New York Birds

U.S. Department of Agriculture Murders Birds in NJ

2009-01-27T14:13:00.002-05:00

It's Raining Dead Birds in New Jersey
January 26, 2009
WPIX 11 New York-

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WPIX) -- It was raining dead birds this weekend in Franklin Township, New Jersey. They fell onto homes and cars shocking many residents of Somerset County.

The mass bird killing was part of a program implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that targeted the poisoning of blackbirds and starlings in an effort to reduce their populations.A USDA advisory cited that the dead birds posed no hazard to people or pets because the controlled substance had been metabolized inside the birds. One woman told the Courier News of Bridgewater she found more than 150 dead birds on her property and that she was told by local officials that she had to clean them up herself.

The culling program was set up primarily to stop the European starlings from congregating at feed lots and dairies, consuming and contaminating seed helping to spread diseases, according to the USDA advisory.

8th Grader's Invention Saves Flying Birds

2009-01-24T14:13:00.001-05:00

Eighth grader Charlie Sobcov wants to stop birds from dying in collisions with windows, but he doesn't want to ruin anybody's view.

For his latest school science fair project he has invented painted, plastic decals that can be placed — discreetly — right in the middle of a window pane.

"This paint is a colour that birds can see but humans can't," he said Wednesday on CBC Radio's All in a Day. "It's like putting a big stop sign in the middle of the window."

The colour is ultraviolet, beyond the range of colours visible to humans. That means the "stop sign" lets birds know the window is solid, but is nearly invisible to humans.

Similar flying falcon-shaped decals already exist on the windows of some buildings, but unlike Sobcov's, they are black and can obstruct part of the window.

Sobcov, who studies at the Turnbull School, a private school in Ottawa, said he first fell in love with birds while on a trip with his parents to Costa Rica four years ago. He learned that bird populations were decreasing around the world, and that many scientists were blaming global warming.

He later read that about 500 million birds a year in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada were dying as a result of crashing into windows. Many deadly bird collision are with the windows of skyscrapers along their migratory paths.

Sobcov resolved to help save the lives of some of those birds.

Paint for cosmic bowling

He started researching bird vision and found out that a bird's eye view includes colours in the ultraviolet range.

After a search, he managed to find a company in Montreal that made fluorescent ultraviolet paint. The paint is used in the entertainment industry for things like "cosmic bowling," to make lanes glow. In normal indoor lighting, the paint is invisible, but when ultraviolet "black lights" shine on it, it emits light of a different colour — within the range that people can see.

So far, Sobcov has tested his flying falcon-shaped decals on the sunroom of a cottage neighbouring his family's cottage.

"Immediately the birds stopped flying into those windows," he said.

Sobcov has since posted a notice in the newspaper asking people to volunteer to help him test the decals, which can be easily peeled off and reused on a different window or a different part of the same window. He said he received responses from about 40 volunteers, including many who asked how they can buy the decals.

Sobcov said he needs to have his experiment completed by early February, but after that he may consider marketing his new invention.

Rare Bird Migrates to U.S. for First Time

2009-01-12T17:46:00.004-05:00

Bird made its winter home in Texas about 200 miles from its usual habitat
By Michelle Roberts
The Associated Press
updated 1:39 p.m. ET, Sat., Jan. 10, 2009

CHOKE CANYON, Texas - Birders with binoculars and cameras are flocking to a remote state park in search of a small yellow-chested bird that apparently crossed the U.S. border for the first time from its high-mountain habitat to the south.

At 5 inches with beige and yellow markings, the pine flycatcher doesn't look like much, but its unprecedented migration from Mexico and Guatemala is exciting birders all over the country.

"It's not a thrilling bird visually. It's thrilling because it's a first U.S. record," said Wes Biggs, who flew to Choke Canyon State Park from Orlando, Fla., to catch a glimpse.

The bird, which appears to be alone, was first spotted last month and as recently as Friday. The sightings have been confirmed by photographs and recordings of its chirping. The bird, with a solitary nature, usually stays at high elevations but made its winter home in the low Texas scrubland about 200 miles north of its usual habitat.

For the bird to be added to the official checklists of American birders, it will first have to be accepted by the Texas Bird Records Committee, then the American Birding Association. But expert birders are convinced the bird drawing the masses is a pine flycatcher.

"It's a very unexpected discovery, but this is a bird we don't much know about," said Mark Lockwood, a state parks conservation biologist and secretary of the Texas Bird Records Committee.

The committee will review the photos, written descriptions and recordings, but "there is no dispute it's a pine flycatcher," Lockwood said.

Other types of flycatchers have been seen in South Texas, but the pine flycatcher apparently traveled hundreds of miles to get to the hackberry and mesquite trees near a large reservoir.

The bird seems "very much out of whack," said John Arvin, research coordinator at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. "It moved over a lot of hostile-looking territory to get there. Why that happened is anybody's guess."

In the last week, word of the pine flycatcher has been spreading through birder Web sites and message boards.

Steve Matherly, from Houston, showed up in camouflage Thursday night after driving 3 1/2 hours for a glimpse early Friday.

"The dollars (spent to get here) per gram of bird is kind of amazing," he chuckled, as he looked around at dozens of other birders scanning the brush and chatting in hushed tones.

He belongs to a group that puts out e-mail alerts when a rare bird is sighted and came down as soon as he could.

"You never know. I've had my occasions where I've gotten there a day late," said Matherly, who works at a gas pipeline company. "I don't know what I'll see today, but it'll be better than a cubicle."

Dotty Robbins, from Gainesville, Fla., traveled to South Texas to see the pine flycatcher this week even though she came up empty on two previous trips to the area for rare bird sightings.

"It's a little bit of a treasure hunt," she said.

Robbins concedes the pine flycatcher is "dinky," that its distinguishing features come down to a few feathers combined with a particular call.

"He's not spectacular," she said. But "it's unique."

Christmas Bird Count in Central Park

2008-12-15T18:45:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (AP) - There are a lot more than pigeons in New York's Central Park. Bird lovers flocked to the park yesterday for the annual Christmas Bird Count. It's organized by the New York chapter of the Audubon Society. City parks officials say the birdwatchers counted 55 species, for a total of just over 6,000 birds. Of course, there were plenty of sparrows and pigeons. But some of the more unusual sightings included a wild turkey and a peregrine falcon.

Common Birds Seen Declining

2008-11-21T17:07:00.005-05:00

Birds decline seen sign of biodiversity crisis
Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:02pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many of the world's most common birds suffered steep population drops over recent decades, a sign of a deteriorating global environment and a biodiversity crisis, BirdLife International said on Monday.

