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Cedar Waxwings are dining their way north: Don’t miss the show

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

 

 

Here’s a delicious fact about Cedar Waxwings: They can strip a tree of its berries in such a rush the juice turns to wine and they get too buzzed to fly.

Robert Rice, a veteran bird scientist who spent his career with the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center, explained what happens: “They can eat so much fruit, it ferments in their gut and they go wobbly for a while,” Rice said.

Few other birds feast in such a mass frenzy, and the phenomenon is on display this time of year as bands of waxwings dine their way north from the lower U.S. and Central America and as far up as Canada.

It’s a magnificent sight, one I assumed I’d miss this year with our limited mobility. But the other day, wandering through the trees not 50 feet from our home, I noticed what looked like a new arrival. It was the first of a flock of Cedar Waxwings that gradually became an avalanche, all collecting insects as if their lives depended on it.

They began high in the trees, then gradually worked their way down to the lower branches. Today insects were on the menu, and one bird after another took a turn working the branches, all the while ignoring our presence as only the migration enables. It’s a gift to birders, and photographers, enabling closeup views you rarely are granted.

Flying Lesson: The Cedar Waxwing is a study in nature’s design, with touches of yellow, red and brown slashed across a form that is almost always in motion. A good bit of that motion is spent on its frantic feeding. They go overboard on that front as well.

This is a post we published at about this time last year as the waxwings came sweeping through town. We’re rerunning some of our most popular pieces this year while working on our book on conservation across the hemisphere, to be published in the spring of 2023 by Simon and Schuster. Watch for details as this gets closer.
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Taking off in a cloud, Snow Geese create a winter wonderland

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

KNOTTS ISLAND, N.C. — Suddenly the steady honking and squawking from this gaggle of Snow Geese shifts to a higher pitch, and one of nature’s great performances begins.

First just a few, then dozens, and finally hundreds of the bright white birds begin to rise up from a brackish pond on Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern North Carolina. Within seconds, every square inch of air is filled with flapping, wailing geese. The mass moves up, veers right and then left as if a conductor is guiding the cloud of snowy white.

The scene is mesmerizing, a gift for patient observers along the mid-Atlantic coast this time of year. Each gigantic cloud puts an exclamation point on an unusual story: At a time when most bird species are in decline, populations of Snow Geese are booming.

White Pelicans

They’re not hard to find — spread across marshes and fields from coastal New Jersey to the Carolinas — but it takes patience and a little luck to catch an entire flock on the wing.

After two days of searching, our moment came near dusk on the remote Knotts Island just south of Virginia Beach. This cluster of geese had been bobbing on the surface for hours before something, heaven knows what, startled them. Instantly they were clamoring toward the sky.

We’re closing the year by publishing the most popular posts of 2021 — which was our year of travel across the country. Each weekend, we’ll run an updated version of the original story, a kind of tour of the birdscape from North Carolina to Hawaii, Florida to Wyoming. We’ll feature Snow Geese, Sandpipers, Hummingbirds, Tree Swallows, Pileated Woodpeckers and Palilas, the rare the Hawaiian honeycreeper. We hope you’ll come along with us on the tour. But if you’d like to skip ahead or go back and read one you missed, click on the links on these birds. Wishing you a wonderful year of birding ahead. 
 

Tundra Swans, the second largest swans in North America, flying in formation over Mackay Island refuge.

Becky Harrison, the supervisory wildlife biologist at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge near Nags Head, N.C., saw the first arrivals in November. Their numbers gradually build toward a peak in mid-February.

There’s actually a trio of grand white birds that overwinters here, Harrison said. The Tundra Swan is the most elegant, the American White Pelican is the largest, but Snow Geese are the most impressive in their huge numbers.

Here’s a video of the scene: 

Snow Geese in the Pea Island refuge. Photo by Becky Harrison

Snow Geese spend their summers in the far north, breeding along the tundras of Canada and Alaska. They’re best known for their bright white plumage with black wing tips, for their powerful flight and for their ravenous appetites.

Snow Goose / Photo by Becky Harrison

Researchers aren’t sure what’s behind the growth in population that has brought them back from near extinction a century ago. They suspect that the warming climate undermining many species is working in the goose’s favor. Every fall hundreds of thousands migrate not only to the East, but also down the Mississippi to several lower Midwestern States and also to California’s Central Valley.

Not everyone is glad to see them.

