‘Unusual’ number of snowy plovers found dead in riding areas of Oceano Dunes last month

BY KAYTLYN LESLIE

SEPTEMBER 08, 2019 05:00 AM, UPDATED SEPTEMBER 08, 2019 12:00 PM

State Parks is urging riders to be cautious in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area after an “unusual number” of protected snowy plovers were found dead in the riding area of the park last month.

Four snowy plovers were found dead in the SVRA park in the final weeks of August, according to Senior Environmental Scientist Ronnie Glick.

“It is unusual to have that many birds found in the course of a short time period,” Glick told The Tribune in a phone interview Friday.

The four were found between Aug. 19 and Aug. 28. According to Glick, one of the bodies found was too old to be able to determine the cause, while the other three were fresher specimens.

Two of the birds were found in tire tracks in the sand, with evidence of being flattened, while another was found in an area with recent tire tracks, but not in said tracks, according to reports filed with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“If a bird were to be hit, it would be a violation of the Endangered Species Act, and that is a big deal,” Glick said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a big enough staff to watch all these birds every hour of the day.”

If someone were visibly observed by a State Parks worker to hit a snowy plover — something that Glick said he did not believe had ever happened at the park — law enforcement would be called in to determine if if that person were driving negligently or in violation of any of the park’s rules.

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Nesting Killdeers delay new stadium opening

16/04/2019

A pair of nesting Killdeers has postponed the opening of the Rio Americano High School Raiders' newly renovated track and artificial American football pitch in Sacramento, California.

The new facility was planned to be opened last week, but with the plovers currently monitoring a clutch of eggs in one of the end zones, the grand unveiling has been delayed.

At the end of March, while finishing touches were being made to the new artificial surface at the school near Sacramento, construction workers discovered four eggs in one of the end zones. A protective barrier was immediately installed and Brian Ginter, the school's principal, said the field's opening day will be postponed until the eggs have hatched and the birds have vacated the nest.

The average incubation period for Killdeer eggs is 24-28 days and the species tends not to hang around long after the young hatch, so Ginter estimates the field will likely be ready for action by the time students return from spring break.

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Rare sight of black swans, native to Australia, spotted in Rainbow Harbor

They are typically owned by collectors, fanciers, breeders, aviaries, estates that keep them as ornamental birds. They are a restricted species in California that need a permit to possess.

A pair of black swans were spotted off of Long Beach on May 10, 2019.

By LAYLAN CONNELLY | lconnelly@scng.com | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: May 10, 2019 at 3:21 pm | UPDATED: May 13, 2019 at 2:51 pm

A pair of black swans was spotted in the Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, a rare sight for the species that is native to Australia and New Zealand.

Harbor Breeze boat captain Erik Combs said he was getting ready for the morning whale watch tour when he noticed two large dark-feathered birds next to the dock.

They had their heads in the water, and at first he thought they were Canadian geese. But when the exotic birds’ heads emerged, he noticed they had red bills.

“They came a little closer to the dock, they were coming right to us like they were hungry, they were making little honks,” he said. “They were very friendly, it looked like they were someone’s pet.”

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Martin had to search the internet to find out what kind of bird they were, and was surprised when the search showed they were the black swans that are native to Australia and New Zealand.

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Salton Sea pelican population declining at startling rate

Bird populations threatened.

By: 

Sam Benson Smith 

Posted: Apr 25, 2019 04:04 PM PDT

Updated: Apr 25, 2019 05:09 PM PDT

SALTON SEA, Calif.- - A new report paints a grim future for birds that rely on the Salton Sea habitat. Audubon California-released report uses bird-monitoring data from several different sources to show just how the destruction of the Salton Sea ecological habitat has decimated the populations of both pelicans and cormorants endemic to the area.

As the Salton Sea recedes, the body of water's salinity increases, which kills off its tilapia population. Without tilapia, the birds starve. 

According to surveys, there were approximately 20,000 American White Pelicans in 2008. According to Aerial surveys conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, that number now sits at 100. Audubon's own research backs up this decline. 