"Birds provide an accurate and easy-to-read environmental barometer, allowing us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world's biodiversity," said Mike Rands, chief executive of the alliance of conservation groups.

Threats to bird populations include intensified industrial-scale agriculture and fishing, the spread of invasive species, logging and the replacement of natural forest with monoculture plantations, the group said in a report released in Buenos Aires.

However, Rands said that over the long term, climate change may pose the most serious stress on birds.

Regarding specific regions of the world, BirdLife said:

-- in Europe, 45 percent of common birds are declining;

-- in Australia, resident wading birds have seen population losses of 81 percent in the last quarter century;

-- in North America, 20 common birds' populations have been halved over the last 40 years;

-- in Latin America, the once-common yellow cardinal is now classified as globally endangered;

-- in Asia, populations of white-rumped vultures that numbered in the millions 16 years ago have crashed by 99.9 percent;

-- in the Middle East, birds like the Eurasian eagle owl are believed to be vanishing from forests.

The world's governments have committed to slowing the loss of biodiversity by 2010, but "reluctance to commit what are often trivial sums in terms of national budgets means that this target is almost certain to be missed," the report said.

More information is available online at birdlife.org/sowb.

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

Mexico Plans to Ban the Capture & Export of Wild Parrots

2008-10-29T09:30:00.006-04:00

Mexico Plans To Ban The Capture & Export Of Wild Parrots

According to National Geographic, Mexico is cracking down on the parrot trade:

President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has signed into law a bill to ban the capture and export of Mexican wild parrots. The bill, introduced one year ago by the Environment Commission of the Deputy Chamber, was passed in the Mexican Senate on 22 April, 2008 with near unanimous support (66 votes in favor, 0 votes against, and 1abstention).

Mexico considers half of its 22 parrot species endangered, and all but two are protected by federal law.

But between 65,000 and 78,000 parrots and guacamayas—a bigger type of parrot—are captured illegally every year, and most of these birds die each year before reaching their intended buyers. The government has been unable to control the clandestine capture and sale of the protected birds, environmentalists say. The new ban—an amendment to Mexico's wildlife law—will eliminate the parrot and guacamaya market completely. The law will go into effect when it is published in the official congressional diary, possibly by the end of October (this month).

The Defenders of Wildlife Mexico report identified U.S. demand as a major driving force behind the illegal trade for some species, such as the yellow-naped parrot, which is found only in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Mexico is home to 22 species of parrots and macaws, of which six are found nowhere else in the world. Approximately 90 percent of all parrots and macaws found in Mexico are in some category of risk. The latest Mexican classification (yet to be published) lists 11 species as endangered, five as threatened, four as requiring special protection, and two as unclassified.

Although this bill marks an immense victory for parrot conservation, much work is yet to be done.

I think that last sentence is an understatement!

How is this new ban to be enforced. Will the ban put a higher price on these birds making them even more valuable to poachers? Does Mexico have enough officers to enforce this new ban? Will this put further pressure on other bird species? Okay, so there's a ban on parrots, will more cardinals, tanagers, and buntings be seen in open markets for sale?

This is a cautious victory.

American Kestrel Released into Central Park

2008-10-01T17:07:00.002-04:00

NEW YORK - New York City parks officials are sending a new bird of prey into the wilds of Central Park.

On Wednesday afternoon, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe is releasing an American kestrel. The bird was recently rescued and rehabilitated in Brooklyn.

The occasion precedes next weekend's 11th annual Falconry Extravaganza.

The kestrel, a small falcon with multi-colored plumage, is fairly common in Gotham neighborhoods. The one being released has been cared for by children ages 5 to 13 in the city's Home Educators Alliance.

Sunday's event will feature 13 species of raptors _ falcons, hawks and eagles _ showing off diving and hunting prowess under supervision of the park's Urban Rangers and experts from Hawk Creek Wildlife, a nonprofit wildlife sanctuary.

Distressed Over His Mate's Death

2008-09-27T10:16:00.009-04:00

The pictures tell the sorrow of a poor bird shocked to find his wife's fatal injury.

Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems

2008-08-27T17:12:00.001-04:00

August 26, 2008
Friend or Foe? Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems
By MICHELLE NIJHUIS
New York Times Article

Crows and their relatives — among them ravens, magpies and jays — are renowned for their intelligence and for their ability to flourish in human-dominated landscapes. That ability may have to do with cross-species social skills. In the Seattle area, where rapid suburban growth has attracted a thriving crow population, researchers have found that the birds can recognize individual human faces.

John M. Marzluff, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington, has studied crows and ravens for more than 20 years and has long wondered if the birds could identify individual researchers. Previously trapped birds seemed more wary of particular scientists, and often were harder to catch. “I thought, ‘Well, it’s an annoyance, but it’s not really hampering our work,’ ” Dr. Marzluff said. “But then I thought we should test it directly.”

To test the birds’ recognition of faces separately from that of clothing, gait and other individual human characteristics, Dr. Marzluff and two students wore rubber masks. He designated a caveman mask as “dangerous” and, in a deliberate gesture of civic generosity, a Dick Cheney mask as “neutral.” Researchers in the dangerous mask then trapped and banded seven crows on the university’s campus in Seattle.

In the months that followed, the researchers and volunteers donned the masks on campus, this time walking prescribed routes and not bothering crows.

The crows had not forgotten. They scolded people in the dangerous mask significantly more than they did before they were trapped, even when the mask was disguised with a hat or worn upside down. The neutral mask provoked little reaction. The effect has not only persisted, but also multiplied over the past two years. Wearing the dangerous mask on one recent walk through campus, Dr. Marzluff said, he was scolded by 47 of the 53 crows he encountered, many more than had experienced or witnessed the initial trapping. The researchers hypothesize that crows learn to recognize threatening humans from both parents and others in their flock.

After their experiments on campus, Dr. Marzluff and his students tested the effect with more realistic masks. Using a half-dozen students as models, they enlisted a professional mask maker, then wore the new masks while trapping crows at several sites in and around Seattle. The researchers then gave a mix of neutral and dangerous masks to volunteer observers who, unaware of the masks’ histories, wore them at the trapping sites and recorded the crows’ responses.

The reaction to one of the dangerous masks was “quite spectacular,” said one volunteer, Bill Pochmerski, a retired telephone company manager who lives near Snohomish, Wash. “The birds were really raucous, screaming persistently,” he said, “and it was clear they weren’t upset about something in general. They were upset with me.”

