Piping Plovers at Stone Harbor Point

Yesterday I saw my first Piping Plovers of the year at Stone Harbor Point, on a barrier island a little north of Cape May. I counted seven: two visible in the restricted area and then five more on the beach near the water. The first Piping Plovers were reported a week or two ago, and it appears their numbers have risen since then.

The plovers near the water were accompanied by hundreds of Dunlin and Sanderlings, but the plovers tended to keep their distance from the two sandpiper species and not mix with them in any significant way.

I checked each of the plovers as carefully as possible for any sign of bands or color markers on their legs, but I did not see any. Some Piping Plovers that winter in the Bahamas have been marked with colored plastic bands; if you happen to see one, report it following the directions at the link. One that was sighted by Andrew on Long Island last year and then re-sighted in the Bahamas; at least one Bahamas plover has already been reported this spring in Connecticut.

As a bonus, here are a couple of American Oystercatchers that were in the same area.

Review: Parrots of the World

The growing ranks of field guides to bird families was recently joined by Parrots of the World, written by Joseph M. Forshaw and illustrated by Frank Knight. Forshaw was already the author or co-author of several guides to parrots, including Parrots of the World, a reference work that went through multiple printings over several decades, and a handbook for identification published in 2006. His latest book, in the Princeton Field Guides series, is intended for field use by birdwatchers and ornithologists, especially birders participating in "parrot-watching" tours in South America or Australia.

Parrots of the World covers all 356 species of parrots, including extinct species such as the Carolina Parakeet. The guide groups species by geography rather than taxonomy, to make it easier to find species in the field. Each species is represented with the high quality painted illustrations I have come to expect from Princeton's field guides. Illustrations depict each species's major forms, as well as the uppersides and undersides of their wings and tails. The top and bottom views appear more like study skins than flying birds, but they achieve the same goal as a depiction of a flying bird would.

Facing each color plate is a page with text for each depicted species. The accounts include a range map, identification points, and notes on the bird's distribution and conservation status. Each account also names a handful of places where a species is most likely to be found. The suggested locations are usually national parks or other protected reserves, or in some cases lodges that cater to birders.

Why might a North American birder want a field guide on parrots when the only native parrot species in the U.S. or Canada is extinct? First, parrots are beautiful and intriguing species. Some are highly intelligent, and many are threatened by habitat loss or capture. Of the 356 species, 123 are listed as threatened or endangered by BirdLife International. This makes parrots one of the most threatened groups of birds. This alone makes it worth learning more about parrots.

Second, exotic parrots are establishing themselves in American cities by escapes or releases of imported birds. Monk Parakeets are on the state lists for New York, Illinois (pdf), and more recently New Jersey (pdf); they have been documented in other states as well. California and Florida have small populations of numerous parrots. Escaped pet parrots like Budgerigars can turn up almost anywhere. Virtually any species brought into the country can escape and not all of them are depicted in standard field guides. (The Sibley Guide to Birds and The Crossley ID Guide both have extensive sections on the most common feral parrots.) Since Parrots of the World covers species from every continent, it is a useful reference for checking the identity of an unknown parrot. I think it will prove especially helpful to urban birders who encounter escaped or feral parrots on a regular basis.

Skunk Cabbage: An Early Spring Wildflower

In the last week or two, I have started noticing skunk cabbage in swampy wooded areas. Skunk cabbage is one of the earliest native plants to flower in the spring. The flower is inside the green and purple sheath. Shortly after the flower appears, the green leaves begin to spread.

Skunk cabbages get their name from giving off a rotten smell. The smell is strong enough that it is recorded in the Latin of the scientific name (Symplocarpus foetidus) as well as the English name. A strong odor is produced whenever a leaf is torn, which may discourage herbivores from eating the leaves. The rotten smell may also attract some pollinators such as flies and bees.

Rain Drops on Branches

These photos are from Thursday, when it rained for most of the day. The drops are clinging to maple buds. Unlike the red maples, these trees probably will not flower for another month or more.

As usual, the photos link through to larger versions on Flickr.

Loose Feathers #281

Great frigatebirds and red-footed boobies at Tern Island / Photo by USFWS Pacific

Birds and birding news

• New Jersey's first record of Pink-footed Goose was spotted this week on a lake in Bergen County.
• A small colony of Emperor Penguins in western Antarctica disappeared due to loss of sea ice caused by climate change. It is not clear if the colony died off or relocated.
• The oldest known wild bird in the U.S. is a Laysan Albatross, and she has produced another chick this season at the age of 60.
• Alaska's Teshekpuk Lake region has some of the highest breeding bird nesting densities and productivity in the Arctic. As a result of recent nest surveys there, the Wildlife Conservation Society recommends that such important breeding areas be left free from energy development even though they lie within a BLM petroleum reserve.
• A recent study found the remains of 25 bird species inside the digestive tracts of invasive pythons in Florida; the bird species included four listed as "special concern" species by the state: Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, and Limpkin.
• Cerulean Warblers depend on Colombia's mountainous coffee growing regions for its winter habitat; they favor shade coffee plantations where coffee plants are grown under the forest canopy. Colombian coffee has been in the news because extreme heat and heavy rains have reduced coffee yields at Colombian plantations.
• The extinction of large mammals 20,000 years ago caused the extinction of one cowbird species. 
• Older Great Tits are less successful breeders than younger ones; the problems seem to occur after young have left the nest.
• A mother hen can feel her chicks' distress; their empathy was measured according to physical indicators such as heart rate and body temperature, as well as vocalizations.
• A study found that American Kestrels are at risk from the rodenticide diphacinone, which is coming into wider use due to restrictions on other rodenticides.

Birds in the blogosphere

• 10,000 Birds: Beautiful Blue Backyard Bird
• Birding Dude: Banded Piping Plover back in the Bahamas
• ABA Blog: The Lowdown
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Meet the Tiniest Wing-Propelled Diver
• Sibley Guides: Birds species new to North American – a summary
• Birdchick: What's An Uptown Owl Eating?
• IBRRC: Natural Seep Oiled Birds Continue to Flood IBRRC

Environment and biodiversity

• The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week that the Mount Charleston Blue butterfly (Plebejus shasta charlestonensis), a subspecies of Shasta Blue that is endemic to Nevada, deserved to be listed as endangered but was precluded from listing by more deserving species. In the meantime, the Forest Service will manage its wilderness areas for the Mount Charleston Blue as if it were endangered.
• A fight over a bike lane near Prospect Park in Brooklyn is turning into a wider fight over New York City's transportation policies, which seek to provide safer space for pedestrians and cyclists.
• A visitor recounts a trip through the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta in Colombia, which includes the tallest coastal mountain of the Caribbean. 
• The eastern population of Monarch butterflies has already started moving north.
• Research into air pollution caused by the gulf oil spill discovered a previously unknown source of organic aerosols. 
• Scientists found two new species of freshwater stingrays in the Amazon; unlike most stingrays, these do not have a dangerous barbed tail.
• LiveScience has a gallery of some of the worst invasive species.

Carnivals

• Circus of the Spineless #60 
• Carnival of the Blue #46