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summer,
2007
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NEW PAGE — WEBCAMS
OF BIRDS (no pelican webcams, though!)
Three men to be arraigned in deaths of hundreds of seabirds
Associated Press - May 30, 2007 7:14 AM ET
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Three men are due in court today
in connection with the deaths of hundreds of young seabirds
that fell out of their nests on an abandoned barge and
drowned in Long Beach.
Prosecutors say San Diego-based Point Loma Maritime Services
owner Ralph Botticelli, tugboat captain Alan Schlange and
crewmember Scott Caslin are set to be arraigned.
They are each charged with seven misdemeanor counts for
illegally removing, harassing and causing the death of
the terns. They also are charged with destroying several
nests.
:::snip:::
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
See also: <http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_6025126>
Arraignment delayed - San Diego company owner, employees
charged with birds' deaths; by: North County Times wire
services -
LONG BEACH -- An arraignment was postponed Wednesday to
June 28 for the owner of a San Diego-based maritime company
and two employees charged in the deaths last summer of
more than 400 fledgling terns that had nested on two barges
in the Port of Long Beach.
Ralph Botticelli III, 40, who owns San Diego-based Point
Loma Maritime Services, and employees Alan Schlange, 38,
of Costa Mesa, and Scott Caslin, 32, of San Diego, are
each charged with seven misdemeanor counts of illegally
removing, harassing and causing the deaths of the terns
on or about June 29, 2006.
The company also is charged with the same counts.
Before the charges were filed, Botticelli told the boating
and fishing newspaper The Log that the birds' deaths were
accidental.
The company, which did not own the two barges moored at
Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex where the birds were
housed, allegedly moved the vessels for commercial purposes,
authorities said.
All the dead birds were babies "in the sense that
they weren't flying yet," Long Beach City Prosecutor
Tom Reeves has said. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/sandiego/22_42_355_30_07.txt
Δ
34,000 seabirds killed annually in Africa’s Benguela
Current
29-05-2007: BirdLife South Africa and WWF South Africa
have released a report that for the first time assesses
the impact of longline fishing on vulnerable species foraging
in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, a rich
and biodiverse ecosystem that stretches up the west coast
of South Africa and the entire of the Namibian and Angolan
coasts.
The report estimates that as many as 34,000 seabirds,
4,200 sea turtles, and over 7 million demersal and pelagic
sharks, rays and skates are killed annually. The five migrant
pelagic seabird species occurring in the Benguela Current
that are most susceptible to the impacts of fishing operations
are Black-browed Albatross Thallasarche melanophris, Atlantic
Yellow-nosed Albatross T. chlororhynchus and Indian Yellow-nosed
Albatross T. carteri, (all Endangered), Shy Albatross T.
cauta (Near Threatened) and White-chinned Petrel Procellaria
aequinoctialis (Vulnerable). :::snip:::
The
report also provides practical recommendations,
such as the use of tori or bird-scaring lines with attached
streamers which scare birds away from the baited hooks
until they are under the water. Other measures which are
simple to implement include the use of thawed rather than
frozen bait and sufficiently weighted lines – both
of which increase the sink rate of the main line; and setting
the lines over the side of the boat, so that the hooks
and bait are fully submerged by the time they reach the
stern, where the birds congregate.:::snip::: <Bird
Life International>
Δ
Desert pupfish in hot water
Only 42 left: Creature whose plight led to the Endangered
Species Act is on the brink -- researchers don't know
why
Chuck Squatriglia, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 27, 2007
In his scuba gear, Zane Marshall is an odd sight in the
a... An inch-long King's Pool pupfish, the nearest cousin
to t... A team of divers prepares to submerge in Devil's
Hole as ... Biologist Stan Hillyard climbs out of Devil's
Hole after ... More...
(05-27) 04:00 PDT Death Valley National Park -- The last
place anyone would expect to find fish is Devil's Hole,
a chasm in the middle of the Mojave Desert where a 100-degree
day is mild and the only thing bigger than the rocky expanse
of desert is the sky above it.
But nature is nothing if not amazing -- as good an explanation
as any of how the Devil's Hole pupfish has survived in
the bottomless geothermal pool that gave the fish its name.
It is tiny, just an inch long, yet few species loom so
large in the history of American environmentalism.
The Devil's Hole pupfish is one of the rarest animals
in the world. The seemingly endless effort to save it laid
the foundation for the Endangered Species Act and shaped
Western water policy a generation ago with a landmark Supreme
Court ruling.
But after 20,000 years in the desert, the fish teeters
on the edge of extinction. No more than 42 remain in Devil's
Hole.
The Devil's Hole pupfish has been the beneficiary of one
of the most aggressive campaigns ever to preserve a species,
an effort every bit as intense as those to save the bald
eagle and California condor. The Endangered Species Act
requires nothing less. But saving the pupfish is more than
a legal obligation for the biologists and bureaucrats involved.
It's a moral one.
"This fish is the species that made us take note
of our need for conservation," said Mike Bower, a
National Park Service fish biologist. "It made us
realize that our actions have an impact beyond us. We have
a responsibility to look after this fish."
No one knows why they are vanishing. No one knows what
it might say about the health of the desert. And no one
knows whether they can be saved.
More than the loss of a species is at stake at Devil's
Hole. A deeper question has been posed in the desert outside
Las Vegas, where scientists have spent the better part
of 60 years trying to keep the pupfish alive: Should we
even bother? Or are we only delaying the inevitable?
:::snip::: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/27/MNGA0Q2IAL1.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco
Chronicle
© 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Δ
Eagle attacks force more than 100 herons out of Beacon
Hill; Victorians are on the lookout for where they've
gone
By Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist (Published at 1 p.m.,
May 23, 2007)
Victorians are on the lookout for more than a 100 herons
which have been terrorized into leaving their Beacon Hill
Park nests by a marauding bald eagle.
Callers to the Times Colonist said Wednesday they got
glimpses of the forlorn-looking birds on a chestnut tree
on the 500-block of Michigan Street. One woman said the
birds were spotted lifting twigs into the trees in what
was believed to be efforts by the birds to re-establish
nests.
But in later checks the birds could not be seen in the
area. :::snip::: (with some great photos): http://communities.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/blogs/local/pages/herons-vs-eagle-at-beacon-hill-park.aspx
UK News, Wednesday, 23rd May 2007, 08:50
Drastic Action Needed To Protect
Sea Birds, Warn Scientists
Some of Britain's best loved sea birds face extinction
unless drastic measures are taken to protect their food
supply, it was warned today.
Sand eels - small, fishlike eels that live in the sediment
- are the main food supply for newborn chicks on British
beaches.
But a combination of over-fishing and global warming means
that sand eel populations are diminishing, which has led
to serious breeding problems for puffins, kittiwakes, guillemots
and terns.
2004 was the worst year on record for many North Sea colonies,
and in 2005 the problem spread to the west coast, with
a 1,000 pair strong colony of kittiwakes on the Scottish
island of Canna producing only five fledglings.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is lobbying the
government to introduce a Marine Bill providing areas of
sea that are closed off from all extractive industries,
including fishing and mining.
Currently there is only one Highly Protected Marine Reserve,
at Lundy Island, measuring only 3.3km2 and representing
less than 0.002 per cent of our coastal waters.
The Government has introduced a Marine Bill White Paper
which is currently in the consultation process, but the
MCS is calling for the bill itself to be in parliament
before 2008.
MCS Biodiversity Policy Officer Dr Jean-Luc Solandt said: "If
we don't protect the beaches, then fishing will add to
the impact of climate change. Doing nothing is a dangerous
option.
"The impact of fishing for sand eels has been going
on for about 30 years.
"In the past they were used to fuel power station
because they were so oily you could burn them. They are
also turned into pellets to feed pigs and salmon on farms,
and in fishmeal in chicken feed. There is a huge industrial
use for these fish.
"Climate change is also rapidly increasing its footprint.
"Plankton are boom or bust populations, going up
in spring and down in summer. There is a boom in the Spring
months of March, April and May, which means the sand eels
feeding on them multiply, and so do the chicks feeding
on them.
"But this boom has stopped because climate change
means the water has heated up by 1 degree, which has led
to the plankton that the sand eels feed on moving north.
