Dog owners join birders in pushing for leash enforcement to protect burrowing owls at Berkeley park

By Stuart Luman March 12, 2019, 6 a.m.

The burrowing owls that make Cesar Chavez Park their winter home are bringing together dog owners and bird fans who are both urging the city to do more to enforce leash laws to prevent the rare birds from being harassed and chased from the park.

The small brown and cream mottled owls, with their piercing yellow eyes and long skinny legs, face continued threats at the park, including dogs disturbing their protected nesting areas when owners let them wander outside the park’s off-leash zone with minimal supervision.

Two owls returned to the park this winter season, after none were spotted last season, according to tallies from the Golden Gate Audubon Society.

Bird watchers are concerned that the uncontrolled dogs and other predators — such as other raptors and feral cats — could chase the tiny owls away from the park for good. Dog owners who frequent the park say they are also concerned and want the city to step in and do something about it.

Read on

Humans behind majority of raptor deaths in Ontario, Canada

Date:  March 12, 2018

Source:  University of Guelph

Summary:

Researchers found that a majority of raptor deaths are due to trauma and starvation caused by urban expansion and other types of anthropogenic landscape alterations.

Human encroachment is the leading cause of death among Ontario's at-risk birds of prey, according to a first-ever University of Guelph study.

Among deceased raptors submitted to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative over a 23-year period, a majority of the wild birds died of trauma and starvation, said pathobiology professor Nicole Nemeth.

"The most common cause of death was from trauma, which often included colliding with a vehicle or flying into stationary objects, such as buildings," said Nemeth. "The second most common cause was emaciation, which often occurs when the landscape changes in a way that hinders them from successfully hunting and finding shelter."

Read on  

Businesses can help preserve endangered species with small landscape changes

Date:

November 17, 2014

Source:

University of Missouri-Columbia

Summary:

Businesses can contribute to raptor preservation efforts by engaging in less development of lawn areas and increased planting or preservation of native grasslands and woodlots. As more businesses are built on the edges of urban areas, land where raptors once lived becomes industrialized, which raises concerns about the consequences of habitat destruction on raptor populations, experts say.

Continued ...

Retaining forests where raptors nest can help to protect biodiversity

Date:

October 23, 2014

Source:

University of Helsinki

Summary:

Raptors can affect the distribution of other species and they can also be used to find forests with high biodiversity value, researchers say. Predators influence decisions on conservation actions because they awake a remarkable interest in the society. However, favoring just predators in conservation can also mislead the scarce funding invested in nature conservation.

Continued ...

Warmer winters may be pushing raptors northward

Date: January 29, 2014

Source: Boise State University

Summary: Research shows that several raptor species appear to be responding to warmer winters by shortening their annual migration by as much as seven or eight kilometers (four to five miles) per year.

Continued

Wind farm tries to minimize bird deaths

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — An operations center in California can shut down wind turbines 1,200 miles away in Montana in fewer than 30 seconds when the flight patterns of golden eagles and other raptors indicate a potential collision in the making.

The quick response is possible because of tracking radar, "detect and deter" cameras and human spotters called "bio-monitors" deployed at Rim Rock Wind Facility in Montana's Glacier and Toole counties.

Greg Copeland of San Francisco-based NaturEner USA, the owner, says the combination of technology and trained avian biologists form a tiered alert system that's proving to be effective, so far, at preventing the turbine blades from striking birds.

"We think this three-layered system provides the best kind of protections that have been deployed anywhere in the United States," Copeland said.

The 189-megawatt wind farm with 126 turbines is Montana's largest.

It's located near the Kevin Rim, a series of sandstone cliffs 20 miles northwest of Shelby.

Golden eagles, ferruginous hawks and other species nest in the rocky outcroppings, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Montana Audubon previously have raised concerns about the location of the wind facility in prime raptor habitat.

Continued

Tunisia signs up to protect raptors

Tunisia engages in raptor conservation under the Convention on Migratory Species

June 2013. Tunisia has signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MOU). The Raptors MOU operates under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), and is supported by a Secretariat, funded and hosted by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi on behalf of the Government of the United Arab Emirates since 2009.

Major avian flyway

Tunisia is located along one of the major avian flyways in North Africa. More than 250 species of migratory birds have been recorded in the country, including 30 different birds of prey listed in the CMS Raptors MOU. Two of these, the Saker Falcon and the Egyptian Vulture, are classified as endangered species.

Cap Bon

Cap Bon is a spectacular peninsula in the northeast of the country that is an internationally recognized bottleneck for migratory raptors. Tens of thousands of these birds pass over the area every year, particularly in Springtime on their journeys to breeding areas further North, primarily in Europe. Large flocks of Black Kites, Honey Buzzards, Red-footed Falcons make the sea crossing to Sicily. 

The signing ceremony took place immediately after the opening of the CMS Technical Workshop on Minimising Poisoning of Migratory Birds, which was held last week in Tunis.

The Raptors MOU was signed by Dr Khaled Zahzah, Assistant Director of Hunting and National Parks at the Head Office of Forests, on behalf of the Government of Tunisia. Tunisia is the 43rd Signatory to the Raptors MOU. 

Read on

Afghans Hail Effort To Protect Rare Raptors From Smugglers

Afghan authorities are welcoming a foreign-based NGO's actions to help curb a runaway trade in smuggled exotic birds from Afghanistan. 

