Ortolan Bunting being eaten to extinction

17/06/2019

Illegal and unregulated hunting of Ortolan Buntings has been found to be unsustainable by an extensive pan-European study. Ortolan Bunting is a coveted French delicacy but, despite the banning of the practice, continued trapping and killing is pushing the species towards extirpation in the country.

Lead researcher Frédéric Jiguet, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation Sciences in Paris, was one of 30 people behind the study, which was undertaken at the request of France’s Minister of Ecology. The team used geolocators, stable hydrogen isotypes and population genetics to study the bunting, discovering that a third of birds migrating through south-west France come from the declining northern populations, concluding that French hunting is partly responsible for their dwindling numbers.

Modelling population dynamics through various possible scenarios showed that surviving migration through France would markedly reduce the birds' extinction risk, with the analysis confirming that current northern populations of Ortolan Buntings are directly threatened with extinction. French hunters in the south contest the hunting regulations – only formally applied in 1999, some 20 years after the species was listed as protected on the European Commission’s Birds Directive – claiming that what they catch is a small fragment of the bird’s wider population. 

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Lost Birds Find Their Way to the Cape

By MARK FAHERTY • MAY 22, 2019

On Sunday, a birding group from Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay was sorting through migrant shorebirds on Morris Island in Chatham. The usual suspects were in place – Semipalmated Sandpipers newly arrived from Brazil; Dunlins, Sanderlings, and Ruddy Turnstones all in their breeding finery, plus shrieking Willets defending their nearby nests.

The numbers were modest, as is typical for spring – most shorebirds avoid this part of the world on their northbound journey. But among the dozens of expected birds was one that did not compute. It was the size and shape of a Dunlin, with that same long, down curved bill, but with red where the black belly should be. The leaders, David Clapp and Joel Wagner, quickly realized this was a rare visitor from “the Continent” – a Curlew Sandpiper.

Curlew Sandpipers breed in a relatively small area of Arctic Siberia, then make an impressive migration to Africa and Australia for the winter. This species used to be almost annual in spring on Cape Cod, but shows up much less often these days - it’s anyone’s guess why.  And how does a bird that’s trying to get to Siberia from Africa end up on Cape Cod, anyway? That’s also up for debate, but the prevailing theory is that a few Curlew Sandpipers overshoot their fall migration to Africa, putting them over the tropical Atlantic and eventually in South America, where they settle in for the winter with other shorebirds. Come spring, these birds head north with the other North American shorebirds, ending up in places like Chatham. No one knows if and where these lost birds end up breeding, but it’s unlikely they find their way back to Eurasia from here.

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Reintroduction of Great Green Macaws boosts wild population

Great Green Macaws have disappeared from the Ayampe region some 50 years ago, as a result of loss of its forest habitat to agriculture and ranching and also from the illegal collection for the pet trade. The total number of this species, the second largest macaw in the world (the Hyacinth Macaw is the largest), are thought to be less than 3,500. They feed on seeds, fruits, hard-shelled nuts, and flowers, and will move through the landscape in search of fruiting trees; they are particularly partial to the Pechiche tree, which provides food and nest sites across much of its range in Ecuador. These birds have a great importance on the ecosystem because they help to promote the natural regeneration through seed dispersal.

The release of the six additional individuals on 10 May 10 is the third Great Green Macaw release event and another milestone following three years of collaboration between Fundación Jocotoco, Fundación de rescate Jambelí and Loro Parque Fundación. The video below explains the lengthy process of from chick to release,

World Land Trust
17 June 2019

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Climate change benefits for Giant Petrels

Giant Petrels will be "temporary" winners from the effects of climate change in the Antarctic region, but males and females will benefit in very different ways, a new study shows.

The study, by experts from the University of Exeter and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), is one the first to analyse how different sexes of the same species could be affected by changing conditions through global warming.

The research shows that Giant Petrels, known colloquially as "stinkers", will benefit from an increased number of warm weather anomalies in the region, while changes to wind patterns across the Antarctic and the southwest Atlantic will also improve their ability to forage at sea.

However, the research reveals that the benefits are different for the male of the species, compared to females.

It shows that the males, as the larger and heavier sex, would benefit more by dominating access to carrion on land and by traveling much less far from the colony when foraging at sea.

Females, on the other hand, are likely to benefit from stronger winds which will help them fly and forage at sea with less effort, and from retreating sea ice increasing the extension of open waters suitable for foraging.

Crucially, however the study also suggests that any increase in longline fishing (and resulting mortality on fishing gear, termed bycatch) could harm their survival.

Few studies have examined how different sexes of a species could be affected by changing conditions, and the researchers say this means the impacts could be underestimated if sex-specific effects are not included.

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Lahore’s pigeons are vanishing in plain sight

Areeba Rasheed

June 23, 2019

People urge wildlife dept to save them 

The number of wild pigeons in Lahore, which were once spotted hovering over buildings, is slowly and steadily declining.  

The birds frequently flock near Istanbul Chowk, Data Darbar, Mall Road, Jain Temple, and Shahi Qila, where many people feed them too.

"I love these birds, but I have noticed that their number is decreasing by the day," said a resident. "The wildlife department should do something about it."

Naeem Bhatti, who is the deputy director of the wildlife department, remarked that the birds have been disappearing because of fatal diseases. "One of the most common diseases that affect them is the Newcastle Disease," he said. The Newcastle disease is a contagious viral bird disease that affects many wild and domestic birds and it can even be transmitted to humans.

"To stop the spread of the disease, the birds can be given vaccines and antibiotics," he explained. "Administering them vaccines will protect them from lethal diseases."

More than 40% of bird species across the globe are in decline, according to the 2018 State of the World’s Birds. The report says that 1,469 bird species globally are threatened with extinction.

It identified agricultural expansion and intensification, deforestation, and hunting as the biggest threats to the population of birds. “The threats driving the extinction crisis are many and varied, but invariably of humanity’s making…and most species are impacted by multiple, interrelated threats,” it says.

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Endangered bird returns to South Korea 40 years after extinction

Rare wader is designated a national monument that features in popular children’s song

Jon Sharman

Wednesday 22 May 2019 18:48 

The endangered crested ibis has reportedly been reintroduced to South Korea 40 years after it went extinct in the Asian country. 

Forty of the rare wading birds were bred in captivity before being released into the wild at Upo Wetland in South Gyeongsang province, southeast of Seoul, the Yonhap news agency reported.  

The last time a crested ibis was spotted on the Korean peninsula is believed to have been in 1979 when it was spotted in the demilitarised zone separating the south from North Korea.

The bird used to be a common sight until pesticide use reportedly damaged its food sources. 

A designated national monument in South Korea, it is also seen in China and Japan.

The captive population in South Korea has now reached 363, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The breeding programme began with a birds donated by Beijing.

In South Korea the crested ibis is linked to an eponymous popular children’s song, composed when Japan ruled the country.

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Little Tern eggs stolen from Norfolk beach

23/06/2019

The RSPB is assisting Norfolk Constabulary in an appeal for information into the theft of seven clutches of Little Tern eggs from a colony near Winterton, Norfolk.

EU Life+ Little Tern Recovery Project volunteers and staff work shifts to monitor the terns throughout daylight hours, when the birds are most vulnerable to disturbance. However, in the early hours of the morning of Thursday 20 June, RSPB Little Tern wardens discovered that up to 20 eggs had been illegally stolen from seven nests. Human footprints were identified leading up to each nest.

Little Tern is one of the UK's rarest breeding seabirds, having suffered serious declines over the past 25 years. In the 1980s there were 2,500 breeding pairs but this fell to fewer than 2,000 pairs in 2000, and it is now estimated that there are currently a maximum of 1,500 pairs.

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