Read on

Bird swallowed by giant 'glory hole' reportedly lives to fly another day

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Rare black swans in California believed to be former pets

FEB. 21, 2019 / 1:27 PM

By  Ben Hooper

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in California are trying to determine the origins of a pair of rare black swans that showed up on Balboa Island.

The swans, native to Australia and New Zealand, were captured by Newport Beach Animal Control officials when they were spotted by a dog walker Feb. 11, and they are currently being cared for by the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center.

Officials said the swans are in good health and don't appear to be afraid of people, leading them to suspect the animals were pets that escaped or were abandoned.

"There are very few of these birds in the U.S," Lisa Peronne, the center's wildlife manager, told the Orange County Register.

"You have to possess a permit to keep them. There is no one registered in Newport Beach that has a permit. They're usually held by collectors of exotic animals. Your average person wouldn't have them in their backyard," she said.

She said a breeding pair of black swans can sell for up to $3,000. She said officials have not yet determined the sexes of the captured swans.

The center and animal control officials have been posting photos of the birds on social media in the hopes of identifying their owner.

"We don't know if they escaped or if somebody dumped them," Peronne said.

She said the center can only house the swans temporarily, so she is searching for another facility to take the unusual birds.

"I have to do research where they can be taken," Peronne said. "It could be a long process or we could get lucky."

Source

The birds were moving slowly and passing out. Now they're recovering from a prescription pill overdose

By Christina Maxouris, CNN

Updated 1823 GMT (0223 HKT) December 22, 2018

(CNN)They walked slowly, their necks lowered and eyes barely open. One passed out, its legs splayed in the air. 

The strange behavior caught the attention of neighbors in Huntington Beach, California, before the humans realized: These birds are intoxicated.

Residents don't seem to know how hundreds of pills got there.

It turns out, the goose and the gull had imbibed some of the hundreds of pills dumped this week at Carr Park, a city green space with a playground and a small fishing lake about three miles from the Pacific Coast.

The pills, which to the park's birds may have looked like grain, seemingly included heart medications, antidepressants, anti-anxiety and insomnia medications, experts with the nonprofit Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center posted at its Facebook page.

No one seemed to know who dumped the pills or when, CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS reported.

After showing symptoms of an overdose, the Canada goose and the Ring-billed Gull received IV fluids and by Thursday were doing better, wildlife center staff posted. The goose already was back on its feet, a photo showed.

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Financial incentives create critical waterbird habitat in extreme drought

Recent California drought caused severe impacts on Central Valley wildlife and habitat

Date:  July 12, 2018

Source:  Point Blue Conservation Science

Summary:

New research shows how financial incentive programs can create vital habitat for waterbirds, filling a critical need in drought years. Researchers used satellite images to evaluate two issues: 1) the impact of the 2013-2015 drought on waterbird habitat in the Central Valley; and, 2) the amount of habitat created by incentive programs.

Projections by climate scientists suggest that severe droughts may become more frequent over the next century, with significant impacts to wildlife habitat. Fortunately, new research from scientists at Point Blue Conservation Science and The Nature Conservancy shows how financial incentive programs can create vital habitat for waterbirds, filling a critical need in drought years.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Central Valley of California sustained an extreme drought, dramatically reducing wildlife habitat. The area is recognized as of hemispheric importance for waterbirds, which use flooded agricultural land and wetlands as habitat. Under two innovative financial assistance programs, farmers are provided with an incentive payment to flood their fields at key moments to create habitat for waterbirds. Until this research, the landscape effects of these incentive programs had not been rigorously studied.

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Hungry birds: Food a concern for brown pelicans

The birds migrate north from California and Mexico

By Katie Frankowicz

The Daily Astorian

Published on May 22, 2018 12:01AM

Last changed on May 22, 2018 8:39AM

The Wildlife Center of the North Coast has already cared for several starving young California brown pelicans this spring.

Brown pelicans, which migrate north in the spring from nesting colonies off Southern California and Mexico, spent several decades on the federal endangered species list because of exposure to pesticides like DDT and other contaminants. Their delisting in 2009 was a success story, but concerns remain about the birds’ continued survival.

