Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i BirdWatching

This issue is filled with stories of exploration and discovery, including one from me. The first comes from Chicagoland birder Beau Schaefer. Not satisfied with completing a single Big Day, he did no fewer than 33 Big Days between January 2013 and January 2016. The outings, he writes in “Big Day Lessons” (page 16), taught him lots about weather effects, seasonal variations, and birding by ear, but his most valuable discovery may have been about himself. “Doing Big Days has taught me that I like finding birds more than watching them,” he says. Perhaps this describes birding’s appeal to you as well. Our second discovery story comes from writer Hob Osterlund. In late 2013, she spent three sand-filled weeks counting nests on distant Midway Atoll, home of the largest population…

What can a hummingbird reveal about the health of a forest? Conservationists and forest-products companies will try to answer this question later this year in southwestern Oregon, on private forest lands in the Klamath Mountains. There, a two-year project is under way to assess and enhance forest management for more than 15 bird species of special concern — including Rufous Hummingbird. The species is relatively common and widespread, but its population has declined by two percent every year between 1968 and 2013, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. In the Klamath Mountains, the annual declines are more than three percent. Research points toward two trends: habitat loss and climate change, particularly recent droughts in the West, which reduce flowering of trees and shrubs. Once natural fires disturbed the…

By all accounts, this year’s installation of the famous Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, in Wausau, Wisconsin, was one of the best ever, and this beautiful painting by Utah artist Kathryn Ashcroft suggests why. The show closed on November 27, but you can still enjoy it. Sixty of the 112 paintings, sculptures, and graphics in the exhibition, including Ashcroft’s American Avocet, will be on tour throughout 2017. Here are venues and dates: Museum of York County Rock Hill, South Carolina www.chmuseums.org December 17, 2016-April 9, 2017 Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University Wichita Falls, Texas www.wfmamsu.org April 28-June 25, 2017 Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History Jamestown, New York www.rtpi.org July 15-August 27, 2017 Rockport Center for the Arts Rockport,…

TAGUS ESTUARY Salt marshes, cane thickets, tidal mudflats, saltpans, corkoak groves, and rice fields less than a half hour’s drive from Lisbon: Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Squacco and Purple Herons, Black-winged Kite, Little Bustard, Iberian Grey Shrike, and Spotless Starling, as well as ducks, waders, gulls, and terns. CASTRO VERDE Rolling plains and Holm oak groves in the Alentejo region: Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Montagu’s Harrier, Lesser Kestrel, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, European Roller, Calandra Lark, Rufous Bush Robin, and Blackeared Wheatear. Other regular species include Griffon and Black (Cinereous) Vultures. GUADIANA VALLEY NATURE PARK Bluffs, hills, and gorges in the southeastern corner of the Alentejo: Spanish Imperial Eagle, Golden and Bonelli’s Eagles, Griffon and Black Vultures, Black Stork, Eagle Owl, Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Blue Rock Thrush, and…

HABITAT Brackish marsh, cordgrass, mudflats, and open, coastal inlet. TERRAIN Flat, wide paved paths. Wheelchair-accessible. BIRDS More than 160 species. American Avocet, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, peeps, dowitchers, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, American Oystercatcher, Blackand Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, Purple Gallinule, King and Clapper Rails, Black Skimmer, Merlin, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Snowy Owl, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Northern Shoveler, diving ducks and mergansers, gulls and terns, Marsh Wren, Snow Bunting, Common Yellowthroat, Darkeyed Junco, Song, White-throated, and Swamp Sparrows, Common and Boat-tailed Grackles. WHEN TO GO Year-round. Best for shorebirds April- September. AMENITIES Benches, paved paths, and plank bridges. Shopping center offers free parking and restaurants. ACCESS State-regulated riverfront walkway. Open sunrise to sunset. Private property lines both sides of path; stay on walkway. Ice and severe cold may close walkway;…

The Red List published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the go-to database of the world’s imperiled species. Using standardized criteria, it categorizes each species along a spectrum of extinction risk ranging from Least Concern and Near-threatened to Endangered and Critically Endangered. Range size is one of the criteria used to assign categories, yet, as birders know, a species may not be present throughout the area delineated in its range map. Looking to improve the categorization process, a team led by conservation biologist Natalia Ocampo- Peñuela, of Duke University, recently used elevation data and high-resolution satellite imagery to identify potentially suitable habitat for hundreds of forest-dwelling birds across the tropics. The Red List labeled 18 percent of them as threatened. Not surprisingly, the refined ranges…