"What we need is for areas of sea bed near the coast
to be closed off from fishing. They need to be close to
shore for birds that do not fly out to sea to feed, but
we also need to have some further off shore as well to
protect other types of bird which fish further afield.
"There is a big problem, and we've got to do something
about that problem. We can't do anything about climate
change quickly, but we stop fishing for sand eels to save
the birds."
And he added that the breeding failure among the kittiwake
population in Canna was particularly worrying because if
a species was not breeding it meant something was "seriously
wrong". He warned that bird populations may have to
move north away from England to survive.
He said: "In many organisms, when they are lacking
energy, they won't put the energy into making an egg. In
order to be in breeding condition, animals need to be in
optimal condition.
"That is extraordinary because they are there especially
to breed, and the rest of the time they are out to sea,
so that is a real indication of the food shortage. If animals
aren't breeding, then something is seriously wrong.
"If we are still having problems with sand eels in
the future, then the birds might have to migrate in better
feeding ground in Iceland or Norway, or they might die
off. They will have to move to where the fish are or they're
not going to survive."
Copyright © 2006 National News <http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=SQ2237734K&news_headline=drastic_action_needed_to_protect_sea_birds_warn_scientists>
Δ
Pacific whale decline 'a mystery'
By Richard Black , Environment correspondent, BBC News
website
Grey whales in the eastern Pacific appear to be in some
trouble, with the cause far from clear, scientists say.
Researchers with the conservation group Earthwatch found
that whales are arriving in their breeding grounds off
the Mexican coast malnourished.
Published: 2007/04/30 08:19:43 GMT © BBC MMVII
The same thing happened just after the 1997/8 El Nino
event, which warmed the waters and depleted food stocks.
Scientists are not sure whether the current decline is
climate related or part of a natural predator-prey cycle.
"We're not really sure what is going on now," said
William Megill, a member of the Earthwatch team who also
holds posts at Bath University in the UK and the University
of British Columbia in Canada.
"We certainly saw in Mexico this winter a very large
number of starving whales," he told the BBC News website. "There
is currently an El Nino building, and this is a worry."
No fat
There are thought to be between 15,000 and 18,000 grey
whales in the eastern Pacific, a population that has been
in generally good health since pulling back from the brink
of extinction when hunting stopped in the 1940s.
Numbers may be higher now than before the hunting era.
By contrast, the other population, on the western side
of the Pacific near Russia, has been in trouble for many
years owing to a combination of hunting and, latterly,
oil and gas exploration. It may now number as few as 120
individuals.
On the eastern side, whales migrate between
their summer feeding grounds to the north, which stretch
from the waters near Seattle and Vancouver to the Arctic
Bering Sea, and their winter breeding home along Mexico's
Baja peninsula.
This is one of the longest migrations of any marine mammal;
and at the end of it, in the last few years, Dr Megill's
team has found the animals arriving thin and exhausted.
"The animals are starving, their fat has just gone,
and there's not a lot of breeding going on," he related.
"They seem to spend their time looking around for
food when they should be breeding."
Going down
The cause of this change is not clear. A link with climatic
conditions makes sense; warmer waters hold less oxygen,
they become less productive, resulting in less of the tiny
crustaceans which are the grey whales' favoured food.
This is thought to have caused the slump which followed
the 1997/8 El Nino event.
One suggestion, from Dr Justin Cooke, who works with the
World Conservation Union (IUCN) on cetacean issues, is
that the greys have just become too plentiful.
"No whale population can expand indefinitely," he
said, "and these whales seem to have exceeded their
historical level so it would be surprising if they continued
increasing - they're due for a slump.
"When whale numbers were lower there was enough to
go round in poor years, but now numbers are higher and
so there's only enough to go round in good years."
William Megill acknowledges that the population could have
become unsustainably high.
"Around the year 2000, colleagues looked for mysids
(tiny crustaceans) in kelp beds off the Canadian coast,
and they found lots of them," he said.
"The last two years, we've stuck cameras down there
and seen nothing.
"It could just be the whales ate them all, and what
we're seeing is the same thing that happens to wolf and
lynx populations when they eat too much of their prey."
But he is concerned that other factors may be involved
too, in particular the slow rise in the average temperature
of the oceans.
The deepening annual Arctic melt, too, would also deprive
the whales of a rich source of food, which accumulates
along the edge of the pack ice.
"I'm looking at it and thinking, 'I'm a bit worried
about it'," he said, "and what we need to know
is what's going on quickly so we can get proper management
plans in place.
"It may be a lot more serious than just grey whales
- they may just be the early warning sign of changes for
the whole Pacific, and we urgently need to know what's
going on."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6599805.stm
Δ
Click for a photo Courtesy of Channel Island National
Park
Falcon Nest Yields Live Chicks, Not Dead Eggs Print
By Melinda Burns
Saturday, April 28 2007
For the first time in nearly 70 years, a pair of peregrine
falcon chicks has been seen hatching on Santa Barbara Island,
scientists said Friday.
The discovery was made April 19 by Brian Latta, a field
biologist from the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Group, during
a survey of peregrine falcons on all eight of the Channel
Islands.
Image
Two chicks and one hatching egg found in the nest. Courtesy
photo by Brian Latta, Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research
Group
Latta rappelled up 400 feet of steep cliff, trying to avoid
the loose rock and prickly cactus, in order to reach the
nest in a cave high above the sea. He expected to find
the usual dead egg, a frequent occurrence ever since DDT
entered the food chain decades ago.
“I climbed to the eyrie, hoping to recover an unhatched
egg we could use for contaminant analysis,” Latta
said. “Imagine my surprise to find two recently hatched
young and another beginning to hatch! In all likelihood,
there should be three chicks there now.” ::: snip:::
Biologists with the bird group began placing pairs of
falcons on the islands in the late 1970s. In 1995, they
placed a pair on Santa Barbara Island, the most remote
of five islands in the Channel Islands National Park.
Last year, it was impossible to reach the nest on Santa
Barbara Island because California brown pelicans had built
their nests on the trail from the harbor, Latta said. But
it's unlikely any falcon chicks hatched last year, he said,
or they would have been reported by scientists studying
seabirds there.
There are 30 pairs of peregrine falcons on the eight Channel
Islands today, probably the offspring of the first birds
that were released or of birds that hatched in the wild,
Latta said. That’s out of a total 250 pairs of falcons
statewide.
Funding for the peregrine falcon survey comes from a $140
million court settlement reached in 2001 between six federal
and state agencies and the Montrose Chemical Plant and
other companies that discharged DDT into the sewers of
Los Angeles. Montrose also dumped DDT-contaminated sludge
into the ocean near Santa Catalina Island. A total of $30
million has been set aside for restoration: the rest is
for damage assessment and cleanup.
http://www.santabarbaranewsroom.com/content/view/198/1/ © 2007
Santa Barbara Newsroom
See also: http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=14000
Δ
video cam of Snowy Plovers
hatching at Coal Oil Point,
Goleta, California
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTIny-UmLy4
Solving the Mystery of the Missing Birds
# A surgical study in California could crack open the
door to further efforts to learn why Western grebe populations
have plunged at least 90 percent.
By Christopher Dunagan, cdunagan@kitsapsun.com
March 5, 2007
Wildlife veterinarian Joe Gaydos pulled the squawking,
sharp-beaked bird from its cage as he prepared to take
a blood sample.
Less than pleased with its surroundings, the white-throated
Western grebe poked the air with its beak and then deposited
a messy gift on the floor of the wildlife trailer.
Not all birds give up their secrets easily — even
if the research is for the good of their species.
More than a dozen species of seabirds are in serious decline
along the West Coast. Biologists studying their habits
and migration patterns are beginning to understand why
the birds are struggling to survive.
Now, 24 Western grebes from Kitsap County are taking part
in a study to uncover problems involving the transmitters.
If successful, scientists can proceed to follow the grebes
as they travel from place to place.
"We’ve got to figure out what is going on with
these guys, where they’re going, what’s happening
on their breeding grounds and so on, " said Gaydos,
regional director for the nonprofit SeaDoc Society, which
is helping to fund the project.
Studies of the birds are critical, he said, because their
population has declined 90 percent to 95 percent over the
past decade and researchers are left to guess why they
are having such problems. :::snip::: http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/article/0,2403,BSUN_19088_5395665,00.html
Δ
Hope for freed oiled birds
By Phil Hill, March 2, 2007
A GROUP of 28 guillemots were yesterday (Thursday) returned
to the wild after being covered in oil spilled from the
grounded ship MSC Napoli.
