http://www.ktvu.com/news/22787027/detail.html
Condor Couple Lays Historic Egg At Pinnacles Park
Posted: 10:22 am PST March 9,2010
Updated: 2:27 pm PST March 9,2010
PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. -- For the first time in more than 100 years, a pair of California condors have nested in the Pinnacles National Monument in California's Central Coast, excited park officials announced Tuesday.
Park Superintendent Eric Brunnemann said the female condor had been released in the park about a year and a half ago while the male was released in nearby Big Sur by the Ventana Wildlife Society.
The condors have been tagged with visible numbers and tracked using radio telemetry and global positioning technology.
The majestic birds were observed performing courtship behaviors for nearly a month before an egg was confirmed in the nest on Friday, the park service said.
Park officials quickly closed the areas directly around the nest to the public for the duration of the nesting period. However, the park service said, public viewing was still possible, but it will take a strenuous hike of approximately two miles from the closest East or West Side parking areas.
Biologists will be closely monitoring the nest to determine if the new parents succeed in incubating the egg and rearing a young bird.
Park officials said that condor eggs take an average of 57 days to hatch. Nestlings remain flightless for an additional 5½ to 6 months. It would take its first flight in early October.
Pinnacles National Monument was chosen as a California condor release site due to historical documentation of condors in the area, good cliff nesting opportunities and large expanses of intact habitat in the region, park officials said.
There have been six groups of condors released at the park, bringing the current total to 26 free-flying condors. 2009 marked the first year that a Pinnacles released condor nested. Condor 313 paired with Condor 303, who laid an egg in a rocky outcrop at the RS Bar Guest Ranch in southern San Benito County.
Condor 303 died before her nestling took his first flight, but the juvenile survived and continues to fly.
The reestablishment of California condors to Pinnacles is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Ventana Wildlife Society, the Institute for Wildlife Studies. the Pinnacles Partnership and community volunteers.
The San Diego Wild Animal Park, Los Angeles Zoo, the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, and the Oregon Zoo breed condors destined for rlease in California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico. The Pinnacles condor release site is an important link in the overall condor recovery effort.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Volunteers Needed: American Woodcock Survey Comes to Bird Studies Canada
So we tried to participate in the Owl Survey, but all available routes less than a 4 hour drive from us were taken. We hope to sign up for it asap next year so we can help. Another volunteer opportunity has come up and I've put our names in for this:
The American Woodcock Singing-ground Survey is a bi-national monitoring program that provides an index of the relative size of the woodcock breeding population in North America. It is the most important source of data used to guide federal, state, and provincial woodcock programs. Bird Studies Canada has recently taken on the role of coordinating the Ontario portion of this survey, and we are looking for volunteers interested in surveying assigned routes throughout the province. Each route consists of a single sunset survey of 10 stops, where the participant will count the numbers of individuals observed using the vocal courtship displays, or “peents.” Monitoring will occur between April 15 and May 20; the actual monitoring window will depend on where in Ontario you live. Routes will be assigned according to the participant’s availability and geographic location.
If you are interested in participating in the American Woodcock Singing-ground Survey, please contact Elisabeth van Stam at evanstam@birdscanada.org.
The American Woodcock Singing-ground Survey is a bi-national monitoring program that provides an index of the relative size of the woodcock breeding population in North America. It is the most important source of data used to guide federal, state, and provincial woodcock programs. Bird Studies Canada has recently taken on the role of coordinating the Ontario portion of this survey, and we are looking for volunteers interested in surveying assigned routes throughout the province. Each route consists of a single sunset survey of 10 stops, where the participant will count the numbers of individuals observed using the vocal courtship displays, or “peents.” Monitoring will occur between April 15 and May 20; the actual monitoring window will depend on where in Ontario you live. Routes will be assigned according to the participant’s availability and geographic location.
If you are interested in participating in the American Woodcock Singing-ground Survey, please contact Elisabeth van Stam at evanstam@birdscanada.org.
Let's hear it for Ecojustice!!!!!!!
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/777024--scarborough-highrise-a-death-trap-for-birds?bn=1
Scarborough highrise a death trap for birds
Hundreds of migrating birds have hit 17-storey mirrored office towers
Published On Tue Mar 09 2010
Ecojustice lawyers have launched a private prosecution against the office buildings at 100-300 Consilium Place in Scarborough that are responsible for hundreds of bird deaths each year.
Ecojustice lawyers have launched a private prosecution against the office buildings at 100-300 Consilium Place in Scarborough that are responsible for hundreds of bird deaths each year.
Shanta Persaud was standing at the photocopier one morning when she saw a little bird fly directly into a large window on the ground floor of her Scarborough office building. The receptionist ran outside to find the dying bird on the ground.
It "just hit the glass and fell to the ground. It sounded like a pebble against the glass," she said. "It's so sad." And it wasn't the first time she'd seen this happen.
For birds migrating through Toronto each spring and fall, the three multi-storey office buildings at 100, 200 and 300 Consilium Place are a death trap. So much so that, last week, the environmental groups Ontario Nature and Ecojustice – formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund – initiated a private prosecution against the buildings' managers under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The towers, near Highway 401 and McCowan Rd., are covered in mirrored glass and are as high as 17 storeys. They stand out in an area with few high-rises, making them more lethal than buildings downtown.
In 2008-2009, more than 800 birds were recovered from the lawns around the complex, ironic considering it was awarded a "Go Green certificate of achievement" for its environmental practices by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Toronto. Go Green certificates are most commonly awarded for energy efficiency.
Over the past decade, more than 7,000 birds of 82 species have met painful deaths after flying into what bird safety advocate Michael Mesure calls "the most reflective glass windows of any building in the city."
Among the birds most commonly injured or killed at the site between 2000 and 2006 were the White-throated Sparrow, the Golden-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Dark-eye Junco.
The action against management company Menkes alleges that the buildings' reflectivity has caused death and injury to birds, including species in decline, and, with respect to animal cruelty legislation, has put animals in distress.
"If you see these buildings, these are essentially mirrors," said Ecojustice lawyer Albert Koehl. "What the birds see is the sky and trees reflected in the windows, and they fly right into them."
Most daytime collisions actually happen between ground level and the fourth floor.
"Most of these birds die of traumatic injuries such as fractured skulls or broken backs," Koehl said. The broader issue, he adds, is the decline in migratory birds observed year after year.
The non-profit group Fatal Light Awareness Program has tracked bird deaths in Toronto for more than a decade and initiated campaigns such as Lights Out Toronto to encourage building managers to turn lights off at night, so as not to attract birds.
Caroline Schultz of Ontario Nature says most firms have refused to take real action.
"There has been nothing specific in terms of legal action to really force business owners to seriously review the options that are available to them to reduce the problem," said Schultz. "That's the reason for doing this private prosecution, because this is the worst building in Toronto in terms of bird deaths every year.
"Opportunities exist to do things to mitigate the problem, and what we really want to do is to set a precedent that business owners have a responsibility under the law to do this," she said. "It's not voluntary."
Menkes is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on March 17.
The building owner didn't respond to numerous calls for comment on the charges.
Toronto is on the migratory path for millions of birds, said Mesure, FLAP's executive director. The spring migratory period begins next week and will go until early June. The fall migration runs from August to the end of October.
Mesure has worked on the issue for 20 years, but recalls two "days of hell" at the Consilium towers when it seemed to be "raining birds." On May 12, 2001, he said, FLAP volunteers recovered 500 injured or dead birds in six hours. On a Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, the group picked up 400 birds over two days.
In the past few years, the building managers have made attempts to address the problem. According to Persaud, employees have been told to report falling birds and to turn the lights off and put down blinds at night. They have also tried tactics to scare the birds away, such as hanging orange balls from surrounding trees, and placing silhouettes of hawks and owls in windows.
But Mesure says Menkes has been reluctant to do anything more because the only real solution involves changing the aesthetics of the building.
Scarborough highrise a death trap for birds
Hundreds of migrating birds have hit 17-storey mirrored office towers
Published On Tue Mar 09 2010
Ecojustice lawyers have launched a private prosecution against the office buildings at 100-300 Consilium Place in Scarborough that are responsible for hundreds of bird deaths each year.
Ecojustice lawyers have launched a private prosecution against the office buildings at 100-300 Consilium Place in Scarborough that are responsible for hundreds of bird deaths each year.
Shanta Persaud was standing at the photocopier one morning when she saw a little bird fly directly into a large window on the ground floor of her Scarborough office building. The receptionist ran outside to find the dying bird on the ground.
It "just hit the glass and fell to the ground. It sounded like a pebble against the glass," she said. "It's so sad." And it wasn't the first time she'd seen this happen.
For birds migrating through Toronto each spring and fall, the three multi-storey office buildings at 100, 200 and 300 Consilium Place are a death trap. So much so that, last week, the environmental groups Ontario Nature and Ecojustice – formerly the Sierra Legal Defence Fund – initiated a private prosecution against the buildings' managers under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The towers, near Highway 401 and McCowan Rd., are covered in mirrored glass and are as high as 17 storeys. They stand out in an area with few high-rises, making them more lethal than buildings downtown.
In 2008-2009, more than 800 birds were recovered from the lawns around the complex, ironic considering it was awarded a "Go Green certificate of achievement" for its environmental practices by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Toronto. Go Green certificates are most commonly awarded for energy efficiency.
Over the past decade, more than 7,000 birds of 82 species have met painful deaths after flying into what bird safety advocate Michael Mesure calls "the most reflective glass windows of any building in the city."
Among the birds most commonly injured or killed at the site between 2000 and 2006 were the White-throated Sparrow, the Golden-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Dark-eye Junco.
The action against management company Menkes alleges that the buildings' reflectivity has caused death and injury to birds, including species in decline, and, with respect to animal cruelty legislation, has put animals in distress.
"If you see these buildings, these are essentially mirrors," said Ecojustice lawyer Albert Koehl. "What the birds see is the sky and trees reflected in the windows, and they fly right into them."
Most daytime collisions actually happen between ground level and the fourth floor.
"Most of these birds die of traumatic injuries such as fractured skulls or broken backs," Koehl said. The broader issue, he adds, is the decline in migratory birds observed year after year.
The non-profit group Fatal Light Awareness Program has tracked bird deaths in Toronto for more than a decade and initiated campaigns such as Lights Out Toronto to encourage building managers to turn lights off at night, so as not to attract birds.
Caroline Schultz of Ontario Nature says most firms have refused to take real action.
"There has been nothing specific in terms of legal action to really force business owners to seriously review the options that are available to them to reduce the problem," said Schultz. "That's the reason for doing this private prosecution, because this is the worst building in Toronto in terms of bird deaths every year.
"Opportunities exist to do things to mitigate the problem, and what we really want to do is to set a precedent that business owners have a responsibility under the law to do this," she said. "It's not voluntary."
Menkes is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on March 17.
The building owner didn't respond to numerous calls for comment on the charges.
Toronto is on the migratory path for millions of birds, said Mesure, FLAP's executive director. The spring migratory period begins next week and will go until early June. The fall migration runs from August to the end of October.
Mesure has worked on the issue for 20 years, but recalls two "days of hell" at the Consilium towers when it seemed to be "raining birds." On May 12, 2001, he said, FLAP volunteers recovered 500 injured or dead birds in six hours. On a Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, the group picked up 400 birds over two days.
In the past few years, the building managers have made attempts to address the problem. According to Persaud, employees have been told to report falling birds and to turn the lights off and put down blinds at night. They have also tried tactics to scare the birds away, such as hanging orange balls from surrounding trees, and placing silhouettes of hawks and owls in windows.
But Mesure says Menkes has been reluctant to do anything more because the only real solution involves changing the aesthetics of the building.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Greater Sage Grouse denied much needed protection!
What the hell is wrong with people? Why not take action to PROTECT all species that need help before it's too late? Why do we see the same mistakes happen over and over again? It's disgusting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/science/earth/06grouse.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/science/earth/06grouse.html
No Endangered Status for Plains Bird
Jerret Raffety/Rawlins Daily Times, via Associated Press
A male sage grouse fighting for the attention of a female sage grouse on a mating ground southwest of Rawlins, Wyo.
