Bird communities dwindle on New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau

The numbers of birds and bird species are declining in an area where research predicts major loss of pine forests

Date:August 16, 2018

Source:DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Researchers have found declines in the number and diversity of bird populations at nine sites surveyed in northern New Mexico, where eight species vanished over time while others had considerably dropped.

"These birds are not using these habitats anymore," said Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Jeanne Fair, lead author of the study published recently in the journal Biological Conservation.

The study, conducted on those sites covering several hundred acres on the Pajarito Plateau from 2003 to 2013, revealed a 73 percent decrease in abundance of birds, dropping from an average of 157 to 42 birds. The diversity of bird species also dropped by 45 percent, from a mean of 31 to 17 species. Some of the species impacted include the hairy woodpecker, western tanager and violet-green swallow.

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Verified sighting of rare bird marks first in New Mexico

Posted: Monday, October 31, 2016 10:53 am | Updated: 11:15 am, Mon Oct 31, 2016.

Associated Press |

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Experts say a small bird found near Lake Carlsbad is the first verified sighting of the black rail species in New Mexico.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports (http://bit.ly/2dV99tA ) the bird was found last week by a woman who noticed it was unable to fly.

It was taken to the Desert Willow Veterinary Clinic, where it was nursed back to health with a steady diet of meal worms and seeds. Veterinarian Sammie Uhrig says the bird wasn't injured but appeared weak and underweight.

How the black rail came to be in Carlsbad remains a mystery, as their natural habitats include coasts along the Gulf of Mexico.

New Mexico Ornithological Society member Steve West says he has heard of black rails being seen in the state, but this is the first verified sighting.

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Corrales is for the birds

By Journal Staff

UPDATED: Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 6:07 am

PUBLISHED: Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 12:05 am

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Corrales Bosque Preserve has been named an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Audubon Society.

The preserve is composed of 662 acres on a narrow strip of riparian habitat located on the west side of the Rio Grande within the Village of Corrales.

Important Bird Areas are sites that provide essential breeding, migrating or wintering habitat for birds, according to Audubon New Mexico.

They are generally discrete sites that support one or more high-priority species, large concentrations of birds, exceptional habitat, and/or have substantial research value. The designation elevates a site’s visibility within the Audubon network as a priority for protection and as a destination for bird enthusiasts.

“We’re very excited about the addition of the Corrales Bosque Preserve to New Mexico’s portfolio of IBAs,” said Carol Beidleman, director of bird conservation for Audubon New Mexico.

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Bees killed zoo birds; city expands beekeeping

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE) - A group of zoo birds died an unusual death in southeast New Mexico. They were killed by Africanized bees.

The bees are proving to be a growing threat in Alamogordo, but city officials say they might have a plan to stop them by bringing even more bees to town.

Zoo keepers at the Alameda Zoo in Alamogordo are all too familiar with the buzzing sound but now not for a reason they'd like to remember.

"The bees became very angry, and they ended up stinging several of our birds, two ravens and one turkey vulture," said Alameda Zoo Director Steve Diehl.

Diehl says a strong wind storm in May caused an Africanized bee hive from a tree to break loose and fall right on top of the birds' cage.

He says after months of investigating the incident he finally got word that the bee stings ultimately killed three of the zoo's birds.

"It's traumatic," Diehl said. "We are very close to all our animals."

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New Mexico bird-of-prey rescue center threatened by lack of funds

The golden eagle’s nickname is James Dean. That’s because he’s a bad boy and a daredevil.

And a fighter.

The 2-year-old bird was rescued this year by a New Mexico nonprofit that assists wounded birds of prey after the creature was electrocuted on a power pole in the southern end of the state.

His body was ravaged by the electrical force. But he survived.

“They never live after accidents like this, but this one did. He’s just incredible,” Lori Paras, founder of the Santa Fe Raptor Center, told the Los Angeles Times.

The center has a long list of dramatic rescues of such birds as turkey vultures, Mississippi kites, red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons and American kestrels — birds that flew into barbed-wire fences, were hit by cars or shot illegally by hunters. But after eight years, Paras says, the organization is in jeopardy of being shut down.

