The Birders Report

The Duck Stamp Brings in a Lot of Money for the National Wildlife Refuge System But Imagine What a Wildlife Conservation Stamp Could Do!

by Larry Jordan on June 29, 2013

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), in their 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation report, there are approximately 13.7 million hunters in the United States and nearly 71.8 million wildlife watchers¹.

Of those 13.7 million hunters, only 2.6 million hunt migratory birds and only about 1.3 million hunt waterfowl. Over the last 15 years, the average number of Duck Stamps sold per year was around 1.5 million, contributing an average $25 million to wildlife refuge wetland habitat purchase and leasing each year².

These figures show that less than 10 percent of all hunters buy the Duck Stamp and that would be the ones required to buy it to hunt waterfowl. So the other approximately 200,000 Duck Stamps are purchased by collectors and other non-consumptive users of the refuge system.

Now, to be fair, of those 71.8 million wildlife watchers I mentioned earlier, only 19.8 million observe wildlife away from home and 12.4 million are wildlife photographers. So, if only 10 percent of those folks that observe wildlife away from home bought a Wildlife Conservation Stamp at our proposed price of $20, we could raise another $39.6 million for our National Wildlife Refuge System!

This is simple arithmetic. Even if only the same percentage of people who observe wildlife away from home bought a Wildlife Conservation Stamp (and obviously we think the number would be much higher than 10%), we could raise over 150 percent of what is currently being raised by waterfowl hunters. Is this a no-brainer or what?

We need a Wildlife Conservation Stamp that non-consumptive users of our National Wildlife Refuge System will be proud to buy and would more than double the income for our refuges.

The 2013 – 2014 Federal Duck Stamp was issued yesterday and I wrote a post on the occasion over at the Wildlife Conservation Stamp website. Please go check it out and let me know what you think about our proposal.

To throw some more numbers at you we are also only 220 some “likes” away from 5,000 on our Facebook page, so if you haven’t done so yet (and I have no idea why you wouldn’t) like us when you visit our Facebook page!

References: ¹USFWS National Survey, ²US Fish & Wildlife Service

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Burney Falls Black Swifts Nesting at 10000 Birds

by Larry Jordan on June 19, 2013

Black Swift (Cypseloides niger) on Nest photo Wikipedia Commons by Terry Gray

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park has one of the few Black Swift (Cypseloides niger) nesting sites in California. These swift flying insectivores nest in niches on sheer rock cliffs, shaded and bathed in mist from the frigid splash of a nearby cascade often behind a rushing torrent of falling water and abundant spray, but with at least trickle of water flow to keep the environment damp near the nest. The first Black Swift nest was found on a seacoast cliff near Santa Cruz, California in 1901. Since then it has been discovered that they also use inland sites with nests placed in cool, dark, damp nest caves near or behind waterfalls in the mountains. Check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post on Burney Falls and the Black Swift over at 10000 Birds!

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Bank Swallows Digging Burrows and Building Nests

by Larry Jordan on June 13, 2013

Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) photos by Larry Jordan, click on photos for full sized images

The Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) is North America’s smallest swallow. It can be distinguish from the Northern Rough-winged Swallow by its dark breast band and the white of the throat curling up behind its ear.

The Bank Swallow was listed as a threatened species in California in 1989 by the California Fish and Game Commission and the number of breeding pairs has declined steadily since then.

The main reason for this rapid decline, as in the case of most species, is loss of habitat. In California, much of the Bank Swallow’s nesting habitat in the southern and central areas has been eliminated by flood and erosion-control projects. These projects destroy or alter nesting habitat when banks are sloped to 45° and large rocks (riprap) are placed on the slope.

Historically, all Bank Swallow colonies in North America were found in natural sites such as banks along rivers, streams, lakes, and coasts; today, many colonies are in human-made sites like sand and gravel pits and road cuts.

This colony in Fall River Mills, about an hours drive from my home, is just down river from Fall River Lake and is located on a busy highway.

The two photos above the video and these few that follow are a series I took of one of the birds beginning to dig a burrow.

The bird on the left of the photo is doing the digging. You can see some of the scrape marks in the middle of the frame.

Burrows are dug with the bill, feet, and wings as birds cling to a slight projection on the bank face, and dig using their bill in a rapid, slashing motion and feet in a scratching motion. Dislodged material from inside the burrow is ejected with vigorous kicks and wriggling body and wing shuffling movements¹.

You will be able to see some of this digging behavior at the beginning of this video. While excavating burrows you will also see unpaired males performing their “territory circle-flights,” where they fly and sing in small circles around the burrow entrance advertising to unpaired females. The male perches on the burrow ledge displaying his white throat-patch if a female lands near the burrow after his display¹.

Once the burrow is excavated, the male performs “invitation flights” as he overtakes flying females and lands at the burrow to entice the female inside.

Some of the birds must have already paired up. As you may have noticed in the video above, some were seen bringing nesting material into the nest burrows.

If you look closely, just to the left of this swallow’s wing, you can see it is carrying a feather in its beak.

Observing these different behaviors I believe these Bank Swallows were in different stages of the nesting process.

This appears to be a male inviting a female to his finished burrow…

standing on his porch singing…

then flying off to perform an “invitation flight?”

Since there is no sexual dimorphism between the male and female Bank Swallow you really can’t tell them apart until they begin incubating eggs, at which point the female will have a brood patch and the male will not.

But it’s fun trying to figure it out by observing their behavior.

Whether you’re looking at a male or female, they certainly are cute.

To see more great bird photos from around the world, make sure to check out Wild Bird Wednesday and The Bird D’pot.

References: ¹Birds of North America Online

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Proposes Removing the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) from the List of Threatened and Endangered Species

by Larry Jordan on June 10, 2013

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Yet another tragic misstep by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in it’s seemingly never ending quest to satisfy cattle ranchers and big game hunters is reflected in its proposal to delist the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus).

In its press release Friday, June 7th, FWS writes “The proposal comes after a comprehensive review confirmed its successful recovery following management actions undertaken by federal, state and local partners following the wolf’s listing under the Endangered Species Act over three decades ago.”

This decision is obviously not based on sound science as stated in a letter from a group of scientists with expertise in carnivore taxonomy and conservation biology to the new Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell:

“The extirpation of wolves and large carnivores from large portions of the landscape is a global phenomenon with broad ecological consequences. There is a growing body of scientific literature demonstrating that top predators play critical roles in maintaining a diversity of other wildlife species and as such the composition and function of ecosystems. Research in Yellowstone National Park, for example, found that reintroduction of wolves caused changes in elk numbers and behavior which then facilitated recovery of stream-side vegetation, benefiting beavers, fish and songbirds. In this and other ways, wolves shape North American landscapes.

Given the importance of wolves and the fact that they have only just begun to recover in some regions and not at all in others, we hope you will reconsider the Service’s proposal to remove protections across most of the United States.”

FWS notes at their Gray Wolf Recovery page that they will be opening public comments on this proposal sometime this week. I urge everyone to participate in the comment period and try to prevent the implementation of this drastic step backwards for the not yet recovered Gray Wolf.

You can get more information on the Gray Wolf and this proposal from these links: