Birder's World Field of View

My morning with a young hawk

Update,9:30 a.m., Monday, September 29: Sad news: The Red-tail died over the weekend. "For most of our patients, all we can do is try to turn back the hands of time," said Sheryl Kluth of the Wildlife In Need Center. "For this unfortunate soul, we were unable to do so."

Update, 3:45 p.m., Friday, September 26: I just spoke with a representative from the Wildlife In Need Center. She said the hawk is still alive, and its condition is listed as "extremely guarded." Rehabbers think it may have ingested rat poison after eating a dead rodent. It's being given vitamin K to help thicken its blood, and the center expects to run more tests this weekend. "We have high hopes," she said, "but it may be a while before we know what's going on." I'll report back when I know more.

A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk peers from a pet carrier on board a humane society van. Photo by Ernie Mastroianni

This morning, colleagues down the hall from me noticed a hawk sitting on the grass outside our building. It hadn't moved much in two hours and didn't fly away when crows mobbed it. They were curious about its behavior and asked me to have a look. It was obviously a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, sporting the tell-tale speckled belly band on an otherwise white breast. I'd never seen a Red-tail sit still for so long, and it appeared to be dozing — odd behavior for the middle of the morning.

I know how to rescue an injured songbird, but a hawk is another story. I called the Elmbrook Humane Society, and they sent Jerusha, a wildlife rescue specialist, to check it out. The hawk was hidden among trees and brush, and it flew when we approached. Initially, I thought it was fine, but then it landed in the grass and then flew again toward the building and hit a window.

The bird then tilted its head, and Jerusha said, "It's got a neurological problem. Something's wrong with its brain." The poor bird turned its head more and fell over on its back, and then flew about 10 feet in the air before twisting its body awkwardly and falling to the ground.

Ike's impact: Oil in refuges, High Island and other hotspots closed

Hurricane Ike left a trail of destruction through the Upper Texas Coast and neighboring Louisiana. Here is a summary of effects on bird habitats and birding hotspots:

• A sheen of oil washed onto McFadden and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuges. A refuge manager told the Associated Press that the oil is a threat to wetlands and birds. "All we know is wildlife doesn't respond well to oil," he said. In addition, McFadden, Anahuac, and Texas Point refuges are all closed.

• High Island and Bolivar Peninsula are closed. Winnie Burkett, sanctuary manager for Houston Audubon, posted this message on the society's website: "Access is not being allowed onto Bolivar Peninsula and High Island. I talked with our High Island caretaker, Houston Sliger. He said that all High Island residents are being told to leave as there will be no services for at least a month. He commented that the Boy Scout Woods boardwalk out to the wastewater pond overlook was heavily damaged by waves!!!! There are dead cows everywhere and live cows walking all over High Island. I guess we will not be birding in the woods this fall." Houston Audubon's Edith L. Moore and Sims Bayou Sanctuaries are closed as well. Photos here.

Urge Congress to conserve migratory birds

Yellow-breasted Chat is one of hundreds of migratory species that will benefit from new legislation. Photo: American Bird Conservancy, Barth Schorre

I received this press release today from the American Bird Conservancy about efforts in Congress to support bird conservation. Please urge your senators and representative to reauthorize the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act. — M.M.

(Washington, D.C. – September 17, 2008) Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), George Voinovich (R-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced bipartisan legislation to boost funding for the conservation of migratory birds. The Senate bill, S. 3490, reauthorizes the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA), but at significantly higher levels, to meet the growing needs of our migrants, many of which are in rapid decline. Representatives Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) have introduced similar bipartisan legislation, H.R. 5756, in the House of Representatives.

New Orleans hotspot could use our help

The opening spread of our June 2008 feature story about City Park in New Orleans. Prothonotary Warbler is one of 38 warblers recorded in the hotspot. 

Joelle Finley, a Birder's World subscriber from New Orleans and a member of the Orleans Audubon Society, recently told me that birders in the Big Easy are collecting donations for Couturie Forest in City Park, the birding hotspot we featured in our June issue.

It's a worthy cause because the forest provides one of the best stopover habitats for migrating birds in the whole city. Our writer, Dan Purrington, said this about Couturie:

From kestrel country to Birder's World cover

If you think Colorado is a mountain state, you're only about half right. Drive east from Denver, keeping the mountains in your rear-view mirror, and you'll come upon a vast, open plain of sprawling ranches, wild grasslands, and desolate country roads. Beautiful country. And the home turf of photographer Rob Palmer, whose dramatic shot of an American Kestrel made the cover of our October 2008 issue, on newsstands now. 

When I asked Palmer how he took the picture, he recalled a cold February morning spent cruising those Colorado plains. "In the winter, there's large numbers of kestrels, and they hang around country roads all the time," he said. That day, about four inches of snow covered the ground. "That's a good time to look for them, because they're hungry."

Palmer says the birds like to perch on phone lines or dead trees. During his drive, he noticed one kestrel sitting in an old cottonwood tree, gazing downward. "I knew he was looking at something. I just backed up my car to where I thought the action would occur." 

Birdsong expert and Ivory-bill searcher Dan Mennill discusses Costa Rica’s duelling wrens

Ornithologist Dan Mennill holds a Rufous-and-white Wren, a species he studies in Costa Rica. Photo by Dale Morris.

Today, our good friend Dan Mennill, an ornithologist at the University of Windsor, is publishing a paper with Sandra Vehrencamp, a scholar of animal communication and professor at Cornell University, about the unusual duetting behaviors of a bird from Costa Rica, the Rufous-and-white Wren. Dan first came to our attention two years ago this month when he and fellow scientist Geoff Hill reported finding Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Florida. (Hill wrote about their search in our February 2007 issue in the article “The Other Guys.”) This week, we checked in with Dan about his new paper, about what it’s like to work in Costa Rica, and about the Ivory-bill. His answers appear below. — M.M.

Where do you and your students do field work in Costa Rica? What was it like to work there?

We work within Santa Rosa National Park, in the Guanacaste Conservation Area of Costa Rica. I have been working in this park for six years, together with my wife, Stephanie Doucet. (Stephanie is also an ornithologist at the University of Windsor, and is an expert on feather coloration in birds.) The forest is a mature neotropical humid forest, surrounded by patches of neotropical dry forest. Four-hundred-year-old Guapinol trees form the forest canopy; flocks of parrots fly overhead; troupes of howler monkeys start each day with a roar; and Long-tailed Manakins perform their acrobatic dances everywhere you look. It is an extraordinary forest, and it should be on every birdwatcher's to-do list!

It's time to count swifts!

I heard from Paul and Georgean Kyle of the Driftwood Wildlife Association today. They're what I call great friends -- friends of the magazine and friends of favorite birds of mine: swifts. I've copied their message below. --C.H.

Greetings! 

It is time for A Swift Night Out September 2008!

As summer draws to a close and the swifts have finished raising their young, these fascinating aerial acrobats begin to congregate in communal roosts prior to their migration in the fall. Some roosts may consist of an extended family group of a half a dozen birds or so, but the larger sites can host hundreds or even thousands of swifts! 

We encourage you to involve your local Audubon chapters, bird clubs, scout groups, and neighbors in this exhilarating spectacle. August was a great success, and the September event is just around the corner!