Fresh look at mysterious Nasca lines in Peru

Using a taxonomic approach, scientists have re-identified the huge birds drawn on the desert plains of Peru as hermits or pelicans

Date:  June 19, 2019

Source:  Hokkaido University

A scientific approach has been used to re-identify huge birds etched into the desert plains of southern Peru around 2,000 years ago. The birds appear to be exotic to the region and further studies could help explain their significance. The study is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The lines and geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa are located some 400 kilometers south of Lima, Peru and form a World Heritage Site covering an area of about 450 square kilometers. They were carved into the ground between 400 B.C.E and 1000 C.E. by pre-Inca people, and include lines, geometric designs, and animal and plant drawings. Most of these etchings are so large that they are best seen in aerial photographs. Identifying what they represent is an essential first step towards unraveling the mystery of why they were drawn in the first place.

Masaki Eda of The Hokkaido University Museum, Takeshi Yamasaki of Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and Masato Sakai of Yamagata University in Japan applied an ornithological approach to identify the 16 bird geoglyphs among more than 2,000 drawings present in the area. "Until now, the birds in these drawings have been identified based on general impressions or a few morphological traits present in each figure. We closely noted the shapes and relative sizes of the birds' beaks, heads, necks, bodies, wings, tails and feet and compared them with those of modern birds in Peru,"says Eda.

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Climate change is 'escalator to extinction' for mountain birds

By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent

29 October 2018

Scientists have produced new evidence that climate change is driving tropical bird species who live near a mountain top to extinction.

Researchers have long predicted many creatures will seek to escape a warmer world by moving towards higher ground.

However, those living at the highest levels cannot go any higher, and have been forecast to decline.

This study found that eight bird species that once lived near a Peruvian mountain peak have now disappeared.

Researchers are particularly concerned about tropical mountain ranges and the impacts of climate change.

"The tropical mountain areas are the hottest of biodiversity hotspots; they harbour more species than any other place on Earth," lead author Dr Benjamin Freeman from the University of British Columbia told BBC News.

"It's only got a little bit warmer in the tropics and tropical plants and animals seem to be living quite a bit higher now than they used to."

The species that live in these regions are also hugely vulnerable because the difference in temperatures between lower and higher elevations in tropical regions is not as great as it is in other parts of the world. This means that moving up the slopes may not be as much of a solution for species in the tropics as it is elsewhere.

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The secret treasure found off Peru’s coast: bird dung

Guano remains a highly prized fertilizer, and Peru is at the top of the field thanks to the gigantic quantity of oily anchovies that guano birds feast on – which makes their dung valuable – and the unusual nature of Peru’s desert coast. It never rains, so the guano just piles up.

By THE WASHINGTON POST |

June 23, 2018 at 8:45 am

By Lucien Chauvin | Washington Post

LIMA, Peru — Bird droppings are a nuisance for most people, but in Peru they have been a closely guarded treasure since pre-Columbian times.

Guano, a gentler word for dung, is one of the few words in English derived from Quechua, the language of the Incas. The Incas used guano harvested from islands that dot Peru’s 1,500-mile coastline as fertilizer. They fiercely guarded the source. And execution was the ultimate punishment for anyone who disturbed the sea birds or the islands where they deposited dung.

Execution is off the table today, but not much else has changed. The Peruvian government maintains strict control over the islands, which are part of a coastal protected reserve. Guano remains a highly prized fertilizer, and Peru is at the top of the field thanks to the gigantic quantity of oily anchovies that guano birds feast on — which makes their dung valuable — and the unusual nature of Peru’s desert coast. It never rains, so the guano just piles up.

Guano is harvested much the same way it was hundreds of years ago, with a squadron of workers manually scraping, sifting and bagging it. The government, through a division of the Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry, selects about 400 men each year to work eight months as harvesters. More than 60 percent of the workers return from one harvest to the next, and many are relatives. The work is limited to one or two islands, sometimes three, in each campaign.

