Poaching pushes waterfowl species to brink of extinction

Wed, Sep 13 2017 12:16:24 PM

By Vishal Gulati

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS): Crossing national and international boundaries, millions of migratory birds descend on India to avoid the extreme winter chill in their native habitats. Many of them never return to their breeding grounds, say ornithologists.

The reason: They are exposed, largely in non-protected wetlands, to illegal killing and trade.

Scientists, mainly from Mysuru's Nature Conservation Foundation, during their fieldwork in 27 wetlands in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram district, estimate that at least 1,700 waterbirds, mainly large- and medium-sized, are hunted every year in each wetland. They say hunting is widespread from December to April, the peak season of winter migrants.

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Aquatic rest stops may pose potential hazards for migratory waterfowl

Date: May 2, 2017

Source: University of Georgia

Migratory waterfowl around the world travel hundreds to thousands of miles annually, stopping at lakes, ponds and marshes to refuel and breed. Some of these aquatic rest stops may be at sites polluted by remnants of radioactive waste from nuclear production or accidents, exposing the birds to contamination that they take with them. This poses a potential risk to humans if the waterfowl enter the food chain.

Now scientists at the University of Georgia have identified two factors that affect the accumulation of a radioactive contaminant in waterfowl. The study, published recently in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, reveals that the wild birds' uptake of radiocesium is influenced by two main factors -- the amount of time the bird inhabits a contaminated body of water and the bird's foraging habits.

Robert Kennamer, lead investigator on the study, guided a team of researchers that examined American coots and ring-necked ducks at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, a former nuclear production facility. Every year thousands of migrant waterfowl visit SRS, which is closed to waterfowl hunting. These birds forage in contaminated areas before resuming their journeys.

Readon 

Canterbury researchers help identify 22 million-year-old fossil

Researchers at Canterbury Museum have helped identify the 22 million-year-old fossil remains of a long-lost family of waterfowl. 

Presbyornithids​ were wading waterfowl with the body of a stilt and the head of a duck. They were thought to have disappeared worldwide about 48 million years ago when the early relatives of ducks and geese first appeared.

Recent research on fossils found in the 1980s near Lake Eyre, in South Australia, revealed the presbyornithids were still alive and well 'Down Under' until at least 22 million years ago.

Unlike other presbyornithids, the Australian birds, which go by the scientific name of Wilaru​, were predominantly terrestrial, which allowed them to co-exist with their mainly aquatic modern relatives and probably contributed to their long-term survival.

New research by a team from Canterbury Museum and Adelaide's Flinders University, published in Royal Society Open Science, found the Wilaru was of the waterfowl lineage, rather than being a shorebird. 

Dr Vanesa De Petri​, who led the research at Canterbury Museum, said what was really remarkable was the Australian presbyornithids lived alongside modern waterfowl like ducks and geese.

"This is the first and only record of this co-existence," De Petri said.

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Waterfowl Poisoning Halved by Lead Shot Prohibition in Spain

Jan. 16, 2014 — The pollution of waterfowl meat and their poisoning by lead shot has dropped by 50% since this type of munitions was prohibited in wetlands in 2001. This is one of the data in a report from the Hunting Resources Research Institute, which also states that the hunters' compliance with this mandate has been very high.

The pollution of waterfowl meat and their poisoning by lead shot has dropped by 50% since this type of munitions was prohibited in wetlands in 2001. This is one of the data in a report from the Hunting Resources Research Institute, which also states that the hunters' compliance with this mandate has been very high.

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Great Lakes Waterfowl Die-Offs: Finding the Source

Nov. 24, 2013 — A deadly menace stalks the loons, gulls, and other water birds of the Great Lakes region: Type E botulism, a neuromuscular disease caused when birds eat fish infected with toxin-producing bacteria. Cases of the disease are on the rise, killing approximately 10,000 more waterfowl in 2007 than when it was first reported in 1963.

To understand die-off origin and distribution, ocean engineers from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Institute for Ocean Systems Engineering in Dania Beach, Florida are using their expertise in experimental hydrodynamics. They have teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey to help develop a novel way of tracking waterfowl carcasses to determine the source of lethal outbreaks that infect fish eaten by waterbirds.

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