20-Apr-23, 08:32:15 AM
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Not one northern spotted owl in B.C.'s breeding program gave birth to young
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on: 05-Jun-11, 06:32:56 AM
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Habitat of the northern spotted owl — an endangered species that's all but wiped out in the wild in southwestern B.C. — continues to be logged while those owls in captivity are having poor success at breeding.
For a second consecutive year, not one northern spotted owl in B.C.'s captive-breeding program gave birth to young.
"It's very unfortunate," said biologist Ian Blackburn, spotted owl recovery coordinator for B.C.'s Ministry of Environment. "They've gone through the process, eggs were laid. Last year, we're not sure if any were fertile.
"This year we had two fertile eggs, but they failed to hatch."
Twelve owls, including five pairs, are located at Mountain View Conservation and Breeding Centre in Langley. One pair each is also located at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., and the Cascades Raptor Centre in Eugene, Ore.
All facilities are assisting B.C. in its program to breed the owls in captivity for eventual release back into the wild, where fewer than a dozen are thought to exist.
In a North American first, two pairs of spotted owls successfully hatched young at Mountain View in 2009 and 2008.
While officials are unsure why nesting has failed more recently, part of it might be finding the right "pair bond" of male and female, Blackburn said, noting youth and inexperience of some birds are likely contributing factors.
News of the nesting failures comes as the province implements a new management plan for the owls that allows logging of spotted owl habitat in the Chilliwack Forest District.
Blackburn said the three categories of owl habitat recognized in the management plan include:
- 128,200 hectares of parks and other protected areas, including Metro Vancouver watersheds.
- 27,100 hectares of Wildlife Habitat Areas that are "managed future habitat areas." Logging is permitted provided it allows "structural retention" to help facilitate the regrowth of old habitat. Loggers must retain 15 or 40 of the largest trees per hectare in the stand, depending on the site, while maintaining 10 per cent of the overall forest.
- 71,400 hectares of Wildlife Habitat Areas managed as "long-term owl habitat areas" in which destruction of owl habitat is not allowed. Logging is allowed to "create and enhance" habitat for owls such as thinning second-growth.
Blackburn confirmed there are exemptions in the latter category that do, in fact, allow logging as a way to offset timber losses to companies in other areas for spotted owl protection.
"Some cut blocks were exempted as they were already under cutting permit," he said. "Additional harvest areas were identified and, after careful consideration ... were included in the final mitigation plan to offset short-term timber volume impacts."
Blackburn said the province's intent is to "provide timber-harvesting opportunities while trying to retain structure for future recruitment" of spotted owls under a "government caveat of no-net loss of owl habitat and/or timber supply."
Joe Foy, national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, argued the stated provincial objective is "out in la-la land" and that both goals cannot be met.
He said it's wrong that "when logging companies whine that they've been cut back too much they're granting them additional cutblocks in those so-called highly protected Wildlife Habitat Areas."
He also described the rules governing "managed future habitat areas" to be "weak and lily-livered" and do nothing to address the pressing immediate habitat needs. "These guys are making them look like Swiss cheese," he said of the owl habitat. "We don't have 200 years. The owl is almost gone."
Of the seven exemptions, five go to Tamihi Logging, the largest of which is 142 hectares at Ford Mountain and Post Creek in the Chilliwack River Valley. The logging there must be consistent with "managed future habitat areas" requirements; afterwards, the site will be managed as "long-term" habitat.
Although the site has had logging in the past, it contains numerous mature Douglas fir and western red cedar trees exceeding one metre in diameter.
Area residents are upset at the pending logging there because they logically assumed that living next to a Wildlife Habitat Area for endangered spotted owls would reduce the likelihood of logging.
"It's really disturbing," said spokesman Glen Thompson of Friends of the Chilliwack River Valley, who raised the alarm on the imminent logging. "Who thought putting a Wildlife Habitat Area in there would bring more logging?
"We thought it would be the opposite. This caught us off guard."