Again, crows were significantly more likely to scold observers who wore a dangerous mask, and when confronted simultaneously by observers in dangerous and neutral masks, the birds almost unerringly chose to persecute the dangerous face. In downtown Seattle, where most passersby ignore crows, angry birds nearly touched their human foes. In rural areas, where crows are more likely to be viewed as noisy “flying rats” and shot, the birds expressed their displeasure from a distance.

Though Dr. Marzluff’s is the first formal study of human face recognition in wild birds, his preliminary findings confirm the suspicions of many other researchers who have observed similar abilities in crows, ravens, gulls and other species. The pioneering animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz was so convinced of the perceptive capacities of crows and their relatives that he wore a devil costume when handling jackdaws. Stacia Backensto, a master’s student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies ravens in the oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope, has assembled an elaborate costume — including a fake beard and a potbelly made of pillows — because she believes her face and body are familiar to previously captured birds.

Kevin J. McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology who has trapped and banded crows in upstate New York for 20 years, said he was regularly followed by birds who have benefited from his handouts of peanuts — and harassed by others he has trapped in the past.

Why crows and similar species are so closely attuned to humans is a matter of debate. Bernd Heinrich, a professor emeritus at the University of Vermont known for his books on raven behavior, suggested that crows’ apparent ability to distinguish among human faces is a “byproduct of their acuity,” an outgrowth of their unusually keen ability to recognize one another, even after many months of separation.

Dr. McGowan and Dr. Marzluff believe that this ability gives crows and their brethren an evolutionary edge. “If you can learn who to avoid and who to seek out, that’s a lot easier than continually getting hurt,” Dr. Marzluff said. “I think it allows these animals to survive with us — and take advantage of us — in a much safer, more effective way.”

Parrots are Dangerous Wild Creatures

2008-07-30T14:59:00.001-04:00

BUYING AND FREEING BIRDS FROM PET SHOPS - SHOULD WE OR SHOULDN'T WE?Doing this promotes the trade; the birds will be quickly replaced.

read more | digg story

What is Happening to New York City's Wildlife?

2008-07-11T14:19:00.002-04:00

Hello:

Seems like finding pigeons, squirrels, etc. in some of the smaller parks are more difficult. Bryant Park for example has been turned into a fashion runway and overpriced restaurant park. Madison Sq. Park seems empty of wildlife, as does Union Square Park. Central Park reminds me more of Grand Central Station than a quiet haven for city folk. Is this Mayor Bloomberg's doing or his pal Doctoroff?

Back when, these parks used to be a quiet place to sit down, relax, paint, or read a book. Now it's similar to Times Square on New Years Eve every day. Things are getting worse for all wildlife, with the two legged variety taking over.

What a waste of resources.

Mike P.
NYC, NY 10011

HSUS Offers Reward in NJ Bluebirds' Deaths

2008-06-27T15:04:00.001-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The HSUS Offers Reward In Somerset County, N.J. Bluebirds' Deaths

(June 27, 2008) — The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for killing five baby bluebirds in Somerset County, N.J.

The Case: News reports give the following account: Over the past two months, vandals have razed a nationally certified wildlife habitat behind Hillside Intermediate School in Bridgewater, N.J. On June 7, the entryways into the bluebirds' birdhouses were found plugged with golf balls and, as a result, five baby bluebirds were found dead. The campus has sustained more than $10,000 in damages, including vandalism to the habitat's underground sprinkler system and the school's walls.

Animal Cruelty: Getting the serious attention of law enforcement, prosecutors and the community in cases involving allegations of cruelty to animals is an essential step in protecting the community. The connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.

“Those who abuse animals can be dangerous to people,” said Barbara Dyer, The HSUS’ New Jersey state director. “Americans have no tolerance for violence against the creatures who share our world.”

To Report a Tip: Anyone with information is asked to call The HSUS' Dyer at 973-927-5611.

Resources: The HSUS Animal Cruelty Campaign raises public awareness and educates communities about the connection between animal cruelty and human violence while providing a variety of resources to law enforcement agencies, social work professionals, educators, legislators and families. The HSUS offers rewards in animal cruelty cases across the country and works to strengthen laws against animal cruelty. Visit: humanesociety.org/cruelty.

Media Contact: Pepper Ballard, 240-751-0232, pballard@humanesociety.org.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization – backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org.

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
humanesociety.org

Dr. Jonathan Balcombe presents a Slide Lecture at Mid-Manhattan Library

2008-06-23T20:09:00.015-04:00

Jonathan Balcombe
presenting a slide lecture on his book

Pleasurable Kingdom
Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good

Monday, November 24th, 2008
6:30 p.m. on the 6th floor
Mid-Manhattan Library
The New York Public Library
40th Street and 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212-340-0887

Pleasurable Kingdom is the first book to focus on new evidence that animals, like humans, enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to bats to baboons may feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdote, leading animal behaviour researcher Dr Jonathan Balcombe proposes that evolution favours sensory rewards because they drive living things to stay alive and reproduce. He explains how our acknowledgment of positive feelings in other animals has important ethical ramifications for our relationship to them.

“Brisk, erudite and enormously entertaining — an excellent, approachable introduction to

the basic issues in animal behaviour.” — Publishers Weekly

“This entertaining and thought-provoking book is recommended for popular science

collections.” — Library Journal

“A well-argued thesis.” — Scientific American

“Superb — has set an agenda for future research. This book will change how we interact

with other animal beings.” — Marc Bekoff in Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Dr. Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987. He has written many scientific papers and lay- articles on animal behavior, humane education, and animal research. In 2000, the Humane Society Press released his book The

Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives and Recommendations. His second book, Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Macmillan), was released in May 2006.

A popular speaker, he has given invited presentations in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, India, Brazil, Israel and mainland Europe. In January 2007 he completed a 15-stop lecture tour of medical and veterinary schools in India. Dr. Balcombe is currently Senior Research Scientist with Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in Washington, D.C. In his spare time he enjoys nature-watching, biking, piano, vegan cooking and trying to understand his two cats. He lives in Germantown, Maryland.

The event is co-sponsored by The New York Public Library and The New York Bird Club.

Elevators access the 6th floor after 6 p.m.
All programs are FREE and subject to last minute change or cancellation.

National Pigeon Day in New York City

2008-06-09T10:41:00.003-04:00

Friday, June 13

4 - 8 pm

Pilgrim Hill in Central Park
New York, NY
(enter on northwest corner of 5th Avenue @ E. 72nd Street)

Entertainment, political activism, materials distribution, candlelight prayer service with guitar accompaniment and pigeon shaped cookies. Learn how carrier pigeons Cher Ami, GI Joe and Winkie saved the lives of more than 1,000 men in wartime. Become part of Project Pigeon Watch and have fun learning about our fascinating NYC residents.

Amanda Tree will host and play her music for National Pigeon Day.

Special Guest Joe Franklin

Speakers include:

Council Member Tony Avella, Nellie McKay, In Defense of Animals, Deacon Joseph Dwyer, Janice Fredericks, United Poultry Concerns, Raghav K. Goyal and Ana A. Garcia, Amanda Tree.

The New York Bird Club wishes to thank In Defense of Animals who will provide a banner, Hanna Fushihara Aron who will bake pigeon shaped cookies, God's Creatures Ministry who will provide candles, the United Federation of Teachers Humane Education Committee who will bring Pigeon Watch materials for distribution, all speakers and contributors and all our pigeon friends who advocate on behalf of our beautiful birds.

Guest Speakers and Schedule:
see our blog: National Pigeon Day for complete information.

Humans Blamed for Sharp Drop in Wildlife

2008-05-19T14:44:00.006-04:00

The world's wildlife has declined by 27 percent since 1970 because of humans
WWF: Terrestrial, freshwater, marine species all under threat
Pollution and overall climate change are other factors causing loss of wildlife

(CNN) -- The world's wildlife has declined by 27 percent since 1970 because of the human impact on the environment, the World Wildlife Fund said Friday.

The WWF's latest Living Planet Index shows terrestrial, freshwater and marine species all suffered declines in their populations between 1970 and 2005, with freshwater species experiencing the biggest drop.

The index is included in a report called "2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge," which the WWF prepared for an international biodiversity conference in Germany later this month.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters, and greater effects from global warming," said James Leape, director-general of WWF International.

The Living Planet Index measured 4,000 populations of 1,477 vertebrate species, which the WWF says is a good indicator of overall biodiversity trends.

Terrestrial species in both temperate and tropical areas fell by an average of 25 percent during the 35-year period, the WWF said.

Marine species fell by 28 percent in the same period, with a dramatic decline between 1995 and 2005, the WWF said.

"Many marine ecosystems are changing rapidly under human influence, and one recent study estimates that more than 40 percent of the world's ocean area is strongly affected by human activities while few areas remain untouched," the WWF report said.

Freshwater species in both temperate and tropical regions fell by 29 percent between 1970 and 2003. The WWF said that is especially significant because despite covering only about 1 percent of the total land surface of the planet, inland waters are home to more than 40,000 vertebrate species.

In tropical regions, freshwater species were especially hard-hit; the index shows they suffered a 35-percent drop between 1970 and 2000.

The WWF said it had insufficient data to chart tropical freshwater species beyond 2000 and temperate freshwater species beyond 2003.

The causes of the declines are varied but ultimately stem from human demands on the biosphere, such as consumption of natural resources or the displacement of ecosystems, the WWF said.

The dominant threat to marine life is overexploitation -- harvesting or killing animals or plants beyond the species' capacity to replace itself, the WWF said. Overfishing is one example.

Overexploitation is also a threat to terrestrial species, according to the report, which cites the hunting of tropical forest mammals. Overharvesting of timber is also a major factor, it said.

Invasive species, whether introduced deliberately or not, are another threat, especially in freshwater ecosystems, where they are thought to be the main cause of extinction among endemic species, the WWF said.

Pollution and overall climate change are other factors causing a loss of biodiversity, it said.
The WWF called on governments attending this month's conference to take urgent action to reduce the rate of loss by 2010.

It wants governments to establish protected areas, particularly those areas important for food security, water supply, medicine, and disaster mitigation, and to commit to zero deforestation by 2020.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/16/wildlife.shortage/index.html

Three Baby Hawks Most Likely Poisoned

2008-05-13T16:36:00.003-04:00

Three Baby Hawks Are Most Likely Dead
By Sewell Chan
New York Times article

One of the adult red-tailed hawks in Riverside Park. (Photo: D. Bruce Yolton via New York City Audubon)

As if this Monday morning weren’t dreary and chilly enough, now comes news that three nestlings born in recent weeks to red-tailed hawks in the south end of Riverside Park are believed to have died.

The body of only one young hawk — or eyas — has been recovered so far. The city’s avid bird-watchers have confirmed that the other two babies are not in their nest and are feared dead as well.

“It’s so devastating,” said Dr. Leslie Day, who recovered the body of one of the chicks on Sunday and kept the body refrigerated to preserve it. This morning, Dr. Day, a naturalist who teaches at the Elisabeth Morrow School and the Bank Street College of Education, gave the body to a friend, the photographer Lincoln Karim, who planned to drive to Delmar, N.Y., near Albany, and turn the corpse over to Ward B. Stone, who runs the Wildlife Pathology Unit of the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Mr. Stone is expected to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

Dr. Day said she first heard something might be amiss on Saturday morning, when she got a call from Beth Bergman, a friend who watches and photographs the birds. Later that evening, Dr. Day received an e-mail message from Mr. Karim, also expressing alarm. (Mr. Karim runs the Web site palemale.com, which follows the lives of two more well-known East Side hawks, Pale Male and Lola.)

“On Sunday morning I went out at 7 a.m.,” Dr. Day said in a phone interview this morning. “Standing at the nest, I could see there were no babies. They had become so large, standing at the rim, strengthening their wings.”

Dr. Day said she told a friend, Cal Vornberger, the author of “Birds of Central Park,” that she was worried. “At that moment a dog walker came by,” Dr. Day recalled, “saying another dog walker had seen the mom carrying her dead baby out to drop on the ground.” The dog walker told Dr. Day that the other dog walker said she could not bear to leave the body on the ground and had placed it in a bag, then in a trash can. Dr. Day and the second dog walker, who herself walked by, went over to the trash can and retrieved the body.
“And this was Mother’s Day,” Dr. Day said sadly.

News of the deaths has quickly made its way across blogs watched by bird lovers.
While the cause of death awaits a toxicology analysis, Dr. Day suspected that the parents may have fed the nestlings pigeons or rats that contained lethal levels of poison — a common cause of death for the delicate hawks.

Bird-watchers said they were saddened by the news. “I’ve lived on Riverside Park since 1969 and it’s only this year that I’ve seen a hawk,” said Carol Andrus, who was walking her Rottweiler, Bruno, on Saturday. “We had a lot of seagulls and robins and other stuff. I’ve been watching these hawks — they are just fascinating birds. On Saturday morning I went to the park really early and a woman was standing there crying, saying: ‘The baby hawks aren’t there. They’re dead.’ About 15 other people were there. I didn’t want to cry publicly. I said to myself, ‘C’mon Bruno, we’re going home.’ I told my daughter and then she started to cry. It’s so sad.”

