Bird Conservation Summer.Fall 2020

BIRDCONSERVATION The Magazine of American Bird Conservancy

SUMMER/FALL 2020

ABC is dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest threats facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.

abcbirds.org A copy of the current financial statement and registration filed by the organization may be obtained by contacting: ABC, P.O. Box 249, The Plains, VA 20198. 540-253-5780, or by contacting the following state agencies: Florida: Division of Consumer Services, toll-free number within the state: 800-435-7352.

Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage: Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD 21401.

New Jersey: Attorney General, State of New Jersey: 201-504-6259.

New York: Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Pennsylvania: Department of State, toll-free number within the state: 800-732-0999.

Virginia: State Division of Consumer Affairs, Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209.

West Virginia: Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305.

Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by any state.

Bird Conservation is the member magazine of ABC and is published three times yearly.

Senior Editor: Howard Youth VP of Communications: Clare Nielsen Graphic Design: Gemma Radko Contributors: Erin Chen, Jennifer Davis, Bennett Hennessey, Steve Holmer, Daniel J. Lebbin, Jack Morrison, Merrie Morrison, Hannah Nevins, Michael J. Parr, Kacy Ray, Jordan Rutter, Christine Sheppard, Kristen Vale, George E. Wallace, EJ Williams, Wendy Willis

For more information contact: American Bird Conservancy 4249 Loudoun Avenue, P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 540-253-5780 • info@abcbirds.org

ABC is proud to be a BirdLife Partner

Find us on social!

Wilson’s Plover by Tim Hopwood

Northern Spotted Owl by Michael J. Parr

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Summer/Fall 2020

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FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

Ghosts of the Coast

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

ABC Helps Gulf Coast Beach-nesting Birds p. 14

Welcoming All to Enjoy Birds p. 4

Finding Safe Harbor Saving Shorebird Migration p. 20

Saving Birds with Sound Bioacoustics Revolutionizes Bird Science p. 26 COVER: Black-necked Stilts are among the beneficiaries when California rice farmers temporarily flood their fields to provide shorebird habitat. Photo by Steven Metildi LEFT: The stunning Prothonotary Warbler can be found wintering in the El Silencio Reserve in Colombia. Photo by Grace Scalzo

Shorebird flock by Brad Winn

Indigo Bunting by Agnieszka Bacal, Shutterstock

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Meet Some Bird Conservation Superstars

ON THE WIRE

p. 6

BIRDS IN BRIEF p. 12 FLYING LESSONS

p. 36

BIRD HERO

The Chilean Woodstar’s Champion p. 38

Safeguarding the Rarest Birds p. 32

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BIRD’S EYE VIEW

Welcoming ALL

I

to

Enjoy Birds and Nature

think everyone in the bird community has now heard about the incident that took place in Central Park, New York, on May 25. A white woman, Amy Cooper, called the police and falsely accused Christian Cooper (no relation), a Black birder, of threatening her — when in fact he had only asked her to leash her dog, as law requires in that part of the park. For me, the incident brought flashbacks of the numerous times I have been in settings far more isolated than Central Park (carrying binoculars, a camera, backpacks, etc.) but have rarely felt the need to convince anyone that I was just birdwatching. How would those situations have been different if I was not

white? Could I have been arrested, accused of a crime, or would I not have gone in the first place because I knew I could be risking my safety to go birding?

I am the husband of an AfricanAmerican woman and the father of three biracial teenage sons. We have had “the talk” with our boys, warning them of how to behave around the police to make sure they stay safe. The Central Park incident, and others in which Black people did not survive the ensuing police brutality after being accused, has brought the dangers my sons could face into laser-sharp focus for me.

One of my sons is somewhat of a

birder and photographer, and all three accompany me on birding trips at times. It has been a wakeup call for me to realize how precarious it can be for birders of color, when they, like me, are just enjoying the outdoors — something I am generally able to take for granted.

The experiences of Christian Cooper, and tragically George Floyd and so many others have — totally unacceptably — been part of life for people of color in America. Now the whole of society, including the bird community, is realizing how often Black people are made to feel excluded, unwelcomed, and often Female Northern Cardinal by Charlie Parr

It has been a wakeup call for me to realize how precarious it can be for birders of color, when they, like me, are just enjoying the outdoors.

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The Parr family, L to R: Charlie, Wesley, Tacha, James, and Michael. August 2020

Not only is eliminating racism the right thing to do, but it is also critical to the success of the conservation movement. The loss of habitats and wildlife poses serious risks to humans. COVID-19 is evidence of the interconnectedness of nature and human communities worldwide.

Humanity’s very survival ultimately depends on how well we all succeed in including the whole of society in effective nature conservation.

unsafe in so many situations.

Sadly, birdwatching is sometimes one of those.

In June, many of our community’s Black birders responded by organizing the inaugural Black Birders Week. There is a long way to go to make birding safe for and accessible to non-white birders, but this was a great start and challenges all of us with a new call to duty.

In 2019, ABC began work on developing an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Plan. The plan calls for the establishment of a Chief Diversity Officer position at ABC to help lead our efforts to improve equity,

diversity, and inclusion within and beyond the organization. We announced the position in July, and I am delighted that we have already begun to receive resumes. We look forward to hearing from anyone interested in applying.

Much of ABC’s work is carried on outside the United States, and we are proud to partner with groups across the Americas. Bird conservation must include everyone, and that includes Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Americans as well as our Latin American and Caribbean partners and the Indigenous communities they work with and represent.

Today, digital platforms such as eBird and Seek by iNaturalist make access to excellent information about birds and nature easily accessible to everyone, presenting an historic opportunity to engage a much broader cross-section of society in nature study and appreciation.

To ensure that this appreciation is fostered and grows, we need to make a conscious and concerted effort to ensure that everyone feels welcomed to the land, parks, and other habitats that we have worked so long and hard to conserve.

ABC’s EDI Plan is now complete and the next chapter of work begins. We will keep you up to date on the steps we are taking to promote diversity and inclusion more widely. Please let me know of any suggestions you have to help ABC, and the bird community as a whole, progress.

Michael J. Parr President, ABC

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ON the WIRE Hawaiian Petrel’s Return a Key Milestone

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fter years of waiting, ABC and its partners celebrated an auspicious landing on Kaua‘i that marks a breakthrough in efforts to save the Endangered Hawaiian Petrel, or ‘Ua‘u. On May 30, a trail camera captured the return of the first of 87 fledged birds translocated as chicks to the protected haven of Nihoku at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge between 2015 and 2019 (see photo on the right). Then, in July, likely the same bird was detected using a nest box. A second banded bird was found at the site in August.

“After so many years of hard work by everyone in this project, it is hard to put into words exactly how exhilarating it is to see this special bird appear on camera at the site,” says Dr. André Raine of the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project.

The project partners had to play a waiting game because after chicks leave the nest burrow, Hawaiian Petrels, like many other seabirds, typically spend several years foraging on the high seas as they mature.

When they reach breeding age, they return to their fledge sites to nest.

Since 2015, the team has also successfully fledged 67 federally Threatened Newell’s Shearwaters, or ‘A‘o, from Nihoku. Both species are endemic to the main Hawaiian Islands. The ultimate goal is to establish thriving colonies of both at Nihoku.

The project partners hope more petrels will be lured in by the use of “social attraction” — with the species’ calls played over a sound system — and that they will use the artificial nest boxes installed within Nihoku’s protective fencing to establish new nest sites. (For more on bioacoustics and Hawaiian seabirds, see p. 26.)

This project is a multi-partner effort involving Pacific Rim Conservation; the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project; Hono O Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve; Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and

Wildlife; the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit; Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and ABC. It is part of a larger effort to restore populations of the Hawaiian Petrel and Newell’s Shearwater through the reduction of light attraction and nonnative mammalian predators at nest sites.

ABC is grateful for support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Lynn and Stuart White, the Martin Foundation, and Marge Duncan. Additional support came from the St. Regis Settlement Trustees, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, Hono O Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve, and the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

For more information, see: abcbirds.org/article/ hawaiian-petrel-returns-2020

TOP: Returning Hawaiian Petrel caught on trail camera. Photo courtesy of Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project. LEFT: Hawaiian Petrels in burrow by André Raine, KESRP

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Rebirth for Virginia’s South Island Seabird Colony

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ast year, construction projects at the Hampton Roads BridgeTunnel dictated paving over a South Island site that in recent years hosted 15,000 nesting seabirds. In early 2020, ABC and other groups reached out to Governor Ralph Northam and state agencies to see what could be done to provide nesting habitat alternatives. Since the 1980s, the South Island site had become the state’s largest Royal Tern colony, plus nesting grounds for Sandwich, Common, and Gullbilled Terns, Black Skimmers, and Laughing, Herring, and Great Blackbacked Gulls.

The hope was that alternative locations could be prepared by the time the birds returned for their 2020 nesting season. The Commonwealth’s Department of Wildlife Resources or DWR (previously Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), working

with the Virginia Department of Transportation, began taking steps to help the birds in early spring. As a short-term measure, an open area was covered with sand and gravel at nearby Fort Wool (also known as Rip Raps Island), and measures to control rats were put in place. Also, barges covered with gravel and sand were anchored nearby. To draw arriving birds, decoys and playback were employed by Virginia Tech biologists, funded in part by ABC. As of early August, thousands of birds were at the colony, with Virginia Tech biologists monitoring nesting success to inform future plans for conserving this avian bounty. Looking ahead to future seasons, the state is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to explore the possibility of using dredge spoil to build a new nesting island.

Re-interpretation in 2018 of incidental take standards under the

federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act raised alarm bells. Conservationists feared that there would be no remediation for Virginia’s seabirds when the planned bridge and tunnel work displaced the colony. The state addressed this by drafting its own bird protection legislation. On February 14, Governor Northam announced that the DWR would develop a regulation that defines incidental take of migratory birds.

ABC is especially grateful to Barbara Fried for supporting this project and to McGuire Woods for their assistance.

