Category Archives: birds

19 New Protected Species in Nova Scotia

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plymouth gentianNineteen new species have been added to Nova Scotia’s list of species at risk, bringing the total listed in the province to 60, according to a Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources press release and a CBC News report.

Three bat species are on the list, including the little brown bat, the northern bat and the tri-colored bat, which are all listed as endangered. Three bird species have been added to the list as endangered: the barn swallow, Bicknell’s thrush, Canada warbler, and the rusty blackbird. The olive-sided flycatcher and the eastern whip-or-will have been listed as threatened.

The black ash tree is listed as threatened. There are only 12 known mature trees in the province, the department press release says.

For the complete list of species, see the Nova Scotia DNR website, here. (New species are marked with the year 2013.)

Read the Nova Scotia DNR press release here.
Read the CBC News story here.
The web page with the complete list of at risk species is here.

Photo: The Plymouth gentian has been listed as endangered in Nova Scotia. Courtesy of the Nova Scotia DNR.

Sage Grouse and Antelope Down in South Dakota

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Sage Grouse vs transmission linesThe sage grouse population has fallen in South Dakota in recent years, reports an Associated Press story in the Daily Journal. To let the population rebound, the state’s Game, Fish and Parks Commission decided not to have a sage grouse hunting season this year.

Read the Daily Journal article, here.

The state’s antelope population has not rebounded after a recent decline, but in that case the state will limit hunting licenses for firearms to South Dakota residents, the Mitchell Daily Republic reports. Archery hunting licenses will be available to residents and nonresidents.

Read the Daily Republic article, here.

Photo: Greater sage grouse by Stephen Ting. Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Avian Salmonella in Montana

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Red_CrossbillThe Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks has reported an avian salmonella outbreak in Billings, Montana, the Billings Gazette reports.

Wildlife managers were tipped off to a problem by a large number of dead birds in people’s backyards, the article says. One homeowner found 50 dead birds. Some of the dead birds were sent to the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin and were diagnosed with avian salmonella.

Both the article and information from the National Wildlife Health Center say that humans are susceptible to some strains of salmonella that infect birds, so people should use caution when cleaning bird-feeders in a 10 percent beach solution — preferable in a bucket outside.

“Most of the dead birds are red crossbills.” the Gazette article says, noting that this species is particularly susceptible to salmonella.

Read the Billings Gazette article here.
Read the National Wildlife Health Center fact sheet here. (PDF)

Photo: This red crossbill is in the Deschutes National Forest Located in Oregon and does not have salmonella. By Dave Menke, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Geolocators in The Auk

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Auk 4 13 coverGeolocators are a relatively new tool that allows researchers to track the movements of small animals, such as birds.

Instead of sending and receiving a radio signal, geolocators record the angle of sunlight at given hours of the day. You must collect the geolocator unit to retrieve the data. Without the send and receive functions, the unit can be much smaller than other tracking devices. Geolocators have been used even on small songbirds. An algorithm lets you translate the sun angle at a given time into a latitude.

Clearly, it’s a technology with a lot of potential and a lot of limitations. If you are interested in how geolocators can inform your own research, check out the April issue of The Auk, which contains two special sections on geolocator research. The issue’s introductory article is a primer on geolocators, and it’s open access. Read it here.

Geolocators in The Auk

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Auk 4 13 coverGeolocators are a relatively new tool that allows researchers to track the movements of small animals, such as birds.

Instead of sending and receiving a radio signal, geolocators record the angle of sunlight at given hours of the day. You must collect the geolocator unit to retrieve the data. Without the send and receive functions, the unit can be much smaller than other tracking devices. Geolocators have been used even on small songbirds. An algorithm lets you translate the sun angle at a given time into a latitude.

Clearly, it’s a technology with a lot of potential and a lot of limitations. If you are interested in how geolocators can inform your own research, check out the April issue of The Auk, which contains two special sections on geolocator research. The issue’s introductory article is a primer on geolocators, and it’s open access. Read it here.

City Life Changes Birds

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Euro blackbirdThe bright lights (and noise) of the big city haven’t just made the days of songbirds longer, they have thrown a wrench in the birds’ circadian rhythms, researchers studying European blackbirds have found. The study, which is in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that city birds wake up 30 minutes earlier than their forest counterparts and stay up nine minutes later after dark.

