Drone-mounted detection system makes bird counting fast

FlaminGO! counts pink flamingos in Yucatán peninsula conservation program

Published on Monday, October 28, 2019

A Mexican startup is using drones to aid conservation of the pink flamingo on the Yucatán peninsula.

Ornitronik, a company founded by National Autonomous University biology graduate Esaú Villareal, has developed an automatic observation and detection system that uses drones to count flamingos and monitor their behavior.

Called FlaminGO!, the system can capture a single image of as many as 1,000 flamingos in 30 seconds. The automatic census of the flamingo population saves time and drones can count birds in areas that are difficult to reach.

Data and images that the system collects are passed on to public and private organizations that can use the information to develop better conservation plans for the pink flamingo, which is classified as an endangered species.

DJI, the company that makes the drones used in the Ornitronik system, said in a statement that FlaminGO! helps to understand the behavior of flamingos, adding that the size of their population is indicative of the health of the ecosystem in which they live.

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Mummified Prehistoric Bird Head Discovered in Mexican Cave

Published 18 February 2018

Researchers say the bird was unearthed in the Avendanos Cave in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

The mummified head of a prehistoric bird was found back in 2016, the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico has revealed.

Researchers say the bird was unearthed in the Avendanos Cave in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The scientists believe they have identified the head of one of the oldest macaw mummies ever discovered.

"The first [thing] we noticed was the head of the macaw in perfect condition," Archaeologist Emiliano Gallaga told The National Geographic.

The green color of the military macaw's plume is visible and its beak is intact. The researchers determined that the bird dates back to about 2,000 years to 900 AD – 800 years older than any other specimen from that region.

The scientist disclosed that military macaws were not native to the region of the Central American country and as a result were likely brought there for religious purposes.

Read on  

Not just for Christmas: Study sheds new light on ancient human-turkey relationship

For the first time, research has uncovered the origins of the earliest domestic turkeys in ancient Mexico

Date:  January 17, 2018

Source:  University of York

Summary:

For the first time, research has uncovered the origins of the earliest domestic turkeys in ancient Mexico. The study also suggests turkeys weren't only prized for their meat -- with demand for the birds soaring with the Mayans and Aztecs because of their cultural significance in rituals and sacrifices.

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Monk parakeets invade Mexico

Date: September 19, 2017

Source: Santa Fe Institute

Thanks to the international pet trade, populations of exotic animals are popping up in unexpected places worldwide. One of these successful invaders is the monk parakeet: a small, green parrot native to South America that now flies free in cities across North America, Europe, and elsewhere around the world.

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Red-faced encounter: rare new species of parrot discovered in Mexico

Ornithologists stress importance of conserving the blue-winged Amazon parrot, with no more than 100 of the birds thought to be in existence
   

 Ian Sample Science editor
 
Tuesday 27 June 2017 12.56 BST Last modified on Tuesday 27 June 2017 14.08 BST

Miguel Gómez Garza was on his final expedition to the Yucatán Peninsula to gather information for his book Parrots of Mexico when it happened. He heard a group of parrots in the distance, but their call was like none on record. So he loitered by a tree full of pods that parrots like for lunch, hoping they would come and feed.

The wait was worth it. When half a dozen parrots flew over to the tree, Gómez Garza noticed their intense red fronts and the beautiful blue tips on their wing feathers. The plumage set them apart from the two species known to live in the area, which both have distinctive white fronts.

“I could not believe it. The different noise belonged to a different parrot,” said Gómez Garza, a vet and ornithologist at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico.

In research published on Tuesday, an international team of scientists describe the new parrot for the first time. Named the blue-winged Amazon parrot, or Amazona gomezgarzai in honour of its discoverer, the bird stands 25cm or so tall and has a loud, short and repetitive call that would not sound out of place on the soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

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Once rare Mexican bird becoming more at home in GV

By David Rookhuyzen drookhuyzen@gvnews.com

Jan 19, 2016

Randy Gage

This northern crested caracara was photographed this month on state trust land east of Sahuarita. While once rare, caracaras are becoming more common in this part of the state.

Southern Arizona is starting to attract more snowbirds of a different feather, but nobody's quite sure why.

During the past few years, sightings of the once-rare northern crested caracara, a vulture-looking member of the falcon family, have become more common around Green Valley and Sahuarita.

Along with the golden eagle, it is listed as Mexico's national bird and is sometimes called “the iron cross” for the white markings seen on its wings while flying.

The caracara's range spreads from the northern portion of South America, up through Mexico – where they are common – and into parts of Southern Arizona, Texas and the Southeastern United States.

Doug Moore, a bird-watching enthusiast and member of Friends of Madera Canyon, said caracaras would occasionally be seen west of Sahuarita and Green Valley on the Tohono O'odham Nation. People would catch a rare glance along State Route 86 or near the landfill in Sells.

“If you got lucky, you would see one or two,” he said.

Now, however, Moore is hearing about more sightings in Green Valley and Sahuarita and farther east. Last month, he caught sight of one flying over the Pima County Fairgrounds. To the north in the Santa Cruz Flats area, west of Picacho Peak, the population has increased to more than two dozen.

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Temperature a dominant influence on bird diversity loss in Mexico

Date: July 7, 2015

Source: University of Kansas

Summary: A wide-ranging study of gains and losses of populations of bird species across Mexico in the 20th century shows shifts in temperature due to global climate change are the primary environmental influence on the distributions of bird species.

"Of all drivers examined ... only temperature change had significant impacts on avifaunal turnover; neither precipitation change nor human impacts on landscapes had significant effects," wrote the authors of the study, which appeared recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

Using analytical techniques from the field of biodiversity informatics, researchers compared current distributions with distributions in the middle 20th century for 115 bird species that are found only in Mexico. They then compared those bird community changes to patterns of change in climate and land use.

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Socorro dove returns to Mexico for first time in more than 40 years

Socorro Island is the "Most important single site for endangered bird conservation in North America"

October 2013. For the first time in four decades, the critically endangered Socorro Dove has returned to its native country of Mexico, thanks to a captive breeding program involving 33 organizations in 12 countries.

Extinct in the wild in 1972

The Socorro Dove was endemic to Socorro Island on the Revillagigedo Archipelago, approximately 400 miles southwest of the west Mexican city of Puerto Vallarta. The last record of the species in its natural habitat dates from 1972. Introduced mammals likely drove it to extinction through predation and habitat destruction.

113 doves in captivity

Mexico's role in the conservation breeding program was ramped up earlier this year when six Socorro Doves were moved from facilities at New Mexico's Albuquerque BioPark to Africam Safari, located near Mexico City. Today, facilities in Europe, the United States, and now Mexico breed Socorro Doves in their aviaries as part of the globally managed breeding program. Altogether, there are approximately 70 doves in Europe, 37 in the U.S., and six in Mexico.

Dr. Luis Baptista, founder of the Island Endemics Foundation, initiated the Socorro Dove Project in 1987-1988 after corroborating that a viable population existed in human care. The ultimate goal of the project is to return Socorro Doves to Socorro Island. After Baptista's death in 2000, Juan Martínez-Gómez joined the foundation and crafted a collaborative program with the Mexican Navy. By 2004, a breeding station funded by the Island Endemics Foundation and the Mexican Navy had been built on Socorro Island. However, in 2005, concerns about the potential for spreading avian influenza from Europe prevented the return of the doves to Mexico. In order to move closer to the goal of returning the birds to their home country, Socorro Doves bred by zoos participating in the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria's European Endangered Species Program were sent to the Albuquerque BioPark in 2008.

In April 2013, after careful planning with Frank Carlos Camacho, Director of Africam Safari, the conservation breeding program was successfully extended to Mexico. Plans for the reintroduction of Socorro Doves to Socorro Island are underway with the collaboration of SEGOB, SEMAR, and SEMARNAT, along with César Tejeda at Endémicos Insulares, Helen Horblit at the Island Endemics Foundation, Juan Martínez-Gómez at Mexico's Instituto de Ecología (INECOL), and Patricia Escalante at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Institute of Biology.

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Scarlet macaws reintroduced into the jungles of Mexico

After 70 years of extinction in the area, the Scarlet macaw returns to Palenque

June 2013. After a long process teaching the birds to adapt to the wild, 20 Scarlet macaws (Ara macao cyanoptera, a subspecies endemic to Mexico) were released into the wild in jungles of Palenque; the process will be repeated three times during 2013

The release is the first of three annual releases that, it is hoped, will return the species to the Palenque area. The goal is to have a population of 250 birds living in the wild in a habitat that they once roamed.

Part of Mexico's past

For the Hispanic cultures of south-eastern Mexico, scarlet macaws were considered guardians of the trees and they often appeared in their legends paintings and sculptures. Unfortunately, today the Scarlet macaw is limited to these artistic expressions as they have virtually disappeared from their original habitat (ranging from Tamaulipas to Chiapas), due to human activity.

Extinct in 95% of Mexico

The scarlet macaw has disappeared from 95 percent of the area it occupied in Mexico, and it is estimated that there are only 250 (All have been released) across the country.

Threats

The main threats to these birds are the removal of young for sale as pets on the black market and the significant decline in tropical rain forests, their primary habitat.

The project involves the Institute of Biology, UNAM and eco parks Xcaret, Quintana Roo, and National Aluxes and Palenque, in addition to federal, state and municipal governments, and representatives of the private sector and NGOs.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/mexico-macaws.html

Mexico: Bird Flu Outbreak Hits 582,000 Chickens

MEXICO CITY February 16, 2013 (AP)

Mexico's animal health agency says a bird flu outbreak at seven farms in central Mexico has affected as many as 582,000 chickens.

The Agriculture Department says more than a half million birds were exposed, but the number that will have to be slaughtered has yet to be determined.

An outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus in western Mexico in 2012 led to the slaughter of more than 22 million hens and caused price increases in chicken and egg products.

But the department said Friday that the current outbreak has not affected the supply of chicken products.

It said tests were continuing to determine the exact strain of virus involved in the outbreak, but said it did not affect humans.

Mexico's nationwide flock amounts to 137 million birds.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-bird-flu-outbreak-hits-582000-chickens-18517217

Mexico suffers another bird flu outbreak

Two outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu virus have been reported on egg farms in Mexico, resulting in the culling of nearly 300,000 birds, a recent report to the OIE states.

In total 740 poultry died from the virus which emerged in the two egg farms located in the central state of Aguascalientes. The virus, is reported to be the highly pathogenic avian influenza serotype H7N3,  different from the deadly H5N1 strain, which has devastated duck and chicken flocks after it was first detected in 1997 in Hong Kong.

In September last year devastating outbreaks of H7N3 occurred in the northeastern part of the state of Jalisco, which is near Aguascalientes.

The ministry said it was still doing active and passive surveillance at national level and that epidemiological investigation was ongoing. The source of the outbreaks or origin of the infection was still unknown.

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Layers/Health/2013/1/Mexico-suffers-another-bird-flu-outbreak-1146255W/

Yucatan counts with 50% of all bird species in Mexico

The Yucatan Peninsula is the home to 50% of the birds species recorded in Mexico, it is a privileged region with great potential in the world for scientists and birdwatchers.

According to a study by the Organizing Committee of the Tho Bird Festival, 226 species that can be seen in the region are considered Nearctic-Neotropical migratory, coming from northern latitudes to spend the winter in warmer habitats and with higher food availability. Even, some of them use the Yucatan Peninsula as a rest area to continue their journey to southern latitudes.

In Yucatan, 465 species have been identified, including 20 orders, 70 families and 272 species, according to monitoring works performed in the state by national and foreign specialists, and yet, there is evidence of new species.

Out of the total, 236 species are considered local residents, where 213 are 100% Yucatecans, they breed and spend their entire life in the state, while the remaining 23 are permanent residents, but have small migratory populations.

This natural richness has made the “nature tourism” a major economic activity in Yucatan, where for more than a decade, efforts have been made to consolidate it as a serious offer for the domestic and international tourism.

One of these efforts is the Toh Bird Festival, which just concluded last November 24, to promote Yucatan as nature tourism destination based on the observation of birds.

Also, various activities have been implemented like photography and drawing contests, conferences and workshops on topics related to birds given by local and foreign experts, photographic exhibitions, bird watching workshops and the Marathon of the bird xoc chich.

Continued:  http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2012/12/yucatan-counts-with-50-of-all-bird-species-in-mexico/

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon Announces End of Bird Flu Outbreak

President Felipe Calderón announced Wednesday that an outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus in western Mexico has been “totally controlled” after 68 days with no reports on new cases.

According to Calderón, more than 22 million hens were slaughtered throughout the country since July, when the Mexican government declared a national animal health emergency.

The epidemic, first detected in June, infected about 1 million poultry and resulted in price increases in chicken and egg products in Mexico. 

In 2009 H1N1, also known as swine flu, broke out in Mexico, becoming a global pandemic that claimed the lives of 17,000 people.

The United States Department of Agriculture initially stated that the outbreak of H7N3 bird flu virus began in Jalisco, México. Out of 58 farms sampled, the virus was identified in 24 farms. Mexico’s poultry flock number around 477.5 million birds, according to data from the industry released in 2011. 

Jalisco is responsible for more than 50 percent of egg production in the country. In all there were 14.4 million birds at risk or exposed, and over 900,000 birds died. Despite the outbreak and a price increase, egg supply in Mexico was guaranteed thanks in part to massive imports from the U.S. 

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2012/10/24/mexico-president-felipe-calderon-announces-end-bird-flu-outbreak/#ixzz2AJTO995d

Rare Socorro dove hatches at Bristol Zoo

Photo: ZSL

One of the rarest birds in the world has been bred at Bristol Zoo.

The Socorro dove, which originates from Socorro Island off Mexico, died out in the wild in the 1970s as a result of human disturbance and habitat loss.

The latest arrival was one of two birds to hatch, but one did not survive. It is the first time the doves have bred successfully at the zoo in five years.

There are 100 Socorro doves in captivity around the world, including 25 birds in six UK zoos.

Bristol Zoo's curator of birds, Nigel Simpson, said: "Sadly these birds now only exist in captivity, so to have this chick hatch and survive 40 years after they were last seen in the wild is a great achievement."

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-19684907


More information on the Socorro Dove (Zenaida graysoni):

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2555