We also thank the many volunteers who lent their voices to this effort, as well as the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources and the staff of the DWR.

For more information, see: dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/birds/ seabird-conservation-inhampton-roads/

Royal Terns, young and old, on Rip Raps Island, Summer 2020. Photo by Meghan Marchetti, VA Department of Wildlife Resources

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ON the WIRE Sparrow Recovery Efforts Take Flight

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ver the past 50 or so years, the federally Endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow has edged toward extinction, now with fewer than 50 wild breeding pairs remaining. Many feared this population, tied to Florida’s disappearing prairies, would follow another Florida-endemic subspecies, the now-extinct Dusky Seaside Sparrow, into oblivion. But this year may mark the start of a turnaround for this skittish songbird.

Since 2012, a large conservation partnership has worked together to build a captive-breeding population of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, so far reintroducing 208 individuals between 2019 and this year. A group of birds are monitored via tiny radio transmitters.

As of early May, 22 captive-bred birds had been re-sighted — 15 percent of the total birds released between 2019 and 2020. Most of the birds seen were males singing on territory.

During their searches, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staff found the first nest of a captive-raised bird, a female paired with the oldest-known remaining wild bird, believed to be at least seven years old.

Monitoring continued and by early July, news came that 38 captivereared birds had been relocated, and that 11 breeding pairs included at least one captive-reared bird. More than two dozen fledglings have been produced from nests where at least one parent was from the captivebreeding program. Hopes are high

Florida Grasshopper Sparrow at nest with chicks

by Paul R. Reillo

that the 2020 boost will be repeated next year, leading to a more positive future for the subspecies.

Partners in this effort include FWC, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Defense, White Oak Conservation, the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, Florida Audubon, Archbold Biological Station, Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (until 2019), Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, Brevard Zoo, Avian Preservation and Education Conservancy, and others.

Nevada Court Protects Bi-State Sage-Grouse

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n July 7, 2020, ABC and other advocates for the rare Bi-State Sage-Grouse helped win a case against off-roaders who planned a 250-mile dirt bike rally in one of the last places this isolated population of Greater Sage-Grouse can breed, in Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. In the decision, the Nevada District Court upheld U.S. Forest Service measures put in place to protect the birds’ nesting habitat.

The Bi-State Sage-Grouse occurs only in the Mono Basin along the California-Nevada border. There, an estimated 3,305 birds remain, far below the 5,000-bird population goal that conservationists believe will sustain this distinct population well into the future.

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“Recreation is a vital use of our public lands,” says Steve Holmer, ABC’s Vice President of Policy. “In this case, however, the proposed use by off-roaders was at odds with the survival of this imperiled bird, occurring in prime nesting habitat just as the grouse were expected to be fledging their chicks.

Humboldt-Toiyabe is one of the last places where Bi-State Sage-Grouse can raise their young. We’re grateful to the Nevada District Court for deciding in favor of the grouse.”

The U.S. Forest Service measures upheld by the court aim to protect the grouse’s breeding habitat from motorized vehicles, especially large rallies, and require buffers and seasonal limits to racing. The Sierra Trail Dogs Motorcycle and Recreation Club had sought to strike down this forest

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plan provision through its lawsuit, but based on the Nevada District Court’s ruling, the group now must abide by Forest Service requirements.

The Bi-State Sage-Grouse’s population has dropped by more than 90 percent from historic levels. Based on the best available science, ABC recommends that this distinct population be listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act. ABC was joined by the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, and WildEarth Guardians in intervening as defendants in the Nevada District Court challenge to the Forest Service's limits on motorized use in sage-grouse nesting habitats. The groups were represented by attorneys from the Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic.

ABC Joins Forces with the BirdLife International Global Partnership

ABC

has joined the BirdLife International partnership, becoming the second U.S. partner alongside the National Audubon Society.

“It’s exciting to join this excellent global network of conservation groups devoted to one cause — saving birds,” says Mike Parr, ABC President.

The BirdLife International partnership is a growing network of national conservation NGOs dedicated to bird conservation. ABC will contribute to BirdLife’s Americas-wide bird conservation strategy and plans to work with other BirdLife partners on programs including: • Filling gaps in the protected areas network to conserve imperiled birds such as the Gray-bellied Comet, Antioquia Brushfinch, Blue-throated Hillstar, and Cherry-throated Tanager.

• Reducing impacts of the wild bird trade.

• Identifying priority sites and landscapes for birds to help focus joint conservation efforts in areas such as Southern Cone grasslands, Andean forests, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, and Pacific Islands.

• Applying innovative strategies to scale up bird conservation, such as encouraging the investment of private capital to support conservation.

• Developing outreach and engagement programs to involve diverse communities, including children and youth, in birding and conservation.

“We are excited to strengthen our partnership with BirdLife and accomplish more for birds together,” says Daniel Lebbin, ABC’s Vice President of Threatened Species. “Together, we can help support a robust and vibrant community supporting bird conservation across the Americas.”

Cherry-throated Tanager by Ciro Albano

Swallow-tailed Kites in Working Forests

ABC,

the Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI), and International Paper have collaborated on management recommendations for the Swallow-tailed Kite that help southeastern foresters incorporate this graceful species’ conservation into their forest management activities, while working to meet Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards. The kite needs a mosaic of habitats to nest successfully, including young forests for foraging and enhanced stream buffers with large pine trees suitable for nests. In June 2020, ABC’s Vice President of Migratory Birds and Habitats EJ Williams documented Swallow-tailed Kites using

these enhanced stream buffers in the Low Country of South Carolina.

ARCI is tracking Swallow-tailed Kites via small transmitters that upload the birds’ locations to cell phone

towers, allowing scientists to track movements from nesting areas to pre-migration roosts in Florida, and then to wintering areas in Brazil and Bolivia.

Swallow-tailed Kites at nest site by Betty Rizzotti

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ON the WIRE Key Bird Legislation Passes House, Headed for Senate

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leven years after its first introduction, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act (H.R. 919) passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July, included as part of H.R 2.

This bipartisan bill, championed by Congressman Mike Quigley, would reduce bird mortality by calling for federal buildings to incorporate birdsafe building materials and design features. It will soon be introduced in the Senate.

Some federal buildings already use bird-friendly design techniques as heat and light control measures, or for security — including screens or grilles on windows and the minimized use of glass on lower floors. The proposed bill would require the General Services Administration to apply similar

measures, where practicable, to all new and existing federal buildings.

“More than 20 states, counties, and municipalities have passed bird-friendly legislation,” says Dr. Christine Sheppard, Director of ABC’s Glass Collisions Program.

“However, the H.R. 919 is a gamechanger. The recognition of this issue at the federal level is a momentous achievement because if passed by the Senate and put into law, it will set an example for the entire USA.” The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) also was included and passed in H.R. 2. RAWA marks a major advance for wildlife conservation, providing $1.3 billion annually to state wildlife agencies and prioritizing conservation of endangered birds and other declining species.

Meanwhile, the FY 2021 House Interior Appropriations bill also passed the House in July. If enacted, key bird conservation programs will receive a $15 million boost, building on a $10 million increase in the FY 2020 bill. Important guidance is also provided in the bill to federal agencies to reduce bird collisions at federal buildings, to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and to eliminate mosquitoes that are decimating Hawaiian bird populations.

The bill will face a Senate vote sometime after the November elections.

ABC thanks the Leon Levy Foundation and David Walsh for their support of ABC’s Glass Collisions Program.

American Woodcock by Betty Rizzotti

Don’t Let Hummingbirds Disappear.

Twenty-five years ago, we chose our hummingbird logo to symbolize ABC’s high energy, verve, and widespread focus on the Americas. Over the years, we’ve done a lot to help hummingbirds. Our 93 ABC-supported reserves provide habitat for more than half of all hummingbird species. But we have much more work to do!

Before it’s too late, we urgently need your help to save 10 of the rarest.

Your gift will: •

Create hummingbird nature reserves, protecting 2,800+ acres of habitat for species like the Bluethroated Hillstar and Gray-bellied Comet.

•

Plant native trees and shrubs. Restoring degraded lands is critical to prevent the loss of species. ABC and partners have planted more than 6 million trees and shrubs; with your help, we can plant 70,000 more.

•

Conduct field expeditions. ABC and our partners will organize searches to find new locations for rare species in desperate need of conservation.

•

Engage local communities. Our 25 years of bird conservation taught us that one of the best ways to achieve results — and sustain them — is to work closely with communities. Across Latin America, our collaborative approach benefits birds, improves people’s livelihoods, and helps to build a local culture of conservation.

From the Chilean Woodstar to Mexico’s Shortcrested Coquette, your gift today will keep these colorful, brilliant hummingbirds flying and thriving for generations to come.

Please use the enclosed envelope to make a donation, or give online and view the complete species list at: abcbirds.org/donate/hummingbirds

Chilean Woodstar by Rich Lindie, Shutterstock

BIRDS in BRIEF In June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated over 27,000 acres as critical habitat for the Elfin-woods Warbler, a songbird found only in Puerto Rico’s remaining humid montane forests. This designation will benefit 15 other federally protected species sharing the warbler’s habitat, including the Puerto Rican Parrot.

Elfin-woods Warbler by Mike Morel, FWS

The Elfin-woods Warbler was first observed in 1968 and documented as a new species in the early 1970s.

Habitat loss, hurricanes, and climate change are among the threats faced by this localized endemic, which was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2011.

Blue-billed Curassow by David Fisher

Critical Habitat Designated for Elfin-woods Warbler

University’s Emily Shepard and Dr. Sergio Lambertucci in Argentina used flight recorders to gauge the raptors’ movements, finding them even more reliant on air currents than was realized. One condor logged five hours without a single flap, covering more than 100 miles by taking advantage of thermals (upwellings of warm air).

