Once again, the "edge" of Alaska - Adak, St. Paul, Gambell, etc.- seemed to be the ideal place to be in September. The exciting birds found at one or another of these locations included (in rough order of appearance): Lesser Sand-Plover, Common Snipe, Jack Snipe, Brambling, Eurasian Wryneck, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Rufous-tailed Robin, Olive-backed Pipit, Marsh Sandpiper, Siberian Accentor, Tree Pipit, and Little Bunting.
But most birders could hardly rush to the northwestern ends of the continent to see these rare birds, unless of course they were already there or, perhaps close by!
There was, however, at least one bird that appeared outside of Alaska last month that could easily qualify as our rarity of the month. Curiously, it was a Eurasian rarity that occasionally appears in Alaska, but actually showed up last month in California and Massachusetts. The species was Common Ringed Plover.
This small plover which is very similar our Semipalmated Plover, replaces it in Europe and Asia. The breeding range of the Common Ringed Plover actually extends to Greenland and a few islands in the high Canadian Arctic (e.g. Baffin and Ellesmere), and with a very few also occurring in western Alaska.
The Common Ringed Plover in California was an individual in Orange County at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California. It was first reported on pond C., where it lingered from 31 August - 3 September.
The Massachusetts bird, was an adult that was found and photographed from 13-17 September, at Sandy Point State Reservation just, outside the south end of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts. (There may actually have been two Common Ringed Plovers present at this locality, and the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee - MARC - is currently reviewing the reports.)
Sometimes you don't have to visit Alaska to find a bird that is more commonly an "Alaskan rarity"!
THE CURRENT BIRD EMERGENCY
If you somehow missed the news last month published in the journal Science, it was widely reported that since 1970, bird populations in the United States and Canada have declined by 29 percent, or almost 3 billion birds.
The authoritative study was co-authored by researchers at seven credible and well-respected institutions.
This disturbing news has been very well-covered in the general media from coast to coast. The Science article reported that "90% of the loss can be attributed to just a dozen bird families, including sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, and finches," and that grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease in their numbers, and more than 34% of shorebird populations have been lost. Many of the species in trouble included some species once considered abundant. Some readers may recall an historic 1989 Manomet Bird Observatory-sponsored symposium at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, that was convened to look into patterns of possible population declines in migrant bird populations. The dramatic comparisons of radar images of trans-Gulf of Mexico migrant losses over the decades shocked meeting attendees at the time, but these most recent numbers, revealed in Science, and widely dispersed last month, are nothing short of staggering.
Not all bird species are on the decline, however. Some species, including raptors and waterfowl, have shown some healthy population gains - likely due to focused conservation efforts and Endangered Species legislation. Parallel conservation strategies for additional species could avert the potential collapse of North American birdlife, the study authors say.
Some very helpful materials resulting from this recent research have been put together for the public's use and study, including a press release, seven personal actions to help birds that we can take in our daily lives, policy actions, and factsheets. These are all available here:
It's important to realize that "the birds are the canary in the coal mine," The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies' Arvind Panjabi, one of the study authors remarked. "When the birds are dying, it surely can't be good for us either."
TIP OF THE MONTH: JUST ONE WELL-CRAFTED LETTER
The U.S. government, of course, has a vital role to play in bringing our birds back from the brink - the situation just described above.
You can ask your U.S. Representative and two Senators to support essential legislation - such as the Endangered Species Act, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, and the Saving America's Pollinators Act - as at least a partial response to this grave situation.
The American Bird Conservancy has created a letter that you might send your two Senators and your member of the House of Representatives. You can make your letter more effective by adding short, personalized comments at the end:
FATE OF THE BAHAMA NUTHATCH
It was only a little more than a year ago, in the September 2018 issue of The Birding Community E-bulletin, that we brought your attention to the grave situation concerning the Bahama Nuthatch. A 2004 study published in the Bahamas Journal of Science by four biologists had presented a persuasive argument to recognize "Grand Bahama's brown-headed nuthatch" as a distinct and endangered species. The species status was acknowledged just in time to watch it almost drop out of sight.
In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew battered Grand Bahama, and many observers feared that the bird's small population was wiped out. The American Bird Conservancy and Bahamas National Trust partnered for a serious search, as did a team from the University of East Anglia in Britain. The teams successfully found perhaps five individuals in total. But searches in the spring of this year, undertaken by Bahamas National Trust staff and university teams, with some ABC support, found no nuthatches whatsoever.
When Hurricane Dorian ravaged Grand Bahama last month, with ferocious wind for 41 consecutive hours, the damage was dramatic and distressing. There was the tragic loss of lives and homes. Who knows how long it will take the restore infrastructure and the regional economy. Clearly, many things that were lost are gone forever. And that may include the nuthatch.
Despite the sobering photos of Grand Bahama's forests, the American Bird Conservancy and the Bahamian partners plan to search once more for the birds as soon as normal access resumes.
IBA NEWS: ANOTHER REFUGE/WALL PROBLEM
If you thought that a month would go by without another Important Bird Area (IBA) story concerning the border-wall between the U.S. and Mexico, you would be wrong. This month, however, we move away from our usual location-of-interest, the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, to bring you a report instead from the Arizona border.
