, the second Saturday is May 12, but the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, for example, will be celebrating on May 5.

The day is organized by Environment for the Americas, and it was founded by Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. The Bird Day website as event ideas, sample press releases and more.

It’s as good an excuse as any to shine the spotlight on your department’s migratory bird research.

March Roundup of New Research

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Spring is here and a bunch of wildlife surveys are underway around the country.

In Delaware:
-It’s the fifth and final year of the Delaware Breeding Bird Atlas.
-A special effort is being made in 2012 to tally owls as part of the atlas.
–Horseshoe crabs are being tallied again, and volunteers are being trained.
-The annual osprey count is offering a volunteer training for the first time since 2007.

Maryland is two years in to four years of surveys for an amphibian and reptile atlas and is looking for volunteers.

In Kansas, they are searching for lesser prairie chicken breeding areas, or leks, from the air with helicopters. Field crews will train on March 29-31 and conduct official survey work across all of western Kansas until the middle of May. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is also asking people to report leks. The survey is part of a five-state effort, and the survey technique will be evaluated.

In North Dakota, the Game and Fish Department has launched a two-year study of white-tailed deer in intensely farmed agricultural areas.

In Maine, biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife have visited up to 100 dens each winter for 37 years, making the survey in the nation’s oldest radio-collar monitoring program for bears. This year the Maine Sunday Telegram wrote a story about it, with lots of pics. Read it here.

And in Washington, commuters have been reporting wildlife sightings for over a year on the I-90 corridor in anticipation of road improvements. The project’s first annual report was released recently, generating articles in the Everett Herald  and The Seattle Times, and coverage other media.

Photo of I-90 Wildlife Watch billboard by Paula MacKay/Western Transportation Institute, used by permission.

Federal Wind Project Guidelines Finalized

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It has taken five years, but a new set of guidelines to protect wildlife from the impacts of  land-based wind energy projects was announced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service today. If, looking them over, they seem familiar, that is because the draft guidelines were made available for comment last July.

The guidelines were developed by a committee made up of representatives from the wind power industry, non-government environmental organizations, and state wildlife departments. (There was also one representative of native tribes.)

These are just guidelines, with no regulatory teeth.

You can find the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s landing page for the wind guideline information — which includes a press release, a fact sheet, and the guidelines themselves, here.

Photo credit: Joshua Winchell, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Federal Wind Project Guidelines Finalized

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It has taken five years, but a new set of guidelines to protect wildlife from the impacts of  land-based wind energy projects was announced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service today. If, looking them over, they seem familiar, that is because the draft guidelines were made available for comment last July.

The guidelines were developed by a committee made up of representatives from the wind power industry, non-government environmental organizations, and state wildlife departments. (There was also one representative of native tribes.)

These are just guidelines, with no regulatory teeth.

You can find the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s landing page for the wind guideline information — which includes a press release, a fact sheet, and the guidelines themselves, here.

Photo credit: Joshua Winchell, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

4th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop

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Didn’t make it to the sold-out 4th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop, that started on March 20 and ends today in Missoula, Montana? The Missoulian has a brief round up, aimed at general readers. (Who knew that round doorknobs could be such a successful bear deterrent?)

If you want more info on human-bear conflicts, an excellent summary of the 3rd International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop (November 2009) is on-line.

More on the conference from the Missoulian: an article on a presentation on electricity (fences, mats) as a bear deterrent. Read it here.

Photo: Black bear courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

5 State Biologists Are USFWS Recovery Champions

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Christine Kelly

Every year the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) singles out its employees and partners who have made a difference in the recovery of endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. Yesterday the service recognized 17 individuals and organizations as 2011 Recovery Champions. Among that group were five state biologists who either were recognized as individuals or as part of a team.

The state wildlife biologists who were recognized as Recovery Champions for 2011 are:

David Lincicome, Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation

David Lincicome

Jeff Boechler, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as part of the Clackamas River Basin Bull Trout Team, Oregon
David Lincicome,Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, Tennessee, for leading the Tennessee Natural Heritage and Natural Areas Programs in restoring endangered and threatened plants such as Eggert’s sunflower and the Tennessee purple coneflower
Christine Kelly, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, for aiding the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel with launch poles to help the animals cross a road
Brian Kurzel, Colorado Natural Areas Program and Susan Spackman-Panjabi, Colorado Natural Heritage Program as part of the Colorado Rare Plant Conservation Initiative

Read more about their accomplishments in the USFWS press release announcing the awards, here.

Photo credits. The photo of Chris Kelly is by G Peeples. The photo of David Lincicome is by R. McCoy. Both used courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

March Wildlife Disease Roundup

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Things have actually been pretty quiet over the past month when it comes to wildlife diseases. The big news, of course, is white nose syndrome in Alabama, but there have been a few other stories worth noting.

Rabbits can get prion diseases. Once it looked like they were immune to diseases in the family of mad cow and chronic wasting disease, but the latest research shows they can get it. (See the original paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.)

At least one frog species, the Pacific chorus frog, is a carrier of chytrid fungus, a recent study found. Read the LiveScience story via MSNBC. The study was published recently in PLoS ONE, read it here. Or read the San Francisco State University press release, here.

A wolf suffering from parvovirus was discovered in Idaho. Parovirus effects all canids, including domestic dogs. There is a vaccine for the disease available for dogs. Read the Idaho Department of Fish and Game press release here.

Also, there has been an outbreak of canine distemper in gray foxes in Michigan.

For birds:
The red tides on the Gulf coast of Texas have caused the deaths of redhead ducks.
The death of eider ducks on Cape Cod (Massachusetts) has been pinned on a virus, named Wellfleet Bay virus.
Ten wild turkeys were found dead from avian pox, a virus, in southeast Montana.

Finally, back in late February, brucellosis, a cattle disease, was found in elk in Montana.

Photo: A Pacific chorus frog. Credit: Joyce Gross