Tag Archives: wildlife

Talking Turkey

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Wildlife Health Unit is asking turkey hunters to be on the lookout for lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV). The virus, which causes lesions similar to the ones seen in the oh-so-common avian pox, was first confirmed in New York this spring.

Perhaps because of its resemblance to avian pox, LPDV has only been discovered in wild turkeys in the United States recently, when it had previously only been known in domestic turkeys in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, according to the quarterly newsletter from the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. The newsletter also suggests that LPDV is more likely to cause lesions or nodules on a turkey’s legs or feet than the more common avian pox is.

Read the NYS DEC’s first request for more information on LPDV, here. (2nd item)
Read the department’s more recent request, here.
Read the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Briefs, here. It includes some details about what LPDV looks like under a microscope.

There will be no State Wildlife Research News on Thursday or Friday of this week because of the holiday. Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Photo: a healthy Rio Grande wild turkey, photographed  by Robert Burton, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (For a photo of LPDV, see the NYS DEC write-up or the newsletter, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.)

Talking Turkey

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Wildlife Health Unit is asking turkey hunters to be on the lookout for lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV). The virus, which causes lesions similar to the ones seen in the oh-so-common avian pox, was first confirmed in New York this spring.

Perhaps because of its resemblance to avian pox, LPDV has only been discovered in wild turkeys in the United States recently, when it had previously only been known in domestic turkeys in the United Kingdom and the Middle East, according to the quarterly newsletter from the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. The newsletter also suggests that LPDV is more likely to cause lesions or nodules on a turkey’s legs or feet than the more common avian pox is.

Read the NYS DEC’s first request for more information on LPDV, here. (2nd item)
Read the department’s more recent request, here.
Read the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Briefs, here. It includes some details about what LPDV looks like under a microscope.

There will be no State Wildlife Research News on Thursday or Friday of this week because of the holiday. Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Photo: a healthy Rio Grande wild turkey, photographed  by Robert Burton, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (For a photo of LPDV, see the NYS DEC write-up or the newsletter, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.)

Stickers Help Fund 2015 Heron Survey

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According to the Heron Observation Network of Maine (HERON) blog:

The great blue heron was designated as a Species of Special Concern in Maine in 2007 due to a decline in breeding pairs along the coast. Little was known about the inland breeding population before 2009 when the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife ramped up its monitoring efforts by creating the Heron Observation Network.

Through HERON, volunteers across the state monitor known great blue heron colonies during the breeding season, collecting information that helps state biologists understand the species’ population trend and prioritize future conservation efforts.

In addition to the data collected by volunteers, it is important to periodically do a statewide aerial survey to find new heron colonies that may have recently popped up.

To help fund the next aerial survey, scheduled for 2015, HERON is partnering with Burly Bird (a Maine-based conservation sticker company) to create a UV-coated vinyl sticker that shows a black and white silhouette of a great blue heron.

The stickers can be purchased from the Burly Bird website or through the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s online store.

The Maine Sun-Journal covered the story, here.

Spills Are Sandy’s Latest Wildlife Impact

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The New York State Department of Wildlife Conservation (DEC) is reporting some oiled birds as a result of an oil spill on a Hudson River tributary in Kingston, NY.

More details about the spill are available from the Watershed Post and a report from the Hudson River’s Riverkeeper.
Read the Watershed Post piece, here.
And see the Riverkeeper site for more information about non-point source pollution in the area affected by Sandy.

There is also an oil spill in the Arthur Kill, a narrow waterway between Staten Island and New Jersey. The Hudson Valley Press Online is reporting a spill and clean-up at a local oil company on the Arthur Kill and nearby waterways. Read the story, here.

It appears a nearby marina is stumped by by the appearance of oil. New Jersey News 12 offers a brief write-up and a clip. See it here.

The New York State DEC also announced that shellfishing is closed off Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties until next week because of sewage in the water. Read the details in the NYS DEC press release, here.

Photo: DEC staff rescuing a great blue heron harmed by an oil spill in the Hudson Valley after Hurricane Sandy. Photo used courtesy of NYS DEC.

New Leaders for Minn. Wildlife

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According to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources press release:

Paul Telander of Bemidji, a 28-year wildlife management veteran of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has been named the Fish and Wildlife Division’s new Wildlife Section chief. His new duties begin Wednesday, Dec. 5…. He replaces Dennis Simon, who retired in September…. Telander will oversee a $47.2 million annual Wildlife Section budget and a staff of 220 full-time and 81 part-time employees.

 

You can read the entire release, here.

The Minnesota DNR has also hired an elk expert to lead its big game program. Leslie McInenly will have the lead responsibility for managing deer, elk and moose seasons and populations in the state. She will also work with stakeholders to modify and improve seasons and regulations to address the expectations of a diverse public, the MDNR press release states.

Read the entire release, here.

Wyoming Won’t Cull Deer After CWD Found

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deer with chronic wasting diseaseChronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease affecting deer, has been found in a new region of Wyoming, about 40 miles away from an area in Utah where CWD had recently been found.

A Wyoming Game & Fish Department press release says that the state will not try to reduce the number of deer in the area where the diseased deer was found. This technique was successfully used in New York State, which may be the only place CWD has been eradicated after it had been found in wild deer populations.

The Wyoming release cites research from Wisconsin and Colorado showing that the technique doesn’t work as its reason for not using it.

Read the press release here.

