(The name Kwak means in Dutch “black-crowned night heron“. Wild birds of this species breed in or near the zoos of Amsterdam and Rotterdam cities).
Robert Kwak’s subject was the situation of birds in urban environments in the Netherlands.
Some species, he said, were doing well, like ring-necked parakeet, goldfinch, and greenfinch.
However, breeding bird numbers of most species are going down in urban environments, compared to the countryside.
More and more buildings are built. Yet, species depending on buildings for their nests, like swift, starling, house sparrow, and black redstart, are not doing well. Because builders often do not take birds’ needs into account.
Also, dunnocks, which nest in bushes, are going down in cities. Because of predation by cats?
This is a video about crested larks near a petrol station in Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
A pioneer species like the crested lark, which likes open sandy spaces where building often starts, is in trouble as well.
So, the situation for most urban breeding birds is not so good. However, as far as wintering birds are concerned, they are doing better in cities and towns than in the countryside. This is especially true for waterbirds (water in cities often does not freeze as soon as in the countryside).
Australia’s average surface temperature has risen more than 1 Fahrenheit degree since 1900. During roughly the same period, the body size of Australian passerine (perching) birds has declined by as much as 3.6 percent. Zoologist Janet L. Gardner of the Australian National University in Canberra and colleagues, who detected the shrinking trend in birds, suspect the two changes are no coincidence: here.
Most of Eric’s talk was about bats. Construction should take into account bats’ needs. Sometimes, taking birds’ needs and bats’ needs into account in building go hand in hand. In Tilburg city, there is a plan for both swifts and bats in construction.
November 2009. The first bittern of the season was seen flying over WWT London Wetland Centre on 16 October, earlier than ever. It has now settled amongst the reeds. The bird has been arriving earlier and earlier in the year since it first appeared in 2002. It is not known why this pattern of early arrival seems to be emerging, but speculation at the centre points to weather patterns and winds on the continent, where this individual is believed to come from. The London Wetland Centre in Barnes is one of a very few locations in London to see a bittern, and certainly the closest the bird gets to the City centre.
Excellent predator
Keen birdwatchers at the centre have seen the bird several times in the Wildside of the reserve where it is likely to stay until February or March. Expectation is high for one or two more bitterns to fly into the centre, as there were three visiting the centre in 2008. Bitterns usually take a few weeks to find their winter feeding spot, but once they do they remain in their territory through the winter. The birds are excellent predators, feeding mostly on perch, but also prey on roach, frogs, eels and small birds. Known as shy creatures, they are excellent camouflage artists concealing themselves from larger predators and humans.
“The centre has been attracting high numbers of wintering birds in the past few weeks, and the bittern always brings excitement to the reserve because it is such a rare bird in the UK. Nationally significant duck numbers have already been reached, with hundreds of gadwall and shoveller seen on the main lake,” said Adam Salmon, Reserve Manager. “Other highlights include good counts of arriving redwing and Cetti’s warblers. There are still chiffchaff and blackcap around, some of which may over-winter, siskin and lesser redpoll are feeding now through the birch trees.”
Visitors can take in all the sights of the autumn migrations on self-guided tours through the site, or book a Wildlife Walk for Members tour on 7 November and 5 December. An introductory birdwatching course is being held on 10 January.
This is a video about carrion crows in Japan, using traffic to open nuts.
Yesterday, there was a BirdLife conference about birds in urban environments in the museum. Since very recently, more people live in the world´s cities and towns than in the countryside. This affects birds as well.
In the museum cinema, there was a lecture by urban planner Angelique Mergler on green urban planning; mentioning parks in New York City and Paris.
After her came biologist Marcel van der Tol from Zoetermeer town. His subject was 50 breeding bird species in Oosterheem. Oosterheem is a new neighborhood being built, with a park and ponds. Mr Van der Tol advises Zoetermeer local authorities on how to plan Oosterheem so that there will be at least 50 breeding bird species there.
