[birdky] FW: Birding Community E-bulletin - November 2007

FYI:
Shawchyi Vorisek 
Avian Biologist 
Wildlife Diversity Program 
KY Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources 
#1 Sportsman's Lane 
Frankfort, KY  40601 
(502)564-7109 Ext. 368 
shawchyi.vorisek@xxxxxx 
www.fw.ky.gov <http://www.fw.ky.gov/>  



________________________________

From: Paul J. Baicich [mailto:paul.baicich@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 8:09 PM
To: paul.baicich@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Wayne Petersen
Subject: Birding Community E-bulletin - November 2007




THE BIRDING COMMUNITY E-BULLETIN
            November 2007
 
This Birding Community E-bulletin is being distributed through the generous 
support of Steiner Binoculars as a service to active and concerned birders, 
those dedicated to the joys of birding and the protection of birds and their 
habitats. You can access an archive of our past E-bulletins on the website of 
the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA):
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html
            and on the birding pages for Steiner Binoculars
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin.html
                                    
                        
RARITY FOCUS
 
On the afternoon of 6 October, Hugh Ransom discovered a Dusky Warbler at Elings 
Park, Santa Barbara, California. The park, called Las Positas Park by most 
locals, is perched atop one of Santa Barbara's tallest hills. The Dusky Warbler 
was found foraging between 2 and 5 feet in mixed shrubbery along with various 
other birds, including Magnolia and Yellow Warblers.
 
The Dusky Warbler is a vagrant from Asia. It breeds in Siberia and northern and 
central China, and typically winters from southern China and the north Indian 
subcontinent throughout much of southeast Asia. (For identification details, 
see your National Geographic guide, page 348-9, or in the "big" Sibley, page 
395.)
 
There are about 10 previous reports of this species from Alaska since 1977, 
most of them in the fall. California also has nearly as many reports since 
1980, most of them occurring between late September and early November, and 
almost all from coastal locations. There are also two reports from Baja 
California, in Mexico.
                                                                              
The Dusky Warbler at Elings Park was still present on 7 October, but could not 
be found the next day. 
 
You can view photos of this bird taken by Wes Fritz on 6 October at:
http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/duwa100607.htm
 
 
WANDERING FLAMINGOS
 
Louisiana's first documented Greater Flamingo occurrence was a surprise 
discovery. The flamingo was documented on the weekend of 29-30 September near 
the Calcasieu Ship Channel, southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
 
Incredibly, there were actually two flamingos, the same "mismatched" pair that 
had previously been associating with one another at the Aransas National 
Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of Texas, starting in December 2006. The 
amazing thing about these birds is that both flamingos had been originally 
identified by leg-band numbers - one a wild Greater Flamingo that had been 
banded in 2005 as a flightless juvenile at the Ria Lagartos Reserve, in the 
northern Yucatan, and the other an African flamingo that had escaped from the 
Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, in late June 2005! Apparently, the two 
flamingos simply traveled together up the coast from Texas to Louisiana.
 
The big puzzle: How did these two flamingos, species cousins - one a wanderer 
from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the other on the lam from a zoo in Kansas 
- ever got together in the first place?
 
These two birds had actually been seen by locals for about three weeks in the 
Calcasieu Ship Channel area before they were reported to birders. You can find 
more details and photos about this remarkable event here:
http://www.losbird.org/bulletin/flamingos.html
 
After the weekend of 29-30 September, the two flamingos could not be relocated, 
except that two flamingos spotted in flight over the town of Cameron, 
Louisiana, on 9 October had to be the "Odd Couple."
 
Given the circumstances, this curious twosome could appear almost anywhere in 
Southeast in the days and weeks ahead! 
 
 
SCAUP ON THE MOVE
 
We introduced our E-bulletin readers to the "Scaup Tracker" in May 2006
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/maySBC06.html#TOC14
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/may06.html
 
Once again this season, the Long Point Waterfowl & Wetlands Research Fund 
(LPWWRF), a study coordinated by Bird Studies Canada, is tracking migrating 
scaup. The monitoring of scaup migration through the use of satellite 
transmitters is a major component of this ongoing project. 
 
Many scaup begin their tracked migration in Alaska and northern Canada. By late 
October, many Lesser Scaup have already arrived at major staging areas in 
southern Manitoba. Greater Scaup have moved from areas in the Northwest 
Territories and northern Québec to areas around the Great Lakes. To obtain more 
information about scaup movements check out the "Scaup Tracker" on the LPWWRF 
tracking page for continued updates on fall scaup migration:
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/Website/scaup/viewer.jsp
 
 
CANADIAN WILD SPECIES REPORT (2005) NOW AVAILABLE
 
Also out of Canada, the "Wild Species Reports" are released every five years 
through the Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council. The latest 
report, "Wild Species 2005," has just been released and can be downloaded in 
English or French from their website. The report provides general status 
assessments for over 1,600 wild species in Canada, using results from 
provincial, territorial, and federal monitoring efforts. Status reports about 
various species of birds can be accessed from this page:
http://www.wildspecies.ca/wildspecies2005/index.cfm?lang=e&sec=52
 
 
BIRDING CONTEST FOR SCHOOLS
 
The National Biodiversity Parks (NBP) has recently launched the National 
Schoolyard Birding Challenge. The event is part of the NBP's Fledging Birders 
Program. The contest has been designed to promote awareness of local bird life 
for youth through the use of an interactive format. 
 
The Challenge is a monthly birding contest open to students in all public and 
private schools in the contiguous United States. Student participants will work 
together to observe, identify, and record various species found on their school 
grounds. The main objective is to get more young people outside and exploring 
nature through a birding portal.
 
Sharing birds with youth is an invaluable service to the birding community, 
and, hopefully, an investment for the future of birds in North America. 
 
For more information, visit:
www.fledgingbirders.org/challenge.html <http://www.fledgingbirders.org/> 
 
                                    
THIRD NWRA REFUGE PHOTO CONTEST ANNOUNCED
 
The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) announced its third annual 
digital photo contest, showcasing America's Refuge System. Entries for the 2008 
Refuge Photo Contest may be submitted until 15 December 2007. Results will be 
announced in March 2008 in connection with the 105th anniversary of the 
establishment of the first national wildlife refuge. Images submitted for the 
photo contest may be of birds, mammals, insects, fish, and other animals, as 
well as plants, people, or simply shots of scenery. The images must be from 
taken on Refuge System property.
 
This year, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. has donated the grand prize: a 2008 Toyota 
Highlander Hybrid. Other prizes include a class at the Art Wolfe Digital 
Photography Center, a Canon EOS 40D Camera, Steiner 8x42 Peregrine Binoculars, 
a TrekPod, and offerings from Barbara's Bakery, Wild Bird Centers of America, 
and Houghton Mifflin.
 
At least 200 images will be selected for inclusion in the NWRA Refuge Image 
Library, and every photographer submitting an entry will receive a one-year 
membership in the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
 
For photo contest details, submission categories, requirements, and procedures, 
visit:
http://www.refugenet.org/contest/2008ContestHome.html
 
 
75th STAMP ARTWORK CHOSEN
 
Last month, the new image for the 75th "Duck Stamp" was chosen.
 
Judging for the art contest took place on 12-13 October at the Big Arts 
Cultural Center in Sanibel, Florida, not far from the Ding Darling National 
Wildlife Refuge. The qualifying images for this contest were Green-winged Teal, 
Harlequin Duck, Northern Pintail, and Canvasback. There were 247 original 
submissions illustrating the waterfowl.
 
For the first time in history, there was a three-way tie for first place, which 
necessitated an additional round of judging. Once the tie was broken, the 
winner proved to be Joe Hautman.
 
Hautman has actually won twice before, once for the 1992-3 stamp with his 
Spectacled Eider, and then again for 2003-3 with a Black Scoter. Joe Hautman 
obviously comes from a talented family, since his two brothers have also won 
previously, James three times and Robert twice. Between them, they have now won 
eight Federal Duck Stamp contests. Kudos to Joe Hautman for this impressive 
accomplishment.
 
For details, including the winning and runner-up images, see:
http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/
 
The "Duck Stamp," officially called the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation 
Stamp since 1977, has been a great conservation success story. Over $700 
million has been collected through the sale of the Stamp since 1934, and over 
5.2 million acres of Refuge System land secured. (Ninety-eight percent of the 
proceeds from the $15-Stamp go to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, which 
supports the acquisition of wetlands and grasslands for inclusion into the 
National Wildlife Refuge System.)
 
