Blue Mountain Wildife Raptor Rehabilitation Center report for this week begins:
"It was quiet this week until Saturday when a Northern Flicker and Ring-billed Gull were admitted to the Pendleton center. The flicker was mauled by cats. Its prognosis is guarded. The gull was intentionally hit by a car. Its injuries were not repairable without surgery and it was euthanized."
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Cody Butler and his tale of a red-tailed hawk
A red-tailed hawk crouching next to Toltec Mound Road in Lonoke County did not fly away when my grandson and his mother drove past. Cody Butler, an England Junior High School eighth-grader, had recently volunteered to photograph birds for the nearby Toltec Mound Archeological State Park, and he knew no healthy hawk would stay put like that. He asked his mother to stop the car while he ran back to investigate.
The bird appeared injured. Cody guessed it had collided with a power line or a car while diving after one of the rabbits he often sees along that stretch of road. As he approached, the hawk walked, hopped, fluttered across a ditch, through a fence and into the state park. It paused, as if to catch its breath, at the edge of a patch of scrub and brush.
Fortunately, Cody knew better than to try to rescue the bird himself.
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Friday, February 20, 2009
In a (No Ivy) League of his own
Portland Tribune story about Fred Nilsen's 30-year fight against ivy.
In a (No Ivy) League of his own
On the Town
By phil stanford
The Portland Tribune, Jun 26, 2008
This is for Fred Nilsen, who, for the better part of the past 30 years has fought gamely against what I take to be one of the greater menaces facing the city and surrounding countryside.
Lord only knows where we’d be now if he and other people like him at the parks bureau hadn’t been so vigilant.
Carpeted in a waxy green sea of vegetation, I suppose, where trees no longer dared to grow or birds to sing.
That’s what happens when the ivy takes control, you know, creeping through our yards and forests, devouring – my word, not Fred’s – all the good plants in its way.
Then it’s on its way up the trunks of once-proud trees, and out along their branches. Fred, a horticulturist, says it kills them by covering their apical meristems, causing them to weaken and fall of their own weight.
I say it strangles them to death, and it’s not a pretty sight to see as it proceeds from one tree to the next until pretty soon it has an entire forest in its grip.
And if you’re thinking I’m exaggerating even slightly, take a trip to Alabama or Georgia where another alien species, kudzu, introduced several decades ago as a ground cover to stop erosion, has taken over entire counties.
Stephen King would have trouble doing it justice.
• • •
read more
In a (No Ivy) League of his own
On the Town
By phil stanford
The Portland Tribune, Jun 26, 2008
This is for Fred Nilsen, who, for the better part of the past 30 years has fought gamely against what I take to be one of the greater menaces facing the city and surrounding countryside.
Lord only knows where we’d be now if he and other people like him at the parks bureau hadn’t been so vigilant.
Carpeted in a waxy green sea of vegetation, I suppose, where trees no longer dared to grow or birds to sing.
That’s what happens when the ivy takes control, you know, creeping through our yards and forests, devouring – my word, not Fred’s – all the good plants in its way.
Then it’s on its way up the trunks of once-proud trees, and out along their branches. Fred, a horticulturist, says it kills them by covering their apical meristems, causing them to weaken and fall of their own weight.
I say it strangles them to death, and it’s not a pretty sight to see as it proceeds from one tree to the next until pretty soon it has an entire forest in its grip.
And if you’re thinking I’m exaggerating even slightly, take a trip to Alabama or Georgia where another alien species, kudzu, introduced several decades ago as a ground cover to stop erosion, has taken over entire counties.
Stephen King would have trouble doing it justice.
• • •
read more
50 million birds are killed each year because of lighted communications towers
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that up to 50 million birds are killed each year because of lighted communications towers! Scientists have shown that -- especially during bad weather conditions -- migrating birds become disoriented and trapped by the halo of light surrounding towers that use steady-burning illumination. The birds circle endlessly until they either collide with the structure, each other, or simply fall dead from sheer exhaustion. In just one instance, more than 10,000 dead birds were found under a single communication tower in one night!