The news concerns the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. In a brazen move, the Trump Administration announced on 18 September that the Interior Department planned on transferring as much as 300 acres within the Cabeza Prieta NWR to the military for border wall construction. Those acres are extremely remote and contain critical wildlife habitat which could soon be bisected by an impenetrable 30-foot wall. This refuge is also part of the "Sonoran Desert Borderlands IBA" in Arizona:
Cabeza Prieta NWR bird observations have documented 212 species recorded over the decades. At least 27 IBA surveys were conducted over the last decade, and seven Audubon Watchlist species were detected: Costa's Hummingbird, Gilded Flicker, Bendire's Thrasher, Le Conte's Thrasher, Brewer's Sparrow, Sage Sparrow, and Abert's Towhee. Loggerhead Shrike, a USFWS Bird of Conservation Concern, was also found in relative abundance along with Sage Thrasher which is listed as a Partners in Flight Conservation Priority Species and an Arizona Bird Species of Greatest Conservation Need.
"The Administration is using this narrative of a 'national emergency' to rewrite the borders of our refuge lands. Only Congress has the authority to change the boundaries of federal lands, and it is despicable that the President and Interior Secretary are willing to irreparably damage our refuge lands with no oversight, no environmental review, and no public support," said Geoffrey L. Haskett, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
For additional information about worldwide IBA programs, including those in the U.S., check the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area program web site at:
MIAMI CAGE-BIRD TRADE
We have covered the illicit Caribbean and Florida cage-bird trade multiple times in The Birding Community E-bulletin. Some of our more recent coverage was in February of 2016 and May 2018 when we summarized the Cuba-to-Florida traffic and recent criminal cases where hundreds of birds were involved.
Last month, however, we neglected to bring to your attention an excellent article on this cage-bird issue that appeared in National Geographic, so we will do so now. The article, "Songbirds are Being Snatched from Miami's Forests" is by Dina Fine Maron with excellent photographs by Karine Aigner.
As the article makes clear, certain people in Florida trap and sell perhaps thousands of wild birds each year for their colorful plumage and distinctive songs, according to Florida state authorities. Since April 2017, officers with Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have issued hundreds of misdemeanor charges for songbird trapping or possession. There is both the native-US-bird connection and also a Cuban element involved. The commission is currently working on larger, longer-term cases, all described in this fine article:
FLORIDA GRASSHOPPER SPARROW NEWS
Also, from Florida is the story on the beleaguered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, a subspecies with perhaps fewer than 100 individuals currently remaining in the wild.
The birds naturally reside exclusively in remote, open spaces amid the saw palmetto and wiregrass in southern Central Florida. The declining population exhibited a dramatic drop when at the Avon Park Air Force Range a subpopulation crashed, apparently plummeting from roughly 130 singing males in 1999 down to just 13 in 2003.
In January 2014, a dozen members of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Working Group - with participants from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Archbold Biological Station, and elsewhere - gathered to mull over the question of whether, why, and in what specific ways to start a captive-breeding program for this endangered bird.
In 2015, three males and four females were taken as chicks at the start of what was then a highly experimental protocol. Little was understood about how to raise the birds in captivity, including how to rotate their eggs, when to expose them to light, and what, exactly, to feed the young.
Nonetheless, last month, as many as 40 of these raised sparrows were released into the wild in the hopes of helping the recovery of this subspecies. The releases will stop until January or February
In the meantime, there is some controversy over the releases. The Rare Species Conservatory Foundation is worried about a pathogen that can be lethal to the sparrows, with the possibility of releasing potentially diseased birds into the species' last wild population. Accordingly, the wildlife managers had the Foundation stop breeding the sparrows and assumed full responsibility for the project.
Unfortunately, the researchers won't really know if they are succeeding until next year, based on how many birds return and how many males are observed singing in defense of their territories.
BOOK NOTES: OWLING PLUS
Wildlife photojournalist and nature educator, Mark Wilson, has written a fine book for children, but which clearly anyone can appreciate. Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night (Storey Publishing, 2019) is a photo-driven wonder which includes often spectacular photographs of all 19 North American owl species.
Mark Wilson's images feature owls in flight, hunting, nesting, and wonderfully intimate pictures of the specialized anatomy of owls including their eyes, ears, talons, and feather structure. With an abundance of artful sidebars, the informative text beautifully ties together the life history of owls with sections on owl vocalizations, courtship, nest-building, care of young, fledging, and conservation issues. There is even a section on how to find owls, examine their regurgitated pellets, and how to minimize disturbance to owls both at night and during the daytime.
Both young people and adults interested in owls, or who enjoy spectacular and informative photographs of these always captivating birds, is sure to appreciate and learn from this well produced and modestly priced ($18.95) volume.
After two days of competition, Eddie LeRoy of Eufala, Alabama, emerged as the winner of the Federal Duck Stamp Art Competition on 29 September. He did it with his painting of a pair of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. Congratulations, Eddie!
LeRoy's acrylic painting will be used for the 2020-2021 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, or "Duck Stamp," which will go on sale in late June 2020. The Service produces the Stamp, which sells for $25 and raises approximately $40 million in sales each year. These funds are deposited into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, and they go toward the acquisition or lease of habitat in the Refuge System from willing sellers.
In addition to LeRoy, Cory McLaughlin of Wells, Texas, placed second with his oil painting of another Black-bellied Whistling-Duck pair, and Frank Mittelstadt of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, took third place with his acrylic painting of a Bufflehead pair.
You can find more details here:
