RARITY FOCUS
While we have avoided reporting the temptation of running across state lines to chase rare birds in the last year, July’s start looked like the pandemic was easing up with increased travel. But that was before the COVID-19 “Delta variant” started its spread across the country.
Still, birders have been emphasizing feeder-watching - which has grown tremendously in the last year – and local, near-home solitary, or small-group birding. So, we have a combo-effort to report this month: a feeder-watching rarity and the many birders who took advantage of its presence.
On Tuesday morning, 6 July, dedicated birder, Clay Taylor, a Corpus Christi, Texas, resident had a fleeting glimpse of a dark hummer chasing a Black-chinned Hummingbird away from the feeder just outside his dining room window. It turned out to be a Green-breasted Mango, a hummer from Mexico that has only been recorded in Texas about 25 times. (There has also been a smattering of records from as far away as GA and NC.)
Clay got some fine photos of this immature male bird. (All of the previous Texas records of Green-breasted Mango have also been immature males.) Then Clay started spreading the word of his find. For the next few days, the rare hummingbird arrived at the feeders every 30-45 minutes. After that, it was less frequent.
What’s important to note here is that Clay and his wife, Debbie, knew that many birders would want to come to their home to see the bird. There were actually 250 visiting birders who signed the “guest book” that was begun on day four of the bird’s visitation, and there were at least 75 more who came before the book was provided, or who didn’t sign it at all.
Many local and regional birders were delighted during the dozen days that the Green-breasted Mango was present. And, by the way, this bird was species #255 for the Taylor backyard in 13 years of coverage!
You can see some photos on the e-Bird Hotspot site created for this amazing bird and event:
ACCESS MATTERS: MANGO LESSONS
For a study on the subject of birder access, you might start by reconsidering the Green-breasted Mango story just presented.
What’s important for birders to recognize is that Clay and Debbie Taylor were eager to share their hummer-visitor, and they went above and beyond to make that happen. It went much further than simply “spreading the word” of the bird’s presence.
First, they moved the feeders to the side of the house to make the view easier for visiting birders who would be watching from the street. Next, neighbors were contacted to make sure they knew that crowds might gather on their dead-end street. If that was not enough, they made sure that the feeders were replenished with sugar-water when they had to leave town on day 5. (We ask: who else might do that?) Indeed, local birding friends, Joel and Vicki Simon, who live about a half mile from the Taylor home, took responsibility for “the Mango sit” while the Taylors were away.
It worked splendidly. As Clay considered at the start of this adventure, “I transitioned over to being something that I had been anticipating ever since moving to Corpus Christi – a Rare Bird Host. I cannot count how many times that I have visited a person’s house to look for a rarity, and was always struck by how most homeowners were so happy to have a really great bird visiting their yard, and went out of their way to ensure that visiting birders were welcome. Now it was my turn, and oh, it was going to be fun!”
Yes, it is often that gracious rare bird hosts are the key to affirming for us that “access matters.”
HORSESHOE CRABS REVISITED
It’s been a number of years since we’ve brought up the shared plight of populations of horseshoe crabs and shorebirds. It was in January 2015 that we reported that the rufa subspecies of the Red Knot had been federally listed as “Threatened.” (The crab/knot connection also received a passing reference in the August 2016 E-bulletin in a report on threats to Monomoy NWR in Massachusetts.)
Because of the antiquity of horseshoe crabs, this story may have been millions of years in the making, and it continues today. Horseshoe crabs are vital to the survival of certain migrating shorebirds, as these ancient arthropods lay billions of tiny green eggs in the sand, providing food for birds and other creatures, especially during shorebird spring migration.
The crab population situation is well-described by Gerald Winegrad, who worked on this problem for years while he was at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC): “These harmless ancient mariners were taken by the millions while spawning on Delaware Bay beaches from the 1850s well into the 20th century and used for fertilizer and livestock feed. That slaughter has been replaced by bait harvest starting in the 1990s, primarily for conch and to a lesser extent, for eels and catfish. This over-harvesting reached 2.6 million crabs in 1999 and significantly reduced crab and [ultimately] Red Knot populations.”
The situation is further complicated by additional harvesting of horseshoe crabs by biomedical companies capturing large female crabs to bleed for the production of Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL), which detects endotoxins in injectable drugs, intravenous devices, and surgical implants. While this surely saves human lives, it also comes at a cost to the crab population and beyond. (Biomedical harvest increased from 130,000 crabs in 1989 to an average of 536,829 annually from 2009-2018.)
An annual mortality limit was set by the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission (ASMFC) at 57,500, which has been exceeded every year since 2007 except in 2016. The ASMFC was slated to take action each year to lower this mortality, but it has failed to do so.
In 2007, New Jersey's moratorium on the horseshoe crab bait-harvest did make a contribution to the survival of migrating shorebirds. Unfortunately, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware have yet to follow New Jersey’s lead to reduce – let along stop - this grave situation.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that shorebirds are suffering. In the 1980s, surveys along the Delaware Bay found 95,000 Knots. In 2020, the total was 19,000, and this year only a scant 6,800 birds were estimated. In addition to Red Knots, other shorebird species attracted to crab eggs, species like Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, and Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, are having to seek refueling sites elsewhere.
