Posts
Blue Tit / Photo uploaded to Flickr by Ben FredericsonNormally I try to confine lists of links to my Friday Loose Feathers series, but yesterday other bird bloggers published some good material that I would like to highlight.
First off, Nate of The Drinking Bird discussed the recently-released federal State of the Birds report. That report has been on my blogging to-do list for a while, but has not quite made it onto the blog until now. In his post yesterday, Nate focused on the need for birders to find a way to fund habitat conservation that distinguishes birder contributions from hunting contributions. Lately there has been a movement to encourage birders to purchase Duck Stamps, since almost all of their price goes towards habitat conservation. The trouble, as Nate writes, is that Duck Stamp funds primarily support habitat for game animals, since hunters are assumed to be the primary constituency for conservation. While it is important, game bird habitat is not necessarily helpful for other birds, such as interior forest specialists.
There are various ways that birders could support non-game species. One would be the imposition of a tax on optics, field guides, and the like that would be dedicated for habitat conservation. This would parallel similar hunting fees. Large birding organizations like ABA or NAS could also manage such a fund as part of their normal membership renewals. Or, birders could simply look for organizations that directly protect non-game habitat in their area and support those, either instead of or in addition to the major birding organizations. (I have not quite figured out the best of these in my area, but Nature Conservancy seems like a strong contender.) In any case, read and comment on Nate's post.
Second, Bruce at the excellent Urban Hawks blog has proposed ethical standards for use of audio playback to attract birds, particularly owls. His post comes in response to an incident involving a locally well-known tour leader in Central Park, who used recordings to call out a screech owl before its normal rising time, to provide his tour group a chance to view the owl. I do not have a strong opinion about the particulars of his argument, but I do think that birders, and especially group leaders, ought to err on the side of caution during breeding season, especially in heavily-birded areas.
Third, Birdchick highlighted a discussion on the ID-Frontiers list about a hybrid Blue Tit found in New Hampshire. This is a highly unusual sighting since birds of that genus are not normally found on this continent. As you can see from the photos, this is clearly not a "pure bred" Blue Tit (see the photo above). Figuring out the rest of its ancestry, though, depends on where one thinks the hybridization occurred. If it happened in Europe, the obvious candidate, in my opinion, would be a Willow Tit, since that has the combination of buffy flanks, white-edged secondaries, and overall plainness that Blue Tits lack. If the hybrid is American in origin, then chickadees would appear more likely candidates. Based on range, Black-capped Chickadee would be most probable. I am sure more experienced birders come produce other possibilities, or even settle on one candidate above others. However, there really is only one way to settle this: catch the bird, band it, and test its DNA.
