BIRDCONSERVATION The Magazine of American Bird Conservancy SUMMER/FALL 2022
West Virginia: Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305.
Florida: Division of Consumer Services, toll-free number within the state: 800-435-7352.
Contributors: Lindsay Adrean, Andrés Anchondo, Erin Chen, Jennifer Davis, Chris Farmer, Rachel Fritts, Bennett Hennessey, Steve Holmer, Brad Keitt, Daniel J. Lebbin, Sea McKeon, Jack Morrison, Michael J. Parr, Jordan Rutter, Marcelo Tognelli, George E. Wallace, David A. Wiedenfeld, EJ Williams, Kelly Wood
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ABC is dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest threats facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.
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Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by any state.
A copy of the current financial statement and registration filed by the organization may be obtained by contacting: ABC, P.O. Box 249, The Plains, VA 20198. 540-253-5780, or by contacting the following state agencies:
VP of Communications: Clare Nielsen
For more information contact: American Bird Conservancy P.O. Box 249, 4249 Loudoun Avenue The Plains, VA 20198 540-253-5780 • info@abcbirds.org
Senior Editor: Howard Youth
Virginia: State Division of Consumer Affairs, Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209.
Bird Conservation is the member magazine of ABC and is published three times yearly.
Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage: Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD New21401.Jersey: Attorney General, State of New Jersey: New201-504-6259.York:Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
Pennsylvania: Department of State, toll-free number within the state: 800-732-0999.
Graphic Design: Gemma Radko
BIRD’S EYE VIEW
DEPARTMENTS
Bringing a Cloud-forest Phantom Out From the Shadows p. 38
3BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Nests of Rare South American Birds
COVER: The Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo is endemic to Jamaica. Reaching close to two feet long, this is one of the Americas' largest cuckoos. Photo by Glenn Bartley.
LEFT: The Giant Antpitta haunts montane cloud forest in a few stretches of the Ecuadorian and Colombian Andes. (See p. 38.) Photo by Glenn Bartley.
ON THE WIRE p. 6
FEATURES
Fertile Grounds
BIRDS IN BRIEF p. 10
BIRD HERO
Summer/Fall 2022 AthanasNickbyOwletLong-whiskered TABLE CONTENTSOF 12 18 34 26 USFWSBeauregard,M.LaurabyBoobyRed-footed ShutterstockStudio,SevenstockbyOrangequitMacawBlue-throated BoersmaAlexbyart
Seabirds Benefiting Land and Sea p 18
A Peek at SpeciesStructuresSeldom-seenofSuper-scarce p. 12
ABC BIRDING
A Question of Habitat
Saving Rare Birds Large and Small p. 26
Holywell Recreation Area, Jamaica p. 34
A Witness to Extinction p. 4
by Sheila Conant, Ph.D.
4 BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022 BIRD’S EYE VIEW
Before they disappeared forever, the author saw the Maui Nukupu‘u, shown in this painting by John Gerrard Keulemans, and the ‘Ō‘ū (facing page), plus five other now-extinct Hawaiian bird species.
WITNESS
I
Starting in this issue, our opening essay will represent a variety of views, both from within and outside of ABC.
This was during my second year at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Back then, I could walk out our back door in Mānoa Valley and into the forest in less than five minutes to search for nests and observe the birds’ behavior. At that time, the O‘ahu ‘Elepaio was still widely distributed and fairly common in both the Wai‘anae and Ko‘olau Mountain Ranges.
For this piece, I was asked to write about what it feels like to have seen now-extinct bird species in the wild. Different emotions come into play: Sadness that they are gone, gratitude that I saw and heard them in the wild, despair, and oftentimes anger that, at this moment, other species are perilously close to extinction … to being gone … forever. That’s what it feels like to me. I have seen seven species that are now extinct.
n 1965, I began studying the O‘ahu ‘Elepaio, a species related to the Old World monarch flycatchers that is found only on its namesake island.
I have been asked countless times why so many Hawaiian birds have gone extinct in recent decades. My response is always the same: What we did to prevent extinction was always … always … too little, too late. Although I have said that repeatedly, I have never been quoted. Failure is difficult to acknowledge, and people may fear that saying such things publicly will be too discouraging to those who hear it.
I have seen seven now-extinct Hawaiian birds in the wild. Two of those sightings were fleeting: the Kaua‘i Nukupu‘u and the Maui Nukupu‘u. One of them, the ‘Ō‘ū, I saw on two islands (Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i) at the extremes of its original range. Each time I saw, watched, and heard one of these birds, it was a thrilling experience because I knew how rare it was, how lucky I was at that moment, and that I would never see it again. My feelings of sadness, then despair, and now, quite frankly, anger have only deepened as I read reports of the recent precipitous declines of the ‘Akikiki and Kiwikiu, and what problems and challenges are delaying measures that should have been taken.
Sheila Conant is Professor Emerita of Biology at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and a field biologist. She lives in Honolulu and Volcano, Hawai‘i.
Well, the situation is discouraging, but that doesn’t mean we should give up. In Hawai‘i we have so many endangered and declining bird species that there is always something that can be done somewhere, somehow. Seabirds, especially, are a case in point. Predator-proof fencing is miraculous! Unfortunately, it can’t keep disease-carrying mosquitoes out of our last remaining forest-bird habitats, but plans are afoot to tackle this daunting problem. ABC and its partners are doing everything they can to help remaining Hawaiian birds, as they have been doing for years. To all of those who are working so hard to save these irreplaceable species: Keep up the good work!
The situation is discouraging, but that doesn’t mean we should give up. There is always something that can be done somewhere, somehow.
This includes a Hawaiian honeycreeper called the Po‘ouli, which was discovered as a new species in 1973. By 2004, it was extinct. Last October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it was declaring eight species of Hawaiian birds to be extinct. It should have been ten — they missed the ‘Ō‘ū and the O‘ahu ‘Alauahio. That means that today, there remain 35 endemic birds, 20 of which are Endangered.
Today, this species is Endangered. The most recent surveys (Vanderwerf, et al. 2013) reported fewer than 1,300 birds in the central and southern valleys of the Ko‘olau Mountains and in the Waianae Mountains. In 1902, H.W. Henshaw predicted that the ‘elepaio would “persist in substantial numbers after other endemic passerines were rare or extinct.” He was correct; nevertheless, the O‘ahu ‘Elepaio has declined precipitously in recent decades due primarily to rat predation.
5BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
to EXTINCTION
Before human settlement, Hawai‘i was home to a spectacular array of unique birds. Forty-two endemic Hawaiian birds are known to us only from fossil remains in sand dunes, lava tubes, and sinkholes. Additional species are bound to be discovered in time. There were giant flightless geese, ducks, eagles, hawks, owls, ibises, crakes, and dozens of songbirds. We don’t know how many species ancient Hawaiians may have known, but we do know that 35 endemic Hawaiian bird species have gone extinct since colonization of the archipelago by continental settlers.
Waiting in the Wings…
Since 2002, the NMBCA grant program has been a catalyst for bird conservation and partnership development, supporting more than 500 conservation projects in 36 countries. Nearly 400 bird species have benefited from NMBCA-supported efforts on more than 4.2 million acres of essential habitat.
Another piece of Senate legislation worth watching is the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, introduced in late July by Sen. Ron Wyden. ABC is optimistic that the legislation, if passed, will significantly increase
“One-third of all fish and wildlife species in the United States are at risk of becoming Threatened or Endangered,” said ABC’s Steve Holmer. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is needed to halt biodiversity loss in the U.S., including the loss of nearly 3 billion birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970.”
“The NMBCA provides critical support to Latin American and Caribbean partners who ensure migratory birds have a place to return in winter after breeding in the U.S. — birds such as the Cerulean Warbler and Wood Thrush,” said Holmer. “By increasing NMBCA funding, the door is opened to greater participation from partner groups, as well as larger projects that are more effective at meeting bird conservation needs.”
American Redstart by Agami Photo Agency, Shutterstock
July 2022 was a good month for the Endangered Species Act (ESA), with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) withdrawing revisions made by the previous Administration and ultimately restoring the ESA to its original regulatory standing.
On July 22, FWS withdrew the “critical habitat exclusion rule,” which had enabled agencies to forgo designating critical habitat for a species listed under the Act in certain situations (such as when cost was deemed prohibitive). FWS had previously restored a definition of “habitat” that had made species protection more difficult. These actions followed an early July ruling by a federal judge in California, which agreed with conservation groups that claimed in a 2019 lawsuit that the Administration had violated several laws in instituting the rollbacks.
ON the WIRE
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 20226
The Senate is also considering the bipartisan Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Enhancements Act of 2022, which would greatly boost the only federal grants program specifically dedicated to conserving migratory birds across the Western Hemisphere. The bill quadruples Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) funding to $20 million, as well as enabling more equitable access to the program.
Landmarks in Federal Conservation Legislation
Two important pieces of conservation legislation await U.S. Senate votes. The bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) passed the House of Representatives in June. If passed in the Senate, RAWA will be a boon for North America’s declining bird populations and other wildlife, allocating to states, tribal nations, and territories $1.39 billion annually for their efforts to help recover declining and federally listed species. Conservation groups hail this as historically significant legislation that could, as Margaret Renki wrote in The New York Times “become the single most effective tool in combatting biodiversity loss since the Endangered Species Act.”
ABC’s Vice President of Policy Steve Holmer celebrated the court decision, noting that a strong ESA must “remain intact if we are going to recover listed species and reverse bird declines.”
Endangered Species Protections Restored
(For more on this species, see p. 17.)
n other murrelet-related news, a coalition of Oregon conservation groups notified the Bureau of Land Management in July that it intends to sue over the agency’s plan to log thousands of old-growth acres in the state. “This project is a step back in time to the era of unsustainable logging — eliminating irreplaceable old-growth forests and harming endangered species such as the Marbled Murrelet, all while completely ignoring the role these old forests play in moderating climate change,” said ABC Vice President of Policy Steve Holmer.
Oregon Campers Asked to “Crumb Clean” for Murrelets
Oregon Groups Challenge BLM Over Forest Plans
I
The linkage is clear: Corvid populations can be artificially boosted by increased food availability from garbage. Corvids are also predators, and research has shown that they are responsible for a significant number of murrelet
7BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Luckily,populations.there
ways to dispose of waste, including wildlife-proof garbage cans, food lockers, and dishwashing stations. The program substantially reduced the number of Steller’s Jays in areas where it was implemented.
is evidence that cleaner campsites deter corvids. California State Parks launched a “Crumb Clean” campaign in 2013 — offering camper education and better
f you’re camping in a forest 50 miles from the nearest coast, seabirds probably aren’t top of mind. But if you’re in the temperate rainforests of Oregon, you might be pitching your tent beneath the hidden nest of a state-Endangered and federally Threatened Marbled Murrelet, and these birds need our help. Messy campers attract crafty corvids like the Common Raven or Steller’s Jay, which also eat murrelet eggs and chicks. An ABCled initiative launched in Oregon this summer aims to save the forestnesting seabirds by asking campers to carefully pick up after themselves.
trapDainrofilaCementofParksandRecreationMarbledMurrelet
nest failures (as many as four in five nests fail). Preventing expansion of corvid populations in the Marbled Murrelet’s range could make a significant difference to murrelet
— Rachel Fritts, ABC Writer/Editor
I
This year, ABC is leading the expansion of the Crumb Clean program into Oregon, hoping to build on the success in California. ABC is partnering with the Oregon Department of Forestry, along with Environment for the Americas, to prioritize locations for the program and to adapt signs and other materials used in the California campaign. If all goes well, ABC hopes to expand the effort to Washington next year. The program serves as an important reminder than even a seemingly simple action, like washing a plate, can have life-saving consequences for imperiled wildlife.
habitat in Oregon. Photo by David Patte, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
By contrast, industrial-scale PV solar projects require somewhere between several hundred to thousands of acres of flat, cleared land per installation. They are typically placed on previously undeveloped areas or existing farmlands. Although research
In addition, industrial-scale projects often require construction of new powerlines to connect to the electricity grid, which create both electrocution and collision hazards for birds. There is also evidence that the massive reflective surface created by expansive panel arrays lures and can kill birds, perhaps appearing to them like the surface of a lake.
he Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS) presented ABC Director of Public Relations Jordan Rutter with its first Early Professional Avian Conservation and Community Impact Award at its annual meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July. Outside her busy day job at ABC, Jordan is the chair of the WOS Communications Committee and a co-founder of Bird Names for Birds (birdnamesforbirds.wordpress.com/). The award honors the contributions of WOS members who work in non-research careers that contribute to bird conservation.
According to award committee chair Jennie Duberstein, Jordan was chosen for this first-time award because of her “unique combination of contributions in science communication and commitment to justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity,” adding: “In addition to her efforts to push the WOS council to improve its justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity efforts, Jordan’s work with Bird Names for Birds has already had a tremendous impact on the future of ornithology, and is poised to be the catalyst for major, positive changes to come.” Congratulations, Jordan!
ABC Staffer Wins First-of-kind Wilson Award
RutterPambyPhoto
To learn more about the benefits of distributed solar, see: org/blog/distributed-solar-birds/abcbirds.
Distributed solar energy is generated at or near the location where it is needed. Installed in alreadydeveloped areas, it uses photovoltaic (PV) panels to convert sunlight into electricity. Examples of distributed solar projects include rooftop solar, solar canopies built over parking lots, and community solar, when a group of community members buys into a nearby solar array.
While all energy generation — including renewables — has impacts, distributed solar is so far the only option that has very limited effects on undeveloped habitats because
it is mostly installed on existing buildings and other structures. That’s important, because habitat loss is the most critical threat many bird species face.
ABC proposes that one of the best things that you can do for birds, and also climate change, is to install and support distributed solar at your home, business, or community.
C
T
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 20228 ON the WIRE
Bald Eagle atop solar panel by Gabrielle Trouton, Shutterstock.
is ongoing to see how acres occupied by industrial solar could still provide at least some biodiversity benefits, these installations often contribute to large areas of habitat loss.
Distributed Solar: A Sunnier Option for Birds and Climate
Our cities and suburbs, the hubs of household energy demand, offer endless opportunities for distributed solar. The efficiency of using already existing structures for power production not only makes great sense — it also helps save habitat for birds and other wildlife.
limate change is bad news for birds. Impacts like higher temperatures, rising sea levels, extreme weather, habitat loss, and disease spread already affect hundreds of avian species.
Other funders have recognized the importance of this work, and we have a grant that requires us to raise $26,105 in matching funds. Please don’t let this opportunity pass by! Grassland birds need your help. Please give today.
Please use the enclosed envelope to make a donation, or give online at: abcbirds.org/ grasslands-birds BRING BACK OUR GRASSLAND BIRDS!
• Work with ranchers and farmers to promote sustainable land use;
With one donation, you can help a variety of grassland birds, from the Eastern Meadowlark to the Long-billed Curlew, Bobolink, Northern Bobwhite, Baird’s Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, and Lark Bunting.
• Plant native grasses and wildflowers to create the habitat birds need;
Help Restore Native Grasslands
Your gift today is urgently needed to help reverse declines in grassland birds. More than 720 million grassland birds have been lost since 1970, representing a 53-percent decline in one human lifetime. We’ve already lost three out of four Eastern Meadowlarks. Without quick action, we’ll lose many more.
Eastern Meadowlark by Christopher Becerra, Shutterstock
• Conduct workshops and offer scholarships so that more landowners can attend educational programs detailing grazing practices that benefit both birds and livestock.
Your gift supports ABC’s work to:
See the blog at: bit.ly/LingeringEffectsof2020
Yurok Tribe Leads Condor Reintroduction in Northern California
DDT and PCBs Threaten Coastal California Condors
Prolonged drought and rising temperatures have raised concern in the normally bird-rich hub of
southeastern Arizona. Following 2020’s historic drought, birders had a hard time finding even common species such as the Canyon Wren and Rufous-crowned Sparrow in their usual haunts.
ShutterstockPhotography,ReevesPaulbySandpiperUpland
In May, several captive-raised juvenile California Condors were released into Redwoods National Park, within the lands of the Yurok Tribe, a community leading a large coalition of conservation entities in efforts to return this Endangered species to Northern California. The goal is to release four to six birds per year for the next two decades.
Species noted as declining included the Upland Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Great Horned Owl, American Redstart, and House Sparrow.
The results of a 22-year monitoring effort by birders and biologists, run by a 21-group coalition called the Bird Conservation Network, details recent breeding-bird trends across five of the Chicago area’s main Thehabitats.city and region are rich in parkland, and conservation efforts appear to be paying off, with notable population boosts for generally declining species including the Redheaded Woodpecker, Henslow’s Sparrow, Dickcissel, Wood Thrush, Marsh Wren, and Sora.
BIRDS in BRIEF
Learn more: trends21/trends.htmlbcnbirds.org/
ProductionsElementsNaturalHomel,GregbyTrogonElegant
“For countless generations, the Yurok people have upheld a sacred responsibility to maintain balance in the natural world. Condor reintroduction is a reallife manifestation of our cultural commitment to restore and protect the planet for future generations,” said Joseph L. James, the Chairman
10 BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Birders Help Reveal Promising Trends in Chicago-Area Birds
According to eBird data analysis by biologist Tim Helentjaris, which he reported on the Tucson Audubon Society’s blog, Elegant Trogon observations were down more than 60 percent between 2019 and 2021, while those of the normally common Black-tailed Gnatcatcher dropped by more than half. “What is most disconcerting about these losses is that we are still seeing the effects into 2022,” Helentjaris wrote.
Meanwhile, Bird Sightings Dry Up in Arizona…
California Condors foraging along California shorelines remain threatened by DDT and PCBs, as well as other contaminants, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology in May. Although DDT has been banned in the U.S. since 1972 and
HaigSusanbyCondorCalifornia
PCBs since 1979, these persistent compounds were dumped off the California coast decades ago and still threaten marine life including dolphins and sea lions, the carcasses of which condors feed upon. The study estimated that DDT and PCBs were seven and 40 times more abundant, respectively, in condors of coastal California, compared with counterparts living in Baja California, Mexico. Among other health issues, DDT causes eggshell thinning in condors and other raptors.
Learn more: condor-restoration-programyuroktribe.org/yurok-
In June, the 501st captive-raised bird was released into protected habitat
11BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Nearly Half of the World’s Bird Species Are Declining
New analysis estimates that 48 percent of the world’s bird species are in decline. The study, the final version of which should be posted online by October, is being published in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources and compiled by a team of researchers using information on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Red List database of about 11,000 species.
Yardbird Yardstick
Florida Corridor Program Gets a Bump
Just an interesting fact: The American Robin population is estimated at 370 million — one for every person in the United States and Canada. This figure can be used as a “yardstick” to compare populations of other species.
of the Yurok Tribe. “On behalf of the Yurok Tribe, I would like to thank all of the individuals, agencies, and organizations that helped us prepare to welcome prey-go-neesh (condor) back to our homeland.”
Anetwork.model
where other released birds and their offspring have been detected breeding. The wild population is now estimated at about 125, up from a low of 75 wild individuals in 2018.
ShutterstockHennessy,RaybyScrub-JayFlorida
We Want Your Feedback!
Please go to the following link to fill out our Bird Conservation magazine readership survey. Your input can help us improve the magazine! find the survey here: abcbirds.org/magazine_survey
For example, the widespread but declining Chimney Swift’s population is estimated at fewer than 8 million birds, while that of the Kirtland’s Warbler stands at around 4,490 — a small number that is a vast improvement from the species’ all-time low of 334.
Ten million of the corridor’s slated 17.7 million acres are already designated for conservation, including ranches and other sustainably managed working lands.
owendeutsch.comDeutsch,OwenbyRobinAmerican
You'll
See a map at: floridawildlifecorridor.org
for other states and countries, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law in July 2021. It aims to protect the state’s impressive biodiversity from ever-expanding development (with 22 million people, Florida is now the third-most-populous state).
Learn more: annurev-environ-112420-014642org/doi/abs/10.1146/annualreviews.
Florida’s resident Grasshopper Sparrow subspecies hovers at the edge of extinction in a few of the state’s remaining prairies. Luckily, this rare population is being boosted by habitat conservation, nest protec tion, and captive-breeding efforts by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Con servation Commission, White Oak Conservation, and other partners.
Florida SparrowGrasshopperMilestone
In March, Florida’s legislature approved purchase of almost 17,000 acres of Florida scrub, Everglades wetland, grassland, and Longleaf Pine forest that provide key links in the state’s growing wildlife-corridor
Written by Daniel J. Lebbin; Artwork by Alex Boersma
n South America, the nests and breeding behavior of many secretive species remain shrouded in mystery. This offers exciting opportunities for ornithologists and birders to fill in knowledge gaps. In recent years, a few individual researchers, like Harold Greeney in Ecuador and Gustavo Londoño in Colombia and Peru, have made out-sized contributions, describing numerous species’ “first” nests and other breeding behaviors, but much remains to be learned about how many Neotropical birds nest and raise their young. As you’ll see here, for some of the rarest species, such information is already proving invaluable in conservation efforts aimed at preventing extinctions.
Elsewhere in South America, nest box programs helped boost numbers of other species, including the Endangered El Oro Parakeet at Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador and the Endangered Gray-breasted Parakeet in the Baturité Mountains of Brazil. In the latter case, the population grew enough that in May 2022, a dozen Gray-breasted Parakeets were reintroduced, along with nest boxes, at a forested area in a nearby mountain range.
ABC is grateful to the many generous supporters (too many to list here) who have made our work possible to protect these rare species.
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 202212
Nests of SouthRareAmerican
Nest boxes can be important conservation tools in areas where natural nest sites are limited, and ABC actively supports several South American partners’ efforts to provide them. For example, ABC’s partner Asociación Armonía in Bolivia has mastered the design of artificial nest boxes for Critically Endangered Bluethroated Macaws in the southern Beni region, fledging 105 birds since 2005 — representing about 25 percent of the wild population. Armonía is also working on nest box designs that might entice these macaws to nest in the northern Beni at Barba Azul Reserve. ABC supported the nest-box programs and land acquisition at the two key reserves for this species.
Blue-throated Macaw
I
Birds
ABC’s partner Aquasis is planting the native shrub species that offer fruit and preferred nesting sites for these birds, enhancing manakin habitat within the Oasis Araripe Reserve. Aquasis is also experimenting with extending artificial channels from springs to create additional streams in hopes of boosting manakin breeding options.
The Critically Endangered Araripe Manakin usually builds its shallow cup-nest structure in the fork of a small horizontal branch — just a few feet above running water. This special nesting behavior means that we must make it a priority to protect streamside habitat for this extremely rare bird on the otherwise-arid Araripe Escarpment in northeastern Brazil.
14 BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Nests of Rare South American Birds
Araripe Manakin
ABC supports this work, and also helped Aquasis with land acquisition, establishment of a nursery for the reforestation work, and reserve infrastructure efforts.
To learn about how you can travel to observe some of the species featured here, see: conservationbirding.org
Now,increased.cowbird
ABOVE: The Shiny Cowbird's egg is noticeably larger than those of the brushfinch.
Pale-headed Brushfinch
After purchasing, with ABC support, some of the last habitat remnants where this species survived to create Yunguilla Reserve, Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco discovered many nests failed due to brood parasitism by Shiny Cowbirds. After controlling cowbirds around the reserve, reproductive success improved and the population
Marvelous Spatuletail
control is not necessary because the two species no longer nest in sync, as earlier rice harvests, likely due to climate change, create a food bounty that spurs earlier nesting for the cowbirds. (For more on the brushfinch, see p. 26.)
With ABC’s support, our partner Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) has worked to restore and protect habitat for this Endangered species at and around Huembo Reserve in northern Peru. There, profits from ecotourism help sustain reserve management, while feeding stations and garden flowers provide great opportunities for visitors to observe and photograph this species.
Male Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbirds put on dramatic displays to attract mates, but once this show is over, the female does all the work to build a nest, lay eggs, and rear young. This behavior is typical of hummingbirds, as is this species’ nest: It’s a compact open cup made of fine materials, with an exterior decorated with lichen as camouflage.
Understanding the breeding behavior of the Endangered Pale-headed Brushfinch was key to increasing this bird’s population from five to 15 pairs in 1998 to about 240 individuals (112 territories) in 2021.
Storm-petrels nest in burrows or rock crevices, and can be notoriously hard to find. The Pincoya Storm-Petrel was only recently discovered and described as a new species in 2013. (The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, lists it as Data Deficient because so little is known of its status.) Its nesting grounds remain unknown, although biologists are eying offshore islands in Chile’s Gulf of Puerto Montt.
MALE
16 BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
FEMALE
Pincoya Storm-Petrel
Nests of Rare South American Birds Alagoas Antwren
With so few individuals remaining in such a small area, boosting breeding success is critical to averting extinction. ABC and partners SAVE Brasil and Instituto Claravis have worked in the reserve to find the last few nests of these birds, as well as those of other species, to study which animals prey on eggs and nestlings. Armed with this information, we can take actions to help the Alagoas Antwren sidestep extinction.
In hopes of locating nesting areas, ABC has supported Chilean partner Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile (ROC) in efforts to reach out to nearby communities to see if, and where, any members of this species turn up.
Daniel J. Lebbin is ABC’s Vice President of Threatened Species.
ABC has also supported ROC to find and conserve nesting colonies of Markham’s and Ringed Storm-Petrels — not on islands but in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The first Ringed Storm-Petrel nests were discovered just five years ago! Locating storm-petrel colonies is essential to protecting these species from dangers including invasive predators and light pollution, which disorients birds both young and adult.
The Critically Endangered Alagoas Antwren is a species on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 20 individuals surviving in a single forest fragment of less than 5,000 acres, in the Murici Ecological Station, Brazil. The first nest was documented in 2018 and only three others have been found since — cup nests fixed to thin branch forks and made of black fungal threads, with bits of dead leaf attached on the outside.
The Marbled Murrelet was one of the U.S. and Canada’s last breeding species to reveal its nesting secrets when — in August 1974 — a tree surgeon found a nest with a downy chick 147 feet up in a 200-foot-tall Douglas Fir tree. The discovery showed that this remarkable seabird, which is listed as Endangered by the IUCN and Threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, depends on old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. The revelation galvanized forest protection and management efforts to conserve the Marbled Murrelet. More than 160 nests have since been found, the vast majority in trees. Now, with ABC support, conservationists are experimenting with social attrac tion to see if birds will breed in younger forests.
North America’s Treetop Seabird
Marbled Murrelet egg and growing chick.
(For more on this species, see p. 7.)
We may have assumed that what goes on above water is separate from what happens within it, but the actions of seabirds like this Brown Noddy, on a reef islet in French Polynesia, are proving otherwise. Photo by © Seadam, Dreamstime.com.
FERTILE
GROUNDS
How Seabird “Waste” Benefits Land and Sea
Seabirds make their living foraging across huge areas of ocean, often far from the islands where they roost and raise their young. For example, Sooty Shearwaters raising young on islands south of New Zealand venture up to 1,200 miles roundtrip to Antarctic waters to bring meals back to their growing chicks. At bustling colonies, food is then digested and
Before factory-made synthetic fertilizers became widely available in the early 1900s, farmers were desperate for highly potent guano to boost crop yields. Ships from the U.S., Germany, Spain, and the British Isles, for example, traveled thousands of miles to the seabird colonies and rich guano beds of Peru’s Chincha Islands to load up on the valuable fertilizer, a prized commodity
“Bird-derived nutrients in the form of guano have long underwritten human agriculture,” says Sea McKeon, ABC’s Marine Program Director. “We’ve been using these relationships between birds and the ocean, and birds and their nesting habitat, for centuries.”
waste is excreted as a white-washed bounty of nutrient-rich guano.
“You work on seabird colonies? How can you stand the smell?” That’s a common reaction when I mention my work as a field biologist. While it’s true that guano can be pungent, it’s also a key source of nutrients — and the more researchers tease out seabirds’ contributions to both islands and oceans, the more apparent it’s become that thriving colonies (and their poop) play key roles in a healthy environment.
by Martha Brown
Palmyra Atoll sits just north of the equator and 1,000 miles south of Hawai‘i. There, tens of thousands of Red-footed Boobies, Great Frigatebirds, and Black Noddies occupy stick nests that speckle the hot, humid atoll’s towering Pisonia and Beach Heliotrope trees. Below, Sooty Terns blanket the beach on their coral-scrape nests. This remote, seabird-rich cluster of nearly 50 low-lying islands is surrounded by a relatively undisturbed coral reef — and drenched by an annual average of 175 inches of rain. It offers
ABOVE: Guano from seabird colonies nourishes not only corals and beneficial algae, but also zooplankton that, in turn, feeds manta rays and other sea life. Art by Brook Johnson.
harvested there since pre-Incan times. Nations rattled sabers over guano and claimed islands that supported seabird colonies as territory to gain access to the “white gold.”
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 202220
The Straight Poop on Guano
As Honig explains, human activi ties that add additional nutrients and remove fish from the ocean can muddle the picture of guano’s positive impact on coral reefs — an impact that may only be obvious in settings such as untouched tropical ecosystems that are otherwise low in nutrients. So, what happens when you take the people out of the picture?
“So that was one part of the puzzle,” says Honig, who now heads UCSC’s Academic Excellence Program. “The nutrients weren’t being washed out of the system but were instead sticking around and being taken up by algae.” Unlike algal blooms caused by human activities, these guano-enriched algae in turn can better support herbivo rous “grazing” fish that keep the algal growth in check.
“If seabird guano is associated with a healthy herbivorous reef fish population, that’s different from the impacts we’re seeing from human
As a University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) graduate student, Susanna Honig wanted to find out. “It was a question that my graduate advisors Donald Croll and Bernie Tershy had long been thinking about,” she says. But first she had to figure out whether the guano is even
present in the reef system. “There was a prevailing idea that maybe the nutrients were being flushed out by wind and wave action, and we wanted to challenge that,” she says.
Forests and Fish
sewage, fertilizer, and overfishing that reduces populations of algal grazers. It’s really different from the simple story of ‘nutrients are bad for coral reefs,’” says Honig.
Today, we know that this rich resource, left where it’s dropped, yields great natural benefits. Guano is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, two elements that help feed the base of the food chain. But these same nutrients get a bad rap when it comes to coral reefs, because reefs can suffer when human-generated sewage and fertilizer runoff high in these same elements trigger smothering algae blooms. Since seabirds and coral reefs have coexisted for millions of years, does guano have a different impact on the reefs — and possibly a beneficial one?
Working in Kailua and Kaneohe Bay on O‘ahu, on Hawai‘i’s windward side, Honig and her colleague Brenna Mahoney collected water and algal samples adjacent to the small offshore islands that support Wedgetailed Shearwater and other seabird colonies. On islands with more nesting seabirds, they found both higher levels of phosphorus in surrounding waters and more seabird-derived nitrogen in nearshore algae.
Work is now underway to remove approximately 2 million of Palmyra’s coconut trees, which were planted centuries ago as part of a coconut-oil operation and now crowd out native trees. That project will give the
“Doug McCauley and Hillary Young of the University of California, Santa Barbara have been looking at that whole topic of seabird-derived nutrients and marine linkages at Palmyra since 2010, starting when they were graduate students,” says Alex Wegmann, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy, which co-owns and manages Palmyra as a research site and wildlife refuge with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
BELOW: Manta rays cruising offshore at Palmyra Atoll. Photo by Island Conservation.
atoll into surrounding waters. There, the guano nourished zooplankton blooms that attract manta rays and other plankton feeders. The researchers found more manta rays drawn to the native forestdominated coastlines where the seabirds preferred to nest — which generated 25 times more nitrogen compounds compared to runoff from nearby areas of cultivated Coconut Palms.
scientists an ideal place to study the effects of guano in the absence of human impacts.
McCauley and Young were able to trace the seabird-generated nitrogen and phosphorus flushed from the
Making what they called the “wingto-wing” connection, from seabirds and native trees to manta rays and other animals in the nearshore ecosystem, McCauley and Young showed that because seabirds generally shun Palmyra’s Coconut Palm groves as nesting sites, this type of land use seems to disrupt a natural
and beneficial chain of interactions linking seabirds to offshore species.
continued on p. 24
“At Palmyra, the seabirds are such an integral part of the native forest,” says Wegmann. “Not only have researchers measured increased productivity in the marine environment, such as an increase in plankton thanks to seabird inputs; they have seen the same effect in the native forest ecosystem: greater biodiversity of land crabs, geckos, insects. Everything is amplified with that nutrient input.”
PACIFIC PARADISE
1 Beach Heliotrope (tree) 2 Black Noddy 3 Manta Ray 4 Sooty Terns 5 Coconut Crab 6 Pisonia (tree) 7 Great Frigatebird (immature) 8 White Terns and egg 9 Blacktip Reef Shark 10 Red-footed Booby (juvenile) at nest
The remote Palmyra Atoll swarms with nesting seabirds that enrich both land and sea with their nutrient-rich droppings. The birds and their neighbors include: 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 Artwork by Chris Vest
7 8 9 10
By preying on bird eggs and chicks, introduced rats drastically reduced or eliminated seabird populations on some Chagos islands, while others nearby that lacked the rodents teemed with boobies, terns, shearwaters, tropicbirds, and frigatebirds. In 2018, a research group headed by Nicholas Graham of the United Kingdom’s Lancaster University reported that without rats, guano flowed freely into surrounding waters, where it nourished algae, sponges, and fish on adjacent coral reefs.
Overall, the biomass of fish was more than 50 percent higher near Chagos’ rat-free islands. Corals also grew faster, and the types of coralline algae that support young coral were far more abundant. Subsequent work on the Chagos Islands has shown that seabirds’ contributions may help reefs recover more quickly from coral bleaching events triggered by high water temperatures.
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 202224
Rats and Resilience
Research at remote, rat-free sites in New Caledonia and Fiji reported in the last several years shows similar results: Where seabirds are abundant, guano provides a significant source of nutrients, helping to nourish corals, including a dominant branching species named Acropora formosa.
fast-growing native forest a chance to recover and improve nesting habitat for the atoll’s seabirds.
Halfway around the world from Palmyra, the Chagos Islands form a small archipelago in the central Indian Ocean. This chain of islets
Teaming Up With Seabirds
Wegmann sees the effort as a potential blueprint for other settings: “Palmyra’s scenario as a coconutdominated plantation is a prominent land use across the Pacific. We feel that these results coming out of Palmyra are applicable at a global scale when you’re thinking of lowlying
McKeon explains: “We know that islands with mangrove systems, seagrass beds, and coral reefs survive hurricanes and cyclones much, much better than unprotected islands.
As more information emerges about the ways that seabirds enrich and stabilize ecosystems, ABC scientists are exploring the idea of both protecting the birds and harnessing their “guano power” through a system dubbed “bioshielding.” ABC’s Sea McKeon wants to build on the cascade of ecological benefits that seabirds contribute, through projects that would pair seabird conservation with habitat restoration. The goal is to ramp up protection of small, storm-vulnerable islands throughout the Atlantic and Pacific.
Thinkingislands.”beyond the reef and out to the deep waters surrounding Palmyra, Wegmann also reflects on the role seabirds play in the larger ecosystem: “They’re a nutrient contributor on land and in the nearshore system, but they’re also really important species out in the pelagic zone, where they’re top-level predators. Seabirds are unique in their ability to stitch all these habitats together through their interactions.”
offers a different type of living laboratory for studying the ways that seabird guano impacts the surrounding environment — and what happens when non-native predators interfere.
contributions reverberate far beyond local ecosystems. “This research is showing that seabirds are significant contributors to the global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles,” explains Brad Keitt, ABC’s Oceans and Islands Director. The study confirmed that as seabird guano breaks down into various forms of nitrogen and phos phorus, including airborne elements, it helps nourish a wide range of plants and animals both nearby and far from its original source.
Sea McKeon likens the challenge we now face in protecting seabirds to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” in which a sailor thoughtlessly kills an albatross, unleashing a wave of bad fortune, for which he must atone. “The modern thought about that poem is that an albatross around your neck is a problem of your own creation. But really, it could be interpreted that it’s about an opportunity lost: You had the chance to do the right thing, and you didn’t take advantage of it. I want to make sure we don’t lose the chance to do something now.”
In 2018, biologists from the Univer sity of Santiago in Spain reported in Nature Communications that seabirds’
the power of seabirds and upping the benefits they provide to both land and sea may involve broadening seabird protection efforts beyond a focus on just those that are most threatened. “Often the species most associated with the research coming out on seabirds’ role in ecosystems are not the world’s rarest species,” says Alex Wegmann. These include widespread species such as boobies, terns, and frigatebirds. “They’re the working class, the proletariat of the seabirds — from
the bird conservation perspective they’ve been ignored, even though they are playing a major role in keeping these systems functioning. I do think there’s a rising awareness of the importance of ecosystem function and the importance of seabirds in that role.”
