MY LIFE LIST
Great Site For Warbler Pics
Help for Identifying Warblers
a Snowy Owl has been shot
SADNESS. NAMES HAVE BEEN REMOVED. HOW TERRIBLY SAD THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN'T SEE HOW BEAUTIFUL A CREATURE IS, HOW HARD IT HAS WORKED TO SURVIVE, HOW MANY OF US STAND IN AWE AND DROP EVERYTHING TO TRAVEL MILES TO SEE IT, AND HOW SOME PEOPLE LIKE ME WISH THEY COULD DROP EVERYTHING TO TRAVEL MILES TO SEE IT. I DON'T UNDERSTAND.
Hi Everyone,Just wanted to let you guys know that a Snowy Owl has been shot near the
Cheyenne Bottoms and has been taken to the Great Bend Zoo to their RaptorCenter. I do not know the conditions of the bird at this time whether it isstill alive or is recovering. They also have someone in custody that shotand killed a Bald Eagle. That bird also was taken to the Great Bend Zoo. Sosad we have humans that do things like this.Sincerely,............
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:07:02 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Fwd: Snowy Owl Shooting
Well you knew it was going to happen and frankly you have to wonder how manymore of the many Snowy Owls reported in the lower 48 this year have met thisfate. I am not going to use the "H" word that always triggers a big flurryof breast-beating and shrill reactions from the hook and bullet crowd whenpeople dare to speak of these matters in a public forum.
But irresponsible, thoughtless persons using firearms in outdoor situations with willful regard
to all laws and regulations pursuant to wildlife conservation are a bigproblem.There are a lot of crazy people driving around out there in thecountryside with guns that flagrantly disregard the law and love to shoot raptors.Are they representative of responsible outdoors men & women? No they aren't.Are there a lot of them? Yes there are. Does the punishment fit the crime? Not really.Will it ever change? I seriously doubt it.Does that make me angry? Yes it does.
What is the GBBC?
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| Pine Grosbeak, Norm Dougan, BC 2011 GBBC |
The 2012 GBBC will take place Friday, February 17, through Monday, February 20. Please join us for the 15th annual count!
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.
HOW TO Count Birds
Please write the highest number of birds of each species that you saw together at any one
time. For example, if you watched a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos for 15 minutes and saw 3
juncos at a feeder, then 5, then 2, you would report 5, the highest number your saw at once,
next to the name, “Dark-eyed Junco.” Do not add the numbers together (not 3 + 5 + 2).
You may write the bird species names and counts on a separate sheet of paper attached to
this form. Be sure to use the species name (example, “White-crowned Sparrow,” not
“Sparrow”). Check a field guide if you need help with identification. If you still cannot
identify the species, do not report it.
DATA FORM
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Bird by bird I've come to know the earth. -Pablo Neruda
9ish years ago - in a really hard time of my life - I saw a bird. I was convinced that he was rare and it took me quite a while to figure out it was not at all rare but very common and actually had a nest right there near the spot where I first saw him.
It was a Brown Thrasher. A pretty bird until you get a good look at the eyes.
Bird watching became an outlet for me. For the most part I just feed the birds at home. Traipsing around the woods with a toddler in tow doesn't make for the best bird watching.
I have seen some really cool birds though over time and I hope to see more.
I want to post my favorite bird pics and stats here.
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Texas drought twists migrations of many birds
Published March 01, 2012
Associated Press
Strange things are aloft in the bird world.
Endangered whooping cranes flew 2,500 miles from Canada to Texas, where they usually spend the whole winter. Instead, they pecked around for a short time and flew back. In Nebraska, other cranes never left.
Some ducks just kept flying south — all the way to Belize in Central America. And a snowy owl was spotted near Dallas, only the sixth time that's ever happened.
Throughout the winter, scientists have noticed these and other examples of bizarre bird migrations — a result, they believe, of flocks becoming desperate for food and habitat becoming increasingly scarce because of the stubborn drought in Texas. The unusually mild winter in the Northeast and Midwest has even persuaded some birds they could stay put, fly shorter distances or turn back north earlier than normal.
