The City Birder: 06/01/2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Green-Wood Red-tailed Hawks

Below are some photos that Marge took of the Green-Wood Cemetery juvenile Red-tailed Hawks.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Global Climate Change Symptoms?

Dr. Jeff Masters, co-founded of the Weather Underground, takes a look back at the global weather for 2010-2011, in what was likely the most extreme weather since 1816.

"Every year extraordinary weather events rock the Earth. Records that have stood centuries are broken. Great floods, droughts, and storms affect millions of people, and truly exceptional weather events unprecedented in human history may occur. But the wild roller-coaster ride of incredible weather events during 2010, in my mind, makes that year the planet's most extraordinary year for extreme weather since reliable global upper-air data began in the late 1940s. Never in my 30 years as a meteorologist have I witnessed a year like 2010--the astonishing number of weather disasters and unprecedented wild swings in Earth's atmospheric circulation were like nothing I've seen. The pace of incredible extreme weather events in the U.S. over the past few months have kept me so busy that I've been unable to write-up a retrospective look at the weather events of 2010. But I've finally managed to finish, so fasten your seat belts for a tour through the top twenty most remarkable weather events of 2010. At the end, I'll reflect on what the wild weather events of 2010 and 2011 imply for our future."

Read this extraordinary article in its entirety here. ...Read more

Monday, June 27, 2011

Backyard and Beyond

Matthew Wills has a nice report on the endangered "Four Sparrow Marsh" on his blog here.

Brooklyn Red-tailed Hawk Updates

It has been two or three weeks since Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park's juvenile Red-tailed Hawks left their respective nests. Marge called me with an update from the cemetery and today I tried to track down the pair of young raptors from the Nelly's Lawn nest in Prospect Park.

After dropping off a book at the Brooklyn Public Library I walked into Prospect Park at the entrance adjacent to the statue of James Stranahan. From there I planned on walking south, passed the Vale of Cashmere, to Nelly's Lawn. Last year's fledglings from the meadow's nest spent much time in Elizabeth's Tuliptree or the stretch of trees immediately to its north.

Randomly scanning the trees isn't a very good strategy for locating the young hawks. I've found that relying on sound works much better. Songbirds make an assortment of alarm calls when a red-tail is perched nearby. Robins and starlings are the most abundant birds in the park at this time of year and their vocalizations always point the way to the hawk's perch. In addition, at this date the juvenile hawks are still receiving meals from their parents so they can sometimes be found when they start to whine for food.

I didn't find the two juveniles or their parents near Nelly's Lawn or the adjacent Vale of Cashmere, so I decided to cross East Drive to scan the huge linden trees that border the Long Meadow. As soon as I crossed the road I heard several starlings making what I like to call the "hawk warning". It is a short, scratchy sound that they make whenever a predator is in the vicinity. They were in a linden tree several yards west of the road. I walked around the tree three times until I finally spotted one of the juvenile red-tails. She was quietly preening while surrounded by three or four irate European Starlings. Her sibling didn't appear to be in the tree. After I had been watching for about 15 minutes I noticed a pair of robins making their version of the "hawk warning" call from somewhere to the south of me. I started to walk in that direction when I heard the familiar "keeerr" call of one of the adult Red-tailed Hawks. That sound motivated the young hawk to start crying for food. Listen for it in this video, as well as, the starling alarm calls (the hawk is in the lower center part of the frame):

The adult hawk soared over the Long Meadow in widening circles, heading to the northeast. Within a minute or two, the crying juvenile took off flying towards Nelly's Lawn. I could see the parent high in the sky over the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The young hawk is clearly still learning the details of flight and made no attempt to catch up with her parent. Instead, she just landed midway to the top of Elizabeth's tuliptree and continued her begging cries.

I had been standing at the base of the towering tuliptree for several minutes when I noticed that the young raptor's sibling was perched nearby. The smallish bird is likely a male and was preening in a dead tree in the northeast corner of Nelly's Lawn. The hawk's bright, white underside stood out like a beacon in the blazing summer sunshine. (Click image for close-up view)

Marge was leading an historic tour in Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday when she spotted that location's two fledgling red-tails. They were perched on tombstones in the soldiers lot adjacent to the nest tree. She had the driver stop the tour trolley so she could get a closer look of the two hawks. With tour participants all pressed up against the bus windows, Marge delighted the group as she belly-crawled up the hill towards the red-tails. As I would expect, the hawks were mildly perplexed by her presence and allowed close approach. She told me that they both seemed healthy and were finishing off a freshly killed squirrel. Marge promised to send me some pictures, which I'll post here. Hopefully, someone on the tour also got a few shots of her crawling up the hill. ...Read more

Upcoming Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips within NYC's five boroughs for the weekend of July 2nd - July 3rd, 2011:

Audubon Center in Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Introduction to Birdwatching
Every Saturday, 12 - 1:30 p.m.
Explore the Park's natural areas and learn how to look for amazing birds.

Eagle as Icon
Saturday, July 2 - Sunday, July 4, 1 - 3 p.m.
Known as a symbol of strength, courage, and pride, the eagle is one of our country’s most recognizable icons.

Macy's Fishing Clinics
Saturdays in July and August, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Learn how to fish at Prospect Park!

Sunday, July 3, 2011
Morning Bird Walk: Taking Wing
Sunday, July 3, 8 a.m.
Meet the amazing local birds raising families in Prospect Park on this expert-guided walk. Start your Sunday morning surrounded by nature!

Eagle as Icon
Saturday, July 2 - Sunday, July 4, 1 - 3 p.m.
Known as a symbol of strength, courage, and pride, the eagle is one of our country’s most recognizable icons.

Discover Tour
Every Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m.
Discover the Prospect Park you never knew! Meet birds and other wildlife on this walk, guided by a naturalist

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New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Sunday, July 3, 2011, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Sunset Eco-Cruises to Harbor Heron Islands
Guide: Gabriel Willow With New York Water Taxi Meet at South Street Seaport's Pier 17. Experience the wonders of New York's famous harbor at sunset and see some of the three thousand herons, egrets, and ibis nesting on islands around the harbor. Register with New York Water Taxi online by clicking here, or by phone at 212-742-1969. Limited to 100. $35 for adults, $25 for children under 12.

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Saturday, July 2, 2011, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Mount Loretto
The morning’s focus will be on the breeding birds that may be present in the fields and hedgerow such as Willow Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Orchard Oriole and any other surprises that may be present. Meet in the parking lot on Hylan Blvd. It may be early in the morning, but the birds will be singing before the heat of the day. We need to listen for their songs and call notes as we wander the trails.
For more information call Howie Fischer at (718) 981-4002.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, July 2, 2011

Birding
8:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Van Cortlandt Nature Center (in Van Cortlandt Park), Bronx
Cost: Free

Birding
8:00 a.m.
New York City is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. From falcons and salamanders, to...
Location: Salt Marsh Nature Center (in Marine Park), Brooklyn
Cost: Free

Family Camping
6:00 p.m.
We camp to create lasting memories, connect with the natural world, and bond with our...
Location: Central Park, Manhattan
Cost: Free

Family Camping
6:00 p.m.
We camp to create lasting memories, connect with the natural world, and bond with our...
Location: Fort Totten Park, Queens
Cost: Free ...Read more

Friday, June 24, 2011

Friday's Foto

This Hooded Crow has taken up residence in Staten Island's Great Kills Park. How it arrived in North America is a mystery. It may be a year or two before the experts rule on whether it arrived on its own and can be considered the first record for this species in North America, either way, it's a cool bird and worth going to check out.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Bank Swallow Colony

Staten Island is home to the only Bank Swallow colony within New York City. The main reason that breeding banks are so rare here is because they require sandy cliffs or banks to build their nests. There are very few places left in the five boroughs that meet that requirement. One is at Great Kills Park along a stretch of bluff overlooking New York's Lower Bay. Here's a video I shot recently of the very busy colony:

Rare Crow on Staten Island

A Hooded Crow has recently appeared on Staten Island. If it is determined to be a "legitimate" bird, that is, one that wasn't an escaped zoo bird, or had hitched a ride on a ship, it will be the first record of this Eurasian species in North America.

