Latest news with #migratorybirds
Reuters
16-05-2025
- Reuters
Rare migratory birds lure watchers to Greece's Lesbos island
LESBOS, Greece, May 15 (Reuters) - Black-winged white stilts wade through a salt pan, plunging their beaks into the water in search for food at the Kalloni bay on the Greek island of Lesbos, as bird-lovers watch through binoculars from afar. Stilts are one of more than 330 species found in the wetlands of Kalloni and elsewhere in Lesbos, which have established the island as a European hotspot for birdwatchers from around the world since the 1990s. "We have some very special birds that are breeders on the island, like the Cinereous Bunting or the Kruper's Nuthatch, the Masked Shrike," local environmental scientist and bird guide Eleni Galinou said. The island's main attraction are the migratory birds in spring. Sitting at the crossroads of Africa, Europe and Asia, Lesbos gives birdwatchers the chance to see around 200 European migratory species, from crakes to pelicans, as they pause to rest and feed on their way back from Africa northwards through the eastern Mediterranean Sea. "Many of us have always wanted to come to Lesbos because it is well-known for its migratory birds," said Ian Wordeyn, 73, one of a group of birdwatchers on the island. "It's relaxing. When you're looking for birds and you're out in the wildlife, the countryside," said 79-year-old birder Maureen Greer. But spotting birds involves a great deal of fortune and patience. "You go there and wildlife is wildlife, it comes and it goes. Sometimes you're lucky, and when you are lucky that's great," Wordeyn said.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Weatherwatch: How ecologists are helping birds adapt to climate crisis
How do you help a migratory bird adapt to the climate crisis? One radical solution, as a team of Dutch ecologists discovered, is to move them further north. Pied flycatchers are handsome black-and-white songbirds, which breed in deciduous woodlands across much of temperate Europe. Each autumn, they head south across the Sahara desert to overwinter in west Africa. Like many long-distance migrants, flycatchers time their return journey north in spring by responding to gradual changes in light, rather than temperature. But because the climate crisis in Europe is shifting the timing of spring earlier and earlier, when they return to their breeding areas their food – mainly oak moth caterpillars – has already peaked. So the scientists decided to trap some of the returning birds, and drive them almost 600km north, releasing them in suitable habitats in southern Sweden. Because spring comes two weeks' later there than in the Netherlands, the hatching of the flycatchers' chicks coincided perfectly with the peak of food supplies. To the scientists' delight, not only did these immigrant birds raise twice as many chicks as their Scandinavian counterparts but, the following spring, those birds returned to where they had been born, and bred successfully there. Translocation is a drastic approach to help birds adapt to recent dramatic rises in global temperatures, but it worked, suggesting that conservationists should at least consider this as a future option.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
How changes to U.S. bird protections law could impact N.W.T. species
The U.S. government recently signalled it will be narrowing its interpretation of the U.S. law protecting migratory birds, and Canadian advocates are concerned the effects could be felt on both sides of the border. It comes at a time when many migratory bird species, including some which spend time in N.W.T. and in other territories, are in decline. David Browne is the head of policy for conservation and advocacy organization Birds Canada. He spoke with Hilary Bird, host of CBC's Trailbreaker, about why he is concerned about what he is seeing in the U.S. right now. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What is happening to the legislation that protects migratory birds right now? The act prevents the killing of birds, and what the president has indicated is that they don't intend to enforce this prohibition on the killing of birds for things that are unintentional. So that's things like buildings that kill birds, wind turbines, tailings ponds, these types of activities that aren't intended to kill birds that do. They are signalling they're not going to enforce the act on those things, so that leaves a huge gap in protection obviously. Why does the U.S. want to make that change? The motivation that was given in the notice was for economic development, and to unleash the U.S. economy and grow primarily resource development in oil and gas. They see it as a barrier, and they want to get that barrier out of the way. Do we know how often birds are unintentionally killed by things like oil and gas development in the U.S.? I want to just mention a bit of the history here — and in N.W.T. you would know about this from management of caribou — a lot of animals move between our borders. They don't stop at the border, they keep going. So we have treaties for things like salmon fisheries, Great Lakes fisheries, caribou, whales. Birds are actually the first thing that we had a treaty for in North America, and in fact in the world. That was initially to prevent commercial hunting, but now one of the main things killing birds is not hunting. It's actually buildings, vehicles, wind turbines, these kinds of things. And the numbers are huge. So buildings in the US alone are estimated to kill about 600 million birds a year. Vehicles kill about 200 million, power lines about 28 million. And we're not going to start taking down buildings, that's not what the law is intended to do, but it's the backstop. Really what happens with that law is people put in place best practices for buildings, for power lines, for wind turbines. But without the law, there's not that incentive to get the best practice in place and to make it work. Okay, so it's not exactly that they're handing out all these fines or anything like that. It's more that it's an incentive for companies to try and protect birds? In some cases, what they're proposing to do is against the law and they get fined. But in most cases, they try to avoid these impacts. And for Northwest Territories, which is really like a nursery ground for many of our migratory birds, millions of them, it affects those birds when they move down South to their overwinter ground. So right now, everybody in N.W.T. is excited about the birds coming back, but what happens there is as those birds go South again in the fall, they run this gauntlet of sources of mortality, of ways of dying on their way South, and they don't come back. David, can can you tell us, how does the impact of industry on migratory birds compare to other pressures the population is facing such as climate change? It's hard to pick apart which thing is causing declines. We know that many types of birds are in steep decline, and so many of our long distance migrants are in decline. Our grassland birds, our birds that eat insects, are in decline. And so some of the other big, big threats are climate change, loss of habitat down in South and Central America, loss of habitat in Canada, and other things. Poisoning through pesticides can be a threat to particular birds. So there's sort of a suite of threats to these animals, in particular loss of habitat and the changing climate that they're trying to adapt to. And this is an additional cause of concern, these accidental, unintentional killing of hundreds of millions of birds through these different means. David, we've recently heard politicians here in this country talking about building up, you know, domestic energy sectors, fast tracking the process. Is there a risk at all of our legislation following suit? I don't see people moving to change our Migratory Bird Convention Act. In fact, I see the opposite, where Canada's law is pretty clear, it's well enforced, it works fairly well and we're not right now looking to change it. The concern here is, what are the Americans going to do? We have a treaty that talks about protecting these birds together. And when the U.S. changes its interpretation of the law and says it's not going to enforce this accidental killing, it makes us wonder, OK, what are the Americans going to do? How are they going to meet their commitment under this treaty to protect birds together? David, if the U.S. doesn't bring back these protections, bird watchers here in the Northwest Territories and throughout the North, what do you think they could expect to see? Well, there's a few things. We could see industry move to not taking into account the death of birds on what they're doing. There's other pressure on industry to not be killing birds so, you know, maybe some [companies] would just take it upon themselves. But, you know, ultimately, I would be concerned that it's not going to be addressed. Birds will continue to be killed. Best practices won't be put in place, and we're going to have more deaths and more declines, particularly of these wonderful birds and the songbirds that are coming back to N.W.T. right now.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bird watchers flock to Mon County for Mother's Day bird walk
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Around 16 bird watchers spent their Mother's Day morning observing mothers in nature as thousands of migratory birds return to West Virginia from their winter vacations in Central and South America for the breeding season in North America. Field Trip Coordinator for Mountaineer Audubon Katie Fallon took birders on an extensive bird walk through Tom's Run Preserve, a 320-acre section of forest in Monongalia County under the stewardship of the West Virginia Land Trust. 'Mother's Day is a great time to have a birdwalk because a lot of our migratory species that have been down in Central and South America for the winter are back here setting up their nesting territories, getting ready to become mothers themselves perhaps,' Fallon said. Morgantown 'Arts Walk' dates and times for 2025 The Scarlet Tanager pictured above was just one of 29 different species of birds observed during the walk. But aside from acting as a shelter for the area's wildlife, Executive Director of West Virginia Land Trust Brent Bailey explained to 12 News that Tom's Run also helps us humans as well. 'Tom's Run is a preserve that protects water, and the streams that flow off of Tom's Run go into the intake for Morgantown's drinking water supply,' Bailey said. 'By protecting land, you can protect water.' If you want to visit Tom's Run for yourself to walk its trails or go on your own birding excursion, you can find the West Virginia Land Trust's page on the preserve here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Times of Oman
10-05-2025
- General
- Times of Oman
Oman celebrates World Migratory Bird Day
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman is celebrating World Migratory Bird Day, observed annually on May 10. This year's theme, 'Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities,' aims to raise awareness about the importance of integrating nature into urban planning and encouraging efforts to make cities more welcoming to migratory birds. As part of these efforts, the Environment Authority continues its scientific and fieldwork initiatives to monitor and protect the Sooty Falcon, a migratory bird species at risk of extinction. Specialists have conducted field surveys in Dimaniyat Islands Nature Reserve and Fahal Island to enhance conservation efforts for this species. The authority has also installed identification rings on young falcons to track them in the future and assess natural nesting sites. Additionally, it has launched a national campaign to combat invasive bird species, which pose a threat to local ecosystems and biodiversity, particularly the Common Myna and Indian Crow. Statistics indicate that over 1.2 million invasive birds have been recorded across Oman as of May 2025, including approximately 1.03 million Common Mynas and 171,000 Indian Crows, highlighting the challenges these species pose to native and migratory birds. The Environment Authority emphasized that balancing efforts to protect migratory birds while controlling invasive species is essential for a healthy and sustainable environment. It called on all sectors and community institutions to support bird-friendly practices, such as sustainable agriculture, clean water access, pollution reduction, and minimizing bird collisions with glass structures. The authority also stressed the importance of making Omani cities safe and attractive for birds, reinforcing Oman's role as a secure passage for international migration routes while ensuring a balance between development and biodiversity conservation.