What’s been missing from the equation is what seabirds bring to those systems.” Boosting seabird numbers could increase this “shielding” effect by upping the nutrient inputs that enhance coastal vegetation and nearshore Refugereefs.managers are already getting help from seabirds to heal fragile seagrass beds in the Florida Keys that had been torn up by boat propellers, hulls, and anchors. By adding specially designed stakes where cormorants, pelicans, and other seabirds can roost and add nutrients to the water, these critical fish nurseries recover from damage more quickly than do unfertilized sites.
“Not only is the amount of nutrients that they transmit between oceans and land significant,” says Keitt, “but even more so, the type of nitrogen and phosphorus excreted by the birds is more readily ‘bioavailable.’
LEFT: A juvenile Red-footed Booby peers from its nest in a Beach Heliotrope tree. Photo by Laura M. Beauregard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ABOVE: Acropora corals, which benefit from seabird guano, and Raccoon Butterflyfish in a Palmyra lagoon. Photo by zaferkizilkaya, Shutterstock.
In other words, it’s particularly designed to be taken up and used by those Ironically,ecosystems.”aswecome to better understand the critical roles seabirds and guano play in ocean systems, seabird populations are declining worldwide. Overall numbers have dropped 70 percent globally over the past 60 years, with more than a third of seabird species now facing extinction. Many experts believe the actual decline over the last several centuries has been closer to 90 to 99 Harnessingpercent.
Saving BenefactorsWinged
Martha Brown is a writer, editor, and field biologist. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.
Our opportunity is there to slow or even reverse seabird declines — we have the tools, whether it’s removing invasive predators and plants from islands, managing fisheries to protect seabirds and their prey, or creating “safe havens” where seabirds can nest, sheltered from the impacts of sea level rise. In doing so, we’ll preserve not just the birds, but the contributions they make to keep ecosystems thriv ing. Think of it as the sweet smell of seabirds making the ocean a healthier, more productive place.
25BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Saving Rare Birds Large and Small
The Pale-headed Brushfinch was rediscovered in a dry inter-Andean valley in west-central Ecuador almost 25 years ago — following three decades without a record of the species.
A QUESTION
A wave of relief rolled over those on the expedition that found this “lost” bird, an effort spearheaded by Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco) with ABC support. But relief soon turned to worry.
by David A.Wiedenfeld
OF HABITAT
individuals, with 112 known territories. All told, Jocotoco and ABC, along with Rainforest Trust, have protected about 485 acres of brushfinch habitat. As a result of these actions, the species was downlisted on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Red List from “Critically Endangered” to “Endangered.” (See this species’ nest on p. 15.)
It seems as though, for the Pale-headed Brushfinch, an area of 485 acres has been sufficient to prevent its extinction. And for many other highly localized species,
After all, it seemed at the time that the species numbered about 15 pairs. Worse yet, as far as anyone knew, the Pale-headed Brushfinch only occurred on about 60 acres — an area the size of one or two U.S. high school campuses — within the Río Yunguilla Valley.
Jocotoco and ABC immediately began conservation efforts by acquiring, protecting, then improving habitat for the brushfinch, while taking actions to prevent wildfire and other threats to the land. Over the past few decades, the Pale-headed Brushfinch’s story has become a shining example of how, even in a small area, a species can be saved from extinction, following clear-headed strategy based on sound research. In 2021, the total population was estimated to have tripled to about 240
Thanks to quick action after its rediscovery, Ecuador's Pale-headed Brushfinch is rebounding in key habitat now ringed by intensive agriculture. Brushfinch photo by Dušan Brinkhuizen; view of Yunguilla Valley, Ecuador, by Paul S. Wolf, Shutterstock.
At ABC, one important goal of our work is to protect all of the species of threatened birds in the Americas,
Unlike familiar birds that have been studied for decades, rare birds like the Antioquia Brushfinch sometimes land in our laps without much information with which to start our work.
a relatively small amount of habitat also can go a long way toward saving them. But formulating the right recipe for the long-term conservation of a rare bird species is a varied and vexing challenge, made all the more urgent when that bird sits squarely in extinction’s crosshairs. Of course, this is partly because every species has unique habitat needs. Consider, for example, that Yellow Warblers and House Wrens have been known to nest on territories smaller than an acre, while eagles may require thousands of acres for a pair to establish a successful nest.
A well-executed plan is only as good as its intel. Before conservationists jump into action to save a species, they at least need likely estimates of a species’ population size, location, and current threats. They will have to gather lots of information on topics from the habitat needs mentioned above, to identifying critical characteristics of the habitat, to understanding how the habitat fits in the landscape, to how rapidly the habitat is being lost. To quickly address many of these topics, they often use some rules of thumb to make educated guesses.
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 202228
Saving the Rarest, Small and Great
The conservation challenge is to determine all places where the species may occur, now that the general area is known. Led by partner Corporación SalvaMontes, searches of the surrounding area and likely sites are ongoing, with conservationists and birders from around the region seeking the bird in auspicious-looking habitat patches.
Unlike familiar birds that have been studied for decades or even centuries, such as the Blue Tit in Europe, Yellow Warbler in North America, or gamebirds like doves or turkeys, rare birds sometimes land in our laps without much information with which to start our work. That’s where we are right now with the Pale-headed Brushfinch’s cousin, the Antioquia Brushfinch. There were no records at all for this species from 1971 until its rediscovery near Medellín, Colombia, in 2018; before then, it was only known from specimens in museum drawers, with no notes or illustrations of the species’ behavior in the wild. This songbird is now considered Critically Endangered and in dire need of conservation. Its main threat: habitat loss. The area where this songbird was rediscovered has largely been converted to agriculture including crops, pastures, and dairies — land uses that are inhospitable to the persistence of many local plants and
animals, let alone an imperiled bird. But field research has revealed that Antioquia Brushfinches do survive in shrubby natural habitats adjacent to some of these areas.
continued on p. 31
The preferred habitat of many highly localized rare birds often doesn’t exist in large blocks. Fortunately, these days, mapping using powerful tools like satellite imagery and geographic information system (GIS) software is a key part of the conservationists’ toolkit, helping to identify the occupied and potentially occupied habitat parcels.
The “500” Rule of Thumb
Antioquia Brushfinch by Yovany Ochoa.
This work to define a range for the species and its preferred habitat is the first step. But the question remains, how much habitat is enough? Obviously, it must be enough to provide a place for an adequate population of the species to thrive. Now, what’s an “adequate population?” One rule of thumb that conservationists have long used is a minimum population size of 500 individuals. This number is thought, in general, to provide for enough genetic diversity that inbreeding can be avoided, and it provides a bit of a buffer to allow the population to survive a loss in bad years — say, due to fires, storms, or food scarcity brought on by drought. A higher number would of course be better, but protecting habitat for 500 makes a good start.
* 178 sq km x 2 birds/sq km = 356 birds supported
To evaluate whether the Cundinamarca Antpitta has enough protected habitat for survival, we looked at how much habitat would be needed to support 500 individuals — a minimum population size. To evaluate this, we worked with two facts:
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? An Antpitta's Tale
Even though the Cundinamarca Antpitta is the focal species in this case, many other birds share its habitat and thus benefit from its conservation. These species include residents like the Lined Quail-Dove, Tawnybreasted Tinamou, Black-collared and Green Jays, and the Vulnerable and endemic Brown-breasted Parakeet. Winter visitors that benefit from protection of the antpitta’s habitat include the Blackburnian Warbler and Broad-winged Hawk.
