13 minute read
BIRDS IN BRIEF
Growing Native Plants for a Rare Brazilian Bird
In northeastern Brazil, a reforestation project conducted by the Brazilian conservation organization Aquasis, with support from ABC, continues our efforts to save the Critically Endangered Araripe Manakin.
Foresters at the Oasis Araripe Reserve are working to master cultivation of 26 native tree and shrub species, many never before grown from seed, with the goal of providing fruits for the birds year-round, including during the food-scarce dry season. In 2020, almost 700 trees and shrubs were planted, followed by 300 more already this year. Fewer than 700 mature Araripe Manakins are thought to remain.
Araripe Manakin by David Fisher, Neotropical Bird Club
Cícero Simão planting native trees at the reserve. Photo by Oasis Araripe Reserve.
Bridled Tern by Glenn Tepke
Caribbean Seabird Nesting Island Now Mouse-Free
Part of the British territory of Anguilla, 28-acre Sombrero Island is of outsized importance to nesting seabirds, including Masked and Brown Boobies, Bridled Terns, and Brown Noddies, as well as an endemic lizard and more than 40 insect species found nowhere else.
Thanks to a thorough eradication and monitoring program conducted by the Anguilla National Trust, in collaboration with Fauna & Flora International, the New Zealand-based Wildlife International Management, Ltd., and others, the island is now free of introduced mice, which had been competing with and preying upon these species.
In Ecuador, Key Parcel Enhances Habitat for Endangered Brushfinch
In late March, ABC partner Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco) acquired a key 12-acre property connecting two previously separate parts of the Yunguilla Reserve. This protected area now provides 493 acres of arid brush habitat for the Endangered Paleheaded Brushfinch. Back from the brink of extinction, the species’ population has surged from 30 birds in 1998, when Yunguilla was established with ABC support, to between 240 and 340 individuals today.
Photo by Byron Puglla
No Brakes for Sage-Grouse Slide in 2022
Once again, a stipulation in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 has blocked the possibility of listing the rapidly declining Greater Sage-Grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Fortunately, the Bureau of Land Management has pledged to revisit the Greater Sage-Grouse land-use plans from 2015 that have proven insufficient to conserve the bird across its range. To increase the plan’s success, ABC and other conservation groups are calling for protection of grouse strongholds from oil and gas drilling and mining.
LEFT: The Yunguilla Reserve expansion was made possible by the family that previously owned the property: From left, Mery Mogrovejo (with baby) and Karina Mogrovejo, daughters of the former owner, with Jocotoco’s southern reserves director Byron Puglla.
ABC Staffer Wins Prestigious Conservation Award
ABC’s Central Regional Director Jim Giocomo was awarded a 2021 individual leadership award from the conservation consortium Partners in Flight in March. Jim was instrumental in building the Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture, a partnership that brings together many stakeholders to conserve birds and their habitats from north-central Oklahoma through Central Texas.
Way to go, Jim!
Incredible Gumption of Godwits
In 2021, a satellite-tracked female Bar-tailed Godwit tied the world record for the longest nonstop landbird flight, completing it 2.5 days faster than the male Bar-tailed that set the record in 2020. From Alaska nesting grounds to New Zealand winter quarters, both birds covered 7,500 miles. Last year’s female record-setter completed migration in 8.5 days. In sharp contrast, another Bar-tailed’s unusual odyssey last fall spanned two months: The embattled male bird flew 33 hours and 1,240 miles to the southwest, only to return to Alaska after facing stiff winds. After 11 days’ rest, the bird took off again, then rested five weeks in New Caledonia before finally reaching New Zealand.
These incredible journeys, revealed through tagging and tracking by researchers with the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre in New Zealand, highlight the challenges and risks declining shorebirds face on their twice-a-year migrations, feats made ever more challenging due to habitat loss and coastline and climate change.
Karolina Araya Sandoval and Ronny Peredo from Picaflor de Arica, protectors of the small but mighty Chilean Woodstar. Photo by Wendy Willis.
Chile Launches South America’s First National Bird Conservation Strategy
From the Critically Endangered Chilean Woodstar to wintering Red Knots, many species will benefit from Chile’s National Strategy for the Conservation of Birds,
Chilean Woodstar by Andres Puiggros
declared in January. A first for South America, this strategic plan lays out a roadmap for monitoring species and identifying and conserving critical habitats, while following environmental laws and developing sustainable pathways for bird conservation across the country through 2030. A similar plan is already in the works in Colombia, and it’s likely that other countries will be inspired to follow suit.
Swinhoe’s White-eye Gains Ground in California
You may not see the Swinhoe’s White-eye in your field guides, but visit Los Angeles gardens and parks and you very well may find this energetic little yellow-and-gray songbird. Over the last several years, sightings of the Southeast Asian species have mushroomed from L.A. to San Diego, with some in Tijuana, Mexico, as well. Nesting has been confirmed. If its population grows and its range expands, will this introduced species adversely impact native birds? It certainly bears watching.
plains-wanderer, Shutterstock Swinhoe's White-eye by
BIRDS & GLASS:
Hard-Hitting Questions and Solutions
Glass collisions kill up to 1 billion birds in the United States each year, with each home likely responsible for at least a few of these deaths. Yet most people know little about this danger. Even fewer are aware of the solutions available to help prevent collisions — fixes that in many cases are easy and inexpensive. This is one conservation crisis that anyone can do something about, and quickly!
On the following pages, we provide a launchpad for understanding and acting on this pervasive danger, with questions answered, a gallery of window treatment options, and links to online resources. You can start at your own pace, and expand efforts as far as your inspiration takes you.
Our hope is that each Bird Conservation reader will treat at least one window this spring or summer. Just imagine: That would be about 20,000 windows made safer for birds! If you take the Bird-Friendly Window Challenge, tell us about it. Send us your story and photos via email at ABCBirdsComms@abcbirds.org, or share on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #BirdFriendlyWindow. We’ll plan a roundup of stories in a future issue of the magazine and on ABC’s social media platforms.
Bird-strike impression photo by Warren Cooke
by ABC collisions experts Christine Sheppard, Ph.D., and Bryan Lenz, Ph.D.
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about the collisions issue, and our answers:
1) Why do birds collide with glass?
Transparent glass is invisible both to humans and birds, but humans can use door frames and other visual clues to anticipate the presence of glass and avoid collisions — most of the time. Birds, of course, don’t share this ability. They perceive reflected images as literal objects, which explains why glass reflections, especially ones that present images of food, shelter, or an escape route, can trigger collisions. Learn more by visiting: abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/ why-birds-hit-glass/
2) When do most bird collisions with glass take place?
Collisions don’t happen at an even pace over the course of a year, or even throughout the day. Most happen during daylight hours, with mornings ranking as the worst time of day. During migration, birds need to refuel periodically. Those that land in and near cities find themselves in a maze of deadly glass.
During the course of a year, migration periods bring the largest upticks in collisions, with fall worse than spring due to the larger number of birds in flight — including both adult birds and the juveniles born over the summer.
But migration is not the only dangerous season: We also see collision increases in late spring, as nesting birds fledge their young, and in winter, when resident birds leave their territories and cover larger areas in search of food. rats, and chipmunks. Ever vigilant for injured prey or carrion, these opportunists may actually check a window with frequent collisions multiple times a day.
5) How do I stop birds from hitting my windows?
There are many ways to make windows bird-friendly. One of the best is to use external insect screens. These screens virtually eliminate reflections, and if birds do hit them, the impact is cushioned, reducing the likelihood of injury. An added benefit is that screens are easy to install on existing or new home windows.
If screens aren’t an option, you can use a range of materials — tape, decals, strings, cords, paint, netting, and shutters, for example — to create window patterns that birds will interpret as solid objects that need to be avoided.
It’s important to make sure that birds see no viable way to fly between the adhesives or objects you are using, so make sure to eliminate all spaces larger than two inches. Remember, whichever material you use needs to be visible to birds from at least 10 feet away so that they have time to see the material and change course.
3) Are birds okay when they hit windows and fly away?
After colliding with glass, some birds may be only temporarily stunned and left with no lasting injury — but often they are not so lucky. In many cases, birds suffer internal hemorrhages, concussions, or damage to their bills, wings, eyes, or skulls. Any injury makes a bird much more vulnerable to predators and other environmental dangers. In many instances, however, birds are killed immediately and never fly away.
4) Why don’t I see collisionkilled birds more often?
There are several reasons. One is that birds flying into glass at high speeds may bounce off and land some distance away, ending up hidden under plantings or behind other nearby objects. Also, when birds fall in open spaces, carcasses are frequently swept up and disposed of, or are snapped up by scavenging raccoons, crows, cats, opossums, For more details on how to make windows more bird-friendly, check out: abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/ stop-birds-hitting-windows/
6) Can I apply something to the inside of my windows to stop bird collisions?
The best place to apply solutions is on the outside of the window, where they are easily visible.
However, using external solutions isn’t always an option. Some windows — like those on a tall building — can
be difficult to access from the outside. In these cases, we recommend testing a variety of solutions. This is because different kinds of glass have varying reflective levels. Unfortunately, there is no universal solution.
To conduct a test, apply a sticky note, tape, or sample of your proposed solution to the inside of the window and then look at it from the outside every hour or two, starting in the early morning. If you can see your test material most of the time, birds will too, and an inside solution may work for you.
In many cases, however, internal solutions do not work, and reflections will hide your solution during part or all of the day, reducing or eliminating its effectiveness. But this shouldn’t deter you from acting: Adding something to the inside of your windows is better than doing nothing.
7) Will bird-friendly window products obscure the view from my window?
No, you don’t need to impair your view to save birds. In our experience, people quickly adjust to bird-friendly design solutions, often forgetting that they are even there. We have also found that when family, friends, or customers notice the pattern and learn its purpose, they appreciate the effort taken to protect birds. If you’re looking to retrofit existing windows, there is a wide range of solutions that will appeal to different personal preferences.
8) Does light cause birds to hit buildings?
Light does increase collision numbers, but not directly. Recent studies confirm that lights at night attract migrating birds into the humanbuilt environment, where they run a higher risk of collisions. In other words, light pollution makes birds more likely to end their migration flights near well-lit structures, and their glass, than in more natural areas with much less glass. A new study written by Dr. Sheppard focuses on birds and light pollution. To read it, go to: bit.ly/BirdsLightRecsABC.
Migratory birds traveling at night, including warblers, thrushes, and cuckoos, are also attracted by intense lights contrasted against the night sky — think of situations like lighthouses, offshore oil platforms, or powerful light displays, like the twin beams at the World Trade Center memorial.
Despite dangers posed by nighttime lights, most collisions take place during the day, when migratory birds are refueling before continuing on their journeys.
To keep up with our collisions program, you can sign up to receive email updates at: act. abcbirds.org/a/sign-up-collisions
ABC is grateful to the Leon Levy Foundation for its generous support of our Bird Collisions campaign.
Dr. Christine Sheppard is ABC’s Bird Collisions Campaign Director.
Dr. Bryan Lenz is ABC’s Bird Collisions Campaign Manager.
KEY TO PHOTOS, OPPOSITE PAGE:
1. Feather Friendly comes in rolls, in various styles, and is applied like a window film, but the backing is removed, leaving only the visual markers. Photo by Debbie Zombek.
2. ABC Birdtape comes in stripes and squares (shown here). It is engineered to last for several years on the outside surface of the glass. Photo by ABC.
Options 1 and 2 are available at: featherfriendly.com.
3. Window Alert decals with proper spacing. Photo by Christine Sheppard.
4. A stencil roller can apply paint patterns quickly over a large area. If you use tempera, the pattern can be removed easily and quickly. Photo by Debbie Zombek.
5. Artist Lynne Parks created these custom decals for the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Photo by Lynne Parks.
6. A simple solution is tempera paint, applied with a brush or even the corner of a sponge — just make sure the spacing of the markers is about 2 inches. Photo by Gail Walter.
7. A dotted pattern on a professionally installed remediation. Similar dots are available in rolls, but dots should be at least one-quarter-inch wide and be spaced within 2 inches of each other. Photo by Glenn Phillips.
8. Regular insect screens on home windows can be effective at preventing bird collisions. Photo by Christine Sheppard.
9. Birdscreens are a great way to make a window safe for birds — they go on with suction cups and are easy to remove seasonally. Photo by Dr. Ellen Rudolph.
10. and 11. Acopian BirdSavers are simple — paracord hung every 4 inches across a window — but very effective at stopping collisions, without being visually intrusive for people. Photo for 10. by Safe Skies Maryland; photo for 11. by Lisa Welch.
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Here are a few treatments to help prevent birds from colliding with your windows. To view and purchase products, visit: abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/ products-database