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: March 5, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Interior Department said Friday that the greater sage grouse, a dweller of the high plains of the American West, was facing extinction but would not be designated an endangered species for now.
Yet the decision in essence reverses a 2004 determination by the Bush administration that the sage grouse did not need protection, a decision that a federal court later ruled was tainted by political tampering with the Interior Department’s scientific conclusions.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a conservative Democrat from a Colorado ranching family, sought to carve a middle course between conservationists who wanted ironclad protections for the ground-hugging bird and industry interests and landowners who sought the ability to locate mines, wells, windmills and power lines in areas where the grouse roam.
Mr. Salazar said that scientists at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service had concluded that the sage grouse deserved inclusion on the endangered species list but that other species were facing more imminent threats, leading the government to assign the bird a status known as “warranted but precluded.”
As a compromise measure, he said, the bird will be placed on the list of “candidate species” for future inclusion on the list and its status will be reviewed yearly.
The middle-ground decision is typical of Mr. Salazar’s stewardship at the Interior Department, where he has tried to mediate between competing energy and environmental interests. Like many previous decisions, including compromises on oil drilling in Utah and habitat protection for the polar bear in the Arctic, Mr. Salazar’s action left both sides somewhat disgruntled.
Residential building and energy development have shrunk the sage grouse habitat over the past several decades, causing its population in 11 Western states to dwindle from an estimated 16 million 100 years ago to 200,000 to 500,000 today.
“The sage grouse’s decline reflects the extent to which open land in the West has been developed in the last century,” Mr. Salazar said in a statement. “This development has provided important benefits, but we must find common-sense ways of protecting, restoring and reconnecting the Western lands that are most important to the species’ survival while responsibly developing much-needed energy resources.”
He said that state resource agencies would be instructed to take stronger steps to preserve the sagebrush where the birds live. Federal wildlife and lands agencies will oversee those efforts.
In 2004, the Bush administration Interior Department decided against listing the sage grouse as endangered or threatened, despite reports from agency scientists that the bird and its habitat were in jeopardy. Three years later, a federal judge ruled that a senior Interior Department political appointee, Julie MacDonald, had intimidated agency scientists and overruled their findings. She later resigned from the department over several similar incidents.
The judge ordered the department to review the sage grouse decision, which led to Friday’s announcement.
A group of lawmakers from Western states had strongly urged Mr. Salazar to keep the sage grouse off the endangered species list, saying that the states had made significant progress in protecting its habitat. They said adding the bird to the list would hurt ranchers and energy producers who need access to sagebrush-covered lands that would be off limits under the listing.
“Today’s unnecessary federal designation is one more on a growing list of examples that this administration places environmental special interests before job creation,” Representative Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah, said Friday.
“Not only is today’s announcement a direct attack on the hundreds of Western communities that depend on access to federal lands for ranching, livestock, mining and energy production, it also could potentially destroy opportunities for development of our renewable resources,” he said.
Representative Jason Chaffetz, another Utah Republican, has been more pungent in his opinion. “The only good place for a sage grouse to be listed is on the menu of a French bistro,” he said recently. “It does not deserve federal protection, period.”
Brian Rutledge, Rocky Mountain regional director for the Audubon Society, said he agreed with Mr. Salazar that other species were facing greater danger. But he said he hoped the decision to make the sage grouse a candidate for endangered species protection would mean that state and federal agencies would act much more aggressively to protect the bird’s threatened habitat.
“We’ve already achieved 50 percent total destruction of the sagebrush ecosystem and a large part of what’s left we’ve seriously compromised,” he said. “We have been told clearly that the science tells us this bird is in trouble. This is an absolute straightforward clarion call for us to pull together to save it.”
As for Mr. Chaffetz’s suggestion, Mr. Rutledge said: “All I can say is he never tasted a sage grouse; they taste horrible. It’s like eating sagebrush.”
Asked how he knew that, Mr. Rutledge responded, “Anecdotally.”
Feeder Watch and other notes
Our results from the last week of February were just average with nothing new or exciting showing up, but scroll down for more exciting observation from this weekend:
Checklist for FeederWatch Ontario Birds
| Cooper's Hawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 |
| Mourning Dove | 33 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 4 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 2 |
| Blue Jay | 10 |
| American Crow | 2 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 4 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 |
| European Starling | 8 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 4 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 8 |
| Northern Cardinal | 11 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 13 |
| House Finch | 2 |
| American Goldfinch | 23 |
| House Sparrow | 22 |
HOWEVER, this past weekend there were some exciting things going on out at the feeders. On Sunday, Britt and I observed TWO male Red-bellied Woodpeckers. One male was making repeated and very loud calls, which got our attention. I saw him chasing another bird and assumed it was the female. I grabbed the camera and B to be my witness when I realized that it was actually a second male RB out front! That's a first for us to see more than one male, so it was pretty exciting!!
Another interesting observation happened Sunday morning as well. Dave and I were looking out front and I asked him; "What do you think we'll see first this season- Grackle or Red-Winged Blackbird?" Dave answered "Red-Winged Blackbird" and at that VERY moment, a male RWBB flew through the front yard to the feeder! First of the season!! It was pretty exciting and one of those interesting moments that just happens in life. So this is a sign that spring is in the air and we will soon have our spring migrants working our way through the yards, and the summer birds will return and take up their nesting. We have to clean out the nesting boxes soon. Some Starlings and House Sparrows are starting to make themselves comfortable so they will be getting an eviction notice shortly!
Here are this week's Project Feeder Watch tallies:
Checklist for FeederWatch Ontario Birds
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 24 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 2 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 2 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 2 |
| Blue Jay | 7 |
| American Crow | 2 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 3 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 |
| European Starling | 17 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 7 |
| Northern Cardinal | 5 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 1 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 9 |
| House Finch | 4 |
| American Goldfinch | 11 |
| House Sparrow | 7 |
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
In the News
Syncrude back in court over hundreds of dead ducks
Oilsands company to face charges over 1,600 ducks who died when they landed in the company's tailings pond in northern Alberta
Oilsands company to face charges over 1,600 ducks who died when they landed in the company's tailings pond in northern Alberta
One of worlds' rarest birds breeding site found - in Afghanistan
One Ireland’s first wild hatched Golden eagles has been poisoned
It's war in them thar nests, and the cuckoo's winning eggs down
Firemen flock to trapped bird in Raynes Park pond rescue
Official Number of Protected Migratory Bird Species Climbs to More Than 1,000
The list, last updated in 1985, incorporates the latest taxonomic and scientific data for migratory birds.
The list, last updated in 1985, incorporates the latest taxonomic and scientific data for migratory birds.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Great Backyard Birdcount- Results Analysis
The submission deadline for the GBB was due March 1st, so this morning we examined the results for all of Oakville. We had some significant sightings again this year, as in some cases we were the only ones to report certain species. Here's the breakdown:
We were the only observers to record the following:
Red-bellied Woodpeckers (we saw both one male and one female)
Brown Creeper (a solitary individual on two separate days)
Red-tailed Hawk (this one surprised us-it seems that the Red-tails are fairly common)
American Tree Sparrow (a total of 10 over the four days)
Brown-headed Cowbird (75 total over the four days).
Other significant sightings we had:
1 of the 2 reported Sharp-shinned hawks
2 of 3 Northern Mockingbirds
2 of the 6 Cooper's hawks
I think these results show that we live in an area that needs protected and valued, that these species need a home and space to live and thrive and that the giant paving monster doesn't need to consume all our forested and natural spaces.
We were the only observers to record the following:
Red-bellied Woodpeckers (we saw both one male and one female)
Brown Creeper (a solitary individual on two separate days)
Red-tailed Hawk (this one surprised us-it seems that the Red-tails are fairly common)
American Tree Sparrow (a total of 10 over the four days)
Brown-headed Cowbird (75 total over the four days).
Other significant sightings we had:
1 of the 2 reported Sharp-shinned hawks
2 of 3 Northern Mockingbirds
2 of the 6 Cooper's hawks
I think these results show that we live in an area that needs protected and valued, that these species need a home and space to live and thrive and that the giant paving monster doesn't need to consume all our forested and natural spaces.
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