Upcoming Birding and Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips by local birding/conservation groups for Saturday, December 31, 2016 to New Year's Day, Sunday, January 1, 2017:

Audubon Center in Prospect Park
Sunday, January 1, 2017, 10am – 11am
Early Morning Bird Walk: Bring in the New Year with Birds
Join the Prospect Park Alliance on New Year's Day to explore the Park’s nature trails and discover the beautiful plumage and fascinating behavior of the Park’s wintering ducks. Please note this tour leaves promptly at 10 am. Led by the Brooklyn Bird Club.

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Brooklyn Bird Club
New Year’s Day, January 1, 2017
A walk along the western Brooklyn Coast
Leader: Peter Dorosh (347) 622-3559
Focus: First birds of the new year during an estimated 3 mile walk
Meet: 9 am at the R train 45th St stop, west corner
Note: Locations include Bush Terminal Pier Park; Pier 4 at 58th St; Owls Head Park; Greenwood Cemetery (optional)

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New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturdays -- 9/3/2016 - 6/24/2017: 11:00 a.m.
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11am to 12:30pm beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Sunday, January 1, 2017, 11am – 2pm
New Year's Day Beach Walk, Fort Tilden
Guide: Don Riepe, Mickey Cohen
With American Litoral Society and Gateway NRA
Meet at Fort Tilden in Breezy Point for a brisk hike along the beach, dunes, and woods to welcome in the New Year. Look for saw-whet and snowy owls. Enjoy champagne, coffee, and cookies afterward at the Rockaway Artists Alliance. For more information, contact Don Riepe at 718-474-0896 or donriepe@gmail.com. No reservations necessary. No limit. Free

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Protectors of Pine Oak Woods (Staten Island)
Sunday, January 1, 2017 @ 12:00pm – 2:00pm
27th Annual New Year’s Day Walk to Crooke’s Point @ Great Kills Park
Join NRPA and PPOW for a healthy start to a fantastic New Year. Gather in the parking lot at Hylan Blvd. and Buffalo Street and carpool to the last lot before Crooke’s Point. The group will observe wintering birds and dormant grasses while discussing ideas and concerns for the year ahead. After a half mile walk to the point, we will share treats and tales in celebration of the New Year. We continue to the harbor before returning to the cars. Contact Jim Scarcella at (718) 873-4291 or Cliff Hagen at (718) 313-8591.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Ranger's Choice: Birding Van Tour - Owls at Pelham Bay Park, Bronx
11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Winter is the best time of year to spot owls as the leaves are gone, making it harder for them to hide. The days are also shorter, which is perfect for our nocturnal residents
Free!

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Wild Bird Fund
Sunday, January 1, 2017 @ 9:00AM - 11:00AM
WBF’s New Years Day Bird Walk!
Celebrate the New Year with Alan Messer and WBF! Please join WBF member and artist/naturalist Alan Messer for a bird walk on Sunday January 1st (rain date: Sunday Jan. 2). We will walk into Central Park and scan the reservoir for waterfowl and gulls, and check out the Pinetum for kinglets and raptors. We’ll then navigate the Ramble for sparrows, finches, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other over-wintering species, who have much to teach us about resiliency and persistence in the face…
$10 - $15 ...Read more

Friday's Foto

Treehugger Tuesday

The UK will outlaw plastic microbeads in the coming year. From businessGreen:

Government Plans to Ban Microbeads by October 2017
Michael Holder
20 December 2016

Defra plans to change legislation by October 2017 to end UK sale of toiletry products containing tiny pieces of plastic harmful to marine life

By the end of October 2017 the government aims to have banned the sale of cosmetics and personal care products containing micro beads, according to new plans published today.

The two-month consultation sets out the government's strategy to fulfill its promise earlier this year to ban microbeads, tiny particles of plastic which are harmful to marine life. The document also looks at what more can be done in the future to prevent other sources of plastic from entering the marine environment.

Ahead of any legislative change, however, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is urging Christmas shoppers to avoid products containing microbeads in favour of those which use natural alternatives.

Microbeads - tiny pieces of plastic often added as exfoliators to toiletry products such as face scrubs, toothpastes and shower gels - can get into waterways and oceans, potentially causing serious harm to marine life, while there are also concerns surrounding the potential impact on human health.

A single shower can send up to 100,000 beads down the drain, according to the government, which first revealed its intention to ban microbeads back in September.

Many companies have already taken steps to voluntarily phase out microbeads from the products they manufacture or sell, but MPs on Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee earlier this year called for an industry-wide ban, claiming the voluntary approach would not be effective enough.

Announcing the two-month consultation today, Defra Secretary Andrea Leadsom said the proposals showed the UK takes its responsibility to marine life around the world very seriously.