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New antbird species discovered in Peru

Date:  December 14, 2017

Source:  Louisiana State University

Summary:

LSU describes a distinctive new species of antbird from humid montane forest of the Cordillera Azul, Martin Region, Peru.

It was July 10, 2016 when Dan Lane, Fernando Angulo, Jesse Fagan, and I rolled into the coffee-growing town of Flor de Café in north-central Peru. This town lies in the Cordillera Azul -- a picturesque series of outlying Andean ridges hardly explored by ornithologists. In fact, the first ornithological inventory in the region was only in 1996, when a team of researchers from the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science (LSUMNS), bushwhacked into the extremely remote eastern Cordillera Azul. It was on this expedition that Dan, then a beginning graduate student at LSU, discovered the distinctive Scarlet-banded Barbet (Capito wallacei) on "Peak 1538." Now, twenty years later, we were back to see this iconic species, which graces the cover of the Birds of Peru field guide.

Flor de Café, in the somewhat more accessible western Cordillera Azul, has become the hub for barbet-chasers since LSUMNS associates Todd Mark and Walter Vargas confirmed its presence here in 2011. Thus, we were not surprised to run into another bird watcher, Josh Beck, as we moved our gear into the single guest house in town. Within moments of meeting, Josh began telling us of a strange, ground-walking antbird he had encountered the previous day and documented with a sound recording. We quickly realized that his bird was a species new to science.

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New Bird Species Named for E.O. Wilson, “Father of Biodiversity” and Rainforest Trust Board Member

Rainforest Trust

Dec 12, 2017

NEWSPEOPLESPECIES

The world-renowned biologist Dr. E.O. Wilson received the honor of having a new species of antbird named after him in recognition of his lifetime contribution to scientific discovery and conservation. Dr. Wilson is a myrmecologist, an entomologist who studies ants, and is known as the “father of biodiversity” for being the first scientist to publish the term in 1988. The new antbird species named after him, Myrmoderus eowilsoni, will be described in the scientific journal The Auk this week.

“The idea of [having] a bird named after you is right up there with maybe the Nobel [Prize], because it’s such a rarity to have a true new species discovered, and I do take it as a great personal honor,” said Dr. Wilson.

THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ANTBIRD, MYRMODERUS EOWILSONI. PHOTO BY ANDREW SPENCER.

Myrmoderus eowilsoni was discovered in northern Peru by Josh Beck during a 2016 birding expedition. As the main author of the description co-written by a team of scientists, Beck decided to name the new antbird species in honor of Dr. Wilson after discussing the possibility with Rainforest Trust President and distinguished ornithologist Dr. Robert Ridgely.

“As Dr. Wilson and I were discussing the possibility of his joining Rainforest Trust’s Board of Directors, it occurred to me that he didn’t have anything other than several ant species named after him,” said Dr. Ridgely. “This for a pre-eminent scientist so highly regarded for his insights on biodiversity! Josh and I agreed this was the perfect, and long overdue, opportunity to name a vertebrate species after him. Even better, it was an antbird!”

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Bird diversity is breathtaking in Peru

Good Birding

Tony Greenfield / Contributing Writer

NOVEMBER 16, 2017 11:28 AM

The fall monsoon is underway on the Sunshine Coast with torrents of rain, falling leaves and declining temperatures. I have just returned to the above from a trip to the southern hemisphere where the seasons are reversed.

I was in Peru, both in the Amazon and the Andes, where seasons are more defined as wet and dry periods rather than by temperature. November in Peru is a good month to visit as it precedes the rainy season which begins in December.

From a climate perspective, it is questionable whether there is any good time to visit the Peruvian Amazon as it is hot and humid beyond belief. It is the first time I have ever stood or sat perfectly still and yet sweated profusely. After visiting the Amazon, a day later we were in the Andes at 4,400m (about 14,000 feet) in cloud and drizzle and wind, and I was really cold. The switch from heat to cold was difficult to comprehend. 

