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NEW PAGE — WEBCAMS
OF BIRDS (no pelican webcams, though!)
Guidelines sought for seabird nesting sites
The deaths of hundreds of terns prompt officials and barge
owners to seek safeguards.
February 9, 2007 - By Louis Sahagun, LA Times Staff Writer
As authorities consider whether to file criminal charges
in the deaths of hundreds of seabirds in the Los Angeles-Long
Beach port complex, wildlife advocates and shippers on
Thursday said they are considering new protocols for storing
and moving barges that often become nesting sites.
"It's an issue that needs to be addressed," said
Long Beach city prosecutor John Fentis. He is reviewing
the actions of harbor crews connected with the deaths in
June of more than 500 Caspian and elegant terns, many of
them too young to fly. :::snip:::
http://www.latimes.com/
Wildlife staff hopes 1 crane survived
By Matthew Walberg, Tribune staff reporter.
Published February 4, 2007
Wildlife workers were holding out hope Saturday that one
of the 18 young whooping cranes thought to have been killed
in Friday's storms in Florida may have escaped.
... Initially, workers thought the storm killed all 18
birds being held in an enclosure in the Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Fla.
But a closer inspection Friday showed Bird 1506 was missing.
"We have radio transmitters on every bird," said
John Christian, assistant regional director for migratory
birds at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "So the
field crew ran through all the frequencies, and lo and
behold they found a signal from one of the birds from outside
of the pen." :::snip::: Chicago
Tribune:
http://tinyurl.com/2mzdqv
Storms obliterate flock of rare crane fledglings
The birds, nearly a fourth of the eastern migratory whooping
crane population, died inside a pen topped with netting
at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge southwest
of Crystal River.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
Published February 3, 2007
CRYSTAL RIVER - One morning the week before Christmas,
18 young whooping cranes soared above a fog-shrouded airport
in Marion County. Hundreds of people gathered to watch
the birds complete their arduous migration from Wisconsin
to Florida.
Now triumph has turned to catastrophe: All 18 cranes died
in the storms that swept through Central Florida early
Friday.
The birds, nearly a fourth of the eastern migratory whooping
crane population, died inside a pen topped with netting
at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge southwest
of Crystal River. ::: snip:::
The eastern migratory flock
has 63 cranes, the nonmigratory flock near Kissimmee has
54 and the naturally migrating flock that travels from
Canada to Texas each year has 230.
Jim Bierly, president of the Citrus County chapter of
the Audubon Society, felt bad for the workers and volunteers. "Those
people are so dedicated. It's their whole life," he
said. "It's like losing their children."
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/03/State/Storms_obliterate_flo.shtml also:
click here
State officials complete inquiry into seabird deaths;
charges expected
Hundreds of terns, most unable to fly, died in Long Beach
Harbor last summer when their nesting area aboard two barges
was disturbed.
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
February 1, 2007
State wildlife officials Wednesday said they have forwarded
the results of a seven-month investigation into the deaths
of hundreds of young seabirds last summer to the Long Beach
city attorney's office for prosecution.
More than 500 terns — slim seabirds related to gulls
but in this case mostly too young to fly — plummeted
off two privately owned barges in the Long Beach Harbor
in late June.
Twenty-five birds survived what a barge owner called an
unfortunate mistake and what environmentalists across the
country called "Terngate." :::snip::: <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-birds1feb01,1,7379065.story>
Δ
Seabirds harmed by Napoli oil slick are freed
Martin Wainwright
Saturday February 3, 2007 Guardian
The first good news in the wake of the Napoli
container ship disaster was released last night by the
RSPCA, which plans to return the first of nearly 1,000
oiled seabirds back to the wild.
A trial group of guillemots will be released on the channel
foreshore in Devon before the end of the month, after hours
of patient treatment. The strongest and healthiest of 973
of the species, the commonest victims of oil slicks because
they spend most of their life at sea, will be set free
close to shallow water shoals of sprat, their main prey.
But the RSPCA warned that the overall survival rate of
oil-damaged birds rescued after the Napoli was grounded
off Branscombe Bay two weeks ago was unlikely to be more
than 40%.
Hundreds were washed ashore dead after a five-mile slick
from one ruptured tank on the 62,000-tonne container ship
drifted across their feeding grounds. Staff and volunteers
from the RSPCA combed the coast between Torbay in Devon
and Kimmeridge in Dorset and found the surviving guillemots,
along with 12 razorbills, a great northern diver and two
shags.
A scientific officer with the RSPCA, Tim Thomas,
said sprat shoals would be located by sonar and the guillemots
released in the best locations possible. "We are going
to try everything we can to give them a chance of survival,
although past experience is not encouraging. The recovery
rate of oiled guillemots is extremely poor."
The salvage operation on the Napoli is continuing according
to schedule, although potential complications have ruled
out a definite time scale.
Transport minister Stephen Ladyman said that removing
all 2,300 containers was likely to take between five and
eight months and complete salvage could stretch to a year.
So far, ninety containers have been hoisted from the ship's
tilting decks in an extremely delicate operation. Containers
are being lifted at a maximum rate of 30 a day, while an
equally cautious operation alongside the ship's cracked
main hull is pumping out the Napoli's 3,500 tonnes of heavy
oil - fuel that has the consistency of sludge - at the
rate of 20 tonnes an hour.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329704986-103690,00.html
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited
2007
Up to 10,000 seabirds could have been hit by oil from
a grounded ship, it was feared today.
So far, in the region of 1,000 affected birds have been
collected since the stricken container vessel MSC Napoli
was grounded off Sidmouth, east Devon, at the weekend.
Around 600 of these are likely to die, said the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds.
This morning, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
revealed that a slick has been formed from oil leaked from
the Napoli on Tuesday.
The MCA said the slick was several miles long and 30 yards
wide and attempts were being made to contain it with booms.
The agency does not think any more fuel is leaking as
work continues to pump 3,500 tonnes of oil from the ship.
RSPB spokeswoman Sophie Atherton said the extent of the
contamination of seabirds would be difficult to measure.
But she went on: "For every oiled bird ashore, there
could be up to 10 times that number at sea.
"We just do not know how many birds have been affected
by the oil." :::snip::: http://www.24dash.com/environment/15697.htm
HELP NEEDED:
You can help save the oiled seabirds
By Harry Walton
A LIFE-SAVING appeal for spare sheets and towels was made
today by the RSPCA to help them treat oiled seabirds and
wildlife being washed up along the Dorset coast.