"It's encouraging many retailers and manufacturers are already taking action to phase out microbeads, but today we are making sure that in future they will have no place in personal care products, like shower gels and face scrubs, that end up going down the drain," she said in a statement.

Defra added that products containing no microbeads but with the same exfoliating properties were already "readily available" on the market, with many manufacturers using natural alternatives such as nut shells, salt and sugar instead of plastic.

Commenting on the proposed ban, Dominic Winter, sustainability manager at retailer Neal's Yard Remedies, said the firm had never used microplastics in any of its products. "There are a range of highly effective natural, sustainable options when purchasing personal care products, with ingredients that have a hugely reduced impact on the environment," he said.

Dr Laura Foster, head of pollution at the Marine Conservation Society, also voiced her support for banning microbeads. "This consultation gives an opportunity to show the UK can be a world leader in improving the health of our oceans and reducing microplastic pollution," she said.

The consultation closes on February 28 2017. ...Read more

Friday's Foto

The Common Redpoll is one of our "winter finches" that is normally found in the subarctic forests and tundra across northern Canada and much of Alaska. Circumpolar, they also range across the northern reaches of Europe and Russia.

A bit larger than our American Goldfinch males are heavily streaked and have a small, red crown and rosy breast. Females are duller, lack the rosy breast, but do have a red crown. Usually traveling in large, energetic flocks they feed primarily on seeds from birches, alders, willows, pines, elms, basswood and larch. Like chickadees, they are quite acrobatic and often hang upside down as they feed. They will go to feeders in the winter and can be very tame. Common Redpolls can survive temperatures of -65° F. Some individuals tunnel into the snow to stay warm during the night.

Common Redpolls are abundant, so much so that the IUCN Red List lists their conservation status as “Least Concern”. In addition, they rate a 7 out of 20 on the 2016 State of North America's Birds Species Assessment Summary and Watch List.

The Common Redpoll’s genus was recently changed from carduelis to acanthis. According to Wikipedia, “Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that the Arctic and common redpolls formed a distinct lineage, so the two species were grouped together in the resurrected genus Acanthis”. Its scientific name, Acanthis flammea, means “type of finch” (from Greek mythology Acanthis, daughter of Autonous, who was metamorphosed into a type of finch) and flame-coloured.

Treehugger Tuesday

From the Earth Times website:

The Endangered Tapaculo Adapts to Fragmentation of its Forest.
By Dave Armstrong


The endangered, recently-discovered and little-researched tapaculo is one of many species at risk as we lose our primary forests. This Ecuadorean Tapaculo is showing some sign of resilience however. Tapaculo image; Credit: © Claudia Hermes

Claudia Hermes with Annika Döpper, H. Martin Schaefer and Gernot Segelbacher, all of the University of Freiburg in Germany, have been studying the effects of fragmentation of South American forests, as the many different types of rainforest are more and more decimated. Nature Conservation’s paper appears this week as Effects of forest fragmentation on the morphological and genetic structure of a dispersal-limited, endangered bird species.

Forest corridors are the fashionable way to go with separate pieces of vegetation over a large area, but the cloud forests in Ecuador are unique and perhaps difficult to regenerate in ways to suit their endemic plants and animals. The use of dispersal corridors by the endangered Ecuadorian Tapaculo were identified and an interesting adaptation of the species to the degree of of cloud forest fragmentation. This would be useful to any such species if extinction were to threaten.

Genetic drift, or the appearance of less-than-useful characteristics in a restricted population, appears in small fragmented communities, so this connectivity is a lifesaver. Migration rates and gene flow seem to maintain a high level of genetic diversity.

With very little known about the many similar Tapaculo species, either genetically or ecologically. This bird has been called El Oro Tapaculo, or scientifically, Scytalopus robbinsi since it was found in 1990, Their insectivorous habits seem to require high quality habitat in the deep, dark undergrowth of mature forest. They rarely cross open glades and are almost unable to fly long distances, hopping or walking instead, among the shrubs. They are endemic to a 1100km2 range in SW Ecuador, but have been declining, possibly to as little as a few thousand individuals.

In the secondary forests of the private Buenaventura reserve and nearby, the tree areas ranged from 15 to 900 hectares. Using mist nets and decoy tape recordings, 28 males were captured and ringed within a 10-minute time limit. This hopefully ensured their rapid return and successful recovery from capture.

Testing for any past decline in population, no decline in diversity was detectable over the last 25 years, but there had been a severe population decline from a maximum of 26,000, probably around 7,000 years ago. With such a poor flier, there were changes in the wing shape as the forest size varied. This seems to be an adaptation to flying, with rounder wings found in larger forests and narrower wings found in small patches of forest. The birds in small forests could therefore fly better and had enhanced mobility. Maneuverability in the larger denser forests was helped by round wings.

