The Birders Report

White-rumped Sandpiper photo by Tim Bowman from Wikipedia Commons

I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning (as I always do, being a proud supporter of public radio) and heard of an interesting study on arctic shorebirds, their migration and predation.

Laura McKinnon, a researcher with the University of Quebec at Rimouski, wondered why some shorebirds that breed in the Arctic region make such an extreme migration from their southern wintering grounds.  The White-rumped Sandpiper travels from the Southern tip of South America to the Canadian Arctic to breed, one of the longest animal migrations in the Western Hemisphere.

Laura thought that one explanation for the long distance migration, other than the longer daylight hours available, might be a lower risk of predation farther north.  She tested this theory by placing over 1,500 artificial nests in the shorebirds Canadian breeding grounds and monitoring them for predation.

One of their conclusions was that if a bird flies past the most southern breeding ground to the northernmost site, and additional 2,000 miles north, it can reduce its predation risk by 66%!  That is a huge difference.

Most of the shorebird predation is by the Arctic Fox.

Arctic Fox in Summer Coat photo from Ucumari (Creative Commons)

The major prey of Arctic Foxes is the lemming.  Another interesting fact brought out in this report by Olivier Gilg of the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France, is that some shorebird species avoid breeding in areas free of lemmings, similarly decreasing their chances of having their eggs eaten by the Arctic Fox.

Check out the full story at NPR or listen to it here.  They have a very cute photo of the White-rumped Sandpiper chicks you shouldn’t miss.

Least Sandpipers on the Sacramento River photos by Larry Jordan

Across the small inlet from the Wilson’s Snipes, Killdeer and Greater Yellowlegs, on the edge of the Sacramento River we found several Least Sandpipers foraging on a rocky sandbar.  We found these shorebirds during the Anderson CBC, in the same location where I photographed the Bald Eagles in the previous post.  This is a section of the river known as the Sacramento River Bend Area, managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Even though we saw the Bald Eagles, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron and several other impressive birds at this bend in the river, the little 6 inch Least Sandpipers enthralled me as they stuck their heads underwater to feed for invertebrates on the cobbled sandbar just a few yards away.

Of course, sticking their heads into freezing cold water is no big deal for these little guys, they are only here to winter.  They breed in the sub-arctic tundra and far northern boreal forest of North America, some birds migrating over 2,000 miles to their wintering grounds.

One of the coolest things about this encounter was that the Least Sandpipers paid no mind to me as I clicked away.  They actually came closer…

showing me that slightly down-turned beak, and approaching even closer into the shallow water…

showing off those yellowish legs that distinguish the Least Sandpiper from the Semipalmated and Western species.

Even though our group tallied 69 species in our section of the Anderson Christmas Bird Count, including a pair of White-tailed Kites (too far off to photograph), watching these Least Sandpipers was the highlight of my day.

Make your day a great one by checking out the other great bird photos at Bird Photography Weekly!

Bald Eagle photos by Larry Jordan

Biodiversity is described as the variability among living organisms on the Earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.  In other words, biodiversity is an all encompassing term to describe the variety of all life and natural processes on Earth.

I chose these photos of the Bald Eagle (taken on the Sacramento River during the Anderson Christmas Bird Count  just a few weeks ago) because this species, our national bird, only recently came back from the brink of extinction in the continental United States.  After years of persecution by humans (there was actually a bounty on Bald Eagles in Alaska from 1917 until 1952) and diminished reproduction caused mainly by the use of the pesticide DDT, the Bald Eagle rebounded from its 1967 endangered species status and was de-listed in 2007.

The Bald Eagle’s story exemplifies the importance of human actions in the biodiversity equation.  Everything we do or do not do has an effect on planet Earth and its inhabitants, including its human inhabitants.  Human actions put the Bald Eagle in danger in the first place, then thankfully, restored their numbers to a sustainable level.

BirdLife International is an official partner of the International Year of Biodiversity and I am proud to be part of their organization.

Here is a message from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon

Here are some links to explore ways you and I can help promote biodiversity in our everyday lives.

• Five Ways to Create Healthier Homes and Habitats
• Take Simple Steps to Live Green
• Make A Difference Today

Here is the complete list of tips from Conservation International (5mb PDF).

Go see the other great SkyWatch Friday photos too!