Microplastics Found in Florida Raptors Colombian Reserve Expanded ABC partner Fundación Biodiversa Colombia announced in August an expansion of the El Silencio Reserve in Colombia’s middle Magdalena River Valley, a region retaining just 10 percent of its original forest.

ABC and other partners are assisting Fundación Biodiversa Colombia in purchasing 2,471 acres, which will almost triple the reserve’s size.

There, the Critically Endangered Blue-billed Curassow and several imperiled primate species find refuge. The reserve also lies within the Prothonotary Warbler’s main wintering area.

Flapless Condors

Macaw Class of 2020 Fledges

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The predominant microplastic type found in the birds (86 percent) was microfibers, which come from synthetic clothing or ropes and often end up in ecosystems via wastewater from washing machines.

Hummingbird Vision Off Our Spectrum A research team at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory has shown that hummingbirds not only see in full color, but also view additional colors invisible to the human eye. Experiments on wild Broadtailed Hummingbirds showed that

Andean Condor by Vadim Ozz, Shutterstock

This past spring brought news from ABC’s Bolivian partner, Asociación Armonía, that Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaws had a very good nesting season, with nine nest box breeding attempts at the ABCsupported Laney Rickman Bluethroated Macaw Reserve resulting in 12 chicks fledged. In total, the nest box program has so far fledged 93 Blue-throated Macaws, a great boost for a species with a global population in the low hundreds.

Andean Condors, which can weigh up to 33 pounds, flap their wings only one percent of their flight time, with 75 percent of flapping occurring during take-offs, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Swansea

A study by the University of Central Florida has, for the first time, confirmed and quantified the presence of microplastics in Florida birds of prey, including Osprey, hawks, and owls. These tiny pieces of plastic — less than the size of a pencil tip — can accumulate in the birds’ digestive systems and lead to poisoning, starvation, and death.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

by Paul Tessier, Shutterstock

dispersed to areas with smaller, more numerous trees, fewer canopy gaps, and greater mid-story cover. Over half of the fledglings survived after dispersing. The most common cause of mortality: chipmunks.

they perceive up to five nonspectral colors, hues from widely separated areas of the color spectrum. In contrast, humans only see one nonspectral color, purple.

This avian ability is due to a fourth color cone type in the retina that allows hummingbirds to see ultraviolet light. Tetrachromacy — having four color cone types — evolved in early vertebrates and is seen in birds, many fish, and reptiles. It probably existed in dinosaurs, too.

ABC supports Aquasis’ education efforts, which have been paramount for the project’s success, motivating the local municipality to reallocate public land to create the 97-acre Gray-breasted Parakeet Wildlife Refuge, where the program is now based. Years of education helped cultivate local pride in the species, and has driven participation by private landowners in the nest box program and bird surveys.

As shown in similar studies with the Golden-winged Warbler, Cerulean Warblers appear to need large, diverse forest tracts for successful post-fledging dispersal and survival.

Read the paper at: academic. oup.com/condor/article/122/1/ duz063/5690521

This year, ABC also provided Aquasis with emergency COVID-19 crisis support. Soon, Aquasis hopes to establish other Gray-breasted Parakeet populations in other parts of the species’ former range.

Rare Gray-breasted Parakeets Rebound The population size of Endangered Gray-breasted Parakeets, now found almost exclusively in a small area of northeast Brazil, is rebounding thanks to ABC’s partner Aquasis, which since 2010 has installed nest boxes and worked with local communities to prevent poaching.

ABC gratefully acknowledges David and Patricia Davidson, Michael Reid, and Larry Thompson for their support of this ongoing project.

LA Clippers to Build BirdFriendly New Arena A new arena planned for the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball team will now be birdas well as people-friendly.

Cerulean Warbler by Bruce Beehler

In 2020, 388 parakeets fledged from artificial nest boxes; a total of 1,553 parakeets fledged from boxes since the project began in 2010. Counts of wild birds set a new record of 657 tallied in 2020 by 160 volunteers.

Cerulean Warbler Survival

The researchers radio-tracked 20 Cerulean Warbler chicks after they left the nest. Compared with the nesting habitat selected by adult birds, the young Cerulean Warblers

Gray-breasted Parakeets by Fábio Nunes

In a recent issue of The Condor, ABC partner Jeff Larkin and co-authors shared research results on the habitat selection and survival of fledgling Cerulean Warblers.

At the request of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the City of Inglewood, California, revised its environmental impact report to detail how it will prevent birds from colliding with glass on this new building. The arena will incorporate glass with a fritted finish to make it more visible to birds, and the lighting will be managed so that it doesn’t attract migrating birds at night.

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of the

Coast

ABC’s Gulf Coastal Program team explains why it takes much more than good camouflage to save

by Kacy Ray and Kristen Vale

the Gulf Coast’s declining beach-nesting birds.

here is something special about watching birds in flight along the Gulf Coast in the early morning sun — listening to a Wilson’s Plover’s rattle as it defends its territory, or the low bark of a Black Skimmer as it flies somewhere between rays of light reflecting off the water.

These birds are as much a part of the beach as sun, sand, breeze, and surf. But many people don’t even know they exist, let alone lay their eggs on the sand.

And this creates problems. As ABC’s Gulf Coastal Program team, we spend a lot of time watching and protecting beach-nesting birds, and educating beachgoers about the four declining species we call

the “Fab Four”: the Wilson’s Plover, Snowy Plover, Least Tern, and Black Skimmer.

The Gulf Coastal Program was established as a response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began with an oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana on April 20, 2010. During this disaster, 4 million barrels of oil entered the Gulf over 87 days.

Initially, our team’s focus was to ensure that beachnesting birds recovered from the spill’s direct and indirect impacts, but our work quickly morphed into something more. The program evolved to address ongoing impacts of human recreational activities — human disturbance — on breeding coastal birds, as well as migratory and wintering shorebirds and seabirds.

Wilson’s Plover by Tim Hopwood

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Turning the Tide Even without the dangers of human disturbance and coastal development, beach-nesting is a high-stakes gamble. High tides and storms wash away nests and chicks.

Ghost crabs, coyotes, gulls, and other predators snatch nestlings and eggs. In the face of all these threats, our team works diligently with regional land and natural resource managers to protect coastal birds and the habitats upon which they depend.

Over the past ten years, we have implemented a robust conservation program with a network of partners across the Gulf states, including local, state, and federal agencies, as well as other nonprofit organizations. The goal is to implement best management practices (BMPs) that benefit the birds by reducing human impacts in sensitive nesting, resting, and foraging areas. These days, coastal Texas is where the majority of our team’s conservation work occurs, while other groups cover other states.

We stay busy making sure that birds are protected in the best ways possible. Our approach is to protect habitat, educate the public and land managers, and monitor the birds’ responses to the BMPs we implement, sharing this information as we work on habitat conservation plans with local and state agencies.

One of the most important actions we take is to erect signs and fencing. Depending upon the situation, these last an entire breeding or nonbreeding season, or are permanent. The goal is to indicate where well-camouflaged birds are nesting, foraging, or resting, so people can keep their distance.

We also work on an education campaign focused on the issue of trash and plastics pollution on the upper Texas coast. We will be physically removing refuse, as well as working with communities, local municipalities, and other stakeholders to prevent trash from entering coastal environments. This will have huge benefits for the birds and their habitats.

High Fidelity Coastal Texas is very important to Wilson’s and Snowy Plovers. An estimated 42 percent of Wilson’s Plovers and 71 percent of Snowy Plovers along the Gulf of Mexico nest in Texas, according to the 2013 Conservation Plan for the Wilson’s Plover, authored by Margo Zdravkovic of Conservian/Coastal Bird Conservation in 2013, and a 2012 Waterbirds journal article by Susan M. Thomas of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and her colleagues. continued on page 18

Least Terns confront a ghost crab. Photo by Jessica D. Yarnell

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Sharing the Beach with the “Fab Four“ Gulf Coast beaches attract more than people escaping the daily grind. They are home to these denizens of sand and surf:

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Wilson’s Plovers are active both day and night, using their thick, sturdy bills to hunt

fiddler crabs, worms, insects, and other invertebrates.

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Snowy Plovers have thin bills suited for grabbing

invertebrates along the wrack line, on coastal sand, or on mud flats. This species is polyandrous, meaning each female usually breeds with more than one male. Hatchling plovers emerge from the egg able to walk and forage, with adult supervision.

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Least Terns are North America’s smallest terns, measuring just 9

inches long. In noisy colonies, they place their nests on the sand and if disturbed, will dive, call loudly, and sometimes defecate on intruders.

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Black Skimmers are named for their foraging behavior — skimming the

water with their extra-long lower mandibles, which have specialized receptors that allow the birds to snap their bills shut when they “feel” fish.

— Kacy Ray and Kristen Vale

Artwork by Chris Vest

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TEXAS

The nesting habitat on the upper coast has contracted and is more hemmed-in by coastal development in some areas — so the nesting sites are largely along narrow strips of Gulf-facing habitat or bayside salt flats.

On the central and lower coast of Texas, however, there are more expansive salt and sand flats that are less constrained by development. These provide more nesting and foraging options for the plovers.

UPPER COAST MIDDLE COAST

LOWER COAST

GULF OF MEXICO CUBA

MEXICO

GUATEMALA EL SALVADOR

HONDURAS NICARAGUA

COSTA RICA Wilson's Plover breeding areas along the Texas Gulf Coast, and spots along Central America's Pacific coast where banded Texas birds have been re-sighted in winter.

Pre-migratory staging areas, where birds gather just prior to their southbound migration, are also crucially important. In July 2018, our team documented 286 Wilson’s Plovers at the Port Aransas Nature Preserve and 136 at the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. That means 5 percent of the estimated U.S. population of about 8,600 individuals may have been staging at just two sites in Texas prior to migration! This has strong implications for the need to conserve Gulf Coast habitats, not only for nesting but also for staging populations of the Wilson’s Plover and its cohorts.

As part of our monitoring efforts, we place a unique combination of color bands on breeding Wilson’s and Snowy Plovers’ legs to track individuals, estimate the number of breeding pairs, follow nest success, and document site fidelity, since plovers most often return to the same sites each year to nest. We have learned some interesting things at our monitoring sites through band re-sights, or finding the bird again after the initial banding. For instance, we see higher site fidelity from birds on the upper Texas coast than along the central and lower Texas coast (see map), with nearly all birds returning to the same breeding site each year, or nearby. Some birds even nest just a few meters away from where they did the prior year.

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Going South with Wilson’s Plovers We have a wealth of knowledge about the banded birds on their breeding grounds in Texas, where we’ve been banding plovers for eight years. We know that nearly all Gulf Coast Wilson’s Plovers migrate south of the U.S. for the winter. But exactly where do they winter, and do they stop anywhere along the way? We want to fill in these gaps in our knowledge of their annual life-cycle.

Over the past few years, we have started to receive band re-sights of Wilson’s Plovers during the nonbreeding season. Almost all of those birds have turned up on the Pacific coast of Central America (see map). We received these re-sights from biologists who conduct formal avian surveys or research, or from birders who share sightings with them. An important thing to note is that nearly all of the Wilson’s Plovers re-sighted were located in active or inactive salt farms. Landscapes along the Central American Pacific coast have often been converted to salt or shrimp farms, fragmenting and degrading much of the remaining mangrove forests and mudflats. Future management of these commercial habitats is key to helping declining international travelers like the Wilson’s Plover.

Déjà Vu in Central America Through wintering season re-sights we also learned that Wilson’s Plovers likely have strong site fidelity on their wintering grounds as well. One of our banded Wilson’s Plovers, for example, was observed at the same salt farm in Costa Rica two years in a row. Our Gulf Coastal Program staff had the opportunity to visit this salt farm in November 2017, months after one of our Texas Wilson’s Plovers had been re-sighted there. We were guided by the same person who reported the banded bird, Diego Quesada, CEO of Birding Experiences.

At the salt farm, we saw firsthand how the landscape has been converted, and how so many shorebirds use this altered habitat to rest. Multiple shallow evaporation pans, or salt pans, are separated by dikes made of dirt and rocks. All along the dikes, we observed Wilson’s Plovers,

Plover, the Gulf subspecies population estimate for the U.S. was approximately 8,600, meaning that van Dort’s Gulf of Fonseca estimate of 9,000 exceeds the U.S. population estimate. Furthermore, 9,000 birds also exceeds the Pacific subspecies’ population estimate of 6,500 to 8,500 individuals. This points to two likely scenarios: Most likely, both subspecies mix at this wintering area; otherwise, prior estimates for each subspecies are low.

Either way, the conservation implications are clear — Central America’s Pacific coast holds very important migratory and wintering areas for Wilson’s Plovers, and they deserve the same kinds of protection we lend during the breeding season to birds along the Texas and entire Gulf Coast.

Tracking on the Ground and in the Air

perfectly camouflaged among the stones and dirt as they roosted during high tide. We didn’t observe our bird, but we did re-sight a Wilson’s Plover banded by our partners at Audubon Louisiana in Cameron Parish. By the end of our survey, we had counted 130 Wilson’s Plovers, and likely more birds flew in to roost after we left. It was difficult to view their legs to find bands because many of the birds were sitting down. We felt lucky that we found the Louisiana coast bird, which lets us know that birds from there migrate to these areas, along with Texas plovers.

A Trinational Plover “Convention” Other recent surveys found large concentrations of Wilson’s Plovers on the Pacific coast of Central America, underscoring the need for strategic conservation there.

In January 2017, Honduran biologist John van Dort conducted a trinational shorebird count throughout the Gulf of Fonseca bordering Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. There, his team counted nearly 3,000 Wilson’s Plovers, and estimated that just over 9,000 could have been present, based on available habitat, during the weekend survey.

It is likely these birds were a mix of two subspecies — Charadrius wilsonia wilsonia, which breeds on the Gulf Coast, and C. w. beldingi, which breeds on the Pacific coast south of the U.S. More information is needed to confirm this, but the large numbers raise interesting questions. In the Conservation Plan for the Wilson’s TOP: Wilson's Plover chick with Gaillardia pulchella flower.

Photo by Kristina Macaulay

We will continue to band birds to estimate breeding pairs, follow broods until chicks fledge, document movements and site fidelity, and get re-sights from the migratory or wintering grounds so that we can better understand and protect the birds and their key habitats. As we learn more about these beach-nesters, our posted signs, beachside conversations, and community events will help to ensure they get the space they need.

Meanwhile, colleagues are filling gaps in our knowledge via technology. Our partner at Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, for example, deployed geolocators and GPS tags on Wilson’s Plovers, and scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany are using similar technologies to look at dispersal and migration strategies of Snowy Plovers.

We love our work and believe these birds can survive, even thrive. But as you’ve read, it will take strong conviction of the public and international partners to ensure that the birds have a bright future.

ABC’s Gulf Coastal Program would like to thank our core bird conservation team in Texas: Houston Audubon Society, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program for Region 2, as well as other partners and supporters.

Kacy Ray (L) is ABC’s Gulf Coastal Program Manager.

Kristen Vale (R) is ABC’s Texas Coastal Coordinator.

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Finding Safe Harbor for

Shorebirds

Saving one of the world’s great migrations takes watchful eyes, incredible teamwork, and the ability to think like a shorebird.

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by Howard Youth

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e call them shorebirds because we often see them along the coast — waves of sandpipers and plovers settling on and striding over sun-baked flats. But most shorebirds nest far from the oceans, on tundra or in grasslands, and despite concentrated numbers seen during migration, many have yet to recover from damage done a century and a half ago, when migrating birds were blasted out of the skies without limit, bound for city markets or the feather trade.

These days, shorebirds face continued wetland loss and degradation, as well as hunting on wintering grounds, while climate change casts its shadow upon coast-reliant birds that nest near the top of the world. A 2019 Science paper co-authored by ABC chronicled widespread declines in birds since 1970, finding shorebirds to be one of the groups most in trouble, their populations down by more than one-third (37 percent).

Shorebirds endure great risks and breathtaking journeys each spring and fall, their survival keyed to traditional breeding, wintering, and migration stopover sites. “I equate it to a road trip when you know where all the best diners are,” says Sara Schweitzer, Wildlife Diversity Program Coordinator for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “If the diners go belly-up, you have to move on. For shorebirds, if an area is altered or has many people on a beach, for example, they must keep going.”

In our ever-more-crowded world, what can we do to help shorebirds rebound? For one thing, we should prioritize shorebird conservation and rally to help these birds rebound, as we did for waterfowl following the market hunting days. Fortunately, in recent years, some momentum has started to shift in shorebirds’ direction.

Revering Shorebirds Like Waterfowl In the early 1900s, decades of unregulated market hunting left duck, geese, and swan populations reeling. This dire situation sparked over a century of conservation in North America.

In the U.S., the National Wildlife Refuge System was launched in 1903, followed by passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) of 1918. In 1934, Congress signed into law the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (or Duck Stamp) Act. The act mandated that all adult hunters must buy the federal “Duck Stamp” each year and carry it with them in the field. The stamp, which is also purchased by wildlife watchers, funds land acquisitions and leases for the refuge system. In addition, annual nesting surveys were established and continue, so hunting limits are set based on how populations of each duck and goose species are faring. All of these steps helped to bring back waterfowl.

Shorebirds also benefited from some of these conservation measures and the shutdown of market hunting, but over the decades, far less attention and fewer resources have gone their way.

Getting Down to Shorebirds’ Level One of the most promising ways to bring back North America’s spectacular shorebird migration is to tweak water-management regimes in wildlife refuges and other areas managed for waterfowl, as well as in rice-growing regions. For decades, even centuries, earthen levees or dikes have been used to impound water, and sluice gates and other structures to

Wary Short-billed Dowitchers and Sanderlings gather in the shallows.

Photo by Bouke Atema, Shutterstock

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JUGGLING WATER FLOW

At wildlife refuges and in rice fields, conservation managers and farmers can maximize their acreage’s appeal both to shorebirds and waterfowl by carefully timing and managing water flows, using sluice gates (shown here) or other water control structures where water is contained, or impounded. In this illustration, holding back water flows leaves mud flats and shallows where a variety of shorebirds feed.

On the other side, Blue-winged Teal frequent shallows, overlapping areas used by avocets, while deeper water attracts large “dabbling” ducks including the Mallard, and also large waders such as the Great Blue Heron. Timing water drawdowns or inflows is important: In fall, shorebird migration occurs before wintering waterfowl arrive, while in spring, most waterfowl are gone when northbound shorebirds pass through.

Artwork by Chris Vest

regulate water levels. These techniques enable managers to maximize the productivity of an area, be it for rice, waterfowl, or both. Unfortunately, shorebirds have not been a traditional focus of these efforts — but what if wildlife managers were to tweak old habits designed for waterfowl to also accommodate sandpipers and plovers?

Two important differences apply here. First, waterfowl and shorebirds migrate on a different schedule: In fall, most of the shorebird migration winds down in September, well before most waterfowl arrive, and by the time shorebirds pass through in spring, most waterfowl are on nesting grounds. Second, shorebirds and waterfowl require different foraging depths. Unlike many ducks, shorebirds feed in very shallow water: The Western Sandpiper and other “peeps” forage in less than two inches, while larger species such as the Greater Yellowlegs wade at a depth of 2 to 4 inches, which overlaps foraging depth for Blue- and Green-winged Teal. In contrast, large

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KEY TO SPECIES 1. Northern Harrier

7. Long-billed Dowitcher

2. American Avocet

8. Black-bellied Plover

3. White-faced Ibis

9. Common Snapping Turtle

4. Greater Yellowlegs

10. Mallard

5. Western Sandpiper

11. Blue-winged Teal

6. Black-necked Stilt

12. Great Blue Heron

“dabbling” ducks like Mallards and Northern Pintails prefer water at least several inches deeper.