“All these big birds,” said biologist Becky Harrison, standing under a Tundra Swan specimen, “they’re just so striking.”

At Mackay Island, refuge manager Mike Hoff said during the day the geese often feed on the crops and vegetation in fields several miles away. With their growing numbers, wildlife managers say they’re damaging vegetation on the tundras as well.

But when the birds return to the refuge each evening by the thousands, they are a sight to behold. Part of the Snow Geese’s success is thought to be how they stick together – whether flying in formation or resting in the marshes. When you add in the Tundra Swans and White Pelicans, the masses of white forms out on the water are one of the great wonders of winter birding.

 

Tundra Swans catch the last light of the day on Mackay Island.

And here’s a migration video that shows the annual migration routes of the Snow Geese across the U.S. and Canada:

And finally, here’s a gallery of the big white birds found along the eastern coast this time of year:

 

 

 

 

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The perfect gift: A wild warbler party on the gulf coast of Texas

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Prothonotary Warbler

Beverly’s favorite birds have always been warblers — the feisty, colorful world travelers that are among the hardest species to find. They’re shy, skittish and can move so quickly they’re often gone before you get a good look.

Last week was Beverly’s birthday, which just happened to fall on our stop along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. It was a warbler party every day, as thousands upon thousands had just arrived from their wintering grounds in Latin America and the Caribbean. These songbirds are famished and fatigued, and for once don’t seem to mind us humans hanging around.

Hooded Warbler: “Would you like a close up?”

Some of the birds we’ve encountered are old acquaintances, such as the Prothonotary and Hooded warblers. In other parts of the country and at other times of the year we’ve had to chase them for days to get just a glimpse. But on this trip along the Southern Gulf Coast, we’ve been seeing Prothonotaries at almost every turn. One recent day, a Hooded Warbler ambled around in the brush at my feet, as if saying, “How do I look from this angle?’’ and, “Would you like a close up?’’

Kentucky Warbler

Others are warblers we’d never seen before — the Kentucky, the Golden-winged and the Tennessee. At the Sabine Woods Bird Sanctuary on the Upper Texas Coast, the Golden-winged Warbler was so hungry that it fluttered from tree to bush, hanging like an acrobat, feeding furiously with every stop. It seemed oblivious to us as we followed along just a few yards away.

 

Golden-winged Warbler: An acrobat of a bird

Many types of warblers are getting harder to see because their numbers are going down. A host of forces are working against them: Much of their habitat is being lost to development, and they can fall behind in their breeding routine if insects and plants blossom ahead of schedule due to a warming climate. Warblers migrate thousands of miles twice a year, an exhausting journey that exposes them to hazards all along their routes, such as colliding into skyscrapers. Even something as innocuous as a house cat is a severe threat unless it’s kept inside. Outdoor cats kill millions and millions of birds, including warblers, every year in the United States alone.

Yellow Warbler

When you see warblers hit land just after their nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico, it’s easier to appreciate the breathtaking feat of migration. You can witness them jamming insects, fruit and worms down their throats in a glutinous spree that turns their beaks berry red. They’ve hardly swallowed, and it’s on to the next bite.

Migrators are traveling north on a mission, headed to their breeding grounds to claim a territory, find a mate and start a family. The males are dressed up in their springtime best for the courtship rituals ahead.

American Redstart (male)

While it’s hard to choose the most impressive warbler, I was struck this week with the near-neon glow of the black-and-orange America Redstart. Not long after we spotted the male, along came a female Redstart, so the fancy attire seemed to be working.

Thanks to the colorful feathers spring is the best time to see warblers, especially if you’re not used to looking for them. For the best chance, head out to the nearest woods or the edge of a brambly hedge between dawn and roughly 10 a.m., wear clothes in dull colors of leaves or twigs, bring binoculars, stay still and listen for high-pitched chirping and buzzing.

Blackburnian Warbler: Plumage like a sunset

Sometimes the late afternoon can be productive as well. We caught a Blackburnian Warbler at the top of a tree just as dusk descended. Its plumage shone like a sunset in the last light of the day, a blend of black, white, yellow and orange in lightning patterns across its head.

American Redstart (female)

Beverly’s love of warblers has only grown as we’ve gotten more familiar with them. That has meant I’ve spent many hours chasing them, too, trying for the perfect photograph, and as often as not, never getting more than a glimpse of these hyperactive birds. The truth is, I’ve come to be as captivated as she is by these birds and their stories.

Here’s a gallery of some of the warblers we’ve seen the past few weeks. As you can see, these are birthday gifts that don’t need wrapping – each different than the last, but all of uncommon beauty.

 

 

 

 

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FlightMigrationPhotography

Taking off in a cloud, Snow Geese create a winter wonderland

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

KNOTTS ISLAND, N.C. — Suddenly the steady honking and squawking from this gaggle of Snow Geese shifts to a higher pitch, and one of nature’s great performances begins.

First just a few, then dozens, and finally hundreds of the bright white birds begin to rise up from a brackish pond on Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern North Carolina. Within seconds, every square inch of air is filled with flapping, wailing geese. The mass moves up, veers right and then left as if a conductor is guiding the cloud of snowy white.

The scene is mesmerizing, a gift for patient observers along the mid-Atlantic coast this time of year. Each gigantic cloud puts an exclamation point on an unusual story: At a time when most bird species are in decline, populations of Snow Geese are booming.

White Pelicans

They’re not hard to find — spread across marshes and fields from coastal New Jersey to the Carolinas — but it takes patience and a little luck to catch an entire flock on the wing.

After two days of searching, our moment came near dusk on the remote Knotts Island just south of Virginia Beach. This cluster of geese had been bobbing on the surface for hours before something, heaven knows what, startled them. Instantly they were clamoring toward the sky.

Tundra Swans, the second largest swans in North America, flying in formation over Mackay Island refuge.

Becky Harrison, the supervisory wildlife biologist at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge near Nags Head, N.C., saw the first arrivals in November. Their numbers gradually build toward a peak in mid-February.

There’s actually a trio of grand white birds that overwinters here, Harrison said. The Tundra Swan is the most elegant, the American White Pelican is the largest, but Snow Geese are the most impressive in their huge numbers.

Here’s a video of the scene: 

Snow Geese in the Pea Island refuge. Photo by Becky Harrison

Snow Geese spend their summers in the far north, breeding along the tundras of Canada and Alaska. They’re best known for their bright white plumage with black wing tips, for their powerful flight and for their ravenous appetites.

Snow Goose / Photo by Becky Harrison

Researchers aren’t sure what’s behind the growth in population that has brought them back from near extinction a century ago. They suspect that the warming climate undermining many species is working in the goose’s favor. Every fall hundreds of thousands migrate not only to the East, but also down the Mississippi to several lower Midwestern States and also to California’s Central Valley.

Not everyone is glad to see them.

“All these big birds,” said biologist Becky Harrison, standing under a Tundra Swan specimen, “they’re just so striking.”

At Mackay Island, refuge manager Mike Hoff said during the day the geese often feed on the crops and vegetation in fields several miles away. With their growing numbers, wildlife managers say they’re damaging vegetation on the tundras as well.

But when the birds return to the refuge each evening by the thousands, they are a sight to behold. Part of the Snow Geese’s success is thought to be how they stick together – whether flying in formation or resting in the marshes. When you add in the Tundra Swans and White Pelicans, the masses of white forms out on the water are one of the great wonders of winter birding.

 

Tundra Swans catch the last light of the day on Mackay Island.

And here’s a migration video that shows the annual migration routes of the Snow Geese across the U.S. and Canada:

And finally, here’s a gallery of the big white birds found along the eastern coast this time of year:

 

 

 

 

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Bird of the WeekBirds storiesMigrationPhotography

A Prothonotary Warbler comes calling on a visit like no other

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

We’re winding up the year sharing the most popular  — and we hope most compelling — Flying Lesson stories from 2020.  Most of the posts are profiles of bird encounters, including this story of a Prothonotary Warbler we crossed paths with for a visit we still treasure.  We’re posting one of the highlight pieces each Sunday this month.

All warblers are wonderful to watch, particularly males in the spring. Nature gives them fresh feathers, all the better to snare a mate. For some warblers, spring markings and colors intensify to the point that they look nothing like their normal selves.

My favorite is the Prothonotary Warbler.

Of the 37 species in the Eastern U.S., the male Prothonotary is the only one that glows. His head is a saturated yellow-orange, earning him the nickname “Golden Swamp Warbler.”

Finding a Prothonotary feels like finding that last, hopelessly hidden Easter egg. You have to see it to fully appreciate it, and every time, he takes my breath away.