Update added 5/14/2008:
http://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/riverside-parks-

Sex and the City Bird

2008-04-01T09:04:00.004-04:00

You can view the original page on the Sierra Club's website.

Sex and the City Bird
How urban avian types adapt mating, nesting, and other behaviors to survive
By Chuck Baldwin
March/April 2008

CITY FOLKS HAVE ALWAYS SEEN THEMSELVES as a breed apart, tough survivors. Turns out that urban birds, too, may be of a heartier strain. In probing this premise, we at Sierra found ourselves asking some unexpected questions: Is citified sluttiness a survival trait? Does busting a hip-hop move help a metrosexual bird thrive where his country cousin might fail?

To our knowledge, no scientist has yet tested our theory that last fall's Internet video sensation Snowball, a captive cockatoo that sings and dances to the Backstreet Boys, is evidence that avian players are adapting to the rituals of big-city dating. But a recent study by the College of William and Mary did indeed show that--to quote Science News--"female zebra finches, normally devoted to their mates, are more likely to flirt with male strangers" when exposed to city levels of background noise.

With a quarter of U.S. bird species declining or rare, according to WatchList 2007, a joint study by Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy, scientists are increasingly paying attention to how some have adjusted to humanity's spread.

"The urban habitat is usually more severe than the habitats these birds historically occupied," biology professor John Wingfield said following the release of a recent University of Washington worldwide study of avian behavior. "Urban habitats aren't easy, so the birds have to have developed coping mechanisms. . . . In the face of global climate change and human disturbances, such as increased urbanization and deforestation, we may be able to identify species that can cope with such changes," he said. Those that cannot "might even go extinct in the face of increased disruption."

Noting humankind's fascination with (and sometimes aversion to) urban birds, Sierra asked artist Jack Unruh to illustrate a brief tribute to these avian survivalists.

ROCK PIGEONS used to nest in bushes, squat trees, and low rock ledges. But after 5,000 years of living with humanity, they've gone condo, settling in on virtually any flat city surface that offers protection--and usually high off the ground. With generations of use and little "housecleaning," their nests harden into claylike structures that are stronger than the flimsy ones found in more bucolic settings.

Source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds: Rock Pigeon

About 120 years ago, Eugene Schieffelin released some 100 EUROPEAN STARLINGS in New York City's Central Park. Like many successful newcomers to the city, they turned out to be an aggressive, resourceful, and omnivorous breed that moves in large flocks when young. The starling's numbers now exceed 200 million in North America, giving such populous species as red-eyed vireos, dark-eyed juncos, yellow-rumped warblers, and robins a run for their money.

Sources: The Urban Naturalist (Dover Publications, 1998) by Steven D. Garber
Complete Birds of North America (National Geographic, 2006), edited by Jonathan Alderfer.

Male EUROPEAN BLACKBIRDS living in cities appear not to stress out as easily as their wild counterparts, and those that tend to stay in town--rather than migrate--apparently develop gonads sooner, begin mating earlier in the season, and have longer reproductive cycles, say researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Ornithology.

Source: Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science press release: "Stress and the City": Urban Birds Keep Cool (September 1, 2006).

In European cities, GREAT TITS, similar to North America's chickadees, have changed their tune to overcome the din of urban traffic. The sounds of the city generally meld into a low-frequency hum that ranges in volume. In response, these birds have dropped now ineffective low-frequency notes from their songs altogether. Since most tits learn to sing from their neighbors, their repertoire has evolved to higher-pitched frequencies with fewer but stronger notes than in the songs sung by their country brethren only a few miles away.

Source: "Cities Change the Songs of Birds"; Current Biology; volume 16; pages 2326-2331; December 5, 2006; by Hans Slabbekoorn and Ardie den Boer-Visser/

While humans may associate cities with crime, a study of NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS in Florida suggests that these "urban winners" are thriving, at least in part, because their nests aren't as vulnerable to natural predators such as snakes. (Mockingbirds in Berkeley, California, meanwhile, have been known to reproduce the entire sequence of a nearby car alarm.)

Source: Selected abstracts on urban bird ecology from the 2006 North American Ornithological Conference.

The PEREGRINE FALCON, the world's fastest bird, usually lays her eggs on a bare cliff ledge near the sea or in the desert. She and her mate then take turns incubating the eggs while the other hunts, sometimes storing food for future use in cliffside caches. In San Francisco, a population of peregrines has eschewed expected behavior and claimed squatters' rights on Bay Area bridges. These urban dwellers hunt on the wing as falcons normally would, catching ever-present pigeons and starlings at the nadir of deep, fast dives. But they keep their caches of food in nooks and crevices of the city's skyline. One couple, adopting the ethic of the Internet age, has taken to cavorting for a "nest cam" set in a wooden box filled with gravel on the 33rd floor of a downtown building. Their exhibitionism has earned them a worldwide audience and blog commentary that might shame Britney Spears.

Sources: Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, San Francisco Nest Diary 2007
Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 2007 Peregrine Falcon Nest Cam.

Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird?

2008-03-30T12:15:00.002-04:00

March 30, 2008
The New York Times
Op-Ed Contributor
Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird?
By BRIDGET STUTCHBURY
Woodbridge, Ontario

THOUGH a consumer may not be able to tell the difference, a striking red and blue Thomas the Tank Engine made in Wisconsin is not the same as one manufactured in China — the paint on the Chinese twin may contain dangerous levels of lead. In the same way, a plump red tomato from Florida is often not the same as one grown in Mexico. The imported fruits and vegetables found in our shopping carts in winter and early spring are grown with types and amounts of pesticides that would often be illegal in the United States.

In this case, the victims are North American songbirds. Bobolinks, called skunk blackbirds in some places, were once a common sight in the Eastern United States. In mating season, the male in his handsome tuxedo-like suit sings deliriously as he whirrs madly over the hayfields. Bobolink numbers have plummeted almost 50 percent in the last four decades, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

The birds are being poisoned on their wintering grounds by highly toxic pesticides. Rosalind Renfrew, a biologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, captured bobolinks feeding in rice fields in Bolivia and took samples of their blood to test for pesticide exposure. She found that about half of the birds had drastically reduced levels of cholinesterase, an enzyme that affects brain and nerve cells — a sign of exposure to toxic chemicals.

Since the 1980s, pesticide use has increased fivefold in Latin America as countries have expanded their production of nontraditional crops to fuel the demand for fresh produce during winter in North America and Europe. Rice farmers in the region use monocrotophos, methamidophos and carbofuran, all agricultural chemicals that are rated Class I toxins by the World Health Organization, are highly toxic to birds, and are either restricted or banned in the United States. In countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, researchers have found that farmers spray their crops heavily and repeatedly with a chemical cocktail of dangerous pesticides.

