Ongoing Bobwhite declines

Ph. by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

 The Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) continues its population decline across its geographic range. 

 "In 2007, the National Audubon Society (BirdLife in the US) published the results of the first-ever analysis of combined annual sighting data from the two major censuses of bird populations in North America—the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) (Butcher and Niven 2007, Butcher 2007). The analysis highlighted the plight of 20 common bird species, all of which have lost over half of their continental population since 1967. Common birds are defined here as species with a global population of over 500,000 and with a range of one million square kilometres or more."

 "Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus has declined the most dramatically, with population reductions of 82% occurring over the past 40 years. Consequently this species has been uplisted from the Least Concern category to Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List (BirdLife International 2008)." 

  http://datazone.birdlife.org/sowb/casestudy/common-birds-are-declining-in-north-america

There are many regional and state-level bobwhite conservation initiatives:

 National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative: https://bringbackbobwhites.org/

 "Wildlife biologists know more about the biology, life history, habitat requirements, and management of the northern bobwhite quail than probably any other species in North America. Yet bobwhites, and the suite of wildlife that claims the same habitat, have been declining virtually range-wide for at least 40 years, approaching extirpation in some regions and states."

 

Bird population declines and species turnover are changing the acoustic properties of spring soundscapes

 

ABSTRACT: Natural sounds, and bird song in particular, play a key role in building and maintaining our connection with nature, but widespread declines in bird populations mean that the acoustic properties of natural soundscapes may be changing. Using data-driven reconstructions of soundscapes in lieu of historical recordings, here we quantify changes in soundscape characteristics at more than 200,000 sites across North America and Europe. We integrate citizen science bird monitoring data with recordings of individual species to reveal a pervasive loss of acoustic diversity and intensity of soundscapes across both continents over the past 25 years, driven by changes in species richness and abundance. These results suggest that one of the fundamental pathways through which humans engage with nature is in chronic decline, with potentially widespread implications for human health and well-being.

Read the paper at:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26488-1?fbclid=IwAR1-L7H-J4nc4WC1SeMhoZos_3guhmqxVN0C4EnuiXTbdCCk9zw7OUOttfw

Time to watch for, and count raptors

 The next 3 months are the time to watch the skies for migrating raptors. Depending on where you live, there's probably a good raptor watch location not far away.

There are a number of well-known locations in Wisconsin where raptors have been known to concentrate during migration, with long-term data still being collected at most of them. See the map reproduced here at left, for approximate locations in eastern, western, and northern Wisconsin.

September and October are peak months for Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, Merlin, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Broad-winged Hawks. Bald Eagles, American Kestrels, and Turkey Vultures are also fairly numerous, with Peregrine Falcons, Northern Goshawks less so. On the Lake Michigan shoreline sites, the best days are those with west and northwest winds.

Shorebird Information, Part 3

More recent news on shorebirds and their populations

Manomet (the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences) conducts research and monitoring of shorebirds at multiple locations. Read about their work at: https://www.manomet.org/why-manomet/about-us/ Whimbrel Research and Conservation: https://www.manomet.org/project/whimbrel-research/?fbclid=IwAR3nvjMyZTMSBObLkHOjJ-a4CjxemT4pVpiZLcVYym9nh8--XqV6a7PtsGU The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN)

more on the status of shorebird populations

Learn about the current status of shorebird populations, at: https://whsrn.org/about-shorebirds/shorebird-status/ "Their numbers are dropping quickly. Shorebirds are among a few groups of birds showing the most dramatic declines." Read about the Arctic Shorebird Population Model: https://www.usgs.gov/software/arctic-shorebird-population-model Learn more at the SHOREBIRD Conservation Society: https://www.shorebirdconservation.org/ Also, see the Coalitions for Shorebird Conservation: https://www.manomet.org/project/coalitions-for-shorebird-conservation/

Shorebirds 2021

                                       Godwits & Wllets - Ph. by Ingrid Taylar

 World Shorebird Day is September 6th this year. It is important to participate in this global event. Learn more at https://www.worldshorebirdsday.org/global-shorebird-counts

"The Global Shorebird Counts, held every year around World Shorebirds Day (6 September), is one of the key events of World Shorebirds Day. This program demonstrates the importance of fieldwork, supports observers in improving counting skills, contributes to the increase of the number of birdwatchers and scientists monitoring shorebirds worldwide and pledges new citizen scientists to the world’s largest bird database program."