Photo: deer with chronic wasting disease. It’s teeny tiny because nobody wants to get a good look at a sick deer. Courtesy of the US Department of Agriculture

Hurricane Sandy and Wildlife

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Normally it takes a few weeks after a major natural disaster for the media to turn its attention to the impacts on wildlife. With Hurricane Sandy, some stories have popped up already.

This one is on the impact of hurricanes on shorebirds from National Geographic. (The impact is generally not significant, the article says.) Read the article here.

The survival and movement of one particular non-native species is getting a lot of attention: rats in New York City. The take-away? Many rats likely survived, migrating to the surface from their underground burrows, although young pups probably didn’t. Trash and debris on the streets will likely mean plenty of food, but an unprecedented event like Sandy in NYC means no one really knows what will happen.

Read the AFP story on Space Daily, of all places.

In other non-native species news, the Seattle PI reports that all 135 of the Chincoteague ponies, which live on barrier islands in Virginia, made it through the storm. Read the story here.

Nothing, yet, from the hardest hit areas in New Jersey and New York, but that is not a surprise.

Photo: NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image Sandy’s massive circulation on Oct. 29 at 18:20 UTC (2:20 p.m. EDT). Sandy covers 1.8 million square miles, from the Mid-Atlantic to the Ohio Valley, into Canada and New England. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

Wolf News

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Generally we don’t cover wolves because the news has more to do with politics than with scientific research. However, wolves have been in the news a lot these last few months, as several states had their first wolf hunting seasons, and state wildlife departments play a starring role, so it makes sense to at least round-up some of these stories. Fittingly, the first one is:

Minnesota wolf management is based on sound science and conservation principles
In response to a petition to stop the state’s first wolf hunt, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued this press release. (Press release)

Wolves kill bear hounds in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources notices aren’t on-line, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a similar notice. Find the link to the records mentioned, here.

Wolf season closes in one of Montana’s management districts
(Flathead Beacon)

Wyoming wolf hunt began Oct. 1
(Wyoming Star Tribune)

Fish and Game Commission Vote Clears Way for Further Study of Wolf Status
The California Fish and Game Commission will perform a 12-month status review of the gray wolf before deciding if it warranted endangered species status. (Press release)

Mexican Wolf Not a Subspecies, Feds Say
WildEarth Guardians press release, here.
Federal Register, here.

Guarding Sheep to Save Wolves
A New York Times article on a Defenders of Wildlife program to use nonlethal deterrents to keep wolves away from sheep.

News from the Wyoming wolf hunt
(Jackson Hole Daily)

Classes preach caution during Montana’s first trapping season
(Missoula Independent)

Hunters ready for 1st wolf hunts in Wis., Minn.
(Associated Press/Seattle Times)
(Also, Wisc. hunt in Chippawa Herald)

Wolves play a role in Okanogan County (Washington) elections
(Wenatchee World)

Wildlife groups step up to stop [Minnesota] wolf hunts
(Minnesota Daily)

Big mamas help wolf pups thrive [in Yellowstone]
(Billings Gazette)

Oregon wolf collaring and depredation records
(Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Minnesota DNR studies wolf behavior as hunting season approaches
(Minnesota Public Radio)

Recent killing in Washington reignites wolves-livestock debate
(AP/Bellingham Herald)

Photo of gray wolf by Gary Kramer, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Lynx and Bobcat in Northeast

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There are lynx sightings in Vermont and a new bobcat management plan in New York.

In New York, the bobcat management plan offers a road map for managing the species over the next five years. Bobcat numbers in the state are up, the report says:

All indications, including harvest trends, suggest that bobcats have increased in abundance here and in surrounding states, and observations have become more common in recent years. Based on analysis of harvest data, we estimate New York’s bobcat population to be approximately 5,000 animals in areas where regulated hunting and trapping seasons have been in place since the 1970s. Estimates are not available for populations expanding into western and central New York.

Because of this, the plan includes opening some new areas of the state to bobcat hunting and changing the bobcat hunting season in other areas for the sake of consistency. The report also mentions investigating the possibility of reestablishing bobcats on Long Island, in the urban southeast corner of the state.

Find a link to the management plan and a short description of it on the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s website, on the bobcat page, here.

In Vermont, it’s the rural northwest corner of the state that is seeing an increase of lynx sightings, according to the blog of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Ecological Services.

A total of eight lynx track intercepts were recorded during two survey efforts in February and March. The track patterns and genetic analysis indicated three to five distinct individuals, some of which were traveling together.

The animals traveling together were likely a mother and her young, the blog says, which suggests a breeding population in the area.

Read the entire blog post, here.

Photo: Lynx track, courtesy Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department

Tracking Gas Impact on Bald Eagles

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There wasn’t a study of the impact on natural gas extraction on bald eagles before operations started in anticline region of the Green River Valley of Wyoming, so a new study will closely examine which habitats bald eagles in the area are using, and which they are not using, says an article in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

The study is being conducted by Bryan Bedrosian of Craighead Beringia South, a non-profit science and education institute, and Susan Patla of the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, the article says. According to the Craighead Beringia South website, the Bureau of Land Management is another partner in the study.

The research team has attached a solar-powered, rechargeable GPS/satellite tracking devices to six bald eagles, with the stated goal of tracking 12 bald eagles in total. The study is expected to last six years.

Details of the trapping method are described in the Jackson Hole News & Guide article. Read it here.
More details about the study are available on the Craighead Beringia South website. Here. (Includes a slideshow.)
See where the eagles with transmitters are flying, here.