Archive for August, 2006
Corpus Christi Caller
8/12/2006
Probably because of the climactic change, some unexpected birds have turned up here this summer. I consider the little titmouse calling in my neighborhood somewhat out of place.
Several hooded orioles have been seen at feeders and therefore probably nested. One at the home of Erwin Becker, off Ennis Joslin Road, has been there for several summers.
Another, here for at least the second time, is at the feeder of Sharie Del Rio on Paloma. Another, probably a pair, has been seen nipping at the feeder on the porch of Jerry and Elizabeth Susser, on Wilshire Place.
Hummingbirds have continued to be present all summer this year. The rubythroated mostly have moved on, but there are black-chinned and buff-bellied, probably nesting. I leave one feeder up all year, filled with homemade syrup (one cup of sugar to four cups of water, brought to a boil). Never use food coloring. It is not good for birds.
I spoke with a man who lives near Lake Corpus Christi about a bird who talks to him at night. It calls from far away and when he answers, it calls again, closer.
We figured the bird probably is a goatsucker, a pauraque, a South Texas special. One was found nesting at a cemetery near Hilltop, across Leopard. The nest, on the ground, was discovered by Mary Maull as she hunted for butterflies.
These nocturnal birds call at dusk. I have seen them on Christmas counts on a road near Blucher Park, and also have heard them from there. The field guide describes their call as “purrrweear!” Their eyes glow red in darkness. The first I saw were at Welder Wildlife Refuge near Sinton.
Nesting season is the most dangerous time for birds. Some birds feel close and comfortable with humans, others don’t. I often hear of mourning doves nesting in hanging baskets on porches. Cardinals occasionally pick this spot, too.
If a bird nests on your porch, and you feel that way, try to remember that nesting season is short. Nests, however, sometimes are used for successive clutches. Doves fledge at 15 days and northern cardinals leave the nest between nine and 11 days.
Sometimes baby birds fall from the nest or end up on the ground when they are learning to fly. If this happens, replace the chick in the nest if possible; if not, put the chick in a box back in the tree.
Babies raised by parents have a much better chance at life. If you must take care of them, place them in a cardboard box with a partial lid.
Don’t try to feed a solid diet, instead give warm milk with a bit of sugar added from a medicine dropper as a starter. When you are sure the bird can swallow, start feeding very small bits of solid food, at intervals of a few minutes.
Very lean, raw ground beef is the basic food. To the meat, the following may be added: hard-boiled egg yolk mixed with baby cereal and milk or water to a consistency that may be picked up on the end of a toothpick. Some birds like and eat fruit, scraped raw apple, banana or a mashed grape. Some will eat mashed peanuts or sunflower seeds. No bird caregiver is available in Corpus Christi now.
Kris Meeks, a young woman who works in the office at Executive House Condominiums, has successfully raised a white-winged dove this year. If you undertake to care for a baby bird, you must have plenty of patience. Good luck.
Phyllis Yochem, a Corpus Christi resident, has studied birds in Texas since 1960.
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August 16th, 2006
Providence Journal, RI - Aug 4, 2006
The flash of blue is unmistakable. There is no other blue quite like it; probably no other color among wild creatures is as compelling. That blue stops me every time.
A male bluebird has flown in and landed on a stump in a pasture. Just like that, all the other things that were dominating my walk along a country road are pushed from mind: three wild turkeys that followed cows, snatching up grasshoppers; barn swallows zigzagging above the grass; butterflies that bounced from flowering weed to weedy flower; chipmunks that popped in and out of stone walls; and a red squirrel that dashed along a tumbled wall as if sprinting on level ground. A bluebird can take over all thoughts, especially now.
The last couple of years have not been very good for bluebirds. Cold, wet springs have hurt their nesting success; numbers are down a bit. But this scene of the bluebird on the stump is extra significant. It’s heartening for two reasons.
First, it’s a “natural” setting. For many decades, back when the New England countryside featured small farms, bluebirds nested in orchards and around pastures, using holes in apple trees and hollow fence posts. These days, with fewer such cavities available to them, most bluebirds use nesting boxes put up for them by people. It’s a worthy effort, and the birds would be in bigger trouble without those boxes, but I enjoy seeing a bluebird back on a farm, without a birdhouse, apparently living as bluebirds did a hundred years ago.