 

 

Learn about the international work of Waderquest,in a recent newsletter, at:

https://www.waderquest.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Apr-2021-newsletterR.pdf

 Recent articles on the global declines of shorebirds are linked here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-rsquo-s-killing-the-world-rsquo-s-shorebirds/

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/losing-ground-whats-behind-the-worldwide-decline-of-shorebirds/

Lastly, here is shorebird news from BirdLife International:

https://www.birdlife.org/news/tag/shorebirds

 

NEW GRASSLAND BIRD RESEARCH: Linking Migratory Songbird Declines With Increasing Precipitation and Brood Parasitism Vulnerability

 

 

Not Singing in the Rain: Linking Migratory Songbird Declines With Increasing Precipitation and Brood Parasitism Vulnerability

 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.536769/full?fbclid=IwAR1WemvVET4Y2-5oOC6pfN2tLOUyl1-KFaj1KDIDUjWRJiWH3McLTTDjFsw

 

Kristen M. Rosamond¹, Sandra Goded¹, Alaaeldin Soultan², Rachel H. Kaplan^1,3, Alex Glass^3,4, Daniel H. Kim^3,5 and Nico Arcilla^1,3,6*

• ¹International Bird Conservation Partnership, Monterey, CA, United States
• ²Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
• ³Crane Trust, Wood River, NE, United States
• ⁴Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, United States
• ⁵U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pierre, SD, United States
• ⁶Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States

ABSTRACT

 Few empirical studies have quantified relationships between changing weather and migratory songbirds, but such studies are vital in a time of rapid climate change. Climate change has critical consequences for avian breeding ecology, geographic ranges, and migration phenology. Changing precipitation and temperature patterns affect habitat, food resources, and other aspects of birds’ life history strategies. Such changes may disproportionately affect species confined to rare or declining ecosystems, such as temperate grasslands, which are among the most altered and endangered ecosystems globally. We examined the influence of changing weather on the dickcissel (Spiza americana), a migratory songbird of conservation concern that is an obligate grassland specialist. Our study area in the North American Great Plains features high historic weather variability, where climate change is now driving higher precipitation and temperatures as well as higher frequencies of extreme weather events including flooding and droughts. Dickcissels share their breeding grounds with brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), brood parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of other songbirds, reducing dickcissel productivity. We used 9 years of capture-recapture data collected over an 18-year period to test the hypothesis that increasing precipitation on dickcissels’ riparian breeding grounds is associated with abundance declines and increasing vulnerability to cowbird parasitism. Dickcissels declined with increasing June precipitation, whereas cowbirds, by contrast, increased. Dickcissel productivity appeared to be extremely low, with a 3:1 ratio of breeding male to female dickcissels likely undermining reproductive success. Our findings suggest that increasing precipitation predicted by climate change models in this region may drive future declines of dickcissels and other songbirds. Drivers of these declines may include habitat and food resource loss related to flooding and higher frequency precipitation events as well as increased parasitism pressure by cowbirds. Positive correlations of June-July precipitation, temperature, and time since grazing with dickcissel productivity did not mitigate dickcissels’ declining trend in this ecosystem. These findings highlight the importance of empirical research on the effects of increasing precipitation and brood parasitism vulnerability on migratory songbird conservation to inform adaptive management under climate change.

 

Habitat ecology of Nearctic–Neotropical migratory landbirds on the nonbreeding grounds

Steven Albert, Jared D Wolfe, Jherime Kellerman, Thomas Sherry, Bridget J M Stutchbury, Nicholas J Bayly, Angelina Ruiz-Sánchez

The Condor, Volume 122, Issue 4, 2 November 2020

https://academic.oup.com/condor/article-abstract/122/4/duaa055/5923266?redirectedFrom=fulltext&fbclid=IwAR2MvKxUIGW5mOX-UMbny2etmaPf6TNMTQ3KJ5WRtfKbsYRldp3IIenX_IU

 The abstract reads (in part):

" Of the approximately 716 bird species that breed in North America, 386 (54%) are considered Nearctic–Neotropical migrants by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the past 50 yr, scores of these migratory species, including some once considered common, have declined dramatically. Nearctic–Neotropical migrants normally spend 6–8 months in tropical habitats, making the identification, availability, and management of Neotropical habitats critical issues for their conservation. Yet, for most species, complete and nuanced information about their use of tropical habitats and the relative effects of breeding vs. wintering conditions on survival, productivity, and population trends is not available, though many studies point to Neotropical overwintering habitats as being a strong driver of population change. Particularly important for long-distance Nearctic–Neotropical migrants is an understanding of how “carry-over effects” arise and influence population trends when conditions on wintering grounds and tropical stopover areas affect subsequent reproductive performance on breeding grounds."