To help the shorebirds, then, water management would need to accommodate these diverse foraging needs — especially in the fall, when hungry shorebirds often find habitats inundated as wildlife managers eagerly prepare for duck-hunting season.

“There’s a huge culture of waterfowl hunting along the Atlantic Coast and in the Southeast,” says Craig Watson, the South Atlantic Coordinator of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, of which ABC is a part. “We’re saying, just provide a small percentage of your habitat for southmigrating shorebirds in the fall. We really think this will help stem declines.”

“Managers will raise water levels pretty quickly to get ready for duck-hunting season,” says Brad Andres, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS’s) National

Coordinator of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Partnership. “For shorebirds, you really need to hold off and keep mudflats shallowly flooded at least to the end of August into September. After then, you can really crank it up for waterfowl.” (See illustration, p. 22.)

In spring, at least in the Southeast, the situation is better for shorebirds because the traditional waterfowl management schedule dictates drawing down impoundments in late January, as wintering waterfowl start heading north toward nesting grounds. “Late winter through spring time, those acres are available as shorebird habitat,” says Watson. “We have thousands and thousands and thousands of shorebirds using these areas then.”

For years, some national wildlife refuges have successfully juggled water levels both for shorebirds and waterfowl, including Anahuac (Texas), Bombay Hook (Delaware), Forsythe (New Jersey), and Pea Island (North Carolina).

But in many other places, including many private and state lands, waterfowl conservation remains the primary focus.

Of course, being able to dictate that each year, water will lay across acreage at just the right level takes both work and money. “Water control structures in refuges and state areas have limited life; a lot of money goes

to maintenance as much as acquisition,” says Andres.

“Fortunately, more funds are being geared toward improving management.” Such funding, for example, comes from the federal North American Wetlands Conservation Act, wetlands provisions of the Farm Bill, and Duck Stamp purchases, as well as from conservation groups such as Ducks Unlimited. “If you don’t have the control ability, you’re really left to the whims of nature,” adds Andres, since prime conservation acreage fed only by natural water flow or rains in many years will be too dry or too inundated for shorebirds.

A California Reboot for Shorebirds Compared to the humid, rain-drenched East, West Coast wetlands face far drier conditions and cover far less area than in the past. There, commercial demand for limited water is extremely high, much of it directed to agriculture. But an innovative program brings together businesses and conservationists to boost shorebirds in a big way.

California remains a major conduit for migrating shorebirds streaming up and down the Pacific Flyway — even though the state has lost more than 95 percent of its natural wetlands. Since 2013, the multi-partner Bird Returns program has provided ephemeral shorebird habitat on a large scale in California’s immense and heavily farmed

Knot Facing a Brighter Future?

Traveling nearly pole to pole each fall and spring, the Red Knot is a poster bird for the challenges of conserving shorebirds throughout their annual life-cycles. Each May, en route from South America, 50 to 80 percent of the federally Threatened Red Knot rufa subspecies stops at Delaware Bay to gobble down American Horseshoe Crab eggs, doubling weight before streaming north to Arctic breeding sites. Without this key pit stop, the population would be in dire straits.

All told, rufa Red Knots journey more than 9,000 miles south to north — roughly triple the span between U.S. East and West Coasts.

Until recently, people heaped countless Delaware Bay horseshoe crabs into truck beds, hauling them off for use as bait, fertilizer, and for use in medical applications, as knot populations dropped. ABC, along with other groups, has advocated for harvest limits around and near Delaware Bay, and joined the recently founded Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition to continue conserving this resource.

Today, New Jersey has a moratorium on horseshoe crab harvests, while Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ban the capture of females and have quotas on harvests of males.

The knot also recently received help on key wintering grounds far to the south. This year, Chile declared a coastal stretch called Bahía Lomas a protected area, in part to conserve more than a quarter of this subspecies’ wintering population, along with Hudsonian Godwits and other migratory shorebirds. Hopefully, these conservation efforts will help the knot population start to grow.

— Howard Youth

rufa Red Knot by Brian E Kushner, Shutterstock

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Central Valley, where in spring and fall rice farmers and others are now paid to lay a shallow sheet of water on their fields for the birds, for weeks at a time. This effort brings together The Nature Conservancy, the California Rice Commission, Point Blue Conservation Science, Audubon California, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and others.

Under Bird Returns, farmers become wildlife land managers, assisted by conservationists. Optimal area, depth, timing, and locations are determined using models for more than 24 species, from the Western Sandpiper to the Long-billed Curlew. These data are compiled by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, from community science birders’ reports to its eBird database. Landsat imagery also plays a key role, revealing existing water coverage.

This information allows program managers to instruct rice growers where and when to adjust water levels. The managed ephemeral wetlands now often host ten- to 30 times the shorebird concentrations of nearby areas, including all species migrating through the valley.

In its first three years, the Bird Returns program provided about 40,000 acres of habitat on more than 100 farms.

Eyes on Another Flyway The East Asian-Australasian Flyway provides both a cautionary tale and an added concern for conservationists hoping to conserve North America’s sandpipers and plovers. A few North American shorebirds transit this flyway, including Near-threatened, Alaska-nesting Bar-tailed Godwits and Dunlins of the arcticola subspecies. Most others breed in northeastern Asia, heading south to Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand for winter, including the Great Knot and Far Eastern Curlew, both of which over the last decade climbed up the IUCN Red List from Least Concern to Endangered status. Meanwhile, the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper teeters on the brink.

More than a third of the world’s human population resides in this flyway. In China, Japan, and South Korea, seawalls, dams, ports, factories, residential complexes, and other development have erased or debased important stopovers, including key Yellow Sea intertidal zones. The situation for migrants is dire in places such as South Korea’s Geum Estuary, where during high tide shorebird flocks

The eventual goal: up to 1 million acres. The area’s few breeding shorebirds also benefit. For example, more than 70 percent of California’s Black-necked Stilt population nests in the Central Valley’s northern section, the Sacramento Valley, where much of Bird Returns work goes on.

In the Sights and Feeling the Heat Unfortunately, habitat availability is not the only issue facing shorebirds. Those wintering in parts of the Caribbean and northern South America literally remain under fire. Some are taken by subsistence hunters, others are destined for “bush meat” markets, and in Barbados, shooting clubs target them, grilling birds at traditional get-togethers. While hunters there might argue that shorebird hunting has gone on for centuries, recent studies show the harvest to be unsustainable for species including the Lesser Yellowlegs.

“Shorebirds have low reproductive potential,” says Brad Winn, Director of Shorebird Habitat Management at the science-based nonprofit Manomet. “They can’t be hunted the same way as waterfowl. Where they are hunted, we

now have few places to land, rest, and feed. To meet some of this need, since 2019, BirdLife Asia and BirdLife Australia have been testing artificial floating roosts at Geum and in Australia, so far with promising results.

A coalition of dozens of organizations, governments, and businesses banded together in 2006 to form the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP), aimed at saving shorebirds and their habitats, along with livelihoods dependent upon these same areas. In 2015, one of the partners, the Paulson Institute, working with the Chinese government and institutions, published a blueprint for turning things around at key sites. This led to plans by the Chinese government and local municipalities to designate key sites for protection and potential World Heritage Site status, and also put in place plans to curb coastal development.

Although challenges remain great, shorebirds are on the radar in the region, and there is hope for a future where Asia’s coastlines accommodate both shorebirds and humanity.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper by Butterfly Hunter, Shutterstock

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— Howard Youth

do think it’s very impactful, and some of the losses we’ve seen are highly likely attributable to hunting pressure.”

Shooting without limits, as mentioned earlier, was once the norm in North America, until frightening losses led to regulation.

Meanwhile, far to the north on the Arctic breeding grounds of many shorebird species, the changing climate is the phantom menace. “If shorebirds have multiple really bad years in a row, that can really impact population levels,” says Manomet’s Winn. “With increasing fluctuations and this climate uncertainty, their ability to reproduce successfully is being challenged. We think that could be contributing significantly to some of the declines that we’re seeing.” Projected warming trends show the boreal forest pushing north into the Arctic tundra, leaving many species such as the Whimbrel and Stilt Sandpiper feeling the pinch. In addition, increased development in a thawing Far North will bring further habitat loss. Going forward, conservation strategies must include flexible plans that account for the likelihood of large-scale shifts in climate and ranges.

Coming Together for Shorebirds Over the past five years, international efforts have been growing to save shorebirds. The Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative and Pacific Shorebird Conservation Initiative bring together a panoply of public and private partners. One is planned inland as well, and there’s one linking Asia and Australia (see sidebar, p. 24). These

ABOVE: A flock of Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin, and Sanderlings takes off on Georgia’s coast. Photo by Brad Winn

initiatives draw up action plans to manage stepping-stone stopovers and nesting and wintering areas, with targeted working groups focused on key issues, including how working landscapes can best accommodate shorebirds.

Another international effort, the International Shorebird Survey, recruits biologists and volunteer birders to annually survey sandpipers and plovers throughout the Western Hemisphere. Manomet has coordinated this growing annual effort since 1974, and its data have helped designate key sites for protection under initiatives such as the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, while providing information used to formulate the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and other strategies.

North America’s shorebird migration remains one of the world’s fascinating wildlife spectacles, but for how much longer? “We need to keep scaling up the way we approach shorebird conservation,” says Manomet’s Winn, “because we need to work on a grand scale if we are to save these tremendous migrants.”

Given the determination and long-term commitment of Winn, Watson, Andres, and many groups including Manomet and ABC, it’s Howard Youth starting to feel like we is ABC’s Senior may yet cast a safety Writer/Editor. net broad enough to save our shorebirds.

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Saving

by Anders Gyllenhaal

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bove Kaua‘i’s remote northwest coast, an unlikely whine fills the air.

