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Conservation

Help is on the way for the nation’s most endangered bird

by Anders Gyllenhaal November 30, 2020

The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, the nation’s most endangered species, is suddenly getting the kind of support that could turn things around for a bird that a year ago seemed destined for extinction.

A newly released Florida Grasshopper Sparrow steps from its cage. Top photo of sparrow singing by Tory Hartley-Cox. Others by Anders Gyllenhaal.

An unusual consortium of players today announced that a huge stretch of the rare grasslands that the sparrows rely on will be set aside permanently for wildlife. The tract is home to nearly half the remaining population of a species that had dwindled down to just a few dozen birds.

The announcement comes not long after the completion of a breeding season that boosted the population by adding hundreds of sparrows born in captivity. As researchers analyze the results, they’re learning how to fine tune the captive breeding project and possibly expand it for this coming year.

“These are preliminary results, but they have been very encouraging,’’ said Juan Oteyza, the research biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute that oversees the campaign to save the sparrow.

The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is a symbol of the state’s unique inland prairie that has all but disappeared as rapid growth reshaped the landscape. Over the past decade, the sparrow population dropped to perilously low numbers that gave it the distinction of being the most likely bird in the U.S. to go extinct. Researchers aren’t sure what all is contributing to the bird’s sharp decline, but the loss of habitat is the biggest factor — and the toughest to address.

That’s the reason today’s announcement by the University of Florida, Ducks Unlimited and the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida is a significant step. The 27,000-acre tract of wetlands and grasslands south of Orlando was donated by the family of the founder of the Subway chain, led by Elisabeth DeLuca, who heads the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation.

The sprawling tract will serve a long list of conversation purposes.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

The land will be managed not just for the sparrow but for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker and many species of waterfowl. The University of Florida will use the land to help train future researchers, and the tract will be open for duck hunting, which helps pay for conservation measures.

The donation of land also shows that the push to gather public support for a small brown bird hardly anyone ever sees is gaining momentum.

The captive-breeding project costs about $1.2 million a year, half of which comes from non-profit organizations and donations and half from state and federal funds. Much of the private fundraising falls to the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida an independent non-profit that has raised or arranged donations worth more than half a million dollars in the past seven years.

Michelle Ashton, who directs communications for the foundation, said that while the sparrow doesn’t have the appeal of eagles or ospreys, the bird is developing a following all over the country.

“We have a core group of contributors who are personally connected to the cause,’’ she said. “It’s not a group number in the thousands, but it’s the most committed group of repeat donors.’’

Contributors range from several big companies, such Bass Pros Shop and outdoor retailer Cabela’s that helped cover set-up costs of 27,000-acre land donation, to individual donors. The sparrow has also drawn support from nearly 150 smaller donors over the past three years.

Ashton loves the story of a couple from Nebraska, Bill and Michelle Cita, who were struck by the sparrow’s plight and began donating every year. Bill, a welder, and Michelle, who does the housekeeping and laundry at a nursing home, say they plan to contribute every year.

Bill Cita. Photo by Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida

“I started reading a little bit about it. My wife and I started talking about,” said Cita, who lives in the small eastern Nebraska town of Waverly and say it doesn’t matter that he’s not likely to see this bird. “I’ve always rooted for the underdog and he’s kind of an underdog.’’

Since the first contributions to the foundation, the Citas have followed the sparrow’s progress and encouraging news from the past year. “It’s nice to feel to be part of something,’’ he said. “People working to save the grasshopper sparrow.”

The presence of a sparrow population on the land that’s being donated is a boost to the consortium of state and federal agencies, non-profits and university researchers who’ve been working for decades to rebuild the species. The project has focused its captive-bred sparrow release on a site not far from the donated tract. They’ll now work on rebuilding two segments of sparrows and will decide in the coming months how to support both of them.

Breeding the birds in captivity is a tricky endeavor. If the birds are released too soon, many succumb to the elements. If they wait too long, the birds will struggle to adapt to life as a wild sparrow.

The project is developing the data to get that timing right. This past year, the younger the released sparrows, the more success they had mating up with wild sparrows, building nests and raising chicks.

Juan Oteyza checks over a captive-bred sparrow before release earlier this year.

The younger sparrows seemed to do a better job of blending in with wild sparrows and learning from them. “They move around together. They’re not too territorial yet,’’ said Oteyza. “We think this has important value for the (captive-bred) sparrows to learn to be sparrows.’’

