A regular roundup of important news on birds and their habitats. Check back often for updates.
Federal Government Is Creating New Breeding Sites for the Piping Plover and Least Tern
The Army Corps of Engineers is spending $10.2 million this year to create 200 acres of sandbars in the Missouri River south of the Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska/South Dakota border. Dredges pump 10,000 cubic yards of sand each day to increase the size of the sand bars. Bulldozers then shape the new islands to make them ideal habitats for the piping plover and the least tern.
The birds prefer sandy areas with little vegetation to make their nests. The isolated sandbars provide safety from land-based predators.
The long-range goal is to create more than 11,000 acres of sandbars in the Missouri River for use by the birds.
New Jersey Protects Bird Habitat
The state of New Jersey has closed Champagne Island off Cape May. The island is popular with boaters who anchor at the sand bar during the spring and summer months.
But the large sandbar island is also a breeding ground for terns, piping plovers, and black skimmers. To protect the birds’ habitat, conservation officers will ticket boaters who attempt to visit the island.
Wind Energy That Is Safer for Birds
Energy generated from the power of the wind holds great promise in reducing America’s energy costs. But in many areas thousands of birds have been killed in collisions with the blades of giant wind turbines.
Now a new, smaller wind turbine may be able to provide many of the benefits of the larger units but without endangering birds. Stanley Marquiss of Folsom, California, has invented a wind turbine designed for the roof of a commercial building. The unit is 19 feet tall and is contained in a box that can be rotated depending on the direction of the wind. Several turbines can be installed on the same roof, greatly reducing a company’s outside energy costs. Marquiss says that his turbine will produce a return on investment in two to seven years.
At a test unit, not one bird has been killed since installation in November. A fine mesh can be installed on both sides of the box that further prevents birds from flying into the blades.
Texas Town Pulls Up the Welcome Mat for the Cattle Egret
In the past two years thousands of cattle egrets have made their nests in a forest at Lewisville Lake Park in Texas. The spectacle of thousands of large white birds in one place made the area a popular attraction for local birders.
But the forest area was near some athletic fields and a parking lot. Park officials concluded that the birds were more of a nuisance than a tourist attraction. So town leaders authorized the purchase of a large cannon that periodically emits a loud noise that sends the birds scampering. The cannon is used in early spring when the birds first arrive from their winter home in Central America. The object is to scare the birds away from the area so they will find another habitat to build their nests. Once the birds land and begin to nest and breed, it is illegal, under the Migratory Bird Protection Act, to disturb them.
Canadian Landowners Protest New Endangered Species Legislation
Landowners in Eastern Ontario are threatening to clear-cut 100 square kilometers of forest to protest the province’s new endangered species law. The landowners claim that the government’s new law does not provide adequate compensation for land that is deemed critical habitat for endangered species.
The large forest tract that is being threatened is home to the loggerhead shrike, an endangered bird.
You Can Help Scientists Track Five Migratory Songbirds
Scientists are calling on the public to help them in a research effort to track the status of the population of five bird species that they fear are rapidly declining. The species are the olive-sided flycatcher, the Canada warbler, the Cerulean warbler, the blue-winged warbler, and the golden-winged warbler. The birds winter in Central and South America and spend the summer months in Canada’s Boreal Forest.
The Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University has set up the Priority Migrant Monitoring Project at http://ebird.org. The goal is to have birders across the United States and Canada post their sightings of these five birds. By pinpointing the times and places of the sightings, scientists hope to determine the birds’ migration patterns and to better estimate their populations.
You can sign up to participate in this effort by clicking here.
Friends of Endangered Species in the U.S. Senate
May 16 has been designated Endangered Species Day in the United States. Legislation designating the occasion was introduced by Maine Senator Susan Collins and California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Cosponsors included Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberman, and John Kerry.
Major Decline in Populations of Migratory Birds in Europe
A new report from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds finds an alarming drop in the number of migratory birds returning from their winter homes in Africa. The society estimates that 16 million birds of 50 or more species migrate from Africa to Britain each year. But the report says that of the 36 species for which it has long-term population data, 21 species have shown a major decline.
The spotted flycatcher, the tree pipit, and the turtledove have seen population declines of more than 80 percent.
The study also found a similar pattern across most of the European continent. Of the 37 bird species for which long-term data is available, there have been significant population declines in 27 species.
Danger to Migratory Birds Forces a Change in Bridge Design
In 2005 the Peace Bridge Authority chose a design from a Swiss architect for a new span between Buffalo, New York, and Fort Erie, Ontario. The new bridge would have two 567-foot towers from which cables would be suspended to support the span.
But government and environmental groups voiced concern that the tall towers and supporting cables would have an adverse impact on migratory birds, particularly the common tern, a federally protected species.
As a result, the Peace Bridge Authority has rejected the original proposal in favor of a design that will use a three-span arch with a height much lower than used in the original design.
Construction on the new bridge is expected to begin in 2009.
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