Study finds 2 billion birds migrate over Gulf Coast

PUBLIC RELEASE: 9-JAN-2019

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Ithaca, NY-- A new study combining data from citizen scientists and weather radar stations is providing detailed insights into spring bird migration along the Gulf of Mexico and how these journeys may be affected by climate change. Findings on the timing, location, and intensity of these bird movements are published in the journal Global Change Biology.

"We looked at data from thousands of eBird observers and 11 weather radar stations along the Gulf Coast from 1995 to 2015," says lead author Kyle Horton, an Edward W. Rose Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "We calculated that an average of 2.1 billion birds crosses the entire length the Gulf Coast each spring as they head north to their breeding grounds. Until now, we could only guess at the overall numbers from surveys done along small portions of the shoreline."

eBird is the Cornell Lab's worldwide online database for bird observation reports. Sightings from bird watchers helped researchers translate their radar data into estimates of bird numbers. Weather radar detects birds in the atmosphere in a standardized way over time and over a large geographical area.

Continued

Naturalist to study recovery of endangered bird with international scientists

By Natalie Broda, nbroda@digitalfirstmedia.com,

POSTED: 01/29/18, 5:19 PM EST | UPDATED: 17 HRS AGO

Michael Mansour, naturalist in charge of the Hawk Woods Nature Center in Auburn Hills, is about to undergo his third scientific expedition with the Earthwatch Institute.

He’s spent 45-years building up the nature center as its only employee. From programming to trail development and conservation of the 100-acre land, Mansour has seen thousands come through the doors of the nature center off of Bald Mountain Road.

From March 11 to 18, Mansour will travel as a research assistant with Earthwatch scientists to study the endangered whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, on the Gulf Coast in Texas.

Continued  

Why are the roseate spoonbill and other Gulf Coast birds in Pennsylvania?

Updated on August 1, 2017 at 11:07 AMPosted on August 1, 2017 at 8:57 AM

By Marcus Schneck

Birds that normally spend their summers along the southern coast of the U.S. and points farther south in the Gulf of Mexico and South America are making almost unheard-of visits to Pennsylvania this year.

A roseate spoonbill has been drawing anxious birders to Conodoguinet Creek in Hampden Township, near Camp Hill in Dauphin County for the past week or so. Reports of a roseate spoonbill - likely the same bird - first emerged July 15 from the Conejohela Flats section of the Susquehanna River, near Washington Borough in Lancaster County.

If the two sightings about 30 miles apart were the same bird, together they would represent only the fourth time in nearly 150 years that a spoonbill has been documented in Pennsylvania. 

Lone spoonbills previously were confirmed in the state in 1869, 1924 and 1968, according to Dan Brauning, supervisor of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Wildlife Diversity Program, project director of the second Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas project in 2004-08 and co-author of "The Birds of Pennsylvania," the definitive book on birds in the state.

They are normally found along the Gulf Coast in Florida and Texas, islands in the Gulf of Mexico and South America.

Continued  

Birds turning up dead on Gulf Coast beaches

Posted: September 13, 2016 - 11:53pm  |  Updated: September 14, 2016 - 12:05am

By Associated Press

 

ST. PETE BEACH — Dozens of juvenile seabirds called black skimmers have been found dead along Gulf Coast beaches over the past six weeks, and experts say the deaths could be linked to pollution.

The Tampa Bay Times reports volunteers who have been monitoring the die-off suspect the dumping of more than 1 million gallons of municipal sewage into Boca Ciega Bay in Pinellas County has something to do with it. Forty-six birds have been found dead.

Heavy rains in August prompted a number of Pinellas County cities to dump sewage into area waterways.

Experts say the cause of death could be salmonella, a virus or even red tide. Each of those potential causes could be related to the dumping of sewage.

Gulfport dumped 302,400 gallons into Boca Ciega Bay on Aug. 8.

Hurricane Hermine exacerbated the problem when its rains lashed the Florida peninsula earlier this month. An additional 892,500 gallons spilled Sept. 2, according to Gulfport public works director Don Sopak. That’s when the storm made landfall in North Florida.

The sewage issue could worsen as the region grapples with the amount of waste that was spilled onto streets and waterways. St. Petersburg officials on Monday estimated that the city dumped about 70 million gallons of sewage into the waters of Tampa Bay. That brings the official total that local cities and counties dumped to 135.1 million gallons — a number that continues to rise.

Read on