Over the past year or so, the project had released about 250 captive-bred sparrows into the grasslands, many of which don’t survive. By the end of this breeding season, researchers said the total population was pushed up to 112 sparrows, with 34 breeding pairs and about 85 fledglings produced in the wild.

The project will release another 45 sparrows in February and March of the coming year. When the next breeding season starts that spring, Oteyza said they hope to see even higher birth rates in the wild between the newly arrived and the higher overall population.

One of the young captive-bred grasshopper sparrows that helped boost the Central Florida population.

November 30, 2020 0 comment

Birding research Conservation Photography Species

Can we save this globe-trotting sandpiper? Only if we can unravel its secrets

by Anders Gyllenhaal November 30, 2020

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

It’s tempting to take the Sanderling for granted: The tiny, speed-walking shorebirds are fixtures on beaches all over the world, easily recognized by how they run along, forever one step ahead of the waves.

The Sanderling is among the smallest and most energetic of the dozens of species of sandpipers. At just two ounces, it’s about the weight of a golf ball. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal unless otherwise credited.

For years, this hyperactive sandpiper moved too fast for researchers to even be sure of its migration routes that stretch from the Arctic Circle to South America. Weighing in at just two ounces, Sanderlings were too small to carry the transmitters used to study other birds.

That’s finally changing. New research tools, such as ultra-light transmitters and techniques that analyze where birds have been by the carbon residue in their feathers, are uncovering the Sanderling’s secrets.

The research tells two stories: One is about the miraculous flying prowess of this globe-trotting species. The other is about how those unique abilities aren’t enough to overcome the changing coastal environment that has cut their population of about 300,000 in North America by more than a third since the 1970s.

Both study topics could end up helping other shorebirds as well.

“So many people think of these birds as doing fine, since they’re on every beach from California to the Gulf Coast,’’ said Jess Cosentino, a researcher working on a comprehensive study of Sanderlings in North America. “But the data is showing us they’re in precipitous decline.’’

Hundreds of Sanderling rise above Chaplin Lake on a preliminary flight before their next migration leg. Photo by Jess Cosentino, University of Saskatchewan

We spent a good part of our fall wandering the Atlantic coast, following warblers, raptors and shorebirds on the move. On the National Seashore along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, we found ourselves surrounded by crowds of Sanderlings on the near-empty beaches. The protected stretch of shoreline is one of the primary stopover spots for the birds on their migrations down the Atlantic coast.

Here’s a video that gives you a sense of how Sanderlings work together on the beaches:

November 30, 2020 2 comments

Birding Conservation Photography Species

Petrels and Shearwaters: The coolest birds you never see

by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal November 7, 2020

written by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

A Black-capped Petrel shoots along the surface. The bird above is a Great Shearwater. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal

The first Black-capped Petrel appeared nearly two hours into the trip, well off the bow of the boat, zipping along the ocean’s surface like a missile. It was mostly a blur, but it gave us a taste of what was to come.

Petrels are in the seabird family, which includes some of the most impressive and endangered species on Earth. They live their lives on the open sea, weathering the harshest elements, flying hundreds of miles at a time, feeding on fish and coming to shore only to breed.

Seabirds won’t come to you. If you want to see petrels, shearwaters, skuas and jaegers, you have to go to them.

The best place to do that is off the coast of North Carolina, where the islands that make up the Outer Banks jut far out into the ocean. Here, the warm Gulf Stream that attracts seabirds comes close enough to reach in a long day’s boat trip.

Leaving Hatteras before dawn

We set off before dawn on this clear Saturday in mid-October aboard the Stormy Petrel II, a 61-foot fishing boat piloted by Brian Patteson. The bird-obsessed captain has done as much good for seabirds along the Atlantic Coast as anyone. Every year, he makes 40 to 50 trips to the Gulf Stream, ferrying hundreds of birders out to sea for a precious look at the birds collectively called “pelagics.”

Great Shearwater

On every trip, Patteson and his crew count the birds and submit their data to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird list, which helps scientists track the health of the species. Patteson and his assistant, Kate Sutherland, also compile their own data over time to help them analyze how the pelagic populations are faring in the long run.

Passengers watch birds from the stern.

You’ll find all the details on lining up a trip at the end of this post.

November 7, 2020 3 comments

Beverly's Birding Basics Birding Conservation How we're birding now

Lessons in generosity: Birds benefit when we’re all welcoming on the trail

by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal October 7, 2020

written by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal

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

The unforgettable plumage of a Pileated Woodpecker. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal

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?

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.

This is our new column running in the latest issue of American Bird Conservancy magazine and reprinted here with permission from the Bird Conservation quarterly. The column, under the name Flying Lessons, is meant to draw on our travels to explore what we’re learning from birds. While we had to put off our birding trips this spring and summer, we’re now back on the road again. We’ll post these columns as they appear. You can get a subscription to the magazine if you donate $40 or more to the conservancy. Here’s the donation link.

October 7, 2020 1 comment

Birding research Breeding and Nesting Conservation

Fledglings take flight: Good news for the nation’s most endangered bird

by Anders Gyllenhaal September 9, 2020

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

The wildlife managers who bred more than 200 Florida Grasshopper Sparrows in a laboratory setting over the past two years knew they faced a tricky question when it came to releasing the birds into the wild this spring:

A Florida Grasshopper Sparrow about to be released

Would they know how to act like grasshopper sparrows?

Could they sing the sparrow’s unique courting song? Would they know how to hide from hawks? Would they have the instincts to build nests, mate with wild sparrows and raise their young together?

The captive-breeding experiment is the culmination of a decades-long project to revive the most endangered species in the U.S.. Only 30 pairs of the sparrows remained in the wild when the team decided they had no choice but to try producing chicks in captivity, then introducing them back into the wild in hopes they’d multiply.

The answers to all their questions came pouring in over the course of the breeding season that is now coming to a close.

A bundle of newborn sparrows in a hidden nest in the grasslands. Photo by Amanda Adams.

The birds not only mastered the routines of the mating season, they gave birth to a new generation of Florida Grasshopper Sparrows over the summer. ( Forty-two birds were born from captive-bred birds and altogether 64 were born from wild and captive-bred birds.) Almost all have now left the nest and flown off to begin life on their own.

“We’re very happy with what we saw this first season,’’ said Juan Oteyza, the research biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Institute that oversees the project. “It seems to be paying off.’’

Craig Faulhaber, avian conservation coordinator for the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said it was hard to tell the captive-bred from the wild sparrows. “They showed all the normal behaviors,” he said. “They bred successfully. They took care of their young. They acted just like wild sparrows.”

Flying Lesson: The project to save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow has been full of discoveries for researchers. They’ve learned what it takes to breed birds in captivity, protect fragile nests from harm and how to begin to replenished the depleted population. It’s not yet clear if the project will be successful, but already the lessons are proving valuable to help understand the woes of the grassland birds like the sparrow.

September 9, 2020 1 comment

Birding Birding research Conservation

How the lockdown has helped birds — or has it?

by Anders Gyllenhaal July 7, 2020

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

A surprising thing happened at the Wild Bird Unlimited store in Raleigh, N.C., when the pandemic struck and shut down almost all of the retail stores that surrounded them.

Suddenly, their business started booming.

Arlette Early (right) and Judy Rosengarten at their store in Raleigh, N.C.

All kinds of new customers, stuck in their homes at the height of the spring migration, began tuning in to the nearby birds, often for the first time. Demand jumped for feeders, bird seed and the birding supplies that Wild Birds specializes in.

“We worked out a way to have curb-side service,’’ said Arlette Early, who helps operate the shop. “It was so busy.’’

The widespread embrace of birding is one part of an unexpected phenomenon unfolding in the midst of the pandemic. At a time when many species have been in decline for years, the slowed economy, reduction in human activity and the growing interest in birdwatching could end up helping birds in ways nothing else has.

The relief could be momentary, and some worry that the push to restart the economy now underway could run over wildlife protections and end up making conditions worse than before the virus.

July 7, 2020 1 comment

Birding research Conservation Migration

Rebuilding troubled species takes decades of patience and persistence

by Anders Gyllenhaal May 27, 2020

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

What does it take to rebuild a depleted species with birds bred in captivity? In the case of one of the longest-running breeding projects, it can take decades of patience and persistence – and hundreds of chicks added to the wild for every one that will go on to thrive.

A Loggerhead Shrike in eastern Canada. Photo by Larry Kirtley.

Our stories in the Washington Post on the rescue mission of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow prompted a call from the research project that has been working for more than 20 years to save the Loggerhead Shrike in eastern Canada. Researchers there have valuable perspective on the laborious process of captive breeding.

