Joan Walsh: In the field at Great Gull Island

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Joan W.

Ever wonder what we do in the field? Check out this video of Bertrand Chair, Joan Walsh, marking Roseate Tern nests on Great Gull Island, NY. Jeff Collins, Director of Conservation Science at Mass Audubon, asked Joan to share what a day in the field looks like on Great Gull Island. Joan has worked on Great Gull Island off and on for 39 years. The island is home to 18,000 Common Terns and 3,000 federally endangered Roseate Terns.

When she reaches a Roseate Tern nest box, if there is a nest, she marks it with GPS coordinates and records data on eggs and nestlings. Roseate Terns prefer to nest under vegetation or in man-made nest boxes. The work seen in this video was part of Joan’s 5-day effort to mark nests.

Important: It is illegal to approach or disturb a nest without a permit. Joan works under a permit to research Roseate Terns and Common Terns.

*Video footage was sped up when Joan is doing the nest box marking to fit more content in 1 minute. Joan is not that speedy!

Barn Swallows at Conte Refuge, Hadley

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Jon Atwood

Since mid-May, Jon Atwood has been collaborating with US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) managers at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge in a study aimed at monitoring Barn Swallow use of an abandoned stable located on the refuge’s Fort River Division in Hadley, MA.

Barn Swallows Are Declining in Some Places and Increasing in Others—Why?

Barn Swallows, along with many other aerial insectivores, are showing serious population declines in many portions of their North American range. However, the causes of these declines are uncertain. Pesticide impacts associated with large-scale agriculture, reduction of flying insect populations, landscape conversions, habitat changes along the species’ migration pathways, unknown impacts on the species’ Central and South American wintering grounds, and loss of barns and similar structures that are often used as nesting sites have all been postulated as possible factors.

The question is complicated—Barn Swallows in the northern portions of their range are mostly declining, while those in the south and west are increasing. If there is a single explanation, presumably the “answer” needs to make sense throughout that extensive range—why are populations increasing in some areas but decreasing in others?

Barn Swallow population trends in North America. Red areas highlight substantial declines, while blue areas reflect increasing populations. From USGS Breeding Bird Survey data, 1966-2015.

Understanding Barn Swallows in MA

In this year’s work in Hadley, our focus is on starting to understand the population dynamics of Barn Swallows nesting in this portion of the Connecticut River Valley. About 30 pairs of swallows have nested in the abandoned stable in the last few years, making this site one of the largest known colonies in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, as is often true of aging barns in New England’s agricultural landscape, the stables in Hadley are in serious disrepair, and the Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended that the building be taken down over a several year period, while simultaneously making efforts to attract the birds to alternative nesting sites.

Mass Audubon and USFWS are studying this situation to collect information that will help inform the policy decisions. This work includes regular censusing of nesting efforts in the stables and banding of nesting adults. At the end of the season we will issue a final report that details our findings, so stay tuned for more information.

Foresters for the Birds: Starting work at Elm Hill

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Jeff Ritterson

Habitat management work at Elm Hill Wildlife Sanctuary is underway! Elm Hill is our demonstration site for our Forestry for the Birds program, which we’re using to exhibit techniques for improving bird habitat with sustainable forestry.

Invasive plant removal has begun, and forestry operations will commence in a few short months. Following years of fundraising, planning, site preparation, data collection, and a minor setback, it’s all finally coming together.

Eastern Towhees like young forests and dense scrubby habitat. Photo by: Marco Jona

Bird-Friendly Forestry

Foresters for the Birds works with private landowners and consulting foresters to create and enhance bird habitat using sustainable forestry practices. In order to lead by example, Mass Audubon decided to showcase such practices at Elm Hill. Besides creating great habitat for birds, the site will be used to educate and engage with landowners, conservation organizations, state agencies, forestry professionals, and the general public. In fact, we’ve already hosted a handful of events at Elm Hill, attracting about 100 people so far.