In the mid-1990s, American biologists used satellite tracking to follow Swainson’s hawks to their wintering grounds in Argentina, where thousands of them were found dead from monocrotophos poisoning. Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can kill seven to 25 songbirds per acre. About half the birds that researchers capture after such spraying are found to suffer from severely depressed neurological function.

Migratory birds, modern-day canaries in the coal mine, reveal an environmental problem hidden to consumers. Testing by the United States Food and Drug Administration shows that fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America are three times as likely to violate Environmental Protection Agency standards for pesticide residues as the same foods grown in the United States. Some but not all pesticide residues can be removed by washing or peeling produce, but tests by the Centers for Disease Control show that most Americans carry traces of pesticides in their blood. American consumers can discourage this poisoning by avoiding foods that are bad for the environment, bad for farmers in Latin America and, in the worst cases, bad for their own families.

What should you put on your bird-friendly grocery list? Organic coffee, for one thing. Most mass-produced coffee is grown in open fields heavily treated with fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. In contrast, traditional small coffee farmers grow their beans under a canopy of tropical trees, which provide shade and essential nitrogen, and fertilize their soil naturally with leaf litter. Their organic, fair-trade coffee is now available in many coffee shops and supermarkets, and it is recommended by the Audubon Society, the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

Organic bananas should also be on your list. Bananas are typically grown with one of the highest pesticide loads of any tropical crop. Although bananas present little risk of pesticide ingestion to the consumer, the environment where they are grown is heavily contaminated.

When it comes to nontraditional Latin American crops like melons, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries, it can be difficult to find any that are organically grown. We should buy these foods only if they are not imported from Latin America.

Now that spring is here, we take it for granted that the birds’ cheerful songs will fill the air when our apple trees blossom. But each year, as we continue to demand out-of-season fruits and vegetables, we ensure that fewer and fewer songbirds will return.

Bridget Stutchbury, a professor of biology at York University in Toronto, is the author of “Silence of the Songbirds.”

Notice: $2,000 Arborcide Reward

2008-03-26T11:45:00.004-04:00

ARBORCIDE

35 Eastern Red Cedar Trees were cut down in Inwood Hill Park in the southwest quadrant near the Dyckman Fields on or around March 7, 2008.

$2000 REWARD for information leading to arrest and conviction.

Call the 34th Precinct at (212) 927-0822 with information.

Visit NYC Parks for the latest in Parks news and information.

Please Amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

2008-02-29T10:54:00.004-05:00

What's At Stake?
Help Raptors, Stop the Illegal Killing

Citizens across the United States were appalled to learn last spring that pigeon enthusiasts in Oregon, California, and Texas have intentionally been killing Cooper's Hawks, Peregrine Falcons and Red-tailed Hawks that they feared might prey upon their pigeons.

The raptors were killed by hobbyists who breed pigeons to carry a genetic trait that causes them to stop flying and tumble in the air before righting themselves and carrying on. These "roller pigeons" are flown in competitions and scored by judges who rate the birds on the quality of the "roll" and other factors. Of course, the pigeon rolling through the air looks like crippled and vulnerable prey to a hawk, falcon, or other bird of prey. Many of these pigeon enthusiasts have been routinely killing raptors in an attempt to protect their roller pigeons.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that as many as 2,000 to 3,000 raptors were being killed on the West Coast each year using methods including poisoning, beating birds to death with clubs, and suffocation in plastic bags. Even more troubling is the fact that the thirteen men charged with these crimes received little more than a slap on the wrist after pleading guilty. Currently, killing a protected bird is a Class B Misdemeanor under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which puts suffocating a Peregrine Falcon in the same category as unauthorized use of the image of Smokey Bear.

Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon has introduced legislation that would amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 so that the intentional killing of protected bird species would be considered a felony, rather than the current Class B Misdemeanor. HR 4093 would send a strong message to prosecutors and courts that Congress takes these crimes seriously. It would pave the way for significant fines (up to $50,000) and jail sentences (up to 1 year) for the most serious bird-related crimes.

Alert

You can read the text of the legislation at thomas.loc.gov.

Contac: Audubon (audubonaction@audubon.org)

The Birds That Used to be Glorious Birds

2008-02-28T10:33:00.004-05:00

Courant.com
The Birds That Used To Be Glorious Birds
Exhibits Measure What We've Lost In Our Relationships With Nature
By STEVE GRANT

Courant Staff Writer
February 28, 2008

That people are charmed by the presence of birds in the landscape is understood. Millions of backyard bird feeders is evidence enough.

So it's not surprising that there is an incredible variety of bird art, too. Much of that art is celebratory — exquisitely crafted images of a species, sometimes in natural habitat, à la John James Audubon. We like birds.

Two new exhibitions, one at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the other at Trinity College in Hartford, focus intently on our relationship with birds, but each at least partly explores the dark side of that relationship.

At Trinity, Jeffrey H. Kaimowitz, head librarian at the college's Watkinson Library, put together a small, focused exhibition exploring bird extinctions in the past 400 years, with images and text drawn from the school's invaluable Enders Ornithology Collection, of which he is curator. The exhibit at the library, "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang," also includes three original paintings by Peter Schouten for his book "A Gap in Nature" and a small exhibit on endangered felines.

Birds don't necessarily become extinct because of humans, but in recent centuries, human activities have often been a significant factor in the loss of such species as the passenger pigeon, once among the most abundant bird species in North America.

There are ample examples of celebratory art in the Trinity exhibit, including a magnificent image of the Hawaii O'o, a lustrous black bird with brilliant yellow shoulder plumage. Enjoy the image, though, because, of course, the bird is extinct, like so many other Hawaiian birds. Island bird species, confined to a comparatively small area as they are, are extremely vulnerable. Introduce an alien predator — house cats, wild pigs, some exotic snake — and in no time an island species can disappear.

If there is a species that ties these two exhibits together, it is the passenger pigeon. Unfortunately for the species, passenger pigeons were good eating and easy to kill, often showing up by the tens of thousands and alighting in trees in massive flocks, including here in Connecticut. They were shot by the thousands and sent to market.

By the early 20th century, they were extinct.

The Trinity exhibit includes a nice 19th-century pigeon image from Alexander Wilson's "American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States."

In the UConn exhibit, at the Contemporary Art Galleries in the Art Building, artist Christy Rupp's "Passenger Pigeon," a 2006 sculpture of chicken bones and other media, takes society to task for feeding itself cheaply at the expense of key pieces of our ecosystems. That would be those inexpensive passenger pigeons, which were sometimes shipped to market in boxcars.

Rupp takes issues with those who insist technology will find solutions for a consumptive society's excesses.

"By choosing to view environmental and sociological problems as fixable with technology, we ignore the fact that we are part of a system with a delicate balance," Rupp says.

The UConn exhibit, comprising 36 works, all modern art, is at once a nod to the pleasure of watching birds and an acknowledgment that humans too often harm them.

Carsten Holler's series of bird photos "Birds," done in 2006, is bound to confound serious birders. Holler mated birds of different species, creating offspring that look like no other species and cannot reproduce.

As Barry A. Rosenberg, a UConn art professor and curator of the exhibit "Ornithology: Looking at Birds," notes, these birds may look very much like a species you know, but look closely, and they are unidentifiable.

It is Holler's way of drawing attention to extinction, because each of the photographed birds is the last of its kind.

"Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" exhibition at Trinity College includes 29 books, three original paintings and a print, plus five illustrated books on felines. It runs through June 9. The school's Watkinson Library is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., but beginning mid-May, the library will close at 1 p.m. on Fridays. The library will be open on Saturdays from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. from March 29 through May 3. A talk on "Conservation of Imperiled Birds and Felines: Notes from the Field" will be given March 26 at 4:45 p.m. in the Joslin 1823 Room in Trinity's Library and Information Technology Center. Ornithologist Joan Morrison, the Charles A. Dana Research Associate Professor of Biology, and feline expert Dr. Jim Sanderson, will speak.

The UConn exhibition at the Contemporary Art Galleries runs through April 3. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. It will be closed during spring break March 10 to 14. The Contemporary Art Galleries and the university's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology will hold a symposium featuring internationally renowned artists and ornithologists at the Dodd Research Center's Konover Auditorium April 3 at 2:30 p.m. Both the exhibition and the symposium are free. Among subjects to be discussed is the possible existence of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Contact Steve Grant at sgrant@courant.com.

To see more photos from the exhibits, visit here.

New York Observed -- Bird Watching in New York City

2008-02-25T16:30:00.008-05:00

OUT-OF-TOWNER The parks, and the city around them, may be made by men and women, but the wildlife that flashes through is no less real.

February 24, 2008
New York Observed
Lemon Zest
By JONATHAN ROSEN
New York Times article

ON a cold morning late last month, I took a subway to Union Square Park to see a bird I had never seen. The bird, a Scott’s oriole, had been noted intermittently behind the statue of Mohandas Gandhi since December, though it took birders several weeks to figure out that it was not in fact an orchard oriole — which would have been unusual enough for winter in Manhattan. Scott’s oriole is a bird of the Southwest and has never been recorded in New York. It should be no farther east than Texas, which is why, despite my sluggardly winter ways, I decided it was worth a trip down from the Upper West Side, where I live.

Alongside my excitement, I felt a qualm of embarrassment as I exited the busy subway with my binoculars. It was like taking a taxi to hunt big game: “Let me off near the wildebeest, driver.” In Central Park, I can at least conjure the illusion of wildness if I focus on the trees. But when your marker is a metal statue of a man in a loincloth, standing on what is essentially a traffic island, you cannot pretend you are in the middle of nature.

Then again, that’s the point of bird-watching. “Nature” isn’t necessarily elsewhere. It is the person holding the binoculars, as much as the bird in the tree, and it is the intersection of these two creatures, with technology bringing us closer than we have ever been to the very thing technology has driven from our midst. And, anyway, there are still wild elements in the center of a city. The morning I arrived, the bird had made itself scarce, perhaps because a red-tailed hawk, a Cooper’s hawk and a kestrel were all patrolling the park.

I was not the only birder there. Everyone had read the same birding e-mail messages I had, and we were all staking out the southwest corner of the park, scanning the same stunted holly trees and viburnum.

Oranges and banana slices had been scattered on the ground, like votive offerings. The first report I read of the bird had it eating a kaiser roll. Several people had been there for hours, and two men showed me pictures of the bird that they had taken on their digital cameras that very day. They were hoping for a last look and braving the cold in the knowledge that by noon, sunlight would again fall on the building-shadowed corner of the park and entice the lemon-yellow, black-headed bird back into view.

Vagrant though the bird was, it seemed to me that there was also a rightness to its having landed in Union Square. This was not simply because of the statue of Gandhi, suggesting the need for simplicity and putting me to shame in his cotton dhoti and sandals as I shivered in my down jacket. My feelings also had to do with the park itself, named originally for the union of Broadway (then called Bloomingdale Road) and the Bowery.

Bird-watching is all about the coming together of disparate things, not merely earth and sky but the union of technology and a hunger for the wild world. “Imaginary gardens with real toads” is how Marianne Moore described poetry. Birding in city parks evokes much the same sensation. The parks, and the cities around them, may be human-made, but the wildlife that flashes through is no less real.

On the building across from where I stood, high up on the brick wall, there was a metal box that from time to time emitted the cry of a peregrine falcon. It was just a recording, but it roused the pigeons on the windowsills into a sort of lazy panic, getting them to rise and fly a few circles in the air before resettling. Even real peregrine falcons have a hint of the artificial about them, having been brought back from the brink by falconers expert in the ways of an ancient art that involved borrowing a bird from the wild and then turning it loose again.

Like the greenmarket in Union Square that brings apples and vegetables from outside the city, the token bird in the park is a reminder of an older way of life we are still intimately connected to and vitally in need of.

And like birders with their binoculars, we are not necessarily doomed by our modernity to exclusion from wildness. Bird-watching was born in cities — combining technology, urban institutions of higher learning, an awareness of the vanishing wild places of the earth and a desire to welcome what is left of the wild back into our world.

The name Union Square accumulated layers of later meaning, from the great rally held there in 1861 for the Union troops, and the Labor Day marches that took place later that century. In its own way, Scott’s oriole belongs with Union Square’s famous 19th-century monuments, most especially the 1868 statue of Abraham Lincoln.

THE bird was named by Darius Nash Couch, a Union general who was also a naturalist. (There were a lot of army men in the 19th century who used their postings as a way to record bird life.) Couch named the bird in honor of Gen. Winfield Scott, who was known as “Old fuss and feathers,” though I feel sure that is not the reason he got a bird named after him; one of the great soldiers in American history, Scott began his career with the War of 1812 and ended it with the Civil War.

The bird is a monument to 19th-century ornithology, but it had defied its label and was doing what creatures with wings do: flying out of range and surprising us with life. It is never enough to know the name of a bird when you are birding. It is the mysterious unknowable animal that lives alongside the named and classified creature that draws us out to look.

