SUMMARY OF BIRDING IN THE NEWS
African-Eurasian Wetland -- New website http://www.wingsoverwetlands.org highlights largest international wetland and waterbird conservation initiative ever to take place in the African-Eurasian region.
Webcam -- Visit the sanctuary's website for Red-shouldered Hawk and Barn Owl webcams! http://www.starrranch.org
Tricolored Blackbirds -- Vulnerable Tricolored Blackbird colony will be protected through Audubon California effort. http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/05/tricoloured_blackbird.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/04/for-friday---ne.html
Protecting Nesting Island -- Audubon Texas and Houston Audubon Society are among the partners in project to protect the most productive bird nesting island on the Texas Gulf coast. http://www.jaspernewsboy.com/news/2008/0507/News/051.html
Condor Protections -- Audubon California plays key role in landmark agreement to protect the largest privately held wildlands in the state. The area provides habitat for roughly half the state's California Condors. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-tejon8-2008may08,0,4242813.story
Bird Conservation Area -- Long Island’s Napeague State Park, an Important Bird Area, is named New York State's 50th bird conservation area.http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-libird0515,0,5460249.story
Piedmont Birding Trail -- Piedmont birders can hit new birding trail; Audubon North Carolina's Chris Canfield is quoted. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1074643.html
Sage Grouse -- Gunnison’s Sage Grouse, ranked by Audubon as the fourth most endangered bird in the country, is studied by Colorado biologists. http://www.westword.com/2008-05-22/news/going-going-gone
Threatened Birds -- International Union for Conservation of Nature publishes 2008 Red List of Threatened Birds.http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/05/red_list_launch.html
Audubon's Beidler Forest Sanctuary -- recognized as wetland of international importance. http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/01/beidler_earns_world_prestige42992/
Lights Out -- Jackson, Michigan turns out lights for birds. http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-25/1211983517200620.xml&coll=3
Calliope Hummingbird --the mascot of Yakima Valley Audubon Society, visits Washington. See story at http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/4671
FL Nesting Birds -- Audubon members among volunteers gathering to help nesting birds in Florida http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/NEWS01/80523026/1006
Protecting Piping Plovers -- Maine Audubon works with partners to protect Piping Plover Biologists identify ways to protect endangered piping plover pairs. http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/
0/BFC542AB73A4657185257479005D3E40?Opendocument
Honeyeater -- New hope for Regent Honeyeater. http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/05/regent_honeyeater.html
BirdLife Partnership -- $1 million donation as Qatar joins the BirdLife Partnership. http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/05/qatar_money.html
Bird-banding -- Audubon Wyoming leads bird-banding effort. http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/06/10/features/
range/bd83f1fc0daf217587257461002101fc.txt
Israel’s National Bird -- Reflections on Israel's national bird. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10rosen.html?ref=opinion
View Nesting Puffins --The Project Puffin webcam is now beaming live-streaming video and sounds from Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, eighteen miles off the coast of Rockland, Maine. Launched 35 years ago by Steve Kress, Audubon's Project Puffin has restored colonies of the colorful seabirds to Eastern Egg Rock and Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. Today, about 90 pairs nest at Eastern Egg Rock and more than 330 pairs nest at Seal Island along with Razorbills and nearly 2,000 pairs of Common and Arctic Terns. The techniques used by Project Puffin have since been used around the world, helping more than 40 other seabird species. For more information go to http://www.projectpuffin.org/puffin-cam.html
Important Bird Areas -- Maine Audubon has completed the initial stage of its Important Bird Areas (IBA) program, identifying 22 areas in Maine as critical to state and global bird populations. "A diverse mix of habitats makes Maine an important place for roughly 300 species of birds-many of them threatened or endangered," said Susan Gallo, the Maine Audubon biologist who heads the project. "But threats like inappropriate development, chemical contamination and climate change put them at risk. By identifying the most crucial areas, the IBA program helps us focus our conservation efforts where we can have the greatest impact." About 80 sites make up the 22 areas Maine Audubon has listed so far as IBAs: Batson River, Cape Elizabeth, Casco Bay Islands, Deer Isle, Duck Islands, Freeport/Brunswick, Gerrish Island, Greater Isle au Haut, Intervale Marshes, Isle of Shoals, Kennebunk Plains, Lower Kennebec, Machias Bay, Milbridge to Addison, Mount Desert, Muscongus Bay, Outer Penobscot Bay, Petit Manan, Scarborough, Thomaston, Upper Penobscot Bay and Wells. Find out more at http://www.maineaudubon.org/conserve/iba/index.shtml
