Fort Worth Bird Club

			Bird News Network
	27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - ABC Asks Gov. to Curb Bird Deaths From Mining Claim Markers American Bird Conservancy today called on federal government to take action to eliminate the massive avian mortality threat posed by the continued use of uncapped metal or PVC mining claim marker pipes on public lands in the West. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Birds to Benefit from Snake Ban The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has banned the importation and interstate transportation of four nonnative constrictor snakes. Release of snakes into the wild is threatening birds and other animals in the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems across the United States. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Endangered Bird Produces a Chick in U.S. for Second Time For the second time ever recorded, an endangered Short-tailed Albatross has nested in the United States and produced a chick. The recent discovery of the nest and chick on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands follows the fledging of the first U.S.-born chick last year at the same site by the same parents. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Modern Day Birding Record Set in DC in 2011 Big Year Event Jason Berry, a researcher at American Bird Conservancy has broken the modern day record for the number of bird species seen in Washington, D.C. in a single year. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Two New Studies Find Winning Conservation Formula in Peru A new study published in the journal Ecological Economics has found that, contrary to some critical earlier studies, community conservation programs, when done properly, can produce demonstrable changes in local community behavior and lead to improved environmental conservation. A second study has also found that ecotourism in Peru is providing numerous opportunities for the advancement of conservation programs. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Precedent-Setting Proposed Permit May Offer New Protections for Hawaiian Seabirds Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposal to regulate the killing of seabirds by vessels in the Hawaiian swordfish fishery. The action is important because it marks the first time the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, America's foremost law protecting migratory bird species, has been invoked to protect seabirds in federal waters. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - New Gulf of Mexico Shark Study Makes Surprising Discovery Researchers at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, who have been conducting a two year study focusing on the diets of Tiger Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, have made a surprising discovery: not only are the sharks feeding on fish and other marine organisms, they are also feeding on land-based birds, such as woodpeckers, tanagers, meadowlarks, catbirds, kingbirds, and swallows. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Bird Conservation Group Responds to Proposed Eagle Take Permit The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering an application from West Butte Wind Power LLC for a permit under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The permit would allow for the incidental take of a limited number of Golden Eagles at their proposed facility in central Oregon. This application is the first of its kind for a wind project; historically, many industry developers have ignored permitting altogether and built wind farms at sites with little or no regard for the potential impacts on eagles, resulting in the deaths of possibly thousands of these birds in recent decades. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - BLM Proposes Wind Development Zones that Could Benefit Birds Today, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans to create a rule authorizing competitive leasing for wind and solar projects on the public land it administers. The announcement states that before competitive leasing for wind projects could occur, the agency would designate wind energy development zones. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Land Acquisition in Ecuador Will Help Conserve Rare Parakeet A critical, 318-acre parcel of land in southwestern Ecuador has been acquired as part of the Buenaventura Reserve, and will help protect the globally endangered El Oro Parakeet - a bird that appears to number fewer than 1,000 individuals in the wild. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - 1,500 Waterbirds Killed in Bizarre Incident in Utah Officials in Utah are estimating that about 1,500 Eared Grebes were killed late Monday night, possibly as a result of confusing a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cedar City with a body of water and landing on the asphalt during a storm. An additional 3,500 apparently dazed and confused grebes were rounded up through the night by hand by volunteers and staff of the Utah Department of Wildlife, and eventually released into a nearby lake. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Bird Group Formally Petitions Feds to Regulate Wind Industry American Bird Conservancy today formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect millions of birds from the negative impacts of wind energy by developing regulations that will safeguard wildlife and reward responsible wind energy development. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - First U.S. Predator-Proof Fence Delivers on Promises The first predator proof fence in the United States is producing dramatic results that may eventually lead to a resurgence in decimated seabird populations in Hawai'i. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater, which nests in the remote coastal dunes on the now-fenced Ka'ena Point at the northwestern tip of O'ahu, has produced the highest number of chicks since the annual survey began in 1994. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Optimism for New Sage-Grouse Conservation Strategy Tomorrow's expected announcement by the Bureau of Land Management that it will team up with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a new range-wide conservation strategy for the Greater Sage-Grouse is being received with optimism by two leading conservation organizations as a key step in providing long-term protection for the iconic western bird, which has suffered extensive losses in recent decades. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Proposed Wind Farm in Key Marbled Murrelet Area Scrubbed Plans to build a 32-turbine wind farm near the coast of Washington in a key breeding area for a threatened seabird have been halted to the relief of conservationists. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Endangered Hawaiian Bird Making Comeback, Challenges Remain The endangered Nene, also known as Hawaiian Goose, whose wild population 60 years ago had shrunk to a meager 20-30 birds, has been making a remarkable comeback thanks to decades of captive breeding programs, predator control, and habitat management. The current population is estimated to be around 2,000. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Insects to be Released in Hawai'i to Control Invasive Plant The state of Hawai'i will soon begin implementing biological control to curb one of the archipelago's most environmentally damaging, invasive plants - strawberry guava. The decision follows publication of a Final Environmental Assessment that found no significant negative impacts would result from such measures. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Nevada Citizens Asked to Help Prevent Deaths of Thousands, Maybe Millions of Birds American Bird Conservancy is asking Nevada citizens to act on a state law that now gives them the ability to prevent thousands, possibly millions of bird deaths at mining claim sites. The law, passed in 2009, included a provision that became effective this month enabling anyone to pull up claim marker stakes that are improperly set and act as bird-killing traps. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - New Study Says Threatened Florida Bird Continues to Decline An extensive new study by the Avian Ecology Program of the Archbold Biological Station on the health of the Florida Scrub-Jay, the only bird endemic to the state of Florida, has found that despite significant efforts to protect the species, populations have dropped significantly in the last 18 years. In managed study areas, populations have fallen by as much as 25%, but it is likely that the total species' population throughout the state may have dropped as much as 35 - 40 percent. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Reclusive Bird Now Appearing on Cue at Peruvian Reserve For the first time at any Peruvian reserve, visitors to the Owlet Lodge in the Abra Patricia-Alto Nieva Private Conservation Area are now seeing an Undulated Antpitta habituated to worm feeding. The ability to bring the bird into view in this fashion is particularly exciting to bird watchers since the Undulated Antpitta is normally very secretive and extremely difficult to see in the dense vegetation it usually inhabits. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Publication Shows Solutions to Halt Bird Building Collisions As part of a national-level program to reduce the massive and growing number of bird deaths resulting from building collisions in the United States, American Bird Conservancy today announced the availability of a new, national publication, American Bird Conservancy's Bird-Friendly Building Designs. 27 Jan 2012 20:50:03 Z - Nation's Mayors Asked to Stop Spread of Feral Cats American Bird Conservancy has called on the mayors of U.S. cities to stop the epidemic spread of feral cats that threaten national bird populations as well as scores of other wildlife. Letters were mailed to mayors of the fifty largest cities in the Unites States, urging they support responsible pet ownership and oppose Trap-Neuter-Release programs that promote the feeding of outdoor cats.