Purchase of the Stamp is required by all waterfowl hunters - 16 years of age 
and older - but the "Duck Stamp" also serves as a "pass" for all refuges that 
charge an entry fee.
 
 
POTHOLES ON THE ROAD TO USFWS HABITAT GOALS
 
As readers of the E-bulletin may know, about half of the annual distribution of 
the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (made up mainly of "Duck Stamp" revenue) 
goes to secure wetland and grassland habitat in the Prairie Pothole Region. 
This is money well spent. It's not "just for ducks"; it's for a broad sweep of 
wetland and grassland birds that benefit.
 
On this very subject, there was a powerful Government Accounting Office (GAO) 
report, released in the last days of September, concerning habitat protection 
in the Prairie Pothole Region. It's lengthy title was, "Prairie Pothole Region: 
At the Current Pace of Acquisitions, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Is 
Unlikely to Achieve Its Habitat Protection Goals for Migratory Birds."
 
The full document can be found here:
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1093
or a one-page highlight at: 
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d071093high.pdf
 
As the 40+-page GAO study illustrates, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) 
has purchased outright 700,000 acres and acquired easements on 2.3+ million 
acres of wetlands and grasslands in the region since 1959. At this pace, to 
reach the desired goal of 12 million acres saved in the Prairie Pothole Region, 
 it could take the USFWS another 150 years!
 
Reasonable solutions to help address this crucial acquisition backlog include 
investing more of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) from offshore oil 
and gas revenue, creating a new Wetlands Loan Act (WLA), and increasing the 
"Duck Stamp" price. Unfortunately, there was no discussion in the report on 
possible efforts to increase the sales of the Stamp. Regular readers of this 
E-bulletin will recall that we have covered all these important proposed 
options - one at a time - within the last year.
 
 
STEINER/NWRA STAMP OFFER
 
And finally on the Duck Stamp, Steiner Binoculars has entered into a unique 
agreement with the National Wildlife Refuge Association, NWRA, wherein Steiner 
customers can get a Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation [Duck] Stamp and a 
one-year membership in NWRA upon purchase a Steiner Peregrine or Merlin 
Binocular. This may be the first time that any corporate organization has 
actually bought Duck Stamps for its customers, a thoughtful and creative 
conservation contribution. The NWRA participation also makes this a unique 
partnership.
 
For more information on this generous offer, see: 
http://www.steiner-binoculars.com/special/documents/SteinerNWRADuckStampPromotion.pdf
 
 
 
IBA NEWS: MORE CARIBBEAN SITES ANNOUNCED
 
Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for six Caribbean islands/countries were released 
online in mid-October. These new additions are for the Dominican Republic, 
Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Montserrat, Barbados, and Anguilla. These additions 
build on the IBAs posted in July from Bermuda, Dominica, Guadeloupe, 
Martinique, St. Kitts and Nevis. All of these IBAs can be accessed from this 
page, where you can select a location from the island/country list:
http://caribbean.birdlife.org <http://caribbean.birdlife.org/>  
You can find more information about IBAs in the U.S. through the National 
Audubon Society's Important Bird Area website:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/
 
 
NEOTROPICAL BIRDING 
 
The Neotropical Bird Club, designed to promote bird research and to increase 
awareness of conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean, has recently 
published the second issue of its birding magazine, NEOTROPICAL BIRDING.
 
It is hoped that the magazine will fill a niche among bird publications, with 
articles of practical use for those birding the Caribbean, South, and Central 
America. The publication is seeking to commission future articles. If you have 
an idea for a feature on Neotropical birds, want to share your Neotropical 
birding experiences, want to share with other birders details on great birding 
sites, wish to discuss bird identification issues, or any other related issues, 
contact the editor, James Lowen:
<neotropical.birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 
Club members will receive NEOTROPICAL BIRDING annually, and COTINGA (the 
complementary ornithlogical journal) biannually. For more information visit the 
Club's website:
www.neotropicalbirdclub.org <http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/> 
 
 
RESULTS OF CALIFORNIA LEAD-BAN EFFORT
 
Last month, we described the efforts in California (and Arizona) to get the 
lead out of hunting bullets to help protect California Condors that were 
ingesting deadly lead fragments: 
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/octSBC07.html#TOC12
and
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin/oct07.html
 
Thirteen October was a busy day for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger because he 
signed 101 bills and vetoed 58. Among those he signed was AB821, the 
Ridley-Tree Condor Conservation Act, creating a non-lead-bullet area for 
big-game hunting in California.
 
