Loose Feathers #398

American Avocet / Photo by Steve Tucker USFWS

Birds and birding

• A new species of tailorbird was discovered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in the course of avian flu monitoring. Here is the paper describing the species (pdf).
• Judging color of fossil feathers is difficult, but new analysis of an Archaeopteryx fossil suggests that its feathers had pale bases and dark tips — a pattern common among birds today.
• Birders in New Jersey will be happy to hear that parts of De Korte Park in the Meadowlands reopened this week.
• The UK environment secretary has approved a cull of hundreds of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls even though their breeding populations are protected.
• The endangered Millerbird population on Laysan Island has doubled to 100 individuals.
• Audubon North Carolina is publicizing the breeding outcomes for individual American Oystercatchers to promote their conservation. You can follow along at the American Oystercatcher Tracking Project.
• Common Cuckoos being tracked by the British Trust for Ornithology have already started their return flights to Africa.
• A study of Bullfinches found that they recall songs in short phrases rather than the whole song at once. The experiments included having a human teaching songs to the birds by whistling.

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Our Latest South Bergenite Column: Black Skimmers
• Myrmecos: Up is down, down is up, and moths are butterflies
• PetaPixel: How Not to Photograph a Deer in the Wild from a Safe Distance 
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Myth of the Komodo Dragon’s Dirty Mouth
• Skeptical Science: Media Overlooking 90% of Global Warming
• Ecosystem Gardening: Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
• The Smaller Majority: The miracle of parallel evolution

Environment and biodiversity

• Obama gave a climate policy speech this week. It was somewhat undercovered in the flurry of other news, but it outlined strategies that his administration can use to advance climate policy in the absence of cooperation from Congress. A lot of the reaction I have seen has been speculation about his cryptic comments on the Keystone XL project, which environmental groups are urging the State Department not to permit.
• However, it is hard to maintain optimism about Obama's climate plans when the EPA repeatedly backs off regulations and its own scientific work.
• The Senate approved Anthony Foxx as the new transportation secretary.
• Scientists are developing a new method for surveying bats that uses LIDAR. The new method is potentially a less intrusive way of monitoring bats at their roosts.
• There are real questions as to how effective habitat offsets are.
• Ingredients in some body washes may contribute to plastic pollution in the Great Lakes region.
• Ugly animals need conservation too.
• An invasive psyllid threatens citrus crops in Florida, and so far there are no effective controls aside from pesticide.
• Australia has brought an international lawsuit against Japan for its "research whaling," which conservationists believe is just a front for commercial whaling.
• Many plants and animals in India have their closest evolutionary relatives far away rather in nearby Asia because of India's unusual geological history.
• Deforestation of the Amazon is on the rise in countries other than Brazil.
• Ailanthus is one of the primary reasons native forests fail to regenerate after clearcuts or gypsy moth infestations.
• A new assassin bug species was discovered in Arizona.

Photo of the Week: Leatherwing Beetles

National Pollinator Week has ended for this week, but before it did I photographed these beetles mating on Common Milkweed. These are Margined Leatherwing beetles, members of the family Cantharidae, the soldier beetles. Leatherwing beetles are relatively easy to find and recognize, especially compared to other members of their family. While bees are the most efficient pollinators, many beetles, such as the Margined Leatherwing, also pollinate as they feed on the nectar and pollen that flowers provide.

Loose Feathers #397

Arctic Tern / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• Here is another look at the problem of starving seabirds in Maine, such as the Arctic Tern, which puts it into the context of problems other migratory birds are having. Some scientists think that climate change is shifting food away from the seabird colonies that need it.
• During Arctic summers, some migratory birds shift from a day-night activity cycle to one that takes advantage of the extra daylight hours. 
• Climate change will cause additional problems for shorebirds, most of which depend on intertidal areas such as beaches and mudflats. Sea level rise will flood those habitats, and coastal development limits the creation of new habitat to replace them. 
• A conservationist is trying to restore the yellowwood forests in South Africa that the endangered Cape Parrot needs to survive.
• A study in Tanzania found that protected areas are valuable for bird conservation in the face of climate change and expanded development.
• A report by BirdLife highlights bird conservation success stories, such as the Black Robin and Lear's Macaw.
• A new study links human population growth with the biodiversity crisis.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: Climate Change and Birds
• The Birdist: Is This Bird ABA Countable?
• Birding Is Fun: Gray Catbird Photo Study
• Illuminating Fossils: An ancient penguin with yellow feathers
• Lineatus: Dawn Chorus: Back to the Farallones (breeding season)
• Tails of Birding: Puffins on the Wing
• Compound Lens: Six tips for better pollinator photographs
• Cicada Mania: Oklahoma surprise periodical cicada emergence!
• Extinction Countdown: Weird Frog Discovered by Charles Darwin May be Extinct
• Dormivigilia: Rhythms of Songbirds: City vs Nature
• The Crux: During Cicada Boom, Birds Mysteriously Vanish 
• PhotoNaturalist: Ethics of Wildlife Photography

Environment and biodiversity

• For National Pollinator Week, the USGS highlights the importance of native bees. See also Bug Girl's post on the subject.
• Here is a photo gallery of the Great Barrier Reef and some of the animals that live there.
• Urban trees remove enough fine particulate pollution from the air to save an average of one life per year per city (and more than that in some cities).
• Pesticide spraying at a Target parking lot in Arizona killed 25,000 bumblebees because the landscaping company sprayed linden trees that were in bloom. If you must use pesticide, please follow label instructions and do not spray plants while they are in bloom.
• Meanwhile, pesticide runoff is decimating aquatic insects, including predators like dragonflies that eat other insects.
• Predator conservation helps plants to sequester more carbon since herbivores eat less when they fear attacks from predators.
• Male fishing spiders die from mating — not because the female kills them, but because of their own physiology.
• Some conservationists missed a ferry and found a rare moth while they were waiting for the next one.
• The Obama administration plans to reopen most of the Imperial Sand Dunes to off-road vehicles. The dunes had been closed since 2000 due to the rare plants and animals that live on the 40,000-acre site.

Photos of the Week

This weekend I participated in the Union County BioBlitz, which covered a cluster of three small suburban parks: Nomahegan, Lenape and Echo Lake Parks. The parks follow the course of the Rahway River and one of its tributaries. The habitats are mostly riparian woodland, with some open fields (both mown and unmown) and freshwater ponds. Saturday was my first time attending this event, but it has been held every year since 2005 and rotates among parks in Union County. A bioblitz is similar to a big day in its duration, but all taxa are eligible and the idea is to make as complete a census as possible of the living things at a particular site. Teams cooperate and share information, and there is usually an educational component.

The bird team came up with 70 species, which is very good for Central Jersey in June. Their sightings included a lingering Magnolia Warbler (which I missed). I came up with a little more than half that, but I was primarily working on insects. I am still sorting through my insect photos to identify and post them. So far I have 27 insect species on my list, with a lot more to identify. I know the total insect list from bioblitz will run into the hundreds.

My weekend included two lepidopteran lifers. One is the Banded Hairstreak shown above; the other is the Eight-spotted Forester shown below. Banded Hairstreak uses oaks, walnuts, and hickories as larval hosts and flies in late spring and summer. Eight-spotted Forester is hosted on vines, particularly grapes and Virginia creeper. While butterflies and moths feed on plants during their larval stages, as adults they drink nectar from flowers, and in the process pollinate many plants, which is necessary for the plants to reproduce. Both of these are fairly common species, so the fact that I had not seen either yet might seem surprising. However, insect lives are very short, and few of them migrate. Many butterflies and moths only fly for a few weeks, so if you are not in the right habitat at the right time, you will probably not see them.

If you would like to learn more about the moth diversity in your area, consider participating in National Moth Week, which is coming up very soon. This year the event runs from July 20-28.  Visit the link to learn more about how to participate.

Loose Feathers #396

Pine Siskin / Photo by Mark Stewart (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• The Dorset Wildlife Trust is trying to make birders and bird photographers aware that using recorded bird songs to lure birds may harm birds during the breeding season.
• Gill nets used by the fishing industry kill at least 400,000 seabirds every year, with another 160,000 being killed by longline fishing. Seabirds like gannets and petrels get caught in the nets and drown.
• Up to half of all birds species are threatened by climate change according to analysis by the IUCN. The study was published in PLoS ONE.
• Scientists have discovered 15 new species of birds in the Brazilian Amazon.
• Conservationists are reintroducing the Scarlet Macaw to parts of southern Mexico where it has been extinct for 70 years.
• Rat poison used at marijuana farms is killing not just Northern Spotted Owls, but also rare Pacific Fishers.
• Magellanic Penguins worldwide eat up to 2 million tons of seafood per year.
• The Syrian population of Northern Bald Ibises may be down to a single bird.
• A new smartphone app is designed to spread awareness of potential threats to birds from development.
• Archaeopteryx may have had dark and light patterned feathers, including light colored flight feathers that were dark at the tips.

Science and nature blogging

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: On the Origin of Really Shiny Species
• The Smaller Majority: Only in America
• Arthropod Ecology: Update: spiders STILL don’t bite
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds: Americanish Oystercatchers: Hybrids vs. Frazari
• Bug Girl's Blog: The Mad Hatterpillar
• The Prairie Ecologist: Difficult Decisions – Growing Season Fires and Other Prairie Management Choices
• The Hidden Desert: How Did the Joshua Tree Get its Name?
• Tetrapod Zoology: My local magpie family: four weeks of observation, 265 photos, and how good are the results?

Environment and biodiversity

• A toxic waste spill in northern Alberta is killing plants and destroying boreal forest habitat.
• This is on top of the other ways in which energy development threatens the boreal forest, such as the Mackenzie River watershed. 
• In South America, the Trans-Ecuador pipeline spilled 11,000 barrels of oil into the Coca and Napo Rivers, and the oil is drifting downstream towards Yasuni National Park, one of the world's most biodiverse regions.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to remove endangered species protection for all Gray Wolves in the Lower 48 (except for the Mexican Gray Wolf).
• An unknown wolf pack was recorded on a camera trap in Banff National Park.
• The Obama administration has repeatedly delayed environmental regulations even as it vows to take the initiative on climate change.
• Global carbon emissions hit a record high in 2012 thanks to growing industrialization in Asia.
• In Great Britain, more than a third of honey bee hives did not survive the winter.
• However, the same island had some positive pollinator news, with the continuing reintroduction of short-haired bumble bees.

Book Note: A North Country Life

A new memoir by poet and essayist Sydney Lea describes life in rural New England. A North Country Life: Tales of Woodsmen, Waters, and Wildlife is published by Skyhorse Publishing. This volume consists of a series of short essays, many of which were previously published in literary journals or collections. The chapters are loosely organized by season, though in many of them a seasonal reference is simply a starting point for remembering a person or series of events. A North Country Life records a way of life that is disappearing and preserves the memory of people who have passed away. Some chapters are short and convey the feeling of a particular moment in time. Others expound at greater length on people or ideas. Many are even poignant, describing childhood memories or remembrances of people long gone. While the book is tied to seasons and places, people are always at the center of the narratives.

I must confess that I had some trouble getting into this book, and I picked it up and put it back down a few times. My problem was not with Lea's prose (which is quite readable) but with finding a connection. Some of it may be generational, but I feel it has more to do with the cultural separation between my background (from densely-populated areas) and old-time, rural New England. Not having the background information to put things into context acts as a barrier, at least for me.

A North Country Life is at its best when Lea is describing his own adventures in the woods. My favorite chapter was one in which he describes getting lost ("Turned Around") while tracking deer. Several other chapters provide food for thought, especially when Lea describes changes that have taken place over the past several decades. Birders know well that Ruffed Grouse are becoming harder to find. (I have never seen or heard one myself.) Lea provides evidence from his own experience with the birds — declining numbers of grouse encountered and shot during hunting season. The "daybooks" are also very good, almost poetic at times. The book ends on a strong note with essays on land conservation and memories of parenting. The book is less compelling when Lea is retelling stories told to him by some old-timer, who may have been telling the story second- or third-hand himself. I tended to get bogged down in those essays, especially early on when the people and places named were all unfamiliar.

Sydney Lea's A North Country Life should appeal to anyone with an interest in the culture and history of New England, particularly life in rural New England. How much it will appeal to birders will depend on individual tastes. Most of the writing on birds comes in the context of hunting — for Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant, Sharp-tailed Grouse (on a trip to Montana), and Black Duck — though birds do appear in some of the other essays. Lea's observations on these birds are interesting, but as with the other themes in the book, they serve as a starting point for stories about his companions (both human and canine). It may also appeal to those with a general interest in the outdoors.

Photo of the Week: Summer Azure

Birders recognize the transition from Yellow-rumped Warblers to Blackpoll Warblers as a sign that spring migration is reaching its final stages. The situation is more complex than that, as both species are present together for two or more weeks. But if you hear Blackpoll Warblers but not Yellow-rumped Warblers, you are probably in the last week or two of May.