A helicopter glides out of the sky and hovers just above impassable, 3,000-foot-high cliffs that are preferred nesting grounds for the world’s remaining colonies of the Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel. The seabirds, endemic to Hawai‘i, face pressure from all sides.

Development has carved up much of their habitat. Predators from feral cats to wild pigs kill thousands of the birds every year. And powerlines and urban lights on the island often prove deadly.

Innovation, in the Nick of Time More than 94 percent of the shearwaters and 78 percent of the petrel population had vanished by the time the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project heard about sound meter recording and processing technology in 2012. They thought this new innovation might help with a rescue plan they were drawing up with partners, including ABC. The new technology and techniques are part of a developing field called bioacoustics. As its name suggests, bioacoustics couples life sciences with acoustics, using sound to study

the environment. It has its roots in tracking submarines and whales. In the last decade, the precision of bioacoustics accelerated with advances in digital sound and machine learning. It has proven a particularly effective tool for researching nocturnal and cryptic birds, since most species, seabirds among them, are so vocal.

Among bioacoustics’ great advantages: Allowing scientists to monitor sensitive bird species without disturbing them — and reaching places people can’t.

“This was the missing piece of the puzzle for monitoring the colony,” says André Raine, project coordinator

The chopper helps biologists keep tabs on the health of remote seabird populations. Distributed among the colonies here are dozens of textbook-sized bioacoustic sound meters, placed there before the birds returned to nest. No part of the treacherous terrain is out of reach.

These devices record vocalizations until nesting season ends. Then, it’s time to deploy the helicopter to collect them for their sound data.

Dangling from 100 feet of rope, a grappling hook descends from the stationary chopper until it snags and carefully lifts a three-pound wooden basket containing a sound meter.

LEFT: Song meters are deployed to remote Kaua'i seabird colonies via helicopter. RIGHT: Newell’s Shearwater chick. Photos by André Raine, KESRP

Birds with Sound A rapidly advancing conservation tool, bioacoustics brings science and sound study together, greatly expanding efforts to monitor and conserve birds.

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Bioacoustics equipment aids an ornithologist who is studying endangered tinamous in the Peruvian Andes.

for the recovery program, which works with a consortium of government, university, and nonprofit organizations on a state-of-the art conservation mission. ABC and Conservation Metrics have been key partners in this work. The strategy includes battling predators, building impenetrable fences to cordon off the seabird colonies, negotiating with utilities over powerline remediation, and constantly tracking progress to guide the work.

After the sound meter data is collected by helicopter pickup and data gets back to the Conservation Metrics lab in California, the analyses track key indicators such as population counts, predator encounters, even levels of breeding success.

“These little units are just fantastic for this,’’ says Hannah Nevins, Seabird Program Director for ABC, who has been part of the project.

Eight years after bioacoustics first went into place in Hawai‘i, researchers are seeing, through bioacoustics monitoring, that their recovery efforts caused decided shifts in the health of the seabird species. Breeding is up significantly as a result of predator control, and song meters are indicating increases in activity around the colony.

The approach is now also being used on far-flung, uninhabited Nihoa Island, where ABC researchers use sound meters to search for potential breeding grounds of the Bryan’s Shearwater, a Critically Endangered species, with an estimated population of fewer than 250 adult birds.

The outcomes in Hawai‘i are among the most impressive in a long list of projects worldwide that integrate bioacoustics. Scientists are asking a new question: How far can this field of study go toward reshaping avian research and conservation?

As with any scientific question, there’s no shortage of opinions on the subject. Some say that, as can be the case with new technologies, the promise is overstated. Skeptics worry about the accuracy of deciphering the tens of thousands of bird calls by machine. Others say the use of sound is only suitable for select situations where birds are the most vocal and the sound clearest. Not all scientists are adopting the new technology, particularly some researchers committed to traditional field observation. But a new wave of scientists growing up on digital tools certainly is taking to them.

“The next generation is definitely using this more because they’re more comfortable with technology and programming,’’ says ABC’s Nevins.

TOP: Undulated Tinamou by Reid Rumelt

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“There are always going to be people who are early adoptors, and those who never change because that’s how they’ve always done it.’’

Those who work with bioacoustics say these are early days with these techniques — and that they are evolving rapidly. And they say that traditional field work based on human observation will always be important. But when bioacoustics is added, the result is a potent combination with greatly expanded reach, particularly in remote parts of the world.

“I’m well aware that you can talk to any scientist from any time period and they’ll say we’re right on the cusp of something extraordinary,’’ says Justin Kitzes, a computational ecologist with the University of Pittsburgh.

“But there’s a convergence of a lot of things right now that in the next 20 years are going to be very important.’’

From Detecting Subs to a Digital Revolution Bioacoustics’ origins date back to military experiments tracking enemy submarines during the First World War. For years after, sound research was used mostly in the ocean, including monitoring whales by their haunting songs. The results were mixed, often hindered by rudimentary equipment and the difficulty of analyzing hours upon hours of recordings.

Dan Saenz, now a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Texas, was among the first to apply bioacoustics to wildlife on land.

About 20 years ago, he built his first sound meter in his garage, using a plastic tool box and parts from a nearby electronics store.

“It was really primitive,’’ he says, and so was his method for analyzing the audio. “I would take it home at night and listen to them (the recordings) and write the results down on a pad.’’

The technology began to improve with the digital era. The big leap forward came over the last decade as Google and Facebook shared the algorithms they developed for web searches. Suddenly, researchers could sort reams of data instantly with the help of artificial intelligence.

“That really unleashed the power of these recordings,’’ says Holger Klinck, Director of the Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a leader in the field. Cornell saw the potential for bioacoustics to greatly boost avian research and not only created the center, but built equipment, began working with partners, and shared its findings for free. Now dozens of projects are in the works.

As the field matures, the lab is sharing its work and breakthroughs in an open-source culture.

The process is fairly simple, starting with converting the bird calls under study into digital imprints called spectrographs. “You make a spectrograph of the sound you’re looking for,’’ says Matthew McKown, whose company Conservation Metrics provides equipment and computational analyses for the Kaua‘i team and many researchers around the world.

“Then you slide that template over

Bioacoustics Make Life Better for Birders Much of the focus among scientists is on how bioacoustics help research.

But as the tools have improved for identifying birds by songs and calls, a couple of experiments, largely driven by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, are in the works with birders in mind.

One long-sought-after tool has been a smartphone app that birders can use to help them instantly identify birds by their songs, along the lines of how the popular Shazam app works for music. A number of these apps reached the market over the past few years, but none has good reliability, nor very large numbers of species the apps are able to identify.

As John Fitzpatrick, Director of the Cornell Lab, puts it: “If I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me when we’re going to have a Shazam for birds, I’d be able to fund all this research with that alone.’’

That day is finally coming: Cornell released an app for Android phones last year that uses the same technology the lab developed to record and identify species for research. BirdNET, which has been downloaded about a half a million times, is expected to come out for Apple phones this year. It may be incorporated into the existing Cornell bird identification app Merlin.

Cornell has now developed identification materials for 6,000 of the world’s 10,000 or so species. The lab makes its technology available to all. With growing sound libraries and improving technology, birders can expect Cornell, as well as its partners and competitors, to continuously improve their apps.

A more complex identification tool that uses the same research tools is in the works. It will enable birders to use bioacoustics to track all the birds nearby, say in their yards, on a real-time basis. This project, which Cornell now has in development with Florida-based Loggerhead Instruments, will collect all the bird songs and calls and send identification lists to your computer.

The device, which should be available within the year, will be called a Haikubox, and will be built to look like a wooden birdhouse. Its reach will depend upon ambient noise, wind levels, and song volume, but it should be able to identify birds from 300 to 600 feet away, according to Holger Klinck, Director of Cornell’s Center for Conservation Bioacoustics.

These products should add a new dimension to the bird identification race. At the same time, the data collected will be shared with Cornell, adding to the reach and power of the lab’s research, boosting what we know about bird movement and distribution.

— Anders Gyllenhaal ABOVE: Haikubox, a backyard bird-tracking device developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Photo courtesy of Cornell Photo

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Researchers in the Pacific Northwest use bioacoustics to census the old-growth-reliant Northern Spotted Owl.

ABOVE: Recorders have greatly improved efforts to census Northern Spotted Owls and other secretive birds. Photo by Connor Wood.

LEFT: Northern Spotted Owl by Michael J. Parr

Northern Spotted Owl, a federally Threatened subspecies declining from habitat loss and competition with range-expanding Barred Owls.

the background sound and it flags whenever there’s a correlation.’’

Researchers from the University of California at Davis are using bioacoustics to study the impacts of forest fires on bird populations in the West. In Florida, the U.S. Air Force uses song meters to study how federally listed Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Florida Grasshopper Sparrows, and Florida Scrub-Jays are affected by military maneuvers. In Pittsburgh, the Powdermill Nature Reserve is using song meters to collect flight calls to study migration,

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long a problematic research subject because so much happens at a distance and at night.

Some of the most elusive birds are now in scientists’ sights. For example, bioacoustics equipment aids an ornithologist as he studies skulking, endangered tinamous in the Peruvian Andes, and researchers in the Pacific Northwest use bioacoustics to understand breeding patterns of the federally Threatened Marbled Murrelet, a tree-nesting seabird that until now had been almost impossible to track, and to census the old-growth-reliant

B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | SU M M ER/ FA L L 2020

Following a series of studies in the past year alone that document a developing crisis in avian populations, calls for research are growing. Scientists say there’s an imperative need for new and economical approaches to research and targeted conservation.

“There’s a lot of research in front of us,’’ says John Fitzpatrick, Director of the Cornell Lab, who is a big supporter of bioacoustics. “This will be profoundly important.”

Comebacks Via Playback Projects using bioacoustics are now moving from basic bird counts to more complex research goals.

At the University of Pittsburgh, researchers are experimenting with ways to compute exactly where all the birds are in their environments.

They’ve built a giant grid of recorders that picks up relative volumes of calls and songs. Then they use the differences in sound volume to calculate bird locations. They plan to build a graphic in which color-coded bubbles representing birds will pop up as you move over the map.

potential applications for bioacoustics: monitors that listen for factory machinery and at-home appliance malfunctions; devices that can help the blind navigate their surroundings; and sound meters that help detect threats to birds and their habitats, such as poaching, by monitoring the sounds of gunshots and chainsaws.

In one experiment in Latin America, Cornell researchers deploy sound meters to study how birds react to different coffee-farming approaches: how birds do in shady versus sunny environments, for instance. They hope the findings will lead to the best farming practices to provide a healthy environment for birds without curbing coffee output.

The greatest potential for bioacoustics in conservation, says Cornell’s Klinck, is for monitoring environments in parts of the world where little is known about the health of species. “It’s all about developing these methods that allow us to do a comprehensive job in assessing what’s going on in these remote areas,’’ he says. “That’s the end goal.’’

Ornithologists have turned the sound meter concept around to use broadcasts of bird vocalizations to lure species back to former, or into new, habitat by coaxing them into thinking they were joining others of their kind. With these techniques, conservationists attracted Atlantic Puffins back to Maine nesting islands, drew back Peruvian Diving-petrels to a Chilean reserve, and, just this year, helped to relocate a tern and gull nesting colony displaced by bridge construction in Hampton Roads, Virginia (see p.7).

When they look into the future, scientists envision a time when taking soundscapes will be so economical and routine as to become as commonplace as weather data. The recordings, they say, will become like books, maintained over time on many public platforms and checked out for all kinds of research projects.

Although advancing quickly, bioacoustics has lagged behind such related fields as voice recognition and digital search, which have commercial applications to fund their research. That, too, may change with more sophisticated use of sound. As the economics and precision of bioacoustics improve, observers expect to see uses that go beyond research (see sidebar, p. 29). Among other

Soundscape Libraries

“These data will be the museum specimens of our century,’’ says the University of Pittsburgh’s Justin Kitzes. “These are things we should be archiving. Future generations will return to them, with better methods, better equipment, and new questions we can’t even think of today. They are going to be very thankful to us for preserving this.’’

Bioacoustics can also be a tool to build public support for conservation. Much of the soundscapes of endangered species are in exotic places, where the sounds alone could be a powerful, accessible educational tool.

André Raine will always remember the day he struggled through the thick underbrush on Kaua‘i to reach the top of a cliff on the Hono O Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve, where he found the largest Hawaiian Petrel colony he’d ever seen. “It was absolutely amazing,’’ he says. “There were birds everywhere, like going back in time.’’

The sound of such scenes could help make the case for conservation, say researchers. ABC’s Nevins, who works on the Hawai‘i project, sees a day when capturing that cacophony would help the cause. “Can we bring some of this back to share as an educational experience, so people can hear what it sounds like?’’ she asks.

Meanwhile, back in the field, bioacoustics continues to change the game for many researchers, including Connor Wood, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin. Wood censuses the Northern Spotted Owl in the expansive Sierra Nevada mountains. “We can cover thousands of square miles,” he says. “The data is just raw sound, so it’s up to you as a scientist to be creative and think, ‘How can I get the most out of this data?’ I think it can be a really powerful way to both advance the species’ conservation and conduct the basic science.’’

Anders Gyllenhaal is a veteran journalist and former top editor of The Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Raleigh News & Observer. He recently joined ABC’s Board of Directors.

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Meet Some Bird Conservation

SUPERST RS

by Daniel J. Lebbin, Bennett Hennessey, George E. Wallace, and Wendy Willis

V

isitors come from around the world to watch

To maintain conservation gains and expand work into new

birds and enjoy nature at reserves managed by

areas to save additional species in need, ABC invests in

ABC partners. In these wild places, they enjoy the

“capacity building” — helping individual conservationists

spectacular show nature provides daily — mixed flocks of

and organizations work better through improved

colorful tanagers flitting among epiphytic orchids in the

equipment, tools, training, and other resources. Success in

emerald tree canopy, iridescent hummingbirds sipping

capacity building is best demonstrated by nature reserves

nectar, curious monkeys, stunning waterfalls … all in vast

that generate enough revenue to be financially self-

landscapes conserved for future generations.

sufficient; organizations that thrive and expand their work;

Nature presents the players, but this show is facilitated

and a new generation of conservationists rising to lead.

and protected by skilled, on-the-ground conservation

This is the story of a few of these often under-appreciated

technicians, including rangers and guards who patrol

heroes, upon which long-term conservation depends —

reserve boundaries, maintain infrastructure, and bolster

rising conservation leaders supported by ABC’s funding,

community relations, as well as dedicated in-country

training, and mentorship. These four (plus a fifth highlight-

accountants, fundraisers, and other administrators who

ed on p. 38) work tirelessly to ensure effective conserva-

ensure that conservation projects operate efficiently and

tion of threatened birds and the myriad species sharing

are adequately funded.

their habitats.

The beautiful Violet-tailed Sylph can be found at ABC-supported reserves in Colombia and Ecuador. Photo by Owen Deutsch

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B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | SU M M ER/ FA L L 2020

Photo by Wendy Willis

Photo by Elijah Sands, Bahamas National Trust

TJALLE BOORSMA is the Conservation Program Director at Asociación Armonía, leading bird conservation projects throughout Bolivia. An arborist from the Netherlands with a thirst for adventure, Tjalle joined Armonía in 2015 to serve as the Barba Azul Nature Reserve Coordinator in charge of reserve development and sustainability. He participated in the first rangewide Blue-throated Macaw census and led arduous expeditions through the flooded savanna by horseback to find the previously unknown breeding areas of this Critically Endangered species’ northwestern population, which congregates at Barba Azul when not nesting. ✪ Tjalle and his team spearheaded a sustainable cattle-ranching initiative in Bolivia’s Beni Savanna with three objectives: (1) to create a replicable ranching business model to replace existing practices that overgraze, over-use fire, and plant nonnative grasses; (2) to provide revenue for the reserve’s longterm management costs; and (3) to determine, with the help of a Ph.D. student, the best grazing rotations to manage short-grass habitat for migratory Buff-breasted Sandpipers. ✪ Tjalle has also advanced a successful fire management strategy at the reserve that has prevented blazes from encroaching from neighboring ranches. His efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2020, he received the prestigious Future For Nature Award (from the Future For Nature Foundation in the Netherlands). ✪ With the award proceeds, Armonía staff will continue developing their sustainable cattle ranching program, conduct more research at the newly discovered macaw breeding grounds, and expand environmental outreach for ranchers to adopt sustainable practices that help protect breeding Blue-throated Macaws.

— Wendy Willis

BRADLEY WATSON is a Science Officer at Bahamas National Trust (BNT), joining in 2019 as the organization’s lead on a collaborative project with ABC focused on understanding and protecting the Bahamian wintering habitat of the Kirtland’s Warbler. ✪ When Hurricane Dorian slammed Grand Bahama and Abaco in September 2019, he was called upon to lead research to measure the hurricane’s impacts on endemic bird species, working in part with ABC. ✪ Bradley enjoys lively conversation and music and has a deep love of Bahamian natural history, nurtured by his time at the Island School on Eleuthera.

He attended university in the United States, first obtaining his B.S. in Biology at College of Charleston in South Carolina and then his M.Sc. in Biology at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he studied carbon sequestration in grasslands. ✪ Bradley has strong entrepreneurial leanings, evidenced by his ongoing work to obtain his MBA, also from the University of Nebraska.

Bradley’s business savvy has been an asset for the Kirtland’s Warbler program, which includes an agricultural component and considers the projected environmental and economic impacts of sea level rise and drier winters on Kirtland’s Warbler habitat. ✪ Dave Ewert, ABC’s Kirtland’s Warbler Program Director, observes: “Not only is Bradley raising BNT’s bird conservation capacity, but his broad ecological background, creativity, and knowledge of local biodiversity have greatly strengthened our ability to advance management activities for Kirtland’s Warblers in The Bahamas.”

— George E. Wallace

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Photo by Daniel J. Lebbin

BÁRBARA CAVALCANTE is the Northeast Atlantic Forest Project Coordinator for SAVE Brasil. She started with the organization thanks to a grant from the Latin American Reserve Stewardship Initiative (LARSI) (see sidebar). The grant, issued in 2015, supported sustainable development of the Serra do Urubu Reserve, a protected area home to many endemic birds, including the Critically Endangered Orange-bellied Antwren, Endangered Long-tailed Woodnymph, and the spectacular Seven-colored Tanager. ✪ Bárbara is from the city of Recife, a little more than three-hours’ drive from the reserve in northeastern Brazil. She has a Master’s degree in Plant Biology from the Federal University of Pernambuco. Along with strengthening protection and expanding the reserve, Bárbara has strived to promote Serra do Urubu with local communities and tourists by developing an interpretive trail, a canopy observation tower, and a popular hummingbird garden — elements that both entertain and educate visitors to this 894-acre reserve in the state of Pernambuco. ✪ Bárbara is now co-leading SAVE Brasil’s multi-year Northeastern Atlantic Forest Corridor Project, an ambitious initiative that will create a 30-mile corridor connecting the two most regionally important remaining forest fragments at Serra do Urubu and Murici Ecological Station through reforestation and stimulating the creation of Private Nature Reserves along the way. ✪ Bárbara is also coordinating implementation of the ABC-supported Alagoas Antwren Emergency Plan at Murici, in Alagoas state. Only 17 Alagoas Antwrens were counted in the most recent survey at Murici, the only known location for this species.

— Bennett Hennessey

ECOAN, fondly recalls meeting an 11-year-old Adrian, a boy accompanying his grandparents when they sold ECOAN the first parcel of what is now the Abra Patricia Private Conservation Area.

Today, ECOAN protects 24,783 acres of cloud forest at Abra Patricia in northern Peru, where the Long-whiskered Owlet and many other endemic species live. ✪ As a child, Adrian enjoyed exploring nature and drawing or painting what he saw. He made his way to Lima, where he obtained a B.S. in Biology at the National University of San Marcos and worked at the Javier Prado Museum of Natural History. Tino and Adrian got to know each other better on ECOAN field expeditions, and today, Adrian is an ECOAN leader who has developed important systems for project tracking and reporting. ✪ Illustrating how ABC strives to share innovation among its partners, under Adrian’s leadership, ECOAN is adopting reserve monitoring tools developed by another ABC partner, Fundación Jocotoco in Ecuador. ✪ Tino is pleased with how things have turned out, noting: “Many times, life offers you opportunities that, if you don’t recognize them and grab them, will never return. Adrian is that and much more for me, and I consider myself the father, teacher, and friend of a boy who asked the world only for an opportunity.”

— George E. Wallace

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B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | SU M M ER/ FA L L 2020

Photo by Daniel J. Lebbin

ADRIAN TORRES is the Director of Conservation and Development for Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) in Peru. Hired in 2019 with support from ABC, Adrian’s path to this role started long ago. ✪ Constantino Aucca (known as Tino), President of

SUPPORT Behind the Success

W

hen possible, ABC includes management and capacity building into project proposals from the

start, but to ensure long-term success, we need ongoing support for these activities.

Donna Fray (L) and Susan Otuokon (R) of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT).

LARSI has supported JCDT’s work stewarding the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park in Jamaica.

Donna and Susan, along with other partners profiled in this issue, attended a LARSI-supported, capacitybuilding workshop hosted

by ABC in April 2019.

Photo by Daniel J. Lebbin

ABC has been fortunate to count on critical contributions from individuals like Patricia and David Davidson, and foundations like the Jeniam Foundation and blue moon fund, among many others, through the years.

Since 2015, the March Conservation Fund, which partners with ABC to implement the Latin American Reserve Stewardship Initiative

Rodrigo Soria (L) and Tino Aucca (R), presidents of Asociación Armonía (Bolivia) and ECOAN (Peru), respectively. These ABC partners have benefited from LARSI support. Photo

by Daniel J. Lebbin

(LARSI), has granted $1.8 million to 17 organizations in support of capacity building at our partners’ headquarters and reserves. Supported activities include staffing, training, website production, audits, and business plans.

LARSI supported salaries, training, and leadership development for Tjalle, Bárbara, and Adrian (and Karolina Araya Sandoval, featured on page 38). Bradley has been supported by ABC thanks to a gift from the late Jeanne Graham of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; ABC and BNT are jointly raising funds to continue his work.

Bradley’s work following Hurricane Dorian and Tjalle’s fire management strategy illustrate how capacity building is critical for our partners to respond to disasters. Aside from hurricanes and destructive fires, ABC is helping partners respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic as well, with emergency financial support.

For more information on how you can support ABC partners in capacity building or pandemic response, please write to Jennifer Davis, jdavis@abcbirds.org.

Aquasis’s Gray-breasted Parakeet team, June 2020. L to R: Bruno Lindsey, Francisco Cesário, Fábio Nunes. Photo by Fábio Nunes

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FLYING LESSONS

Embracing the Role of Bird Ambassadors…

No Matter the Question

by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

S

mack in the middle of bustling Washington, D.C., near the highest elevation of the city’s Rock Creek Park, lies a clearing that’s proven to be a prime spot to see migratory birds.

At dawn every spring morning, some of the country’s best birders sit here, along a stone wall, sharing their wisdom with anyone who happens along. These veterans are beyond generous, throwing out identifications with the glimpse of a flight pattern or silhouette. Lucky

36

for us, this became our birding classroom each migration season while we lived nearby.

We’ve been thinking about that experience as we’ve pondered some questions we believe are more crucial than ever: What’s the best way to make progress as a birder? What helps move you from novice to intermediate, from backyard birder to one who takes birding vacations? And how can we welcome anyone interested in nature to learn what we’re seeing?

B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | SU M M ER/ FA L L 2020

The way of birding is definitely a path, and ours started with simple curiosity about what we were seeing on weekend trips to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. We’ll never forget our first encounter with a Pileated Woodpecker or the time we stumbled upon an Indigo Bunting singing in a field filled with wildflowers. In the early days, we once followed a flock of vultures for half an hour, wondering if they might be some type of unusual hawk.

Not long after, we registered for a beginner’s bird walk. Our leader pointed out species we didn’t know existed and gave us a peek through his powerful binoculars. The world of birds came into focus for the first time, and that changed everything.

We started to work on our “life list” and began running into other birders. Not all were welcoming or gracious when faced with our glaring inexperience. Very quickly, we began to understand how hard it can be to share the trail. Train your binoculars on a Prothonotary Warbler in song, and someone is bound to shout: “What are you looking at?” Well, now nothing.

And yet, we came to a realization as we gradually learned to distinguish calls, understand birds’ life-cycles, and embrace the wonders of migration: Most of the progress we’ve made has come from other birders sharing their wisdom and passion with us.

That brings us to spring migration 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic.

As our spring and early summer birding trips got cancelled, we started seeing some surprising headlines: “You Have No Choice but to Become a Backyard Birder,” declared Slate magazine. “The Pandemic Might Turn Us All into Birders,’’ proclaimed Toronto’s Globe and Mail.

As more media outlets published fresh stories touting the wonders of birding for reducing quarantine anxiety, thousands responded.

Checklists on Cornell’s eBird app jumped 50 percent in the U.S. during the pandemic’s first weeks alone. Our own friends and relatives — the same folks whose eyes used to glaze over when we’d talk about birds — started asking us for advice on binoculars, feeders, and guidebooks.

Suddenly, nobody could go birding, yet everybody wanted to be a birder.

The pandemic birding boomlet was playing out on the heels of the prior year’s front-page headlines for birds highlighting the depth of their decline. The journal Science’s heartbreaking revelation that more than a quarter of the hemisphere’s breeding bird population has been lost in the last 50 years was published just weeks before the National Audubon Society’s study on climate change’s expected impacts on birds.

We’re all looking for ways to respond to these startling findings, and organizations from ABC to the National Audubon Society offer a full set of mediating strategies.

But how are individual birders supposed to respond to this news, the good and the bad?

We think one way is to “up our game” on how we handle ourselves on the birding trails. Will we capitalize on this moment to boost our ranks, or will we be so focused on getting back to the game that we

hide behind the nearest tree at the sight of novitiates? There seem to be so many good reasons why we should take newcomers under our wing and encourage inclusion in our hobby to everyone interested in the natural world.

An opportunity of this magnitude to build support might not come again. The more birds you see and the more you know about them, the more you care. Every beginning birder who starts down the birding path stands a good chance of becoming a future conservationist.

This brings us back to those generous birders in Washington’s Rock Creek Park. That’s the model we hope to follow ourselves, embracing the role of ambassadors, no matter the question. Everyone, regardless of expertise or background, can share their passion.

We think it’s one of the best things we can do for the future of birds.

Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal are veteran journalists who’ve worked at a string of newspapers from The Miami Herald to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

They spend more than half their time these days traveling the U.S. and writing about birds.

ABOVE: Black Vulture and Pileated Woodpecker

by Anders Gyllenhaal. LEFT: Indigo Bunting by Agnieszka Bacal, Shutterstock

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Karolina Araya Sandoval grew up in the northern Chilean town of Arica, nicknamed “the City of Eternal Spring” for its Mediterranean climate and rich alluvial soil. After studying veterinary medicine in the country’s south, Karolina returned home, helping with the annual monitoring program for Chile’s smallest bird, the Critically Endangered Chilean Woodstar. In 2016, she founded an organization named Picaflor de Arica, the bird’s Spanish name. The group works to save its namesake and other local wildlife by collaborating with communities, governments, schools, and other organizations, including ABC. Here is her story, in her own words.

The current situation with the Chilean Woodstar can be explained by a series of unfortunate events, including planes spraying malathion after a fruitfly outbreak in the 1960s, followed by intensification of agriculture that brought more frequent pesticide use and deforestation. Then, starting in 2000, networks of half-acre greenhouses.

The Chilean Woodstar now only occurs in a few deep, arid river valleys, where native habitat is dwindling. Fewer than 400 birds are believed to remain. One of our goals is to help reforest these and other areas. We are working with local schools to do that.

Peruvian Sheartail

My biologist friend Ronny Peredo helps us look for new nesting areas. Here he uses a monitoring stick with a mirror at its tip to view a nest while the female is off feeding.

Chilean Woodstar

Another hummingbird called the Peruvian Sheartail arrived in the region in the 1970s, adding to the woodstar’s challenges, given that there are already so few places with nectar-providing plants.

In the valleys where woodstars remain, trucks must bring in potable water.

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We are working with ABC to use atmospheric water generators, devices that harness moisture from the air and give water to the community.

A local school will house the pilot project that we hope will provide water both for families and for propagating native plants needed for reforestation efforts benefiting the woodstar.

Award-winning watercolor painter Beatriz Benavente lives in Spain, where she specializes in scientific and bird illustration. You can follow her on Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildstories.art

LEAVE a LEGACY

of

Bird Conservation

You can create a legacy for birds by including ABC in your estate plans. Join ABC’s Legacy Circle with a gift through your will, retirement plan, trust, or insurance policy, and you will ensure bird conservation results for years to come. If you would like more information, or if you have already included ABC in your estate plans, please contact Jack Morrison, Planned Giving Director, at 540-253-5780 or at jmorrison@abcbirds.org.

Piping Plover chicks by Jay Gao, Shutterstock

P.O. Box 249 The Plains, VA 20198 abcbirds.org 540-253-5780 โ ข 888-247-3624

Adrian Torres is the Director of Conservation and Development for Asociaciรณn Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) in Peru. He proudly displays a Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird tattoo of his own design. Learn more about Adrian on page 34. Photo by Daniel J. Lebbin