The birds were set free on the coast near an active guillemot
colony just west of Lynton, in Devon.
They had been cleaned and cared for at the RSPCA West
Hatch Wildlife Centre - the Somerset County Gazette ran
a successful appeal for blankets and sheets to help in
the operation.
Manager Rupert Griffiths said: "It's obviously a
very emotional day for all the staff who have put so much
time and effort into collecting and caring for these guillemots.
"For the past month we have done everything
we can to look after them, help them to recover and give
them the best possible chance of survival."
The guillemots were covered in a mixture of heavy fuel
oil and diesel which leaked from the storm-damaged container
ship grounded a mile from Sidmouth January 18.
The RSPCA collected a total of 995 guillemots from the
coastline.
Previous research shows as few as 1% of guillemots survive
more than a year following release.
To give the best possible chance of survival, each of
the birds was hand-washed; had their stomachs flushed with
a charcoal solution; fed about 300g of fish a day; weighed
and had their blood tested; and put in deep-water tank
for a week to build up their strength.
Mr Griffiths added: "We're trying many ways
to help them survive.
"The deep-water tanks are a way of checking that
the birds are strong and healthy enough to cope with being
on the water for a week.
"We're hopeful these birds will have a much better
chance of survival when released. "http://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/display.var.1231830.0.hope_for_freed_oiled_birds.php
Δ
Newly discovered West Coast arrhythmias cause - Interplay
of climate and currents disrupts marine ecosystems
Release Date: This news item was released on 2007-02-25.
(PressZoom) - San Francisco, CA -- Oceanographers, climatologists,
and ecologists at the American Association for the Advancement
of Science meeting report that unusual ocean conditions
and marine die-offs are changing the way scientists think
about the future of ocean resources off the US West Coast.
The researchers' new synthesis of decades of atmospheric
and oceanographic data reveals that increasingly wild fluctuations
in winds and currents appear to account for a series of
recent anomalous ocean events -- from repeated low oxygen
zones larger than the size of Rhode Island to massive die
offs of seabirds. The scientists say that the underlying
swings in winds and position of the jet stream are consistent
with climate change predictions.
"There is no other viable suspect right now, no other
obvious explanation," says Jane Lubchenco of Oregon
State University. "We've entered new territory. These
arrhythmias in the coastal ocean suggest we're observing
a system that is out of kilter."
Understanding the interplay of warming, winds, and storms
with ocean currents and biological productivity is a whole
new area of study that is proving urgent. In 2002, when
scientists first documented low-oxygen zones off the US
Pacific Northwest coast, they thought it was a startling,
once in a lifetime, event. But these "dead zones," which
suffocate crabs, fish, sea stars, and anemones on the ocean
floor, have continued, with 2006 now on the books as the
largest, most severe and longest lasting dead zone on record
for the west coast.
"It was unlike anything that we've measured along
the Oregon coast in the past five decades," says Francis
Chan of Oregon State University. "We're seeing more
and more evidence that changing climate and changing currents
can lead to big and surprising changes in something as
fundamental as oxygen levels in the sea."
In 2005 and 2006, researchers also found tens
of thousands of starving birds washing up on shore at
times of the year when the birds should be healthiest. And
scientists trying to predict salmon runs have recorded
large swings in ocean temperatures at a much higher frequency
than the past, a change that signals large shifts in
the amount of food available for salmon, birds, and marine
mammals. Scientists link the low oxygen zones and animal
die offs to changes in the timing and strength of upwelling,
a usually reliable and regular wind-driven process that
brings cold, nutrient rich waters up from the depths
of the ocean and fuels productive coastal ecosystems.
:::snip:::: <http://presszoom.com/story_124465.html>
or if unavailable, click here.
Δ
Nunavut: Mercury could cause
ivory gull’s
decline
February 23, 2007 JOHN THOMPSON
The ivory gull has more mercury in its eggs than
any other seabird in the Arctic, researchers have found – a
fact that could explain why numbers of the boisterous seabird
have plummeted dramatically over the last 20 years.
