Coast birds

North American shorebirds have declined significantly over the past several decades. As a result, ornithologists have carried out numerous studies to identify key habitat for preservation and develop conservation strategies. Most of this research has been conducted on northern breeding grounds or on wintering grounds in South America, but there have been few studies in the Caribbean.

A new report from the New Zealand government found that 90 percent of the country’s 92 seabird species—the highest concentration of seabirds on the planet—are threatened with extinction. Among the most threatened species are the Antipodean albatross (Diomedea antipodensis), the eastern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome filholi), the Pitt Island shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni), and the New Zealand fairy tern (Sternula nereis davisae). Despite being legally protected in New Zealand, many of these species have falling populations.

Ornithologist Dr Andrew Huggett, of Insight Ecology, studied 25 sites across the Willoughby LGA in December 2015 and August 2016. He said the two surveys, at breeding and non-breeding periods, were undertaken in the area’s remnants of native bushland, including H.D. Robb Reserve, Explosives Reserve, Gore Hill Cemetery and three local golf clubs. “The aim was to determine what bird species occurred in their bushland, reserve and parks, but also along the Gore Hill Freeway,” he said.

The spoon-billed sandpiper Calidris pygmaea is one of the most threatened birds on the planet. It breeds on the Chukotsk and Kamchatka peninsulas in the Russian Far East, migrates through Russia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the Jiangsu coast of China to winter in southern China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand, 8,000km from its breeding grounds. Its IUCN threat status was upgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2004 and to Critically Endangered in 2008.

THEY are best known for swooping and terrorising pedestrians but now it is the predatory magpies (Cracticus tibicen) who are fighting for their lives. A mystery illness has struck down record numbers of the black-and-white birds this year and puzzled wildlife officers are desperately trying to work out what is grounding the winged warriors. Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) volunteers have reported seeing dozens of sick and dying magpies on the northern beaches in recent days.

A slender shorebird stood motionless in the shallow reflecting water. Its dark blues and purples seemed to emerge from the grasses themselves. Slowly, the neck and head began to sway slightly. The scene was hypnotic. A lightning flash of action broke the spell. The dagger-like bill of the little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) had snatched an unsuspecting fish. After a vigorous shake, the bird gulped down its dinner. The frenzy of action lasted just a few seconds. Little blues prefer shallow, quiet waters for hunting. The water can be saline like the marsh I was standing in or fresh.

At a time when the bird population should be peaking, the Johnson's Mills Shorebird Reserve has seen a sharp decline in numbers, according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Some flocks of shorebirds that normally visit the reserve, which is near Dorchester in southeastern New Brunswick, are down by half. "This time of year we typically see flocks of 140,000 birds, 100,000 at least. [Tuesday] there was 70,000," said Andrew Holland, the national spokesperson for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The boatmen helped us scramble ashore and soon there were 50 people wandering on an uninhab­ited slab of sea-battered dolerite called Staple Island. It is one of the National Trust-owned Farne Islands in Northumberland and among England’s most spectacular wildlife locations. There are 100,000 pairs of breeding seabirds here and they were everywhere: at our feet, overhead, across every rock face. The stench of guano was overwhelming. While the birds seemed to be boundless, the human beings converged on the grassy knoll where the local star attraction resides.

Anlässlich des Welttags des Meeres fordert der WWF Maßnahmen gegen den drastischen Rückgang mariner Populationszahlen und für den Erhalt des ökologischen und ökonomischen Werts der Ozeane. Im Schnitt hat sich der Bestand von über 5.800 untersuchten Tierbeständen über 1.200 verschiedener Arten von Meerssäugern, Seevögeln, Reptilien und Fischen zwischen 1970 und 2012 halbiert. „Die Ozeane sind von unschätzbarem ökologischen und ökonomischen Wert für uns Menschen. Fisch ist Einkommens- und Nahrungsgrundlage für über 800 Millionen Menschen weltweit, vor allem in Entwicklungsländern.