Wetland birds

The pintail (Anas acuta) could be the latest addition to wildfowl conservation priorities after new figures from WWT and others show numbers have fallen by more than half since 2006. The findings are published in Waterbirds in the UK, the annual report of the Wetland Bird Survey, which counts all waterbirds on the UK’s major wetlands. Pintail is an elegant dabbling duck much loved by artists, including WWT founder Sir Peter Scott who named his daughter Dafila after its former scientific name. The recorded decline is especially worrying as up to half of all the pintail in northwest Europe rely on the UK’s estuaries and wetlands during winter. WWT’s Head of Species Monitoring, Richard Hearn, said: “Counts like the Wetland Bird Survey are our ‘canary in the cage’. Without them, we wouldn’t spot the risks till it was too late. The decline we’ve seen in pintail is ringing alarm bells. However, further research across its flyway could yet throw up more hopeful news. The key thing is that there’s still time to act.”

If you go down to the woods today, you may not be guaranteed to see too many birds but you could well bump into a census-taking birdwatcher. The Biological Records Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer and citizen science flourishes in Britain as never before. If one needs proof, look no further than the proliferation of published bird atlases, in which every single scrap of data has been sourced from the fields and woods by volunteers and then donated freely to the atlas editors. The resulting books are among the most compelling statements of our nation’s amateur fixation with nature. Individual fieldworkers, monitoring their local birds in selected two-kilometre squares (known in atlas parlance as “tetrads”), have been able, because of new data-processing software, to contribute to the national overview and to the finer-grain regional picture. Between them, the tens of thousands of observers have assembled an astonishing 19 million records. In the process, they have made Britain’s birds the most thoroughly documented avifauna on the planet. Yet the story they reveal is deeply troubling. Never before have we known in so much detail how badly some of our birds are faring. The grey partridge, which was once found nationwide and whose overall numbers were calculated in seven figures, has sunk towards national extinction. Today, there may be fewer than 75,000 pairs and the decline continues.

Multitudes of wintering birds on an estuary form one of the most magical wildlife spectacles each winter in the UK, but this scene is changing. Latest data collected by thousands of Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) volunteers show that populations of the UK’s most familiar coastal waders have declined markedly in the last ten years. Dunlin (Calidris alpina)(-52%), Redshank Tringa totanus (-40%), Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) (-38%), Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) (-34%) and Curlew Numenius arquata (-23%) are among the eight most abundant waders on Scottish estuaries in winter, yet the populations of all of them are declining. The annual WeBS report, now published in conjunction with an online interactive interface, makes this information available to anyone with an interest in birds and the environment. The new report, covering the period up to June 2013, highlights worrying trends shown by the eight most abundant waders on UK estuaries, particularly in the most recent ten year period.

Die Zahl der Fasane (Phasianus colchicus) nimmt in Niedersachsen drastisch ab. Schaumburg bildet eine der wenigen Ausnahmen. Im Landkreis hat sich der Rückgang der Fasanenpopulation schon vor vielen Jahren vollzogen und ist seitdem auf einem konstant niedrigen Stand. Landesweit ist jüngst ein Rückgang von 21,2 Prozent verzeichnet worden. Das geht aus der Jagdstrecke hervor, die über die Zahl der durch Jagd oder andere Ursachen tot aufgefundenen Tiere Auskunft gibt. Die Strecke im vergangenen Jagdjahr, das vom 1. April 2012 bis zum 31. März 2013 dauerte, zählte 45 231 Fasane. Im vorausgegangenen Jagdjahr wurden hingegen noch 56 645 tote Tiere gezählt. Auch im Jagdjahr 2010/2011 war bei dem Vogel in ganz Niedersachsen ein Rückgang von etwa 20 Prozent in der Strecke im Vergleich zum Vorjahr zu verzeichnen.

Saturday, Dec. 28, will be the 40th birthday of one of the most significant pieces of environmental history in the U.S.: the Endangered Species Act. Now, with this landmark legislation entering its middle age, it’s an ideal time to reflect on where it has succeeded – and where it has fallen short. On balance, the ESA’s signature feature, the endangered species list, seems overwhelmingly positive. As of January 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed 2,054 species worldwide as endangered or threatened. Some 58 species have been taken off the list: 30 because they’ve recovered, 10 due to extinction, and 18 due to an error found in the original listing data. That might not seem like a resounding success on its face, but rebuilding the populations of species takes time – decades, often. In a 2012 report, the Center for Biological Diversity found that 90 percent of species covered by an ESA plan are recovering their numbers at the expected rate. “Few laws of any kind can boast a 90 percent success rate,” the CBD says.

Most literature on birds and rice (Oryza sativa) focuses on the non-growing period and little is known about the influence of management practices during cultivation. A review found that the main factors affecting species composition and abundance in rice fields during the growing season were water level, flooding period, rice plant structure and size, and pesticide use. Highest bird density and diversity occurred at intermediate water levels (10–20 cm). Early flooding and late drying favored waterbird density and diversity, and the stopover of migrating species. Taller plants, at higher densities, reduced prey availability to most waterbirds but favored smaller species. Pesticides and herbicides have been shown to be toxic to birds and reduce food resources.

The Heron Observation Network, created in 2009 by the state, has helped organize a statewide group of volunteers that will become particularly important in the next year. The result of their work has offered evidence that great blue herons (Ardea herodias) are in decline here. Since 2009 there has been an effort to survey herons after a wealth of data on bald eagles began to point to a decline in the heron populations in Maine. As bald eagle data was gathered over time, heron counts were added. Piggy-backing on the bald eagle study, the heron data began to show a surprising drop in the numbers of this prolific bird. In 2009, data was gathered by volunteers looking at heron nesting sites for the first time. Along the coast, biologists found little more than 400, a further drop from the 600 counted in 1995 in the eagle study.

The White-winged Flufftail, one of Africa’s rarest birds, is on the verge of extinction, conservation body the IUCN warned on Tuesday. The White-winged Flufftail (Sarothrura ayresi) has been listed as critically endangered, putting it on the edge of the extinction abyss. The small, secretive bird is found in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It feeds on seeds and vegetation as well as insects, spiders, earthworms, small frogs and small fish. The stomach contents of a deceased chick included coleoptera (Dystiscidae) imagines, Diptera larvae (Tipulidae and Tabanidae), and the remains of small crustaceans.

Fifteen bird species in India remain critically endangered and three bird species that were in the 'least concern' category, so far, face greater danger than before, as per the recently-released International Union of Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list. The avian species that fall under the critically endangered category include migratory and non-migratory birds found in wetlands, grasslands, forests as well as scavengers. "The Himalayan Quail and Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) are practically extinct although they are listed as critically endangered," said Atul Sathe, manager-communications of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). In the latest list, two birds - the River Lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii) and River Tern - that were listed as species of least concern have been registered as near threatened. A third bird, the long-tailed duck, which has been sighted in India on a few occasions, has moved from 'least concern' to 'vulnerable' on the red list, Sathe added.