A Cowbird, Starling, Goose, and Mallard walk into a rave…

and promptly left because the lasers were annoying. Well, not really according to a 2002 article. Bird damages to aircraft have left to abundant studies to determine effective means for deterring birds from airstrips and heavily utilized flyzones. Various methods have been attempted (auditory, visual, chemical, etc.), but a study actually looked to determined the effectiveness of lasers as a bird deterrent.

Using a 10-mW, continuous-wave, 633-nm laser, Blackwell et. al (2002) tested aversion of commonly plane-crashing birds to perches where the lasers were pointed or targeted at the birds directly. Neither European Starlings nor Brown-headed Cowbirds were deterred by laser treatment. Rock Pigeons (some of the least intelligent of all birds) only avoided laser targeting for the first five minutes of an 8-minute trial before the finally wised up. As for the waterfowl, Canada Geese were effectively dispersed from patches treated by the lasers during the 20-minute period, unlike the brave and magnificent Mallard who grew accustomed to the lasers after 20 minutes.

The obvious conclusion from this article is that birds are more amazing than lasers, and we should be prepared to become much more inventive when trying to fly our laughable steel imitations in their space. This article reminded me of one of my favorite XKCD comics.

Mercury & Migration

This is an old post that I could get to work because my blogger account was acting funny.

I just started working in the lab at William & Mary last Friday, and I've been trying to read lots of papers to come up with research ideas. I just read a great literature review that's still in-press and it's given me a few interesting ideas. Mercury is a toxin which readily influences bird physiology causing neurological and reproductive impairment in addition to many other detrimental effects. I'm interested in how mercury affects birds at the population level. For migratory passerines, migration can be a great source of mortality, and Saracco and Desante (2008) named 1^st year survival to be the major contributing factor for maintaining bird population levels. Undoubtedly, this is most readily influenced by habitat destruction and fragmentation, but ecotoxins could have an effect.

Mercury's physiological effects could impair the ability to successfully migrate. Mercury reduces haem production, an essential cofactor for the production of hemoglobin. Mercury also increases asymmetry, which may impair flight

 

Saracco, J. F., and D. F. DeSante. 2008. Identifying proximate causes of population trends in migratory birds: An analysis of special variation at the scale of Bird Conservation Regions in vital rates and population trends from the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program. A report by the Institute for Bird Populations funded under NFWF Project No. 2005-0260-000.

Mercury Effects on Avian Embryos

The following is a brief section from my senior seminar paper on an extremely interesting and insightful article. I promise I'll get to newer articles soon, but I wanted to give this a shot and I just loved this paper.

Mercury can limit avian productivity by impairing the development of the embryo, which are especially sensitive to environmental toxins such as mercury. Heinz et al. (2008) compared embryo sensitivity of wild bird species by injecting eggs with methylmercury chloride. The response to mercury was measured using the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀), or the concentration at which the embryo mortality rate was 50%. The results show that the embryos fall largely within three sensitivity groups. At low sensitivity (LC₅₀s > 1 μg g^-1 mercury) were the Mallard, Hooded Merganser, Lesser Scaup, Canada Goose, and Laughing Gull. At medium sensitivity (LC₅₀s > 0.25 μg g^-1 mercury) were the Clapper Rail, Sandhill Crane, Ring-necked Pheasant, Common Grackle, Domestic Chicken, Tree Swallow, Herring Gull, Common Tern, Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Great Egret, Brown Pelican, and Anhinga. At high sensitivity (LC₅₀s < 0.25 μg g^-1 mercury) were the American Kestrel, Osprey, White Ibis, Snowy Egret, and Tri-colored Heron. The rank order of embryo mercury sensitivity was also found to mirror mercury levels deposited naturally by the mother (Heinz et. al., 2008).

This research provides an invaluable means to evaluate whether mercury concentration poses a threat to specific wild species and points in the direction of which species may be at most risk. I believe this may have profound implications for conservation and management of ecotoxins. It also allows for more precise targeting for species as bioindicators.

_______________________

Heinz, G. H., D. J. Hoffman, J. D. Klimstra, K. R. Stebbins, S. L. Kondrad, C. A. Erwin. 2008. Species differences in the sensitivity of avian embryos. Archives Environmental Contamination Toxicology 56: 129-138.

Kenton’s Peer-reviewed Bird Blog?!?!

I've decided to use my summer blog as an outlet to blog about peer-reviewed science. I got the idea from one of my favorite science blogs, Pharyngula by P.Z. Meyers, and I've decided that I really need to get more into the literature in preparation for grad school. From now on I will try to post summaries and interesting questions about papers I read.

 

More to come…

End of the season wrap-up

So I have been really bad about making new posts. Things just got really busy at the end of the season, and my internet access was as good as usual.

Getting home was an adventure. Jeff and Alan dropped me off in Merced, where I caught a bus to San Francisco. From San Francisco I was able to get an earlier flight home the next morning. They wouldn't let me go through security the night before, so I slept in the airport in my sleepingbag with my all my gear. Surprise Surprise, I got selected for a "random" screening in security; maybe I should have shaved in Yosemite. My flight went through Philadelphia. If I were coming through later I would have tried to crash the AOU conference; they probably would have let me in. I was working for the Institute for Bird Populations. While I had some downtime in the airport I found a Swarovski dealer, and they let me try some of the binoculars. Swarovski has the reputation for the best binoculars in the world, and they definitely lived up to it. It was amazing! When I got to Richmond my family was waiting to greet me. I missed them so much. This summer was the longest Jenevieve and I have been apart. If I'm banding next summer, hopefully she can be convinced to come too.

As I close this post, I would like to thank those who have made my amazing summer possible. I would like to thank my parents and family for their help and support, the packages and letter, and helping me with transportation difficulties. Thank you to the Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science Department of CNU for helping me to find this internship and providing encouragement when MAPS eastern region didn't work out. Mary Chambers and the IBP staff have been wonderful for allowing me to band in Yosemite. I have really enjoyed banding with the many IBP visitors that have come out over the season. Finally, I would like to thank Jenevieve for her continual love and support which meant so much over an occasionally lonely summer.

This summer has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, which I'm sure has opened many doors to future experiences with birds and nature in general. I hope you have enjoyed this blog, and I would like to thank you for reading. I may start posting again if future summers include birds (hopefully they will).

Sincerely,

Kenton Buck

Swimming amongst the Ducks

We went to the Valley today after work to go swimming in a very cold mountain river, and there was a family of Mallards that I got to swim with. I didn’t have my camera, so I do not have pictures. It was so much fun. They let me get really close as they foraged and fought the current. There were also Common Mergansers (a new species for me in the park), but they weren’t as friendly.

Photos on Facebook

I finally got to upload photos at the Ahwahnee hotel in the Valley. Incidentally, it is the hotel that the hotel in "The Shining" is based on.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079366&id=31806491&l=d28c38262d

A Day for Rattlesnakes and Hummingbirds

...no, not together

July 17, 2009

We have a four day break, so I am doing some extra banding in Sequoia National Park. We banded at Zumwalt Meadow and got 38 birds, a high for that site. We had ten Rufous Hummingbirds today! I extracted and processed three of them, but the mature male with breeding plumage was nowhere to be found. I did get a nice hatch year male with a developing gorget. He was beautiful.

Hummingbirds can be tricky business, but it is so much fun. We don’t band them, but we can record age and sex. Age can be determined by examining the bill for corrugations that disappear as the bird grows older and by plumage. Sex and species can also be determined by a combination of plumage characteristics, usually the tail feathers (R2 and R4).

I really like working with hummingbirds; I might want to continue working with them in a specialized hummingbird banding program or in graduate school. I’ve decided I want to add the Peterson Guide to Hummingbirds to my wish list. I got to peruse it in the bookstore at Mono Lake two weeks ago. It has beautiful pictures of every species in North America for both genders and every age class as well as great range and life history information. In the back there is a picture of an albino Ruby-throated Hummingbird. That’s what I need to see!

I also saw my first Western Rattlesnake today. He was massive (>3 feet), but I think the Timber Rattlesnake I almost stepped on when I was a kid was larger. We found him crossing the path, and he went into a thicket near where we have some of our nets. We were able to get really close to him (not within strike distance), and he didn’t coil-up or exhibit defensive behavior. I was a little paranoid when checking nets for the rest of the day; a snakebite is NOT what I need right now. I wish I knew more about reptiles (I loved them when I was little); maybe I will take herpetology in the spring. I would love to be able to handle snakes safely.

Stumpy the Junco

July 15, 2009

Earlier this season at White Wolf we had an Oregon Junco that had been banded wrong in a previous year because someone did not use the leg gauge to determine the right size. Its right foot had died and we had to amputate so it would not get infected. It was a really sad day, especially because Jeff said he has never recaptured an amputee. We didn’t even have the heart to band the other leg. Today made the situation a little better because we recaptured the amputee junco. His leg was completely healed over with no signs of infection. The bird did not seem to be greatly impacted by missing a foot; he even had a cloacal protuberance (breeding characteristics). It made us so happy that he was alive and doing well. I sent him away with a shiny new band (this time correctly size and attached) on his left leg. He even perched on a nearby tree with ease. Go Juncos!!!

Intelligence of Corvids

July 10, 2009

We were really bored this afternoon, so we decided to suspend a peanut from a tree branch with dental floss to see if the Steller’s Jays could figure out how to get it. We expected him to figure out how to pull up the string up and hold it with his foot, but in true corvid fashion he did something totally unexpected and decided to wrap the floss around the trunk of the tree. It didn’t take him long to untie the string and get the peanut, but I think the California Ground Squirrels still have them beat. This one was massive. Is it possible for a squirrel to get diabetes from overeating?

Pine Grosbeaks are Weird

White Wolf might not be the most productive site, but it always delivers in diversity. Today we finally got the poorly named male Pine Grosbeak. It’s not a real grosbeak and is more closely related to finches. We want to rename it the Big-billed Pine Finch, but we will just have to see what bird authorities say. I came up to the net and a male and female were right there next to each other. I made sure to put them in an order or my carabineer so that I would assuredly get the male. Pine Grosbeaks have this weird habit of chilling on the ground after they are released. It’s not like wing strain; they just sit there for some reason. The male sat there for a while and they foraged before flying off fine. We also got a female and a hatch year Pine Grosbeak that day.

Rufous Hummingbird

7-7-09

I finally got the Rufous Hummingbird today. It has been one of the birds I came here to see, and today at White Wolf, we got a juvenile female.

Tuolumne Meadows and Mono Lake

7/5/09

We finally got out of Hodgdon today!!! Jeff, Alan and I decided to go to Tuolumne Meadows to do some birding and alpine hiking. Tuolumne Meadows is amazing. We saw White-crowned Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbird in the meadow. At the visitors center I got a new book, Introduction to the California Condor, by Noel and Helen Snyder. I am really excited to start reading it; I love condors.

We went hiking to a lake at Gaylor Lake where we were looking for Rosy Finches. We didn’t find any, but I did get to see the Clark’s Nutcracker!!! It’s the bird at the top of the blog. I was so excited to see such an amazing bird.

After our hike we drove just a bit further to Mono Lake. There is a nice restaurant there where I got the infamous fish tacos that everyone has been telling me about. Mono Lake is beautiful. There are beautiful calcium carbonate deposits called tufa formed by freshwater springs. These springs must be few and far between because Mono Lake has three times the salinity of sea water. The birding there was great. New on my Yosemite list were Canada Goose, European Starling, Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalarope. The birds’ feathers are really matted because of all the salt. Phalaropes are amazing; they feast here on brine shrimp during the summer before a grueling migration to South America.

Banding with the Big Cheeses

7/3/09

We had a surprise when we were banding at Crane Flat the other day; Sarah, the park bird biologist, told us that Dave DeSante, founder of IBP, and Rodney, who currently heads the institute, would be visiting. Both are amazing banders, and have an amazing enthusiasm for birds. They were in the park working on survey transects that Dave has been doing for thirty-two years (without missing a year). We were a little nervous about them coming, but everything was totally fine. They are both really nice, and they said they were really impressed with our speed in processing birds and excitement about banding in Yosemite. On their first net run there, Rodney came with me, and said he thought I was doing very well.

There was a little conflict between our group here and Dave DeSante. Jeff has always told us that we should close nets if they look windy or hot, but Dave thinks it can leave a great impact on the data. It was a classic conflict between field biologists and data managers. Dave seemed a little callous at first, but when we talked about it, he is just concerned that we are taking good data. There is no reason for being here having a minor impact on birds if our data cannot be used. Rodney suggested that we make shorter net runs (~10 minutes). We are still closing nets when in doubt, but it is nice to have other solutions.

Acorn Woodpecker

6/30/09

The other day we got an Acorn Woodpecker, and I was the one who found it so I got to extract it. As much as Red-breasted Sapsuckers get tangled, this was that much worse. It had the prettiest eyes; they were sliver with a little bit of pink.

Sneaky Squirrels

The squirrels of Hodgdon are the epitome of animal adaptation to human presence. If we leave the bear box open for a second they are in there. I actually trapped one in the bear box the other day (I’ll try to post the extraction video later, but it was interesting). I decided to clean out the bear box today and the squirrel got my old peanut butter jar that I am planning to collect insects in. He was really cute, so I jest let him lick out the inside. We left our packed lunches out for one second, and a squirrel tried to get away with an entire pear! We chased it across the campsite and were able to get it back with only a few bites. Victory!!!

To the Valley

I got up this morning and decided to break into my whole grain flour and make pancakes, and yes, I did make bird shapes. Jeff took off to band at Sequoia today, leaving Jessica and I with nothing to do. We decided to go to the Valley to explore and do some shopping. Dan, the other intern who left early, told us that we could get employee IDs (we our treated like employees) and get a discount on food and retail items. We actually get 50% off fast food, which equates to about normal prices. There is so much to do in the Valley; we went to a couple of shops and an Ansel Adams gallery which had some really cool post cards and gifts for Jenevieve’s birthday (I would say what they are, but she reads this blog too). I still found time to process a few birds.



We took the shuttle to the Yosemite Lodge for lunch where I was finally able to get the fish I had been craving. I had a salmon burger on a wheat bun with lots of tomato and a chocolate ice cream cone. When we left from lunch we read the newspaper headlines only to find out that Michael Jackson has died. I feel so unconnected here sometimes. I can’t believe the King of Pop is gone; we were just talking about him yesterday. We decided to walk back to the car, which turned out to be faster than taking the shuttle. So far it’s been a nice day off. Later we may be going to the Evergreen with some of the rangers for some Reggae music.

Cold Nights, Part III

This will hopefully be the last post on how cold it has been at night. It is starting to warm up during the day, but the nights are still cold. My stepfather and Mom sent some great thermals that arrived today. Thank you so much. They are very warm, so I’m sure I will be warm at night. It will be nice not to have to use my camp chair for insulation under my sleeping bag.

Escaped Selasphorous!!!

At Gin Flat Meadow Jessica got either a Rufus Hummingbird or and Allen’s Hummingbird, which both belong to the genus Selasphorous. I got to the net right after she put it in the bag, and right as I got back to the banding station, it escaped from Jessica’s hand. I saw it as a blur as it went by, which was very unsatisfying. I felt sooo disappointed; I still need to see the Rufus, Allen’s, and Calliope Hummingbird before I leave.

Ten Kinglets at Once!!!

Today we got the first of the juvenile Golden-crowned Kinglets have started to fledge. It was great, but we got too many at once. Kinglets are small birds, which means they can lose body heat rapidly; we have to be really careful when we extract and handle them. We got ten on our second net run and ten more on our fourth. There were so many that we couldn’t take our full range of measurements: just a band number, wing cord, and weight. It was really stressful, but Jeff showed me a trick for carrying small birds. Normally when it’s cold I put bird bags clipped to a carabineer inside my flannel shirt, but with small birds, Jeff said we can put the bags right against our skin. It should be just as warm as a hot box and prevent them from getting stressed. We can also double bag them so they can huddle together.