An Afghan man with a falcon at a 

refugee camp near Radja Bahoudine.

The group, Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya from United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), invited journalists to an event to mark the freeing on March 17 of 30 such birds near the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.

The animals had been seized from smugglers in the Middle East, where reports on such trafficking from South Asia suggest there is high demand for birds of prey and other exotic animals among the very wealthy.

Last year alone, some 5,000 wild birds were smuggled out of Afghanistan, according to the head of the country's Environmental Protection Agency, Mustafa Zahir. Falcons, hawks, and geese are said to be among the smugglers' favorites.

The most highly prized falcons can reportedly sell for as much as $100,000.

Afghan authorities are constrained by budget limitations and other obstacles to enforcement after decades of war and hardship, with infrastructure, security, and rebuilding projects generally regarded as more urgent priorities.

So Zahir was in Mazar-e Sharif on March 17 to lend government support to a newly launched wildlife protection center.

"Unfortunately, the smuggling of birds that is continuing from Afghanistan must stop," Zahir says. "In Mazar-e Sharif, in Herat, and Bamian the hunters are hunting the falcons and hawks. Most of these birds are smuggled to Gulf nations."

Continued:  http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan-exotic-bird-smuggling-nature/24935733.html

Viral video may have sparked bird shootings

Raptor Education Group avian technician Jacob Looze holds a golden eagle as Marge Gibson, executive director, injects it with medicine to treat lead poisoning. The center has taken in four hawks and two bald eagles, all of which were shot, since a fake video showing a golden eagle grabbing a baby was released on Dec. 18

ANTIGO — An online video of a hawk grabbing a baby that was revealed to be a hoax could be behind an increase in bird shootings, one wildlife rehabilitation expert says.

The Raptor Education Group, a wildlife rehabilitation center near Antigo, has taken in four hawks and two bald eagles since the video was released, Executive Director Marge Gibson said. Six birds, all of which were shot, are at least twice as many as the center usually gets in one month, she said.

The video surfaced on Dec. 18 on YouTube and quickly became viral, gaining speed and views on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It now has more than 41 million views. The video was created by students at a Montreal animation school; they admitted the video was a hoax on Dec. 19.

Gibson said the video sparked fear in people, and even though the students admitted it was a hoax, false information seems to spread much more quickly than corrections do.

“We’ve had people (in tour groups) ask if we’ve seen the video, but they didn’t know it was fake,” she said. “Fear makes people irrational, and when people fear something, they destroy it because they don’t know what else to do.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received similar reports from around the Midwest and the country, said Carlita Payne, an animal recovery specialist with the Great Lakes region of the Service’s endangered species program.

Continued:  http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20130120/APC0101/301200443/Viral-video-may-sparked-bird-shootings?nclick_check=1

High tech bird count: Radar used to track raptors

AWENDAW, S.C. (AP) — Bird counters usually head into a field or forest carrying binoculars and a pad to record what they see. But a South Carolina center went high-tech this fall, using radar in its annual count of falcons, eagles, hawks and other raptors flying along the coast.

Officials at the Center for Birds of Prey say it's thought to one of the only places where modified marine radar is being used to help count raptors. And they say it should help increase the number of birds sighted by watchers on the ground.

The survey has been taken from mid-September through mid-November for the last 15 years as volunteers head into fields at the 150-acre center northeast of Charleston.

"We know that by counting migrating raptors and watching patterns over time we pick up trends," said Stephen Schabel, the center's director of education. "One of our missions is to monitor what is happening out there in the environment and its potential effects."

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/science/article/High-tech-bird-count-Radar-used-to-track-raptors-4047821.php#ixzz2CfnaZaMH

Raptors Grab a Breather at San Francisco's Hawk Hill

In autumn, hawks and other birds of prey heading south for the winter funnel through Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco.

At 920 feet (280 meters) in elevation, the mountainous site, home of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), is the perfect launching point for crossing the windy Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay. At one time, scientists believed the raptors resting at Hawk Hill were afraid of crossing open water, said Allen Fish, director of the GGRO. Now, Fish thinks the birds may be testing the area's tricky wind patterns and figuring out the easiest path.

"I've seen turkey vultures go directly over Golden Gate Bridge and ospreys fly out over the edge of the water," Fish told Our AmazingPlanet. "There are 19 different species, each with their own flying abilities," he said.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/24126-raptor-migration-hawk-hill.html

Bird watchers flock to Alpine to take in raptor migration

 Thebry are heading our way, hurtling toward us out of the sky from the north and the east, coming by the hundreds some days, by the thousands on others. They can dive at up to 200 miles per hour. If they could read, they could scan the headline above this story from a quarter-mile away. They can travel several hundred miles a day, using only their own strength and their intuitive knowledge of the wind.

They are raptors – birds of prey – and they are invading the air space over North Jersey as they make their annual migration to the southern United States and South America.

One of the best spots to see these hawks, falcons and eagles as they pass on through is State Line Lookout at Palisades Interstate Park in Alpine, and on Sunday hundreds of bird watching veterans and novices flocked to the spot on the Palisades cliffs that provides breathtaking views east toward Long Island Sound and south to the towers of Manhattan.

To mark the migration, the Palisades Interstate Park’s New Jersey section hosted “Hawks Over the Hudson,” which included presentations by Bill Streeter from the Delaware Valley Raptor Center in Milford, Pa.

Continued:  http://www.northjersey.com/alpine/hawks.html