What makes birdwatchers want to monitor species in an ISIS warzone?

By Burak Özkırlı, Wed, 11/11/2015 - 09:08

Ceylanpınar, located in the Urfa (or Şanlıurfa) province of Turkey, is next to the Syrian border. As a result, it has felt the effects of the ongoing civil war in Syria and skirmishes between the YPG (the Kurdish People’s Protection Units) and ISIS.

The region, which contains one of the single largest pieces of farmland in the world, is also a Key Biodiversity Area monitored by Doğa Derneği (BirdLife in Turkey) staff and volunteers. It is the home of the Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius), one of the most threatened bird species in the world (listed as Critically Endangered on the updated IUCN Red List of Birds, an assessment of bird species carried out by BirdLife International for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species).

The Sociable Lapwing is a strikingly-patterned plover that breeds in parts of Turkey, Egypt, the Middle East, Russia and the former Soviet Union, and spends its winters mainly in Israel, Eritrea, Sudan and north-west India. In northern Kazakhstan, the species declined by 40% during 1930-1960, followed by a further halving of numbers during 1960-1987. Today, there are only 5,600 breeding pairs left in the world. Their decline is likely due to habitat degradation, as well as the pressures of hunting and illegal killing along its migration route and breeding grounds. 

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Bird notes: Birdwatchers take over Twitter in protest against hunting

May 01, 2014 14:10

By North Wales Daily Post

Julian Hughes explains why birdwatchers have been taking to social media as well as providing an overall round up from North Wales

Birdwatchers took over Twitter last Friday to protest about the illegal hunting of spring migrant birds in Malta.

They did it again on Saturday when TV naturalist Chris Packham was questioned by Maltese police for five hours about his videos of the massacre.

The #freechrispackham hashtag was trending at number one, the latest example of birders using social media to make their voices heard.

Two Welsh MEPs have called on the EC to act against the flouting of bird protection laws.

Elsewhere, two garganeys are in a flooded field along the road to South Stack; others graced the new Llyn Fens near Nefyn and Aberdysynni’s Broad Water.

Our smallest duck, these summer migrants seem to be turning up less frequently in North Wales in recent years;

Whimbrels are heading north in small groups: 10 at Rhoscolyn, 28 at Rhosneigr, and an impressive group of 51 at Aberdysynni.

There was an arrival of Whinchats on Monday, with birds at RSPB Conwy and Gronant, and Tree Pipits at Gronant, the Great Orme, Bangor Mountain and Bardsey.

Bardsey bird observatory also recorded Black Guillemot, Iceland Gull and Hooded Crow.

Continued

Birds On Repeat: Do Birdwatchers Playbacks Hurt Fowl?

Oct. 16, 2013 — In the forests of Ecuador, plain-tailed wrens nest in bamboo thickets, singing complex and continuous melodies. Residing nearby are rufous antpittas, small, secretive birds that hop like thrushes and whistle in mossy forests. Together, their songs fill parts of the South American Andes.

Birdwatchers often seek out rare and beautiful birds like the wren and antpitta using "playbacks" -- or recordings of bird songs -- to draw such them out from their hideaways. But does such babbling-on-repeat harm the birds?

Using the emphatic sounds of both bird species, a Princeton University researcher has -- for the first time in peer-reviewed research -- examined the effects of birdwatchers' "playbacks" in the wild. In PLOS One, he shows that playbacks do have potentially negative consequences, especially in terms of birds' energies.

"Playbacks would be harmful if a species becomes stressed, expends energy, or takes time away from other activities to respond to these recordings," said J. Berton C. Harris, a postdoctoral fellow studying under Professor David Wilcove from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs' Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy.

Working in a southern Ecuadorian biological reserve, Harris studied the effects of both single and repeated playbacks on wrens and antpittas. In his first trial, he introduced single playbacks to 24 groups of wrens and 12 groups of antpittas. Along with David Haskell from the University of the South in Tennessee, Harris monitored both bird species for one hour after playing a five-minute, self-recorded song.

Continued

Birdwatchers help fight against wildlife crime

London man convicted of trapping songbirds in East London

December 2012. Keen-eyed birdwatchers and the London Wildlife Trust acted promptly to help catch a man from Beckton, east London, in the act of illegally catching wild songbirds at Barking Riverside in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham.

Several birdwatchers reported suspicious activity and evidence of trapping in early October to the London Wildlife Trust who reported the incident to the police. When suspects were seen by one of the birders at the same location on 24th October, the Trust were able to immediately contact the Metropolitan Police's Wildlife Crime Officer for Barking & Dagenham. The police responded immediately and were able to apprehend Peter Fayers at the site, in possession of mist nets and with several linnets and goldfinches held captive in small cages.

Fined & ASBO granted
Mr. Fayers, aged 56, pleaded guilty on 16th November to taking birds from the wild, and was fined £350 plus £85 costs and £35 compensation. The authorities also appealed for Mr. Fayers to be the subject of an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO). This was approved last week and is only the second such order to be granted under the Wildlife & Countryside Act in England and Wales. As a result of this order, which stands for a minimum of two years, Mr. Fayers is unable to leave his place of abode with nets, cages, poles, or any other equipment that would assist himself or another person to trap birds.

In Britain illegal songbird trapping is mainly associated with Victorian times. Nowadays, bird catching in this country is usually carried out legally by licensed ringers, who have been trained to capture and release birds for scientific purposes without causing them any harm.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: "It is sad that illegal songbird trapping is still occurring in London in the twenty-first century, and distressing to see the size of the cages that the birds were being held in. However, it is pleasing to see how quickly the police responded to apprehend the culprit and ensure that there was a happier ending to this particular story."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/songbird-trapping.html