"We have birds scattered all over the place looking for habitat right now," said Richard Kostecke, a bird expert and associate director of conservation, research and planning at the Nature Conservancy in Texas.
The concerns go beyond a few lost flocks. Migratory birds often use the winter months to rest, eat and gain energy for the long journey back to their nesting grounds, so biologists can only guess at the effects of this season's peculiar movements.
What will happen if the birds' diets are altered or if they expend too much energy? What if they fail to migrate at all? Will they still be able to breed after a stressful winter?
"You may see a cascade of impacts," Kostecke said. "We don't know exactly where things will end up."
In a typical winter, the Texas Gulf Coast is packed with tens of thousands of birds — songbirds, waterfowl, catbirds, gnatcatchers, warblers and other migrants. But this year, an annual count done just before Christmas found the population had dropped steeply.
The number of water-dwelling birds was down significantly. Geese, for example, were 61 percent below their 19-year average. Dabbling ducks dropped 43 percent, diving ducks 60 percent and spoonbills 74 percent.
Part of the problem is lack of food. The drought — the worst one-year dry spell in Texas history — parched thousands of acres of wetlands along the coast, a habitat that is normally rich with fish, seafood, berries and insects.
At the Nature Conservancy's Mad Island preserve alone, wetlands have been depleted from 1,100 acres to a mere 200 acres. Habitat provided by rice paddies will also probably decline because many farmers are not expected to get water for irrigation. And with so little rain, freshwater is scarce.
Lucky for the birds, they can fly.
"God gave birds wings for a reason: to pick up and find what they need," said Dave Morrison, the small game director at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
A mid-winter population survey revealed that overall numbers were down about 3 percent compared with last year. In the rain-starved Panhandle, where ducks typically rely on water-filled natural basins as habitat, there were 15,000 birds this year, compared with 36,000 last winter.
But many apparently sought refuge in the state's prairie areas, where biologists spotted 1.2 million ducks this year compared with about 885,000 last year.
The unexpected population shifts weren't limited to waterfowl on the coast. Surveys show inland species are on the move, too. They were observed in greater numbers near the Gulf, probably because their usual homes offered little food. So they kept flying — all the way to the coast, where they hoped to find more mice, snakes and other small prey.
The disruption in natural migration comes with risks, even for the birds who survive into the spring. Birds that switch migratory paths may be fine for a couple years, but they could die later if they follow the same path only to find that their destination has become much warmer or colder than expected.
One of the biggest concerns is for the whooping crane. There are only about 300 of these majestic, 5-foot birds left in the wild. This endangered flock, which scientists and the federal government have been working to revitalize for decades, flies every year from its nesting grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.
In 2009, the year of the last major drought, an estimated 23 birds died, probably because they were unable to find enough of the high-protein blue crabs and wolf berries to eat in Texas. Scientists were concerned the same thing could happen again.
But the first census found many of the birds weren't even on the coast. Only about two-thirds of the cranes were spotted. One family, or about a half-dozen cranes, reached the Gulf, then turned around to spend the winter at Granger Lake about 225 miles north.
A few others were seen in unusually mild Nebraska. The rest are missing.
"They may show up on later censuses, or they may be scattered out in different places where they're finding good resources," Kostecke said.
Scientists plan to monitor the bird population to study the long-term consequences of this season's migratory patterns. Experts in Belize are sharing notes with counterparts in Texas, who are talking to other specialists in the northern United States and Canada.
Next year, they will watch whether water birds again migrate farther south or if more snowy owls appear in Dallas — an unusually urban setting for the fluffy white bird. But they hope migration returns to normal, along with weather patterns.
Just because the birds "have not parked in the place people are accustomed to this year, doesn't mean they aren't going to come back there," Morrison said.
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Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com//RamitMastiAP
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/01/texas-drought-twists-migrations-many-birds/#ixzz1nvh2vWQr
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