Chief among these concerns is the availability of food.

Anchovy and sardine stocks — important sources of food for brown pelicans — have collapsed in portions of the birds’ range. At nesting colonies in the south, researchers are concerned that lack of food is affecting the pelicans’ productivity. Some researchers theorize shifting ocean conditions could drive both prey and predators northward. In the meantime, a northern stock of anchovies remains an important source of food in the birds’ nonbreeding range, which includes roosts in Clatsop County.

“That’s a major concern and threat for this species,” said Michelle McDowell, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Brown pelicans have long lives — with a maximum documented life span of 43 years.

“They don’t have to breed every year, but making sure they have those food resources, that’s the big story of making sure this species is going to do well into the future,” she said.

It isn’t uncommon for wildlife center workers to have starving pelicans on their hands while the birds are up here. Sometimes pelicans stay north for too long, into late fall and early winter, and get stuck when food runs out.

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Man is arrested for killing 135 hawks and other birds in 'the largest raptor poaching case in California history'

Richard Parker, 67, was arrested after an investigation revealed the carcasses of at least 135 raptors and other birds on his property 

Parker may have committed up to 140 violations state and federal violations

Investigators also found dead bobcats and a taxidermy mountain lion

Raptors are protected under state law due to their status as a valuable resource

By Maxine Shen For Dailymail.com

PUBLISHED: 20:35, 15 March 2018 | UPDATED: 20:35, 15 March 2018

A California man has been arrested for what wildlife officials have deemed to be 'likely the largest raptor poaching case in known California history'.

Richard Parker, 67, was booked into California's Lassen County jail on multiple charges March 11, after an investigation that began with an anonymous tip about a man spotted killing a hawk, California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement on its website Wednesday. 

Parker's charges include take of birds of prey, take of migratory nongame birds as designated by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, take of other nongame birds, and possession of wildlife unlawfully taken. Wildlife officials said that additional charges are pending.

Read more: 

Nazca Booby is in California, and birdwatchers go berserk

By LAYLAN CONNELLY | Southern California News Group

PUBLISHED: November 28, 2017 at 6:16 am | UPDATED: November 28, 2017 at 6:21 am

At Dana Point on Monday, Robin Lowe was on a mission — to get a glimpse of a rare bird said to be hanging out near local waters far from its home on the Galapagos Islands.

“I’m still smiling ear to ear,” she said after seeing the Nazca Booby casually hanging out with pelicans on a jetty. “To be able to see it today, it’s hard to grasp the words. I’m just so thrilled to be able to see this. It’s once in a lifetime. Here it was in our backyard, in the Dana Point harbor.”

Bird-watching enthusiasts flocked to the Orange County harbor clutching binoculars and long lenses hoping to see the Nazca Booby.

The bird was spotted in Newport Beach two weeks ago, then by a deckhand on the fishing boat Sum Fun on Sunday, and again Monday on the rock jetty where boaters enter and exit the harbor, said Donna Kalez, manager of Dana Wharf Whale Watching.

“I guess it’s super-duper rare,” said Kalez, noting that whale-watching was slow Monday, but bird enthusiasts got a treat. “People are really excited about this bird.”

The Nazca Booby breeds primarily on the Galapagos and Malpelo archipelagos but on occasion can be found offshore from mainland South America, with small breeding populations along the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts as well as in the Pacific Coast of Central America, according to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Lowe, a naturalist with the American Cetacean Society, said she showed a picture to the Dana Wharf Whale Watching deckhands, and one immediately spotted the bird just as they were leaving the harbor.

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California birds nesting a week earlier than they did a century ago

November 13, 2017

A new study suggests that many of the state's birds are adapting to rising temperatures by breeding earlier than they did a century ago.

A comparison of nesting data recorded in the early 1900s with similar data today for more than 200 species of California birds shows that overall they are breeding five to 12 days earlier than they did 75 to 100 years ago.