Celebrate Urban Birds -- People of all ages and backgrounds participate in Celebrate Urban Birds through gardening, cultural activities and citizen-science. For the citizen-science part of the project, participants watch city birds for 10 minutes, check off 15 target species of birds, and send the information through the mail or the Internet to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Once enough data are gathered, scientists hope to learn more about how birds survive in cities and how they use urban green spaces such as parks, rooftop gardens, and even potted plants on balconies for food, resting sites, and shelter. Individuals can participate on their own or through public events organized by local groups. Celebrate Urban Birds has partnered with more than 2,000 organizations to hold special “birdy” events featuring the arts, science, gardening, or other ways to draw people into bird study and observation. The Celebrate Urban Birds web site has lots of resources and suggestions about how to craft an event or project for libraries, nature centers, schools and youth groups, community gardens, home-school groups, or individuals.
Tom Bancroft Testifies Before House on Bird Population Declines -- Today in Washington, Audubon's Director of Science, Dr. Tom Bancroft, testified before the House Natural Resources Committee during an oversight hearing on "Going, Going, Gone" An Assessment of the Global Decline in Bird Populations. "Audubon has documented a truly alarming trend. More than 100 of America's most common birds have declined significantly over the past 40 years. Last year, we issued a State of the Birds report that focused on the 20 common bird species that have lost more than 50% of their population in the last 40 years. Almost half of the common species for which population trends are known are in decline. This result is surprising. We know that there are rare and endangered species, but most of us think of the common birds we see so often in our backyards and local parks as invulnerable. We now know that is not the case." Read his entire testimony here.
Bird Habitat Recognition Program -- Audubon Pennsylvania is encouraging people to "green" their land by creating good habitat for birds on their land. The new Audubon at Home Bird Habitat Recognition program invites property owners and others to join a growing community of earth-conscious land stewards by managing their yards and other lands to support birds and other wildlife. Participants who register their site on the initiative's new website will have an opportunity to be recognized by Audubon for their conservation efforts. Open space of all kinds - residential, commercial, schoolyards, and public lands - has the potential to provide food, shelter and even nesting sites for birds
Participants will submit information about what they are doing to create bird habitat; they are also encouraged to monitor their efforts, report their successes in attracting birds, and "advertise" their stewardship with an Audubon yard sign. Over time, the information individuals provide will help Audubon target personal actions on private and public lands for the greatest conservation impact. Visit http://pa.audubon.org to learn more.
500 Birds Oiled in Alberta -- Alberta, ON-Renewed calls for a moratorium on new oil sands production are being made after more than 500 ducks were severely oiled when they landed on a toxic tailings pond in northern Alberta this week. The migratory birds landed on a pond filled with toxic waste from the oil sands operation at Syncrude's Aurora North Site mine, north of Fort McMurray. The Alberta government is investigating, and it is not yet known how many birds have died. Alberta government representatives are in Washington this week promoting the tar sands as "environmentally sustainable", a claim environmentalists challenge. "It's not just that tar sands oil releases three times as many greenhouse gases as conventional oil, or that massive amounts of water are consumed and polluted in its production, or that the boreal forest is being destroyed," said Mara Kerry, conservation director at Nature Canada, the Canadian BirdLife partner. "This week's incident clearly shows the grave danger that the tar sands pose to migratory birds and other wildlife." Read more about the incident here: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=5ad66d84-a883-471e-a1d8-b9570a056416.