I've seen Hooded Crows while vacationing in Italy and posted a photo of one here spotted at the Villa Borghese. This bird has an interesting range that stretches from Scotland in the West and across Asia to the East. They are also rare in Greenland. It may be an exercise in futility, but I can't help speculating on how this bird might have arrived in New York City. The range map to the right shows that they do stray across open water and into Greenland periodically. In addition, some populations do actually migrate for fairly long distances. It's not inconceivable that this individual made its way down the coast of North America after tiring of the accommodations in Greenland. There are some people who will assume that this bird just hitched a ride on a ship, which is also believable, especially considering the amount of shipping traffic that goes in and out of New York and New Jersey ports. I think it has been ruled out that it is an escaped captive bird. It doesn't have any bands on its legs, plus, his feathers aren't worn in a pattern that would be consistent with a caged bird.

When Shane called me in the morning to see if I was interested in running over to Staten Island to look for the bird, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was only observed by a birder within the last few days, however, runners and other regulars to Great Kills Park claim to have noticed it a couple of weeks ago. Unlike our "boring" single colored crows, only the Hooded Crow's head, throat, wings, tail and thigh feathers are black, the rest of the bird is pale gray. On young birds the gray is more buff. It's a hard bird to overlook. The bird has been hanging around a gravel parking lot near the southern-most end of Great Kills Park. It seems an appropriate location for this bird as it is a stone's throw from the beach. According to the website globaltwitcher.com:

"The nominate subspecies breeds on Isle of Man, Ireland, Scottish Hebridean islands, Scotland mainland and disjunctively across northern Denmark and Scandinavia; for example, the subspecies is often seen along coastal areas of Islay where rocky and sandy coves alternate. Historically it is an autumnal visitor to the coast of eastern England, particularly Lincolnshire.(Beddard. 1906) where it feeds on shellfish in the mudflats."

Parking at the gravel parking lot requires a fishing permit, so Shane parked at the next closest lot and we walked south along the beach. Within about five minutes we spotted the crow standing near the shoreline. Two other birders were watching it from the edge of the dunes ahead of us. After a few minutes the bird returned to the area next to the parking lot where we got really good, close views. Here's a video of it perched in a dead pine tree being harassed by a mockingbird:

While we were present he returned to the beach a couple of times and foraged along the shore. He perched on a small rock jetty for quite a while, but also jumped down between the rocks occasionally, returning with some small bits of food.

We probably won't know for a year or more whether this bird is deemed a new species for North America, but it was still kind of neat getting to see one for only the second time in my life ... and on another continent. The American Birding Association has an interesting posting about it on their blog here. ...Read more

Governor's Island Terns

There is now free ferry service that runs to Governor's Island from Brooklyn. The ferry is at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is at the end of Atlantic Avenue near Columbia Street. Robin and I rode our bikes down to the ferry then spent a couple of hours pedaling around the island.

Once off the ferry, the first spot we headed to was the Yankee Pier. It is located on the south-east side of the island on Buttermilk Channel. Shaped like the letter "Y", most of the pier is still in use and people can stroll out over the water for a view of the island and Brooklyn. Barn Swallows nest under the pier and are constantly flying back and forth across the water. The lower part of the "Y" is in disrepair and closed off to the public. It has become an unlikely refuge for nesting Common Terns. I usually associate terns with the city's ocean beaches, so it seems a bit incongruous in this setting. Here's a short video of the nesting terns:

Another interesting bird observation on the island was of Northern Rough-winged Swallows. I've seen these birds on Governor's Island in the past, however, while walking off of Yankee Pier I spotted one flying into a small hole in the seawall. It is the only place that I've ever seen them nesting within NYC. ...Read more

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Treehugger Tuesday

The website "Yale Environment 360", a publication of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, just posted a very interesting piece on hydrofracking, an issue that all residents of New York should be aware of as it could impact everyone of us.

Forum: Just How Safe Is ‘Fracking’ of Natural Gas?

New technologies for freeing natural gas from underground shale formations have led to a hydraulic fracturing boom across the U.S. that is now spreading to other countries. In a Yale Environment 360 forum, eight experts discuss whether “fracking” can be done without serious harm to water and air quality and what environmental safeguards may be needed.

Depending on your point of view, hydraulic fracturing of natural gas is either a blessing that will help provide new sources of energy for the coming century, or an environmental curse that threatens water and air quality in communities across the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Both sides in the debate agree on one thing — natural gas reserves stored in subterranean shale formations are extensive. But beyond that proponents and opponents of fracking hold widely divergent views.

Yale Environment 360 asked industry officials, scientists, and conservationists to answer the following two-part question: “Can hydraulic fracturing of gas and oil reserves in shale formations be done on a large scale without significant negative impacts on water supplies, air quality, and local communities? As fracking continues to expand rapidly, do you believe more stringent federal and state regulations are needed and, if so, what should they be?” Among the wide range of views, one theme emerged: Shale gas fracking in the U.S., which to date has been less strictly regulated than other sectors of the oil and gas industry, is almost certainly headed for a period of tougher federal and state environmental controls.

Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, and co-author of a recent study of methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing.

The development of natural gas from shale formations using high-volume, slick-water hydraulic fracturing is a new technology, first applied in Texas only in the past 10 years or so and in Pennsylvania only in the past 3 to 4 years. Only this year have objective, scientific studies on the consequences been published, and these are alarming. The best evidence indicates widespread contamination of drinking water wells within 1 kilometer of gas wells, and the rate of venting and leakage of methane to the atmosphere is sufficient to give shale gas a larger greenhouse gas footprint than any other fossil fuel. In Texas, flow-back fluid wastes are disposed through deep injection into old abandoned wells; but such wells are not available in Pennsylvania in sufficient number, and industry in Pennsylvania has yet to find a safe method of disposal. Some of this waste continues to be “treated” in municipal sewage plants in New York and Pennsylvania, despite strong evidence of downstream water quality problems. Widespread air pollution with compounds such as the carcinogen benzene is prevalent in both Texas and Pennsylvania.

Current regulation by states is clearly not sufficient. Is federal regulation the answer? Perhaps, although it may not be possible to apply high-volume, slick-water hydraulic fracturing without excessive pollution and risk. A national moratorium is necessary — time to step back and better study the risks to water quality, air quality, and global warming. Only once such studies are completed can society begin to analyze what sort of regulation might be sufficient.

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Lee Fuller Energy in Depth Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy in Depth, an association of companies involved in hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil.

Over the past 60 years, more than 1.1 million wells have been enhanced thanks to the fracturing process — oil wells, gas wells, but also water wells and even geothermal wells. Some folks like to argue that harvesting natural gas from shale is different, that it requires a dramatically different and particularly risky form of fracturing to make it work. But they’re wrong: The fundamental mechanics of fracturing a well haven’t changed since the first one was stimulated in Kansas back in the 1940s. It’s true that we use more water today. But it’s also true that we need to drill a lot fewer wells, in large part thanks to advances in horizontal drilling technology.

Should the fracturing process be regulated? Again, the answer is yes. And again, the good news is that it is already ably regulated in each and every state in which it is deployed. On the federal level, laws such as the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act are also part of this oversight process, despite what you may have read. The upshot? An opportunity to convert the potential of shale into a safe and steady stream of jobs, revenue, and opportunity for decades to come — at a time and place when it couldn’t be needed more.