I get the same feeling from a goldfinch working in a patch of thistles, tearing apart the seed heads, or a hummingbird hovering in front of a trumpet creeper or sipping nectar from some other wildflower. Most of the time we see these birds at backyard feeders, the goldfinches clinging to bags of seeds and the hummingbirds at sugar-water dispensers. Finches and hummers are welcome additions to our yards, but those of us who feed birds may be doing them a disservice by making them ever more dependent on us. It’s better to see them out there “in the wild,” where they belong, working for a living. Like that bluebird.
After watching the bluebird drop from the stump to the pasture grass, snare some insect, and return to its perch, I walk on. Soon, a female bluebird arrives on an overhead wire. Ah, a pair. Even better. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen bluebirds around this farm. A pair could mean they are spending the summer here, possibly nesting.
In looking back at the stump from a different angle, I notice a hole about a foot from the top, and that sparks the second hopeful feeling about the scene: The hole might mean the bluebirds are nesting in the stump, not merely using it as a base for hunting insects. Bluebirds frequently nest two or three times in a summer. Also, it could mean another, perhaps the last, contribution from that stump.
Years ago, when I was first walking along this road, what is now a stump was a slim but spectacular pear tree. It stood alone in the pasture — maybe earlier it had been part of an orchard, maybe not — and commanded attention each spring when it blossomed. I don’t know if it ever produced worthwhile pears, but those gleaming white blossoms lit up the field. I wondered if the farmer had let that tree stand to provide shade for his cows, or if he simply enjoyed the springtime blossom show. Either way, the tree earned its keep.
Storms crippled the tree, a little at a time, breaking off branches. Still, it continued blooming each spring until an ice storm eight or nine years ago snapped the trunk, leaving only the stump, about 3 1/2 feet high. Since that time, the stump has been barely noticeable to passersby, but, obviously, some woodpecker saw enough value — food — in the decaying wood to drill that hole.
Four times, as I linger, the male bluebird leaves the stump, flies to the ground, and returns. Then it does what I’ve been hoping; it goes to the hole and slips inside. I don’t see it carry in an insect, and despite a considerable wait I never see the female bluebird go to the stump, so I don’t think there are eggs or chicks inside. Perhaps the male is simply checking out accommodations, trying to decide if the pear stump might make a suitable nest site in the future.
When I return, a few days later, a female house sparrow is hanging around the stump. No bluebirds are in sight. House sparrows, along with starlings, wrens, tree swallows, and several other birds, also seek hollows for nesting. Those competitors are among the reasons that bluebirds need human help.
Still, having seen that bluebird on the stump had made my day: the rich blue of its back, the brick red of its chest, its darting after insect prey, the visit inside the hole.
Just as encouraging is the idea that the stump of a long-dead pear tree might yet benefit a pair of bluebirds. It may never happen, but there is hope. And that, for a showy old tree, would be the ideal final act.
Ken Weber, whose column appears here weekly, writes books on nature and outdoor recreation. He can be reached by e-mail at kweber@projo.com.
August 15th, 2006
Nevada Appeal, NV - Jul 23, 2006
Tom Meyer
Bonanza staff writer
July 23, 2006
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For the staff at the Biltmore Tahoe Lodge and Casino, the outdoor break area is a place to take a deep breath, enjoy a smoke, make a phone call, or grab a quick meal before heading back to the floor. For a pair of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) and their four hungry chicks, however, the Biltmore’s break room serves as a studio suite.
“They just started hanging out in here when it got cold last month,” said Tom Krueger, a blackjack dealer at the casino.
Shortly after discovering the area, the swallows, nicknamed “Empha” and “Zima”, started building a nest.
But as the waste piled up someone removed the nest.
Shortly after the pair of birds began rebuilding (as swallows are apt to do), casino officials learned about the swallows’ federally protected status and decided to leave the birds alone.
Now, a converted cardboard box serves as a waste catch, and a sign informs staff that it is illegal to destroy the nest or disturb the family.
Swallows are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which makes it a crime to “pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, possess, sell, purchase (or) ship …any migratory bird, included in the terms of this convention”.
According to materials provided by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, free permits to remove swallow nests can be obtained from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. These permits are difficult to come by officials said, and removal of a swallow nest without a permit is a misdemeanor and can result in both fines and jail time.
This isn’t a swallow family’s first time in regional news -recently, a family of swallows delayed a roof replacement at the Lake Tahoe Airport.
But their presence does have much benefit as well officials said.
“[Nesting] parents will bring each of their young up to 1,000 mosquitos a day,” said Cheryl Millham, executive director of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
Indeed, Biltmore blackjack dealer Debbie Hutchins said that she “noticed fewer insects” in the area since the swallows joined the water cooler chat.
To receive more information about swallows and the laws protecting them, contact Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care at (530) 577-2273, or visit its Web site at www.ltwc.org. To learn about applying for a nest-removal permit, visit www.fws.gov/pacific/mbsp.
Staff writer Tom Meyer can be reached at 831-4666 ext. 112 or at tmeyer@tahoebonanza.com.
August 15th, 2006
Rocky Mountain News, CO - 1 hour ago
By Mary Taylor Young, Special to the News
August 14, 2006
The bluebirds have flown.
That’s what we discovered this month when we checked our trail of bluebird nest boxes in Las Animas County, west of Trinidad.
We have 10 boxes positioned at the edge of a series of meadows. By April, western bluebirds were paired up and searching for nest sites. By Memorial Day, one box held newly hatched babies: naked, featherless “pinkies” with stubs for wings, bright yellow beaks and enormous, dark, unopened eyes visible through their transparent skin. Five other boxes held clutches of four or five eggs. Most of the eggs were sky blue, but one set was white with brown streaks.
The blue eggs belonged to our most common tenants: western bluebirds. Bluebirds spend winter in southeastern Colorado, so it is a short commute to their summer nesting grounds. Some bluebirds remain in the area for the winter, though I don’t know if these are the same birds that nest here. Bluebirds incubate their eggs for about 14 days, then brood the young for 21 days.
The white and brown eggs belonged to ash-throated flycatchers. They raise one brood a year: this year a nest of four young.
By the end of the summer, 2006 had turned out to be the most successful nesting season since we put up our first boxes in 2000. All 10 of the boxes had nests. We had second broods of bluebirds in two of the boxes. Violet-green swallows, which begin nest-building quite a bit later than bluebirds, took over two other nest boxes after the bluebirds had fledged their young. Between them, the two boxes held seven baby swallows.
We can’t take credit for all these baby birds. We’re just glad to be helpful landlords, and privileged observers.
August 15th, 2006
extension.osu.edu/
Writer:
Kurt Knebusch
knebusch.1@osu.edu
330-263-3776
Dear Twig: Why do they call it birds’ nest soup? Is it really made out of birds’ nests?
In short: Yes. Birds’ nest soup is a Chinese dish that is made from the nest of a bird called the swiftlet. Swiftlets are small, fast birds of southeast Asia. They build their nests in groups high on cave walls. And they make those nests from something weird: saliva, or spit. Ick! The spit comes out in long, thin strands from glands that are located under the tongue. The strands are woven to make a nest that sticks to the wall like glue.
Ew. (But effective.)
It used to be the nests were harvested once or twice a year. The birds were able to raise their young. But lately, however, demand has soared. People are gathering more and more nests and are doing it more and more often.
Which, of course, is bad for the swiftlets. Scientists say their numbers are falling. If the harvest isn’t reduced, some types could be gone — extinct — in only five or 10 years.
The gooey, gluey, spitty nests actually don’t have much taste. The soup gets its flavor from other ingredients. And, contrary to folk belief, the nests have little nutritional value. They do have a special protein in them, one that boosts immunity. But cleaning the nest before cooking destroys it.
Loogily,
Twig
P.S. Swiftlet cousins in North America include th
August 14th, 2006
publish.csiro.au
MK Tarburton
Abstract
The Atiu Swiftlet Aerodramus leucophaeus sawtelli builds most of its nests from lichen, fibre from the crown of the coconut tree and saliva. Nests were smaller and less often placed in total darkness than those of other species that also have two chicks. Most nests were built in September and the last chicks probably fledged in April. Both parents share the incubation of their two white eggs and both begin moulting their flight feathers while incubating. As well as replacing lost eggs and young broods some parents relaid after successfully fledging their first brood. The average weight of newly hatched chicks was 1.1 g and at the time of fledging (53 days later) was 9.5 g. Each brood was fed six times a day. Chicks do not have any of the parasitic louse flies that are common on other swiftlets in the south-west Pacific but they are killed by crabs. Atiu sustained 380 breeding Atiu Swiftlets during the season, which means the density was 7.1 ha per breeding bird.
Emu 90(3) 175 - 179
Full text doi:10.1071/MU9900175
August 14th, 2006
ecologyasia.com
KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded a sharp increase in the population of wild swiftlets following the implementation of a sustainable management plan by the Forest Department for the harvesting of bird’s nest.Â
Researcher Dr Lim Chan Koon said the number of white-nest swiftlets in a cave in middle Baram, northern Sarawak, had shot up to 6,284 from 2,796 in 1997.Â
Dr Lim, who started the research on the breeding of swiftlets there five years ago, said that in another cave in Bukit Sarang, the swiftlet population had jumped to 660 from 396 in 2000.Â
Giving a talk on Sustainable Exploitation of a Natural Resource – Edible Bird’s Nest at the Malaysian Chemical Congress here, he said that under the first sustainable management plan introduced in 1998, no harvest of the product between January and April was allowed.Â
A second plan adopted two years later imposed a collection ban for any four continuous months, following which monthly harvests were permitted.Â
The four-month break allowed one complete breeding cycle of the swiftlets, including 30 days for nest-building, 25 days for incubation and between 45 and 49 days for the hatchings to grow until they leave the nest.Â
Dr Lim said uncontrolled and indiscriminate harvesting of bird’s nests over the years had caused a drastic decline in nest production and the wild swiftlets population in the Niah Cave.Â
“The swiftlet population there dropped from 1.7 million in 1935 to 200,000 in 1996 and 65,000 this year,” he added.Â
To arrest the sharp decline, the Forest Department imposed a four-month ban early this year on the collection of bird’s nest there.Â
The Niah Cave was once the state’s largest producer of black nests, with annual yields measured in tonnes. Â
Dr Lim said the government carried out two year-long comprehensive studies of the breeding of the black-nest and white-nest swiftlets in 1997 and 2000. Â
Of the five species of swiflets found in Sarawak, only three – black, white and glossy swiftlets – produce nests of commercial value. Â
Dr Lim said freshly collected white nests were worth between RM5,000 and RM7,000 per kilo in 1994. Â
He said commercial swiftlet farming in Sarawak had started where buildings with a cave-like environment were put up.
August 11th, 2006
springerlink.com
Donald R. Griffin1 and David Thompson1
(1)Â
The Rockefeller University, 10021Â New York, New York, USA
Received: 8 August 1981  Accepted: 7 December 1981 Â
Summary  The ability of cave dwelling swiftlets (Collocalia spodiopygius) to detect small cylindrical obstacles by echolocation was tested in a 3×9 m flight chamber. Although there was great individual variability, 6.3 mm obstacles were avoided much more often in total darkness than 1.5 wires (P<0.001). Flash photographs showed that the latter were avoided only by chance (about 50% misses). Obstacles 3.0 mm in diameter were avoided only slightly more often than 1.5 mm wires.
Even in the light these swiftlets avoided the obstacles in only about 75% of the trials, probably because gentle touches with the primary feathers caused little discomfort.
The 3.0 and 6.3 mm obstacles tended to be avoided more often on first encounters after they had been shifted horizontally by 10–30 cm, probably because the birds became more attentive.
References
Fenton MB (1975) Acuity of echolocation in Collocalia hirundinacea (Aves, Apodidae), with comments on the distributions of echolocating swiftlets and Molossid bats. Biotropica 7:1–7
Â
Griffin DR (1958) Listening in the dark. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT (reprinted 1974, Dover Publications, New York)
Â
Griffin DR, Suthers RA (1970) Sensitivity of echolocation in cave swiftlets. Biol Bull 129:495–501
Â
Griffin DR, McCue JJG, Grinnell AD (1963) The resistance of bats to jamming. J Exp Zool 152:229–250
Â
Henson OW, Schnitzler H-U (1980) Performance of airborne biosonar systems: II. Vertebrates other than microchiroptera. In: Busnel R-G, Fish JF (eds) Animal sonar systems. Plenum, New York, pp 183–195
Â
Jen PH-S, McCarty JK (1978) Bats avoid small moving objects more successfully than stationary ones. Nature 275:743–744
Â
Konishi M, Knudsen EI (1979) The oilbird: hearing and echolocation. Science 204:425–427
Â
Medway L, Pye JD (1977) Echolocation and the systematics of swiftlets, chap 19. In: Stonehouse B, Perrins C (eds) Evolutionary ecology. University Park Press, Baltimore, pp 225–238
Â
Neuweiler G, Moehres FP (1967) The role of spatial memory in the orientation. In: Busnel R-G (ed) Animal sonar systems, biology and bionics. Laboratoire de Physiologie Acoustique, Jouy-en-Josas, France, pp 129–140
Â
Smyth DM (1980) Studies on Echolocation in the grey swiftlet, Aerodramus spodiopygius. PhD thesis, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Australia
August 11th, 2006
nature.com
TOMÂ HARRISSON
Sarawak Museum, Kuching, Sarawak, Eastern Malaysia.
As a result of work initiated at the Sarawak Museum, Medway described and analysed the echo-location system of the cave dwelling “edible-nest swifblet”, Collocalia maxima, of Borneo1. Other work on C. salangana, which makes a moss nest (in Borneo), is as yet unpublished2; however, the taxonomy and nomenclature of all Collocalia are discussed by Medway3. The only other bird genus known to make use of echo-location is the central American oil-bird, Steatornis 4. In both genera the basic element is a loud click of short duration, comprising mixed frequencies, all audible to man.
1 Medway, Lord , Nature, 184, 1352 (1959). | ISI |
2 Novick, A. , Biol. Bull., 117, 497 (1959). | ISI |
3 Medway, Lord , Trans. Linnean Soc. (in the press, 1966).
4 Griffin, D. R. , Nat. Acad. Sci., 39, 884 (1953).
5 Medway, Lord , Ibis., 104, 45 (1962).
6 Smythies, B. E. , The Birds of Borneo, 68 (1960).
7 Cranbrook, Earl , and Medway, Lord , Ibis, 107, 258 (1965).
8 Marshall, A. J. , and Folley, S. J. , Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 126, 383 (1956).
9 Medway, Lord , Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 138, 313 (1962).
August 11th, 2006
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Thomassen HA, den Tex RJ, de Bakker MA, Povel GD.
Section of Evolutionary Morphology, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Van der Klaauw Laboratory, The Netherlands. hthomassen@rulsfb.leidenuniv.nl
We recently reconstructed the troublesome swiftlet phylogeny using cytochrome-b mitochondrial DNA sequences. The relationship of the giant swiftlet (Hydrochous gigas) with swiftlets of the genus Aerodramus was, however, unresolved. In an attempt to clarify this issue, we now incorporated mitochondrial 12S rRNA and nuclear beta-fibrinogen intron 7 nuclear DNA sequences with the cyt-b sequences of six swiftlet, two swift, and one hummingbird outgroup species. A partition homogeneity (PH) test, used to determine the congruence of phylogenetic signal between two sets of sequences, suggested that cyt-b and Fib7 sequences were incongruent and therefore should not be combined. However, further analyses revealed that the apparent incongruence was probably due to the high amount of variation in cyt-b sequences. Separate and combined analyses of the three sequences unambiguously placed H. gigas as the sister-group of Aerodramus and supported monophyly of the swiftlets. These results were supported by analyses of combined NADH dehydrogenase subunit-2 (ND2) and cyt-b sequences of H. gigas in combination with sequences previously published by other workers. Recently, it was shown that the pygmy swiftlet (C. troglodytes)–in our phylogenetic analyses consistently placed with other, non-echolocating, Collocalia species–is in fact able to echolocate. Echolocation thereby lost its value to distinguish between different swiftlet genera. Furthermore, the phylogenetic distribution of echolocation can be explained either by its single evolution at the base of the swiftlets, with subsequent loss, or by independent evolution in Aerodramus and C. troglodytes. Because yet unpublished data suggest that only the auditory nuclei in swiftlet brains show adaptations to echolocation, the latter explanation seems the more likely one.
PMID: 16006151 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
August 11th, 2006
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