In the same way, one can find seasonal harbingers elsewhere in the natural world. One of them is this species, Summer Azure, which shows up around the same time that Blackpoll Warblers are leaving. Summer Azure is part of a species complex that used to be known as "Spring Azure." Thanks to careful study of phenology, genetics, and microscopic traits, what once was one species is now several species, with a succession of overlapping flight seasons, starting in early spring and continuing through summer. Summer Azure is the last to appear and has two broods. In New Jersey the first emerges in late May or early June, and the second emerges later in the summer.

I photographed this Summer Azure in the Rutgers Ecological Preserve last week.

Loose Feathers #395

Wood Duck / Photo by Tiffany Kersten (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• Atlantic Puffins have had a hard time in Maine the past few years. On Matinicus Rock and Machias Seal Island, up to a third of nests failed to produce fledglings. In addition, high numbers of adult puffins have washed ashore in winter after dying of starvation. The current explanation is that climate change has affected the availability of fish, whose populations are gradually moving north.
• However, a breeding survey at the Isle of May in England found similar numbers of puffin nests as a survey in 2009.
• A study of Black-legged Kittiwakes found significant differences between the gut microbes of adults and nestlings.
• A new study identified a mechanism for why male ducks and geese have penises while most other birds do not. See also Ed Yong's report on the study.
• So far, Purple Martins have not adjusted their migration schedule to keep pace with changing food availability due to climate change.
• Each colony of Northern Gannets maintains its own foraging territory despite not doing anything to defend it from other gannet colonies.
• A birdlike robot has gotten attention from real birds — some try to fly in formation with it and raptors attack it.
• A vice president from New Jersey Audubon argues for maintaining the state moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs.

Science and nature blogging

• The Birdist: Raising Money for Bird Conservation - Maine Birder Bands
• 10,000 Birds: Purple Herons at Waghäusel
• National Moth Week: Moths and Light Pollution
• Bug Girl's Blog: National Moth Week 2013
• The Dragonfly Woman: Dragonfly Emergence
• Wanstead Birder: June. Oh dear.
• The Skeptical Moth: The Last Butterfly Described in the US?

Environment and biodiversity

• The Trust for Public Land released its 2013 city park system rankings. Minneapolis took the top ranking, with New York City, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Boston close behind.
• The neighborhood where ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline spilled is still seriously contaminated.
• Meanwhile, several oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico have been leaking oil since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
• Natural gas is often promoted as a cleaner alternative to coal, with lower carbon emissions. While that is true, the effect is balanced by methane leaks at natural gas wells.
• An "extinct" frog was rediscovered in Israel, and it turned out to be the sole surviving member of its genus.
• The Wildlife Conservation Society is hoping that Instagram users will photograph Brood II cicadas and tag the photos with #cicadasinmyhood.
• While periodical cicadas are numerous and widespread, their emergences can be quite localized, so that places not far from each other see vastly different numbers of cicadas.
• People who reject climate science are also likely to believe in other conspiracy theories.
• Here's another way that deer overpopulation changes forests: too much deer urine prevents young hemlocks from growing since they prefer low-nitrogen soil.
• Reindeer can reduce the amount of solar energy absorbed by the tundra by grazing on dark-colored plants, but if they overgraze reindeer lichen, that effect is negated.
• An environmentalist in Costa Rica was murdered for defending sea turtle nests.
• Here is a short piece on the environmentalist roots of the protests in Turkey. See also this longer article about the environmental movement in Turkey.

Mercury Poisoning in a Young Saltmarsh Sparrow

Saltmarsh Sparrow / Photo by Wolfgang Wander

Most of us are familiar with the hazards posed by mercury. In the compound known as methylmercury, it becomes a potent neurotoxin, for both humans and wildlife. When infants are exposed in utero, methylmercury causes a variety of developmental problems. Environmental mercury comes primarily from industrial sources, such as waste incineration and the burning of fossil fuels for energy. Burning coal for electricity is a particularly strong contributor. Mercury is aerosolized by these processes and then enters waterways via precipitation. Aquatic invertebrates and fish consume mercury through their diets. It is for this reason that pregnant women are advised to avoid fish, some of which store significant levels of methylmercury in their tissues.

