Conservation Column Nov 2014: Reports Published on Climate Change and Birds
Posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2014Debbie Schlenoff
Articles
Conservation Column Oct 2014: Human Activities Affect Birdsong
Posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2014Debbie Schlenoff
Scientists are studying the psychological benefits that accrue when people listen to the sounds of birds. It is thought that hearing birds sing may help us to relax and recover from stress, assist our focus on tasks, and inspire us to think creatively. Given our deep connection to birdsong in poetry, music, and our daily lives, people would be wise to try to understand the potential impact of human activities on this behavior.
Avian Mistletoe Project Researchers Ask for Your Help
Posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2014
As cool fall weather approaches and leaves begin to gather on the ground beneath the oak trees, you may notice something special if you look up into the treetops. Clumps of Pacific Mistletoe, known to scientists as Phoradendron villosum, are slowly being revealed in the canopy.
Conservation Column Sep 2014: Football Stadium Design Is Dangerous for Birds
Posted on Monday, September 1st, 2014Debbie Schlenoff
Sports teams have often branded themselves with animal monikers (hello, Duck fans!). Football teams borrow from our feathered friends—the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks. So it is sadly ironic that the massive football stadium under construction in Minneapolis will result in a large and unnecessary number of bird deaths. The new Vikings stadium, located on a migratory flyway next to the Mississippi River, features large expanses of glass (200,000 square feet) and is expected to kill thousands of birds if built as originally designed. Birds don’t see glass and will attempt to fly through the invisible barrier, only to be brought up short when they collide with the glass. The collisions are often fatal.
Conservation Column Jul–Aug 2014: North America’s Bird Nursery Is Under Pressure
Posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2014Debbie Schlenoff
I’m always impressed by the skill with which many birders can identify bird species by ear. The birds can one-up us though; they can recognize individual birds by song. Several scientific studies have demonstrated that birds can discriminate between the songs sung by their neighbors and those sung by strangers. For birds, good relationships with neighbors may prove important. When blackbirds have familiar neighbors, they expend less energy to defend boundaries and have better reproductive success than birds that have to deal with strangers in the adjacent territory. In Great Tits, familiarity between long-term neighbors leads to cooperative behavior that increases nesting success. Birds, of course, do not recognize the territorial boundaries between neighboring human nations. Turns out that many of the birds we see in our backyards journey from our urban environment to the most extensive wilderness area left on earth, the boreal forest of our neighbor to the north.
Conservation Column May-Jun 2014: Rodenticides Kill More Than Rodents
Posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2014
People have long been fascinated by owls. Search for the term owl facts and you’ll find lists such as fun owl facts and awesome owl facts (because, well, owls are awesome). On some of these lists, you’ll learn that a Barn Owl can eat up to 1,000 mice each year. Many owl species are voracious eaters and feed mostly on rodents. But for owls today, capturing and eating their main food source could prove deadly.
Conservation Column Apr 2014: The Birds and the Bees (and the Flowers and the Trees)
Posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2014
Spring is in the air—time to talk about the birds and the bees. Perhaps not “the talk” that first springs to mind, but rather the one about pollinators and how important they are to life on earth (not to mention their financial impact worth over $15 billion in crop value each year). It’s also time to consider why so many populations of bees and birds are in serious decline.
Conservation Column Mar 2014: Government Now Accepting Comments on Oregon’s Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program
Posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2014A heron’s slender body elongates as it stretches its neck to spear a fish; a chunky Marbled Murrelet beats her wings rapidly as she carries a breakfast of fish for her young from the ocean to the forest; small shorebirds scurry like wind-up toys through the ebb and flow of the ocean tidewater. One-quarter of all bird species in North America use coastal habitats for some part of their annual cycle. Coastal watersheds are home to a plethora of birds and other wildlife, plants, and fish.
Update on the Greater Sage-Grouse
Posted on Saturday, February 1st, 2014Dave Stone
When I wrote about the Greater Sage-Grouse in the November issue of The Quail, I mentioned that a final decision on protection of the bird would come in 2014. The Bureau of Land Management has just released its draft plan and is receiving comments until February 20. As expected, the draft plan is not as strong as it should be in protecting the grouse.
Conservation Column Dec 2013–Jan 2014: LCAS Works with Others to Make a Difference
Posted on Saturday, November 30th, 2013Debbie Schlenoff
“Birds of a feather flock together.” This old saying applies to both birds and humans. The benefits of flocking for birds are many: They use mobbing to chase off potential predators, even when the predator is larger than they are. They flock together when eating, roosting, and nesting. Who among us does not wish to be able to understand their communications when they gather for “information exchange?” Flycatcher pairs communally defend their nests from predators and issue alarm calls to rouse their neighbors for help. In one study, researchers prevented a flycatcher pair from aiding their neighbors when an artificial predator was placed in the area. When that pair alarm-called in the next round, the neighbors did not respond. Apparently, birds take note when others don’t pull their weight in a group. It pays to cooperate.