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New Peruvian bird species discovered by its song

Date:  October 23, 2017

Source:  Florida Museum of Natural History

Summary:

Though found in 1996, this manakin wasn't discovered to be a new species until researchers listened to its song years later.

Credit: Andy Kratter/Florida Museum of Natural History

A new species of bird from the heart of Peru remained undetected for years until researchers identified it by its unique song.

In 1996, a group of Louisiana State University and Florida Museum of Natural History researchers traveled to the Cordillera Azul, an isolated mountain ridge in Peru, where they discovered a previously unknown manakin species.

With its bright yellow front feathers, the bird was different from the local subspecies of striped manakin, but nearly identical to the subspecies Machaeropterus regulus aureopectus found in the distant Venezuelan tepuis. But it has a completely different voice.

The newly discovered manakin's song lacks undertones and has a one-noted rising vocalization, rather than two-noted falling vocalization with undertones or a falling monosyllabic vocalization with undertones.

It was given the name Machaeropterus eckelberryi, commemorating the 20th century bird illustrator Don Eckelberry.

Andy Kratter, a museum ornithology collection manager, said the differences went unnoticed for years because the research team didn't have vocalizations for all of the bird species.

Continued  

Hundreds of songbirds once trapped in ancient Peruvian tar pits

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

by Shayne Jacopian

Analyzing fossils of birds found in the Talara tar seeps of northwestern Peru, researchers have found that the desert region most likely was once a grassy landscape bustling with life.

The bird fossils, dating back to the late Pleistocene epoch of around 15,000 years ago, were recovered from tar seeps—places in the land where natural tar bubbles up from beneath the Earth’s surface—in the Talara desert. The birds would have mistakenly landed on the inky ooze, which was camouflaged by water or dust, and sunk to their death.

The researchers recovered 625 bird fossils from 21 different species, a few of which are now extinct.

“It suggests that not all that long ago, the neotropics [the tropical zone of the Americas and temperate zone of South America] had more songbird species than even today," study author Jessica Oswald, a postdoctoral researcher at Louisiana State University, told Live Science, adding that that’s pretty impressive, given that the neotropics have more songbird species than anywhere else even today.

These findings point to a landscape far different than today’s.

Read more at

Hidden in plain sight: Amazonian bird chick mimics toxic caterpillar to avoid being eaten

Date:

February 23, 2015

Source:

University of Chicago Press Journals

In a study published in the January 2015 issue of The American Naturalist, Gustavo A. Londoño, Duván Garcia, and Manuel Sánchez Martínez report a novel nesting strategy observed in a tropical lowland bird that inhabits an area with very high losses to nest predators.

How can tropical birds cope with the high rates of nest predation that are typical in most tropical habitats? Are there nesting strategies that allow tropical birds to escape predators such as birds, mammals, and snakes that regularly eat eggs and nestlings?

During the fall of 2012, while working on a long-term avian ecological study, the researchers discovered the second nest ever described for the cinereous mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra) at Pantiacolla Lodge in the upper Madre de Dios River in southeastern Peru. They observed that upon hatching, the chicks had downy feathers with long orange barbs with white tips, which was very different from any other nestling they had observed in the area. The peculiar downy feathers attracted their attention, but the nestling behavior provided a more important cue. While researchers were collecting morphological measurements, the nestling started moving its head very slowly from side to side in a way typical of many hairy caterpillars. While working in the area, the investigators found a poisonous caterpillar with similar size and hair coloration as the nestling. Therefore, the researchers suggest that this is an example of Batesian mimicry in which the nestling tricks predators into thinking that it is a toxic, spiny caterpillar rather than a highly edible nestling.

Continued ...

In Peru's Blood Festival, It's The Condor Versus The Bull

By EDITOR

Originally published on Wed August 13, 2014 2:52 pm

View Slideshow

In Peru's annual Blood Festival, a condor is tied to the back of a bull and tries to gouge its eyes, while the bull attempts to shake off the giant bird. The event is popular in many parts of the country, but conservationists say this threatens a bird already at risk.

The Peruvian Blood Festival is a striking spectacle, with a giant condor strapped to the back of an enraged bull in front of a roaring crowd. For many Peruvians, it is a symbolic re-enactment of their liberation from Spanish rule. For conservationists, it is yet another threat to one of the world's largest birds.

To prepare for this annual event, known as the Yawar Fiesta, residents in the small village of Coyllurqui climb into the surrounding cliffs to trap a condor. It may then be held for weeks. But when it's time for the battle, the condor is given alcohol to drink and lashed to the back of a half-ton bull in an arena. The beast then tries to shake off the condor, while the huge bird attempts to gouge out the bull's eyes.

These Andean people believe the condor is a symbol of the Inca nation, and the bull represents the might of the Spanish conquistadors. Though they predominately identify themselves as Christians, villagers see the condor as an Andean god that has come down from the heavens to fight for their freedom.

There's a lot at stake during the battle. If any harm should come to the condor, the villagers believe it's a bad omen for the year — and the dwindling condor population suffers another setback.

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Feather forensics: scientist uses genes to track macaws, aid bird conservation

Elizabeth Devitt

June 17, 2014

Highway development may isolate bird populations in Brazil, Peru 

When a massive road project connected the ports of Brazil to the shipping docks of Peru in 2011, spanning the South American continent, conservationists predicted widespread impacts on wildlife living along the route that stretches almost 5,500 kilometers (about 3,400 miles). Roads are a well-documented source of habitat fragmentation, interfering with access to available habitat for many terrestrial and tree-dwelling species. However, it wasn’t clear whether or not birds are able to fly over these barriers. George Olah, a biologist from the Australian National University, set out to see if they can. 

Olah was already studying the genetics of scarlet macaws (Ara macao) in a remote area of southeastern Peru when the Transoceanic Highway was built through the middle of his research area. He realized that the forensic genetics techniques he was using to learn more about the local macaw population might also uncover evidence of the road’s impact on the birds. 

Read more at 

Tracking device reveals 16,000 mile bird migration from Fetlar to Peru

A tracking device weighing less than a paperclip has helped scientists uncover one of the world’s great bird migrations.

It revealed that a Scottish bird migrated thousands of miles west across the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a journey never recorded for any other European breeding bird.

In 2012, the RSPB, working in collaboration with the Swiss Ornithological Institute and Dave Okill of the Shetland Ringing Group, fitted individual geolocators to ten red-necked phalaropes nesting on the island of Fetlar in Shetland, in the hope of learning where they spend the winter.

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Critical bird habitat in Peru expanded to protect 23 threatened species

Land acquisitions to help protect one of world's rarest birds 

August 2013. Two new key properties have been acquired in northern Peru that will expand Abra Patricia Reserve to over 25,000 acres and help protect habitat for one of the world's rarest birds, the Long-whiskered Owlet, along with 23 other globally threatened species.

Critical habitat

The acquisitions were funded by American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and completed by Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), ABC's partner in Peru. When combined with three other properties purchased by the two groups in January and February 2013, the newly acquired lands total 1,261 acres. The Abra Patricia area is recognized by the Alliance for Zero Extinction as a critical site for both the endangered Long-whiskered Owlet as well as the endangered Ochre-fronted Antpitta.

The Long-whiskered Owlet - discovered in 1976,

The Long-whiskered Owlet, which was only discovered in 1976, is one of the tiniest owls in the world, measuring only five inches tall. The bird's long, wispy facial feathers extend out past its head, creating the appearance of long whiskers.

The reserve at Abra Patricia consists of land privately owned by ECOAN as well as a 40-year conservation concession on forestry lands. When added to the recent acquisitions, the reserve now totals more than 25,000 acres managed by ECOAN for conservation.

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Complementary actions protect rare birds, water resources in Peru

Lima, May 03 (ANDINA). Four communities in Peru have agreed on complementary land actions that will protect 930 acres of vital cloud forest and double the size of an increasingly popular bird reserve. 

In one action, the communities of Miraflores, Chido, and San Lorenzo in northern Peru have formally agreed to protect 930 acres of vital cloud forest and headwaters of the Rio Chido, which provide water to these communities and the larger community of San Lucas de Pomacochas downstream. 

In return for helping to protect its water supply, the community of Pomacochas has agreed to extend the 96-acre Marvelous Spatuletail Ecological Easement (also known as the Huembo Reserve) by an additional 89 acres, nearly doubling the popular reserve’s size. 

These conservation actions were facilitated by Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), the local Peruvian conservation organization that has worked closely with American Bird Conservancy (ABC) to achieve significant advances in bird conservation in the country. 

“This is a truly innovative project that benefits multiple communities by securing their rights to land and water resources,” Tino Aucca, President of ECOAN, was quoted as saying on surfbirds.com (Click here to read full article). 

http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/noticia-complementary-actions-protect-rare-birds-water-resources-in-peru-457321.aspx

Two Fossil Bird Finds Raise Questions

Two fossil bird finds are in the news in March, after important finds were announced in Peru and in China. Klaus Honninger, the head of a team of paleontologists in Peru, revealed Friday that a giant 35 million year old pelicanlike bird had been discovered in that country’s Ica desert.

The bird, found on March 6, was singled out as special because it was well-preserved enough to clearly show traces of the ancient skin. The Oligocene-era pelican would have stood over 6-1/2 feet tall, and it was found in a coastal area rich in whale, shark, and penguin fossils.

Honninger is a well-regarded fossil hunter who has made big discoveries in Peru before, including the first Peruvian skeleton of a Megalodon shark species in 2006 and 16-million year-old skull of a Kentriodon whale species.

The other fossil bird find, from China, is a tad more problematical. Dan Evon first reported on the discovery for The Inquistr on Thursday, after Chinese paleontologist Xing Xu went public with his claim that he’d found the fossils of four-winged birds.

To some eyes, including this perhaps somewhat cynical writer, what he actually found was fossils of birds with the normal complement of wings, along with heavily feathered legs.

And it doesn’t help that Chinese bird fossils in general, and Xing Xu in particular, have something of a history of oversell. In 1999, National Geographic was the victim of an outrageous fossil bird hoax, the so-called Archaeoraptor which was purported to be the missing link between modern birds and meat-eating dinosaurs.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/575387/two-fossil-bird-finds-raise-questions/#a6LvrGsXwF8BoFiu.99

Vampire bats attack penguin chicks

By Ella Davies, Reporter, BBC Nature

Documentary makers have filmed vampire bats preying on Humboldt penguin chicks.

The team travelled to the outskirts of the Atacama Desert in Peru to record how the penguins interacted with other species.

Despite anecdotal evidence of the bats attacking penguins, the behaviour had never been recorded before.

The extraordinary footage features in the BBC One series Penguins: Spy in the huddle.

Humboldt penguins breed in coastal South America where they hunt fish in the cold waters of the current also named after the German naturalist Friedrich Humboldt.

The production team were first drawn to the location by the abundant wildlife, particularly the penguins' survival struggles against a neighbouring colony of 20,000 predatory sea lions.

Although they witnessed vampire bats feeding on the sea lions, it took patience and specialist kit to witness them attacking penguin chicks.

Producer Matthew Gordon admitted that when they first began filming, they were sceptical that the bats fed on penguins.

video

Continued and video:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21534299

Save the Colca condors – Visit one of the most spectacular wildlife sights in the world

Andean condor over the Colca Canyon.

The condors of the Colca Canyon- Written by Powell Ettinger, editor of Wildlife Extra
January 2013. In 1987 I was only vaguely interested in wildlife. A couple of friends of mine had persuaded me to leave the rat race behind for a few months and head off to South America. Peru was a real eye opener for me. I had hear all about the great Inca cities, and the mysterious Nazca lines, but what really stuck in the memory was the people, the extraordinary scenic diversity (Mountains, deserts, jungle and coast all within a few hours of each other) and the wildlife.

My first real wildlife experience was one that has formed much of my career since. We travelled for a day or so into the foothills of the Andes to the Colca Canyon, reputedly the deepest in the world at around 1 mile from top to bottom. We travelled to see the canyon itself, and also the remarkable scene at dawn on the edge of the canyon. We camped near the rim, and met some extraordinary hospitality from some local farmers and their families, who shared their packed lunch with us; Maize bread, roast maize, maize soup & maize beer.

We were the happy recipients of some wonderful hospitality from the local farmers. How much more would they look after the condors if their economy received a boost from condor tourism?

At dawn we raised ourselves and sat on the edge of the canyon, and as the sun warmed the air, we could just about make out swirling shapes moving a thousand feet below us. As we sipped our coffee, one of my companions suddenly swore loudly and fell backwards off the rock he was sitting on, spilling the coffee onto one shoulder. A dark shape, had appeared silently, and a great speed, out of the depths of the canyon. Naturally we missed this photo opportunity, but it lingers in the memory as clear as any high res image now. 

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/colca-canyon-condors.html

Imperiled Birds To Benefit From Land Purchase In Key Peruvian National Reserve

Friday, November 30, 2012 - by American Bird Convervancy

The critically endangered Iquitos Gnatcatcher, and the vulnerable Allpahuayo Antbird and Mishana Tyrannulet are three of the bird species that will benefit from the purchase of more than 1,100 acres of private inholdings within Peru’s Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve by ProNaturaleza (a leading Peruvian conservation organization) in collaboration with American Bird Conservancy (ABC).

SERNANP - the Peruvian agency in charge of protected areas - has now published three resolutions accepting the donation of 55 pieces of land totalling more than 2,370 acres (including 1,270 acres previously purchased by ProNaturaleza and ABC) as part of the Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve. The reserve, which is located only 15 miles from the city of Iquitos in northern Peru, contains rare white-sand forests called varillales and is home to 20 species of neotropical migrant birds as well as a variety of rare and unique plants and animals.

Continued:  http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/11/30/239595/Imperiled-Birds-To-Benefit-From-Land.aspx

Discovery of Critically Endangered South American Bird in New Area Offers Increased Hope for Avoiding Extinction

A new discovery by the Peruvian environmental group Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), of a population of the critically endangered Royal Cinclodes is providing some increased hope that this bird may be able to be saved from extinction.

In August 2012, ECOAN biologists spotted a Royal Cinclodes and possibly a second bird inside the Huaytapallana Regional Conservation Area in Peru’s Junín department (comparable to a U.S. state). This sighting was 29 miles north of the nearest and previously northernmost population discovered in Junín in 2008.

“There may well be fewer than 250 of these birds left in existence,”said Constantino Aucca Chutas, President of ECOAN. “These new sightings are therefore quite significant because they raise the odds that this rare species might be saved.”

The Royal Cinclodes is listed by the IUCN-World Conservation Union as Critically Endangered; it was recently listed as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The largest concentrations are found in Peru’s Cusco and Apurimac departments in the south of the country, with other populations in Bolivia’s department of La Paz, close to the Peru border, and elsewhere in Peru’s Puno and Ayacucho departments. (To see a map of the area, go to: maps.google.com and then search on “Area de Conservacion Regional Huaytapallana, Junin, Perú”)

Continued:  http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/blog/2012/10/16/discovery-of-critically-endangered-south-american-bird-in-new-area-offers-increased-hope-for-avoiding-extinction/