Readers and listeners are being urged to take old sheets
and towels to several Dorset Echo and Wessex FM collection
points in Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport. :::snip:::
Anyone finding an oiled bird should call the RSPCA 24-hour
helpline on 0870 5555 999....Dorset Daily Echo: http://tinyurl.com/38e2f6
Δ
chicagotribune.com
71 positions to be cut from Midwest refuges
By John Biemer
Tribune staff reporter
January 18, 2007
Amid a federal budget shortfall, nine staff positions
will be eliminated at Illinois' 10 National Wildlife Refuges,
a move that will affect educational programs, ranger interpretation,
maintenance and habitat restoration, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service announced Wednesday.
Overall, 71 positions will be cut from the refuge staff
in eight Midwestern states--about 20 percent of the workforce--over
the next three years under the new regional plan.
:::snip:::
Agency officials acknowledge that visitors to the Midwest
region's 54 wildlife refuges will notice the decline in
services.
The entire system, refuge advocates have said, already
is vastly underfunded, particularly in recent years, and
the cuts will cause further deterioration.
The National Wildlife Refuge System, the world's only
network of federal lands dedicated specifically to wildlife
conservation, manages 96 million acres and 545 national
sites, which are popular with hunters, anglers, bird watchers
and hikers.
Refuges are managed on about one-fifth the per-acre budget
of the National Park Service, said Michael Woodbridge,
director of Government Affairs for the Washington-based
National Wildlife Refuge Association, a private non-profit
that works to protect, enhance and expand the refuge system.
Operations and maintenance projects on the backburner--from
removing invasive species to maintaining dikes that support
wetlands--total about $2.75 billion, he said.
"It's a serious development," Woodbridge said
of the job eliminations. "But at the same time, it's
a continuation of what's been going on. The entire refuge
system overall is getting further and further [run] into
the ground because of a lack of funding."
----------jbiemer@tribune.com Copyright © 2007, Chicago
Tribune; http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0701180196jan18,1,4594295.story?coll=chi-newslocalwest-hed
Δ
The Bald And the Bountiful
Winter Eagles Flock to Md.'s Blackwater Refuge
By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; Page C02
We saw No. 1 before we even got to the place. There it
was, cutting perfect parabolas out of the morning sky,
God's own kite swooping and dipping joyously over the pine
trees that line Route 335. Not too long ago, this alone
would have been enough to pull the car over, call in to
a radio station, tell the guys at work. "You know
what I saw today? A bald eagle!"
But we would see nine more before our visit to Maryland's
Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge was over. These days,
and particularly in this place -- and especially at this
time of the year -- bald eagles going about their morning
chores seem as common as the pickup trucks they fly over.
It has been a remarkable and heartening recovery for one
of animaldom's great raptors, from its dark days on the
endangered species list in the 1970s, '80s and '90s to
steadily growing numbers today. :::snip::: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601584.html
Δ
NEST EGG
As the eagles soar, the population is growing
By MARY PEREZ — SUN HERALD
The eagle population has been slowly increasing over the
last 10 to 15 years.
JACKSON COUNTY - Pascagoula River Audubon Center Director
Mark LaSalle said he first saw an eagle soaring over the
Pascagoula River in mid-December. :::snip:::The fact bald
eagles are nesting along the Pascagoula River shows that
the river system is healthy.
"This is a good sign," LaSalle said.
The eagle population has been slowly increasing over the
last 10 to 15 years, he said, and he's seeing lots of osprey,
pelicans and other birds.
"The birds of prey are very abundant," he said,
adding that insect-eating birds are down and the results
of the 2006 Mississippi Coast Audubon Society Christmas
Bird Count are hard to explain. :::snip:::
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16462719.htm
Also:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070116/NEWS/701160358/1001/NEWS
Δ
Vulture worries stalk activists on Uttarayan
[ 14 Jan, 2007 0144hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
AHMEDABAD: When kites take to the skies on Uttarayan,
animal activists will be biting their nails in apprehension.
Their main concern is the white rumped vulture, a highly
endangered species, of which only 137 birds are left in
the city, according to figures of the Animal Help Foundation.
There is still one more day to go for Uttarayan and already
89 birds have been injured by the deadly manja. Six of
these were white rumped vultures, of which two died.
"Vultures, eagles, owls and hawks are the main species
that worry us during the kiteflying season. Of these, the
white rumped vultures are the most important, as they are
on the verge of extinction," said Sohan Mukherjee
of Animal Help Foundation, which is readying itself with
a team of foreign doctors to treat the birds injured during
Uttarayan.
Volunteers of the Animal Help Foundation said that out
of 1,157 birds injured during the last kite-flying season,
24 were white rumped vultures.
"We could not save two, as they succumbed to injuries
before we could bring them to the hospital" they said.
But this time around, Mukherjee is armed with a team of
doctors from abroad. "We have got three doctors from
the United Kingdom, one from Sri Lanka and one from the
Asia's oldest wild life conservation, Bombay Natural History
Society," added Mukherjee.
After treating the injured vultures, they are sent to
a vulture captive breeding programme in Pinjore, near Chandigarh.
Apart from vultures, migratory birds like flamingos, cranes,
storks and pelicans are also cause of concern for the Foundation.
Mukherjee said that they have opened 12 injured bird collection
centres in the city, from where they volunteers will collect
the injured birds during Uttarayan. "The centres will
be functioning near Gayatri Mandir in Shahibaug, near Torrent
power house in Sabarmati,Vastrapur, near Panjra Pol in
Ambawadi, at Kankaria zoo, Rasala garden near Law garden,
Geeta Bhavan in Manek chowk, near Odhav Panjra Pol, near
Bal krida Ghar Paldi, Sundervan nature park in Satellite,
JG International school on Sola road and near Radio Mirchi
in Vejalpur," added Mukherjee.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Ahmedabad/Vulture_worries_stalk_activists_on_Uttarayan/articleshow/1173808.cms
Δ
Feeling guilt over Chinese dolphins' demise
Yangtze
baiji extinct after surviving for 20 million years
The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin, has been declared
extinct by Chinese and Swiss scientists.
by Jerry George, December 30, For photos http://www.baiji.org
I'm feeling a bit empty.
The experts who have been following the fate of fewer
than a dozen freshwater dolphins left in China's vast Yangtze
River have declared them lost and the species extinct.
Decades of searching the river's murky waters must pass
before the sad news becomes official, but the Chinese and
Swiss scientists who have been keeping their vigil over
the nearly sightless, elusive dolphins are sadly certain.
After surviving 20 million years of shifting
climates, which included ice ages and periods far warmer
than today, the baiji (a Chinese name meaning "gray-white dolphin")
is gone from the face of the earth. :::snip:::
SF
Chronicle (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/30/HOGF4N7I731.DTL)
Δ
December 19: According
to a story in the
SLO
Tribune , "..."The
goal is control, leaving as few as possible on the island," said
Julie Benson, a spokeswoman with The Nature Conservancy.
Turkeys were brought to the island by a rancher in 1972.
Scientists said the kills are necessary because turkeys
and pigs provide prey for golden eagles. The eagles are
attracted to the island, where they also kill the endangered
foxes.
"We do not want to give golden eagles any reason
for hanging around Santa Cruz Island," Benson said.
The island pigs had kept turkey populations
in check by eating their eggs and competing with them
for food. With nearly all the pigs gone, the turkey population
had boomed."
NB: There was also a long and front
page story in the Santa Barbara News-Press. It's a
newspaper friendly to wildlife, but access to that
paper's Web site is by subscription and they reportedly
look unkindly... even on links. For the American Journalism
Review perspective on the paper: <http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4236>;
the News-Press has sued the AJR (among others).
Nature Conservancy slaughtering wild turkeys on Santa
Cruz
Jim Matthews
from Daily Bulletin.com
12/15/2006
For at least 50 years there have been wild
turkeys on Santa Cruz Island. Unlike wild hogs that are
not native to North America, no one has been able to
document any environmental problems introduced - or perhaps
more correctly - "reintroduced" populations
of wild turkey have created for native species. None.
There's wild, knee-jerk speculation, but no science.
But apparently that isn't stopping the Nature Conservancy
from contracting with a wildlife control company to slaughter
all of the 1,000 of so wild turkeys on Santa Cruz Island,
according to Steve Smith with the California Bowman Hunters.
Smith said the slaughter apparently began this past week.
This is more biased science adopted as policy. A policy
gone astray. Because there were no turkeys on Santa Cruz
since the last ice age, apparently there shouldn't be any.
That's the Nature Conservancy's scientists' belief. I can
understand removing wild hogs, which root up the landscape
and decimate native plant and invertebrate populations
that didn't evolve with them. But the desire to rid the
Channel Islands of all things non-native for the last 500
to 1,000 years doesn't make sense.
Especially not turkeys. Turkey bones are one of the most
common things found in the La Brea tar pits, having lived
in and evolved with all of the plants and animals that
currently live here. Turkeys are native. The fact that
they didn't make it through the last cold snap is no reason
we can't have them back in this habitat. We just need to
get the Nature Conservancy and National Park Service to
buy in. :::snip:::
NB: Is the wild turkey a native bird or introduced
as stated in most bird books? Read two interesting articles
on the turkey. Don Roberson points
out that the wild
birds we may be lucky enough to see are re-introduced,
pointing out that bones have been found in the La Brea
tar pits and that today's wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo,
is the same species roaming the Southern California area
in the late Pleistocene.
Another, also monterey.com,
with pictures, "They diverged from pheasants 11 million
years ago and were likely "distributed continuously
from middle latitudes of North America to northern South
America during the Pleistocene" (Porter,
W. F.. 1994. Family Meleagrididae (Turkeys) in del Hoyo,
J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. Handbook of
the Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona). Today
the Wild Turkey exists as a native only in eastern and
southwestern North America and northernmost Mexico; populations
on the West Coast and in the Great Basin are introduced.
However, since turkeys were once native to all these
latter areas, it can be argued they are "re-introduced into a former range" rather
than the despised plantings of non-native gamebirds which
has so often occurred. "
Δ
Bird flying south for winter ... on United
By John Biemer, Tribune staff reporter
December 18, 2006: In their annual migration
south for the winter, most birds don't fly commercial.
But when a United Airlines flight leaves O'Hare International
Airport on Monday morning for Florida, one lucky vulture
that missed its chance to migrate will be on board a plane
packed with snowbirds following the sun.
"He's going cargo," said wildlife specialist
Sandy Woltman of the Willowbrook Wildlife Center. "Direct
flight to Tampa."
The center, part of the DuPage County Forest Preserve
District, will pick up the tab as part of a seasonal role
in aiding birds left behind by the passing migration season.
The $178 bill may seem extravagant for a common animal
that feeds on roadkill. But the center budgets $500 annually
out of contributions to its foundation for relocating wild
animals, often birds that miss out on the migration, such
as a northbound snowy owl with a broken wing recently shuttled
up to Minnesota. :::snip:::
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0612180024dec18,1,6390220.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorth-hed
Δ
Service is Soliciting Comments
on a Draft Environmental Assessment for the Definition
of "Disturb"
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made available
a draft environmental assessment of its proposed regulatory
definition of "disturb" (with
environmental consequences of each alternative described) under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Comments
will be accepted until January 11, 2007.
credit USFWS
The Service has proposed nesting management guidelines
and a regulatory definition of disturb to help landowners
and others understand how they can help protect bald eagles
consistent with existing law. Once
delisted from the Endangered Species Act, bald eagles will
continue to be protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection
Act (BGEPA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). Both
acts protect bald eagles by prohibiting killing, selling
or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs. The
BGEPA also protects eagles from distrubance. :::snip:::
click here for a lot of interesting stuff about our
national symbol:
<http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/BaldEagle.htm>
PelicanLife
comment: This Web site suggests that the preferred definition
is NOT that recommended by the F&W on
page 7-8 of the December
Draft, but instead is Alternative 2, immediate
effects seen on individual birds. Alternative
3 requires both immediate effects and biological impacts.
This seems to upend the common sense meaning of the
ordinary word "disturb" which according to
the Merriam Webster means "interfere with the
normal arrangement or functioning...."
It
would be near impossible to prove "some psychological
or physiological effect" without a hands-on
veterinary examination or avian psychiatrist, anyone?
It makes the ordinary concept of "disturb"
effectively meaningless. Question: how often are there
bald eagle nestings near Florida Little League baseball
fields? Check it out and write the F&W, address
on the draft or send an E-mail: baldeagle_proposedrule@fws.gov
Δ
Shooting spree in cherry orchards
- Central West, NSW
By ELLEN VAZ: MORE than a dozen dead
native friarbirds, red wattle birds and crimson rosellas
have been discovered in an Orange cherry orchard.
The birds, which had been shot, at the Pinnacle Road cherry
orchard were picked up by an orchard employee, who also
found some birds injured and unable to move.
The employee, who did not wish to be named, contacted
the Central Western Daily concerned that orchardists may
be illegally shooting the protected species due to increased
numbers during the drought.
Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange
(ECCO) president Neil Jones said the sight of the dead
birds "appalled" him.
"Anyone who shoots protected species without a licence
is breaking the law," he said.
"I'm appalled that landholders would revert to such
inhumane activities, particularly at a time of drought
when birds are very vulnerable," he said.
According to National Parks and Wildlife Service Macquarie
area ranger Steven Woodhall, sulphur-crested cockatoos
and galahs are the only native species in the district
not protected. :::snip:::
Δ
Landmark achievement in Whooping Crane conservation inspires
efforts to save the Siberian Cranes
Last siberian crane Grus leucogeranus
in India. Photo © Mr.
N.C. Dhingra/International Crane Foundation
The first successful nesting of wild whooping
cranes in the American Midwest since the 1890s marks
an important milestone in the long running conservation
programme to save the world’s rarest crane. Russian
crane conservationists hope to emulate this success by
employing similar techniques to save the threatened Siberian
crane. Members of the IUCN SSC Crane Specialist Group
are closely involved in both projects.
:::snip:::
The success of the whooping crane conservation project
has inspired a similar programme to help the Siberian crane
Grus leucogeranus, listed as Critically Endangered on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Breeding in the far
north of Siberia, it used to occur in three distinct sub-populations.
However, the central population was last observed on their
Indian wintering site in 2002, and only three birds from
the western population were recorded on their Iranian wintering
grounds in 2005. Fortunately there are about 3,000 Siberian
cranes in the eastern population that winter at Poyang
lake in China. Hunting and loss of wetlands are the main
reasons for their decline.
As part of the efforts to save the Siberian crane, a conservation
captive rearing programme began in the 1970s, using birds
from the central and eastern populations. The birds are
being reared in three centres, including the Russian Oka
Nature Reserve. There are no genetic differences between
the geographical populations so in future these birds could
be released anywhere within the species historical range.
Russian conservationists, through
the support of ITERA (an oil and gas company) and the
Strekh Foundation, have
sought to emulate the techniques successfully employed
by their North American counterparts to teach captive reared
birds to migrate.
Early results have been encouraging. This autumn, two
captive reared Siberian cranes, together with two Eurasian
cranes, were successfully trained to follow an ultra light
aircraft from the Kunovat River (the western Siberian cranes
former breeding grounds) 1500km south to the Belozerki
Nature Reserve in southern Russia.
The four cranes were returned to the Oka Nature Reserve
and will be released with wild cranes this spring with
the hope they will migrate north to the area where they
fledged on the the Kunovat River. Eventually it is hoped
to lead flocks of juvenile Siberian cranes to winter with
Eurasian cranes in Uzbekistan.
http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/news/2006_articles/cranes.htm
For more information on the Siberian Crane, see http://www.cms.int/species/siberian_crane/pdf/Siberian_Crane_Flyway_News_7.pdf
Δ
"First Family" arrives in
Florida, 12/9, traveling from Wisconsin!
(AP) MILWAUKEE Researchers trying to establish
a second migratory flock of endangered whooping cranes
in North America are celebrating after the first of the
birds to be hatched in the wild successfully migrated to
Florida from Wisconsin with its parents. :::snip:::
Whooping crane making comeback
By RELMA HARGUS, Advocate staff writer, Published: Dec
7, 2006
Photo by
KERI BRYAN
Keri Bryan captured on film a solitary whooping crane wading
in the marshes of the Aransas Wildlife Refuge during
a recent trip.
A Thanksgiving trip Keri Bryan and her family took to
the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas brought them
into the presence of a record number of wild whooping cranes.
Whooping cranes have been endangered for years. In the
late 1800s, there were about 1,500 in the world; during
the 1940s, the migratory population dropped to a low of
16.
A nonmigratory flock that lived in southwestern Louisiana
last nested in 1939 and then steadily decreased until it
had disappeared by 1950.
Conservation efforts since 1938 have resulted
in a slow increase: the total number in the wild didn’t
top 100 until 1983.
But, as of Oct. 31, there were
more than 340 wild whooping cranes with another 146
in captivity — two
of them at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.
The count Nov. 28 at Aransas was a record 224, and that
includes six sets of twins, another record.
Yet another record: The 42 chicks at Aransas last week
surpassed the previous high in 2004 by eight.
Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, said 11 additional cranes are on
their way.
The birds start leaving their breeding area in Wood Buffalo
National Park in Canada in mid-September, traveling in
small groups, Stehn said.
“A group of more than five is really unusual,” he
said, adding that some even fly singly.
“It’s usually a pair or a pair and their chicks,” he
said.
Whooping cranes mate for life and most adults come to
the same place at the refuge every year.
That trait makes it easier on Stehn, the official crane
counter.
The counting requires spending seven hours in a small
fixed-wing Cesna over the 38-mile stretch of Texas coast.
“Some are not territorial, and they give me fits,” Stehn
said.
One of his secrets of getting an accurate count is doubling
back if he sees a pair close to where he had earlier counted
a pair.
Although, the defined search pattern used takes Stehn
over the marsh twice during a count, he said blind spots
on the plane can create problems.
“You can’t see them if you’re flying
right over them,” he said.
The Aransas-Wood Buffalo cranes are the only migratory
flock that has always lived in natural circumstances.
But efforts are currently being made to teach captive-bred
whooping cranes to migrate.
In 2001, the International Whooping Crane
Recovery Team used ultralight aircraft — flown by a costumed pilot — to
lead chicks from Wisconsin to Florida’s gulf coast.
In April 2002, five of the original eight chicks returned
to Wisconsin. The goal is to establish a self-sustaining
flock of at least 25 breeding pairs by 2020. Thus far,
results are promising.
If you want to visit the Aransas whooping cranes, plan
to take the boat trip, Bryan said.
She was excited to be on the trip with
her cousins since she said she’s always looking
for birding recruits.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/features/4850206.html?showAll=y&c=y
Sad news from New York,
FWS-News: DEC releases details on killed
eagle
JIM KINNEY, The Saratogian, 12/07/2006
ROUND LAKE -- A young bald eagle found shot and killed near Round Lake last month
was healthy, said Ward Stone, the state's wildlife pathologist, said Wednesday.
'It had plenty of fat,' he said. 'This bird had been eating.'
Stone has examined the remains of the eagle found by a
deer hunter Nov. 25 in the woods between English Road and
the lake. He said the bird was likely shot while in the
air and died very soon after getting hit. The shooting
occurred sometime in the first two weeks of November, Stone
said.
He declined to give further details so as not to interfere
with the investigation.
State and federal authorities had nothing new to report
Wednesday on the investigation, state Department of Environmental
Conservation spokesman David Winchell said.
'It's sad,' Stone said. 'It would have contributed its
genetics to preserving and expanding the eagle population
in New York State. Future generations won't be able to
see this eagle soar.'
Harming a bald eagle is a violation of federal
law punishable by up to a year in penitentiary or a $100,000
fine. Federal and state authorities are offering a $2,500
reward for information.
There state estimates that 442 eagles wintered here last
year and that there are 92 breeding pairs in the state.
Stone said this eagle was hatched in a nest near Deer
River in the Adirondacks south of Malone, Stone said.
According to the DEC, this eagle was one of only three
eagles to successfully hatch this year from 11 known nests
in the Adirondacks.
'The reason is fairly clear,' Stone said. 'It was too
wet.'
Stone said heavy rains flooded some nests and made it
difficult for birds to fly and feed.
Anyone with information is asked to call 431-4341 or 1-800-TIP-DEC.©The
Saratogian 2006 <http://tinyurl.com/y7h3uu>
And in ARIZONA Bald eagle closure areas
go into effect
Please help us to protect Arizona's bald eagles
At this time every year, wildlife officials ask for your
help in protecting
Arizona's bald eagles by honoring the closure of 19 eagle
breeding areas in
different parts of the state, some near popular recreation
areas.Arizona currently has 43 breeding pairs of
bald eagles, and various land and wildlife management agencies
close the breeding areas for part of the
year, starting in December, in an effort to protect their
breeding attempts.
"We want to give these birds every chance to thrive," says
James Driscoll,
head of the Arizona Game and Fish Department Bald Eagle
Management Program."Human
activity near active bald eagle nests can cause a breeding
pair to leave its eggs uncovered, leading to a failed
breeding attempt. It can take
only 30 minutes for a breeding attempt to fail.
"The bald eagle was federally listed as an endangered species
in 1978. The
birds have now recovered enough to be considered a threatened
species. Part of the reason for the comeback in our state
is the Arizona Bald Eagle Nestwatch Program, which contracts
with volunteers to monitor breeding areas, educate the
public about breeding area closures and identify situations
where intervention might be needed to save an eagle's life.In
December, Arizona bald eagles begin rebuilding nests in
preparation for laying eggs.
During this time, land and wildlife management
agencies enact
the seasonal breeding area closures. Bald eagles nest,
forage and roost at
the rivers and lakes that are some of Arizona's most popular
recreation
spots, and this time of year, that can be difficult for
the birds.
For a list of seasonal closures throughout
the state, as well as tips if you visit bald eagle areas,
please click
here <http://www.azgfd.gov>. You
can help bald eagle research and recovery efforts
by reporting any harassment or shooting of bald
eagles. Call the Arizona Game and Fish
Operation Game Thief hotline at (800) 352-0700 or U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
Service Law Enforcement at (480) 967-7900
Δ
On YouTube.com: A touching animation that
has won a lot of honors — deservedly!
Whooping Crane migration from
Necedeh NWR in Wisconsin to the west coast of Florida:
follow the migration.
In 56 days, 14 flight days, they've covered 674.8 miles.
Compare this year's journey with those of other years: http://operationmigration.org/milecomparison.html
The word of the day is Zugunruhe (pronounced
zook-oon-roo-ha). Zugunruhe comes from the German words
zug (move, migration) and unruhe (anxiety, restlessness).
It is used to describe the seasonal increase of activity
in birds and other animals coinciding with the time of
year they usually migrate.Typical migratory preparations
include eating more (birds rely on fat stores to get them
through migration), taking short practice flights, congregating
in flocks, and increasing activity during the time of day
the bird usually migrates. :::snip::: http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html.
Δ
Could Tiger Farms Save a Species? by John Nielsen Morning
Edition, November 28, 2006 · Conservation
experts say the wild tiger may be headed for extinction.
Twenty years ago, there were tens of thousands of these
big cats in the wild. Today, there may be fewer than 3,000.One
of the biggest threats to wild tigers is poachers, who
kill the animals with snares and poisons. Almost every
part of a tiger can be sold.
But by most accounts, it's
the booming black market for traditional Asian medicines,
such as tiger-blood wine and powdered tiger bone, that
keep the poachers in business. Attempts to close this
market by cracking down on poachers and banning products
made from tiger parts have failed, especially in China.Radical
StepSome conservationists say it's time to take a radical
step to save the wild tigers: Legalize the sale of
tiger bones and organs taken from the carcasses of big
cats raised on Chinese tiger farms.
"There are roughly 4,000 tigers living on these farms,
which means about 300 to 400 tigers die a natural death
each year," said Barun Mitra of the free market Liberty
Institute in New Dehli, India. "The question
is: What do you do with their bones and carcasses?"Mitra
wants to flood the traditional medicine market with
those bones and carcasses. So do the owners of
the 14 registered tiger farms in China.
Mitra says
prices will fall sharply if it happens. If prices
fall far enough, tiger poachers will be undersold.
If that happens, they'll stop killing tigers in the
wild because they can't make money from it.Mitra
says the profits from the legal sales could help
fund beefed-up anti-poaching programs, or nature
programs that turn former poachers into park guards
in the tiger's range. In other countries, these kinds
of programs bring in millions every year.
"If even a fraction of that kind of money made its
way to rural parts of India and China, you would see a
sea change in attitudes" toward the wild
tiger, says Mitra.Mitra is the unofficial spokesman
for the plan to save wild tigers by selling
bones and organs from the tame ones. Recently,
he toured some of China's tiger farms at the
invitation of the Chinese government. China
has no official position on the plan to open
a market for farm-tiger parts, but conservationists
and representatives of other governments say
it's clear that the Chinese government likes
the plan, as do the owners of the tiger farms.