Paras and her team of wildlife experts, who operate on a shoestring budget of $60,000 a year,  are running out of funds and have just enough money to make it to the end of next month. To make matters worse, hers is one of just two facilities in the state licensed to handle golden eagles.

Part of the reason is that two other bird rescue outfits have recently closed down and now Paras is overrun with squawking, majestic birds. She has 21 in rehabilitation at her center, double its capacity. She also has 11 year-round residents she uses in a school education program over nine New Mexico counties.

Continued:  http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-new-mexico-bird-rescue-center-20121217,0,35384.story

Mystery bird spotted at NM national refuge

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Wildlife managers at one of the nation's premiere bird-watching spots have a mystery on their hands.

A strange-looking bird with dark plumage showed up at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month to join the tens of thousands of cranes and geese that spend the winter in the Rio Grande Valley.

The problem: No one knows exactly what kind of bird it is.

The debate has spread from the refuge's fields and wetlands onto Facebook, where guesses have ranged from some kind of mutant to a Thanksgiving turkey disguised as a crane for self-preservation. Birding experts from New York to California continued studying photographs of the bird Thursday, spurring even more theories.

The refuge posted a photograph of the bird on its Facebook page this week, sparking dozens of comments. Aside from the disguised turkey and oil-slicked bird theories, some suggested it could be a hybridization between a crane and an emu or a trumpeter, which are native to South America.

It could be a sandhill crane that has come down with a feather-staining fungal infection.

Or maybe he—or she—has a genetic disorder that results in too much melanin production.

"It's different. It's got to be a hybrid-cross more than likely, but what, we don't know," Refuge Manager Aaron Mize told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Members of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Team Sapsucker—known as some of the best birders anywhere, they hold the U.S. record for finding the most bird species in 24 hours—say it's a sandhill crane.

Continued:  http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22091159/mystery-bird-spotted-at-nm-national-refuge

Debate begins over rare bird's affect on New Mexico jobs

SANTA FE — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday proposed to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, igniting a debate about whether protecting a rare bird could cost New Mexico jobs.

This Western grouse, found in five states, has been a candidate for listing since 1998. The recommendation begins a yearlong process of whether the lesser prairie chicken should receive federal protection.

Fish and Wildlife said it made the recommendation based on evidence that the lesser prairie chicken's population and habitat are in decline.

"Listing cannot come soon enough for the lesser prairie chicken," said Taylor Jones of WildEarth Guardians. "Threats are increasing, the species' range is contracting and current conservation efforts are too little, too late."

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce took the opposite position, sending out a statement headlined, "Here we go again." Pearce, R-Hobbs, successfully led opposition to listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species.

"Unfortunately, our jobs and our way of life in southern New Mexico continue to come under assault," Pearce said. "The prairie chicken is yet another example that federal species regulation is not based on science, but rather driven by lawyers for extreme interest groups, like Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians, who filed the lawsuit in this case."

The Environmental Defense Fund, based in New York City, entered the debate suggesting the type of compromise that ended the dunes.

Continued:  http://www.daily-times.com/ci_22103356/debate-begins-over-rare-birds-affect-new-mexico

Birdwatchers atwitter after rare sighting of piratic flycatcher near Carlsbad Caverns

Photo: Wikipedia

CARLSBAD CAVERNS - Haven't you heard? Piratic flycatcher is the word among Southeastern New Mexico birdwatchers after the South American species was spotted around Rattlesnake Springs.

"It usually nests is southern South America during the summer (North America's winter) and flies north during the winter (North America's Summer), but when it should be heading south again, it is heading even further north here to New Mexico," said Steve West, a member of the New Mexico Ornithological Society. "It is 3,000 to 5,000 miles away from its normal range."

The species is usually only found no further north than Mexico or the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, but this one has found its way well above the equator and will soon find the temperatures here cooling instead of warming as the bird might expect.

"He's going to be a little confused when that happens," West said.

This marks only the third time the species of bird has been documented in New Mexico and the sixth in U.S. history. When one was spotted in 1996, it stayed in the area for slightly more than a week before it departed. 

http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_21566879/birdwatchers-atwitter-after-rare-sighting-piratic-flycatcher-near?source=rss

More on the Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius):

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=4436

http://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=202109