Yesterday we got lucky. A male in its full spring splendor shot out from under the bridge where Anders and I were standing and headed straight for a bush not 10 feet away and directly in front of us. In the past four years, we’ve seen this bird four times in four states without the lengthy encounter that this little bird gave us.

The visit was a photographer’s delight – perfect late afternoon light and a bird so hungry he foraged out in the open for a good 15 minutes.

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How is a warbler like an apple-glazed donut? Both are impossible to resist.

by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal

There’s a spot on the boardwalk next to the Town Hall in Duck, N.C., that everyone knows is famous for doughnuts. This morning dozens of customers wait in line for up to half an hour, and the fall menu boasts flavors like Pumpkin Streusel, Pumpkin Roll and Maple Bacon.

A.Chestnut-sided Warbler, one of the many warblers passing through the Duck boardwalk region. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal.

Only a few yards away there’s another place that should be famous, but very few people have ever heard of it. Here, atop the live oaks and the willows is a different fall menu — the Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Black-and-White, Prairie, Palm, Black-throated Blue and Northern Parula warblers.

Doughnuts are my weakness — oh the lengths I will go and the calories I’m willing to trade. Today at the donut shop there’s a deliciously wicked autumn confection called Caramel Apple Pie (apple glaze with salted caramel drizzle), and my stomach is growing. 

These flavors won’t be around for long, but neither will the fall warblers – hands down my favorite birds.

Many of them have flown in from their nesting grounds in Canada and the Northeast, touching down on the Outer Banks only long enough to fatten up for the next leg of a journey to the Gulf of Mexico, then across the waves to their wintering grounds in Latin America. According to eBird, there’s a darn good chance of spotting 15 types of warblers and a “reasonable” chance of seeing 11 others along the boardwalk today between the Methodist Chapel and the Duck Donuts shop. That’s almost a third of all the warblers found in the U.S.

Here’s a video of a Black-throated Green Warbler, frantically collecting fuel for its migration: 

 

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Spring migration helped save our sanity; can the fall migration finish the job?

by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal

Last spring, in the midst of the monotonous stay-at-home months, the spring migration not only saved the sanity of many but it helped launch a wave of new birders who discovered the wonders of the avian world just outside their windows.

As the fall migration gets started, it’s time to get back on the trails and pick up where we left off. If you are new to birding, there are some important things to know.

Juvenile Bald Eagles look nothing like the white-headed adults they will become. Photo by Anders Gyllenhaal

First off, a lot of birds will look much different than they did a few months before, making identifications tricky. That’s because some species, particularly male warblers, shed their brilliant breeding feathers, and the new ones aren’t nearly so distinct and colorful. Some guidebooks go so far as to call the fall birds drab.

To make matters more complicated, many young birds, eagles and gulls for example, are all splotchy and streaked and look nothing like their black-and-white parents.

Before you head out, it’s helpful to page through a guidebook to compare the fall and spring birds. And if you haven’t yet used the Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is the time to start. Merlin is a free bird identification wizard that combines science, data and your cell phone’s geolocation. All you have to do is answer three simple questions, and the list of possible birds pops right up on your screen. Click here for more info.

The startling page of the Merlin Bird ID app

The good news is that the fall migration offers a lot of chances to practice your identification skills. This is a slow-motion show that stretches from mid-summer through the beginning of January. If you happen to miss one group, never fear. Billions of birds from hundreds of species are close behind, with ducks and geese generally bringing up the rear. Even within the same species, a few birds can arrive early and a few will be stragglers.

The timing varies depending on where you live.

Ducks like these Blue-winged Teals move south late in the migration.

For new birders busy building a life list of sightings, knowing exactly what to see when and where can be vexing – especially in a time of social distancing. Fall is usually a great time to take birding walks led by experts from local Audubon chapters, nature centers and at fall birding festivals. (While these group outings aren’t available for Fall 2020, another option might be to hire a private guide. Google “birding tour guides” for your location of interest.)

One other helpful tool is called BirdCast, a joint project between the Colorado State University, Cornell and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, that provides real-time projections on its website and in alerts about the amount of migrating birds around the country. BirdCast even has a tool where you can search your area for real-time alerts as to how prevalent migrating birds are on any given night. Click here.

A sample of a BirdCast map, showing the highest migration action in the Upper Midwest and across the South. You can get projections for your area simply by plugging in your location.

Developed over 20 years, the concept tracks the daily flow of birds during the migrations, which is useful for protecting birds, conservation efforts and also to help birders know when the chances are best of seeing birds. Much of the migration action is aloft at night, but birdwatchers can improve their chances of spotting birds the following days on the ground.

