Two rare migratory birds make their first ever visit to Singanallur tank

TNN | Aug 29, 2016, 11.52 AM IST

COIMBATORE: Bird enthusiasts in the city have reason to cheer as two rare birds have been spotted at the Singanallur tank since the start of the migratory season. This is the first time that the Terek Sandpiper from Serbia and Gull Billed Tern from North America were spotted in Coimbatore.

D Gajamohanraj, a city based bird enthusiast, who has been watching migratory birds for over four years, said he was extremely excited when he spotted these birds.

"I have studied about these birds and their habitats. So when my friend Sharang Satish and I spotted them at the lake, we were excited. We checked all the records to ensure if they were recorded for the first time and as far as the records go, this is the first time they have been spotted," he said. Bird enthusiasts said that the presence of these two birds is proof that the habitat of the Singanallur lake has improved.

"Only when feed is available, these birds come to the city. This definitely indicates the increased bio-diversity of the lake," said Gajamohanraj. 

It is not just these two birds, but several other migratory birds have been flooding the lakes. Vinny R Peter of Animal Rescuers said, after two years they had recorded such high numbers of birds. "We have spotted 585 Spot Billed Pelicans, 214 Painted Storks, 2 White Necked Stork, 27 Spoon Bills, 3 Black Tiled Godwit, 21 Black Headed Ibis, 4 Black Ibis and 7 Glossy Ibis"

"Generally, these birds arrive in small numbers. But this year, they have stayed back at the lake. This definitely proves that the disturbance from human habitats and external factors have reduced at the lake," said Vinny.

P Pramod, principal scientist, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History said, "Over the last few years, we have sighted many new birds. Primary reason is there is a steep increase in the number of bird watchers and bird photographers. There is increased awareness and these enthusiasts visit the lakes regularly. Any bird that enters Coimbatore cannot escape the eyes of a bird watcher. These recordings would definitely go a long way in helping us study birds in Coimbatore."

Terek Sandpiper travels from Serbia and comes only to the coastal areas. They can be easily spotted in Chennai and other coastal cities. "But sighting it in a lake in Coimbatore is very surprising. We think it is travelling to a coastal city in Kerala and might be resting in Coimbatore," said Sharang Satish. Gull Billed Tern comes from Eurasia or North America and it has been seen at Walayar dam but not in a city inland lake.

Continued  

Tiny sea bird makes longest-ever known annual migration from Antarctica to Northumberland

00:00, 7 JUN 2016

BY TOM WHITE

The Arctic tern weighs less than an iPhone yet covered a massive 96,000km on its journey to its winter home before returning to the UK

A tiny sea bird has made the longest ever known annual migration, which saw it fly from Northumberland to Antarctica and back.

The record breaking Arctic tern, which weighs less than an iPhone, covered a mammoth 96,000km in its journey down to its winter home in the Weddell Sea before returning to the Farne Islands.

It was part of a study carried out by scientists at Newcastle University for BBC’s Springwatch, which mapped for the first time the annual migration of the terns.

Last year, 29 birds were fitted with geolocators by the researchers and have now returned to the islands to breed.

The previous record had been held by an Arctic tern that covered 91,000km on its flight from the Netherlands.

Dr Richard Bevan, from Newcastle University’s School of Biology, said: “It’s really quite humbling to see these tiny birds return when you consider the huge distances they’ve had to travel and how they’ve battled to survive.

“So far we’ve managed to catch 16 of our tagged birds from last year and we’ve seen at least another four birds with our geolocators attached.

Continued … 

The Great Cuckoo Race is won - but not by Dudley!

We have a winner! First back to Britain after his long migration from sub-Saharan Africa was Hennah, who was satellite tagged in the New Forest last May and was named after First Lieutenant William Hennah who was on HMS Mars in the Battle of Trafalgar.

The winner, Hennah, named 

after a man who sailed with

Nelson

Bookmakers William Hill has been betting on the inaugural Great Cuckoo Race, involving the migration of 17 tagged cuckoos, with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) tracking their progress from Africa to the UK.

Dudley had become the odds-on favourite after extending a commanding lead and touching down in France while all the other cuckoos were still in Africa. But Hennah came through at 25/1, arriving on 15 April after making fast progress on the final leg. 

Hennah was last picked up on radar on the 9th February in Sierra Leone, but just as hope was fading that he was even alive, a faint signal was picked up from the New Forest, which steadily grew as the sunny weather charged his solar-powered tagging device. 