Simple steps can be taken to prevent these needless deaths, but for over ten years, the FCC (the government agency that licenses towers) has been dragging its feet in implementing them, despite repeated appeals by American Bird Conservancy, Audubon, and Defenders of Wildlife, as well as independent scientists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and even a federal court order. With the annual bird spring migration nearly underway, please take action to help ABC push the FCC to take immediate action to prevent future migratory bird deaths at towers.Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Friday, Feb. 20th: Live Webcast with author of Birds & Climate Report
Dr. Greg Butcher, Audubon's Director of Bird Conservation, will give you an inside look into his groundbreaking report, Birds and Climate Change: Ecological Disruption in Motion, live at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST this Friday, February 20.
Register for the live webcast.
The idea that global warming is not just about polar bears in the Arctic, but also about American Robins in our own backyards has captured people's attention. And we want to be sure that you — as a member of our Audubon Action Community — are the first to know about a special, live webcast with the author of the report, Dr. Greg Butcher, Audubon's Director of Bird Conservation.
WHAT: A live webcast with Dr. Greg Butcher as he reviews the groundbreaking report Birds and Climate Change: Ecological Disruption in Motion. The webcast will feature an interactive slideshow and presentation, followed by questions and answers.
More Information
We wish we could send Dr. Butcher to communities across the country, but since we can't, we wanted to offer the next best thing. The webcast will be a live event that you watch and listen to on your computer. All you need is an internet connection and computer speakers — there's no special software to install. This is your chance to hear from — and ask questions of — one of Audubon's top bird scientists. Can't make the webcast? Don't worry! An archive of the event will be available on our website.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Study: Birds shifting north; global warming cited
WASHINGTON - When it comes to global warming, the canary in the coal mine isn't a canary at all. It's a purple finch.
As the temperature across the U.S. has gotten warmer, the purple finch has been spending its winters more than 400 miles farther north than it used to.
And it's not alone.
An Audubon Society study to be released Tuesday found that more than half of 305 birds species in North America, a hodgepodge that includes robins, gulls, chickadees and owls, are spending the winter about 35 miles farther north than they did 40 years ago.
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As the temperature across the U.S. has gotten warmer, the purple finch has been spending its winters more than 400 miles farther north than it used to.
And it's not alone.
An Audubon Society study to be released Tuesday found that more than half of 305 birds species in North America, a hodgepodge that includes robins, gulls, chickadees and owls, are spending the winter about 35 miles farther north than they did 40 years ago.
read more
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Saving the world, one bird at a time
Endangered Hummingbird Benefits from Conservation Efforts on Remote Island Chain
"The global population of the firecrown, a beautiful red hummingbird, is restricted to a small part of a single island, Isla Robinson Crusoe, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago off the coast of Chile. The island’s remaining forested habitat has been degraded by the presence of invasive plants and loss of native vegetation; the firecrown’s survival has been further compromised by the spread of feral cats. The species is in such peril that it has been recognized by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as one of the top global conservation priorities."
"The global population of the firecrown, a beautiful red hummingbird, is restricted to a small part of a single island, Isla Robinson Crusoe, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago off the coast of Chile. The island’s remaining forested habitat has been degraded by the presence of invasive plants and loss of native vegetation; the firecrown’s survival has been further compromised by the spread of feral cats. The species is in such peril that it has been recognized by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as one of the top global conservation priorities."
Oh that f'n f f'er
Limestone man accused of using restricted pesticide to kill birds
"A Limestone man has been indicted in federal court for allegedly using a restricted pesticide to kill migratory birds on his farm."
"A Limestone man has been indicted in federal court for allegedly using a restricted pesticide to kill migratory birds on his farm."
The more you tinker the worse it gets
Attempt to Control Invasive Species Backfires Spectacularly on an Antarctic Island
"The cats ate the birds until the humans killed the cats, but now the rabbits are out of control."
"The cats ate the birds until the humans killed the cats, but now the rabbits are out of control."
Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'
This is the true crisis we face. last week our office laid off four people and we all took a 10% pay cut, but that's nothing compared with what awaits us if we don't act quickly on the environmental problems.
BBC
BBC
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