Earlier studies found that many but not all birds in California's mountains are moving north or to higher elevations to find cooler temperatures in the face of global warming.

"The shift to earlier breeding that we detected allows birds to nest at similar temperatures as they did a century ago, and helps explain why half the bird species in the mountainous areas of California did not need to shift upward in elevation in response to climate warming over the past century," said co-author Steven Beissinger, a UC Berkeley professor of environmental sciences, policy and management.

The study, led by former UC Berkeley graduate student Morgan Tingley, now an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, UConn postdoc Jacob Socolar, former UC Berkeley postdoc Peter Epanchin, now of the United States Agency for International Development, and Beissinger will be published online the week of Nov. 13 by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Early spring arrivals have long been noted by the public and reported by scientists, but the assumption has been that the birds are tracking resources, primarily food: with warming temperatures, plants produce leaves and seeds earlier, and insects emerge earlier.

Read more at: 

Satellites reveal bird habitat loss in California

Stopover wetlands in the Sacramento Valley have shrunk dramatically

Date: March 27, 2017

Source: Duke University

Drought and reduced seasonal flooding of wetlands and farm fields threaten a globally important stopover site for tens of thousands of migratory shorebirds in California's Sacramento Valley, a new Duke University-led study shows.

The researchers' analysis of historical biweekly NASA Landsat satellite images of the valley reveals that flooded habitat near the peak time of spring migration has shrunk by more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. over the last 30 years.

"On average, we're losing an area about four times the size of Central Park each year, during a critical window of time in late March," said Danica Schaffer-Smith, a doctoral student at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, who conducted the study with researchers from the nonprofit Point Blue Conservation Science.

More than half of all shorebird species in the Western hemisphere are now in decline, Schaffer-Smith noted.

The Sacramento Valley site is an internationally important resting and refueling stop for tens of thousands of these wetland-dependent birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. Some of these species migrate thousands of miles from Argentina to Alaska and back again each year.

"The fact that these highly mobile species are increasingly struggling to find flooded habitat on their migrations is an indicator that our freshwater wetland systems are in trouble," Schaffer-Smith said. "Freshwater is essential for all life. Many other species rely on these same habitats, too."

The Sacramento Valley once supported a huge network of wetlands connected to the San Francisco Bay Delta, but more than 90 percent of them have been drained for agriculture. Analysis of recent satellite images by Schaffer-Smith and her team shows that open water covers just three percent of the landscape during peak migration in April, when the birds urgently need flooded habitat to rest and feed.

Read more

DNA analysis of bluebird feces reveals benefits for vineyards

Date: November 23, 2016

Source: Central Ornithology Publication Office

Do bluebirds nesting in California's vineyards help grape growers by eating agricultural pests, or hurt them by eating insects that are beneficial? The researchers behind a new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances found that bluebirds' presence is likely a net positive -- and they did it by analyzing DNA in bird poop.

Bluebirds are one of several groups of birds that catch insects on the wing, but because they're constantly on the move and the animals they eat are tiny, it's difficult to determine exactly what species make up their diet. Julie Jedlicka of Missouri Western State University and her colleagues tackled this question using a new approach called "molecular scatology," analyzing DNA fragments in the birds' feces to determine insect species the bluebirds were eating. They found that Western Bluebirds in Napa Valley vineyards mostly ate mosquitos and herbivorous insects, likely having only negligible effects on the predaceous insects that benefit vineyard production by eating pests. Jedlicka hopes that these results encourage more vineyard owners to install bluebird boxes, helping replace natural tree cavities lost when land is cleared.

Jedlicka and her colleagues collected 237 fecal samples from adult and nestling bluebirds living on three vineyards in Napa County, California. "Many people I talk to get a very romantic vision in their minds when they think about how beautiful it must be to do fieldwork in California vineyards, especially in the Napa Valley," says Jedlicka. "Honestly, the landscape was beautiful, but the fieldwork is very demanding. Temperatures during the summer often rose into the 90s and 100s, and I was lucky to have wonderful help from vineyard farm workers and undergraduate field assistants."

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