Continued ...

Thousands of migrating birds killed after flying into gas plant flare

SAINT JOHN, N.B. – A manager at the Canaport liquefied natural gas facility in Saint John says there’s little it can do in the next few weeks to prevent more migrating birds from flying into a flare that’s burning at the plant.

Fraser Forsythe said Thursday the latest estimate is that about 7,500 migrating birds died while the company was burning off excess gas at the facility on Friday and Saturday.

The plant is in the middle of making changes to equipment at the facility to reduce the amount of flaring, Forsythe said, but completion of the project is still several weeks away.

In the meantime, he said the plant cannot compromise safety to prevent birds from being killed again.

“We find ourselves in a dilemma here. The flare system is a safety-release system to ensure we can maintain normal operating pressures in the plant,” he said in a telephone interview.

As the liquefied natural gas boils off, some of it has to be released or it poses a safety risk to the facility, added Forsythe.

“At the moment there’s not a whole lot I can do to resolve it in the short term.”

He said a project to install a high-pressure compressor for the gas has been underway since 2011.

“As we commissioned it we have been flaring,” he said. “Unfortunately for us we’re just a few weeks away from getting that compressor up and operating.”

Forsythe said the plant was originally designed to move large amounts of gas on a continuing basis, but the markets have changed and more of the gas is stored now and shipped during peak demand times.

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Power line diverters fitted to save 'large birds' in Lancashire

Brightly coloured "flight diverters" have been installed on power lines to help protect birds in Lancashire.

About 150 ball-shaped attachments were fitted near Martin Mere, Burscough, to make cables stand out for "large birds with poor manoeuvrability".

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) said diverters will help the 40,000 pink-footed geese and whooper swans that migrate to the area each year.

Engineers carried out the work on 1.6km of overhead lines.

Steve Cox, from Electricity North West, said: "We discovered this was a sensitive section of the network as it was located in a known flight path".

Nick Brooks, from Martin Mere nature reserve, said larger birds were particularly prone to flying collisions.

He said: "The project is invaluable to ensure both the safety of the swans and geese as well as ensuring the local community are not affected by these large numbers of birds."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-23872807

Northern, central Wisconsin bird-watchers enjoy fall migration

With its chilly temps and changing foliage, local bird enthusiasts say that autumn is the perfect time to fall in love with birding.

Aside from spring, autumn is the next best time for bird watching since so many birds are moving to and passing through central Wisconsin as they migrate south for the winter, said Lori Schubring, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Rib Mountain.

“Food availability is what really affects birds and drives them down our way,” Schubring said. “If they can’t find enough where they are in Canada or around the Article Circle, they’ll go south where they’ll have a better chance.”

Fall migration begins in late June with shorebirds and warblers, followed by sparrows and water fowl migrating throughout the fall, said 47-year-old Dan Belter of Weston, an avid birder for the past 25 years.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20121014/WDH04/310140122?nclick_check=1

On the Wings of a Bird, Effort to Save a Bay

Coleman P. Burke wants to see Jamaica Bay and the New York Harbor restored to their former state of natural glory. As part of his efforts to do that, he's keeping an eye on the osprey.

One particular member of the species of seaside birds of prey, in fact. Mr. Burke donated $25,000 to fund an effort to equip Coley, a male osprey, with a GPS device to track his local hunting trips near the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, as well as his annual fall migration.

"This used to be a great, wonderful harbor—the oyster capital of the world," Mr. Burke, the founder of Waterfront Properties, a New York City-based commercial real-estate company, said. "I want to bring that back and energize the people of New York about the great harbor and estuary they have. The study of migration can help improve the health of harbors up and down the East Coast."

Continued: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443635404578038712384474232.html

Thousands of birds stop in Northern State smokestack on migration

Photo: Wikipedia

That dark cloud pouring from a smokestack at the Northern State Hospital site isn't smoke — it's birds.

Vaux's Swifts, a small species of bird, gather in the 120-foot smokestack every year around September on their way south for the winter. More than 200,000 of them were counted there last year.

This means the former mental-hospital campus could be the most significant roost site in the birds' entire 2011 migration, according to Vaux Happening, an Audubon Society and community science project that tries to find Vaux's Swift roosts in North America.

Continued:  http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019160960_swifts15m.html

More Vaux's swift information:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Vauxs_Swift/id

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=32198