Climate change threatens endangered sparrows

Date: April 16, 2019

Source: Oxford University Press USA

A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications finds that some sparrow species will go extinct within the century due to climate change.

Seaside (Ammospiza maritima) and saltmarsh (A. caudacuta) sparrows are closely related species and among only five bird species that are almost completely restricted to coastal salt marshes for their entire life. These sparrows' nests are predominantly destroyed by predators or flooding.

Salt marshes are globally limited to about 30,000 square miles (45,000 square km), with one-third of the total on North American coasts. Of the 25 species or subspecies limited to tidal wetlands worldwide, 15 are restricted to the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Given rapid climate changes and other threats to salt marsh ecosystems, many of these species are in serious danger.

The global breeding range of the saltmarsh sparrow extends from Virginia to Maine, with a population estimate of 60,000 birds. Sea-level rise can negatively impact breeding seaside and saltmarsh sparrows by reducing the amount of available habitat, and by increasing nest flooding rates. Furthermore, the high human population densities of Mid-Atlantic states also make it difficult for sparrows to thrive in the region.

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New Zealand birds: Christmas decorations tied around sparrows

Dozens of birds have been found dead or injured in New Zealand with Christmas decorations tied around their necks and wings.

Sparrows and pigeons have been reported with "decorative trinkets" tied to them in Wellington.

Some of them died of starvation as they are unable to fly and find food, according to the SPCA.

Although there have been similar incidents since 2015, there has been a spike in sightings in recent weeks.

Authorities believe the birds are being deliberately "decorated" as the tinsel and bows are tightly and carefully attached, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"Many try to pry the foreign objects off their bodies with their beaks and feet, becoming further entangled and preventing them from eating, drinking and flying. With others, the decorations are wrapped so tightly it completely cuts off their blood circulation.

"Those that do survive and arrive at our centre are always in a very bad state, and are so malnourished and distressed that we have had to humanely euthanise them," SPCA spokesperson Paige Janssen said in an email to the BBC.

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The great Indian bird: Agra's conservation efforts pay off as sparrow population rebounds

Siraj Qureshi

UPDATED 19:30 IST

There was a time when the sparrow's chirps were the first sound anyone heard waking up in the morning in Indian households. Whether villages or the urban cities, the sparrow was omnipresent, with their nests jammed in any nook and cranny of the house they could find.

But over the past decade, the number of sparrows in the cities has been dwindling to an extent that sparrow sightings have become rare events in the cities these days. However, the villages are still faring much better in this respect, with sparrows still nesting in huge numbers in the region around the Chambal river which passes through UP, MP, and Rajasthan.

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World Sparrow Day: Once a Common Bird is Now a Rare Sight

Published: March 20, 2018 8:16 AM IST

By India.com News DeskEmail

New Delhi, Mar 20: Nowadays we hardly see a small brown bird flitting toward the edge of your window sill, chirping about in absolute mirth? In past few years, this bird has been on the decline over very much of its natural range, both in urban and rural habitats.

And in a bid to preserve these merry little birds, March 20 is observed as the World Sparrow Day. If we do not do our bit to save sparrows, chances are that our future generations will have to see these otherwise commonly found birds only in picture books or maybe in some wildlife sanctuary.

Experts blame reduction in urban nesting spaces has resulted in disappearance of this brown bird. Tall building has led to cut down of trees and greenery where the sparrows can nest. The sudden drop in number of birds also reflects the changing architecture and lifestyle. Earlier, houses used to be open and there were places for sparrow nests.

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Sparrows top most common bird list, blackbirds are disappearing

January 29, 2018   

The sparrow remains the most common bird in Dutch gardens, followed by the great tit and blue tit, according to this weekend’s mass bird count, in which 50,000 people took part. In particular, there has been a decline in the number of blackbirds spotted in the nation’s gardens – the blackbird is down in fifth place after years in the top 3. A virus which has affected blackbirds and owls primarily in the east of the country could be to blame, bird count organisers Vogelbescherming Nederland said. The Usutu virus is carried by mosquitoes and has also had an impact on the bird population in Germany and Belgium. In Amsterdam, the top three most common birds are the great tit, the sparrow and then the ring-necked parakeet. Amsterdam’s urban parrots were recently included on a list of the worst alien species.

Source 

Where have the sparrows gone?

Himanshu Kaushik | TNN | Updated: Mar 20, 2017, 06.29 AM IST

AHMEDABAD : As the world celebrates 'World Sparrow Day' to create awareness of the decreasing number of house sparrows especially in urban areas, non-government organizations have joined hands to estimate a count of house sparrows in Gujarat.

The Nature Club, Surat, in coordination with the Bird Conservation Society, will be collecting data of the sightings of the house sparrow in the respective areas for a week beginning from Monday World Sparrow Day. Apart from collecting data from the people through social media app, hundreds of volunteers across the state will also report sightings of house sparrows in urban and rural area.

Snehal Patel of the Nature Club, Surat, said, "We decided to have a count when I realized that sparrows were decreasing fast in urban areas while there was still sizeable population in rural areas."

=Patel said the count will pave way for formulating policies to save sparrows. "Since the sparrow was not a scheduled bird it was not a priority of the government, and now the NGOs are joining hands to save the birds from extinction."

"Volunteers and members of the Bird Conservation Society will be conducting the count. Apart from the rough count, we would also mark areas with high populations of sparrows," Patel added. 

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How birds unlock their super-sense, ultraviolet vision

Date:July 12, 2016

Source:eLife

The ability of finches, sparrows, and many other birds to see a visual world hidden to us is explained in a study published in the journal eLife.

