A regular roundup of important news on birds and their habitats. Check back often for updates.
1/30/07
Storm Creates a Land Bridge That Will Introduce New Predators
to the Largest Tern Colony on the Atlantic Coast
South Monomoy Island off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts, is home to the largest tern colony on the Atlantic Coast. Up to 10,000 breeding pairs of the common tern make their nest on the island. About 20 breeding pairs of the endangered roseate tern also make their nests among the larger group of common terns. Officials of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge have been highly successful in warding off predators such as the great horned owl, black-crowned night herons, and sea gulls which feast on the eggs of the terns.
Recently, a storm created a land bridge from Cape Cod to the island. This creates a great danger for the tern colony as land-based predators such as skunks and raccoons can now gain access to the island via the land bridge. The small staff of the wildlife refuge may be vastly undermanned to handle the influx of new predators.
Bush’s Judicial Nominees Who Want No Federal Protections
of Birds Have Their Nominations Withdrawn
The Democratic takeover of the United States Senate has already produced benefits for the nation’s birds.
On May 15, 2003 President Bush nominated William G. Myers III, an arch anti-environmentalist, to a lifetime judicial appointment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Myers, an Eagle Scout who has spent 180 days over the past 15 years as a National Park Service volunteer, nevertheless contends that the federal Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act are unconstitutional.
On a straight party line vote, in 2004, Myers’ nomination was sent to the Senate floor. But Senate Democratic leaders were able to block the nomination using the cloture rule which requires 60 votes. Myers received 53 votes in favor of his nomination. Now with the Senate in Democratic hands, the Myers nomination has no chance. On January 9, Myers asked the president to withdraw his name from consideration.
In September 2003 President Bush nominated William J. Haynes II to a key judicial seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. As a Harvard-trained lawyer for the Department of Defense, Haynes argued that the bombing of an island in the Marianas, an important haven for many rare species of birds, would actually be beneficial for bird watchers. Haynes and his team of Defense Department attorneys contended that the bombing would disperse the birds to other islands so many more people would be able to see the rare species.
Haynes has now asked the president to withdraw his nomination.
Bush Opens Alaska’s Bristol Bay for Oil Drilling:
Area Is Critical Habitat to Millions of Migratory Birds
President Bush has lifted restrictions on oil drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The 5.6 million acre area in the sea north of the Alaskan peninsula is believed to have 200 million barrels of oil reserves. Extensive environmental reviews will take place before any leases are handed out. Drilling is not expected to occur before 2010.
The area sits on an important migratory bird route for ducks, geese, and tundra swans. In the fall the Bristol Bay area is an important stopover point for shorebirds such as rock sandpipers, dunlin, bartailed godwits, and western sandpipers. Arctic and Aleutian terns and the common eider nest in the area.
Endangered Birds in Britain First Put at Risk by Tudor Royalty
In the sixteenth century, British citizens were awarded a penny for every kite that they killed
A new book by Roger Lovegrove, the former director of Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, finds that many of the species that are now endangered in the United Kingdom were originally placed in peril by policies that were enacted in the days of the Tudor royalty. The book, Silent Fields: The Long Decline of a Nation’s Wildlife, notes that the Preservation Grain Act of 1532, signed into law by King Henry VIII and later strengthened by Queen Elizabeth I, called for every man, woman, and child in the kingdom to kill as many animals on the official vermin list as possible. Bounties were placed on foxes, badgers, and a wide variety of birds.
The law was enacted to protect agriculture in an era of vast food shortages in Britain and remained on the books until the mid-eighteenth century. Lovegrove examined records of 15,000 parishes in Britain and found that millions of birds and animals had been killed and bounties collected. He also found that many birds that did no harm to agriculture were included. Some, he notes, were actually beneficial in controlling insect pests.
Here’s a GOP Candidate Who Birders Might Support
Make no mistake, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who seems certain to throw his hat into the ring for the GOP presidential nomination, is a true conservative. But he is also cut in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt on environmental issues. In a recent interview, Huckabee said, “I think the Republicans have got to be engaged in the protection of the environment. We’ve not been on the front of that. We need to be. From my perspective, that’s a position that I ought to have not only as a Republican conservative, but as an evangelical. Evangelicals ought to be concerned about the stewardship of the earth.”
An avid hunter and outdoorsman, Huckabee has a record on conservation issues that is attractive to birders on both sides of the political spectrum. As governor, Huckabee supported an amendment to the state constitution which provided a sales tax for the funding of the restoration of the state’s parks and conservation areas. Huckabee and his wife took a trip down the Arkansas River promoting the amendment at each town on the route. To date that tax has raised more than $430 million for conservation programs in Arkansas.
One of the first uses of funds from the new program was the purchase of nearly 5,000 acres of open prairie land which is an important habitat of the Eastern wild turkey and the bobwhite quail.
Important Habitat of the California Gnatcatcher to Become Nature Reserve
Under an agreement between developers and federal wildlife officials, 32,000 acres of woodlands in Orange County, California, will be set aside as a nature reserve. In return, real estate developers were granted permission to proceed with development of up to 14,000 homes on brushland south of the city of Mission Viejo. Under the agreement, 75 percent of the land will be preserved as open space. The area is an important habitat for the California gnatcatcher.
Research Looks to Protect Golden Eagles From Wind Turbines
Pennsylvania is the largest producer of wind energy in the eastern United States. Wind turbines in Pennsylvania produce energy to power more than 100,000 homes.
The National Aviary in Pittsburgh and the Powdermill Avian Research Center in Rector are currently conducting a study to determine if wind generation plants are a danger to golden eagles. The center has attached solar-powered tracking devices on the backs of two eagles. The birds winter in West Virginia and Kentucky and pass through Western Pennsylvania twice each year to their summer homes in Canada. Researchers hope to map the birds’ migratory patterns so that any future wind farm development will not be close to where the birds fly.
Wind Generators in California Agree to Settle Lawsuit Over Bird Collisions
Environmentalists estimate that as many as 5,000 birds are killed each year by wind turbines in the Altamont Pass, about 50 miles east of San Francisco, California. Some of these birds are federally protected species such as red-tailed hawks. Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit seeking measures to protect the birds.
Now, wind generation companies, the environmental groups, and the county government have agreed to settle the lawsuit. Under the terms of the agreement, the wind companies agree to take measures to reduce bird deaths by one half within three years. Under the plan, turbines where bird deaths have been most common will be dismantled. The companies also agreed to develop a long-term plan to further reduce bird collisions. In addition, turbine blades will be painted different colors to see if particular colors result in fewer collisions.
Hope for One of Asia’s Most Critically Endangered Birds
Over the past 12 years the population of the Oriental white-backed vulture has declined by an estimated 97 percent. Millions of the birds have died after eating animal carcasses tainted with an anti-inflammatory drug commonly given to cattle in the region.
Now for the first time, government scientists have successfully hatched a bird in a captive breeding program. The captive-bred vultures will be reintroduced to the wild once there is a group of 25 birds.
Lawsuit Seeks to Retain Federal Protection of Bald Eagles in Arizona
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking to stop the delisting of the Arizona bald eagle from Endangered Species Act protections.
Nationwide, the bald eagle has made a remarkable recovery. But not so in Arizona. The number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in the state has grown from 18 to 39 over the past two decades.
The FWS previously treated the Arizona bald eagle as a distinct population. But now all bald eagles in the lower 48 states are considered part of the same group. According to the lawsuit, the FWS’ own scientific panel recommended that the Arizona population continue to receive federal protection. In its report the panel wrote, “We do not believe the Southwest Bald Eagle population is secure and we question whether current numbers can be sustained without active management and habitat protection.”
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