Despite considerable pressure to veto the legislation, particularly from gun 
interests, the governor responded positively to the overwhelming evidence that 
indicates that lead from bullets left in carcasses can be deadly to California 
Condors if ingested.
 
The president and executive director of the state's Fish & Game Commission had 
even asked the Governor to veto the bill, maintaining that a narrower 
regulatory ban would be an improvement. The California Department of Fish and 
Game had also recommended that the state commission prohibit the use of lead 
ammunition, but only in those areas where California Condors are now flying 
free.
 
With Schwarzenegger's signing of the bill, big-game hunters will be required to 
use non-toxic bullets in a broad zone in California, covering not only the 
coastal areas where California Condors currently range, but also in additional 
sections of the state that represent portions of the condor's historic range. 
See sample map here:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/photos/2007/oct/12/21175/
 
The ban will go into effect in July 2008, and the Fish and Game Commission will 
have to consider how to modify hunting regulations to make that possible. To 
the extent that funding will permit, big game hunters within this broad zone in 
California will get coupons to acquire non-lead ammunition at a reduced rate, 
or possibly at no charge at all.
 
 
CALIFORNIA WINDPOWER GUIDELINES RELEASED
 
Also from California, in late September the California Energy Commission voted 
unanimously to adopt voluntary windpower guidelines. The 80-page "Guidelines to 
Reduce Impacts of Windpower on Birds and Bats" is a joint product of the 
Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game. Regionally, Audubon 
California, the Golden Gate and Los Angeles Audubon chapters, Defenders of 
Wildlife, and Sierra Club all strongly supported the guidelines.
 
Starting in 2006, key players from both the windpower industry and wildlife 
conservation groups met to discuss possible solutions to windpower problems. 
These initial discussions ultimately led to the 80-page set of guidelines.
 
The guidelines can be downloaded at:
  
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-700-2007-008/CEC-700-2007-008-CTF-MINUS-APF.PDF
 
<http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-700-2007-008/CEC-700-2007-008-CTF-MINUS-APF.PDF>
  
 
 
SHEDDING LIGHT ON OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORMS
 
Also on the subject of potential barriers to bird flight, there is a recent 
case of illuminated offshore oil platforms in Europe. Each year, millions of 
birds migrate across the North Sea; under certain weather conditions, they 
encounter and potentially become attracted to illuminated offshore oil 
platforms. At these sites, the birds can sometimes become disoriented, circling 
the platforms until they become too exhausted to reach the coast. 
 
Royal Philips Electronics and Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) have 
experimented with 380 floodlights on one platform by using a new type of green 
light. Preliminary results suggest that birds may be less disoriented by the 
green lights than they are by standard lighting. 
 
The platform has been monitored through fall migration, and if observers 
conclude that the new green lights contribute to a significant decline in bird 
deaths, then the lighting could be changed on all the platforms. (Already, the 
initial experience for this fall is positive, showing an improvement of over 
90%. Other potential contributing factors will still have to be evaluated, but 
so far these results are encouraging.)

For a description from Philips/NAM, see:
http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/press/projects_events_campaigns/archive_2007/press_birds_lighting_nam.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en
 

"BOW TRAPS" CLOSE TO EXPIRING IN EUROPE
 
Bow traps for capturing birds are efficient, simple, and ancient. The traps 
date back to the Bronze Age and could still be found across Europe well into 
modern times. A small stick and a cord will keep the bow - traditionally a 
hazel branch - under tension. Birds will be attracted by berries to the perch, 
and at the slightest touch the bow will fly apart. Almost instantly, the bird 
is hanging upside-down with its legs trapped in the device. Almost all the 
birds caught are songbirds: mostly European Robins, but also Song Thrushes, 
Winter Wrens, Goldcrests, Chaffinches, and Bramblings - mere morsels for the 
human table.
 
Astonishingly effective, the bow traps have been part of European cultural 
history for centuries. But, fortunately, they are also now mostly part of the 
European past. In Germany, they were banned in the 19th Century, yet they 
persisted until about a hundred years ago. In Italy, the traps were banned in 
the 1950s, but are nonetheless still used in a few regions. One pocket of 
continued activity for these "archetti" has been the northern Italian province 
of Brescia, in Lombardy, an area in the mountains between Lakes Garda and Iseo. 
There, into the 1990s, an estimated 150,000 bow traps were set in the autumn 
season, a period traditionally lasting from mid-September to mid-December.
 
In 2001, some 12,000-bow traps were shut down. In 2002, the number had been 
reduced to 9,500. In 2006, the figure was 1,436, an encouraging number and 
probably the result of deterrence due to poachers being arrested by the police. 
Still, the use of bow traps continues, with about 1,100 bow traps already 
collected this year, as of the last days of October. 
 
It is possibly to monitor daily updates from the Committee Against Bird 
Slaughter (CABS) from their migrant bird-protection camp in Brescia. Updates 
will be posted on their web site until the beginning of December. You can see 
how many traps and nets have been located and removed, how many poachers have 
been caught, and how many live bird decoys released:
http://www.komitee.de/en/index.php?campdiary2007
 
 
REVIEWERS ASSAIL SPOTTED OWL PLAN
 
A USFWS draft recovery for the Pacific Northwest's harried Northern Spotted Owl 
has come under withering criticism lately. According to FWS-ordered and 
independent peer reviews, the plan "failed to make use of the best-available 
science," and "selectively cited from the best-available science to justify a 
reduction in habitat protection." 
 
One review was jointly written by the Society for Conservation Biology and the 
American Ornithologists' Union; another was from The Wildlife Society. Both 
identified similar flaws in the recovery plan's selection and use of scientific 
data, concluding that the proposed plan might actually result in the need to 
up-list the species' official status from Threatened to Endangered under the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA).
 
The proposed plan deviates significantly from current management - the 
Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) - by recommending the reduction of available 
Spotted Owl habitat. 
 
In addition, the draft plan rests heavily on the proposed control of another 
owl - the Barred Owl - that apparently out-competes its threatened cousin and 
appears to be increasing in historic Spotted Owl habitats. But the Society for 
Conservation Biology and the AOU, as well as additional owl experts, all felt 
that this emphasis was peculiar (a "red herring," if you will). They claim that 
habitat loss due to logging is clearly the major cause for the Spotted Owl's 
decline.
 
The plan's striking diversion from the current NWFP's provisions has swelled 
the conservation community's criticisms of the Department of the Interior's 
(DOI's) record of political interference in recent ESA implementation. 
 
In recent testimony before Congress, Dominick DellaSala, from the National 
Center for Conservation Science and Policy and a member of the USFWS Northern 
Spotted Owl Recovery Team stated that, "The apparent misuse and 
'cherry-picking' of scientific research represented in the present draft of the 
recovery plan is particularly disturbing considering that the Northern Spotted 
Owl is one of the most studied species ever listed under the Endangered Species 
Act," 
 
To view the 2007 Draft Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl and its peer 
review, go to:
http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ecoservices/endangered/recovery/NSORecoveryPlanning.htm
 
 
 
- - - - - - - -
You can access an archive of past E-bulletins on the National Wildlife Refuge 
Association (NWRA) website:
http://www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html
 and on the birding pages for Steiner Binoculars
http://www.steiner-birding.com/bulletin.html
 
If you wish to distribute all or parts of any of the monthly Birding Community 
E-bulletins, we simply request that you mention the source of any material 
used. (Include a URL for the E-bulletin archives, if possible.) 
 
If you have any friends or co-workers who want to get onto the monthly 
E-bulletin mailing list, have them contact either:
 
            Wayne R. Petersen, Director
            Massachusetts Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program
            Mass Audubon
            718/259-2178
            <wpetersen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
                                                                                
                            
                        OR
            
            Paul J. Baicich 
            410/992-9736
            <paul.baicich@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
            
We never lend or sell our E-bulletin recipient list.

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