Birds can be divided into those that can see ultraviolet (UV) light and those that cannot. Those that can live in a sensory world apart, able to transmit and receive signals between each other in a way that is invisible to many other species. How they unlock this extra dimension to their sight is revealed in new findings from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The study reveals two essential adaptions that enable birds to expand their vision into the UV range: chemical changes in light-filtering pigments called carotenoids and the tuning of light-sensitive proteins called opsins.

Birds acquire carotenoids through their diets and process them in a variety of ways to shift their light absorption toward longer or shorter wavelengths. The researchers characterized the carotenoid pigments from birds with violet vision and from those with UV vision and used computational models to see how the pigments affect the number of colors they can see.

"There are two types of light-sensitive cells, called photoreceptors, in the eye: rods and cones. Cone photoreceptors are responsible for color vision. While humans have blue, green, and red-sensitive cones only, birds have a fourth cone type which is either violet or UV-sensitive, depending on the species," says senior author Joseph Corbo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology.

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Birds sense if partners are unfaithful and retaliate by providing less food

Henry Bodkin 1 JUNE 2016 • 12:01AM

Knowing what to do when you suspect your partner is having an affair is an age-old dilemma.

But new research suggests that sparrows have a simple, if brutal, solution: provide less food.

A new study by Imperial College London suggests male sparrows can sense when their female partners are being unfaithful and that they retaliate by gathering less food for the nest.

Although the species is supposed to be monogamous, sparrows have long been known for their lecherous tendencies.

Both Shakespeare and Chaucer linked the bird with promiscuous conduct, and even the ancient Greeks associated sparrows with Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Published in the journal American Naturalist, the new study found that both male and female sparrows are prone to cheat, but for different reasons.

Males are unfaithful because they want to make sure they father as many chicks as they can, while females elope to mate with males of better genetic quality so they can produce stronger offspring.

A 12-year study of the sparrows on Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel, found that male sparrows had no direct method of establishing whether all the chicks in a nest were theirs.

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Save our sparrows: rescue bid underway after bird population crashes by 99 per cent

Rob Edwards

Sunday 10 May 2015

They used to be ubiquitous in our towns and cities, flitting, pecking and chirping noisily.

But now they have all but gone, and the streets and gardens have fallen silent.

House sparrows - the brown, boisterous opportunists that were Britain's best-known and most-loved urban birds - have virtually disappeared in our built up areas. Scientists say their numbers have plummeted by up to 90 per cent since the 1970s.

No-one is exactly sure why, though the loss of hedges, trees, insects and flowers have all been blamed. Predation by domestic cats and other animals may also be implicated, as well as pollution.

But now conservationists, communities and schools have launched campaigns to try and bring back house sparrows. One of the pioneering projects is in Glasgow, where the birds have suffered a very steep decline.

The ornithologist, JD Summers-Smith, recorded a massive 98-99 per cent decline in sparrows in suburban Glasgow between 1959 and 1997. The birds are now recognised as one of the most endangered across the UK, and are on the "red list" of the most vulnerable species.

"Despite a large amount of research into the subject, we still don't conclusively know what is causing the long-term decline in house sparrows," said Toby Wilson, a senior conservation officer with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSBP) in Scotland.

"Studies have shown that large numbers of house sparrow chicks are starving in their nests as a result of a lack of insect food, which could be limited by pollution and a reduction in greenery in urban areas."

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House sparrow rule roost in Scotland's gardens

25 March 2015 

From the sectionHighlands & Islands

House sparrows were the most commonly spotted bird in gardens in Scotland, according to an RSPB survey.

More than 43,000 people across Scotland took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch held on 24-25 January.

Starlings were the second most seen bird followed by chaffinches. Tree sparrows were ranked 16 - their highest position for 10 years.

Coal tits had the biggest fall in the rankings, going from number nine last year to 13 in 2015.

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'Team of rivals' approach works for sparrows defending territories

Date:

February 25, 2014

Source:

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Summary:

A new study of territorial songs used by chipping sparrows to defend their turf reveals that males sometimes will form a "dear enemy" alliance with a weaker neighbor to prevent a stronger rival from moving in. For the first time findings demonstrate the birds' use of a stereotyped, specialized signal, in this case chipping sparrow trills, to establish brief periods of cooperation among neighbor birds who are otherwise rivals.

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Invasive Sparrows Immune Cells Sharpen as They Spread

Nov. 20, 2013 — When invasive species move into new areas, they often lose their natural enemies, including the microbes that make them sick. But new research from evolutionary biologists at the University of South Florida has found that adjustments in the immune system may help house sparrows, one of the world's most common bird species, thrive in new areas.

In research published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Lynn Martin and Assistant Professor Aaron Schrey from Armstrong Atlantic State University found that on the molecular level, the immune systems of house sparrows at the edge of the species' range in Kenya were more attuned to finding dangerous parasites than birds from older sites in the same country. These differences may help keep invading birds from becoming sick in new areas where pathogens are more likely novel.

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'Bird Man' of Newbury Street Feeds Sparrows During Blizzard

Paul Magla has been caring for the flock for years.

By Kimberly Ashton

While Bostonians were dipping into the groceries they stocked up in advance of Fridays blizzard, other Back Bay denizens knew to head to Paul Magla for a bite during the storm. 

“I whistle and they come,” Magla told WBZ-TV of the flock of sparrows he's been tending to for the past 10 years. On Saturday morning, he found them waiting for him on his balcony.

"Because I’ve been doing it for years, so I figure even when it snows I'd come out and do it," he said. 

With their food covered in snow, they headed for Magla's place for some whole-wheat bread, and maybe some warmth.  

“Usually they don’t sit on [my] hand as much, but because it’s cold, they are,” Magla said. See the video here. 

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/bird-man-of-newbury-street-feeds-sparrows-during-blizzard