Inside Bird Conservation – November 2016
Special Edition on Eliminating Threats to Birds
Communications Towers
Following years of effort by ABC and partners, bird
conservationists now have an opportunity to greatly reduce one frequent
source of bird mortality. Steady-burning red or white lights on
communication towers attract or disorient migratory
birds flying at night. As many as 7 million birds a year die in
collisions with towers and support wires as a result, with the tallest
towers causing the highest mortality. New policies put in place by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) allow tower operators to turn off these
deadly lights.
These federal agencies are encouraging a switch to
flashing lights, which reduces bird mortality by approximately 70
percent, saves electricity, reduces tower operating costs, and better
alerts pilots to the towers’ presence. As of mid-October,
753 tall towers (over 350 feet high) nationwide have already updated their lighting systems under the new guidelines. The changeover requires simply flipping switches to reprogram the lights.
Another 15,000 tall towers still need to make this
bird and energy-saving change. Thanks to the FCC and FAA and the support
of the University of Michigan, ABC now has available a
toolkit for activists to encourage tower operators to update their lights.
A technical guide to assist tower operators
is also available. Please take a look around your community; if there
are tall towers with steady-burning lights, you can take a few simple
steps
that will protect birds and save energy.
Public Lands
American Bird Conservancy Statement on the
Malheur Occupation Verdict
American Bird
Conservancy respects the judicial process but is deeply troubled by
the outcome of the Malheur case. Armed occupation of public lands sets a
dangerous precedent. It puts our ecologically valuable wildlife at risk
and disrespects
the men and women charged with protecting our natural resources.
“The occupation of
the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was an affront to the millions of
Americans who love birds and the public lands that provide bird habitat,
and to federal employees for trying to do their jobs,” said ABC
President
George Fenwick. “National Wildlife Refuges are important for birds and
other wildlife, and for the nearby communities that benefit from tourism
generated by wildlife watching, hunting, and fishing. We need to honor
these lands, and the public servants that
act as our stewards, and make every effort to prevent small groups of
armed extremists from taking them over for themselves what belongs to
all Americans.”
Open Pipes
In a significant step forward this year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has taken action to reduce a serious threat
to birds by issuing a memorandum in late February to its field offices across the nation with guidance
on how to eliminate the threat of open pipes on public lands
(Instruction Memorandum No. 2016-023). The memo also encourages
federal claim holders to voluntarily remove open pipes often used as
mine claim monuments.
American Bird Conservancy built upon this memo to write
a letter this month
to all 17,843 federal mine claim holders to ask for their help in
saving the thousands of birds that accidentally get trapped in open
pipes and die each year. The National Mining Association, Northwest
Mining Association, Forest Service, and BLM teamed up with American
Bird Conservancy to create
a flier explaining the threat to birds and other wildlife that open pipes create, and this was included in the mailing.
Invasive Species
Domestic cats can make wonderful pets. But outdoors, cats are a non-native and invasive
species that threaten birds and other wildlife, disrupt ecosystems, and spread
diseases. Now numbering
well over 100 million in the United States, cats kill approximately 2.4
billion birds every year in the U.S. alone, making cat predation by far
the largest
human-caused mortality threat to birds.
ABC’s Cats Indoors Program educates the public and policy makers about
the many benefits to birds, cats, and people when cats are maintained
indoors or under an owner's direct control. In addition to advocating
for responsible pet ownership, we also oppose Trap,
Neuter, Release (TNR) for feral cats because of the persistent and severe threats posed by feral cat colonies.
Take the pledge to keep cats
from roaming outdoors.
In the last five years,
ABC has distributed more than 100,000 brochures to concerned citizens,
veterinarians, and conservation groups, helping to spread the word that
cats, birds, and people are better off when cats are kept indoors. Order
brochures.
New Colony of Chicks Keeps Hope Alive for Rare Newell's Shearwater
To counter the threat of
predation by non-native mammals, ABC and Hawaiian conservationists have
begun to establish a new nesting site for rare Newell's Shearwater
(‘A‘o) and Hawaiian Petrel
(‘Ua‘u).
This year, chicks of both species were moved to a new,
predator-proof colony at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. Last
month, the restoration team moved eight threatened Newell's
Shearwater chicks,
flying them by helicopter from their montane nesting areas to their new
home at the refuge. Both species are endemic to Hawai‘i and breed
nowhere else
in the world. Last week, the
second cohort of 20 Hawaiian Petrel chicks were moved to the predator-proof site.
Window Collisions
Watch a new
video PSA from ABC that calls attention to bird collisions and showcases
creative—and attractive—ways to help.
The Vassar Bridge Science complex, which is on the cover of
Bird-friendly Building Design, opened this May. ABC’s Christine
Sheppard was involved with the building’s design, which is intended to
qualify for the LEED collisions reduction credit. Please see
www.birdsmartglass.org for products for home and professional solutions that reduce bird collisions.
Pesticides
In the past, an incident reporting system, or
public database of wildlife poisonings, helped conservationists identify
the deadliest pesticides. Many of the deadliest organochlorine-based
chemicals are now off the market as a result. Unfortunately,
the EPA’s reporting system is now broken, but efforts are underway to
fix it. The agency’s incident data system suffers from
absurdly high reporting triggers and
thresholds, confusing incident-submission portals, minimal public access
to data, and a lack of coordination with other federal agencies. The
current system has unrealistically high threshold numbers
of dead animals needed to trigger reporting requirements under FIFRA
6(a)2. For birds, no specific reports are required unless 200 of a
“flocking” species, 50 songbirds, or five raptors are killed.
Here are some recent
recommendations on incident reporting from ABC and partners.
Wind Energy
Camp Perry: American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) have filed a
60-day notice of intent to sue
the Ohio Air National Guard (ANG) for violations of the Endangered
Species Act and other federal laws in the course of planning to build a
large wind turbine at its Camp Perry facility in Ottawa County, Ohio.
Close to the shores of Lake Erie, the site lies
within a major bird migration corridor and would be the first wind
energy development on public land in this ecologically sensitive area.
In
a letter,
the two groups assert that ANG has unlawfully compromised and
short-circuited the environmental review process for the Camp Perry wind
facility. ABC has also
commented on numerous inappropriately sited wind projects.
Power Lines
BLM chooses transmission line routes that avoid private land, sage grouse habitat
The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) chose routes for the Gateway West high-power
transmission line that avoid private land, sage-grouse habitat, and the
Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. The
routes have
been a source of controversy with residents critical of previous plans
that sought primarily to avoid the Birds of Prey area. Idaho State
BLM Director Tim Murphy said the agency had to ensure the area received
“a heightened level of protection and care.”
“Another important effort
we’ve undertaken is working with the state and other essential partners
to protect high-quality sage grouse habitat throughout Southern Idaho,”
Murphy said. “The routes we have selected honor both of these priorities
while also providing a path forward for this important project.”
Read the full story
from The Idaho Statesman, October 6, 2016 (reprinted from
Your Public Lands,
BLM's new E-Newsletter).
Mosquitoes and Avian Disease in Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i is the bird extinction capital of the
world, and avian malaria and pox were one of the major factors in the
wave of extinctions that occurred around the start of the 20th century.
There is a strong negative association between Hawaiian
passerines, which are mostly confined to the cooler, higher elevations,
and the disease-vector system, which is limited to the warmer, lower
elevations. As global climate change increases temperatures and alters
rainfall patterns, the mosquito-disease zone
will expand upward in elevation, thereby increasing the transmission
risk to the remaining bird species and causing another wave of
extinctions.
Recent advances in biotechnology hold exciting
promise for potentially resolving this decades-long conservation crisis.
There are now multiple techniques for modifying, suppressing, or even
eliminating mosquito populations to prevent the
transfer of avian diseases. Most of these techniques have been limited
to small field tests or confined to the laboratory, but within the next
few years there is the potential for these techniques to be tested and
applied at a larger, landscape scale. Some
have already been used in other parts of the world to control
mosquitoes to reduce the spread of dengue fever and other human
diseases, or to control agricultural pests.
ABC has been actively involved in these
discussions, and developing an overall strategy that includes extensive
public engagement before any decisions are made or management actions
taken. There were two sessions (12437
and 10599) focused on this issue at IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, followed by a
two-day workshop on eliminating the non-native mosquitoes throughout the state.
Longline Fisheries
The incidental capture of seabirds is a major
threat to Albatross and other seabirds. ABC’s efforts to bring attention
to the issue of albatross bycatch in North Pacific longline fisheries
began in 2007, with a report on the status of this
threat and highlighting effective mitigation actions. This work in part
led to NOAA Fisheries making regulatory changes to increase use of
bird-saving mitigation, including streamer lines and night setting and
increased observer effort. As a result, albatross
mortality in the North Pacific has dropped significantly.
ABC continues to ask Congress to approve the
Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels (ACAP),
which would bring international mitigation for seabirds up to par
with those already being employed by US fishermen. ABC is also
providing information on bird-friendly and sustainable fisheries through
providing tools, such as the
Seabird Maps and Information for Fisheries Tool
and guidance for seafood certification bodies in a new guide,
Seabird Bycatch Solutions.
Lead Poisoning
At IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in September, delegates
approved a resolution to help reduce the needless poisoning of birds and other wildlife from lead ammunition. The resolution,
A path forward to address concerns over the use of lead ammunition in hunting, encourages members to “promote,
where feasible, the phasing out of lead shot used for hunting over
wetlands and lead ammunition used for hunting
in areas where scavengers are at particular risk from the use of lead
ammunition, and the replacement of it with suitable alternatives.”
If Lead Ammunition is Bad for People and the Environment, Why do We Still Use It? By Andy McGlashen.
California Condors:
Chick born in wild flies from nest at Pinnacles National Park for first time in a century. (East Bay Times)
Condor Country,
launching this week for IOS and Android devices, is the first mobile
game to simulate what it takes to recover an endangered species based on
real-life conservation
practices used by the California Condor Recovery Program. (Birding
Wire)
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Steve Holmer
Vice President of Policy
American Bird Conservancy &
Director, Bird Conservation Alliance
202-888-7490
sholmer@abcbirds.org
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