Secretary Salazar Releases 2011 State of the Birds Report

The full report is available at www.stateofthebirds.org.
U.S. Department of the Interior
AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS: Secretary Salazar Releases 2011 State of the Birds Report
Report Shows Public Lands and Waters Crucial to Birds; One Out of Four Birds Species on Public Land in Peril
05/03/2011

Contact: Hugh Vickery, DOI (202) 208-6414
Alicia F. King, FWS (571) 214-3117

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Harris Sherman today released the 2011 State of the Birds Report, the nation’s first assessment of birds on lands and waters owned by the American people. The findings indicate tremendous potential for bird conservation: these publicly owned habitats support at least half of the entire U.S. distributions of more than 300 bird species.
The report concludes that America’s public lands and waters, ranging from national wildlife refuges to national parks to national forests, offer significant opportunities to halt or reverse the decline of many species. More than 1,000 bird species inhabit the U.S., 251 of which are federally threatened, endangered, or of conservation concern. The report provides a scientific tool to help public agencies identify the most significant conservation opportunities in each habitat.
“The State of the Birds report is a measurable indicator of how well we are fulfilling our shared role as stewards of our nation’s public lands and waters,” Salazar said. “Although we have made enormous progress in conserving habitat on public lands, we clearly have much more work to do. The good news is that because birds so extensively use public lands and waters as habitat, effective management and conservation efforts can make a significant difference in whether these species recover or slide towards extinction.”
“The 2011 State of the Birds report reflects significant achievement by public agencies and all of our long-standing partners in improving bird habitats,” said Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Harris Sherman. “The USDA programs are innovative and creative. Over the last two years, the Natural Resources Conservation Service has played a critical role in working cooperatively with landowners to conserve migratory birds in the Gulf of Mexico, sage grouse in the great plains, and others. The Forest Service has developed a draft Forest Planning rule that will ensure our National Forests support birds and other wildlife for decades to come.”
The report assessed the distribution of birds on nearly 850 million acres of public land and 3.5 million square miles of ocean. It relied on high-performance computing techniques to generate detailed bird distribution maps based on citizen-science data reported to eBird and information from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Protected Areas Database of the United States.
The report highlighted the wide variety of bird habitats on public lands. These include:
Aridlands: More than half of U.S. aridlands are publicly owned. Thirty-nine percent of aridland bird species are of conservation concern and more than 75 percent of species are declining.
Oceans and Coasts: All U.S. marine waters are publicly owned and are home to 86 ocean bird species and 173 coastal species. At least 39 percent of U.S. bird species restricted to ocean habitats are declining and almost half are of conservation concern, indicating severe stress in these ecosystems.
Forests: Public lands include some of the largest unfragmented blocks of forest, which are crucial for the long-term health of many bird species, including the endangered Kirtland’s warbler, which has 97 percent of its U.S. distribution on public lands.
Arctic and Alpine: Ninety percent of boreal forest, alpine, and arctic breeding bird species in Alaska rely on public lands for habitat, including 34 breeding shorebird species of high conservation concern. There are more public lands in Alaska than in the rest of the U.S. combined, offering huge potential to manage lands for conservation.
Islands: More birds are in danger of extinction in Hawaii than anywhere else in the U.S. Public lands in Hawaii support 73 percent of the distribution of declining forest birds. Among declining Hawaiian forest birds on Kauai, about 78 percent rely on state land. Four endangered species in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands are entirely dependent on federal lands.
Wetlands: Wetlands protection has provided the “gold standard” for bird conservation. On the whole, 39 species of hunted waterfowl have increased by more than 100 percent during the past 40 years as nearly 30 million acres of wetlands have been acquired and management practices have restored bird populations.
Grasslands: Grassland birds are among our nation’s fastest declining species, yet only a small amount – 13 percent -- of grassland is publicly owned and managed primarily for conservation. Forty-eight percent of grassland-breeding bird species are of conservation concern, including four with endangered populations.
The 2011 State of the Birds report is a collaborative effort as part of the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative, involving federal and state wildlife agencies, and scientific and conservation organizations. These include the American Bird Conservancy, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Bureau of Land Management, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Department of Defense, the National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The full report is available at www.stateofthebirds.org.

Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, 3-5 June

Mark your calendars and click on the following for all the latest info and registration for the 9th Annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration:

We are thrilled to have Scott Weidensaul as our Sat evening keynote speaker in the Paul Smith's College VIC Theater. Sat & Sun field trips are loaded with boreal hotspots and something new this year is a Beginner Birder Workshop lead by Joan Collins of Long Lake. Also new this year is our Friday Boreal Ecology Workshop at Massawepie Mire & The Wild Center lead by top-notch naturalists/birders Kendra Omerod and Alan Belford.

Friday will feature an afternoon wetlands walk, evening dessert reception, birds of prey show, & Owl Walk all at the Paul Smith's College VIC. Sat will focus on field trips(lead by many members of Northern New York Audubon Society-a major sponsor of GABC) and afternoon bird-related workshops. Sunday allows you a second day of field trips giving another full morning to bird in the Adirondacks.

Hope you can make it!

Brian McAllister
Saranac Lake

Visit to Moose Bog

Ever since returning from Texas, I've been hoping to get up to the Northeast Kingdom and look for a few birds up there that I've never seen.  Weather and commitments have held me back but I know that black fly season is coming on, so I took the long drive up to Island Pond today to do a little wet weather birding.  Penny, the Vizsla, came along for the ride but waited in the truck.

It wasn't a Vermont Life day: soggy with low clouds and still early spring.  We stopped north of Lyndonville for some exercise and departing the turnoff area, nearly hit a dark, wet moose.  From Island Pond, it's about ten miles, down past the grass airport at which I've landed many times, to the Moose Bog trail in the Town of Ferdinand.

My target bird was the Spruce Grouse although I was hoping for a Grey Jay or Boreal Chickadee as well.  I heard a number of winter wrens (saw one) and many yellow-rumps but after an hour or so, thought I'd be skunked.  I was walking the quiet trail in a light mist when up ahead, right on the path, I saw movement in a little spruce tree.  A big Spruce Grouse was standing there, eating away.  I had time to wipe off my camera lens, and get pretty close for shots.  I watched for some time and then turned around and left the bird to its meal.  I was surprised at how accomodating it was -- much different from a Ruffed Grouse.

It made the long drive worthwhile and gave me an incentive to get back up there later this year and look for the other birds.

Hoodies Are Here

Each spring, dozens of Hooded Mergansers drop in at Berlin Pond, the water supply for Montpelier.  Usually paired off, they grace the early days of icy open water.  Some stick around all season on local water -- nesting in trees like wood ducks.  The males are hard to miss with their big white patch on the crest.

The last few days, I’ve been watching them come and go at the pond.  I digiscoped a pair this afternoon as they paddled away between ice floes.  They’re my favorite duck.

Beginning Digiscoping

I took my scope up to Berlin Pond today - a local hot spot for waterfowl as the ice melts and later, for migratory warblers and a host of other birds.  I've been fiddling with using my old SLR with a DCA adapter but am trying a new Canon SD4000IS point and shoot to see how that works.  Right now, I'm pretty low on the learning curve.

Lots of stuff is starting to show up:  Canada Geese, Ring-necked Ducks, and lots of Hooded Mergansers.  I spent a lot of time trying to identify two ducks, which turned out to be Green-winged Teal, but who persisted in sitting on the ice all tucked in, probably resting for the next flight further north.  Several pairs of Mallards showed up and I got a decent shot of them, plus one of a goose parading on the ice.

It's nice to work without freezing fingers so I think, as I practice, things will improve.  Stay tuned.

Mourning Cloak

Yesterday, while out birding with my Vizsla in Massachusetts, I saw a number of species but the highlight of the morning was an early butterfly, the Mourning Cloak.  We were in some oaks when I saw two butterflies flitting through the woods and climbing higher and out of sight.  Then one returned and cooperatively sat on some leaves not far from me.  I took some photos and then the dog returned from her explorations and spooked the pretty thing.

Not knowing my butterflies, I searched through my book to id what I had seen but it was hard.  Finally I found it and of course, once I read the description, it was clear that I should have been aware that it's always one of the first butterflies to emerge in the Northeast since it overwinters.

My friends tell me that the other overwintering butterfly is the Milbert's Tortoiseshell.  I'll be looking for them in the days ahead.

Hummers Are Coming!

Check the sightings here