PALM BAY — Cars, cats and ruined habitats drove the scrub jay to the brink, then to the clink in this city.

The few remaining jays face short stints behind bars, until zoo curators release them to new hopping grounds, away from a certain death sentence. Only about 15 scrub jay families remain in the city, down from 54 in the 1990s.

And under a blanket federal permit, they're all assumed doomed.

But rather than leave the few dozen stragglers to die, the Brevard Zoo is capturing and relocating the threatened species to better digs.

"They're already considered dead," said Michelle Smurl, the zoo's director of animal programs. "They have a hard time moving on."

Zoo staff relocated 12 scrub jays last week from two Palm Bay sites and along the Pineda Extension to the Buck Lake Conservation Area in Mims. The 60-mile trip is way farther than these close-knit, finicky birds would fly themselves.

The challenge to save Brevard County's and Florida's scrub jays has been on environmentalists' agenda for decades. The birds' inability to seek out their own new habitat and builders' forays into undeveloped lands during high-growth times helped turn the jay into a flash point -- a symbol of the clash between the two fronts.

For years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered the bird at imminent risk. But two years ago, the service upgraded the species from facing a "high degree of threat" to having a "high recovery potential." The agency said new research showed scrub jays could bounce back as long as habitat was properly managed with fire.

Now, federal biologists assure the bird won't go extinct in the "foreseeable future." But if jays continue to decline, they say relocation could become one viable way for doomed birds to escape the "burbs."

"We don't see this as being a way for developers to go in and convert land for development," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Chuck Underwood. "It's going to take us a while to see if these birds establish a territory and whether they reproduce in that territory."

Each year, Ohio bird-watchers catch sight of rare birds. Here are those of note for 2009.
White-winged crossbill

Usually the excitement is caused by a single bird, but in 2009, hundreds of white-winged crossbills arrived.

"Poor cone crops in Canada foreshadowed an incursion of white-winged crossbills and other Northern finches into Ohio, and they began to appear here in October (2008)," said Bill Whan, former editor of The Ohio Cardinal.

The next month, flocks of up to 75 white-winged crossbills were seen. On Dec. 4, Bernie Master spotted a flock of at least 31 at Green Lawn Cemetery -- the first big group in Franklin County. Conifers in Ohio produced abundant cones, and the crossbills stayed into April at many locations.

Sightings were reported in 53 of Ohio's 88 counties, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, said Ethan Kistler, who compiled a map of the birds' whereabouts.
Northern wheatear

The rare bird that drew the most attention was a Northern wheatear, seen on a Holmes County farm in September -- only the third recorded sighting of the species in Ohio.

The bird's breeding range is from Greenland through Scandinavia and Russia into Alaska and the Yukon. It spends winter from France and Greece to China.

The family at the farm kept a log of people who came to see the wayward bird. The wheatear was there just four days, Sept. 12-15, and drew at least 580 visitors from Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
Mountain bluebird

Eastern bluebirds are common in Ohio, nest throughout the state and spend winters here. The two other North American species of bluebird -- the Western and the mountain -- live mostly in the West and are seldom seen here.

So it was a nice surprise when a mountain bluebird appeared April 5-17 in northwestern Ohio along the edge of the Toledo Express Airport in Lucas County. It was only the second time the species has been recorded in Ohio; the first was seen near Ragersville in Tuscarawas County from Dec. 14, 1989, to Jan. 13, 1990.

The male bird was beautiful even though it doesn't have the orange plumage of the Eastern bluebird. It's sky blue above and paler blue below except for the whitish belly. The 1989-90 bird was a female, which is paler than the male.
Golden-crowned sparrow

A golden-crowned sparrow visited a feeder April 7-24 in Hancock County.

A resident of western North America, the sighting was the first in Ohio.
White ibis

A white ibis was seen in Guernsey County in July -- only the ninth recorded sighting in the Buckeye state.

The birds wander here from their nesting range in the southeastern states.
Allen's hummingbird

An Allen's hummingbird was confirmed for the first time in Ohio on Dec. 12; the bird was spotted in Holmes County.

Naturalist Jim Fry, who has written a column for The Dispatch for almost 29 years, bids farewell today with this final contribution.

The clouds begin forming just before dusk. They rise from marshes and vineyard valleys, forming funnels or spoons, then arrows. The clouds whoosh and transform into hundreds or thousands of birds, white spots giving shimmer to their bland winter coats.
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Starlings and their huge flocks are North American invaders, swelling into the millions — about 200 million by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's count. Their sheer numbers have stopped traffic, downed power lines and driven grape growers nearly mad.

The push-pull of awe and annoyance that these birds inspire has descended on Sonoma County as more starlings make their way from the north and the east, adding to the flocks that stay here year round.

“I grew up on Sonoma Mountain Road and I loved just hanging out and watching those guys swarm around above the vineyards,� said Colby Eierman, who directs sustainabilty programs for Benzinger Family Winery. “Now it's kind of hard, knowing the trouble they cause.�

The Benzinger Family Winery puts up bird houses with bluebird-sized holes to help the struggling native bird compete with starlings' aggressive invasion.

Starlings eat grapes. They chase away native birds that would keep insects and other pests in check. They multiply into Hitchcockian flocks.

As the vines go dormant, starlings feast on fallen-grape leftovers.

“They're a little bit of a cleanup crew, maybe there's something positive there,� Eierman said.

Farmers facing overwhelming numbers of the birds have tried to scare them away with cannons, catch them in nets or freeze them with cold water in winter.

All the same, their acrobatic shape-making against a winter sky stops people in their tracks and sends videos viral online.

“It can be a thousand birds in a flock, but they look like they're acting as one organism,� said Ellen Blustein, a self-proclaimed citizen scientist who organizes field trips for the Redwood Region Ornithological Society. “It's really something to behold.�

Years back, a soaring Möbius strip of birds rose alongside Highway 101, Blustein remembers. They funneled in an infinite loop and caused some drivers to pull over and get out of their cars.

“People were literally stopping on the shoulder and getting out to watch,� Blustein said.

Starlings once drove Shakespearian enthusiasts to hatch a nutty plan that would seal the birds' North American fate. The bird's gift for mimicry is referenced in King Henry IV, and a New York group decided in 1890 or 1891 to bring all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's texts to the New World.

They released about 120 starlings in Central Park, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Lore has it their first American nest was on the American Museum of Natural History's roof.

Published: Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 1:18 a.m.

VACHERIE — The woman in the white SUV drove down River Road under a late afternoon sky and millions of tree swallows. She saw men and pickup trucks atop the levee, and stopped.

“What’s going on?� she yelled.

“Tree swallows,� a man yelled back. She drove off.

“See?� said Ken Prestenbach, 63, who has watched the birds’ fall roosting ritual the past few years from a second-floor window at the parish water plant.

“People pass every night. They don’t even look up.�

Prestenbach and some friends mount the levee near Oak Alley Plantation a few nights a week to watch “the most spectacular bird event in Louisiana.�

Tom Sylvest uses the phrase, then adds, “That’s not me. That’s Van Remsen at LSU who said that.�

Sylvest, retired from a chemical plant’s personnel department, writes the “Birds and Birding� column in the Lutcher News Examiner. Melvin Weber, 65, has spotted 300 species this year. Ronald Stein, 69, is cited in George H. Lowery Jr.’s “Louisiana Birds� as among “field ornithologists who are especially deserving of commendation�.

The flock is so big it sometimes shows up on weather radar.

Remsen, an LSU biology professor and curator of birds for the university’s Museum of Natural Science, said he was impressed.

“Millions,� Remsen said. “But no one has any good estimate. My best was 5 million, based on seeing five, 100-by-100-by-100 ‘cubes’ of birds in view at one time.�

An adult male tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) is smaller than a purple martin, also a swallow. Tree swallows eat flying insects and some fruit, which lets them winter along the Gulf Coast rather than in Central or South America, like birds that eat only bugs.

“Put that notebook up,� Sylvest said, “and look through these.�

Swallows had been strafing the little levee party for an hour. Binoculars revealed that a distant cloud of specks was made up of rivers of swallows feeding an aerial lake of birds that grew bigger and bigger and bigger.

“There they go,� Prestenbach breathed.

It was as if someone had pulled a drain on a sink filled with dark water. From a quarter-mile up, millions of swallows fed a funnel that elongated and touched the cane field across the road from the levee, touching down in waves of black on the dark green cane.

Most of the time, tree swallows live in old woodpecker holes and natural cavities.

What makes this a cane field to which they return night after night?

“No one knows and no way to know,� said Remsen. “Looks like any other cane field to me.�

The birds breed all over the U.S., Canada and Alaska, though North Louisiana is about as far south as they raise their chicks, Remsen said.

After they leave Vacherie, he said, the swallows probably go to coastal marshes. But no one knows. They likely come from all over eastern North America, Remsen said.

The cane fields may look like the reed beds that make a favored fall and winter roosting cover.

It’s hard to tell people where to go to see the swallows. Sylvest has driven a mile down a tractor road to find the roost in years past. This year is the first in anyone’s memory that the birds have roosted so conveniently close to a road with a levee for a reviewing stand.

Emotion creeps into the voices of Sylvest and Lawrence “Squint� Laiche when they talk about the swallows.

“I told Michael Seymour, he’s a biologist with Wildlife and Fisheries, that this is our passenger pigeon sighting,� said Laiche. “For someone who knows what he’s seeing, to see all these birds, it’s a gift from God.�

Passenger pigeons, now extinct, once darkened the sun with their numbers.

A couple of years ago, Laiche began calling Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters in Baton Rouge to ask that someone come down to document the roost.

“No one came,� said Laiche, a Shell Oil Norco supervisor. “Then, the phone rang one day, and it was young Michael Seymour. He said, ‘Are you the Mr. Laiche who knows about the tree swallow roost?’ �

Two days later, Seymour was standing on the levee at dusk.

The farmer in whose fields the swallows roost told Sylvest he may wait until after Christmas to cut the cane.

After months of such presence the swallows will leave without warning, not to return until next October — the friends hope.

“You come one day,� Sylvest said, “and they’re not here. It gives you an empty feeling.�

     
Va. wildlife center to release peregrine falcon

Associated Press
12/21/09 4:08 AM EST

HAMPTON, VA. — A peregrine falcon that's recovered from injuries to an eye and wing will be released at the Grandview Nature Preserve this week.

The Wildlife Center of Virginia says the peregrine is likely a southbound migrant from New England, Canada or Greenland. The bird was thin, its right eye was injured and its left wing was missing some feathers when it was found near Quinby in Accomack County in mid-November.

The peregrine will be released at 1 p.m. Tuesday.   

___

Wildlife Center of Virginia: http://www.wildlifecenter.org

My time 7.55

I think its to late for me too.I enjoy it anyway.I think I have to watch my garden a different way now.
I will try to find out wich bird this is.

Greetings Carla

WOW, that was a hard puzzle....colors were pretty much the same. My time...7:45. Nice puzzle though Aafke. 

[Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ginha.....glad to see your post. A very Merry Christmas to you and Dave also. Glad your doing better...keep up the good work. Post more when you can.....(we miss you).]

I have come out of Lurkdom to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Bright New Year
Been meaning to do so sooner. I at least have been reading all and trying to keep up. I am really getting better and have gained 5 pounds.Been a tough summer and Fall. I'm looking forward to a Healthy and Happy New Year

Best to all of you,
ginha

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Ginha.....glad to see your post. A very Merry Christmas to you and Dave also. Glad your doing better...keep up the good work. Post more when you can.....(we miss you).

Date:   December 20, 2009 - Entry 3   Reporter:    Liz Condie
Subject:   EASTERN MIGRATORY POPULATION UPDATE   Location:   Franklin Co. TN
On Migration - Where are they now?
The Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) is currently estimated to consist of 48 males and 37 females, for a total of 85 birds. All the Whooping cranes in the EMP are on migration. According to WCEP trackers, as of December 12, there were two Whooping cranes in each of Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia. Eight birds were in Tennessee, 33 in Indiana, the locations of 27 birds were unknown, and seven cranes are long-term missing.

WCEP Tracker Jess Thompson visited with us last evening and let us know that 712 and 829, both males, had reached Florida.

Date:   December 20, 2009 - Entry 2   Reporter:   Liz Condie
Subject:   BREAKING FOR THE HOLIDAYS   Location:   Franklin Co. TN
With the inability to fly a migration leg this morning, and the advent of several days of south winds, the decision has been made to stand down for a few days to allow members of the migration crew to travel home to be with family and friends for the holidays. In fact, with the very long drives ahead of them, most have already left and are on their way.

Intern Geoff Tarbox, Patuxent’s Robert Doyle, and I, will hold down the fort here in Franklin County, AL. Geoff and Robert will tend to the Class of 2009, and I to the CraneCam in addition to my regular duties.

The entire team will reconvene on Monday, December 28th for what we hope will be a ‘fly day’ on Tuesday, December 29th.

The CraneCam’s regular schedule of live broadcasts will remain unchanged, that is, mornings from 7:00 to 11:00 CST, and from ~3:00 to 4:00 afternoons.

As usual, I will continue to post entries here in the Field Journal as information of interest, or news comes in.

After tomorrow morning, EarlyBird emails will be suspended until December 29th.

Date:   December 20, 2009 - Entry 1   Reporter:   Liz Condie
Subject:   MIGRATION DAY 66 = DOWN DAY #3   Location:   Franklin Co. AL
We had too much of a good thing this morning. Desirable northwest winds, but both on the surface and aloft they were way too strong for cranes and planes. There are a bunch of disappointed faces in camp as you can imagine. So much for yesterday evening's optimism.

Today will be Down Day #3 in Franklin County, AL.

migration trivia compliments of vi white and steve cohen
FRANKLIN COUNTY, al
Dismals Canyon is located in the town of Phil Campbell. It is a privately owned nature conservatory designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service. Dismals Canyon features a natural swimming pool and natural shelters used by various Native American tribes for over 10,000 years.

Nature trails, rare luminous insects, and natural rock formations also are attractions. "National Geographic Map Guide to Appalachia" and the April 2005 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine featured Dismals Canyon. The canyon was selected as one of the shooting locations for the filming of the Discovery Channel special, "When Dinosaurs Roamed America". Its vegetation and broad leaf trees are typical of those that existed in the dinosaur age some 100 to 200 million years ago. The canyon's tall trees and ferns are similar to fossils paleontologists have found near dinosaur relics.

Date:   December 19,2009 - Entry 3   Reporter:   Liz Condie
Subject:   PREDICTING   Location:   Franklin Co. AL
We're hoping for a flight in the morning. The winds are out of the northwest, and while this afternoon they still look as if they might be a tad strong aloft, we are optimistic about our chances.

C'mon out for the departure (we hope) flyover.  The viewing location is at the airport's old parking lot - just off Hwy 243, right beside the fuel tanks. You will want to be on site for 7am. Also remember that you could make the early morning trip for naught if the weather/wind turns out to be unfavorable.

The first 100 people will receive a gift of a pair of binoculars. They are compliments of one of our generous sponsors, Southern Company.

Date:   December 19, 2009 - Entry 2   Reporter:   Don & Paula Lounsbury
Subject:   Top Cover Pilots’ report of December 4th’s flight   Location:   Florida
Friday, December 4th began like every other migration day with an early start on a very cold, calm morning. We made our way to the Effingham airport to prepare our aircraft for the morning flight of overseeing the cranes and ultralights on another leg south on migration.

As we completed our preflight checks, we quickly removed the wing covers, now heavy with frost, and stowed them in our car parked in the adjacent lot. The covers would have to wait until we returned to be properly defrosted and repacked. We had to keep moving before more frost formed on the now exposed flying surfaces.

Just before 7:00 AM, we were airborne as the rising sun was shyly peeking out from the eastern horizon. In the pale light, we made our way to the pensite where we would begin our observation duties and found the ultralights still on the ground with their frost covers in place. We began to circle the field to wait until conditions were right for the ultralight crews, and, in the meantime, made some airborne message relays to and from the pilots and the crew at the pen; to Heather and Liz at the public flyover location; and, to Bev and Sharon in the tracking van.

At last, everyone was ready and the birds were released from the pen. Brooke was leading, and before long the entire flock formed a trail of pearls off his right wing. We watched as he led them over a small crowd assembled on the ground and treated the stalwart early-risers to a sunrise spectacle. And ,so began another day on migration.

For over an hour we made large shallow circles high above the ultralights until the decision was made to overfly the first planned stop and proceed to next stopover on the route. It was a break we sorely needed. At last, the Weather Gods were on our side. When, at last, the stopover site came into view Richard went ahead and landed, creating an arrival target for Brooke and the birds.

Reluctant to end their idyllic morning flight, the birds lazily continued to circle even after the others were waiting for them on the ground. It was our favorite kind of morning. The weather was excellent and the birds cooperated beautifully, giving us nothing much to do but observe. It was perfect.

We said our goodbyes and, “We’ll see you later,� and turned northward to retrace our flight to our car and motorhome waiting for us 100 miles away. We looked forward to having a shower and breakfast, walking our dog, and preparing to join the crew at the Sturgis airport, our new rendezvous point.

Remarking at what a great flight we’d just had, we were not prepared for what happened next. The engine suddenly surged and then became very quiet. The next three or four minutes were both interminably long and incredibly short. We, unfortunately, found ourselves in a large muddy field upside down but, fortunately, were completely unharmed. What followed was a flurry of activity with the “first responders� of White county arriving on the scene quickly and efficiently.