:::snip:::
One thing everyone involved in this debate agrees on is
that poachers aren't the only threat facing the wild tigers
of the world. For example, since the 1990s, nearly half
of the lands the wild tigers used to live on have been
cleared and occupied by people.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6546127
Δ
From the Fringe | 27.11.2006
Amorous Swan Transferred to the Pelicans 
"Black Peter" is
Germany's first metro-sexual swan. First the creature
fell in love with a bird-shaped boat. Now it
turns out that Peter is really a girl.Keepers at the
Münster City Zoo made the discovery
while examining an injury to the swan's foot. "Black
Peter" -- or "Petra" as some have suggested
renaming the bird -- shot to notoriety this spring after
visitors to Münster's Aasee lake noticed that
the creature had become strangely infatuated with
a swan-shaped fiberglass boat. Earlier this month,
both the swan and its unlikely objet d'amour were
taken to the zoo for the winter via the city's
canal system.
Zoo employees had hoped they could cure their new arrival
of the strange obsession by interesting it in one of the
zoo's presumably female swans. It now appears that in Peter/Petra's
case their efforts were probably misdirected.
Peter/Petra had cozied up with the boat before falling
asleep each night, said the keepers. The swan is scheduled
to be taken to the zoo's Pelican House on Tuesday so that
the wound on its foot can be kept dry. Zoo employees are
building a new window there so that the boat can accompany
its admirer.
A local bank has sponsored the renovations,
and a charity has been set up in Peter/Petra's name, with
donations going toward raising public consciousness of
swans' disappearing natural habitats.The only question is whether the proximity to pelicans
will give rise to a new fetish or whether the swan's passion
for plastic will prevail.http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2250181,00.html
Δ
Whales boast the brain cells that 'make us human'*
15:00 27 November 2006; * Andy CoghlanWhales may share
our kind of intelligence, researchers say after discovering
brain cells previously found only in humans and other primates.They
were touted as the brain cells that set humans and the
other great apes apart from all other mammals. Now it
has been discovered that some whales also have spindle
neurons – specialised brain cells
that are involved in processing emotions and helping
us interact socially.
Spindle cells, named after their long, spindle-shaped
bodies, are the cells that are credited with allowing us
to feel love and to suffer emotionally. Their discovery
in whales will stimulate debate both on the level of whale
intelligence and on the ethics of hunting them.The
cells occur in parts of the human brain that are
thought to be responsible for our social organisation,
empathy, speech, intuition about the feelings of
others, and rapid “gut” reactions
(see The cell that makes us human).:::snip:::http://www.newscientist.com
Printed on Mon Nov 27 20:15:39 GMT 2006
Δ
Center Seeks Protection for 56 Vanishing Birds and
Five Imperiled Butterflies Around the World Lawsuit
Challenges Unreasonable Delays in Endangered Species Protection for
Imperiled Species, Including Okinawa WoodpeckerSAN
FRANCISCO – The Center for Biological Diversity
today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for failing to
provide protection for scores of the world’s most
imperiled bird species, in violation of the Endangered
Species Act.The species include
the rare Okinawa Woodpecker in Japan and 55 other vanishing
birds from around the globe. Also at issue is protection
for five of the world’s
rarest and most beautiful butterfly species.
At
least 11 additional bird species not included in
the lawsuit have already gone extinct due to long
delays in protecting them, according to Peter Galvin,
Conservation Director with the Center.Other
bird species in the suit include the Giant Ibis
(Laos/Cambodia), Blue-throated Macaw (Bolivia),
Black Stilt (New Zealand), Caerulean Paradise-flycatcher
(Indonesia) and Slender-billed Curlew (Russia,
Europe and North Africa). The butterflies include
the Harris’ Mimic
Swallowtail (Brazil) and Kaiser-I-Hind butterfly
(Nepal/China).The USFWS first determined that protection
is warranted under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
more than two decades ago for many of these species.
Two
dozen of the bird species have been waiting
for final action since 1984, and 27 have been
waiting since 1994. It has been more than a
decade since the USFWS received a petition
to list the foreign butterflies. Despite clear
evidence that these species are imperiled – and
despite 11 bird species going extinct while
waiting to be added to the threatened or endangered
list – the agency has unconscionably
continued to delay federal protection for the
remaining species, illegally designating them
as “warranted but precluded” from
protection under the Act.
“The
U.S. has a responsibility to help protect
these magnificent birds for future generations,” says
Galvin. “We
can limit trade in these vanishing species,
and better assist with conservation and
recovery efforts if they are listed under
the Endangered Species Act.”ESA
listing for foreign endangered species
further restricts buying and selling imperiled
wildlife, can increase conservation funding
and attention, and brings a higher level
of scrutiny to projects proposed by the
U.S. government and multilateral lending
agencies such as the World Bank. <snip>for
the rest of the story: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
Δ
California Condor Chick Takes Flight in Southern California The
second California condor chick to fledge in the wild
in California in more than 14 years has left its nest
at the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today. The six-month
old chick, "Number 412," left its
nest for the first time October 22, flying approximately
15 feet and is continuing to make short flights near
the nest site.
The 6-month-old condor continues
to make short flights while remaining close to the nest
site. At least one parent is nearby keeping a watchful
eye on the young bird as it explores the surroundings.
The parents will continue to care for the juvenile condor
until it is approximately 18 months old.The chick was hatched
May 2 near the refuge, which is
home to the Service's California Condor Recovery Program.
It is the first chick to fledge in the
wild in California since 2004, and the second since the
federally-listed condors were reintroduced in 1992. This
brings the total number of California condor chicks to
fledge in the wild to seven. Five condor chicks have
fledged in Arizona.
"This is a significant event; each time a condor
chick fledges in the wild it brings us that much closer
to the goal of the recovery of this great bird," said
Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California
and Nevada Operations Office. Within all
release sites, only one other chick hatched this
year, but died of unknown causes after two months.
We want to acknowledge the hard work of our partners
and volunteers in the success of this fledging.
They put in long hours of nest monitoring and
assisted us with health checks on this chick,?
said Marc Weitzel, Project Leader for Hopper Mountain
National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Ventura County. <snip>.
For the full story, go to: http://news.fws.gov
Δ
Wildlife law adds to woes of India's tigers
Wed 15 Nov 2006 10:56:59 GMT By Samanwaya Rautray
NEW
DELHI, Nov 15 (Reuters) -A
new Indian wildlife law offers too much protection to people
living in forests and threatens to further undermine efforts
to save an endangered population of tigers, conservationists
said on Wednesday.The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act
2006 came into force in September and aims to save the
big cats, whose numbers have fallen alarmingly because
of poaching.But activists have called on India's Supreme
Court to scrap parts of the law they say might have the
opposite effect.