Events in April celebrate birds along the coast, along the central Flyway, and in the Hill County Atlanta Bird Fest Birders will look for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, warblers in the Georgia mountains, and shorebirds on the coast. Chris Wood, eBird project leader, and J. Drew Lanham, ecologist, author, and creator of the video “Rules for the Black Birdwatcher,” will speak. April 15-May 14 Wings ’N’ Wetlands Festival This fun two-day festival takes place only every other year. Registrants enjoy guided field trips to central Kansashotspots, including Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, at the peak of spring migration. Both locations are recognized as Wetlands of International Importance. April 28-29 Wings Over the Hills Nature Festival Attendees at this event in the Texas Hill Country will…

GLOBAL BIG DAY RECORD 6,334 species Reported to eBird by 17,242 participants worldwide on May 14, 2016. WORLD BIG DAY RECORD 431 species Recorded by Dušan Brinkhuizen, Rudy Gelis, Mitch Lysinger, and Tuomas Seimola at Cabañas San Isidro/Yanayacu, Guacamayos Ridge, Cocodrillos, Loreto Road, Jatun Sacha, the Tena airport, Napo River, Misahualli, Tena, Baeza, Guango, Papallacta, Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Salinas, Punta Carnero, and Ecuasal, Ecuador, on October 8, 2015. NORTH AMERICAN BIG DAY RECORD 294 species Recorded by Jessie Barry, Andy Farnsworth, Marshall Iliff, Tim Lenz, Brian Sullivan, and Chris Wood at Boerne, San Antonio Botanical Gardens, Mitchell Lake, Uvalde, Chalk Bluffs Park, Uvalde National Fish Hatchery, Uvalde Landfill, Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR, Eisenhower County Park, Anahuac NWR, High Island, Bolivar Peninsula, and Bolivar Flats, Texas, on April 25, 2013.…

On August 27, 2016, President Obama greatly expanded Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, in the Pacific Ocean. Until late October, when Antarctica’s Ross Sea was designated a marine reserve, Papahanaumokuakea was the largest protected marine area in the world. Midway Atoll, or Pihemanu, is located within the sanctuary. Nearly three million birds nest on Midway, including Bonin Petrels, endangered Laysan Ducks, and the largest population of albatross on the planet. According to the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, nearly 70 percent of the world’s Laysan Albatross and almost a third of all Black-footed Albatross nest on the atoll.…

Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer, by Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella, Princeton, 2016, cloth, 212 pages, £24.95, £18.95. The controversy has been raging for years now between those who oppose the lethal control of outdoor cats and those who see such measures as an essential element in protecting biodiversity. The data are clear that cats on the prowl, whether feral or owned, consume vast numbers of wildlife. The authors of this important new book cite a study that quantified the annual carnage in the United States: from 1.3 billion to 4 billion birds; 6.3 billion to 22.3 billion mammals; 95 million to 299 million amphibians; and 258 million to 822 million reptiles (Loss et al., 2013). The impacts on smaller landmasses can be devastating. One…

Q I’ve been seeing what I believe to be a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker. It has the same markings as an adult, but it’s grayish in color. It looks washed out. Is it a juvenile? — Zak Grimm, Fredericktown, Ohio A Grayish or brownish plumage in Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers is not unusual. Feathers are prone to fading as the months go by, and the loss can be particularly noticeable in black or dark feathers colored with the pigment melanin. Because birds replace their feathers once a year, the contrast between fresh new feathers and old faded feathers is frequently used to determine the age of a bird, especially by banders. Woodpeckers’ white feathers are also susceptible to becoming gray and dirty from soot or other substances. Adult birds probably…

Birders and scientists have long recognized two subspecies of Willet — and for many reasons. The breeding populations of each are widely separated. The eastern subspecies nests in coastal marshes primarily along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, while the western subspecies nests in wet prairies and grasslands in the western interior of the continent. The two subspecies sometimes co-mingle during migration, and the birds may also share wintering grounds in some areas, such as along the coasts of Central and South America. Geography aside, Eastern and Western Willets also differ physically. Eastern Willets are about 10 percent smaller than Western Willets. Their legs, necks, and wings are shorter, giving a generally more slender appearance, and their bills are a bit shorter and narrower than their western-breeding counterparts. Moreover, in winter…

Outdoor cats are a significant cause of injury and death to small animals and birds, as many permitted wildlife rehabilitators know well, yet the extent of the activity has gone underreported in the scientific literature. Seeking to document cats’ impact on wildlife admitted to rehabilitation facilities, veterinarians at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, a wild-animal hospital in Waynesboro, west of Charlottesville, recently examined a decade’s worth of admissions — nearly 21,000 records, describing over 11,000 small mammals and nearly 10,000 birds. Nearly 15 percent of the mammals and almost 14 percent of the birds admitted for treatment were due to catinteractions. Eighty-three species were represented in all, including 62 bird species. Because about 13 percent of admitted birds were unidentifiable, however, the number of cat-caught species may have been higher.…

Winter is anything but static. Yes, fall migration is for the most part over, and spring migration is pretty lean until March, when northbound waterfowl drive a wedge or a “V” into winter. But in winter, many birds are constantly shifting in response to food needs, opportunities, and territorial prerogatives, not to mention weather. Consider the Common Redpoll. Here in southern New Jersey, I have seen thousands of redpolls coming in off the Atlantic Ocean in February. Presumably, the birds faced depleted food stocks elsewhere and were driven south in search of untapped resources. A blanketing snowfall across northern states will propel wintering Red-tailed Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks southward two months after their fall migratory period has ended and mere weeks before their northern rebound begins. Speaking of which: Turkey…

It’s easy to see why the history of Portugal is one of exploration and discovery. Located at the outer edge of the Iberian Peninsula, the country sits west of not only the Mediterranean Sea but also the Strait of Gibraltar, all of France, and all of England, and it is bounded on two sides by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Who could grow up in this oceanfront corner of the continent, you wonder, without at least considering the call of the sea? School children everywhere learn that Portugal is the home of Vasco da Gama, discoverer of the sea route to India, and of Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed Brazil for his country, and of other daring explorers who sailed over the horizon and returned home heroes, after finding…

Although the official split of Bell’s Sparrow and Sagebrush Sparrow happened just in 2013, the forms have been the subject of controversy and confusion for years. As long ago as the 1890s, Joseph Grinnell struggled to figure out the status of the birds in southern California. He eventually described the paler sparrows of the Mojave Desert as the subspecies canescens, but he assumed that they were most closely related to the widespread form of the Great Basin, subspecies nevadensis. That was a logical assumption, too, based on overall similarity. At a glance, the darker birds of the coastal regions seem distinctly different from the more pallid birds of the dry country of the interior. But superficial appearance isn’t the deciding factor. Detailed analysis of DNA has shown conclusively that canescens…

HABITAT Marine habitat on waterfront and a mixed saltwater and freshwater marsh. TERRAIN Along waterfront, over a mile of flat, paved pathways that connect three beaches, a fishing pier, and jetty. At marsh, a paved pathway and wooden boardwalk and viewing platforms. BIRDS More than 250 species. Waterfront: Yearround: Belted Kingfisher, Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet. Summer: Caspian Tern, Osprey. Fall/winter: Brant, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Dunlin, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Surf Scoter. Marsh: Year-round: Anna’s Hummingbird, Bald Eagle, Bewick’s Wren, Northern Flicker, Wilson’s Snipe, Yellowrumped Warbler. Spring/fall: Least and Western Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Plover, Greater Yellowlegs. WHEN TO GO Waterfront best in fall and winter. Marsh good year-round; spring and summer for shorebirds. AMENITIES Restrooms, restaurants, and coffee shops on waterfront and within walking distance. Puget Sound Bird…

Birds have internal compasses that can determine directions from the sun’s position during the day, star patterns at night, and Earth’s magnetic field. A compass can guide birds to a region, but not to particular sites within it. For that, birds need a map. But science has never agreed on an acceptable navigational map. To function as a map, an environmental cue must be present in a gradient form, so birds can differentiate between levels or amounts in different areas. For example, the odor of an atmospheric gas might be greater at one place than another, or the intensity ofthe magnetic field might be stronger here, weaker there. Birds must have a map stashed somewhere in their brain that shows gradients of an environmental cue (or cues) as a spatial…

EXCLUSIVE FOR OUR DIGITAL READERS BONUS A RTICLE You can help a parrot! BirdWatching The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting your help monitoring 31 critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrots that were released at the Maricao Commonwealth Forest in Puerto Rico recently. The parrot is endemic to the island, and the only native parrot in the United States. Conservation professionals have been working toward the species’ reintroduction to the Maricao forest for more than 40 years. Puerto Rican Parrots were once abundant, but deforestation, predation, disease, and poaching caused the population to crash. In the 1970s,chicks and eggs were taken from the wild, and a collaborative effort between state and federal agencies began. Today, the population includes more than 500 birds distributed between state and federal facilities and two…