Methylmercury has already been documented in multiple bird species, with particularly high concentrations in Wood Thrushes. Some birds such as raptors and kingfishers have fish as a mainstay of their diets. Songbirds consume mercury by eating invertebrates that spend the early stages of their life in the water (such as mosquitoes, dragonflies, and caddisflies) or by eating spiders that prey on those aquatic invertebrates. Mercury is associated with behavioral changes in songbirds and may skew sex ratios. Like in humans, mercury affects learning and memory in songbirds. It also hampers birds' ability to learn and sing songs.

A new study by Sheila Scoville and Oksana Lane adds to the evidence for mercury's harmful effects in songbirds. When a fledgling Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus) was accidentally killed at a study site on Long Island, it was collected and analyzed for mercury poisoning. Feathers were collected and sent to the Biodiversity Research Institute to test for mercury exposure, and the sparrow's brain was analyzed at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. The fledgling showed some exposure to mercury, though not at the levels measured in adults at that study site (which overall were very high).

Based on feather samples taken from adult birds at the study site, it can be inferred that this fledgling's mother had high exposure to mercury at the time that she laid her eggs. This is analogous to in utero exposure in humans. In humans, in utero exposure can lead to brain abnormalities like Minamata Disease. This fledgling Saltmarsh Sparrow showed abnormalities in its cerebellum that would have similar effects on motor control and coordination. Birds with these sorts of defects would have trouble recognizing and escaping danger, thus making them more susceptible to predation and accidental deaths.

While this fledgling Saltmarsh Sparrow is only one data point, the findings have disturbing implications. Since mercury levels among adult birds were so high, many other young Saltmarsh Sparrows are presumably exposed to mercury at the time of egg formation. We cannot know how many of them have brain abnormalities like the one documented in this study, but it seems safe to assume that the problem is widespread.

Even without human interference, Saltmarsh Sparrows lead a precarious existence. At any time during the breeding season, their nests may be flooded by particularly high tides or destroyed by violent storms. Their breeding range is restricted to a narrow strip of saltmarshes along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Their habitat is constantly under pressure from human encroachment, as more and more coastal areas are developed as beach resorts. Oil and chemical spills further degrade their remaining habitat. There is an additional threat from sea level rise due to climate change and subsidence. For these reasons, BirdLife rates the Saltmarsh Sparrow as a vulnerable species. Now we know that in addition to all these other problems, the species also faces a threat from ingestion of mercury.

The harm caused by mercury is not something conservationists can easily remedy. Shifting away from coal as a source of electricity would at least reduce the amount of mercury entering our waterways. What we can and should do is protect and maintain as much remaining saltmarsh as possible so that the sparrows that survive to adulthood will have enough habitat for breeding.

Thanks to Peter Doherty for alerting me to this study.

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Scoville, S., & Lane, O. (2013). Cerebellar Abnormalities Typical of Methylmercury Poisoning in a Fledged Saltmarsh Sparrow, Ammodramus caudacutus Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 90 (5), 616-620 DOI: 10.1007/s00128-013-0974-y

Photo of the Week: Periodical Cicada

When I lived in Washington, DC, I experienced the first emergence of periodical cicadas that I can remember: the massive emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas in 2004. This was shortly after I started birding. The noise they produced was so loud that at times I had trouble hearing birds. As the emergence ended, dead cicadas littered the streets and were picked up and carried away by the ubiquitous House Sparrows in DC.

This year I am in New Jersey for the emergence of Brood II. So far I have not seen or heard any around Highland Park, but over the weekend, I encountered a fairly large number of them at Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve in Bedminster, New Jersey. There was a continuous chorus going in some parts of the preserve, though it was not as loud as some I experienced around Washington. The cicadas I examined closely all seemed to be Magicicada septendecim, with an orange spot in front of the wing and broad orange bands on their undersides. You can read more about identifying Magicicada species here.

Periodical cicadas have adopted an unusual life cycle in which adults emerge at 13-year or 17-year intervals to mate and lay eggs. This emergence lasts for only a few weeks, during which the number of adults in any given location may be massive. They spend the rest of their life cycle as nymphs deep underground, feeding on the roots of trees. When they are ready to emerge, the nymphs dig their way to the surface at night and then molt into their adult form. It is thought that the long, prime-numbered life cycle makes it difficult for any predator to specialize in preying on periodical cicadas, though of course birds, wasps, and other predators take advantage of the bounty when an emergence occurs.

If you see any cicadas from Brood II, you can report them at Magicicada.org.

See more of my periodical cicada photos on Flickr.