• Two to three Cundinamarca Antpittas were thought to occur in each sq km, based on BirdLife International data.
enough habitat to support 144 more birds. Again, us ing the two-birds-per-km guideline, we were able to estimate that another 72 square km of protected habitat would be needed to support a population of 500.**
• About 178 square kilometers (sq km) of the species’ habitat was currently protected, based on our gap analysis (see p. 31).
—Daniel J. Lebbin
** 72 sq km x 2 birds/sq km = 144 birds supported
Using the lower population estimate of two birds per sq km, we were able to estimate that only 356 birds can be supported by existing protected habitat.* To get to our target of 500 individuals, we would need to protect
29BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
To sum it up: To adequately protect the Cundinamarca Antpitta, we’d need to add an additional 72 sq kms to the existing 178 sq kms protected, for a total of about 250 sq km.*** That’s an area smaller than Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
*** 178 sq km + 72 sq km = 250 sq km needed to support 500 birds
For many species, a relatively small amount of protected habitat can go a long way to protecting against extinction. Consider the highly localized and Endangered Cundinamarca Antpitta. This long-legged, stubby-tailed forest bird was described as a species in 1992 and is only found within a small sliver of the Andes southeast of Bogotá, Colombia.
Cundinamarca Antpitta by Joachim Bertrands/Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Thewell.goal
Often, combined efforts yield great results: Consider the example of one of the world’s smallest owls. The Longwhiskered Owlet, a bird of high, remote, wet, and very steep cloud forests, remained unknown to science until 1976. After its discovery, the owlet wasn’t consistently seen for another 31 years, until 2007, when it was found in northern Peru at an area called Abra Patricia.
Migratorycurassows.birds
We look at each species as a separate, special mission. In some cases, we’re trying to reach “enough” habitat through acquisition and protection of key parcels, as is now starting to be done for the Antioquia Brushfinch. In other cases, large-scale efforts like the 30x30 initiative are necessary to provide habitat at a sufficient scale.
No Cookie-Cutter Case
Hawai‘i, and U.S. Pacific territories. Unfortunately, there are a lot of threatened bird species. For the most threatened species alone — those classified by the IUCN as Critically Endangered and Endangered — that currently means 263 bird species, 189 of which are primarily threatened by habitat loss. To make our efforts more efficient, ABC has been working on a project we’ve given the name “gap analysis,” to identify the gaps in protection for most of the habitatlimited threatened species. Our first step, working with partners in Stuart Pimm’s lab at Duke University, has been to develop accurate distribution maps for many of these “gap” species — at least those with populations large enough that it’s possible to make a map. (It’s hard to map the “lost” birds, those that haven’t been seen for many years!)
For such species, larger-scale action is needed to protect and connect lands. One such effort is the 30x30 initiative, drafted by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to protect 30 percent of Earth for conservation by 2030. The current Administration has a similar goal for the U.S. Not all the conservation land under the 30x30 initiatives will be locked into parks and preserves. Much would still be used in agriculture, but in a sustainable way. Even small changes in intensive agriculture — like leaving fencerows with native vegetation — can help to save habitat for birds and contribute to conserving enough land even for wide-ranging species like eagles and
31BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
Wide-ranging and Endangered, the Black-and-chestnut Eagle requires large areas of well-conserved Andean forest habitat to ensure the species' survival. Photo by Dušan Brinkhuizen.
A key finding of overlaying the ranges and habitat of many threatened species is that, in some areas, many species needing habitat protection occur together. (See p. 32 for an example.) This is what we’re looking for: opportunities to protect many species at once. This makes conservation more efficient, but it also helps to keep ecosystems intact, aiding the conservation of many species beyond birds. After all, an ecosystem is not just made up of birds, although they can serve as good indicators of high-quality habitat. Where there are many birds, there are likely to be many other organisms as
A key finding of overlaying the ranges and habitat of many threatened species is that, in some areas, many species needing habitat protection occur together.
continued on p. 33
of protecting multiple rare bird species at a time adds a new layer to our question of what is the right recipe needed for conservation. This goal requires getting the 30,000-foot view, being able to see where all of the birds’ ranges fit together, to be able to focus on that area for conservation. By overlapping our conservation efforts, we can protect enough habitat and do it for many species.
require still other considerations. They occupy at least three different habitats throughout their life-cycles: breeding grounds, wintering grounds, and migratory stopovers. The magnificent Whooping Crane has been brought back from the edge of extinction by conservation of places where the species breeds in Canada, as well as on wintering grounds on the coast of Texas, and at stopover sites such as along the Platte River in Nebraska. These same complications also arise for small migratory birds like the Golden-cheeked Warbler, a species that nests only in Central Texas and winters in scattered mountainous regions in southern Mexico and Central America.
Some birds, however, are very dispersed across the landscape and therefore require very large areas of protected habitat to support a reasonable population size and ensure the species avoids extinction. For species in this category, such as the Endangered Black-and-chestnut Eagle or the Critically Endangered Blue-billed Curassow, protecting only small areas of perhaps a few hundred or even a few thousand acres will not be enough.
Modern tools like GIS mapping and record databases help conservationists draw up game plans for assuring the long-term conservation of multiple rare species in the same areas. For example, in Peru’s Colan-Alto Mayo BirdScape — one of nearly 100 ABC priority areas for landscape-scale conservation — mapping reveals habitats where the range-restricted Longwhiskered Owlet and Ochrefronted Antpitta can both be found. Protecting these lands in reserves, such as the ABCsupported Abra Patricia Reserve, helps to ensure habitat for these and many other birds (including the Endangered Lulu’s Tody-Flycatcher and
32 BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
MANY RARE SPECIES, ONE BIRDSCAPE
the Royal Sunangel), as well as scarce, wide-ranging mammals like the Critically Endangered Peruvian Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey and the Spectacled Bear — the continent’s only bear, which is listed as Vulnerable. ABC’s partner in Peru, Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), manages Abra Patricia Reserve, while communities and the government protect other large areas of habitat.
LEFT: Ochre-fronted Antpitta by Carlos Calle Quispe. NEXT PAGE: Long-whiskered Owlet by Nick Athanas; Spectacled Bear by Kevin Schafer/Minden Pictures; Peruvian Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey by Amazon-Images/Alamy Stock Photo.
downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered by the IUCN. The macaw’s success has largely resulted from increased protection of its habitat with the establishment of a reserve by ABC’s partner Fundação Biodiversitas. (This species is now being threatened by development of a wind power project in its foraging areas, which can put large, high-flying birds in danger.)
With support from ABC, our partner Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) now owns and manages a reserve there, protecting more than 25,000 acres for the owl and an ark of other species, including the Endangered Ochre-fronted Antpitta, the Critically Endangered Peruvian Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey, the Spectacled Bear, and many rare and endemic plants. This area protects a key part of the owlet’s range, plus there are adjacent government-owned and other conservation lands adding further protection. Together, these areas are likely to sustain this bird’s population long term. In 2020, the IUCN downlisted the owlet from Endangered to the no-longer-highly-threatened status of
Habitat is the key for so many species, and it is always a challenge to know how much is enough. But thanks to collaboration, modern science, and a broad range of ways to conserve land, we continue to craft conservation recipes that help to save the rarest of the rare.
David A. Wiedenfeld is ABC’s Senior Conservation Scientist.
