Bosvogels

The status of the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) will be reviewed under the Endangered Species Act, a decision which could lead to uplisting of the Threatened subspecies to Endangered, a change supported by American Bird Conservancy. “American Bird Conservancy appreciates that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking this action to help reverse the Northern Spotted Owl’s spiral toward extinction” said Steve Holmer, senior policy advisor for American Bird Conservancy. Long-term demography studies which make up the federal government’s monitoring program for the species show that in 2013 populations in all eight study areas were in decline and well below historic averages for both total numbers and breeding success. “In the Tyee demographic study area near Roseburg, Oregon, the population has seen a severe drop in the last five years; only 29 owl pairs were found in 2013 compared to 66 pairs ten years ago,” said Holmer. "The number of females nesting has decreased, as has the average number of offspring.” The Tyee researchers concluded that “the last three years of reproduction have been the lowest on record and resulted in the fewest number of young produced.”

Who knew they were disappearing? And, in reality, who knew there was such a thing as a rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus). “I think of lot of birders do enjoy rusty blackbirds,” said Nick Sly, a graduate student in the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Illinois. “They aren’t a species that aren’t generally known to the broader public.”Sly is a volunteer coordinator for this year’s Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz. The blitz is a three-year program designed to follow rusty blackbirds on their migration path from the swampy woodlands of southeastern United States to the boreal forests of Canada. The peak migration through Illinois is March through mid-April. “It used to be a really common bird throughout Canada and the eastern United States,” Sly said. “It’s experienced this pretty massive population decline, losing 90-95 percent of its population over the past four decades. Nobody really expected that. There is really no obvious reason.”

An analysis of bird sightings logged during the Mumbai bird races held between 2005 and 2014 has revealed a decline in their numbers across various habitats. Bird sightings in the forests have dropped by 50% from 112 in 2005 to 77 last year. Likewise, grass-shrub-agriculture habitats have witnessed a dip from 102 to 89 during the same period, while only 68 birds were recorded in coastal wetlands in 2014, compared to 91 in 2005. According to the data, the total number of bird species spotted across six locations has nosedived from 277 in 2005 to 225 last year, with a significant drop in terms of average sightings and sighting frequency of birds at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Karnala Bird Sanctuary and Uran wetlands.

Der Habicht-Bestand im Meißner Land bleibt nach Beobachtungen von Vogelkundlern auf drei Brutpaare beschränkt. Sachsenweit sind es aktuell 650 bis 800 Paare. Der Fachgruppe Ornithologie Meißen zufolge sind für die Seltenheit des Greifvogels mehrere Ursachen verantwortlich. Obwohl seit den 70er Jahren streng geschützt, würden Habichte weiterhin illegal geschossen oder in Fallen gefangen. Ein weiterer Grund für die Gefährdung des Greifvogels ist der Rückgang einiger seiner wichtigsten Beutetiere wie Feldhase, Fasan oder Rebhuhn. Deshalb jagt der Habicht (Accipiter gentilis) Zuchttauben oder Rassegeflügel.

Since the end of World War II there has been a decline in forest songbird populations over much of the eastern United States. For example, in Rock Creek Park in the middle of Washington, D.C., populations of Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceus) have dropped by 79 percent and Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) by 94 percent. Acadian Flycatchers, Yellow-throated Vireos (Vireo flavifrons), Black-and-white Warblers (Mniotilta varia), and Hooded Warblers (Setophaga citrina) have disappeared entirely. The decline has not been uniform for all species; the Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) and others that migrate long distances to tropical America have suffered more than residents or those like robins and towhees that can overwinter in the southern United States. Nor has the decline been equal in all types of forest; the loss of species from woodlots and small forest tracts exceeds the loss from large stretches of forest such as those of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

When a creature becomes extinct, we are left with whatever essence of its existence can be conveyed through science, art and the written word. In the case of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), a prolific and gregarious migratory bird of North America’s eastern and central forests, we’ve been trying to preserve it in memory for a century now. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passenger pigeon’s extinction. The species’ four-decade decline from billions upon billions to none concluded when a captive bird named Martha died in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo on Sept. 1, 1914. Martha’s remains were packed in a 300-pound block of ice and shipped to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where she was stuffed and mounted. Last week, the Smithsonian opened an exhibit on the passenger pigeon and other extinct North American birds and put Martha on display for the first time since 1999.

Ein Einbruch aller vorkommenden Vogelarten beklagte der Vorsitzende des Hegering Heede, Aloys Bruns, während der jüngsten Generalversammlung. Dieses zeige sich nicht nur in den Abschusszahlen der jagdbaren Vogelarten wie dem Fasan, sondern auch bei den Garten-, Wald- und Wiesenvögeln wie Tauben, Enten und Rabenvögel. So erreichten die Fasane seit Jahrzehnten den niedrigsten Stand. Einige Reviere verzichteten aus diesem Grunde auf ihre Treibjagd, um eine Mindestpopulation für das nächste Jahr zu erhalten. Des weiteren seien nur noch 447 Tauben (im Jahr zuvor 1450 Tauben) erlegt worden. Auch bei den Enten und Rabenvögeln konnte circa die Hälfte der Anzahl zur Strecke gebracht werden. Bemerkenswert zeige sich auch der deutliche Rückgang der nicht bejagdbaren Wildvögel wie Kiebitz, Brachvogel, Austernfischer und sogar der Singvögel in den heimischen Gärten. Die Ursachen seien laut der Landesjägerschaft immer noch nicht eindeutig geklärt. Man vermute jedoch mehrere Ursachen, wie Intensivlandwirtschaft, Einstellung des Flächenstilllegungsprogramms seit 2007, Biogasanlagen, Witterungsverhältnisse und vermehrtem Einsatz von Insektiziden/Herbiziden.

A 2012 survey by the British Trust for Ornithology showed there are just 3300 pairs of nightingales left in the whole country. Data from the organisation also suggests the number of the birds in Britain dropped by 57 per cent between 1995 and 2009.