Kudos to these wonderful, dedicated people. Our thanks, also, goes to the occupant of a nearby home who had some unexpected guests who needed to use the phone And thanks , too, to the property owner who helped immensely over the next few days.

We now find ourselves in our Florida condo doing what everyone else does; that is, to tune into the daily updates on the OM website to see how the cranes and planes are progressing.

Note: We are happy to be able to tell you that within a couple of weeks, Don Lounsbury will team up with Top Cover pilot Jack Wrighter, and to return to the migration. We'll be thrilled to have them back with us.

Date:   December 19, 2009 - Entry 1   Reporter:   Liz Condie
Subject:   MIGRATION DAY 65 = DOWN DAY #2   Location:   Franklin Co. AL

The wind was almost with us this morning, WNW 4mph on the surface but gusting to +9mph. Between the low ceiling and the stiff winds aloft however, it was not favorable for planes and cranes. It wasn't even a day for a test trike.

Two men have been jailed after killing nine rare seabirds at a South Tyneside beauty spot.

Dane Ord, 21 and Paul Reed, 27, pleaded guilty at South Shields Magistrates' Court to shooting the kittiwakes with an air rifle at Marsden Bay, in May.

The court heard the birds were shot as they sat on their nests at night.

The pair, both from South Shields, admitted an offence under the 1981 Country And Wildlife Act, and were sentenced to five weeks in prison.

The court heard how the pair shone a powerful torch on the cliff where the birds were nesting and shot at them.

'Cruel crime'

Police discovered the dead birds after being alerted by a member of the public, who witnessed the incident.

After the hearing, Mark Thomas from the RSPB, said: "This was a cruel crime perpetrated by people with no respect for wildlife.

"It was a premeditated attack on harmless birds, carried out for no other reason than sick pleasure."

Kittiwakes are medium-sized gulls with a small yellow bill.

They have a UK population of around 380,000 pairs, but have declined by 36% between 1998 and 2008.

They are listed as "medium" in terms of conservation concern.

MONTGOMERY | A group of endangered whooping cranes landed Thursday in Alabama, led by an ultra-light aircraft that is leading the juvenile cranes on their first migration to wintering grounds in Florida.

According to Operation Migration, the birds and their leader plane landed near Russellville in Franklin County and will depart for Walker County only when the rain clears.

“We fly, weather permitting,� said Liz Conde, an Operation Migration spokeswoman.

After leaving Walker County, the cranes will land in Chilton, Lowndes and Pike counties before entering Georgia and then the Sunshine State.

The cranes will spend the winter at wildlife refuges in Florida.

“Then in the spring, they initiate their own migration and return to where they started in Wisconsin,� Conde said.

Conde reported on the Operation Migration Web site from the migration’s lead pilot that rain is probable in Walker County, possibly throughout the day today.

“Even if we were lucky enough to be able to sneak out of Franklin County ahead of any rain (Friday), a flight wouldn’t be possible,� she said. “We think our odds of being able to depart Franklin County (on Friday) are zero.�

Conde said the 20 juvenile whooping cranes, which were hatched at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, are being led to Chassahowitzka and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The endangered birds, the tallest in North America, left Wisconsin on Oct. 23, following the ultra-light aircraft as they would follow their parents.

The crane migration program is in its ninth year. The goal is to reintroduce them to their former Southern habitat.

“This is a great example of how conservation partnerships work to benefit wildlife,� said Corky Pugh, director of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.

The Florida refuges are crucial wintering grounds for the cranes, which were once nearly extinct, Conde said.

More than 500 cranes exist, 350 in the wild, including 77 in the eastern United States. About 30 stay year-round in Florida.

Snow  just started here...coming down fast..suppose to go to NYC tomorrow to see  ground zero, FAO Schwartz, pale male  Maybe NOT!!! I still want to go.. 

Hi Judi,

answer is "Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again, and then try again"


Greetings
Annette

http://www.zazzle.com/2010_shakymon_calendar-158870525584069187 annette go here

[Good luck Carol...2 feet....ahh the good ole days.]

We have nearly 9 inches already in the Eastern Panhandle of WV.  And expecting 24 hours more.  They are now calling for 1-2 FEET here, 
Carol
WV

Good luck Carol...2 feet....ahh the good ole days.

GAD-ZOOKS    Janet.....and I thought 9 inch plus here was bad!!! Good luck girl. I'll be shoveling all day...I love playing in the White stuff.