Gene flow is not impeded by many barriers in this part of Ecuador, but distance is a factor. One brave individual covered the furthest distance seen in a dispersal event. He established a new territory by moving 245 m across un-forested habitat. It is feasible that gene flow will be restricted in the future, as sub-populations develop into genetically distinct groups with different morphology. The great hope is that the considerable reforestation effort being made can influence selection pressures. With more habitat availability, the sepcies will not require enhanced mobility, so reducing any divergence in wrong morphology and increasing the gene flow to normal levels.

This is real evolution in action, in this particular bird. It remains to be seen whether the natural experiment will continue to progress as expected. The trees have the answer, while their cultivation and conservation is critical to any positive outcome.


Read more at http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/endangered-tapaculo-adapts-fragmentation-forest/2988/#i0XwHFDIRVIWCZP3.99 ...Read more

117th Annual Christmas Bird Count

If you'd like to participate in a local New York Christmas Bird Count, the New York State Ornithological Association has a page here where you can find the teams in your area.

If you'd like to learn more about the Christmas Bird Count I have several postings on the blog here.

Upcoming Birding and Nature Trips

Below is a list of upcoming nature trips by local birding/conservation groups for Saturday, December 17, 2016 to Sunday, December 18, 2016:

As this is the start of the annual Christmas Bird Count most of the organizations regularly listed here are participating in this important winter survey.

Audubon Center in Prospect Park
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 12pm – 1pm
Christmas Bird Count
Join the Prospect Park Alliance for this fun Citizen Science project in Prospect Park, an Important Bird Area with more than 250 species of birds spotted each year. Blooming birdwatchers and naturalists of all ages can join a tradition more than 100 years in the making: a nationwide bird census that helps conservation researchers track the long-term health of bird populations. Each checklist submitted helps researchers learn more about the health of birds and how to best protect them!
Please contact Steven Wong, Alliance Supervising Educator at the Audubon Center, for more information.

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Brooklyn Bird Club
Saturday, December 17, 2016
117th Kings County Christmas Bird Count

The great annual winter event that champions citizen science; it is the longest voluntary bird census on the North American continent. Started in 1909 as a protest against the “holiday side hunts” for the largest kill collection by hunters, ornithologist Frank K. Chapman organized the census with twenty-seven of his friends and volunteers to count birds that garnered much media attention; twenty-five Christmas Bird Counts were held that day, tallying 90 species. Since then the Christmas Bird Count has grown to encompasses over tens of thousands of birders of all skill levels, counting birds in all sorts of weather, for the great benefit of science.

Compiler: Rick Cech rcech@nyc.rr.com
Teams organizer: Bobbi Manian email roberta.manian@gmail.com
Dinner/Count coordinator: Heidi Nanz email heidi.steiner@verizon.net or call before 8 pm 718- 369-2116

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New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)
Saturdays -- 9/3/2016 - 6/24/2017: 11:00 a.m.
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11am to 12:30pm beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center

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New York City Audubon Society
Sunday, December 18, 2016, 8:00am – 1:30pm
Christmas Bird Count in Central Park
8am: Meet at the South Pump Station of the Reservoir (85th Street & 5th Avenue).
12:30pm: Data tally and refreshments at the Arsenal Gallery (3rd floor of the Arsenal at 64th Street & 5th Avenue).
Dress warmly and don’t forget your binoculars!

For more information, contact NYC Audubon at 212-691-7483 ext. 414 or email us at christmasbirdcount@nycaudubon.org.
Free

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Queens County Bird Club
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Queens County Christmas Bird Count
Coordinator: Corey Finger 518-445-5829
See website - http://www.qcbirdclub.org/qcbc-cbc

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South Shore Audubon Society
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

All walks start at 9:00 A.M.
There is no walk if it rains or snows or temperature is below 25°F.
For more information or in case of questionable weather conditions, please phone Joe at 516 467-9498
For directions to our bird-watching locations, click here

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Staten Island Museum
Saturday, December 17, 2016, All Day
Staten Island Christmas Bird Count
Location: Staten Island, New York
Free
For experienced birders.

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Urban Park Rangers
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Birding: Waterfowl at Baisley Pond Park Parking Lot (in Baisley Pond Park), Queens
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Our Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best wildlife viewing spots.
Free!

Sunday, December 18, 2016
Christmas Bird Count: Central Park at Central Park, Manhattan
8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Join NYC Audubon, Urban Park Rangers, and the Central Park Conservancy as we count birds in every section of the park.
Free!

Birding: Waterfowl at Salt Marsh Nature Center (in Marine Park), Brooklyn
10:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Our Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best wildlife viewing spots.
Free! ...Read more

Short Note

Apologizes for the lack of postings lately, I've been a little distracted with work, the holidays and other issues. I hope to get back to more interesting writings very soon.