By noon on that cold January day, about 20 birders had gathered, craning with increasing urgency into the bushes as the little patch of grass behind Gandhi grew brighter. And suddenly the bird was there. Someone pointed, and then we all saw it. It came down to the ground and, without ceremony, pecked at a piece of banana.

Jonathan Rosen is the editorial director of Nextbook. His book about bird-watching, “The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature,” is being published this month by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Illegal Use of Avitrol Kills Birds

2008-01-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

Staten Island, NY
Pest Control Company Blamed For Rash Of Bird Deaths
January 18, 2008

The DEC says a New Jersey company is to blame for the dozens of dead birds found in Eltingville and Great Kills last month.

DEC representatives say their investigation found that New Jersey-based company AAA Animal and Pest Control had been using Avitrol in Great Kills for a number of years to rid the area of birds.

Avitrol was banned from the city eight years ago because of the cruel affects of the chemicals and its potential to kill non-target species. The company, which is not a registered business in New York State, admitted to using the chemical and has been cited by the DEC.

Penalties for the use of Avitrol in New York City include fines of up to $5,000 for the first violation.

Source: NY1News

Trump's Killer Buildings

2008-01-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Donald Trump never gives any thought to migrating birds as he builds one after another of his killer buildings.

January 14, 2008
To all Audubon staff
info@nycaudubon.org

Today there was a tragedy at the Trump Tower Hotel under construction at Spring St. and Varick St. in lower Manhattan (right by the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.)

A construction worker was killed, and another in serious condition.

If you haven't heard, this building has been controversial from the start. Opposed by most Village residents, the Soho Alliance, historical preservation groups, at 42-stories high, this building-in-the-making sticks out like a sore thumb in the Village, which traditionally has had lower-height buildings. Yet Donald Trump pulled strings to once again have his way.

YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Already the lower portion of the building has its completed glass outer frame - which are mirrors which reflect the sky!

This means MIGRATING BIRDS will end up crashing into the building ' s walls, as they do in lower downtown high buildings, and end up dead on the sidewalk every day.

Since songbirds are said to be in the decline, and beyond that, NO bird should have to crash into a building it sees as the sky, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO to influence Mr. Trump to change the outside of his building?

It ' s not too late for him to change plans, since, as I said, only the lower part of the building has these glass panes/mirrors up yet. Perhaps you could be influential in convincing him to do the upper part differently, to protect birds.

PLEASE look into this. It is bad enough that Villagers will have to endure this eyesore when it ' s completed. It will be that much more horrific for us to hear of/see beautiful dead birds on its sidewalk there!

Sincerely,
Ms. Veronica Perez

New York City Audubon reply:

January 17, 2008

The coverage of the accident also brought to my attention that the building is likely to be a hazard to birds, especially if the landscape around it is green. Unfortunately, we can do little other than send information about the problem to the developer and architects (which we will do.) We will monitor the building, and perhaps our data will convince Mr. Trump to do something.

As a longer-term solution, we need to get the Department of City Planning to change the way it handles ESA’s -- the first step in the environmental review process. At the moment, unless the project is located within a wetland, the department assumes there will be no impact on wildlife of any project. We will be working with them to require developers to at least review their designs for bird safety – at least in those cases where an environmental impact statement will be filed.

It’s a small first step, but I’m hopeful that in the end we can get protective building codes that match or exceed Chicago ’s – currently the only US city that requires bird-friendly designs.

Glenn Phillips
Executive Director
New York City Audubon
71 West 23rd Street, Room 1523
New York, NY 10010
Phone: (212) 691-7483
Fax: (212) 924-3870
gphillips@nycaudubon.org
http://www.nycaudubon.org/

Banned Chemical (Avitrol) Kills Birds in Staten Island, NY

2008-01-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Banned toxin killed birds on S. Shore
Chemical that is used to ward off flocks was outlawed in New York
Friday, January 04, 2008
By MARK STEIN and DEBORAH YOUNG
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.
(see article)

The dozens of birds found dead in Great Kills and in Eltingville last month were killed by an overdose of a toxic chemical banned in New York City eight years ago, the city's Health Department announced last night.

A sampling of blackbirds from Great Kills and starlings from Eltingville were sent to the Animal Health Diagnostic Center in Ithaca, N.Y. a little over a week ago.

Researchers found the flock consumed a toxic dose of Avitrol, a chemical frightening agent used to remove birds from a given location.

The disturbing finding underscores that an area business or resident is using the banned chemical to deal with what they believe to be a nuisance.

Birds eating the treated bait, such as corn kernels, will emit distress and alarm cries and visual displays used by their species. This will frighten the flock and cause them to leave the site, according to the chemical maker's Web site.

In 2000, then Gov. George Pataki banned use of the drug in the city.

One of the reasons for the ban was due to the cruel effects of the chemical.

Avitrol attacks and impairs a birds' nervous system and causes them to become disoriented and exhibit erratic flight and tremors and suffer violent convulsions for hours before they die. Bird-eating predators such as foxes, hawks, cats and dogs die from secondary poising after feeding on the dead or dying birds.

In addition to New York City, Avitrol is banned in San Francisco, California and much of Europe.
Approximately 50 birds were first discovered on Dec. 21 along Wiman Avenue in Great Kills. On Christmas Eve, seven starlings were found dead on the corner of Richmond Avenue and Amboy Road, Eltingville.

Earlier yesterday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced that crows that have turned up dead across New York -- sometimes in groups as large as 100 -- were killed by a virus.

The DEC said the strain of avian reovirus that caused the deaths of birds in six counties upstate was not the cause of the mysterious deaths of the Island birds.

Hundreds of birds in Albany, Dutchess, Jefferson, Montgomery, Orange and Steuben counties have died this winter of infections caused by a strain of avian reovirus that attacks birds' intestinal systems and is spread through bird fecal matter.

Unlike West Nile virus, the reovirus isn't likely to spread to humans, said state wildlife pathologist Ward Stone. And the virus is not related to the avian flu, which has spread across large swaths of Asia and has caused fear of a human epidemic.

Earlier yesterday, Islanders were mystified by the sudden die-off of birds here. They're keeping their eyes trained on the sky. "Nobody knows what's going on," said Robert Cardinali, when he called the Advance Sunday morning, concerned about the massive flock of crows that appeared on his block at Fieldway and Greencroft Avenues. "I've lived here 11 years and never has this happened. This isn't too far from where the other birds died, that's why all the neighbors are outside watching this and videotaping."

Although the city Department of Health does not typically respond to reports of fewer than 10 dead animals, samples from that die-off were also collected to be necropsied.

Some residents in the area said they have encountered dead birds near that corner for years, and speculate the deaths might be caused by poison or electrocution.