Other factors bedevil the situation. Shrinking suitable beach habitat – from shoreline development and rising sea levels – continues. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 may have produced flooding and erosion that destroyed up to half the crab egg-laying habitat along Delaware Bay beaches. “Red tide” events, harmful algal blooms that produce powerful toxins, have also resulted in significant mortality to horseshoe crabs, especially to juveniles inhabiting intertidal areas and tidal flats.
At the same time, and related to this, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a proposed rule to designate 649,066 acres of critical habitat across 13 states for the rufa population of the Red Knot. The proposal includes areas of Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. About 40% of these areas overlap with existing critical habitat for Piping Plover as well as other species.
Although this is not a “solution” for the crab/knot situation, it is one piece of the puzzle. Comments are due on or before 13 September. See here:
and search for Docket # FWS–R5–ES–2021–0032
Concerning the Delaware Bay scene, recent informative articles have appeared by Gerald Winegrad in the Capital Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland):
and here:
TIP OF THE MONTH: CONTINUED BIRD SAFETY
You may recall the mysterious disease impacting birds that we reported on last month:
This affliction continues and has yet to be fully understood. In the process it has sickened and killed thousands of songbirds in several states along the mid-Atlantic and into the Midwest since late spring. Concern over the disease seemed to spike over the July 4th weekend, but several sources have been reporting a decreasing number of reports over the last weeks of July. Scientists are still trying to determine the cause, but young birds seem to be the most susceptible.
The US Geological Survey, which oversees the response to various natural disasters and risks, has continued to recommend that people temporarily bring in their bird feeders and clean their birdbaths. This may reduce areas where birds can become over-crowded and spread the unknown infection or disease.
Continuing this practice simply makes sense at this point until the causes have been identified.
CONTINUING SAVING WETLANDS
This month, we are foregoing a specific Important Bird Area (IBA) profile or story to emphasize recent developments that may impact IBAs across the country. It’s all about the very definition of “Waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, which defines which waters fall under federal protection, and, therefore, have an impact on water-associated bird life.
At the end of July, the Biden administration laid out plans to scrap and replace the contentious Trump-era Clean Water Act rule that eliminated many federal protections for millions of streams and wetlands. These Trump-related regulations significantly narrowed the law's reach, reducing what wetlands and streams were to be covered by about 51% and 18%, respectively.
Now, informed sources expect the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a draft rule eliminating the Trump regulations by year's end. Not surprisingly, many of the elements that the EPA will have to address also happen to be crucially important for birds. These will include not just well-established wetlands, which are hotspots for bird life and which filter and provide drinking-water sources, but also intermittent streams and seasonal wetlands that can eventually be sources for major waterways and more.
This surely has an impact on scores – if not hundreds – of established IBAs and the wetland and moist-grassland birds they sustain.
At this point, it’s not clear when the EPA will issue a rule to redefine WOTUS, but the agency announced a series of more than a half-dozen meetings for “consultation and engagement” going into September which would include federal, state, tribal, and other stakeholder engagement.
For an introduction to the possibilities, see these pieces from E & E News:
and
SPECIAL GREAT LAKES PIPING PLOVERS
We want to approach the end of this Birding Community E-bulletin with a cheerful note of bird survival and birder participation.
There are three fairly-distinct populations of Piping Plovers in North America: the Atlantic coastal population, those that nest in the prairies of the Dakotas, and a population on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes population – perhaps under 70 breeding pairs - has been under more stress than the two other populations. However, this small population has been increasing over the last two decades.
The bulk of the Great Lakes population is found along the Michigan shoreline at both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. And there are also plovers nesting along the shores of Lake Superior and Lake Ontario as well. But there hasn’t been a nesting on the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie for more than 80 years. The Ohio-shore populations probably peaked between the 1920s and early 1930s, with an estimated two-dozen pairs. By the late-1930s the number was down to perhaps a half-dozen successful nesting pairs. The last documented nesting attempt for the Ohio Lake Erie area was at Cedar Point NWR in 1942.
A few years ago, there was a pair of Piping Plovers that nested in the Chicago area (Lake Michigan) and another pair attempted to nest at Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania (Lake Eire). This year, one of the individuals from each of those two pairs happened to find each other and located an appropriate beach on which to nest. They decided that Maumee Bay on Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio was the right place.
“Nellie” and “Nish,” as they were dubbed, successfully nested at Maumee Bay State Park, and their four chicks hatched on 1 July. After hatching, the male plover had the role of parenting duties, and Nellie, the female, began her journey south in mid-July. By the time you read this, the youngsters may be migrating to the Carolinas or Florida with their dad.
For the entire nesting experience, the plovers were watched and guarded by on an around-the-clock schedule. Volunteers were there every day from six in the morning until 10 at night, when wildlife officers took over.
Ohio’s Division of Wildlife did not have the resources to handle all the needed work alone. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service became involved because of Endangered Species Act jurisdiction, and the USDA Wildlife Services had to deal with potential predators (e.g., skunks). Black Swamp Bird Observatory was another key partner that was able to organize volunteers to help monitor the plovers.
The experience has been great for reaching out to the general public, for the volunteer nest sentinels and interpreters, and, of course, for the birds themselves!
You can find more information here:
and here:
and here:
LAST WORD
If you have any friends or co-workers who wish to join the monthly Birding Community E-bulletin mailing list, you can simply refer them to this link:
