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The Birding Community E-bulletin
is distributed to active and concerned birders, those dedicated to the
joys of birding and the protection of birds and their habitats.
This issue is sponsored by the producers of superb quality birding binoculars and scopes, Carl Zeiss Sport Optics:
You can access an archive of past E-bulletins on the website of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA):
RARITY FOCUS
On
the morning of 9 November, a dark goose, presumed to be a bean-goose,
was observed by Lee Sliman, a volunteer at Nestucca Bay National
Wildlife Refuge on the northern Oregon coast. She asked refuge staff and
local birders to check out her identification, and they confirmed that
the goose that was accompanied by Cackling Geese was, indeed, a Tundra
Bean-Goose.
This species is very rare in North America, which is
complicated by the 2007 "split" that resulted in separating the former
Bean Goose into the Taiga Bean-Goose and the Tundra Bean-Goose. The
breeding range of the Tundra Bean-Goose includes the tundra zone north
to the Arctic across northern Russia, and the species usually winters
from Western Europe to eastern China and Japan. Its historic occurrence
in North America has been mainly limited to western Alaska with a couple
of odd records, including the Yukon and Quebec.
The Tundra
Bean-Goose at Nestucca Bay NWR was seen daily through the end of the
month in the company of Cackling Geese and Canada Geese that were also
on the refuge. It was regularly observed from the viewing platform or
refuge parking lot, but also occasionally seen off the refuge on nearby
privately-owned cow-pastures.
Hundreds of birders visited the
refuge, from across Oregon, as well as from California, Idaho, Illinois,
New Jersey, Washington, and even Alaska, to see the rare visitor.
One
of the best things about the goose is that it introduced so many
birders to the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was
only opened to the public in 2008, and it has been relatively unknown
until now to the birding public.
To see early photos of the Tundra Bean-Goose taken by Owen Schmidt, see here:
http://oschmidt.net/OwenLSchmidtLLC/BEGO.html
ANOTHER RARITY... OR ANOTHER ESCAPED BIRD?
On
the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, a female-plumaged Red-legged
Honeycreeper was found by Park Ranger, Ruben Rangel, at Estero Llano
Grande State Park in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. There have
been several previous observations of this species in the U.S.,
particularly in Florida. None of these has been accepted due to
questions concerning provenance.
At
Estero Llano Grande State Park, the honeycreeper was observed by
numerous birders for a few days in the area of a water drip in the
"tropical zone" of the park, by the resident park-hosts' RV.
Authorities
on the species identified the Red-legged Honeycreeper as an immature
bird. The identification of the honeycreeper has not been questioned;
the origins of the bird continue to be troublesome, especially since the
species has been observed as a cage bird in nearby Mexico. Most cage
birds, however, tend to be the more colorful males, not females.
Additionally, the natural range of the Red-legged Honeycreeper is not
all that far away (c. 250 miles) from Estero Llano Grande. Although the
species is somewhat migratory in eastern Mexico... alas, it tends to
migrate in the other direction at this season!
Speculation is rampant, but hopefully a pattern of future observations will help answer the questions.
You can view a photo taken by Tiffany Kirsten of the Estero Llano Grande bird here:
GUNNISON SAGE-GROUSE OFFICIALLY THREATENED
In
mid-November, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision
to list the Gunnison Sage-Grouse as a Threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA). At least since the recognition of the
distinct species status of the bird in 2001, Gunnison Sage-Grouse have
been declining across western Colorado and southern Utah. This is due to
loss and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat.
The
decision will have no impact upon on landowners in Colorado and Utah
who have previously entered into "Candidate Conservation Agreements with
Assurances," or a number of USDA programs; these landowners can
continue to implement the practices covered by those programs in the
knowledge that they will be consistent with the ESA. How this status for
the Gunnison Sage-Grouse will impact oil and gas development in
Colorado and Utah is unclear however. (A Threatened listing involves
fewer habitat protections and development restrictions than an
Endangered designation, which is what was originally proposed in January
2013.) Still, nobody seems to be satisfied. Many conservationists
insist the move did not go far enough; many local government, ranching,
and development interests claim that it went too far.
Under
the listing, the USFWS will designate 1.4 million acres in Colorado and
Utah as "critical habitat" for the grouse, which is still a fraction of
the species' historic range. At the same time, the listing could now
hamper the voluntary conservation programs among ranchers and others.
USFWS officials argued that unfortunately the voluntary efforts to
protect the species have not proven to be sufficient.
You can read a thoughtful summary of the situation in High Country News:
And you can review a summary press release from the USFWS here:
Federal
officials say their decision to protect dwindling Gunnison Sage-Grouse
populations in Colorado and Utah has no bearing on next September's
highly anticipated ruling on the far more widespread Greater
Sage-Grouse. Nonetheless, not everyone is so sure.
CONDORS AND LEAD IN ARIZONA AND UTAH
The
California Condor recovery effort in Utah and Arizona has been a
cooperative venture among federal, state, and private partners. The
partners include The Peregrine Fund, the Arizona Game and Fish
Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
Recently,
these partners have touted some good news. Apparently, the number of
California Condors treated for lead exposure from lead-bullet ingestion
in Utah and Arizona recently dropped to its lowest level since 2005.
Between September of last year, and the start of September of this year,
a total of 13 condors were treated for lead poisoning. During the same
period the previous year, there were 28 birds treated. The average over
five years had been 26 condors per year.
The problem, of course, is that condors can be at risk of death if they ingest carrion that contains lead fragments.
To
help the California Condor, the state wildlife agencies in both states
have asked hunters in southern Utah and northern Arizona to use non-lead
ammunition. In an effort to offset the cost and encourage hunter
participation, both agencies have run voluntary programs to provide
hunters with a free box of non-lead bullets. The voluntary response from
hunters has been significant.
Lynda
Lambert, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said
that she's cautiously optimistic. She added, "We have between 80 and 90
percent of hunters participating in any given year."
BOOK NOTES: NOT THE MALTESE FALCON
Jan Dunlap's latest contribution to her birder-murder-mystery series is Swift Justice (North Star Press). If you like your detective stories hard-boiled, with gritty dialogue, dark characters, irresistible femmes fetales, and a dose of bloody knuckles, you will want to look elsewhere. Swift Justice
is a light read, presented with a mix of interesting characters,
well-done dead-end clues, and light and often humorous dialogue all
presented within the Twin Cities and with a good understanding of the
quirky birding culture, both positive and negative.
This is probably the best and most developed work in Dunlap's series - including A Murder of Crows, Murder on Warbler Weekend, and The Boreal Owl Murder.
They all feature Bob White, as detective, high-school guidance
counselor, and top-notch Minnesota birder. There are some good laughs in
this mystery, as Bob pursues the murderer of a fellow birder (and
fellow rare-bird-record committee member) who was killed at the start of
a Minnesota Ornithologists' Union meeting. The mix includes Hmong
students who are birders, the effort to preserve an old brewery used by
roosting Chimney Swifts in season, nice and not-so-nice birders, and
some real-life Twin Cities characters who have important cameo-roles in
the mystery.
You
could do much worse than to read this book, and it's fun to see how
Dunlap weaves the birds and birding into solving this murder mystery.
IBA NEWS: SHEARWATER FATAL ATTRACTION
Our
regular "IBA News" section usually pertains to developments for
Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in North America. We sometimes, however,
slip into areas of Latin America and the Caribbean where "our" birds
spend much of their lives, and where bird conservation is crucial for
the survival of these species.
This
month, we take the IBA news much farther afield, to Phillip Island, an
IBA in Australia, not far from Melbourne. The site accounts for at least
1% of the global population (approximately 450,000 pairs) of
Short-tailed Shearwaters, a species which visits the North American
Pacific Coast, primarily off Alaska in our summer and farther south
during our fall and winter.