Van der Tol said 23 species would almost certainly breed in Oosterheem. They include robin, collared dove, wood pigeon, moorhen, coot, mallard, tawny owl, kestrel, dunnock, chiffchaff, willow warbler, long-tailed tit, blackbird, song thrush, starling, wren, house sparrow, short-toed treecreeper, lesser whitethroat, blackcap, blue tit, great tit, magpie, jay, jackdaw, carrion crow, pheasant, and great crested grebe.
Species which might nest in Oosterheem as well, if helped by a little luck and authorities’ effort, include ring-necked parakeet, swift, sparrowhawk, great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, whitethroat, greenfinch, reed warbler, garden warbler, cuckoo, mute swan, and Egyptian goose.
Finally, a category of bird species which would be hard to attract to Oosterheem, which would require real luck and/or effort: long-eared owl, barn owl, stock dove, kingfisher (first nest ever in Zoetermeer this year), grey lag goose, oystercatcher, black-headed gull (there is a breeding colony of 500 couples elsewhere in Zoetermeer), common tern, icterine warbler, sedge warbler, black redstart, pied wagtail, bluethroat, reed bunting, linnet, tree sparrow, barn swallow, house martin (one breeding colony elsewhere in Zoetermeer), sand martin, goldfinch, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, grey heron, tufted duck. And the hobby, with one couple nesting in Zoetermeer town centre now.
To get the maximum number of bird species to Oosterheem, authorities need to provide things like a nesting sandy wall for sand martins, and nest boxes for house martins.
Bird Atlas needs your bird records – Especially Ireland, Wales & Scotland: here.
Aves Argentinas (BirdLife Partner) has announced the winners of “Conservar la Argentina” (Conserving Argentina), a programme aimed at generating conservation action at Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and for threatened bird populations in Argentina. …
The 12 winning projects cover diverse topics, such as the conservation of the Atlantic forest alongside local communities; the development of infrastructure for birdwatching at IBAs in Jujuy, Mendoza and Neuquén provinces; the management of a corridor between IBAs in the transition of yungas-chaco in the province of Salta; the study and conservation of the populations of Hooded Grebe Podiceps gallardoi, Crowned Eagle Harpyhaliateus coronatus, Olrog’s Gull Larus atlanticus and Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus.
In a small pond, about 30 by 30 meter, in the early morning scores of cormorants are fishing together. Hunting together increases chances of success. It is known just comparatively recently that cormorants fish together; it was seen for the first time in the Naardermeer.
Meanwhile, great egrets have discovered this special spectacle as well. Sometimes, on the banks of the pond, about 20 egrets stand waiting patiently until the cormorants have driven the fish so far that they almost literally swim into the eager waiting egrets’ bills. On the other hand, the great egrets drive the fish which they do not catch, back to the cormorants’ bills. Let us say: a win-win case.
Are US And European Plovers Really Birds Of A Feather?
(Nov. 2, 2009) — The Kentish-Snowy Plover, a small shorebird found in the US and Europe, is suffering from an identity crisis after scientists at the Universities of Bath and Sheffield found genetic evidence that the populations are, in fact, separate species.
Historically, biologists have classified the Kentish Plover, found in Europe, and its look-a-like, the Snowy Plover, from the US, as being different varieties from the same species due to their similar looks.
Whilst their true identity has been long debated by biologists, this is the first time that scientists have found proof that the birds actually belong to different species.
These new findings could prove important in the conservation of the Snowy Plovers, which are listed as threatened.
The scientists from the Universities of Bath and Sheffield analysed the DNA of 166 birds from two different American populations of Snowy Plover, four Eurasian populations of Kentish Plover, and one African population of a closely related species, the White-fronted Plover.
They found that the European birds were more similar to their African cousins than to their relatives in America, indicating that the bird population split and colonised America, where they became Snowy Plovers, before splitting again to produce Kentish and White-fronted plovers.
Dr Clemens Küpper, from the University of Bath’s Department of Biology & Biochemistry, explained: “Scientists have suspected for some time that these birds are from different species.
“Although they look similar, for them to have stayed as a single species they would have had to be able to breed with each other, but this wasn’t possible because they were separated by thousands of miles of water!
“For the first time we’ve shown that these birds have been separated for a long time and evolved in different directions.”