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Amy Mall NRDC Amy Mall, senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

We know that industry already has better technologies and cleaner approaches to reduce the environmental and health impacts of large-scale oil and gas production, including hydraulic fracturing. But for the most part they are not being required. And there still remain many unknowns. We need scientific analysis and data on the full impacts to water supplies, air quality, and local communities — how they occur, and how they can be prevented or reduced. Until we have a better understanding of the risks, we can’t know with certainty if oil and gas reserves in shale formations can be accessed without significant impacts.

The oil and gas industry should be required to comply with the same environmental safeguards as any other industry. Right now, it’s not, and that’s putting people and communities at risk. The nation desperately needs stronger regulations for oil and gas production at both the federal and state levels. Since companies are not using the best available technologies everywhere they operate, these practices need to be standardized. Regulations must also have robust enforcement provisions, to ensure there are meaningful incentives for companies to follow the law. To start, there are huge loopholes in our bedrock federal environmental laws that favor only the oil and gas industry. These loopholes — including ones in the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Clean Air Act — must be closed. This industry should not receive special treatment. State regulations can and should go farther to address the needs of each individual location. The evidence clearly shows current regulations are not strong enough to prevent drinking water contamination, toxic air pollution, and other threats.

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David Burnett, petroleum engineer and director of technology at Texas A and M University’s Global Petroleum Research Institute.

The vast majority of wells completed in the last 10 years have had no significant impact on the environment. True, a very few well operations have had problems because of errors in operations. That is why our university and others have created the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program (EFD). Drilling programs that follow the best management practices recommended by EFD have an extremely small and temporary impact on the environment and the community. The EFD Scorecard offers a way whereby public officials and other stakeholders can tell whether or not a company is following those precepts. For example, drilling operations have been conducted in downtown Amsterdam, Netherlands in a parking lot of a hospital. The drilling rig was a new design that has essentially zero emissions.

[What we need is] not more stringent regulations, but more appropriate regulations. And these can best be set at the state level by collaboration with stakeholders and industry. The gas shale drilling industry works to design and operate cost-effective drilling programs, while minimizing the impact of its operations on the environment. With the right technology, the industry can meet both of those goals. We also want the public and regulatory officials to know how we operate, how we protect the environment, and how we abide by the regulations. (An example of this is the new Frac Focus web site, http://fracfocus.org, a hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website, sponsored by two industry associations.) Appropriate regulations, based on sound science and engineering principles — developed by consensus — are welcomed.

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Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, director of the Western Environmental Law Center’s Climate and Energy Program, as well as one of the center’s attorneys.

No. At the massive scale envisioned by shale gas proponents, our land, air, water, and communities will be further sacrificed. This is as much a consequence of our dysfunctional policymaking apparatus as it is of the innate risks and impacts associated with shale gas. Put simply, shale gas — a form of natural gas — is a fossil fuel, and fossil fuels are dirty fuels.

This is not to say that there is no role for shale gas. There is. But that role is far more limited than the hype suggests. Used, for example, to power existing, underutilized gas-fired power plants as a way to immediately supplant aging, highly destructive coal-fired power plants in the near term, shale gas makes some sense. But, given geologic, financial, environmental, and other limits — as well as the absence of any comprehensive plan to rapidly transition our country to energy efficiency and clean energy — it is quite dangerous to give shale gas anything more than a limited role.

At a bare minimum, and to better constrain shale gas within acceptable limits, I’d propose a far stronger legal framework based on three key principles. First, natural gas development must complement and speed, not undermine, our transition to energy efficiency and renewable, clean energy. Second, we must move beyond ineffective, business-as-usual “mitigation” and embrace meaningful public health and environmental safeguards that are enforceable not just by government, but by the citizens who will have to deal with natural gas development each and every day. And third, we must prohibit shale gas development in communities, key water resources, and iconic or ecologically important landscapes.

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Richard Ranger, senior policy advisor at the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry association.

