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DocWatch bird collapse Twitterit? News stories about "bird collapse," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?bird+collapse Related Scary Tags: ecosystem interrelationships  ~ massive die-off  ~ climate impacts  ~ canary in coal mine  ~ contamination  ~ sixth extinction  ~ endangered list  ~ toxic buildup  ~ marine mammals  ~ overfishing  ~ global warming   Tue, Sep 1, 2015 from BBC: Seabirds 'blighted by plastic waste' About 90 percent of seabirds have eaten plastic and are likely to retain some in their gut, a new analysis estimates. The study concludes that matters will only get worse until something is done to stem the flow of waste to oceans. Research co-author Erik Van Sebille says oceans are now filled with plastic and it is "virtually certain" that any dead seabird found in 2050 "will have a bit of plastic in its stomach".... To the foraging bird, a discarded plastic cigarette lighter or a shiny bottle top can look like a fish. If ingested, this litter may simply stay in the gut, unable to pass through, putting the animal's health at risk. As more and more plastic waste finds its way into the oceans - about eight million tonnes a year in one recent estimate - so the hazards to wildlife increase. ... No heartbeat. I'm pretty sure this is a disposable lighter. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 9, 2014 from TED Global, via WeatherNetwork.com: The Sound of a Dying Ecosystem When sound engineer Bernie Krause first visited the Lincoln Meadow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1988, the lush land vibrated with natural soundscapes -- a sign of a healthy, thriving ecosystem. This is what it sounded like when Krause turned on his gear to capture the environment before selective logging began... One year later, he returned to record once more from the same spot. This time, all birds had gone, with the exception of one lonesome woodpecker who appears halfway through the recording.... "When I began recording over four decades ago, I could record for ten hours and capture one hour of usable material good enough for an album, a film soundtrack or museum installation," said Krause, on the TEDGlobal stage. "Now, because of global warming, resource extraction and human noise, among other factors, it can take up to 1,000 hours or more to capture the same thing." ... Climate change is just hearsay. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 4, 2014 from David Suzuki: The New 'F' Word While dithering over neonicotinoids -- bee-killing pesticides banned in Europe -- Canadian regulators are poised to approve a closely-related poison called flupyradifurone. We call it the new "F"-word. Like neonics, flupyradifurone attacks the nervous system of insect pests. Both are systemic pesticides that are taken up by plants and move through their tissues into pollen, fruits and seeds. Both are also persistent, sticking around in the environment and, with repeated applications, building up over time. Health Canada says flupyradifurone may pose a risk to bees, birds, worms, spiders, small mammals and aquatic bugs -- familiar words to anyone following Canada's slow-motion review of neonics. Dust from corn seed treated with neonics is implicated in large-scale bee die-offs during planting season in Ontario and Quebec. Not only is this is alarming in its own right; the dead bees are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, signalling broader ecological consequences. ... Flupyradifurone -- let's just call it "Fatal Flu." ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 9, 2014 from Guardian: Neonicotinoids linked to recent fall in farmland bird numbers New research has identified the world's most widely used insecticides as the key factor in the recent reduction in numbers of farmland birds. The finding represents a significant escalation of the known dangers of the insecticides and follows an assessment in June that warned that pervasive pollution by these nerve agents was now threatening all food production. The neonicotinoid insecticides are believed to seriously harm bees and other pollinating insects, and a two-year EU suspension on three of the poisons began at the end of 2013. But the suspected knock-on effects on other species had not been demonstrated until now.... At least 95 percent of neonicotinoids applied to crops ends up in the wider environment, killing the insects the birds rely on for food, particularly when raising chicks. ... But shouldn't pesticides only harm pests? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 26, 2014 from Mother Jones: Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast--and It's Killing All the Baby Puffins Now, thanks to a grant from the Annenberg Foundation, the Puffin Cam offered new opportunities for research and outreach. Puffin parents dote on their single chick, sheltering it in a two-foot burrow beneath rocky ledges and bringing it piles of small fish each day. Researchers would get to watch live puffin feeding behavior for the first time, and schoolkids around the world would be falling for Petey. But Kress soon noticed that something was wrong. Puffins dine primarily on hake and herring, two teardrop-shaped fish that have always been abundant in the Gulf of Maine. But Petey's parents brought him mostly butterfish, which are shaped more like saucers. Kress watched Petey repeatedly pick up butterfish and try to swallow them. The video is absurd and tragic, because the butterfish is wider than the little gray fluff ball, who keeps tossing his head back, trying to choke down the fish, only to drop it, shaking with the effort. Petey tries again and again, but he never manages it. For weeks, his parents kept bringing him butterfish, and he kept struggling. Eventually, he began moving less and less. On July 20, Petey expired in front of a live audience. Puffin snuff.... Why would the veteran puffin parents of Maine start bringing their chicks food they couldn't swallow? Only because they had no choice. Herring and hake had dramatically declined in the waters surrounding Seal Island, and by August, Kress had a pretty good idea why: The water was much too hot. ... Nobody expects the photogenic to die young. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 25, 2014 from Environment 360: Northern Mystery: Why Are Birds of the Arctic in Decline? "These and other seabirds are superbly adapted to the sea ice environment. Without that ice, and with polar bears and mosquitoes hitting them hard, the only future in the Arctic for them is to move north." ... Predators such as the peregrine, the gyrfalcon, the snowy owl, and the Greenland long-tailed skua depend on peaks in these prey species to reproduce in numbers that will sustain their populations. For these birds, collapsing prey cycles are bad news. A team of Danish scientists, for example, recently documented how a collapse in collared lemming cycles at two sites in Greenland between 1998 and 2010 resulted in a 98 percent decline in the snowy owl population. They also documented a similar, albeit less drastic, decline in the population of long-tailed jaegers, part of the skua family.... University of Alberta biologist Alastair Franke has unequivocal evidence of peregrine falcon nestlings starving to death on the west coast of Hudson Bay. But lack of food, he says, is not the main thing killing these birds. According to a recent study led by graduate student Alexandre Anctil of the University of Quebec, some regions of the Arctic are now experiencing more periods of heavy rain each summer when compared to the early 1980s. With their downy white coats insulating them against the snow and the cold, these chicks do just fine. When it rains heavily, however -- as it has increasingly been doing along the west coast of Hudson Bay since 1980 -- up to a third of the peregrine chicks in the study area die of hypothermia as their wet feathers rapidly draw heat from their bodies. Some even drowned in their nests. ... I think it's because what they're witnessing makes 'em so damned sad they forget to eat. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 19, 2014 from Telegraph (UK): UK weather: mild spell causes birds to break into song and flowers to bloom ... Wildlife experts have received dozens of reports of snowdrops blooming across the UK, nearly a month before they would normally be expected.... Some birds have also been recorded nesting while the first reports of song thrush singing arrived on 13 January now several have been spotted around the country.... "For insects and amphibians it is not so rosy. Ladybirds, for example, have finite energy reserves and nectar at this time of year will be thin on the ground, so they might not make it through to the spring. "Similarly frogs only get one chance to breed each year and if it gets very cold the spawn can freeze and will be lost if they are fooled into breeding too early." Since the start of January much of the country has seen temperatures in double figures, with the average temperature for the whole country last week being around 47.6 degrees F.... However, the heavy rain, strong winds and tidal surges that have accompanied the mild conditions have also taken their toll on many species. Waterfowl such as ducks, which have been nesting earlier than usual due to the mild conditions, had their nests destroyed by flooding. Sussex Wildlife Trust has reported swallows nesting and several species of butterflies on its nature reserve. ... Jeez, wildlife -- toughen up! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 13, 2013 from Salon: Study shows that 60 percent of plantlife can be saved In partnership with Duke University and North Carolina State University, Microsoft researchers used computer algorithms to identify the smallest set of regions worldwide that could contain the largest numbers of plant species. The result, they say, is a model showing how putting just 17 percent of the planet's land surface off limits to human contamination could save a huge number of important plant species. ... Microsoft-Funded Study Shows 60 percent of Operating System Might Be Saved ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 24, 2013 from BirdLife International: New report: State of the World's Birds Declines in birds across the globe are providing evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth - including people. However, birds also tell us that saving the planet comes at a relatively small price - an investment that's vital to secure our own future. These are some of the messages in a new report State of the world's birds: indicators for our changing world by the world's largest Partnership of conservation organisations, BirdLife International, who have gathered in Ottawa, Canada to launch the report and unveil their vision for a world rich in biodiversity, where people and nature live in harmony.... "Birds provide an accurate and easy to read environmental barometer that allows us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world's biodiversity", said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife's Director of Science, Information and Policy.... ... It's as if these bird species were functioning as canaries. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 23, 2013 from Tampa Bay : Indian River Lagoon mystery ailment killing dolphins, manatees, pelicans Then, beginning last summer, manatees began dying. As of last week, 111 manatees from Indian River Lagoon had died under mysterious circumstances. Soon pelicans and dolphins began showing up dead too -- more than 300 pelicans and 46 dolphins so far. How bad is it? In the past week, a dolphin a day has turned up dead in the lagoon, said Megan Stolen, a research scientist at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. "When you lose the manatees, pelicans and dolphins, you know something is going on," said Marty Baum of Indian Riverkeeper, a nonprofit environmental group that tries to act as a steward for the lagoon and the Indian River that flows into it. Yet so far nobody can name the killer. Biologists have some suspicions but are baffled about any connection among the species' problems. The diets are different: Manatees are vegetarians, while pelicans and dolphins eat fish. The symptoms are different: The manatees' stomachs are stuffed, while the pelicans and dolphins are emaciated. ... The mystery serial killer seems unlikely to be caught by Dexter. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 13, 2013 from Wired Science: Pesticide Suspected in Bee Die-Offs Could Also Kill Birds According to a report by the American Bird Conservancy, the dangers of neonicotinoid pesticides to birds, and also to stream- and soil-dwelling insects accidentally exposed to the chemicals, have been underestimated by regulators and downplayed by industry. "The environmental persistence of the neonicotinoids, their propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their cumulative and largely irreversible mode of action in invertebrates raise environmental concerns that go well beyond bees," stated the report, which was co-authored by pesticide policy expert Cynthia Palmer and pesticide toxicologist Pierre Mineau, both from the American Bird Conservancy.... Insect-eating birds are indeed declining in the Netherlands and elsewhere, a trend that dates to the 1960s and is blamed on a variety of factors, including earlier generations of pesticides, habitat alteration and climate change. Neonicotinoids represent a fairly new threat, but van der Sluijs is not alone in his concerns. Ecotoxicologist Christy Morrissey of the University of Saskatchewan said there is "considerable circumstantial evidence that these chemicals are causing large-scale reductions in insect abundance. At the same time, we are observing serious declines in many species of birds in Canada, particularly aerial insectivores, swifts and swallows for example, that are highly dependent on insects to raise their young." ... I thought "the birds and the bees" was a love story! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 19, 2013 from USA Today: Bird group calls for halt to widely applied insecticide ...The [Anerican] Bird Conservancy, one of the nation's most active bird-conservation groups, released a 97-page report Monday that says that independent studies of the damage to birds and aquatic ecosystems they depend upon for food raise "significant environmental concerns" and that the Environmental Protection Agency has been too lenient in allowing the use of this class of insecticides, called neonicotinoids. Their possible role in the decline of honeybee populations in the USA and Europe has spurred intense debate among scientists, wildlife advocates and manufacturers, and the EPA is re-evaluating its registration of this class of insecticide. ... Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 14, 2013 from American Bird Conservancy, via YubaNet: Wading Bird Nesting in Key U.S. Area Plummets 39 Percent Below 10-Year Average One of the nation's largest and most important wading bird breeding areas - south Florida, which includes the Everglades National Park - has seen wading bird nesting plummet to levels 39 percent below ten-year averages, according to a new report by the South Florida Water Management District. This weather-induced decline bucks a trend dating to 1985 of growing bird populations in South Florida as a result of restoration of water flows in the Everglades, and reaffirms the need for speeding completion of the project.... "These numbers are alarming because we are talking about extremely important bird breeding grounds on a national level and we're looking at three years of poor breeding success," said Kacy Ray, Beach Nesting Bird Conservation Officer for American Bird Conservancy, one of the nation's leading bird conservation organizations. ... Waders made faders in the 'Glades Hades. ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Tue, Oct 16, 2012 from E&E Publishing: Avian malaria found spreading in local Alaska birds A tropical plague is spreading among birds in America's northernmost state in part due to a changing climate, according to new research. Malaria, a scourge that haunts many parts of humanity, also afflicts our feathered friends. The avian version of the disease does not harm people, but it can serve as an analogue for future infection patterns in humans as the climate changes. ... Are you implying these birds are, um, canaries in the coal mine? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 4, 2012 from National Science Foundation: Where Have All the Hummingbirds Gone? The glacier lily as it's called, is a tall, willowy plant that graces mountain meadows throughout western North America. It flowers early in spring, when the first bumblebees and hummingbirds appear. Or did. The lily, a plant that grows best on subalpine slopes, is fast becoming a hothouse flower. In Earth's warming temperatures, its first blooms appear some 17 days earlier than they did in the 1970s, scientists David Inouye and Amy McKinney of the University of Maryland and colleagues have found. The problem, say the biologists, with the earlier timing of these first blooms is that the glacier lily is no longer synchronized with the arrival of broad-tailed hummingbirds, which depend on glacier lilies for nectar. By the time the hummingbirds fly in, many of the flowers have withered away, their nectar-laden blooms going with them. ... That's like driving into a McDonald's and finding they've run out of Big Macs! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 11, 2012 from The Independent: Half the world's seabirds are in decline, says report The populations of almost half of the world's seabirds are thought to be in decline, according to a study published in Bird Conservation International. It found that 28 per cent of species are in the highest categories of risk. Conservationists are particularly concerned for the albatross family. Threats include commercial fishing and damage to breeding colonies caused by rats and other invasive species. Researchers say seabirds are an important indicator of the health of the oceans. ... I hadn't realized coal-mine canaries were sea birds. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 8, 2011 from London Independent: Woodland birds join extinction danger list Two of Britain's most charming woodland birds, widespread until relatively recently, appear to be on the road to extinction. Populations of the lesser-spotted woodpecker and the willow tit have fallen so far and so fast that their populations are now to be monitored by a special panel of experts charting the UK's rarest breeding birds... The willow tit's fall in numbers appears to be linked to loss of suitable wet scrub habitat, Dr Charman said, while that of the lesser-spotted woodpecker appears to be linked to poor breeding success, although the reason for that was not yet known. Lesser-spotted woodpeckers also needed extensive wooded landscapes to flourish, and it was possible that changes in woodland management were also a factor in their decline... ... And the worms shall inherit the earth. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 25, 2011 from London Observer: Spring may lose song of cuckoos, nightingales and turtle doves Some of Britain's most cherished spring visitors are disappearing in their thousands. Ornithologists say species such as the cuckoo, nightingale and turtle dove are undergoing catastrophic drops in numbers, although experts are puzzled about the exact reasons for these declines. The warning, from the RSPB, comes as the songs of the cuckoo, nightingale and wood warbler herald the return of spring...There is almost certainly a significant problem caused by climate change. Migrant birds arrive and breed and then have chicks at times which are no longer synchronised with the best periods when food, such as insects, is available. ... That sound you hear is the rejoicing of worms. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 3, 2011 from Yale360: Birds Delay Spring Migration As Tropical Rainfall Declines, Study Says Declining rainfall in tropical regions can cause migratory birds to delay their departure from wintering grounds back to their northern breeding areas, according to a new study. In a five-year study of American redstarts, a species of warbler, scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute found that individual birds delayed their spring migration from Jamaica to North America when low rainfall produced a scarcity of insects, the birds' primary food supply; the redstarts apparently delayed migration because of insufficient nutritional reserves. Over the last 16 years, increasingly severe and unpredictable dry seasons in Jamaica have resulted in an 11-percent decrease in rainfall. "Our results support the idea that environmental conditions on tropical non-breeding areas can influence the departure time for spring migration," said Colin Studds.... While it is unclear whether the delayed migration will have an adverse impact on the birds, the study said a delayed departure could ultimately affect the arrival time to breeding territory, and thus yield less time to reproduce. ... I can think of a few other reasons to hang out in Jamaica. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 8, 2011 from PNAS, via New Scientist: Bird boom in wake of mad cow outbreak Mad cow disease in Europe seems a world apart from the lives of sparrows in North American pastures. But populations of sparrows and other pasture birds boomed three years after outbreaks of the disease hit Europe, according to a new study by Joseph Nocera and Hannah Koslowsky of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.... To keep beef on consumers' tables, the affected countries import more meat, and many of those imports come from the US and Canada.... This in turn leaves more natural vegetation for grassland birds such as sparrows and meadowlarks, which respond with a population boom a year after that. There's nothing particularly surprising in any of this - every step in the causal link between BSE and the sparrows is exactly what one might have predicted. But by putting it all together and backing it up statistically, the pair provide an unusual and striking illustration of the way globalisation weaves the planet into a single fabric of cause and effect. ... Other times, cause and effect can kick you in the jujubes. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 6, 2011 from The Vancouver Sun: Researchers find more plastic in the guts of Arctic seabirds When biologist Jennifer Provencher headed to the Arctic, she signed on to help assess how seabird diets are changing as temperatures climb in the North. She never expected to find plastics on the menu. But she and her colleagues at the Canadian Wildlife Service are pulling remarkable amounts of trash from birds in some of the remotest spots on Earth. Fulmars are strong flyers that skim the surface swallowing tasty tidbits, and 84 per cent of the ones the researchers examined from two Arctic colonies had plastics in their guts. One had swallowed the mangled remains of a red bottle lid, with a striking resemblance to a Coke cap, along with 20 other bits of plastic. "It's hard to believe a bird could have that much plastic," said Provencher, who has been combing through the stomach contents for her graduate work at the University of Victoria. "That's the equivalent of a human being having a baseball-sized chunk of plastic in your stomach." ... If these birds enjoy ingesting plastic, there's an entire planet to feast on. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 25, 2011 from CBC: Starving B.C. eagles swarm to dumps A weak chum salmon run along B.C.'s coast is having a devastating effect on the local bald eagle population. The fish is a staple in their diets and and the lack of it has the eagles starving and fighting for what little food is out there.... "We've had a few in that were hungry," Day told CBC News Thursday. "We got one in the other night that had been drowning. It got into the water and didn't have the strength to get out. Some people hauled it out." There have been reports on Vancouver Island of eagles falling out of trees, dead from starvation. The weak chum salmon run was made worse earlier this month by heavy rains that washed away many of the few remaining salmon carcasses. The birds have been forced to scavenge in garbage dumps, like the Vancouver landfill.... The dump might seem provide easy pickings, but wildlife officials said it can be a dangerous place. Poisoned pests, such as rats, are often disposed of in landfills, which in turn will poison an eagle. ... Good thing they're not American bald eagles. That would be a threat to our national icon! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 26, 2011 from Cambridge News (UK): Bird numbers plummet to record low in county Numbers of farmland and woodland birds across Cambridgeshire have hit an all time low and experts warned the decline is "incredibly worrying". A Defra report highlighted that around half of farmland birds have been lost in England since 1970, reaching their lowest recorded levels. The report also showed that their woodland counterparts have fallen by a quarter. The decline has been linked to decades of habitat change -- a lack of nesting sites and a shortage of food -- but investigations into the exact reasons are to continue.... "The decline is incredibly steep and incredibly worrying. We all need to work together to get these birds out of the red." ... The sedge is wither'd from the lake, / And no birds sing. (Keats) ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 5, 2011 from Huffington Post: Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Sweden, Millions Of Dead Fish Found In Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand Millions of dead fish surfaced in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., Tuesday, while similar unexplained mass fish deaths occurred across the world in Brazil and New Zealand. On Wednesday, 50 birds were found dead on a street in Sweden. The news come after recents reports of mysterious massive bird and fish deaths days prior in Arkansas and Louisiana.... ParanaOnline reports that 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have washed up in Brazilian fishing towns since last Thursday. The cause of the deaths is unknown, with an imbalance in the environment, chemical pollution, or accidental release from a fishing boat all suggested by local officials. In New Zealand, hundreds of dead snapper fish washed up on Coromandel Peninsula beaches, many found with their eyes missing, The New Zealand Herald reports. A Department of Conservation official allegedly claims the fish were starving due to weather conditions. While all three events are likely unrelated, they come after recent reports of mysterious dead birds falling from the sky in both Arkansas and Louisiana. Thousands of dead birds were found in Beebe, Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and a few days later, around 500 of the same species were found 300 miles south in Louisiana. A Kentucky woman also reported finding dozens of dead birds scattered around her home. In the days prior to New Year's, nearly 100,000 fish surfaced in an Arkansas river 100 miles west of Beebe. ... Let's hope this isn't Nature counting coup. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 14, 2010 from Associated Press: Concerns Over Eagle Safety Stall Wind Projects Fears that whirling wind turbines could slaughter protected golden eagles have halted progress on a key piece of the federal government's push to increase renewable energy on public lands, stalling plans for billions of dollars in wind farm developments. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management suspended issuing wind permits on public land indefinitely this summer after wildlife officials invoked a decades-old law for protecting eagles, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press. The restriction has stymied efforts to "fast-track" approvals for four of the seven most promising wind energy proposals in the nation, including all three in California. Now, these and other projects appear unlikely to make the year-end deadline to potentially qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funds. If extensions aren't granted in the lame duck session of Congress, the future of many of these plans could be in doubt. ... Eagles, hoping to avoid being referred to as "lame eagles," are encouraging the reissue of these wind permits. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 15, 2010 from London Independent: None flew over the cuckoo's nest: A world without birds ...It is nearly 50 years since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, the book that warned of environmental damage the pesticide DDT was causing. Today, DDT use is banned except in exceptional circumstances, yet we still don't seem to have taken on board Carson's fundamental message. According to Henk Tennekes, a researcher at the Experimental Toxicology Services in Zutphen, the Netherlands, the threat of DDT has been superseded by a relatively new class of insecticide, known as the neonicotinoids. In his book The Systemic Insecticides: A Disaster in the Making, published this month, Tennekes draws all the evidence together, to make the case that neonicotinoids are causing a catastrophe in the insect world, which is having a knock-on effect for many of our birds. Already, in many areas, the skies are much quieter than they used to be. All over Europe, many species of bird have suffered a population crash. Spotting a house sparrow, common swift or a flock of starlings used to be unremarkable, but today they are a more of an unusual sight. Since 1977, Britain's house-sparrow population has shrunk by 68 per cent. ... And the worms shall inherit the earth. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Tue, Nov 9, 2010 from Huffington Post: Beak Deformities On The Rise: Causes Unknown For Birds' Avian Keratin Disorder Scientists have observed the highest rate of beak abnormalities ever recorded in wild bird populations in Alaska and the Northwest, a study by two federal scientists said. The U.S. Geological Survey study on beak deformities in northwestern crows in Alaska, Washington and British Columbia follows a trend found earlier in Alaska's black-capped chickadees. "The prevalence of these strange deformities is more than 10 times what is normally expected in a wild bird population," said research biologist Colleen Handel.... The cause of the deformity - called "avian keratin disorder" - hasn't been determined, Handel said. An estimated 17 percent of adult northwestern crows are affected by the disorder in coastal Alaska.... The abnormality sometimes is accompanied by elongated claws, abnormal skin or variations in feather color. Van Hemert said the disorder first was noticed in significant numbers around 1999. It has increased dramatically over the past decade, affecting 6.5 percent of adult black-capped chickadees in Alaska annually. Biologists have documented more than 2,100 affected individuals and increasing numbers of other species, such as nuthatches and woodpeckers, have been spotted with beak deformities.... In the past, large clusters of beak deformities have been associated with environmental pollutants such as organochlorines in the Great Lakes region and selenium from agricultural runoff in California.... The increasing occurrence of deformities in multiple bird species with broad geographic distribution suggests that avian keratin disorder is spreading, they said. ... Scientists: we need a catchier name than avian keratin disorder for this meme to go viral. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 19, 2010 from BBC: Warning over 'terrible' northern seabird breeding Seabird breeding has been "terrible" in some northerly areas such as Orkney and Shetland, RSPB Scotland has warned. The 700 Arctic terns present at the start of the breeding season on the Shetland island of Mousa failed to produce a single chick. The organisation said the situation was "similarly miserable" on Orkney. The RSPB's Doug Gilbert said: "The terrible season for critical colonies in the far north warns us that seabird populations remain in real danger." ... We need to tern this in a different direction. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 18, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Night Light Pollution Affect Songbirds' Mating Life, Research Suggests In today's increasingly urbanized world, the lights in many places are always on, and according to a report published online on September 16 in of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that's having a real impact on the mating life of forest-breeding songbirds. "In comparison to chemical and noise pollution, light pollution is more subtle, and its effects have perhaps not received the attention they deserve," said Bart Kempenaers of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany. "Our findings show clearly that light pollution influences the timing of breeding behavior, with unknown consequences for bird populations."... Kempenaers speculates that the effects of night lighting on breeding times may grow stronger as birds and other animals respond to warming spring temperatures as well. But, he says, the consequences of such a shift for the birds will ultimately depend on whether or not it creates a mismatch between breeding and the peak availability of food. ... I'd expect young songbirds to just party on. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 10, 2010 from Planet Green / Discovery: More Than Half of Penguin Species are Under Threat More than 180 scientists and government officials have recently gathered in Boston for the 7th International Penguin Conference. The conclusions of the conference are rather alarming: the scientists warn that 10 of the 18 penguin species are experiencing population decline and that a variety of things are threatening their long-term survival, with some of these species facing extinction by the end of the 21st century. Four main factors are threatening penguins. The first is over-fishing: Because of the rapid increase in fishing operations in the past decades, penguins are now competing with us for food, and our industrial fishing fleets are simply more effective at catching fish. "The large scale harvesting of anchovy and sardine stocks have directly reduced the prey available to many penguin species including Macaroni and Chinstrap penguins in the South Atlantic" Thousands of penguins are also killed when they are caught in fishing nets. The second factor is climate change: Many penguin species are highly dependent on small schooling fish for food. The changing climate can affect the migratory patterns of these fish, making it harder for penguins to find food.... ... Death March of the Penguins. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 21, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: Nightingale population down 91 per cent The number of nightingales in Britain has declined by 91 per cent in 40 years, prompting fears over the survival of the species. The population of the songbird was known to have dropped but researchers were shocked to learn of the rate at which nightingales are dying out. A study by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) revealed that numbers reduced by more than nine in ten between 1967 and 2007 - the largest recorded fall of any bird still breeding in Britain except the tree sparrow (93 per cent).... Experts believe the dwindling population could be down to an increasing number of deer, who are blamed for destroying the undergrowth which is the bird's natural habitat. There could also be factors relating to its winter home in west Africa, which it shares with other declining species including the willow warbler, garden warbler and cuckoo. ... Was it a vision, or a waking dream?/ Fled is that music:--Do I wake or sleep? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 27, 2010 from Scientific American: Madagascar bird driven to extinction by invasive fish A bird from the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar called the Alaotra grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus) has been declared extinct by conservation group BirdLife International. BirdLife contributed to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with a major update on the world's bird species, which was released on Wednesday. The grebe, previously found only on Lake Alaotra in eastern Madagascar, was driven to extinction in part by the introduction of snakehead murrel, a carnivorous fish, to the area. Fishermen's modern nylon gillnets, which caught and drowned the birds, also contributed to their demise. The bird was incapable of long flights, so it had a limited range and was vulnerable to attack. ... Those snakeheads are good eatin'! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 19, 2010 from NYT, via DesdemonaDespair: 148 North America bird species in rapid decline A new survey has found that 148 land bird species in North America are facing rapid decline, the majority of them in Mexico. The assessment, the first ever to include all three countries, reveals information about populations and migratory patterns and is is intended as a tool for conservationists. It was released Tuesday by Partners in Flight, a cooperative of government agencies, conservation groups, academics and philanthropists. The study has detailed information on the 882 species of land birds that live across the continent. One-third of them spend substantial amounts of time in at least two of the countries, it found. "Birds don't know boundaries," said Ashley Dayer, one of the managing editors of the report... The imperiled birds include 124 species that are mostly found in Mexico.... ... So, it's an immigration problem. We just need to build that fence lots taller. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases: Mountain Plover Responses to Plague in Montana We studied the effects of plague and colony spatial characteristics on the occupancy of 81 prairie dog colonies by nesting plovers in Phillips County, Montana, during a 13-year period (1995-2007).... A recent study using many of these same prairie dog colonies (Augustine et al. 2008) found that declines in prairie dog colony area as a result of plague corresponded to rapid (<2 years) declines in mountain plover nesting activity. This is presumably a response to vegetative (Hartley et al. 2009) and possibly other changes that negatively impact the plover.... In this study we further demonstrated negative effects of plague to the plover by examining how they depart and later recolonize colonies affected by plague.... ... It's eerily as if it's all related. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 24, 2010 from Mongabay: Extinct animals are quickly forgotten: the baiji and shifting baselines Lead author of the study, Dr. Samuel Turvey, was a member of the original expedition in 2006. He returned to the Yangtze in 2008 to interview locals about their knowledge of the baiji and other vanishing megafauna in the river, including the Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest freshwater fish. In these interviews Turvey and his team found clear evidence of 'shifting baselines': where humans lose track of even large changes to their environment, such as the loss of a top predator like the baiji. "'Shifting baseline syndrome' is a social phenomenon whereby communities can forget about changes to the state of the environment during the recent past, if older community members don't talk to younger people about different species or ecological conditions that used to occur in their local region," Turvey explains. "These shifts in community perception typically mean that the true level of human impact on the environment is underestimated, or even not appreciated at all, since the original environmental 'baseline' has been forgotten." In other words, a community today may see an ecosystem as 'pristine' or 'complete', which their grandparents would view as hopelessly degraded. In turn what the current generation sees as a degraded environment, the next generation will see as 'natural'. The shifting baseline theory is relatively new—first appearing in 1995—and so it has not been widely examined in the field. ... How handy! The extinctions are just a figment of our memories. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 15, 2010 from San Jose Mercury News: Brown pelicans washing up dead and dying on California beaches In an ocean mystery that is baffling marine biologists, at least 1,000 brown pelicans have turned up dead or in distress along California beaches during the past month, with hundreds overwhelming wildlife rescue centers from the Bay Area to San Diego. The popular birds, whose wing spans can reach 8 feet and who dramatically dive into ocean waters to scoop up fish, are widely reported to be hungry and disoriented. They also appear to have some kind of substance -- possibly a naturally occurring material from a red tide or other ocean conditions -- that is causing their feathers to lose insulation properties, exposing the birds' skin to cold water and hypothermia. ... A red tide of brown birds. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 7, 2010 from Dallas Morning News: Climate change, pollution are suspects in rusty blackbirds' plummeting numbers From North Texas to Florida, a high-pitched voice is strangely missing from the chatter of wintering birds. The rusty blackbird, a winter visitor to Dallas-Fort Worth, has suffered one of North America's steepest and least understood declines. Since 1970, scientists say, its numbers have plunged 85 percent to 99 percent. Experts have a lineup of suspects, including habitat changes, disease, climate change and mercury pollution. But they have no proof of what has pushed Euphagus carolinus toward an ecological brink here and across the continent. ... Take these broken, rusty wings and learn to fly... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 1, 2010 from AP, via DesdemonaDespair: Brown pelican migration disrupted, birds starving Brown pelicans have steadily been expanding north. They typically migrated from Oregon and Washington in October or November, but they lingered until late December last winter. No one is certain why there are still here in late January, but theories range from the weather to an abundance of bait fish in early winter that enticed them to stay. Strong winds and severe storms have limited the pelicans' ability to hunt and dive for food that has since been pushed by currents to deeper waters, Grafe said. "They don't have the energy," Grafe said. "They're so emaciated, so starving." So the pelicans try to survive on bread crumbs or anything else they can get from humans. Typically unapproachable, the birds are surrounding visitors who come to see the breeding plumage -- a look not seen in summer months. ... Can't someone just buy 'em tickets to LA? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 7, 2010 from Highland News (UK): Seabird decline is a disturbing trend In many cases it seems there were so many birds that nothing could possibly adversely affect their numbers or breeding success. The drastic declines have been put down to a number of reasons, each with their supporters. The latest is the global warning issue which is in vogue these days. Amongst the many spin-offs, it has been blamed for the absence of sand eels in any numbers. The catastrophe this has caused with puffin chicks, amongst others, starving to death has been one of the more dramatic turn of events. However, there have been, and are, others with whole colonies of kittiwakes unable to produce any young to the flying stage and in many cases not even laying any eggs at all. The role of the piratical great skuas that have actually increased in numbers for several years also came to a head. These large, strong seabirds used to force other birds to give up their food but in recent years they have started eating the young of other birds, the adults and even the young of their own species. The increase in grey seals has also been highlighted by many, as has the invasion of rats to many colonies. Of course, nobody would dream of blaming us for over-fishing, despite it being the scandal of all time. ... Seabirds may just need to constrain their expectations. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 6, 2010 from Science News: FOR KIDS: Watching out for vultures What's good for one may not be good for all, especially in the animal kingdom. Consider the case of ketoprofen. Ketoprofen is a drug that, like ibuprofen, provides pain relief and reduces swelling. In India, some farmers give ketoprofen to their cattle and other animals for pain relief. But giving ketoprofen to cattle may ultimately poison vultures, according to a recent study. Vultures are giant, flying scavengers that eat the carcasses of dead animals, including cattle. For farmers, vultures act like nature's janitors. The birds' feasts mean that farmers don't have to figure out how to dispose of the bodies of dead animals. And vultures eat fast: Dozens of birds could take care of a dead animal in 20 minutes. When a vulture eats a dead animal, however, it may also end up eating medications that were given to the animal. In the case of ketoprofen, this is a big problem, according to a study by Richard Cuthbert and his fellow researchers. Cuthbert is a zoologist, or a scientist who studies animals, in England. He recently led a team of scientists from around the world in a study of how ketoprofen affects vultures. He and his team found that even small amounts of the drug can kill a vulture. ... Hey kids, the sooner you figure out how stupid adults can be, the better! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 16, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Koalas, penguins at risk of extinction: study Climate change threatens the survival of dozens of animal species from the emperor penguin to Australian koalas, according to a report released Monday at the UN climate summit. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification and shrinking polar ice are taking a heavy toll on species already struggling to cope with pollution and shrinking habitats, said the study from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an intergovernmental group. "Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in Copenhagen -- some of our favourite species are also taking the fall for our CO2 emissions," said Wendy Foden, an IUCN researcher and co-author of the study. ... To hell with our not-so-favourite ones. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 6, 2009 from London Times: Experts say that fears surrounding climate change are overblown ...The International Union for the Conservation of Nature backed the article, saying that climate change is "far from the number-one threat" to the survival of most species. "There are so many other immediate threats that, by the time climate change really kicks in, many species will not exist any more," said Jean Christophe Vie, deputy head of the IUCN species program, which is responsible for compiling the international Redlist of endangered species. He listed hunting, overfishing, and destruction of habitat by humans as more critical for the majority of species. However, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds disagreed, saying that climate change was the single biggest threat to biodiversity on the planet. "There's an absolutely undeniable affect that's happening now," said John Clare, an RSPB spokesman. "There have been huge declines in British sea birds." ... At least we agree they're screwed! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 5, 2009 from Times Online (UK): One in five mammals threatened with extinction A fifth of the world's known mammals, a third of amphibians and reptiles and more than two thirds of plants are threatened with extinction, according to the latest "Red List" of endangered species. Of the 5,490 mammal species that have been identified by scientists, 79 are extinct or extinct in the wild, 188 are critically endangered, 449 are endangered and 505 are classed as vulnerable, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said. The annual Red List, published yesterday, also shows that 70 per cent of identified plants, 35 per cent of invertebrates, 37 per cent of freshwater fish, 30 per cent of amphibians, 28 per cent of reptiles and 12 per cent of birds are under threat. The survival of a total of 17,921 species is in jeopardy. ... We're still winning the War On Nature! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 3, 2009 from BBC: Species' extinction threat grows More than a third of species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists have warned. Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk. These included 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of amphibians, 70 percent of plants and 35 percent of invertebrates. Conservationists warned that not enough was being done to tackle the main threats, such as habitat loss. "The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting," warned Jane Smart, director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Biodiversity Conservation Group. The latest analysis... shows that the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss will not be met," she added. ... Looks like we're headed for a bio-mono-verse world. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 2, 2009 from National Geographic News: Sea Slime Killing U.S. Seabirds Hundreds of birds ... are washing up on the shores of the U.S. Pacific Northwest coated with a foamy sea slime, scientists say. The slime, which comes from algae blooms in the ocean, saps the waterproofing ability of the birds' feathers, experts say.... "Then they have to beach themselves, because they are cold and wet." Research suggests that recently, the blooms are larger, lasting longer, and happening with greater frequency.... "They are finding that the [nutrient] upwelling is happening at different times of the year than it used to," he said, "and that's because currents and weather are changing." ... We don't want slime before its time. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 20, 2009 from University of Adelaide via ScienceDaily: Conservation: Minimum Population Size Targets Too Low To Prevent Extinction? Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction. That's according to a new study by University of Adelaide and Macquarie University scientists which has shown that populations of endangered species are unlikely to persist in the face of global climate change and habitat loss unless they number around 5000 mature individuals or more....Conservation biologists worldwide are battling to prevent a mass extinction event in the face of a growing human population and its associated impact on the planet. ... Can we pleeeeze not use the word "targets" in these kinds of stories? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 12, 2009 from Diversitas, via EurekAlert: World will miss 2010 target to stem biodiversity loss, experts say The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to "achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and regional levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth."... "Yet changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate. Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel. Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase." However, she adds, "the situation is not hopeless. There are many steps available that would help but we cannot dawdle. Meaningful action should have started years ago. The next best time is now." ... I hate goals that merely reduce the current rate of loss. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 1, 2009 from London Times: Every species on the planet documented in new report Almost 10 per cent of known species are threatened with extinction, according to the first comprehensive study of the world's wildlife. Polar bears, whose habitat is threatened by melting ice, and Tasmanian devils, which have been pushed to the brink of extinction by a cancer, are just two of the tens of thousands of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians that are in danger. The report, The Number of Living Species in Australia and the World , published by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), says that 9.2 per cent of known animal species are endangered by habitat loss, climate change and other pressures. More than a fifth of of all known mammals are endangered, as are 29 per cent of amphibians and 12 per cent of birds, according to the study, the result of an international effort to catalogue every known current and extinct species of plant and animal. ... It'll be nice to have that catalogue handy when we rue the loss of these species... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from Newsweek: Birds vs. Environmentalists? ... a growing number of species are finding themselves at the epicenter of a new battle being waged by environmentalists and developers... The encroachers aren't the usual suspects -- say, a sprawling McMansion community developer -- but the environmentally friendly wind-energy industry.. Critics charge that wind-energy development can cause habitat fragmentation -- a displacement of a species that can eventually reduce its numbers -- as well as the deaths of birds and bats (a species that is especially vulnerable due to its low reproductive rates) that collide with the wind turbines' massive rotor blades. A 2007 study by the National Academy of Sciences puts the number of birds killed each year at about 20,000 to 30,000. That's a low estimate, says Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy. According to his group, turbines kill three to 11 birds per megawatt of wind energy they produce. ... If only dead birds could be turned into biofuels... ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 2, 2009 from BBC: World 'still losing biodiversity' An unacceptable number of species are still being lost forever despite world leaders pledging action to reverse the trend, a report has warned. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says the commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 will not be met. It warns that a third of amphibians, a quarter of mammals and one-in-eight birds are threatened with extinction. The analysis is based on the 44,838 species on the IUCN Red List. "The report makes for depressing reading," said co-editor Craig Hilton Taylor, manager of the IUCN's Red List Unit. "It tells us that the extinction crisis is as bad, or even worse than we believed. ... "Still"? Heck, we're just gettin' started! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 9, 2009 from TIME Magazine: What Is Killing Chile's Coastal Wildlife? First, in late March the bodies of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Next came the sardines -- millions of them -- washed up dead on a nearby stretch of coastline in April, causing a stench so noxious that nearby schools were closed and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand. Then it was the turn of the rare Andean flamingos. Over the course of approximately three months, thousands of them abandoned their nests on a salt lake in the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile. Their eggs failed to hatch, and all 2,000 chicks died in their shells. Finally, in late May came the pelicans -- nearly 60 of them, found dead on the central Chilean coast. No one knows exactly what has caused these four apparently unrelated environmental disasters in as many months. Global warming has been blamed, as has overfishing, pollution and disease. ... All canaries, all coal mines, all the time. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 21, 2009 from Globe and Mail (Canada): Save the birds? Save their habitat In fact, migratory songbirds are experiencing one of the most precipitous declines of any animal group on earth. We have already seen startling declines in the populations of some species that depend on the boreal forest. The olive-sided flycatcher and the Canada warbler, once common boreal breeding species, are now listed as threatened by the Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Trends in long-term breeding-bird surveys have revealed population declines in flycatchers, boreal chickadees and bay-breasted warblers. In fact, more than half the birds profiled in the National Audubon Society's "20 common birds in decline" list depend on Canada's boreal forest as a breeding ground.... Yet despite its global significance, just 12 per cent of Canada's boreal forest is currently protected, while almost 500 million hectares have been handed over to industry. Oil and gas exploration, logging, mining, road building and hydro development threaten to ravage boreal regions inhabited by birds and other wildlife. ... Saving their habitat seems so... inefficient. Can't we just keep 'em in cages? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 31, 2009 from London Daily Mail: What is to blame for the vanishing cuckoo? This is the season of the year when the natural pageant of the British countryside begins to unfold in a fashion which has enchanted poets and pastoralists since the beginning of time. Shakespeare wrote in The Winter's Tale about the 'daffodils that come before the swallow dares'... The statistics gathered by birdwatchers are frightening. Since 1967, the summer cuckoo population has fallen by 59 per cent, the spotted flycatcher by 84 per cent, turtle doves by 82 per cent. Since only 1994, 47 per cent of yellow wagtails have disappeared. Nightingales are becoming rare. Worse still, over the past decade the trend has accelerated. There is a real likelihood that, within a few years, birds which we love and take for granted will simply vanish from our landscape. ... From canary in the coal mine to cuckoo in the countryside. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 26, 2009 from Newcastle University, via Eurekalert: Drop in daddy long legs is devastating bird populations Warm summers are dramatically reducing populations of daddy long legs, which in turn is having a severe impact on the bird populations which rely on them for food. New research by a team of UK scientists spells out for the first time how climate change may affect upland bird species like the golden plover -- perhaps pushing it towards local extinction by the end of the century.... "This is the most worrying development that I have found in my scientific career to date. However, by understanding these processes, we now have the chance to respond. If we can maintain good quality habitats for craneflies then we can help the birds too...." ... I'm so sorry now that I pulled the legs off that little guy, back when I was 12. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 21, 2009 from BBC: US birds in 'widespread decline' Almost one third of the 800 species of birds found in the US are "endangered, threatened or in significant decline", a report has concluded. Described as the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, the study listed habitat loss and invasive species as being the main threats.... The report also found that at least 39 percent of ocean bird species were declining, and about half were of "conservation concern".... But the report also presented evidence that populations of birds recovered quickly when conservation measures were taken. ... Mr. Bluebird's not on my shoulder anymore. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 20, 2009 from Associated Press: One-third of US birds are endangered, says conservation report Nearly one-third of US birds are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, according to a government conservation report. It says the findings are "a warning signal of the failing health of our ecosystems" and reports that birds in Hawaii, the most bird-rich state, are "in crisis". The authors say that energy production deriving from wind, ethanol and mountain-top coal mining is contributing to steep drops in bird populations. The State of the Birds report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming. In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30-40 percent. ... Canaries aren't the only birds in the coal mine. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 11, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Garden birds suffer worst breeding season ... Only the reed warbler managed a slightly better than average breeding season. And the blackbird, great tit and song thrush saw their productivity drop by more than 30 per cent, with the thrushes witnessing a fall of 38 per cent in the number of young they managed to rear. The CES monitoring is undertaken using mist nets to catch and ring the birds for periods during the breeding season at 120 sites in the UK and Ireland, comparing the number of juvenile birds with adults to analyse breeding success. Last year's problems followed on from 2007's low productivity, with seven species suffering their worst breeding season to date in the wake of the wettest May to July on record. ... I so wanted to have a songbird's music to accompany this posting. But I couldn't find it. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 3, 2009 from KSU, via EurekAlert: Birds in Flint Hills of Kansas, Oklahoma face population decline despite large habitat "Because of its size, the Flint Hills is assumed to be a population stronghold for grassland birds," said Kimberly With, a K-State associate professor of biology who led the study. "Mostly this has been based on bird counts, but they can be misleading because they don't show what the region is capable of producing. Birds are very mobile and thus birds could come from elsewhere to give the appearance of a stable population year after year. This is especially true if the region attracts birds because of its size, but birds do not breed successfully once they settle here."... They conducted a two-year study of regional viability of three grassland birds: the dickcissel, grasshopper sparrow and eastern meadowlark. With and her colleagues found that none of these bird species is viable in the 4 million-acre Flint Hills region. They estimated population declines of as much as 29 percent per year during the years studied. ... We've put the grassland to productive use -- who needs a few more birds, anyway? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 17, 2009 from Indianapolis Star: Study: Birds wintering farther north could signal climate change A recently released report by the National Audubon Society has tied changes in migratory bird habits to global warming. According to data from the group's annual Christmas bird count gathered over the past 40 years, nearly 60 percent of the 305 bird species sampled in North America now winter farther north than they did previously.... "The birds are an indicator of what's happening," said Greg Butcher, the lead scientist on the study and the National Audubon Society's director of bird conservation. "They are showing us that global warming has been going on for years, and it's having strong biological effects in Indiana and elsewhere." ... Do those numbers include the migratory patterns of canaries in coal mines? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 18, 2009 from Kingston Daily Freeman: MERCURY RISING: Bald eagles in region face new threat AFTER BEING pushed by humans to the brink of extinction and then re-establishing habitats in the Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains, bald eagles are again facing a manmade threat to their existence. A Maine-based environmental organization has found an alarming accumulation of mercury in the blood and feathers of both juvenile and adult bald eagles in the Catskills. While environmentalists say there is not yet conclusive scientific data to indicate the eagles are being harmed by the mercury levels in their systems, the study has found mercury levels in Catskills eagles to be close to those associated with neurological and reproductive problems in the common loon in the Adirondack Mountains and in Maine. The study also seems to support the belief that the Catskill Mountains region is a likely “hot spot” for methylmercury. ... Another bad rap for the raptors. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 14, 2009 from Macau Daily Times: Vietnam finds bird flu in chicken smuggled from China Vietnam has detected bird flu in chicken smuggled from China as the illegal trade picks up ahead of the lunar New Year later this month, state media reported yesterday. Eight out of 16 poultry samples tested by animal health officials in the northern border province of Lang Son were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, said the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper. The provincial people's committee has sent an urgent message to local authorities, asking them to crack down on poultry smuggling to prevent the spread of infected poultry, the state-controlled newspaper said. ... I pray that those eight samples were the only birds smuggled with H5N1. Oh, and that I get a royal flush at next Saturday's poker game. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 13, 2009 from The Olympian: Mysterious pelican deaths worry California biologists In a troubling wildlife mystery, sick and injured California brown pelicans are landing in suburban ponds, driveways and backyards -- far from their ocean home.... "Now they are appearing in really unusual places." ... Die-offs of young birds aren't uncommon along the coast this time of year. But bird rescuers knew something was amiss when many of the sick pelicans were adults, found far inland, bruised and starving. A social animal, it is rarely found alone.... "We are seeing a number of conditions that are not typical of domoic acid toxicity or a domoic acid event. Therefore, we are continuing to collect and test samples, keeping an open mind and considering all possibilities." Other theories have surfaced. Perhaps the birds are ingesting toxic fire retardants that washed to sea after recent fires. Maybe they're sick with a viral infection. Or perhaps the cold weather that hit the Pacific Northwest in December boosted their susceptibility to some yet-identified disease. Or there could be a confluence of factors. ... Again with the danged factorial confluence. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 8, 2009 from News10.net: What's killing California pelicans? The calls started coming in to the International Bird Rescue Research Center just after Christmas. Something strange was going on with pelicans up and down the coast of California. "We started getting calls of pelicans acting a little weird," said IBRRC Director Jay Holcomb. "They were landing in weird spots, on highways on runways, in people's yards." Holcomb said they have received more than 150 calls and 75 of the sick birds have been brought in to the centers in Cordelia and San Pedro. "As we looked at them they seemed to be disoriented like they didn't know where they were. They were confused," Holcomb said. The aquatic bird specialists at the IBRRC are baffled by the sick pelicans. "We don't know what's going on," said Holcomb. "It could be some kind of viral thing, some kind of toxin in the environment that they're eating." ... "We've had calls from people in Baja (Mexico) that have seen the same thing and have actually literally seen hundreds of pelicans dying on the beaches," said Holcomb. ... Maybe it's "white beak syndrome." ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 7, 2009 from The Peninsula Gateway: Keeping an eye on feathered friends "The information gathered is public domain for scientists," Hands said. "One of the most important things is to look for trends. If something is unusual, they would have wondered what’s going on in the water. The birds are the canary in the coal mine. There is a certain standard number of birds we expect to see. If there's an increase or decrease, there could be something important going on, and this is our first notification. "The last two years, we have been having a problem in declines with water birds.".... "They are a great indicator for the whole ecosystem," bird counter Charlie Wright said. "It's a really good way to monitor the health of the water." Wright said sea birds are important indicators because they follow the fish populations. "They follow the herring and other small fish," he said. "We don't know how they do it, they just do." ... We don't know how Nature does it either -- it just does. Or, at least, once did. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 26, 2008 from Washington Post: Report: Alberta Mines Imperil Birds About half of America's migratory birds fly from destinations as far-flung as Chile to nest in Canada's boreal forest. In Alberta, that forest lies above tar sands that contain oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia's. The excavation of the tar sands -- projected to pump $2.4 trillion into Canada's economy between 2010 and 2030 -- could reduce the region's migratory-bird population by almost half, according to a peer-reviewed study released Dec. 2 by U.S. and Canadian environmental groups.... The study estimates that over 30 to 50 years, tar sands excavation will reduce bird populations by anywhere from 6 million to 166 million, including several endangered and threatened species. ... Haven't these birds ever heard of a detour? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 8, 2008 from New Scientist: Canadian tar plan threatens millions of birds A new report saying that millions of migratory birds are at risk adds to a mass of criticism of the damage caused by exploiting the oil sands. The thick tarry deposit in northern Alberta is the world's second-largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia, but separating the useable oil from the gunk takes three times as much energy as pumping conventional oil. This alone makes it some of the "dirtiest" oil on the planet. This week, a report by the US Natural Resources Defense Council says that continued development of the area could kill 100 million migratory birds over the next 50 years, mainly by destroying their habitat. ... Those birds ought to be able to vote. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Farmland birds in Europe fall by half Farmland birds suffered the most, with numbers falling by half. Western Europe saw the most dramatic decline with a fall of more than 50 per cent because of intensive agriculture. However in Eastern Europe, where agriculture has retained more traditional practices, farmland birds fell by just over a third. In the UK, the population of farmland birds reached its lowest point in more than 30 years last year, according to the RSPB. Of the dozen most rapidly declining farmland birds in Europe, eight including the grey partridge, turtle dove, corn bunting, tree sparrow and starling have also declined rapidly in the UK.... EU leaders have pledged to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, but Mr Madge said the decline in farmland birds showed that plants and animals are declining at such a rate that the target is unlikely to be met. ... So what? What did farmland birds ever do for me? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Endangered birds tracked by conservationists are found poisoned The birds, northern bald ibis, are thought to have fallen victim to poisons left out by farmers to kill rats.... The species numbered more than 6,000 in Turkey and Syria 50 years ago but development and the use of the farm chemical DDT is thought to have caused the collapse in numbers. It is thought that many of the young birds who disappear without trace fall victim to poisoning. ... Who would have thought that rat poison would be toxic to other critters? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 20, 2008 from The Scotsman: For every 100 of these birds that graced our skies, just five remain THE number of Arctic terns in Scotland has dropped by a shocking 95 per cent in the past two decades. The graceful seabirds, well known in Shetland and Orkney for zealously guarding their nests and letting out rasping cries, are suffering severe declines. The dramatic decline, outlined in the Scottish Government's consultation into the Scottish Marine Bill, has been described as a "wake-up call". Other seabirds, including the Arctic skua and the black-legged kittiwake, have also suffered large drops in numbers. ... What a lousy way to wake up. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 10, 2008 from National Geographic: Birds in "Big Trouble" Due to Drugs, Fishing, More Bird species are in "big trouble" worldwide, a sign that the planet's health is also faltering, according to a new report released today at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Not only are rare birds getting rarer, but migratory songbirds, seabirds, and even common backyard birds are also plummeting, according to the State of the World's Birds, a report by the U.K. nonprofit BirdLife International. ... Take a moment and image it.... a world without birds... doesn't sound very fun, does it? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 3, 2008 from Ecology Society of America, via EurekAlert: Decline in Alaskan sea otters affects bald eagles' diet Sea otters are known as a keystone species, filling such an important niche in ocean communities that without them, entire ecosystems can collapse.... [S]ea otters can have even farther-reaching effects that extend to terrestrial communities and alter the behavior of another top predator: the bald eagle. In nearshore marine communities, towering kelp can reach heights of 250 feet and function much like trees in a forest, providing food, homes and protection for fish and invertebrates. The most important enemies of these giant algae are tiny sea urchins, only inches in diameter, which live on the kelp's holdfasts and eat its tissue. When urchin populations become too large, they can defoliate entire kelp forests, leaving only barren remains.... Otters can eat the spiky urchins whole, making them the major urchin predator. The otters' presence keeps urchin populations in check and maintains the balance of the ecosystem.... The results are the first to show that the presence or absence of otters influences a terrestrial animal, and that the complex food web linkages can reach as far as five different food chain levels: from sea otters to sea urchins, kelp, marine fish and finally bald eagles. ... Our country's symbol is at risk? TO THE BARRICADES! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 22, 2008 from London Independent: Catastrophic fall in numbers reveals bird populations in crisis throughout the world The birds of the world are in serious trouble, and common species are in now decline all over the globe, a comprehensive new review suggests today... Their falling populations are compelling evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth -- including human life... ... Birds of a feather fall together. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 19, 2008 from Birdlife.org: Birds indicate biodiversity crisis -- and the way forward The report highlights worldwide losses among widespread and once-familiar birds. A staggering 45 percent of common European birds are declining: the familiar European Turtle-dove, for example, has lost 62 percent of its population in the last 25 years. On the other side of the globe, resident Australian wading birds have seen population losses of 81 percent in just quarter of a century. Twenty North American common birds have more than halved in number in the last four decades. Northern Bobwhite fell most dramatically, by 82 percent. In Latin America, the Yellow Cardinal -- once common in Argentina -- is now classified as globally Endangered. ... That's a lot of canaries to fit into the mine. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 18, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Starving guillemots push rival chicks off cliffs Guillemots have begun killing their neighbours' chicks by pecking them to death and pushing them off cliff edges in a desperate reaction to collapsing fish stocks in the North Sea. The sudden rise of infanticide in a colony in the Firth of Forth marks an unprecedented breakdown in the social behaviour of the birds, described by experts as a "catastrophe" that could eventually see the whole colony die out.... It is extremely rare for guillemots to leave a chick unattended, but Ashbrook said 60 percent of those in the Isle of May colony were left alone last year. Of 99 chicks born between late May and early August, 60 percent died -- almost 70 percent of them in direct attacks by neighbours. ... Unfortunately, we've spent years pushing our children off the cliff. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 5, 2008 from University of Michigan: Recovery efforts not enough for critically endangered Asian vulture Captive breeding colonies of a critically endangered vulture, whose numbers in the wild have dwindled from tens of millions to a few thousand, are too small to protect the species from extinction, a University of Michigan analysis shows. Adding wild birds to the captive colonies, located in Pakistan and India, is crucial, but political and logistical barriers are hampering efforts, says lead author Jeff A. Johnson. ... Genetic diversity is necessary? But what about all those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? They came from just one mosquito! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 3, 2008 from Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Population decline causing inbreeding among spotted owls, study says Declines in populations of the endangered northern spotted owl are leading to inbreeding and a resulting lack of genetic diversity needed for survival, making the birds more prone to disease and other problems, a report by an Oregon State University scientist concludes. The problem, a "population bottleneck," likely will make recovery even harder, said Susan Haig, a wildlife ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center at OSU. "Previous recovery plans were reporting the birds were doing OK. They're not," Haig said. She conducted the largest genetic study ever on endangered birds by taking blood samples from owls throughout the West. ... My mother is a fish. -- Vardaman ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 27, 2008 from Birdlife International: Drugs firms told to do more to prevent vulture extinctions The Indian government has ordered a crackdown on companies selling the drug [Diclofenac] responsible for the near-extinction of vultures.... [A study] showed that the population of White-rumped Vultures Gyps bengalensis in India was dropping by more than 40 percent every year. The species's numbers have dropped by 99.9 percent since 1992 to about 11,000, from tens of millions. Populations of Indian Gyps indicus and Slender-billed Gyps tenuirostris vultures have fallen by almost 97 per cent in the same period, to 45,000 and just 1,000 respectively.... Now vets are dodging the ban by using the human form of diclofenac for livestock, despite an effective and safe alternative drug being available. ... May those veterinarians find their own kidneys failing. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 26, 2008 from The Scotsman: Prize-winning author warns humans could be headed for extinction Margaret Atwood, the novelist, has warned that the planet is at a "crisis moment" and the human race could be headed towards extinction.... The Canadian said although the "cockroaches will always be fine", humans may not.... Atwood said she thinks the crisis involves climate change, deforestation, overfishing, declines in bird populations and production of energy. ... But for now, let's keep on partying! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 11, 2008 from AP, via the Munster Times (Indiana): Researchers study mercury in the Great Salt Lake [F]or reasons scientists cannot explain, [the Great Salt Lake] is heavily laden with toxic mercury.... Three years ago, in an alarming finding, U.S. Geological Survey tests showed the lake had some of the highest mercury readings ever recorded in a body of water in the United States.... Each year, more than 9 million birds stop by, many on their annual treks between Canada or South America and parts between, making the Great Salt Lake "sort of the Delta airplane hub of the West in terms of migration," Aldrich said. ... Guess that Great Salt Lake Waterpark is out, then. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 3, 2008 from Boston University, via EurekAlert: The emerging scientific discipline of aeroecology Organisms that use the aerosphere, specifically arthropods, birds and bats, are also influenced by an increasing number of anthropogenic or man-made conditions and structures, notably lighted towns and cities, air pollution, skyscrapers, aircraft, radio and television towers, plus a recent proliferation of communication towers and wind turbines that dot the Earth's landscape. In addition, human-altered landscapes increasing are characterized by deforestation, intensive agriculture, urbanization, and assorted industrial activities that are rapidly and irreversibly transforming the quantity and quality of available terrestrial and aquatic habitats which airborne organisms rely upon. These conditions are known to influence navigational cues, sources of food, water, nesting and roosting habitats--factors that can, in turn, alter the structure and function of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the assemblages of organisms. ... Generally, we humans seem to need an "ology" before we can get our minds around something like this. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 25, 2008 from Surfbirds.com: Hundreds of dead penguins wash ashore Biologists are puzzled by the hundreds of young penguins that have been washing up along the Brazilian coastline since late June. The Magellanic Penguins have been found dead or barely alive, along beaches all over south-eastern Brazil. The mainly young birds will have come from colonies about 2,500 miles south in Argentina. Penguins regularly move north into the waters off southern Brazil in search of food.... "The penguin population is intimately linked to their supplies of food, so this suggests something is happening to the population of fish they eat." ... Poor li'l guys -- but at least they're well dressed. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 23, 2008 from Times Online (UK): Mystery as dead birds fall from the sky over Western Australia Post-mortem examinations have failed to determine the cause of the birds' deaths. Last December 5,000 birds died in the coastal town of Esperance, 500 km south of Perth, after being poisoned by lead carbonate blowing through the town as it was being exported through Esperance Port.... "The birds, when they are showing signs of having been poisoned become a bit wobbly on their feet, they sit down and within 10 to 15 minutes they're dead." ... He said it was particularly puzzling that the deaths were confined to seagulls. In Esperance, wattle birds, yellow throated miners and honey-eaters died. ... Surely it's nothing we've done. This time. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 2, 2008 from University of Washington, via ScienceDaily: Penguins Setting Off Sirens Over Health Of World's Oceans [T]he culprit isn't only climate change, says a University of Washington conservation biologist. Oil pollution, depletion of fisheries and rampant coastline development that threatens breeding habitat for many penguin species, along with Earth's warming climate, are leading to rapid population declines among penguins, said Dee Boersma, a University of Washington biology professor and an authority on the flightless birds. "Penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world," she said. ... The Lurch of the Penguins ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 24, 2008 from Fergus Falls Journal (MN): Meadowlark numbers are dropping One alarming story is the plight of the once-common meadowlark. Meadowlarks are classic birds of grasslands. Meadowlarks are so beloved that numerous states have claimed it as their state bird. Every American farm kid now over the age of 50 grew up with the call of the meadowlark being about as common as that of a robin today. Sadly, that is no longer true. Meadowlark populations have been in a measurable and alarming decline for the last 40 years. It is not that they are threatened with extinction anytime soon; rather, they went from common to uncommon, from rural icon to rural alarm call, all in a few decades. ... PostApocaiku: The songbirds will sing in meadows and verdant trees until their last song. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 20, 2008 from Global Change Biology (Blackwell): Birds Migrate Earlier, But Some May Be Left Behind As The Climate Warms Rapidly Many birds are arriving earlier each spring as temperatures warm along the East Coast of the United States. However, the farther those birds journey, the less likely they are to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate.... eight out of 32 bird species are passing by Cape Cod significantly earlier on their annual trek north than they were 38 years ago. The reason? Warming temperatures. Temperatures in eastern Massachusetts have risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1970. ... Let's hope their food sources arrive early too. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 19, 2008 from BBC (UK): Fulmars' dramatic decline: seabird in peril A reduction in the size of the Scottish whitefish fleet may be linked to a fall in numbers of a seabird, a conservation charity has said. The John Muir Trust said a count of fulmars at Cape Wrath found 261 pairs on cliffs that once supported 700. The birds often feed on fish discarded by fishing boats. However, a decline in the numbers of vessels, following European restrictions on catch sizes, could be contributing to a famine. ... Those fulmars got lazy, and now look at 'em. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 16, 2008 from ABC News (Australia): 'Cane toads with wings' heading north Authorities say their attempt to raise public awareness about the threat of pest birds is being thwarted by a higher profile and far uglier amphibious pest... "The Indian miner is closely related to the starling. They are both in the same family and the Indian miner is probably an even more aggressive bird and it will actively compete with native species and displace them from their nesting hollows and food sources." He says cane toads have hogged the headlines for years at the expense of other destructive pests. "Cane toads are ugly and warty and people generally don't like them. Whereas birds, people have an affinity to them and they see them as charismatic animals. ... Those swine. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 31, 2008 from San Diego Union-Tribune: Wave of Cliff Swallow deaths sparks mystery The recent deaths of nearly 100 cliff swallows near the public dock at Lower Otay Lake ... appear to have started about a week ago, when the reek of decaying birds at the Lower Otay dock and boathouse caught the attention of the city's lake manager. Swallow deaths have continued for several days, prompting reservoir employees to knock down nests that have dead swallows. "There are a few that are surviving, but most of the birds... and the babies are dying," said Nelson Manville, supervisor of the lakes program for San Diego. "They have had a horrendous smell." ... This is hard to, um, swallow. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 25, 2008 from Chicago Tribune: Haven for birds still harbors traces of chemical poison "Some of Illinois' rarest and most imperiled birds return each spring to marshes on Chicago's Southeast Side, where they weave nests of loose reeds, start the season's courtship rituals and, scientists believe, resume ingesting a poison most people thought was gone a generation ago. Researchers studying the state's endangered population of black-crowned night herons reported this year that the birds contain remnants of the insecticide DDT, a contaminant popularly imagined to have faded into America's hazy chemical past, but which scientists say has lingered in a persistent form almost everywhere in the world nonetheless." ... DDT... the poison that keeps on poisoning! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 20, 2008 from BBC: Climate 'accelerating bird loss' Climate change is "significantly amplifying" the threats facing the world's bird populations, a global assessment has concluded. The 2008 IUCN Bird Red List warns that long-term droughts and extreme weather puts additional stress on key habitats. The assessment lists 1,226 species as threatened with extinction - one-in-eight of all bird species. ... This is how you kill many birds with one stone climate change. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 17, 2008 from Redding News: Recovery plan kills species' foe, thins fire-prone forests Protecting the northern spotted owl from wildfire and killing a competing owl should restore the controversial species in 30 years, federal scientists said Friday. "Unless the barred owl threat is lessened, land management alone will not recover the owl," said Ren Lohoefener, director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific region. The shotgunning of barred owls, a cousin of the spotted owl that encroached from back East on its old growth turf, to see if it improves spotted owl numbers is part of the final Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan released Friday by the Fish and Wildlife Service. So is a new strategy to thin fire-prone forests, leaving behind patches of spotted owl habitat. ... Shotgunning a competitor seems a little Sopranos, doesn't it? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 14, 2008 from The Dickinson Press vis Associated Press: Idaho raptor group: Study confirms lead fragments in venison "An Idaho raptor group working to eliminate lead from ammunition has released findings it says shows 80 percent of ground venison from deer killed with high-velocity lead bullets contains metal fragments. The Peregrine Fund, based in Boise, and researchers from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., say the study released Tuesday is further evidence people who eat meat from game animals shot with lead bullets risk exposure to the toxic metal." ... The upside here is you no longer need a fork to eat the meat -- you can just use magnets! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 8, 2008 from San Francisco Chronicle: Flame retardant found in peregrine falcon eggs "The eggs of peregrine falcons living in California's big cities contain some of the highest levels ever found in wildlife of a flame retardant used in consumer products, a new study has found. Studies of peregrine falcon eggs and chicks by state scientists reveal that the birds hunting in San Francisco, Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Diego are ingesting the flame retardant called PBDEs, believed to leach out of foam mattresses, synthetic fabrics, plastic casings of televisions, electronics and other products. The research shows that the indoor chemicals can contaminate the outdoors and even humans." ... Arguably, it would be better to go up in flames, than ingest such toxins. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 5, 2008 from Science and Spirit: Too few vultures for Zoroastrians to dispose of their dead "There are thousands of bodies rotting on the site," said Baria, agitated and angry. "There are no vultures at all and without the vultures, it doesn't work. The solar collectors don't work. Nothing is working. My mother's body was there for a year and a half, naked and exposed."... In 2000, the Indian scientific community called out to their international colleagues and an all-out effort was launched to determine what had caused vulture numbers to plummet from an estimated 80 million to just a few thousand in less than ten years. It was the most catastrophic decline in an avian population in recent history.... [discovered that] the three species of Gyps vultures were dying from ingesting livestock carcasses treated with diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antipyretic pharmaceutical drug used on both livestock and humans. It is a mild painkiller akin to aspirin. ... Zoroastrian ghostly buildup might mean the end of the world. Got any mild painkiller handy? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 25, 2008 from The Examiner: Loss of prairie chickens worries scientists WICHITA, Kan. - The Flint Hills are no longer the "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World," because a combination of ranching practices, invasive trees and encroaching civilization is causing the birds' population to plummet, scientists say. Studies from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks show the number of prairie chickens in the Flint Hills' eastern edge has fallen 90 percent in the past 30 years and 50 percent throughout the rest of area. "Prairie chickens are right at the top of our list of species we're concerned about," said Ron Manes of the Nature Conservancy of Kansas. "They are an excellent indicator of the health of the prairie." ... Biologists fear that a decline in the prairie chicken could start a chain reaction that would also endanger the eastern meadowlark, Henslow's sparrows, grasshopper sparrows and others. ... Even at half strength, where else could the Prairie Chicken Capital be? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 22, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Migrating bird numbers plummet in UK The number of birds which migrate to the UK every Spring to breed is plummeting, a new study reveals. The fall in birds completing the annual journey from Africa has been so dramatic that scientists fear it is part of a seismic environmental change. The spotted flycatcher, turtle dove and tree pipit numbers have declined by more than 80 per cent while once familiar small songbirds such as the willow, marsh and garden warblers have declined by as much as 75 per cent. ... "Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang..." ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 20, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Mercury In River Moves Into Terrestrial Food Chain Through Spiders Fed To Baby Birds Songbirds feeding near the contaminated South River are showing high levels of mercury, even though they aren't eating food from the river itself, according to a paper published by William and Mary researchers in the journal Science.... one of the first, if not the first, to offer scientific documentation of the infiltration of mercury from a contaminated body of water into a purely terrestrial ecosystem. "In bodies of water affected by mercury, it's always been assumed that only birds or wildlife that ate fish would be in danger," said Cristol, an associate professor in William and Mary's Department of Biology. "But we’ve now opened up the possibility that mercury levels could be very high in the surrounding terrestrial habitat, as well." ... Drat, no more spider-eating spiders for me. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 17, 2008 from Reuters: S. Korea Culls 3 Million Birds as Bird Flu Spreads Fast "South Korea said on Thursday it had culled 3 million farmed birds and confirmed three more outbreaks of bird flu, as the country grapples with its worst avian influenza outbreak in four years. In just two weeks South Korea has confirmed 15 cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, raising alarm as the highly virulent virus is spreading at its fastest rate since the country reported its first case in 2003. ... Maybe this time Chicken Little isn't crying wolf. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 14, 2008 from University of New South Wales: Shorebird Numbers Crash In Australia "One of the world's great wildlife spectacles is under way across Australia: as many as two million migratory shorebirds of 36 species are gathering around Broome before an amazing 10,000-kilometre annual flight to their northern hemisphere breeding grounds. But an alarming new study has revealed that both these migrants and Australia's one million resident shorebirds have suffered a massive collapse in numbers over the past 25 years." ... Clearly, these canaries in the coal mine are nothing but sitting ducks hanging albatrossly around our necks. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 4, 2008 from The Independent: American songbirds are being wiped out by banned pesticides "The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of highly toxic pesticides and other chemicals across Latin America. Ornithologists blame the demand for out-of-season fruit and vegetables and other crops in North America and Europe for the destruction of tens of millions of passerine birds. By some counts, half of the songbirds that warbled across America's skies only 40 years ago have gone, wiped out by pesticides or loss of habitat." ... Nothing to do but quote the late Kurt Vonnegut: Poo-too-weet... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 31, 2008 from The Toronto Globe and Mail: The end of the road "To most Canadians, migration is a spectacle that marks the seasons. We know spring is here, despite the snowbanks in much of the country, because northbound geese have begun to appear from the south, just as we knew winter was coming when we saw them flying the other way. But many long-distance travellers -- from the whooping crane and the red knot to sea turtles and the rarest of the world's large whales, the North Atlantic right -- are in serious trouble. Over millions of years, they have been hardwired to undertake long journeys to survive. But these feats of strength and endurance are increasingly perilous in a world ever more congested and plagued by a changing climate." ... If only we could teach these animals to use the internet, they could telecommute instead migrate. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 31, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Migratory Wetland Habitat for Shorebirds Declining Fast "A decline by more than 70 percent of several North American shorebird species since the early 1970s has brought state, federal and international concern about conservation efforts for these birds and their wetland habitat.... Shorebirds stop over in Oklahoma to utilize wetlands and other waterways to rest and feed during both their spring and fall migrations. Davis said little is known about how landscape patterns and land use influence shorebirds migrating through the state. ... Oklahoma! where the wind goes sweepin' down the plain -- but where development may be sweepin' out the birds. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 8, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society: Mercury Threatens Next Generation Of Loons "A long-term study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the BioDiversity Research Institute, and other organizations has found and confirmed that environmental mercury -- much of which comes from human-generated emissions -- is impacting both the health and reproductive success of common loons in the Northeast." ... I feel a new idiom emerging ... "as endangered as a loon." ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 7, 2008 from Windsor Star (Canada): Bird decline shocks experts Birds that eat flying insects are in a shocking and mysterious decline, says the co-editor of the new Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ontario. "It is an alarm bell," Gregor Beck, a wildlife biologist and the book's co-editor, said this week.... "It's really scary because we're not certain what's going on or why," Beck said. "There's not going to be a simple fix to this one." ... "No simple fix." No, not for this one, or for so many others. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 28, 2008 from United Press International: Polluted prey affects wild birds "Welsh scientists have found brain and behavioral changes in wild birds after the birds forage on invertebrates contaminated with environmental pollutants. Katherine Buchanan and colleagues at Cardiff University studied male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging at a sewage treatment works and analyzed the earthworms that constitute their prey. The researchers found birds exposed to environmentally relevant levels of synthetic and natural estrogen developed longer and more complex songs compared with males in a control group...The researchers also found female starlings prefer the song of males exposed to the mixture of endocrine disrupting chemicals, suggesting the potential for population level effects on reproductive success." ... Clearly, the female starlings just feel sorry for the males. Not the first time pity has gotten a fella laid, eh? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 26, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Sea birds choking on migrant fish "The snake pipefish, virtually unknown around the UK in 2002, has undergone a massive, baffling and dangerous expansion since then, scientists have discovered.... Since 2000 sea birds have not been able to find sufficient food either to sustain their chicks or give them the energy to breed, a problem that is blamed on the dwindling populations of small fish and sand eels that sea birds eat, a phenomenon scientists have been unable to explain.... Now parent guillemots, terns and puffins are scooping pipefish from the sea for their chicks as substitutes for their normal fish food. But the pipefish body is rigid and bony and extremely hard for chicks to eat. Biologists have found dozens left uneaten in single nests while chicks have choked to death on their bodies." ... It's their own damned fault. They should chew their bony food before swallowing. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 23, 2008 from National Geographic: Rat Invasions Causing Seabird Decline Worldwide "The global analysis found that non-native rats have been observed preying on roughly a quarter of all seabird species, often with disastrous consequences.... Now 102 of 328 recognized seabird species are considered threatened or endangered by the World Conservation Union, with predation by invasive species ranking among the top dangers." ... "Traveling with humans as ship stowaways, three rat species native to Europe and Asia have become established on about 90 percent of the world's major islands and island chains, experts say." Now that's globalization! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 11, 2008 from The Times of India: King penguins could be wiped out by climate change "PARIS: One of the emblems of the Antarctic, the king penguin, could be driven to extinction by climate change, a French study published on Monday warns. In a long-term investigation on the penguins' main breeding grounds, investigators found that a tiny warming of the Southern Ocean by the El Nino effect caused a massive fall in the birds' ability to survive. If predictions by UN scientists of ever-higher temperatures in coming decades prove true, the species faces a major risk of being wiped out, they say. " ... This species takes an entire year to complete the breeding cycle; no wonder they're on the brink! Can't they get with the program and hurry up? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 16, 2008 from Emerging Infectious Diseases: High Degree Of Antibiotic Resistance Found In Wild Arctic Birds "Swedish researchers report that birds captured in the hyperboreal tundra, in connection with the tundra expedition "Beringia 2005," were carriers of antibiotics-resistant bacteria. These findings indicate that resistance to antibiotics has spread into nature, which is an alarming prospect for future health care. "We were extremely surprised," says Bjorn Olsen, professor of infectious diseases at Uppsala University and at the Laboratory for Zoonosis Research at the University of Kalmar. "We took samples from birds living far out on the tundra and had no contact with people. This further confirms that resistance to antibiotics has become a global phenomenon and that virtually no region of the earth, with the possible exception of the Antarctic, is unaffected." ... PostApocHaiku: this proves our days are few when it comes to chillin' with Penicillin. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 3, 2008 from Newsday (US): Hundreds of crows killed by virus in NY Hundreds have died this winter from infection with a strain of avian reovirus that attacks their intestinal systems. The birds have been found in Albany, Dutchess, Jefferson, Montgomery, Orange and Steuben counties. The largest die-off was a group of 100 in Poughkeepsie. ... Ah, it's just ugly crows. Who needs 'em? Oh, right, maybe a few hundred other species... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 10, 2007 from The Telegraph (UK): One in three bird species faces extinction An increase of 1°C from present temperatures is likely to trigger roughly 100 bird extinctions. But if the global average temperature were to rise 5°C, from that point on an additional degree of warming, to 6°C, would probably cause 300 to 500 more bird extinctions. ... Imagine the extinctions of critters that can't fly to where it might be cooler. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com