Population counts done during the early 1980s
found about 2,400 birds, while a survey done from 2002
to 2006 by Canadian Wildlife Services only found several
hundred birds – a
drop of 80 per cent.
This decline prompted the Committee on the Status of Endangered
Wildlife in Canada to assess the ivory gull as an endangered
species last year.
Climate change and excessive hunting in Greenland
are both possible reasons why the ivory gull’s
populations have nose-dived.
But another possibility has been discovered by Birgit
Braune, a research scientist with Environment Canada who
studies toxic chemicals in Arctic wildlife, specializing
in seabirds.
She examined ivory gull eggs collected from Seymour Island,
a tiny island just north of Bathurst Island, in 1976, 1987
and 2004, using the tissue bank at the National Wildlife
Research Centre in Ottawa, and ran a series of tests to
look for persistant organic pollutants, such as PCBs and
DDT, as well as flame retardants.
Most tests bore no surprises. But when she tested for
mercury, a heavy metal that interferes with the nervous
systems of animals, she found “the highest mercury
levels in eggs of seabirds in the Arctic.”
“That certainly was an attention getter,” she
said during an interview last week.
Some eggs contained enough mercury to prevent other birds
from reproducing – although whether this would hold
for ivory gulls is not yet clear.
High mercury levels could also affect the behavior of
birds, during the crucial period when a chick needs to
be fed and kept warm. :::snip:::
The bad news: there’s every reason to believe declines
have occured everywhere else in the country.
Other than mercury, researchers have a few other theories
why the ivory gull’s population has declined so abruptly.
One is that an unsustainable number of gulls were hunted
in Greenland during the 1980s, where migratory seabirds
are eaten more often. :::snip::: <http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/70223_03.html>
or if not available, click.
Δ
Tern Deaths Turned Over to Prosecutor's Office
Thursday, February 22, 2007 By Greg Aragon
LONG BEACH - The case of 500 Caspian and elegant terns
that died last summer when their nests were disturbed has
been turned over to the Long Beach city prosecutor's office,
and charges are pending.
"I am currently reviewing the case to see if there
are any charges that should be filed," said John Fentis,
Long Beach city prosecutor.
He said his office is looking at the actions of harbor
crews connected with the deaths. He gave no further details.
:::snip:::
Immediately after the deadly incident, the San Pedro office
of the IBRRC received numerous 911 calls about baby birds
washing ashore. This led to a seven-month investigation,
headed by the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG),
along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"It was a very lengthy and thorough investigation," said
DFG spokesman Steve Martarano. "We tried to determine
what happened to the birds and how they ended up in the
water."
Many environmentalists said state and federal wildlife
officials should have realized that the barges had become
tern nesting sites worthy of protection. They had also
grown frustrated with the length of the inquiry. Fentis
was recently quoted as saying that barge owners should
be responsible for knowing if one of their unused barges
is being used by nesting birds.
Of the estimated 500 birds that were involved in the incident,
24 were rescued. In August, the IBRRC released nine of
them at Cabrillo Beach and the other 15 at the Salton Sea.
Both locations were already populated with feeding terns.
http://www.thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=207175 also,
if no longer at that link, click here for photo and story.
Δ
Gathering to address wildlife, humans coexisting
BETSY BLANEY
Associated Press
LUBBOCK, Texas - Wildlife officials have heard the scary
stories across Texas with increasing frequency: Farmers
get spooked by rampaging feral hogs. Alligators show up
in ponds too close to home. Coyotes snatch cats and dogs
from the back porch.
The interactions between wildlife and humans rapidly encroaching
on their habitats have become so common that officials
have enlisted the help of biologists and other experts
for the state's first conference aimed at avoiding such
clashes.
"Concerns like nuisance coyotes and overpopulated
deer can become flashpoints for divided communities, but
properly managed wildlife and green space are vital to
our quality of life," said John Davis, a Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department urban wildlife biologist.
Those attending the Dallas conference Tuesday will learn
how to educate residents to be smarter around wildlife,
such as not hand feeding coyotes. Cities' officials also
will be encouraged to establish response plans should a
wildlife issue arise. :::snip::: http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/16734862.htm
Δ
Nunavut's wildlife protection lagging, says WWF
Last Updated: Monday, February 19, 2007 | 12:30 PM CT
Nunavut is forsaking the principles of its own
land-claim agreement by fast-tracking industrial development, such
as deep-sea ports and mineral exploration, the World Wildlife
Fund says.
