A great new publication on birds and collisions, not just glass.

Photos: Caitlin G.

Tennessee Warbler (Bldg. 12B).

20th Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Photo: Becky K.

Immature female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Bldg. 2B).

19th Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 12E).

Photo: Aylett L.

Unknown (Bldg. 156C).

Photos: Kara K.

17th Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

18th Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

American Goldfinch.

Black-throated Green Warbler (Bldg. 2D).

Photos: Kara K.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Scarlet Tanager.

Palm Warbler (Bldg. 30C).

Campus Surveys begin

Photos: Aylett L.

This is a stunned Common Yellowthroat found on campus (Bldg. 156C).

It was cared for from 5:30pm until it died at 2:00am.  It was a first year male. 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Unknown (Bldg. 156C).

Photos: Chrissy B.

Unknown (Bldg. 17A/B).

Cedar Waxwing (Bldg. 20B).

Working on ID (Bldg. 16D).

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 16D).

Unknown (Bldg. 9B).

Praying mantis.

Photos: Caitlin G.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Bird's Nest Fungus.

Unknown Thrush (Bldg. 11A).

Unknown feather pile (Bldg. 2B).

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler (Bldg. 14A).

Northern Waterthrush (Bldg. 11B).

Unknown feather pile (Bldg. 11B).

Yellow Warbler.  Found under this glass walkway that it thought it could fly through (Bldg. 14/3).

Common Yellowthroats must be on the move now (Bldg. 10D).

Mourning Dove feather pile (Bldg. 12D). 

AS PART OF THE 2014 STATE OF THE BIRDS REPORT, a team of scientists from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) identified the 33 U.S. common bird species in steep decline. These are common birds that do not meet WatchList criteria, yet according to long-term monitoring surveys are rapidly declining throughout their range. They have lost more than half their global population over the past four decades.  We know that birds that are abundant today can undergo a massive population collapse with surprising rapidity. Passenger Pigeon populations crashed from 2 to 3 billion birds to none in the wild in just 40 years. Keeping common birds common, while we still can, is as important as preventing extinctions of rare species.

COMMON BIRDS IN STEEP DECLINE - Birds we've found as window collisions are highlighted.

Northern Pintail Horned Lark American Wigeon Bank Swallow Cinnamon Teal Verdin Greater Scaup Varied Thrush Long-tailed Duck Snow Bunting Scaled Quail Cape May Warbler Northern Bobwhite Blackpoll Warbler Purple Gallinule Wilson’s Warbler Franklin’s Gull Field Sparrow Herring Gull Lark Bunting Black Tern Grasshopper Sparrow Yellow-billed Cuckoo Eastern Meadowlark Snowy Owl Rusty Blackbird Short-eared Owl Brewer’s Blackbird Common Nighthawk Common Grackle Chimney Swift Pine Siskin Loggerhead Shrike

Photo: Kara K.

Unknown feather pile (Bldg. 23D).

Photo: Kara K

Unknown feather pile (Bldg. 27D).

Ruby-throated Hummingbird feather pile (Bldg. 11C).

Common Yellowthroat (Bldg. 11A).

First birds documented on campus

American Goldfinch found on the steps of New Residence Hall East.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Fralin).

And so it begins, again.

Photo: Caitlin G.

 A new species. Black-throated Green Warbler (Bldg. 20E).

Photo: Caitlin G.

 Not yet identified.

Photo: Caitlin G.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 20A).

Photo: Kara K.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 12F).

I failed this Hummingbird twice today.  First by making little to no progress getting the windows fixed in the office park. Second, by not saving it quick enough.

I found it at the beginning of my survey.  I stupidly finished my survey and rushed to my office across the street to grab a shoebox for it to recover in.

About 10 minutes passed between the time I found it (top picture), to what I came back to find (bottom picture). In that relatively short amount of time, something killed it and took it away. All that was left were a few feathers. It must have had some fight left in it. 


#151.  Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 11C).

Interesting find this morning at the office park, domestic geese.

San Francisco to Tally Bird-Into-Window Death Toll

"The more I learned about bird strikes, the more I learned how completely avoidable they are if only humans would pay more attention,'' Judith Pynn, who signed up for the city program, told the Chronicle.

 San Francisco to Tally Bird-Into-Window Death Toll

Avian activists try to curtail bird fatalities from collisions with city buildings.

 

“Well, it’s not like we want to find one,” she adds after a pause. “It’s just, if we do, we can photograph it so its death won’t be in vain.” -Lynne Parks

 

Read the full article here: For the Birds

Collisions with glass kill birds, but what does it do to bird populations?

"No bird should die a needless death. But there needs to be more research into how collisions with glass affect bird populations in the long run."

Read the full article here: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/271877431.html

Climate change isn’t for the birds - Politico.com

"A study published last year in the journal Biological Conservation estimated that 140,000 to 328,000 birds are killed each year by impacts with wind turbines. But experts caution that far more birds are killed each year by things like oil and gas development, buildings with glass windows and house cats."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/climate-change-isnt-for-the-birds-110733_Page2.html#ixzz3CpGOOLpy

The invisible killer threatening millions of migrating birds

"Every year, hundreds of millions of birds are killed or injured when they fly into windows. Volunteers who document the collisions are now calling for architects and landlords to make their buildings more bird friendly to reduce the number of deaths"

Read the full article here:  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27426866

Photo: Caitlin G.

Our 150th bird....a rain soaked Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Bldg. 1C).