“In our case, it’s years in the making,’’ said Jane Hudecki, coordinator for the Shrike conservation breeding program with Wildlife Preservation Canada. “It can be a tough field to work in.’’

Added Hazel Wheeler, the lead biologist on the project: “I’ve certainly read a lot of papers that speak to the long-term investment needed for a successful recovery program.”

There are a number of parallels between the shrike project and the mission to save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, which just had its first hatchings produced by captive birds in the wild. While both programs have figured out how to raise, release and establish mating pairs, questions loom around what it will take to restore the wild populations to strength.

Researchers put a transmitter on a Loggerhead Shrike to track its movement and migration. Photo by Sarah Matheson.

Wildlife Preservation Canada has released 1,300 Loggerhead Shrikes since the recovery program’s formation in 1998. Still, only about 20 breeding pairs remain in the areas of Ontario where the local subspecies settle for the spring and summer. “Basically, we’re just keeping the wild population stable,’’ she said.

The Canadian shrikes and Florida grasshopper sparrows are very different species, living on either end of the continent.

May 27, 2020 0 comment

Conservation Flying Lessons essay

New Flying Lessons column: What are Florida Birds Telling us?

by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal May 13, 2020

written by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

Florida is a head-spinning place to go birding. One day you’re chasing a flock of Roseate Spoonbills across 140,000 acres of pristine wetlands, and the next you’re watching Purple Gallinules forage in a ditch a short jaunt from a Starbucks.

Roseate Spoonbill / Photos by Andes Gyllenhaal

A few weeks ago, we tracked Endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers through a state park without meeting another soul. On nearby Interstate 95, two Sandhill Cranes grazed on the grassy shoulder as traffic whizzed by a few feet away.

The Florida peninsula has a rich avian landscape, home to more than 500 species, found from the mangroves in the Keys to the Panhandle’s oak hammocks. An impressive 10 million acres of parks, refuges, and other protected areas are managed for conservation.

Sandhill Crane

But Florida is on a collision course with its birds. People and birds tend to like to live in the same places here, and with 21 million residents, Florida now ranks as the third-most-populated state.

It’s fascinating, so Florida became the first stop on our five-month road trip around the country — a birding safari of sorts. In January, we packed up our Airstream trailer, gathered binoculars and cameras, and headed south from our home in North Carolina.

This is a new column running in the latest issue of American Bird Conservancy magazine and is reprinted here with permission from the Bird Conservation quarterly. The column, under the name Flying Lessons, is meant to build on our travels to explore what we’re learning from birds. While we’ve had to put off our birding trips for the time being, we hope to be back on the road before long. We’ll post these columns as they appear. You can get a subscription to the magazine if you donate $40 or more to the conservancy. Here’s the donation link. Finally, if you’d like to see the column as it’s running in the spring edition of the magazine, you can find it here.

May 13, 2020 0 comment

Birding research Conservation Photography

The transformation in bird research may hold the key

by Anders Gyllenhaal May 5, 2020

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

One of the topics we explore here on Flying Lessons is the transformation taking place with modern bird research. When we start talking about this with friends and relatives, it can be hard to hold their attention.

But here’s why this is worth sticking with: At a time when habitat loss, climate change and urban hazards have destroyed a third of the bird population in our time, the best remedy may be the powerful technologies that scientists are using to create more powerful conservation practices.

Archbold researcher Reed Bowman. Photo by Anders Gyllenhaal

One such story is running this week in The Miami Herald, about a radio telemetry system at the Archbold Biological Station in Central Florida where we visited a few months ago. The research project equips young Florida Scrub-jays with solar-powered tags that enable scientists to track their every waking move.

Scrub-jays, the only bird found exclusively in Florida, have steadily lost population to development as the state has grown into the country’s fourth most populated. Researchers think they can halt the jays’ decline if they understand how to make the most of the remaining scrub habitat, including a string of public lands through the state’s mid-section.

These studies are expensive and time-consuming, and they require a level of public and political support that doesn’t come easily. That’s why we think it’s worth coming back to these research projects and trying to tell the stories in detail. We hope you’ll take a moment to read this piece in the Herald, as well as earlier Flying Lessons posts on the Scrub-Jay, one about the striking character of this bird and another about the early findings on this study.

The base-station antenna that supports the research is installed by Michael Lanzone, head of Cellular Tracking Technologies, and lead researcher Young Ha Suh. Photo by Reed Bowman.

May 5, 2020 0 comment