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Cape Cod needs crab counters. (Horseshoe crabs)
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on: 05-Jun-11, 06:29:12 AM
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Seeking clues to horseshoe crab’s decline I know the seasons by the hyperbole of magnolias, the phantasm of forsythia and then the coming of small giants clumping against my bare toes in the amniotic tidal waters of inlets under a full citrine moon. They are part of the eternal ritual of arrival and the order of the changing seasons. In the spring to summer in our area, horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) cluster to mate in embayments, coming in on spring tides under full and new moons, often where barrier dunes slop down like ice cream protecting the tidal marshes behind them, while shorebirds holler above algae and salt. University of Massachusetts master’s degree candidates Sarah Martinez and Katherine Terkanian are working together to answer the same question: Are Massachusetts horseshoe crabs a singular population, or are they comprised of sub-populations around the state? Katherine studies the genetic make up of crab populations across the state. Sarah has radio tagged 75 crabs in Chatham’s Stage Harbor to see if they migrate out to Nantucket or Monomoy or further. Vin Malkowski of the state Division of Marine Fisheries monitors the listening stations. Data will be reviewed in the fall. Sarah is from Yarmouth and Katherine from Wellfleet. Growing up loving seeing the horseshoes and noting anecdotally through their young lifetimes (they are in their 20s) a decline motivated them to study the animals. In May and June scientists up and down the east coast, with the help of citizen volunteers, survey Limulus populations. Katherine and Sarah will supervise surveys at Wellfleet, Chatham’s Harding Beach, and in Orleans. Five by five meter squares are set up and within them are noted weather and sea conditions, numbers of females and how many mating males cluster about her. During a season, some 63,000 eggs can be laid in intervals in “nests” the females dig about a hand down into the sand. The males fertilize them after they are deposited. Tagged animals are reported. Like bird bands, tags tell US Fish and Wildlife where they came from. Accumulated data may solve controversy over the root cause of the fall in crab numbers perhaps by the millions through the 1990s to now. One ostensible reason: harvest for bait for attracting conch and eels for food for the Asian market. Another possibility: high mortality when their blue blood is collected for the LAL (Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate) that clots when toxins intrude, an invaluable tool in saving humans from bacterial toxins lurking in vaccines and medical equipment. Another possibility: fidelity to small natal areas, which makes populations very vulnerable to disturbances engendered by coastal development. Dredging, jetties, and beach armoring by revetments, can destroy fragile breeding areas. Biologists also study Limulus as a keystone species, the lintel at the top of an ecological structure, which when destroyed makes the whole house fall. Red knot populations have fallen concurrently with those of the crab. The crabs are also affected by natural causes: bad weather and cold water limit their ardor. Pollution, oil spills, climate change also can do them harm. While conservation efforts by a coalition of scientists and local activists have helped to put in more stringent regulations to the crab harvests, more data are needed to really ensure that these cryptic creators of summer memories last for another millennium. These benign old beings have helped humans, and tickled our fancy. Now it’s time for us to mentor them!  The Barnstable Patriot |
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / A safe haven for falcon fans! Buffalo
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on: 05-Jun-11, 06:26:55 AM
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As a few unlucky bird watchers learned last year, the UB peregrine falcon parents are rather protective of their chicks.
On at least a couple of occasions last spring, onlookers hoping to get a glimpse of activity in the falcon nesting box in the MacKay Heating Plant on the South Campus reported being swooped by the doting mother and father, named BB and Yankee, respectively.
So to put the falcons at ease, while also offering spectators a safe viewing place, UB and the state Department of Environmental Conservation have collaborated to build a viewing hut near all the action.
The small shelter affords more than just a good view, says Al Gilewicz, assistant director of utility operations, University Facilities. It also features a wealth of educational information on the history of the peregrine falcons at UB, which began nesting in the MacKay tower a few years ago.
The viewing hut is located on the east side of campus, near 250 Winspear Ave. Visitors can park for free on Winspear. The shelter’s roof juts out only 3 feet, but according to Gilewicz, it’s just enough to prevent the protective parents from attacking any birdwatchers below.
“We did it for two reasons,” Gilewicz says of the shelter. “People want to have a place to go to look at the birds. We’re also trying to keep them off campus because of all the construction.
“It happened a couple times (last year), where people felt birds had swooped them,” he says. “So we said, ‘let’s make sure we take care of the people, as well as the birds.’ It’s more of an educational bulletin board, plus a point of refuge in the event a bird, for whatever reason, becomes aggressive.”
The bulletin board features posters with educational information on peregrine falcons, provided by DEC experts, and also notes the falcons’ history on the South Campus, complete with photographs taken m the past two years.
UB Facilities staff installed the bulletin board about 10 days ago. It will be updated throughout the summer, according to Gilewicz.
The nesting box was installed on the MacKay tower in 2009. Last year, facilities staff installed a web camera—dubbed FalconCam—affording people a unique glimpse into the rare birds’ life, right from their own computer. The UB FalconCam , is among the most visited of UB’s Web pages.
Visitors to the site now can see the parent falcons keep a watchful eye on their four chicks. The falcons frequently can be seen perched at the ledge of the nesting box, or on a nearby branch.
The peregrine falcon is considered an endangered bird species in New York state. But thanks to efforts such as UB’s, there are now 62 nesting pairs. This is the third consecutive year a female peregrine falcon has laid eggs in the MacKay nesting box.
DEC biologists were scheduled to band the chicks today. However, the chicks have grown too big and the plans have been scrapped. The process normally involves scaling 135 feet up to the tower and wrapping numbered bands around each chick’s leg. This year, biologists had planned to use a Plexiglas barrier to temporarily separate the parent falcons from the nest, so workers could band the chicks without being nipped.
Gilewicz says university and DEC staff have worked together closely to support the public’s viewing of the falcons.
“It’s been a wonderful partnership between the university and the DEC,” he says. “We’re not experts. They’ve given us great guidance. It’s a great, collaborative, community effort.”
UBReporter
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Kookaburra survives 700km ride in car grille (No lauging matter)
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on: 05-Jun-11, 06:23:08 AM
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Despite being stuck in the grille of a car for a 700km drive, one lucky kookaburra has had the last laugh.
Bruce Wham, from Wollongong, was heading north from Scone in NSW when his car hit a kookaburra.
"There was a bang and I thought, 'uh oh, there's one dead kookaburra'," he told the Courier-Mail.
He noticed the bird stuck in the grille of his Mazda 6 when passers-by pointed it out at a petrol station in Tenterfield.
Assuming the bird was dead, Mr Wham decided to drive on and deal with the carcass later.
At one stage he thought he saw the bird move, but people convinced him otherwise. It wasn't until he arrived in Brisbane 25 hours later that he decided to remove the bird, only to find it was alive and extremely irritable.
"I must have hit it up the bum because his head and a little bit of one wing were sticking out," Mr Wham said.
The kookaburra had to be cut of the car grille by the RSPCA and has spent the last week recovering from the traumatic journey.
9News
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And look at that baby of hers.
I love so far so good! Thanks Bonnie.