Young Forests and Tree Diversity Are Key

Following a Foresters for the Birds management plan, this round of management will create about 30 acres of young forest, a habitat type crucial to a group of birds categorically in decline, such as Eastern Towhees and Chestnut-sided Warblers. We will also improve tree species diversity in about 100 acres of older forests, and encourage layers of shrubs and saplings to benefit species such as Wood Thrushes and Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Creating Climate-Resilient Forests

Climate change has already started to affect Massachusetts forests, which complicates management strategies for bird habitat. The ranges of plant and insect species that certain birds depend on are shifting, and some are inevitably less resilient to an unstable climate. Bearing this in mind, we worked with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) to ensure that our management actions at Elm Hill were climate-smart. With their help, we’re identifying opportunities to adapt the forest– and the birds it supports– to future climate conditions.

Please stay tuned for opportunities to visit Elm Hill, where detailed discussions of our bird habitat and climate adaption actions can take place. There’s much more to it beyond what can be communicated in a short blog post!

Bird-Themed Summer Camps

Posted on May 15, 2019 by William Freedberg

Budding bird enthusiasts love our summer camps, many of which offer special bird-themed sessions. Check out the following opportunities for kids and teens to learn about birds this summer!

Connecticut River Valley

Raptor Camp (ages 12–16)

June 24–28 Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton & Northampton

Set out to discover birds by foot and canoe at Arcadia and local birding hot spots. See bird banding up close, and learn how to identify birds by sight and sound. An entire day will be devoted to birds of prey.

Greater Boston

Wild about Birds: Curiosity Club (ages 4–5)

Wild about Birds: Naturalists (ages 7–8)

July 22–26 & July 1–3 Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, Natick

Explore what makes a bird a bird, play a game about bird migration, sing in a birdsong choir, and get an up-close look at birds through a telescope. Look inside nest boxes for baby birds and empty nests and meet live birds with an ornithologist.

Wild about Birds: Explorers (ages 9–10)

Wild about Birds: Voyagers (ages 11–14)

July 1–3 Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, Natick

Learn when to use binoculars, a birding scope, or your bare eyes to watch for birds. Meet with an ornithologist to learn how scientists study and track birds that migrate. Head off-site to find birds in different habitats, investigate adaptations that allow birds to survive in different environments, and track species and diversity in a bio-blitz.

That’s Wild: Owl Extravaganza (ages 4–6, 7–8)

July 8–12 Museum of American Bird Art, Canton

Back by popular demand: owls soar into camp again this summer! Spend the week on the prowl for owls. See live owls up close, learn about their special adaptations, and create art based on the different owl species found in Massachusetts.

Coastal Birding Adventure (ages 13–17)

August 19–23 Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, Lincoln

Travel through the unique coastal ecosystems of Massachusetts, and search for and learn about the unique birds that inhabit them. Spot warblers in Pine Barrens, plovers and sandpipers in the dunes, and terns over the ocean. Check out the latest rare sightings and search for early migrant visitors.

North Shore

Winged Wonders (ages 7–8, 9–11)

July 29–August 2 Joppa Flats Education Center, Newburyport

Using binoculars, scout Parker River National Wildlife Refuge for all kinds of wading marsh birds and soaring birds of prey. In the forest at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, listen for songbirds on a forest hike, and climb the observation tower and Rockery Grotto. Back at Joppa Flats, get ready for a live wildlife visit from a local raptor rehabilitator, and dissect owl pellets!

Cape & Islands

Fabulous Fliers (ages 7–8)

July 15–19 Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Edgartown

Why do birds flock together? How do they fly? And why do they sing? Identify and explore adaptations of the many fabulous fliers at Felix Neck, including the osprey, songbirds, and shorebirds.

Bird-a-thon and Southern Overshoots

Posted on May 6, 2019 by William Freedberg

Bird-a-thon, Mass Audubon’s annual competitive birding fundraiser, is fast approaching on May 10-11! Spring migration is heating up right on time for the big day– with a few surprises in the mix.

This year’s migration has been marked by an unusual number of southern species overshooting their breeding grounds and ending up in Massachusetts. These “southern overshoots” ride the winds to our state and only stay for a few days before returning to their normal ranges in the mid-Atlantic and southeast, but it’s fun to see them while they’re here!

The Slingshot Effect

Southern overshoots require more than just south winds over Massachusetts. Birds aiming for southerly climes only get a boost into our state when winds line up just right across the eastern seaboard in what’s called the “slingshot effect.”

This pattern starts with strong wind blowing birds offshore over Florida, the Gulf, or the Southeastern US. These birds normally return to land unless they meet a strong south-to-north air current over the ocean, which “slingshots” them northward until they meet the coast of New England. A heavy west wind over the entire mid-Atlantic region can also prevent them from returning to shore until they make landfall in our region.

Here are just a few of the species that rode “slingshot winds” up to Massachusetts in the past month, with maps comparing sightings from April 2018 with April 2019:

Summer Tanagers

Summer Tangers are birds of humid thickets in the southeastern US. Last April, none were reported in mainland Massachusetts. This year, two were seen in Plymouth, one on Plum Island, and a handful as far north as Maine!

Hooded Warblers

Another bird prone to the “slingshot effect,” Hooded Warbler been unusually numerous this year, including late into the month. Here’s the same comparison between this and last April:

Blue Grosbeaks

Similarly, last April produced just two reports of Blue Grosbeak, a grassland bird of warmer climes. This April, there were no less than 12!

Sign up for Bird-A-Thon and Find Southern Wanderers!

Bird-a-thon is coming up on May 10^t-11. Make sure to join a Bird-a-thon team if you haven’t yet! Then, find out which award you’re competing for, plan your strategy, and tell your friends who you’re raising money for!

If the current forecast for Bird-a-thon weekend holds, some overshoot species will no doubt be a key piece of the winning checklists. Southern overshoots get most attention from in-the-know birders in late April, mostly because it’s so striking to see them arrive even before our more common spring migrants show up. But conditions for overshoots can persist into early May, when southern birds show up at coastal thickets and migrant traps like Mass Audubon’s Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge (psst– that’s a hint!)

If you’re joining us for Bird-a-thon, good luck, and may the best team win!

Meadowlark Project 2019: Birding for Conservation

Posted on March 27, 2019 by William Freedberg

Now in its third year, the Eastern Meadowlark Project is a great way to support bird conservation by simply going birding.

By checking for meadowlarks at a list of sites and entering observations on our project webpage, citizen scientists help piece together the reasons for this species’ decline.

Eastern Meadowlark (photo by Phil Brown)

We know that meadowlarks are in trouble. Between 1974-2011, meadowlarks disappeared from over 78% of their Massachusetts breeding sites, according to Mass Audubon’s Breeding Bird Atlas. This decline is only partially explained by meadowlarks’ habitat requirements.

Our 2018 volunteers found meadowlarks at just 3 sites out of over 100 protected grasslands across the state. While meadowlarks do persist at a handful of known agricultural sites outside our survey areas, these results suggested they aren’t using all of the habitat ostensibly available to them. So, while we know habitat loss is a major factor, we also know that it’s not the only part of the meadowlark decline equation.

Our next step is to check sites where meadowlarks were historically seen–including areas that might not be textbook habitat for them. This year, surveys will take place at sites where Eastern Meadowlarks were spotted during the past two Breeding Bird Atlases (1974-1979 and 2007-2011). This will help us both establish where meadowlarks have disappeared from their historical range, and what kinds of habitats meadowlarks are using aside from natural grasslands.

Go Birding—For Science!

First, visit our Anecdata webpage to select sites where you can help look for meadowlarks. You’ll need to create an account by clicking “register” in the top right corner and creating a username and password. Then, return to the meadowlark project page and click “join project” (just under the photo of the meadowlark). To view a map of sites, click on “add an observation,” then click “use a hotspot” in the upper left, and then click “map.” Finally, be sure to sign up for the hotspots you choose on the signup list mentioned in the project description!

To keep our data uniform and reliable, a volunteer should survey a site three times between April 10 and June 15, for any 10-minute period between 5:00 am and 9:30 am. Not all of our sites may have meadowlarks, and that’s perfectly fine— knowing where they aren’t, and figuring out why, is just important to us as knowing where they are.

Thanks for helping us help grassland birds– and good luck finding meadowlarks!

Help Us Learn About Bird-Window Strikes Downtown

Posted on March 19, 2019 by William Freedberg

Calling all citizen scientists near Boston!

Mass Audubon needs your help monitoring an underappreciated threat to migratory birds: window collisions. We’re looking for volunteers to collect data on bird-building collisions and rescue birds that survive a strike.

*A Black-throated Green Warbler that died on migration from a window collision.*

The Problem

Window collisions are a surprisingly significant source of bird mortality in the US, causing several hundred million casualties annually.

Birds struggle to distinguish reflections from reality, and often strike glass windows that reflect the sky or nearby greenery. City lights also confuse night-migrating birds, which use the stars to navigate, and which often land near sources of light pollution. Many window strikes occur as birds try to re-orient in the morning, after being drawn in to an unfamiliar concrete jungle.

How to Help

The Avian Collision Team (ACT) is a new volunteer initiative to get as much data as we can about building strikes in Boston. We want to understand the scale of the problem in Boston, where the trouble spots are, and which species are most affected.

The program runs from April 13–June 4. Volunteers need to sign up for 1-4 weekly shifts, Saturday–Tuesday, from 8 am to around 9 am.

We are looking for two kinds of volunteers:

1. Monitoring volunteers who will walk predetermined routes to collect deceased specimens, fill out data sheets, and occasionally rescue live birds.

2. Transport volunteers who can pick up specimens from monitors and bring them to a collection site at Harvard. Drivers will also bring occasional injured, live birds to Tufts Wildlife Clinic in Westborough as needed.

Similar programs have shown that in parts of some cities, there are practically no casualties. In others, certain buildings can kill a dozen birds a day during peak migration. Scientists have developed guidelines for what makes buildings especially dangerous to migrating birds, but they’re still pretty rough. The best way to know where and to what extent there’s a problem in Boston… is to check!

If this sounds interesting, sign up here!

The Cardinal Chimaera: half male plumage, half female

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Wayne Petersen

Chimaera Northern Cardinal in Erie, PA (Photo by Shirley Caldwell)

Sometimes Nature offers up anomalies that seemingly defy credibility. Such was the case when a striking Northern Cardinal showed up recently at a backyard bird feeder in Erie, Pennsylvania. In appearance the cardinal appeared to have the typical red plumage of a male on its right side, and the light buffy-brown plumage of a female on the left side. So what’s the deal, you may ask?

This remarkable cardinal isn’t quite as unusual as you might suppose. It is actually a classic example of a chimaera—also known as a bilateral gynandromorph. So what does this mean in everyday-speak? A little review of Biology 101 reminds us that in humans, males have one copy of each sex chromosome (i.e. X and Y) while females have two copies of the X sex chromosome. In birds, this scheme is a little different in that in birds the sex chromosomes are referred to as Z and W, and it’s females that carry a single copy of the ZW chromosome, while males on the other hand have two of the ZZ chromosomes. Accordingly the cell nuclei of avian reproductive cells normally would possess only Z-carrying sperm cells in males, or Z or W-carrying egg cells in females.

Very rarely however, individuals occur where a female egg cell develops two nuclei — one with a Z sex chromosome and one with a W sex chromosome—and then gets fertilized twice by two Z-carrying male sperm cells. Clearly the odds of this happening are very low, but when it occurs, literally half of the double-fertilized product offspring will exhibit one set of gender characteristics while the other half will exhibit characteristics of the other gender. In the present instance, the right half of the Pennsylvania cardinal is exhibiting male features and the left side the features of a female. An ultramicroscopic examination of cells from the male half of this cardinal would reveal that it has a ZZ chromosome makeup, while cells from the female half would have a ZW makeup.

As if the circumstances described above are not improbable enough, the fact that the female (or left half) of the Pennsylvania cardinal has to be carrying both Z and W sex chromosomes, it’s actually possible that the bird could become fertilized since in birds, only the left ovary is functional! And the most exciting news of all is that the Erie cardinal is currently keeping company with a normal male Northern Cardinal, and local ornithologists are carefully tracking the chimera to see if it successfully breeds and lays eggs. So stay tuned for what could prove to be another chapter of this remarkable circumstance.

In conclusion it should be pointed out that such genetic reproductive anomalies may not actually be as infrequent as they might seem, since unless a species is strongly sexually dimorphic (i.e., males and females with highly different-looking plumages), bilateral gynandromorphism may not be as readily detectable as it is in cardinals. As an example, check out the “half-sider” images of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak that briefly attended a Newbury, MA feeder in 2015. For a full account of this individual, see Bird Observer (Vol. 43, No. 5, 2015). Additionally, bilateral gynandromorphism is not uncommon in certain insects, fish, and even rarely in mammals. So if nothing else, not only have you possibly learned some new scrabble words, you may also now know to be particularly careful when you think you’re seeing double!

“Half-sider” Rose-breasted Grosbeak spotted in Newbury, MA in 2015 (Photo by Peter Brown)

Note: This post has been updated to remove an anachronism.

Birders’ Meeting 2019: Coming Up on 3/3!

Posted on February 26, 2019 by William Freedberg

While past iterations of the annual Massachusetts Birders’ Meeting have centered on specific groups of birds, habitats, or conservation issues, this year’s theme is a little more abstract: the beauty of birds. All of this year’s presentations address some aspect of what avian beauty means to us and to birds themselves.

Headlining this year’s meeting is Dr. Richard Prum, an evolutionary ornithologist working at Yale. Prum received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his most recent book, The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—And Us.

Nathan Pieplow, a scholar of birdsong and author of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds, will share and discuss some remarkable audio from nature’s strangest-sounding birds. MIT professor Dr. Lorna Gibson will speak on the structure of feathers, from the microscopic forms that give them iridescent colors, to how feathers make owls silent and ducks waterproof.

Artists and humanists will also be among those speaking on avian beauty: Susan Edwards Richmond will give us a tour of bird-inspired poetry from the first known verse spoken in Hindi, to Shakespeare’s writings, and contemporary work by Mary Oliver and Gary Snyder. Mass Audubon’s Chris Leahy and Amy Montague will speak about birds’ many roles in visual art through the ages.

Additionally Joan Walsh, Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology, will discuss how the fashion of the mid-1800s, namely bird plumes on hats, gave rise to the conservation movement.

Of course, there will be a number of other draws in addition to speakers. We’ll have a vendors’ area staffed by nature tour agencies, booksellers, and local bird-related companies. A number of raffle items will include field guides, bird feeders, and other birding goodies. Most importantly, there’s the chance to meet new community members, catch up with old friends, and stay up to date on news in the Massachusetts birding world.

Whether you come out to learn, socialize, or both, we hope you’ll join us this year!

This year’s meeting will take place on Sunday, March 3rd from 8am-4:30pm, at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

The Greatest Black Hawk: An epic journey recounted

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Wayne Petersen

Black hawks are hefty, Buteo-like hawks not too distantly related to the widespread and familiar Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). There are several species, but most common are the Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) that sparingly nests in the extreme southern portions of the southwestern U.S. south to northern South America, and the Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) that primarily breeds from coastal Mexico south through tropical South America. Both species feed on a variety of creatures including reptiles, amphibians, crayfish, crabs, small mammals, and occasionally even birds. Both black hawks are relatively sedentary and neither species is a long-distance migrant.

With this information in mind, it understandably came as a mind-blowing surprise to several ecstatic birders who saw and definitively photographed for 20 minutes a juvenile Great Black Hawk on South Padre Island on the coast of Texas, April 24, 2018. But this is only the beginning of a saga!

Fast forward to August 6 in Biddeford, ME, where the same individual Great Black Hawk was again definitively photographed and the images were matched exactly to the April sighting in Texas. The hawk lingered in Biddeford until August 9 before once again disappearing, this time until October 29, when it showed up in Portland, ME! Only this time the elusive tropical raptor only stayed under cover until November 28 when it appeared in a different part of the city only two miles away.

Virtually as I write, this itinerant tropical raptor is still present in the vicinity of Deering Oaks Park, just west of downtown Portland where it has become headline news and is happily feeding on the plethora of gray squirrels inhabiting the urban park. What will be its ultimate fate when the snow flies and the inevitable cold becomes extreme may never be known….but for now, this has to be the Greatest Black Hawk of them all!