Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2018 i BirdWatching

At the fall birding festival in Cape May, New Jersey, in October, I took to heart a sentiment expressed by a couple of banquet speakers: In the face of recent relentless attacks on laws and regulations protecting wildlife, public lands, and the environment, we birders have to stick together and stand up for the natural world. So, whatever it is that you do for birds, thank you. If you call your senators and representatives to oppose fee increases at national parks, the reductions of national monuments, or attacks on the Endangered Species Act, thank you. If you marched to oppose a border wall that would destroy Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge and other green spaces along the southern border, thank you. If you educate your children or grandchildren or students…

In 2006, a group of researchers led by the author and North Carolina State ecologist Rob Dunn published a paper explaining what they called the “pigeon paradox.” They explained that with the potential extinction of thousands of species in the next 50-100 years, “conservation may increasingly depend on the ability of people in cities to maintain a connection with nature.” Urban residents, they suggested, interact mostly with urban ecosystems and animals such as feral pigeons, and the corresponding disconnect from the broader natural world jeopardizes financial and political support for conservation and environmental issues. A new study published in November by the journal Urban Ecosystems suggests that our most common North American raptor, Red-tailed Hawk, may play a part in mitigating the pigeon paradox. In the summer of 2016, researchers…

Fourteen days at sea. Our goal was almost in sight. And conditions were deteriorating by the minute. Winds whipped up white caps on the sea, and a dangerous 10-foot swell was coming broadside. It was early morning in April 2017, but there would be no sunrise — just low clouds and a building gale. The captain pulled us into a more-orless protected spot at Gough Island. It’s one of the most remote islands in the world, eight uninhabited and rarely visited miles of cliffs and loneliness. Halfway between Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro, it’s a difficult place to get to, and it’s prohibited to go ashore. Six hermitted, hardy souls run a weather station in the distant outpost. They may be alone, but they have lots of company. Gough…

hiwassee wildlife refuge birchwood, tennessee 35°24'0.14"N 84°59'23.86"W This refuge in the southeastern corner of Tennessee attracts a variety of birds due to its combination of cultivated and forested landscapes. Wetlands and edges further enhance the habitat diversity attractive to numerous bird species. Many songbirds breed at Hiwassee, including Yellowbreasted Chat and Summer Tanager. Seventeen species of migrant shorebirds have been observed along with King Rail. American White Pelican, Common Loon, and Yellowcrowned Night-Heron are a few of the species that can be seen here but that are not easily found elsewhere in the region. Winter is the most popular time to bird the refuge. You’ll see dabbling ducks such as Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, and Northern Shoveler. Canvasback, Redhead, and Common Goldeneye are some of the more sought-after diving ducks. Osprey…

Every winter when the snow flies, salt descends. More than 22 million tons of road salt is spread over roads and sidewalks every year in the United States. Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, preventing ice from forming over a wider range of temperatures. A Marquette University study found that spreading salt on roads and highways reduces car accidents by 87 percent during and after a snowstorm. Table salt is obviously non-toxic, though harmful and even dangerous when we eat too much. Excessive salt spread on roads and sidewalks is also harmful. It corrodes concrete and steel, damaging vehicles, roads, and bridges. It also runs off into lakes, rivers, and streams and works its way into groundwater, where high chloride levels caused by road-salt runoff harm aquatic plants and…

EXCLUSIVE FOR READERS OF OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS hiwassee wildlife refuge birchwood, tennessee ramsey canyon preserve hereford, arizona Watch for bonus digital content with our March-April 2018 issue, available on February 27! RETURN TO MAGAZINE…

Monte Vista Crane Festival Each spring, thousands of Sandhill Cranes stop over in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley on their way north. Participants in this three-day event will view the cranes, as well as ducks, geese, and raptors at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. A photography workshop will be offered. March 9-11. Audubon’s Nebraska Crane Festival Attendees of this event in Kearney will be able to visit Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary to watch thousands of Sandhill Cranes on the Platte River at sunrise or sunset. Full- and half-day birding excursions are also offered. Or take a trip north into the Sandhills prairie ecosystem to view Greater Prairie-Chickens or Sharptailed Grouse. March 22-25. Othello Sandhill Crane Festival This event, in southeastern Washington State, gives visitors the opportunity to view the 35,000 Sandhill…

GALÁPAGOS PENGUIN Endangered Rábida Island, Galápagos Islands January 24, 2003 MAGELLANIC PENGUIN Near Threatened Magdalena Island, Tierra del Fuego December 2, 2005 GENTOO PENGUIN Least Concern Drake Passage January 9, 2006 CHINSTRAP PENGUIN Least Concern Half Moon Island, Antarctica January 10, 2006 MACARONI PENGUIN Vulnerable Half Moon Island, Antarctica January 10, 2006 ADÉLIE PENGUIN Least Concern Torgersen Island, Antarctica January 11, 2006 KING PENGUIN Least Concern South Georgia Island October 20, 2009 SOUTHERN ROCKHOPPER PENGUIN Vulnerable Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands November 3, 2009 EMPEROR PENGUIN Near Threatened Antarctic Sound January 15, 2010 AFRICAN PENGUIN Endangered Robben Island, South Africa June 10, 2011 FIORDLAND PENGUIN Vulnerable South Island, New Zealand November 21, 2014 ERECT-CRESTED PENGUIN Endangered Antipodes Island, New Zealand November 29, 2014 ROYAL PENGUIN Near Threatened Macquarie Island, Australia…

Two chickadee species meet along a line stretching from New Jersey west to Kansas: Black-cappeds north of the line and Carolinas south of it. Where they meet, they interbreed, so the “pure” forms of the species are separated by a hybrid zone about 20 miles across. The fact that they interbreed doesn’t mean they’re the same species. The hybrids have lower breeding success and lower chances of survival than either of the parent species. So the hybrid zone stays narrow and acts as a kind of isolating mechanism. This hybrid zone has been gradually moving north. Historical information is sketchy and mostly unreliable, but we know that in Ohio, for example, a northward spread of Carolina Chickadee was apparent as long ago as the 1930s. More recently, very careful studies…

ramsey canyon preserve hereford, arizona 31°26'51.97"N 110°18'25.75"W Birders have long made pilgrimages to the southernmost parts of the American Southwest in search of birds at the northernmost edges of their ranges. In particular, southeastern Arizona is situated at the convergence of the Mexican Sierra Madre and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Because of its unique location, the area has remarkable biological diversity. Many southwestern specialty bird species that have specific habitat and elevation requirements can be found at the renowned Ramsey Canyon Preserve. The canyon is in the Huachuca Mountains, part of the “Sky Islands” — isolated mountains surrounded by lowlands — just north of Mexico. A spring-fed creek sustains a riparian area that hosts Painted Redstart, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Bridled Titmouse, Arizona Woodpecker, Mexican Jay, and Rivoli’s Hummingbird, among others.…

One More Warbler: A Life with Birds, by Victor Emanuel with S. Kirk Walsh, University of Texas Press, 2017, hardcover, 296 pages, $29.95. When he was 29 years old, Victor Emanuel was living in a subletted room in his friends’ rented house in Houston wondering what he should do with his life. A phone call changed everything. A man from Indiana who knew an acquaintance of Emanuel’s asked if he would take his sister and him birding for a day for $100. Emanuel agreed, setting himself on a path to establishing his own business that would become the largest company in the world specializing in birding tours. In One More Warbler, Emanuel shares memories of his remarkable, storied life. He recounts his sightings of Eskimo Curlew — “the bird of…

Q Why do male Ruffs have so many different plumages? — Edward Peters, Springfield, Massachusetts A Calidris pugnax is a mediumsize shorebird that breeds across northern Eurasia and winters in Africa and coastal areas across the Old World. Every year, some stray to North America, usually on the coasts and typically during spring and fall migration. Females Ruffs are sometimes called “Reeves.” Reeves are unassuming, with what could be considered the standard brownish, scalypatterned sandpiper plumage. Males outside the nesting season have a similar appearance. But breeding males can be spectacular, with boufant head plumes and elaborate fluffy feathers around the neck (in a ruff, hence the name). Many males have primarily dark plumage featuring black, brown, and rust colors, while about 20 percent of males are mostly light-plumaged with…

After the ugly occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge two years ago, we were delighted to discover Dwight Porter’s recordings of the natural sounds of the 293-square-mile preserve. The four tracks, totaling nearly an hour, include the booms of Common Nighthawk, as well as calls and songs of Northern Harrier, Sora, Horned Lark, Yellow-headed Blackbird, American Bittern, and Black-necked Stilt. Available on CD for $12 (plus shipping) or as a digital download for $9. See www.variedhush.com for ordering info.…

The final assessment of the impact that Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria had on birds in 2017 likely will not be known for many years, if a recently published report is any indication. In July 2005, the Category 4 Hurricane Emily struck Cozumel Island, located about 11 miles off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Three months later, a Category 5 storm, Hurricane Wilma, battered the island. The storms caused extensive damage to the island’s forests, including total defoliation, uprooted trees, and forest flooding. Twice in the year prior to the storms, scientists with the National Autonomous University of Mexico and an independent researcher from Cozumel caught understory forest birds in mist nets at six sites within an area of semi-deciduous tropical forest. After the hurricanes, they set up the…

Having officially entered Geezerdom, as evidenced by my first Social Security check, I deem it an appropriate time to set down my most memorable bird encounters, beginning with the first one in 1958. The March super storm that paralyzed the New York metropolitan area with snow prompted my mother to “help” the birds by tossing slices of nutritionally bankrupt white bread outside our two-story carriage house apartment. In my mind I carry vivid (but impossible) recollections of a snow-covered landscape transformed by a myriad of multicolored birds. In truth, given the date and location, Morristown, New Jersey, it is likely that only a handful of species were attracted. Blue Jay, American Crow, European Starling, House Sparrow. Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, and Northern Mockingbird had yet to become established…

BY CARTOGRAPHIC STANDARDS, Rincon, Costa Rica, barely merits a dot on the map. Its namesake, the Río Rincon, flows quietly past the area’s only building, a sleepy restaurant with a corroded beer sign and two concrete picnic tables hinting at habitation. The restaurant’s parking lot, rock strewn and dusty, was not the kind of place we expected to encounter one of the world’s rarest birds. Sunrise bleached the horizon as we gathered around Abraham Gallo like iron filings around a magnet. Gallo, a Costa Rican gold miner turned bird guide, had arrived while neighborhood bats were finishing the last of their pre-dawn cartwheels. Yes, he told us with a Spanish accent as thick as over-brewed coffee, he had seen the target bird just prior to sunrise, but it had since…

After watching migrant Swainson’s Thrushes refuel on fruiting shrubs in Michigan one fall, an observer felt a bit sorry for the plants. “After all that work producing fruit,” he said, “and the thrushes come in and wipe it out.” But he had it wrong. That’s exactly why shrubs produce fruit. In nature, it is common to see interactions between species that can be beneficial to both. Birds need food to eat, and plants need to disperse their seeds. “Let’s make a deal,” said some ancestral bird. “You put some delicious pulp around your seeds, and we’ll disperse them for you.” Scientists call these interactions symbiotic or, if the interactions are required by the species, mutualistic. The relationships develop over time as a result of co-evolutionary changes. One common plant strategy…