"Co-existence of humans with large carnivorous wild
animals is a myth," said a petition filed
on Monday by the Bombay Natural History Society,
the Wildlife Protection Society of India, the Conservation
Action Trust and the Wildlife Trust."
Conflict
between the two is the reality, a reality which
is reflected in the ascending graph of the number
of fatalities on either side."They
say the law, which insists authorities ensure "the
agricultural, livelihood, development and other interests
of the people living in tiger-bearing forests or a tiger
reserve", could mark a new low in efforts
to save rare wildlife.
"This Act would mean the end of forests as we know
them. If you look at the map, you will see that the only
forests left in this country are the tiger reserves," Maneka
Gandhi, former environment minister, told
Reuters.Under its provisions, forest-dwellers
could sell, give or occupy forest land, hunt
animals that are not protected and even set
up hotels in reserves and parks, the activists
say.Wildlife activists say the
law was rushed through parliament without
proper debate.But officials say it is an
attempt to address the needs of tens of
thousands of poor people who live in forests
and eke out a meagre living from cutting
down trees to sell as firewood and simple
farming.Many take money from criminal gangs
to lay traps, poison water sources and
electrocute tigers. Further legislation
expected later this year will fully
address the rights of forest dwellers,
officials say.The law also allows for a
tiger conservation authority and a wildlife
crime bureau. Tiger bones and skins sell
for tens of thousands of dollars
in China, where body parts are used in
traditional medicines.There were about 40,000 tigers in India a century
ago, but decades of poaching have cut their number to
3,700. Some groups say the number could be as low as
1,200. © Reuters
2006
Δ
Feinstein-Boxer Amendment to MilCon/VA Appropriations
Bill Would Ensure Santa Rosa Island Remains Open to PublicNovember 14, 2006
Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein
and Barbara Boxer (both D-Calif.) today announced that
the Senate has approved their amendment to the Military
Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill
repealing a provision in the FY2007 Defense Authorization
bill that sought to restrict public access to Santa Rosa
Island. Senator Feinstein is the ranking member of the
Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee on Military Construction
and Veterans Affairs.
“Today, we cleared a major hurdle in the effort
to repeal Representative Hunter’s provision that
would have allowed private hunting to limit the use of
Santa Rosa Island by the general public,” Senator
Feinstein said. “With this amendment we can
ensure this beautiful part of the Channel Islands
National Park remains open and its wildlife will
be enjoyed by all for years to come.” “This amendment corrects a terrible mistake that
should never have been made in the first place. With today’s
victory in the Senate, we are one step closer to protecting
Santa Rosa Island and keeping this natural treasure open
for Californians and all Americans,” Senator
Boxer said.
“I want to thank Senators Feinstein and Boxer for
continuing to work with me to protect public access to
Santa Rosa Island,” said Representative Lois Capps
(D-Calif), who represents the coastal area where the islands
are located. “Their amendment to repeal
Chairman Hunter's proposal to continue hunting
on Santa Rosa Island indefinitely will ensure
that the public will be able to enjoy full access
to its National Park.”
Senators
Feinstein and Boxer’s amendment
repeals a provision, sponsored by House Armed
Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.),
which effectively limited public access to the
island by extending the practice of allowing
privately organized deer and elk hunting expeditions.
These hunts require the closure of about 90 percent
of the island to the general public for about
four to five months each year. Representative
Hunter’s measure also prevented the
National Park Service from carrying out a court-approved
settlement to remove non-native deer and elk from Santa
Rosa Island by 2011. According to the National Park Service,
the deer and elk herds pose a threat to the island’s
11 endangered species, including the bald
eagle, rare plants, and native birds and
fox. http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-santa-rosa1114.htmΔ
Birds face extinction, says
WWF November 14, 2006 11:00pmNEARLY three-quarters
of all bird species in north-east Australia and more than
a third in Europe could become extinct unless efforts to
stop global warming are stepped up, a report said yesterday.The
World Wildlife Fund report said bird groups, such as seabirds
and migratory birds, were very sensitive to climate change."Large-scale bird extinctions may occur sooner than
we thought," WWF's director of climate change
policy Hans Verolme said in the report."If high rates of extinction are to be avoided, rapid
and significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions must be
made," the WWF said.Rising sea levels,
changes in vegetation and altered temperatures
are among the effects of climate change linked
to greenhouse gas emissions that impact negatively
on bird species worldwide, it said.The report,
released in Nairobi, comes as negotiations at the
12th session of the United Nations Framework Climate
Change Convention enter their second week,
with high-level officials and ministers from some
of the 189 participating countries expected to
attend.http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20757670-953,00.html# © Queensland
Newspapers. All times AEST (GMT + 10). Click
here for the
Env. News Service report or go here for the full report:
www.panda.org/climate/birds
Δ
FEATURE ARTICLE, High Country
News - November 13, 2006
Bred for success
by Stephanie Paige Ogburn The nonprofit Peregrine Fund
has mastered the captive breeding of birds of prey. But
has its single-minded focus blinded it to the importance
of habitat?
In the 1850s, the northern Chihuahuan Desert
in southern New Mexico was a vast expanse of black grama
and tobosa grasses, broken only by the solitary spikes
of soaptree yuccas. The aplomado falcon worked those
grasslands, picking off songbirds and insects with its
razor-sharp talons.The boldly marked bird ranges from
12 to 16 inches long, not much bigger than a kestrel
but with a significantly longer tail that enables it
to change course in mid-flight and accelerate upward
at incredibly steep angles. This makes the aplomado the
perfect grassland hunter, able to dart around low-lying
shrubs and swoop and swerve through the desert grasses.But
the aplomado doesn’t hunt here anymore. A century
of overgrazing devastated the falcon’s desert home.
Today, the once-vibrant grasslands are
a sea of shrubs, invaded by mesquite and creosote bush.
Although grazing has diminished, parts of the landscape
are still chewed down to the nub. And now there’s a new threat:
large-scale oil and gas development.Carrie Chalcraft
knows this well. In
2001, Chalcraft was chosen by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to write a plan for reintroducing
the aplomado falcon to New Mexico. But a year and
a half into the project, she watched her agency
do what she calls a "complete one-eighty," when
a Washington, D.C., directive swooped down and
reversed aplomado policy almost overnight. :::snip::: http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=16675
Δ
Posted on Sun, Nov. 12, 2006
EDITORIALS, Charlotte Observer Refuges in retreat
Cuts at wildlife sanctuaries are too much, too quick
National wildlife refuges in North Carolina and other
states are more than sanctuaries for animal and plant
life. They're national treasures that preserve the extraordinary
diversity of wildlife that once prevailed on this continent.
