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The adventure of the second European Breeding Bird Atlas, or EBBA2, was the topic of one of my first posts here at 10,000 Birds: In a warm Catalonian March, Barcelona is filled with sunlight and full of Rose-ringed and Monk Parakeets. In a very short time, we get two responses, two birds calling from opposite directions.
Another challenge to bird research is that it is woefully underfunded and relies heavily on citizen science. Remember the whole Cornell Ivory-billed Woodpecker search and how you literally had to apply for a volunteer position to pay your own way down to Arkansas for 2 weeks to try and look for that bird?
Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage. In 1996, several pipit specimens were collected for DNA analysis and it turned out that there was not one, but two new species to science in this sample! My final bird for this post is another of my favorites, the Ground Woodpecker.
For 3-4 days, opt for the hills, Tresnjica Griffon Vulture Sanctuary and the nearby Tara Mountain National Park with 140 species (not too much, but with Hazel Grouse , Ural , Pygmy and Tengmalm’s Owls , White-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers among them). So far Serbia has 326 eBirded species or 90% of the 362 birds in its official checklist.
Though it was well-known to the Native American populations that shared its space, the black-footed ferret was overlooked by Lewis and Clark and all subsequent Euro-American expeditions, remaining officially unknown to science until John James Audubon, his sons, and the Rev. But the ferrets kept dying. But this is real life.
It is easy to tell when some species become extinct — a Martha or a Lonesome George dies and there are no more, not now, not ever (until science fiction kicks in.) not “pink-headed” in the sense that a Ring-necked Duck is ring-necked or a Red-bellied Woodpecker is red-bellied. For this duck was (is?)
Starlings, they’ll dutifully explain, are ruthless invasives that have been responsible for the serious declines of several beloved native species, like the Red-headed Woodpecker ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ) and the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialis ).
This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives. copyright @2020 by David A llen Sibley. As Sibley tells us in the Preface, he originally intended to write a children’s book.
The authors’ detailed delineation of problems with the accuracy of NYC breeding bird surveys or with the limits of historical writings may test a reader’s patience. Because, as this book demonstrates so well, it is sometimes important to look back in order to move forward. This is a project that clearly spanned decades.
One website states that only 15% of the birds that hatch make it to become first year breeding adults, 6% make it to the second year, and 3% to the third year. Other species – such as starlings or t**s – stealing the nesting site of Eurasian Nuthatches is one of the major reasons for breeding failure.
It is also familiar at inland sites in winter, especially reservoirs and refuse tips, and breeds in the relatively-Northerly regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Yellow-Legged Gull These gulls breed around the Mediterranean and have yellow, rather than flesh-coloured legs. Get yours today!
Anyway, it is a very cute little woodpecker that eBird calls “unique, tiny” Its drum sound can be surprisingly loud for a bird this size. Both bushtit species occasionally are supported by helpers when breeding ( source ). As I frequently mention, science is quite wonderful.
The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. This is more than eBird reports–a checklist generated from the citizen science database lists only 1,413 species. Tintaya’s woodpeckers also nicely feature tree (and cactus!)
Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. My friend Vickie Henderson , who has some serious long-range vision, looked at the science behind Tennessee’s crane hunting proposal and found it badly wanting. There are 400 whooping cranes left in the wild, 100 of them in the eastern population.
Here’s a diagram, available on the Audubon site , that compares its 2000 range with its anticipated 2080 range: Only 1 percent of the bird’s breeding range remains stable between 2000 and 2080 if global warming continues on its current course. White-headed Woodpecker. Chestnut-collared Longspur is one of those.
The photographs are from VIREO, the ornithological image collection associated with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which licenses bird photographs to many guides and reference books. Many of the names of the photographers, listed in a 21-page section at the back of the book, are familiar: Glenn Bartley, Brian E.
A paper on the Chestnut-vented Nuthatch titled “Nest-Site Features and Breeding Ecology of Chestnut-Vented Nuthatch Sitta nagaensis in Southwestern China” has 8 authors. The Fulvous breasted Woodpecker to me looks like a very conventional woodpecker. I think this is a Fire-tailed Sunbird , maybe a juvenile male?
They reach breeding maturity at four to seven years of age, produce only one chick per nesting season, and only one in three offspring survive to fledging age. Ohio has tracked two families of their state-endangered breeding sandhill cranes and found them to have wintered over in Tennessee in 2010. Lots to think about.
Unfortunately, the Ashy Drongos did not exactly do what he predicted that they would do – mob potential predators more frequently during the breeding season and mob the more dangerous predator (in this case, the Black Eagle) more intensely. If you do not want to be put in a cage, it presumably helps to be a bit aggressive.
This Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker in particular is a species I would like to get much better photos of. For quite a few birders visiting Wuyuan, the main reason is to see the Blue-crowned Laughingthrush. While the female is less hidden, sadly, it is also less attractive. Such a cute bird deserves a better representation.
In Sibley Two, the in-flight images literally fly across the page in slight diagonals, with the full-bodied images are presented below in a parallel order (meaning we see the same bird–fresh juvenile, worn juvenile, 1st year, Adult breeding, Adult nonbreeding–in the same part of the page for each species).
Nonprofit organizations, science, and the best intentions in the world came to the rescue with a captive breeding program, and we now have over 400 Pink Pigeons living in Mauritius, the nearby island of Ile aux Aigrettes, and the zoos hosting the breeding program, including the Bronx Zoo. Well, except maybe you.
Last month woodpeckers, this month penguins. Penguins are also bellweathers of climate change; dwellers of remote areas you’ve (probably) never heard of; creatures who have developed unique, innovative ways of adapting to the harsh environments where they breed and rear chicks and the water environments in which they feed and swim.
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