In a study in PLOS One
in mid-October, researchers reviewed the attraction of human-initiated
nighttime lighting to fledgling Short-tailed Shearwaters near their
Phillips Island nesting-areas. The mortality was remarkably high,
especially that caused by road-and-bridge lights and associated with
automobile impacts. This is ironic because the IBA site is also a
popular ecotourism destination as a result of nesting Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor).
The
good news is that the control of lights and traffic can lessen the
mortality of Short-tailed Shearwaters, specifically by turning off
bridge lights, restricting speed limits, and displaying warning signals.
You can access the full report here:
And you can find out more about the Phillip Island IBA here:
For
additional information about worldwide IBA programs, including those in
the U.S., check the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area
program web site at:
ACCESS MATTERS: MAGEE BOARDWALK RENOVATION
Last month, the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in northwest Ohio won the USA Today
"10 Best Readers' Choice" award for the top birdwatching location in
the U.S. The Readers' Choice awards are voted on worldwide, and they are
related to a myriad of unrelated topics, including best airport, best
American riverfront, best city for sports, and, yes, even best beer
town. See the results here:
Anyone
familiar with Magee Marsh Wildlife Area knows that the very heart of
the site is its famous "boardwalk," meandering just over 3,000 feet
through about 27 acres of moist woodland, which is a veritable migrant
magnet on the edge of Lake Erie.
Without
the boardwalk, there would be no easy access to the migrant-loving
woodlot. And access is what really matters at this popular site.
The
boardwalk was finished in April 1989, and it has since put Magee Marsh
on the map. An estimated 80,000 visitors are said to visit Magee during
spring migration.
The
boardwalk is over a quarter century old now, with significant parts in
disrepair. Last spring, the Friends of Magee Marsh began a campaign to
raise $300,000 to refurbish the boardwalk. This will make it possible to
replace the decking and rails, stabilize the tower on the west end of
the boardwalk, and make other improvements to ensure continued access.
While
there is free access to most state land in Ohio, there is no state
funding available for such a project, even though it's on state
property. Without state funding, the money needs to come voluntarily
from the public. So far, the Friends are a third of the way to their
goal. Of course, if every visitor last spring gave $4, the goal would
already have been easily achieved. Now, the Friends of Magee Marsh are
continuing to work on individual and corporate fundraising in an attempt
to keep the access at Magee open and welcoming.
You can find more details on the ongoing effort here:
THE NORTH DAKOTA EXCEPTION
On
Election Day last month, there were many incredibly successful
conservation funding initiatives on the ballot. In fact, voters in 19
states approved over two dozen measures that should dedicate over $29
billion to open space, water protection, wildlife conservation, parks,
and trails.
You can read about this victory for wildlife and wild places from this summary from The Nature Conservancy:
or from this chart produced by the Trust for Public Land:
The
notable exception in this trend occurred in North Dakota, where Measure
5 was soundly defeated. In October, we reported on this effort to take
five percent of the state's oil and gas extraction tax revenue to
protect North Dakota's water, wildlife, and parks:
Had
Measure 5 passed, funding estimates as low as $44 million per year, but
as high as $150 million per year, would have been dedicated to these
outdoor resources.
There
were changes made in the crafting of the "Clean Water, Wildlife, and
Parks" initiative, specifically changes over the last year to address
criticisms over the dollar amount being too high and the effort being an
"overreach" by conservation groups. Nonetheless, the onslaught from the
fossil fuel industry aided by large farm and ranching interests, was
unrelenting.
At
the same time, the state's booming oil rush has led to an unprecedented
need for spending on schools, law enforcement, public works, and
emergency medical services. While the crafters of Measure 5 took care to
explain that other state spending needs would not be adversely
impacted, the opponents raised exaggerated alarms to pull voters away
from the conservation initiative.
In
the process, the state's Republican governor, Jack Dalrymple, added
confusion to the mix by announcing his own plan to spend $30 million
more on state parks and add an extra $50 million more for conservation
efforts over the next few years. These announcements were also widely
seen as undercutting Measure 5, and some key state legislators seemed to
be pulled in that direction.
Ultimately, Measure 5 was defeated by a wide margin, with almost 80 percent voting no.
On
the one hand, Measure 5 supporters, as articulated by campaign chair,
Steve Adair, from Ducks Unlimited, asserted that the entire effort
helped to "elevate the conversation" and propelled the governor's
announcement of an alternative. Adair said, "I'm not sure we would have
seen the same response out of the governor and legislative leaders
without pushing for something big."
On
the other hand, oil and gas interests in the state are on a roll. The
industry appears to want to apply growing state revenue to help build
the infrastructure they need to maximize a higher return. Last year, the
industry tried to roll back the state's overall extraction tax from 6.5
to 4.5 percent, and industry lobbyists are expected to try again during
the next legislative session. Based on the aggressive efforts by the
oil and gas industry to discredit Measure 5, its passage could have made
their quest for tax breaks far more challenging.
Meanwhile,
the natural side of North Dakota suffers. Not only is the state at the
center of North America's "duck factory," it is also home to Yellow
Rails, Black Terns, Marbled Godwits, Sprague's Pipits, Baird's, Nelsons,
and LeConte's Sparrows, and Chestnut-collared Longspurs.
This saga is not over. Stay tuned for the next round.
HOG ISLAND PLANS FOR 2015
Hog
Island Audubon Camp in Maine is an extraordinary place. The historic
camp goes back to 1936, with original staffers including Roger Tory
Peterson, Allan Cruickshank, and Carl Buchheister. Next summer will mark
the sixth year since National Audubon resumed management of the famous
camp. In the interim, it had been run for about eight years by Maine
Audubon.
The
2015 schedule includes some novel innovations, including a session
entitled "Breaking into Birding," with Pete Dunne and others, and
"Hands-on Bird Science," directed by Scott Weidensaul.
It's
not too early to look into the full schedule. Indeed, December is the
perfect time to consider next-year's warm-weather options. See here:
TIP OF THE MONTH: KEEPING THE CBC FREE
The 115th annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is about to begin, scheduled for14 December 2014 to 5 January 2015.
The accumulated CBC data through the years, first collected by Frank M.
Chapman in 1900, has been remarkable. And all of it will be available
on a database accessible to the general public.
The
CBC charged for individual participation between 1955 and 2011; this
was the funding that helped sustain the program and publish the results
for many years. But now, with online access, an annual hardcopy has
become unnecessary. In addition, by dropping the individual participant
fee, more counts and counters can be attracted.
It
still costs National Audubon about $300,000 a year to run this
granddaddy of citizen science programs, but the CBC returns can be
invaluable. There will be tens of thousands of participants this year,
including over 2,000 compilers. Some compilers will make a special
effort to solicit funds for the CBC in order to sustain it and keep it
free; other compilers may feel awkward in soliciting funds.
In
either case, all concerned birdwatchers participating in the CBC should
consider sustaining this grand effort through this form to keep the
CBCs free in the future:
BOB SARGENT: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
We
were recently reminded that Bob Sargent - remarkable bander, bird
educator, and hummingbird aficionado extraordinaire - passed away in
early September. It's not too late to remember Bob's many contributions.
For
about 30 years, Bob, his wife Martha, and an exuberant group of
volunteers, assembled on the Alabama coast each spring and fall to band
and study birds - especially hummingbirds - with aplomb and enthusiasm.
Bob
Sargent's work helped change the understanding of trans-gulf migration
and the status of hummingbirds in the southeastern U.S. His legacy will
be difficult to match.
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ARCHIVES AND MORE
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Mass Audubon
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