A regular roundup of important news on birds and their habitats. Check back often for updates.
7/1/08
Bird Habitat in Scotland Saved From Rat Infestation
British environmental officials announced that they have successfully eradicated the rat population on the island of Canna off the western coast of Scotland. The rats, which were accidentally released on the island several hundred years ago, became a menace to nesting seabirds.
The island is home to about 15,000 seabirds of 14 different species. But the bird populations had become severely diminished because the estimated 10,000 rats ate both the birds’ eggs and their chicks. The population of the Manx shearwater had almost totally disappeared from the island.
The National Trust for Scotland used 4,388 traps and 25 tons of rat poison over a three-year period to rid the island of the rodents.
The rat-eradication efforts in Scotland holds promise for the success of several other similar projects now under way on islands around the world.
Birder’s Paradise in the Pacific at Risk
The nation of Kiribati consists of three groups of coral atolls in the South Pacific on the equator, southwest of Hawaii. Kiribati has a human population of about 90,000 but it also is a birder’s paradise. The island serves as a breeding habitat for large numbers of seabird species including petrels, shearwaters, tropicbirds, sooty terns, boobies, and frigate birds.
The problem is that rising sea levels threaten to put the entire nation under the Pacific Ocean. The highest point on the atolls is two meters above sea level. Rising sea levels have already caused serious erosion and increased salinization of the islands’ fresh water supply. The prime minister of the nation is currently consulting with other countries to determine if they would be willing to take Kiribati citizens should the islands become uninhabitable. The government of Kiribati believes that within a half-century, the land mass may be completely submerged.
Before Going Out the Door, the Bush Administration
Takes Another Shot at Endangered Birds
The Bureau of Land Management, a division of the Department of the Interior, has changed an internal policy, which will lessen protections given to certain birds and other species. In the past, birds that were considered endangered by state governments, but were not on the federal list of endangered species, were still considered when the bureau made land-use decisions in their habitats.
But under the new policy, the Bureau of Land Management will no longer make policy based on considerations for birds that are on state lists of endangered or threatened species. Nor will the agency make policy based on species that are on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s list of species that are candidates for federal protection.
The Bureau of Land Management oversees 258 million acres of lands owned by the federal government, mostly in the western states.
Great News! Whooping Cranes Making Significant Progress
In 1945 the number of whooping cranes in North America had dropped to a dangerously low level of 15 birds. Federal protection of habitat and other measures have now produced a remarkable recovery. Today, there are at least 500 whooping cranes in two separate flocks.
One flock, which spends the summer in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada, has 266 birds including 66 breeding pairs. Each year the female cranes typically hatch one to three chicks.
Legislation Looks to Protect Neotropical Birds
Representatives Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-Maryland) have introduced legislation to extend the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act at substantially higher funding levels. The legislation provides funding for projects in the United States and other countries to preserve bird habitats, monitor populations, and for education and law enforcement programs relating to neotropical birds.
Under the current law, there is a maximum appropriation of $6 million per year. But under the new extension legislation, appropriations will increase to as much as $20 million by 2015.
Birders United Action Alert: Members wishing to express their support for the extension of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act should contact their senators and representatives and tell them to support H.R. 5756. You can contact them by clicking here for House members and here for Senate members.
City of Jacksonville Protects Nesting Habitat
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, has closed a large section of beach because of nesting migratory birds. The beach will be closed to vehicular traffic, pedestrians, and swimmers. Anyone caught disturbing the birds will be subject to fines of as much as $15,000.
Birds that have been observed nesting in the area include black skimmers, royal terns, and laughing gulls.
Good Progress in Recovery Efforts for the Red-Crowned Crane
In the early twentieth century it was believed the red-crowned crane was extinct due to widespread hunting of the bird throughout its habitat in eastern Asia. But a small population of the red-crowned crane was discovered in a Japanese wetland in 1920.
Through captive breeding, habitat protection, and strict laws protecting the birds, the number of red-crowned cranes may now number more than 2,000 birds. The red-crowned crane is found in China, Korea, and Japan.
Wildlife Group Renews Call to Protect the Lesser Prairie Chicken
WildEarth Guardians, a conservation group based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, released a report on the status of the lesser prairie chicken. It has been 10 years since the group first petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the bird as deserving of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The bird, once plentiful in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, has seen its numbers decline by 97 percent over the past century. The bird’s habitat has been reduced by more than 90 percent.
The FWS says that it does not have the funds to conduct a study to determine if the bird needs federal protection.
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