The lack of balance between protection and development
could cause irreparable damage to wildlife and their habitat,
says Peter Ewins, director of species conservation with
the organization.
Although the World Wildlife Fund applauds the recent agreement-in-principle
reached by Ottawa and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., regarding
13 conservation areas, Ewins told CBC News Friday it would
like to see the territory do even more.
"Some leaders in Nunavut are fast-tracking measures
to bring in industrial development — whether it's
deep-water ports or mining venturing — and there
is no corresponding fast-tracking for any other conservation
measures despite the core principles of the Nunavut land
claim," Ewins said.
Nunavut should learn from the mistakes of the past, he
said. Ewins pointed to Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, where he said
30 years of oil development has hurt communities and the
caribou herds they rely on.
Nunavut Wildlife Management Board chair Joe Tigullaraq
says his group has not received any complaints from the
public about the pace of development.
However, the board is one of numerous bodies in Nunavut
involved with wildlife and that can sometimes be a problem
for communication, Tigullaraq said. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/02/19/wwf-nunavut.html
Δ
Wildlife Service found in violation
From LA Times Wire Reports
February 17, 2007
A federal appeals court in Portland ruled that the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species
Act when it approved a 22,000-acre federal logging project
that affects northern spotted owl habitat in southern Oregon.
In a case dating to 2001, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals found that an "incidental take" statement
estimating how many owls might be killed had no scientific
foundation and lacked a specific estimate of how many owls
would be killed by the logging. The court said the statement
also had no "trigger" for keeping track of whether
too many owls were being killed.
The statement supported a permit for timber sales in the
Rogue River Basin. <http://tinyurl.com/2m3s98> see also:
http://tinyurl.com/3bxxz8
Δ
View to a kill: pests threaten rare island life
* Selina Mitchell, * February 19, 2007
WORLD Heritage-listed Macquarie Island is falling apart
under the weight of more than 100,000 grazing rabbits,
while the federal and Tasmanian governments fight over
who should pay the pest eradication bill.
The World Heritage Bureau is investigating Australia's
management of the island, which supports more than 17 threatened
species of marine mammals and seabirds and is an important
roosting habitat for king penguins.
The rabbit population on the sub-Antarctic island has
increased ten-fold since an effort in the 1980s to eradicate
feral cats.
Rats, which eat seabirds in their nests, are also increasing.
The $16.5 million rabbit and rodent eradication plan was
prepared last year, but it is yet to be funded because
Tasmania wants Canberra to pay for it. :::snip::: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21247785-2702,00.html
Δ
Navy rebuffs state's plea to better protect whales from
sonar
By Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writer
February 14, 2007
The Navy has rejected additional safeguards to protect
whales from high-power sonar during war games in Southern
California waters, saying that state officials who asked
for extra precautions have no authority to tell the U.S.
Navy what to do.
In a flurry of letters dated Monday, the Navy and the
National Marine Fisheries Service agreed that California
has no power under the federal Marine Mammal Protection
Act to regulate the powerful sonic blasts linked to panicked
whales, mass beachings and die-offs.
The letters, delivered just before offshore naval training
exercises begin today, set up another jurisdictional battle
between the California Coastal Commission and the federal
government. The commission, meeting in San Diego this week,
will discuss the Navy's rebuff and decide whether to file
a lawsuit in federal court, said Mark Delaplaine, a commission
project analyst.
:::snip:::
In addition, the Navy said the Marine Mammal Protection
Act "preempts state regulation."
In late January, the Navy was granted a two-year exemption
from that act, so it could have the time to work out proper
safeguards.
"It's ironic that the Navy takes the position that
the Marine Mammal Protection Act preempts other laws right
after it gets exempted from that law," said Joel Reynolds,
a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"If the Coastal Commission doesn't sue, we will," Reynolds
added.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sonar14feb14,1,1605010.story
see also: the January 11 LAT story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sonar11jan11,1,2850200.story
Δ
Mysterious Toxin Kills Nearly 3 Dozen O.C. Birds
(CBS) HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. A toxic substance has killed
nearly three dozen shore birds at the mouth of the Santa
Ana River, some after suffering seizures.
