BirdWatching

tackling problems

Our friends at the nonprofit Environment for the Americas, the organizers of World Migratory Bird Day, recently announced their conservation slogan for 2019: “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution.” And in Spanish: “Protege a las Aves: Sé la Solución a la Contaminación por Plásticos.”World Migratory Bird Day sponsors about 700 events annually at protected areas, refuges, parks, museums, schools, zoos, and other sites to introduce the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them. Most events take place on the second Saturday in May in the United States and Canada and in October for Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.I was thrilled to see that WMBD would tackle plastic pollution in the name of bird conservation. I’m a bit obsessive about picking up plastic and…

good news, bad news

In late 2018, BirdLife International and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature announced they had updated the conservation status of 93 bird species around the world on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. The Red List, dubbed the “barometer of life,” keeps a record of how close species are to extinction.Scientists updated the listings for no fewer than 21 bird species that are found in various parts of the United States, Canada, and the Bahamas, raising the threat status for most of them and lowering it for others. Here’s a summary of the changes.Up-listed to Critically Endangered:Newell’s Shearwater. This seabird nests principally on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i while small colonies occur elsewhere in the state. Its population size is estimated between 10,000 and 20,000 adults. Threats include…

missing bird species sighted in brazil

An individual Stresemann’s Bristlefront, one of the world’s most endangered birds, was recently observed in Brazil after months of fruitless searching. Sightings of the female bristlefront on December 12 and 14, 2018, in fragments of habitat in Bahia, Brazil, have renewed hope that there is still time to save this remarkable, ground-nesting songbird from extinction.American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and its partner organization in Brazil, Fundação Biodiversitas, have been on high alert about the species’ population, which numbered as few as 15 individuals in recent years. In an attempt to assess the current population, Fundação Biodiversitas, supported by ABC, sent a team last fall to scour the species’ remaining habitat, which includes forest within and outside of the Mata do Passarinho, or “Songbird Forest,” Reserve.After several unsuccessful searches, Alexander Zaidan of…

since you asked

(Amy Lutz/Shutterstock)I thought that people aren’t supposed to eat apple seeds because they contain cyanide. I read that hawthorns are related to apples and also have cyanide in the seeds. But I see birds eating hawthorn fruit all the time. Can birds eating hawthorns be poisoned? — Chris Meier, Louisville, KentuckyThe seeds of many plants including cherries, almonds, apples, crabapples, and hawthorns contain varying amounts of a compound called amygdalin. Hydrogen cyanide can be formed and released from the seeds when they are chewed or damaged. The amounts of amygdalin in the seeds of most fruits is small, and many seeds would need to be chewed and eaten by a human to cause harm. Although obviously much smaller, birds that eat hawthorn and crabapple fruits swallow them whole, and the…

two warblers to look for in early spring

Black-and-white WarblerJanuary 2008-18April 2008-18Black-and-white Warbler is distinctive in several ways, from its striking black and white streaks to its unusual (for a wood-warbler) foraging behavior, in which it creeps along trunks and large tree branches, probing like a nuthatch. In January, during the nonbreeding season, the warbler is found primarily from Mexico to northern South America and in most of the Caribbean. Some individuals winter in portions of the southern United States, represented by purple squares on the January map. The species is fairly hardy, and there are winter records in places like coastal Oregon and New England. Black-and-white Warbler is one of our earlier spring migrant wood-warblers, and by April, a flood of individuals will have crossed the Gulf of Mexico reaching practically all of the eastern U.S. and…

recent rare-bird sightings in north america

FIRST IN MONTANA: In late December, this Heermann’s Gull, a coastal species, was seen on Fort Peck Lake in central Montana. (John Carlson)FIRST IN INDIANA: This Great Kiskadee was seen in December and January in the northeastern part of the Hoosier State. (Annie Aguirre)THIRD IN CALIFORNIA: In December and January, this Red-flanked Bluetail, an East Asian chat, turned up on the grounds of the Clark Library at UCLA. (Rebecca Fenning Marschall)FIRST IN ARIZONA: This White-throated Thrush, a bird of Mexico and Central America, visited Madera Canyon in southeast Arizona in January. (Andrew Core)SECOND IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: This Fieldfare was seen in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, in mid-December during a Christmas Bird Count. (Carol Riddell)THIRD IN MICHIGAN: This Black-headed Grosbeak was seen at feeders in Ludington in late December and early…