But federal job cuts in those refuges now threaten
the future of these important preserves.
That's
one thing the new House and Senate should address in
2007 once they've dealt with immediately pressing issues.
If they don't, the Southeast's 128 wildlife refuges
will lose another chunk of staff that amounts to a
one-fourth cut in their workforce over a six-year period.This
is no small matter. There are 10 national wildlife
refuges in North Carolina. Most of them are concentrated
in the northeastern portion of the state along
a line that parallels the Outer Banks from the Virginia
line down to Cape Lookout. These are world-famous sanctuaries
for black bears, ducks, geese, red wolves and tundra
swans. They include the threatened Pocosin Lakes National
Wildlife Refuge near a proposed Navy practice landing
field to train aircraft pilots.
As
recently as 2004, these 10 refuges were authorized
to have 83 U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service staff members, including maintenance
workers, refuge managers, interpretive staff and
others who have helped visitors to these refuges.
In 2005-06, the N.C. refuges lost 10 staff positions;
from 2007 to 2011, they're slated to lose another
nine -- a total of 19 positions. That's a nearly
one-fourth cut in the staff for 10 refuges in an
area where ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing
industries. This just doesn't make sense, economically
or environmentally.Chris
Canfield, executive director of Audubon North Carolina,
said in a recent opinion piece in The News & Observer
of Raleigh that it's surprising how imperiled the refuges
have become: "You'd think these crown
jewels of our state would be promoted and protected
for their natural and economic values."You'd
be wrong. With flat budgets and rising costs
of fuel, equipment and staff, the Fish & Wildlife Service
has had to cut services, equipment and staff.
A recent
news release from the service quoted Alligator River National
Wildlife Refuge manager Mike Bryant as saying the service
had done more with less for a long time, but "I
think we've reached a point where we have
to accept that we now will do less with less."Here's
what less means: Fewer staffers to protect
the refuge's resources. Fewer workers to
maintain facilities. And, in time, "public
access will become restricted due to the
inability of refuge staff to man the refuges
at a level which would allow for safe public
use."That's unacceptable. Our public officials must address
these drastic cuts and properly protect the refuges, their
wildlife and the public's interest in maintaining and visiting
these priceless treasures.© 2006
Charlotte Observer and wire service sources.
All Rights Reserved.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/15992770.htmΔ
Crane Spotters
In New Mexico, Long-Legged Birds And the People Who Love
ThemBy Grace Lichtenstein
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page P01As the last rays of
sun bathed the willow trees of New Mexico's Bosque del
Apache, a cacophony echoed across the countryside south
of the tiny village of San Antonio. Thousands of geese
and cranes soared above this wildlife refuge astride the
Rio Grande, then settled in ponds that spill across its
57,000 acres. A half-minute of silence disturbed only by
the rush of a light wind was soon broken as the birds,
responding to some unknown signal, suddenly erupted, cackling,
from the vast refuge and flapped across the landscape.:::SNIP:::
For the full article and beautiful photos:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111000459.htm>
Δ
SOUTH DAKOTA - Sand Lake wildlife refuge sees near-record
numbers
Geese, ducks, swans migrating to area
By Angela Mettler, American News Writer, Nov. 11, 06 At
this time of year, the Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge
is for the birds.In fact, nearly record numbers of birds.Snow
geese, Canada geese, ducks and swans migrate to the refuge
every year in early to mid-November. This year, an estimated
410,000 snow geese, 300,000 ducks, 6,000 Canada geese and
1,500 swans have flown in from Canada and North Dakota.
Those
aren't record numbers, but they're close, said Sand Lake
wildlife biologist Bill Schultze."For a fall migration, it's pretty high," he
said.This summer, officials at the refuge partially
drained Sand Lake to help restore the cattails
that flooded out in wet years. Many over-water
nesting birds, such as gulls, herons and egrets,
make their nests in cattails.While the cattails
were growing, many weeds germinated, creating food
for the birds that migrate to the refuge in the
fall.
The birds will stay at the refuge
until the ground is covered with snow or the water
in the lakes freezes - on average, until the last
week in November, Schultze said. Then they will
head to Nebraska, Missouri and western Iowa, he
said.On Nov. 9, when the low reached 9 degrees,
he said much of the water froze, and he was afraid
the birds would leave to find food and warmer temperatures
elsewhere."We really came within a day or two of losing everything," he
said.But the birds are sticking around
because of the warm weather.
Schultze
said the birds are easiest to see in
the late morning or early afternoon from
the refuge's headquarters or U.S. Highway
10, which runs east-west through the
refuge. The refuge's interior roads are
closed to the public until April 1, weather
permitting.The refuge's headquarters
is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday. For more information
and directions to the refuge, visit http://sandlake.fws.gov/.http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/15994104.htm;
ALSO: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/15994104.htm
Δ
Wildlife Conservation Campaign Visits Tibetan Settlements
Uttaranchal, November 11, 2006 - A new brand of emissaries
takes center stage to promote wildlife conservation in
Tibetan settlements across the country.
These
emissaries work as devoted guide to spread conservation
message through various educational and awareness activities,
Pasang Lhamu of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said.In
the first phase of the project, two northern Indian states,
Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal and Karnataka in southern
India are being covered.Tibetan monasteries, schools
and settlements in Dehradun, Ponta Sahib, and Mundgod
etc. are visited to conduct talks, quiz and drawing competitions,
and special screening of wildlife movies.
The
aim is to discourage Tibetans on the use of wildlife
products and those involved in the trade, Lhamu said.Use
of garments made from tiger, leopard, and otter hides
(Chubas) as well as their bones in traditional
Chinese medicines in China significantly reduced their
numbers in the wild.Raw materials are suspected to have
been smuggled from India and other range countries. Though,
some involved in the crime have been arrested many are
still at large.
50 Tibetan settlements, 54 schools and 95 monasteries
in 11 states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Arunachal
Pradesh, Shillong, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and
Chhattisgarh etc. will be covered.The programme
is initiated under the Tibetan Conservation Awareness
Campaign of WTI with support from the Care for the Wild
International (CWI).The campaign was launched by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
in April last year. Nearly, 3000 Tibetans signed pledges
in support of the campaign.http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=14644&t=
Δ
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