When brought into the lab, the city birds still started their days earlier, but their sleep and rest cycles were off.

Read the journal paper, here.
Read coverage of the study from the BBC, here.
And read the Atlantic Cities blog post, here.

Photo: European black bird by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

City Life Changes Birds

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Euro blackbirdThe bright lights (and noise) of the big city haven’t just made the days of songbirds longer, they have thrown a wrench in the birds’ circadian rhythms, researchers studying European blackbirds have found. The study, which is in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that city birds wake up 30 minutes earlier than their forest counterparts and stay up nine minutes later after dark.

When brought into the lab, the city birds still started their days earlier, but their sleep and rest cycles were off.

Read the journal paper, here.
Read coverage of the study from the BBC, here.
And read the Atlantic Cities blog post, here.

Photo: European black bird by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

Tracking a Bird Eye Disease

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House Finch with eye diseaseHouse finch eye disease, which was first struck in the 1990s, unexpectedly became more virulent over time, says a paper published this week by PLoS Biology. It was a less virulent strain, however, that spread west across the country. But once it became established in California, it became more virulent.

“For the disease to disperse westward, a sick bird has to fly a little farther, and survive for longer, to pass on the infection. That will select for strains that make the birds less sick,” said Dana Hawley of Virginia Tech, the lead author of the study in a Cornell Lab of Ornithology press release.

By 1998 the House Finch population in the eastern United States had dropped by half—a loss of an estimated 40 million birds, the release says. The disease does not kill birds directly, but it makes them easy targets for predators.

Read the Cornell press release here.
Read the PLoS biology paper here.

Photo: Male house finch with eye disease, by David Smith. Used courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Bald Eagles Up in 3 States

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Bald_EagleBald eagle numbers are up in Georgia and Massachusetts, and a Wisconsin county has seen its first bald eagle nest in over 100 years.

In Wisconsin, an article in the Kenosha News reported that Seth Fisher, a Department of Natural Resources wildlife technician, flew over the nest, which is on private property in the southern part of Racine County. “It’s exciting to have this be the first nest in a long time this far south” in this region of the state, the article quotes Fisher as saying.

In Georgia, bald eagle surveys in January and March found 166 occupied nesting territories, 124 successful nests and 185 young fledged, according to a Department of Natural Resources press release. That’s an increase from last year’s 163 nesting territories and 121 successful nests, the release says, while the number of eaglets fledged dropping slightly from 199.

The Quabbin Reservoir and the Connecticut River remain the strongholds of the Massachusetts bald eagle population, the Worcester News Telegram reports. There is still plenty of unoccupied bald eagle habitat on the state’s ocean coastline, the article quotes Joan Walsh, coordinator of the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas for Mass Audubon as saying.

There were 107 bald eagles in the state during the last count, in 2011 and there were 38 nests last year, the News Telegram article says. Preliminary results from the state’s first spring survey suggested the state’s bald eagle population would continue to increase.

Read the Kenosha News article, here.
Read the Georgia DNR press release here.
Read the Worcester News Telegram, here.

Photo: Bald eagle, by Dave Menke, used courtesy of the USFWS.

 

Thousands of Grebes Crash in Utah Desert

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eared grebe utahSome 5,000 eared grebes mistook pavement for water at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, the Salt Lake City Tribune reports. Hundreds of the birds died after their hard landing. Because the birds cannot take flight from dry land, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources personnel collected the living birds and transported them to nearby ponds.

Other birds were treated for their injuries or euthanized, the Tribune article says. The article also notes that the night was foggy, the pavement was wet and the grebes were on their spring migration to the Great Salt Lake.

The article also notes that 17 months ago migrating eared grebes crashed in a Wal-Mart parking lot, where about 1,500 of the grebes died.

Read the Salt Lake City Tribune article here.
Check out the slide show with the article, which includes beautiful grebe photos and state wildlife staffers at work.
Read a Utah DWR newsletter on loons and grebes.

Photo Copyright Nicky Davis. Eared grebe in happier times. Photo used courtesy of the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources.