Earliest known seed-eating perching bird discovered in Fossil Lake, Wyoming

Date:  February 7, 2019

Source:  Field Museum

Most of the birds you've ever seen -- sparrows, finches, robins, crows -- have one crucial thing in common: they're all what scientists refer to as perching birds, or "passerines." The passerines make up about 6,500 of the 10,000 bird species alive today. But while they're everywhere now, they were once rare, and scientists are still learning about their origins. In a new paper in Current Biology, researchers have announced the discovery of one of the earliest known passerine birds, from 52 million years ago.

"This is one of the earliest known perching birds. It's fascinating because passerines today make up most of all bird species, but they were extremely rare back then. This particular piece is just exquisite," says Field Museum Neguanee Distinguished Service Curator Lance Grande, an author of the paper. "It is a complete skeleton with the feathers still attached, which is extremely rare in the fossil record of birds."

The paper describes two new fossil bird species -- one from Germany that lived 47 million years ago, and another that lived in what's now Wyoming 52 million years ago, a period known as the Early Eocene. The Wyoming bird, Eofringillirostrum boudreauxi, is the earliest example of a bird with a finch-like beak, similar to today's sparrows and finches. This legacy is reflected in its name; Eofringilllirostrum means "dawn finch beak." (Meanwhile, boudreauxi is a nod to Terry and Gail Boudreaux, longtime supporters of science at the Field Museum.)"

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Burlington Lake to become a wetland conservation area for aquatic birds

POSTED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 11:00 AM

BY SCOTT HANSEN

NEWS RECORD WRITER

Posted on Jan 28, 2015

Burlington Lake at McManamen Park in Gillette may soon become a wetland bird conservation area.

It will be for the placement and relocation of aquatic birds displaced or lost near a commercial oil field wastewater disposal facility in Converse County.

Source ...

PacifiCorp pleads guilty, will pay $2.5M for eagle and other bird deaths at Wyoming wind farms

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A utility will pay $2.5 million in fines, restitution and community service after pleading guilty to killing golden eagles and other birds at two Wyoming wind farms.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act violations stem from the deaths of 38 golden eagles and 336 other protected birds at PacifiCorp's Seven Mile Hill and Glenrock/Rolling Hills wind farms in east-central Wyoming.

The company entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Wyoming.

The Justice Department and Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp announced the agreement Dec. 19. Under the deal, the company agreed to pay fines as well as restitution and community service with a total value of $2.5 million.

- See more at:

Fine of $1 million for wind farm bird kills

Rich Keller, Editor, Ag Professional | December 2, 2013

A wind farm energy company has agreed to pay $1 million in fines, restitution and community service because it erected wind generators in Wyoming and didn’t do enough to not kill migratory birds, including 14 golden eagles, according to a report by the E&E news service written by Phil Taylor.

The fine is only part of a plea agreement submitted to the U.S. District Court of Wyoming between Duke Energy Corporation based in North Carolina and the federal Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division. Duke Energy must implement an environmental compliance plan to prevent future bird deaths. The company is also on five years of probation. The company says it will be spending $600,000 per year implementing its compliance plan. Company representatives will also be meeting with representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to “develop adaptive mitigation measures.” 

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New migration maps provide insight to important bird areas

A recent study and the end product tell the story of bird migration through Wyoming, and this information can be used to determine best land practices for the state, including Natrona County.

“Until now, we didn’t have maps showing important places for migrating birds,” said Amy Pocewicz, conservation scientist for the Nature Conservancy and one of the study’s authors. “We wanted to find a way to identify critical areas to inform developers, while also identifying areas for conservation. This is a great example of how science can translate into on-the-ground conservation.”

Those critical areas are places that are important to bird migration, especially where there are large concentrations of birds, she said. Pocewicz and her colleagues, WendyAnne Estes-Zumpf and Mark D. Andersen from the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD), developed models that predict where four groups of birds concentrate or stopover during their migration through the state. The models were based on existing scientific literature and knowledge from more than 30 regional bird experts regarding bird migration, behavior and ecology. The four avian groups looked at were raptors, wetland, riparian and sparse grassland species.

The Casper area is a stopover for many types of these birds, particularly those using riparian, wetland and grassland habitats, Pocewicz said. The North Platte River, for example, is an important area for migrating riparian and wetland birds. Other waterways, such as Alcova and Pathfinder reservoirs, Soda Lake, Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park and wetlands around Casper Creek are also critical for such species, which include songbirds like the song sparrow, Bullock’s oriole and orchard oriole, she said. Wetland bird species include sandhill cranes, common loons, great blue herons, white-faced ibis and northern pintails, she added.

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Bird fossil sheds light on how swift and hummingbird flight came to be

posted by news on may 1, 2013 - 5:30am

Durham, NC — A tiny bird fossil discovered in Wyoming offers clues to the precursors of swift and hummingbird wings. The fossil is unusual in having exceptionally well-preserved feathers, which allowed the researchers to reconstruct the size and shape of the bird's wings in ways not possible with bones alone.

Researchers spotted the specimen — the nearly complete skeleton of a bird that would have fit in the palm of your hand and weighed less than an ounce — while working at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

The newly discovered bird was named Eocypselus rowei, in honor of John W. Rowe, Chairman of the Field Museum's Board of Trustees.

First collected in southwestern Wyoming in a fossil site known as the Green River Formation, E. rowei lived roughly 50 million years ago, after the dinosaurs disappeared but before the earliest humans came to be.

E. rowei was a tiny bird – only twelve centimeters from head to tail. Feathers account for more than half of the bird's total wing length.

To find out where the fossil fit in the bird family tree, the researchers compared the specimen to extinct and modern day species. Their analyses suggest that the bird was an evolutionary precursor to the group that includes today's swifts and hummingbirds.

Given the differences in wing shape between these two closely related groups of birds, scientists have puzzled over how swift and hummingbird flight came to be. Finding fossil relatives like this specimen is key to figuring that out, the researchers say.

Continued: http://www.sciencecodex.com/bird_fossil_sheds_light_on_how_swift_and_hummingbird_flight_came_to_be-111401

Jackson Airport mulls how to reduce bird strikes

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2012

Jackson Hole Airport officials are considering creating a new sage grouse breeding ground to draw the large birds away from the runway.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports ( http://tinyurl.com/aee2ev8) the airport has recorded 60 bird strikes since 1994, and about half have involved sage grouse, whose dwindling populations have made them a candidate for federal protections. Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist Joe Bohne says a sage grouse breeding ground, or lek, off the runway's north end is the source of most of the problems.

The airport is trying to craft a new federally required "wildlife hazard management plan" to reduce bird strikes.

Members of the Upper Snake River Basin Sage-Grouse Working Group discussed the airport's strategy Thursday. The plan is not yet concrete.

Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2012/12/07/ap-state-wy/wy_jackson_airport_birds.txt

City Council passes bird feeding ban

CHEYENNE -- Signs have long been in place in city parks telling people not to feed birds.

Now, it's no longer a suggestion; it's a law.

On Monday night, the Cheyenne City Council gave final approval to an ordinance that prohibits feeding geese and ducks on any city-owned or city-operated property within city limits.

In an 8-2 vote, the City Council approved the feeding ban. There was no discussion from the public or from council members.

After the meeting, Councilman Jimmy Valdez, who along with Councilman Don Pierson voted against the ordinance, said he thought there was a better way to control the bird population.

“A life is a life … no matter what it is,” he said, and he believes the ban will result in birds dying.

He said he’s not a vegetarian, but he sees a distinction between eating animals and the deaths he expects will result from the council’s action.

During previous presentations to the City Council, Todd Feezer, assistant director of parks and recreation, said any efforts to control the population need to start with a feeding ban.

Valdez also said the punishment for violating the ordinance doesn’t make sense.

Those who violate the law can be issued a written warning or cited. Those cited will face a fine of $10-$25.

Read more:  http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/10/23/news/01top_10-23-12.txt

Wyo. project looks at energy-eagles relationship

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — It's well understood that pronghorn, mule deer and sage grouse have an aversion to natural gas infrastructure.

For birds of prey such as bald eagles, the effect of gas pads, drill rigs and compressor stations is less clear. Research on it doesn't exist.

In coming years, Jackson Hole biologists Bryan Bedrosian and Susan Patla will begin to fill in the blanks.

Bedrosian, with Craighead Beringia South, and Patla, with the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, have outfitted six bald eagles with solar-powered GPS transmitters that will record the location of each bird every hour for the next three or four years. The research was funded by a $60,000 grant from the Pinedale Anticline Project Office.

"We'll be gathering super-detailed information on where they're nesting, going to forage and where they're wintering," Bedrosian said.

"The basic premise is to look at if there are any potential impacts on the movement of breeding eagles. It'll be interesting to see if they're selecting areas with noise buffers or light buffers."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Wyo-project-looks-at-energy-eagles-relationship-3968995.php#ixzz2A2W61cfn

Giant Wyoming Wind Project Could Have Bird Issues

Let’s add one more thing to the list of potential stumbling blocks for Chokecherry and Sierra Madre, that ginormous Wyoming wind farm project. It’s a little guy, weighing in around 2 to 7 pounds – but it could pack a wallop. 

The Obama administration last week approved a Carbon County, Wyo., site as appropriate for development of the wind farm, which could consists of 1,000 turbines. Environmental groups, however, say the area is prime habitat for the greater sage grouse, a ground bird that the federal government calls “an icon of western sagebrush ecosystems” and that is under consideration for Endangered Species Act listing.

Project developer Power Company of Wyoming (PCW), a subsidiary of Anschutz Corporation, said in an email to EarthTechling that none of the development would take place in state-designated sage grouse core areas, and that the project “includes full compliance with the terms of the Governor’s Executive Order regarding development in non-core areas.”

In its approval announcement, the Department of the Interior said “the project will avoid Sage-Grouse Core Areas through a conservation plan that accommodates ongoing ranching and agricultural operations…. Permits to build the project will be provided on a phased basis, and will be contingent on implementation of wildlife protection measures.”

Nevertheless, in a press release, the Wyoming-based group Biodiversity Conversation Alliance denounced the site approval.

“Choosing this site for green energy was a terrible mistake,” said Barbara Parsons, who served on the South Central Sage-grouse working group, formed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in 2004 to develop conservation plans for the bird in the region where Chokecherry and Sierra Madre is planned. “When one thousand concrete pads and the connecting roads are built, this prime wildlife habitat will be permanently erased from the landscape.”

Parsons maintains that in 2008, “bullying and cajoling and twisting arms” by Anschutz “got the Core Area changed to exclude the lands where they wanted to build wind turbines.”

Continued:  http://www.earthtechling.com/2012/10/giant-wyoming-wind-project-could-have-bird-issues/