Can hydraulic fracturing be employed widely without causing significant harm? The evidence shows it already has. Hydraulic fracturing is a 60-year-old technology that has been used safely in more than 1 million wells. The industry and regulators are doing a good job managing its risks, and there has not been a single documented instance of groundwater contamination of subsurface formations from hydraulic fracturing.

As consideration is given to more regulation of hydraulic fracturing, we should focus on building on the existing effective system of oversight. That is already happening. States are reexamining their regulatory programs, and the industry, through API, has produced new best practices that provide operators with the most advanced guidance for safe use of hydraulic fracturing. The industry is also making it easier for company disclosure of the chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluids.

New federal regulations are unnecessary. The states have experience regulating all aspects of drilling, including hydraulic fracturing. They have personnel with expertise in their state’s geology, groundwater resources, and oil and natural gas operations. They have every incentive to ensure state rules protect health and the environment for their citizens.

Hydraulic fracturing is essential to developing the vast shale gas reserves that will help meet the nation’s future energy demand. Increased reliance on these resources for our energy needs will reduce air pollution and carbon emissions and generate vast numbers of new jobs and large amounts of revenue for government.

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Kevin Anderson Tyndall Centre Kevin Anderson, director of the energy program at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and lead author of a recent report on hydrofracturing in the UK.

My principal concerns (and expertise) have been on the climate change implications of yet another unconventional fossil fuel. From my reading of the situation, the process of fracking within shale rock does not have the same degree of homogeneity as is typically the case in much of the production of both natural gas and oil. In this regard, it is difficult to envisage any set of simple and generic procedures or protocols that will ensure sufficient environmental (and human) protection. Consequently, and with our current understanding, each fracture site (at least beyond a few kilometers separation) needs to be considered individually on its particular merits. From a UK perspective, I would be broadly happy for our responsible body, the Environment Agency (EA), to make the decision on whether site-by-site fracking should be permitted — provided the EA comes under absolutely no external pressures to make a decision one way or another and that it has the additional income stream and personnel (both challenging issues at this time) to permit it to undertake the necessary level of detailed investigations to make a fully informed decision.

Whilst I may not be an expert on fracking, I do have a detailed understanding on climate change — and in that regard the only responsible action with regard to shale gas, or any “new” unconventional fossil fuel, is to keep it in the ground — at least until there is a meaningful global emissions cap forcing substitution. In the absence of such an emissions cap, and in our energy hungry world, shale gas will only be combusted in addition to coal — not as a substitution, as many analysts have naively suggested.

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Ben Grumbles Clean Water America Alliance Ben Grumbles, president of the Clean Water America Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit educational organization working on issues of water sustainability.

Hydraulic fracturing can be “safe” when done in the right place, on the right scale, with the right safeguards, and as part of a “drill, maybe drill” philosophy.

The record is clear. Hydraulic fracturing has been done safely in many places over the years (and has great economic and energy potential), but the scope of review has been limited and the cumulative impact of the unprecedented “Shale Rush” on local water supplies, air quality, and watershed ecosystems should get more attention and research dollars. Local and national policymakers need an honest assessment of potential safety risks and a more complete life cycle analysis of the water quality and quantity considerations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s current $12 million study of hydraulic fracturing is an important opportunity to review the growing evidence of methane migration, which seems much more related to faulty drilling practices, as well as other key issues in the debate.

With participation from federal agencies, key stakeholders, and legal scholars, state officials should develop model codes and frameworks for more effective state regulation. And Congress should revisit the 2005 Energy Policy Act’s exemption of hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The voluntary national registry for fracturing fluids is a good start and needs to grow.

Federal research should fill necessary knowledge gaps and sort out information from misinformation. Key areas should include the amounts and impacts of total dissolved solids in fracking-flowback waters and their impacts on surface waters and treatment plants. A major priority should be closed-loop systems and the development of the most effective and affordable technologies to recycle fracking fluids. How can the large water footprint of hydraulic fracturing — which can exceed 5 million gallons per well — be reduced?

POSTED ON 20 Jun 2011 ...Read more