TheVulnerable.“rightrecipe”
seems to have been found for more and more rare bird species. The Pale-headed Brushfinch mentioned above seems to be one that can be put in the success category. The Lear’s Macaw was a species thought 40 years ago to number fewer than 100 birds, but now there are more than 1,600, and the species has been
33BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
ABC BIRDING
RecreationHolywell JAMAICAArea,
JAMAICA RecreationHolywellArea
Focal Birds: Birds are easy to see along Holywell’s trails and roadsides. Endemic and near-endemic bird species include: the Ring-tailed Pigeon, Crested Quail-Dove, Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, Chestnutbellied Cuckoo (this issue’s cover bird), Jamaican Owl, Streamertail (the national bird), Vervain Hummingbird, Jamaican Tody, Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Elaenia, Sad and Rufous-tailed Flycatchers, Jamaican Becard, Whiteeyed and White-chinned Thrushes, Jamaican and Blue Mountain Vireos, Arrow-headed Warbler, Jamaican Spindalis, Jamaican Euphonia, Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, Orangequit, Jamaican Oriole, and the Endangered Jamaican Blackbird.
35BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022 A4 A4 B1 A3 A3 B2 A4 KINGSTON
Lay of the Land: The Holywell Recreation Area (also called Hardwar Gap) is the gateway to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. It sits at about 3,000 feet, a winding hour’s drive from Kingston, Jamaica’s balmy and bustling capital. Cloaked in lush montane tropical forest, Holywell and the surrounding parkland shelter most of the island’s impressive array of endemic bird species.
LEFT: The tiny and dazzling Jamaican Tody frequents tangles at the forest edge. Photo by Neil Bowman, Shutterstock.
The Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), which manages the recreation area, works with ABC on conservation efforts within the park. (See Conservation Activities, next page).
Caribbean Sea Sea
Blue and John CrowNationalMountainsPark
The entrance to Holywell Recreation Area. Photo by Marta C. Youth.
Caribbean
ABC BIRDING
ABC BIRDING
BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 202236
Other Wildlife: Aside from bats, the island nation has only one endemic native land mammal, an Endangered rabbit-sized rodent called the Brown’s Hutia. It is seldom seen, due both to its nocturnal habits and rarity. The introduced Small Indian Mongoose, nemesis to hutias and birds, is often seen. In addition to birds, Jamaica is rich in endemic reptiles: The park is home to the Blue Mountain Giant Anole and Jamaican Turquoise Anole, and the low-profile Jamaican Boa. Watch for the Endangered Homerus, or Jamaican Giant, Swallowtail. With a wingspan up to six inches across, this is the Western Hemisphere’s largest
When to Visit: Try to visit during the workweek to avoid weekend and holiday crowds. The high elevation moderates the tropical climate enough to warrant wearing a sweatshirt or sweater when starting out in early morning, year-round. The drier months, between late November and mid-May, include much of the time when Neotropical migrants visit the island (midSeptember to March). Regular rains occur between late May and November, which also spans the Caribbean hurricane season.
Jamaica is rich in endemic bird species, most of which occur at Holywell. Pictured on this page, left to right, are: Streamertail by Nick Athanas; Jamaican Owl by Owen Deutsch, owendeutsch. com; Jamaican Blackbird by Howard Youth; and Orangequit by Sevenstock Studio, Shutterstock.
Many Neotropical migrants winter here, including many wood-warblers such as the Black-throated Blue Warbler, American Redstart, and Prairie Warbler, and possibly the Bicknell’s Thrush.
butterfly. The national park is one of two strongholds for this species.
Conservation Activities: ABC has worked with JCDT to improve tourism infrastructure in the park, and to conduct reforestation, migratory bird monitoring, and agroforestry workshops. Over the
37BIRD CONSERVATION | SUMMER/FALL 2022
past few years, these efforts have included reforesting open areas at Holywell with 3,000 trees over 55 acres; planting 1,400 trees as living fences; creating over two miles of firebreak to help control forest fires; training local communities in
agroforestry, mainly shade-grown coffee; and also training local community members to work as bird guides and tourism assistants.
at Holywell are available for rent and often book well in advance for weekends. (To learn more, contact JCDT via the website listed at right.) Other
For More Information: Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust: www.jcdt.org.jm/
Directions: The recreation area is reached from the city’s east side via the B-1 Highway, which snakes its way northeast to the park. From the capital, the area can be visited just for the day, but many birders prefer staying overnight, since early morning offers the most bird
Threeactivity.cabins
accommodations are available on the road up to Holywell, including the Mount Edge Guest House, which has feeders that attract Streamertails.
Guided walks are the best way to explore this area. Contact JCDT or other in-country guiding services regarding birding walks and other hikes in the park.
Conservation Birding –Holywell Recreation Area: reserve=holywell-recreation-areaconservationbirding.org/?
More Holywell wildlife, clockwise from top left: Loggerhead Kingbird by Agami Photo Agency, Shutterstock; Jamaican Oriole by Debbie Ann Powell, Shutterstock; Jamaican Turquoise Anole by Howard Youth; Homerus Swallowtail (stamp).
See also: sites/jamaica/hardwar-gap/caribbeanbirdingtrail.org/
Award-winning watercolor painter Beatriz Benavente lives in Spain, where she specializes in scientific and bird illustration. You can follow her on Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildstories.art
Years ago, I knew nothing of birds. That changed when I had an acre or so of blackberry and I could not find people to sell to. A friend said go to Bellavista [a nearby ecolodge] where many tourists come. So, I went up there on my old motorcycle and talked to the owner, Richard Parsons.
While birding here, Richard saw a Giant Antpitta, a bird he said was very hard to find.
In 2015, thanks to our work conserving the birds, the Ministry of Tourism awarded me a trip to the Galápagos Islands. It was my first time flying in a plane. Like the birds, I flew! They also gave me a diploma and a plaque. It was a dream for me, to be known around the world as someone working with the birds. My family is proud, and I feel honored to have become friends with a bird that’s so wild.
At Bellavista, I saw 10 Americans watching birds, and I thought of our cock-of-the-rock (gallo de la peña) lek. I told Richard that visitors could come to our farm to see these birds.
After that, I followed the song to find this bird, which I named María in honor of my wife. Over two and a half months, I convinced María to come for earthworms.
Angel Paz was born into a family struggling to live off land high in the Andes. Forty-two years ago, seeking a better life, his parents bought 74 acres of primary rainforest about 60 miles northwest of Ecuador’s capital Quito. Angel and his eight siblings grew up there, cutting trees, growing naranjilla and tomate de arbol fruits, and tending livestock. As you’ll read here, the property today is a globally recognized birding hotspot. Angel and his brother Rodrigo and their families will soon buy other family members' shares of the land so that they can conserve the place. This is Angel's story, in his own words.
We want to start a foundation, Paz de las Aves (Peace of the Birds), on the local scale, and are talking to local businesses and organizations like ABC. We want to reforest to grow the number of birds. And we want to protect the farm for always. The birds have become like a family to me.
Our first day receiving visitors was in August 2005. In 2018 alone, we had 2,600 people visit. The Giant Antpitta is still the most important, most famous, bird here, but we have counted up to 168 bird species in a day.
Least Tern by Ray Hennessy, Shutterstock.
Planned Giving at jmorrison@abcbirds.org or 540-253-5780 Can
If you are interested in more information on how to create your own legacy of bird conservation, or if you have already remembered ABC in your will, or as a beneficiary of a trust, IRA, or insurance plan, please contact Jack Morrison, ABC Director of Major Gifts and
Protect birds for generations to come by including American Bird Conservancy in your estate plans.
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A male Dickcissel in full song. Photo by Robert Royse.
P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 abcbirds.org 540-253-5780 • 888-247-3624