Some 25 dead birds have been brought to Wetlands & Wildlife
Care Center in Huntington Beach within the past week, but
the center's Lisa Birkle said many dead birds may have
been disposed of elsewhere.
Five birds were brought in this morning. Twelve others
were brought in alive, and of those, three are still alive,
she said.
"It's been going on about a week but it peaked yesterday," Birkle
said.
The birds were found along the shore at the mouth of the
Santa Ana River, which forms the boundary between Huntington
Beach and Newport Beach, Birkle said.
The birds exhibited symptoms of neurological problems
and hypothermia and suffered seizures, Birkle said.
What is perplexing is that the different types
of birds, which include grebes, avocets and cormorants, "don't
share food and feeding techniques," Birkle said.
"We're not sure, it could be something in the water," Birkle
said.
Whatever is sickening the birds could be pesticides or
fertilizers brought down the Santa Ana River by rain, Birkle
said.
Center employees are taking blood and fecal samples to
send them to a lab, she said.
"We're trying to rule out what it's not and narrow
in on what it is," she said.
Monica Mazur of the Orange County Health Care Agency's
Environmental Division, said the symptoms sound like domoic
acid, a naturally occurring toxic produced by microscopic
algae in the ocean.
However, after sending e-mail notices to a marine
bio-toxin group with the state Department of Health Services,
Mazur was told got that the scientists "are not
seeing a lot of domoic right now."
"So that's one thing that they will continue looking
at just to make sure it's not that," Mazur said.
"There's been some problems when we've had domoic
acid in the water, but that was not just birds," Mazur
said. "I guess it affected a lot of different animals,
you know the sea lions, seals, birds. That's the plankton
that floats out there."
Seizures are "one of the symptoms of domoic acid," Mazur
said.
video: http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=33764@kcbs.dayport.com
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_045010821.html
Friday, February 16, 2007
Ocean toxin unlikely cause of birds' deaths
Lab results suggest that something besides domoic acid
has sickened, killed the animals.
By CATHY TRAN
The Orange County Register
Test results Thursday suggested that an ocean toxin called
domoic acid is probably not the prime cause of illness
among more than 50 dead and sick birds found near the Santa
Ana River this week.
The toxin was found in only one out of five samples from
the birds, according to Astrid Schnetzer, a biologist in
the Karon Lab at the University of Southern California.
"Unless (the other four) had metabolized domoic acid
out already, I'm thinking it might be something else," Debbie
McGuire, wildlife director at the Wetlands and Wildlife
Care Center in Huntington Beach, said. Other labs are now
testing for other toxins or chemicals.
One bird from the first group affected was still alive
Thursday: an American avocet. "He's becoming aware
of his surroundings so he might be turning the corner for
the better," Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director,
said. "He tried to bite me and that made everyone
happy and start crying."
Two other sick birds were brought to the center Thursday,
but the number of dying birds is winding down.
"Hopefully it's just over and we might see a few
residuals and that'll be it," McGuire said.http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1581869.php
Δ
Bill to make it a civil offense to feed wildlife lacks
support
February 14, 2007 AUGUSTA, Maine --Mainers who like to
feed deer and turkeys in their backyards are free to continue
doing so.
A bill that would have made it a civil offense to feed
wildlife was rejected unanimously by a legislative committee
on Tuesday.
Wildlife biologists say the practice of feeding deer and
other wildlife is a bad idea but many Mainers continue
to do so. The proposal that was rejected would have imposed
fines of up to $500 for a first offense, and up to a $1,000
for a second offense.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Scott Lansley, R-Sabattus,
on behalf of a farmer who says his crop was devoured by
deer drawn by neighbors who feed them.
Wildlife converging on the feeding locations can become
nuisances and they also tend to seek out handouts instead
of retreating to winter "deer yards" that offer
them needed protection from the harsh weather, biologists
said.
Also, ailments such as Lyme disease or chronic wasting
disease are spread more easily when animals congregate,
biologists said.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will continue
to try to educate the public problems associated with feeding
wildlife, Commissioner Roland Martin said.
Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com
Δ
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/
Δ
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
Δ
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
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