And here’s a portion of a post we wrote last spring about the expansion of Cornell’s newest and most powerful tool for birders that will help with your fall migration planning. These are beautiful and information-rich maps and animations that track most of the North American species over each month of the year. You can find a complete list of the maps by species here on the Cornell website.

The full development of these maps are so valuable to birders that Beverly and I couldn’t agree on what’s most important here. So we thought we’d each make our case and let you come to your own conclusions.

Canada Warbler / Photo by James Hully, Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Beverly: The best way to appreciate this work is to start by looking at one of these animations. They’re beautiful, with patches of bright colors flowing back and forth across a map of the hemisphere that represent migrating birds week by week throughout the year.  I think these are the most compelling — and entertaining — of all the maps and illustrations that come under Cornell’s eBird umbrella. 

For example, here’s an animation of how the tiny Canada Warbler travels the length of the hemisphere twice a year. 

Not only can you watch the warblers’ weekly progress from far north Canada to Latin America and back, but you can use these maps to help figure out when they’re like to pass by you. And when you’re trying to find a bird you’ve never seen before, knowing exactly when the largest flocks are arriving is a huge help.

Anders: The point is that animations like the Canada Warbler, along with abundance, range and breeding maps, now exist for 610 species, which make up the bulk of the species in North America, in archives Cornell calls status and trends maps.

The lab began putting these together about two years ago as a way to convert their raw bird data into practical maps and show how birds move through the seasons of the year. The first batch of maps covered about 20 percent of the species, but the addition of the rest of the species opens all sorts of possibilities for comprehensive research and conservation approaches.

“This is a big jump in terms of the utility of the data project,’’ said Daniel Fink, a senior research associate at the Cornell Lab.

Go to the end of this post for a summary of the full lineup of birding options from Cornell. 

Beverly: Any dedicated birder will be excited about the research and conservation possibilities. But the reason to put a focus on the birders in all of this is that we are helping to create the data.

Every time birders file checklists of species on their eBird app, Cornell collects the data in the first step of the process. Each checklist tells the number of birds spotted and exactly where they were.

As eBird has gained traction, the number of users has risen dramatically — with a total of 500,000 regular users to date who together have filed about 42 million checklists. That’s a lot of birds.

In the past two years alone, the number of visitors to eBird overall has nearly doubled, jumping from 2.6 million in 2017 to 5.2 million in 2019, said Ian Davies, the eBird project coordinator. About half of those visitors submit checklists of the birds they see that, once enhanced by radar and weather data, is the raw material for Cornell’s maps and animations.

“I never fail to be amazed at the collective power of people who appreciate birds,” said Davies. “None of this would be possible without people who care about birds.”

Anders: That’s a really important point, and I would guess one of the reasons contributors are increasing so much is because birders understand how our checklists serve the greater good.

Amanda Rodewald

Amanda Rodewald, director of conservation science at the lab and an ornithology professor at Cornell, said wildlife managers and bird organizations are using the data and maps to guide conservation plans — including more targeted measures than weren’t possible in the past.

One of the best examples is in California’s Central Valley, one of the nation’s agricultural centers that doubles as a flyway for birds. Biologists are working with farmers to flood their fields during a few weeks of migration to provide stopover for migrating birds. 

This has dramatically increased the birds coming through, and also enables farming on those fields for all but a few weeks of the year.

“This project gives us so much more information from which we’re able to make really good decisions about the kind of conservation actions that are needed,’’ Rodewald said.

Beverly: The great thing about using these apps for birding is that you get back as much as you’re giving. 

Every time you file a checklist, you’re building a lifetime list of every bird you’ve ever seen. Cornell stores the information online in your personal account, and you can refer back to your checklists at any time or download your own data. You can also see the checklists of other birders to figure out which species you’re most likely to see, and where, on any given day. We almost always use eBird to help us choose where to go birding — and even at what time of day. We use the companion app called Merlin Bird ID to help us immediately identify birds we don’t yet know. I still can’t believe it’s all free.

Anders: The last point to make is that this data and mapping provides the research firepower at a time when understanding the science of birds can help protect them.

Scientists once had to work from rough estimates of bird populations, and mere guesses about migration. Now they can draw on precision data on what birds are doing, how many there are and where they’re going.

In the last year alone, we’ve seen some of the most important avian research of our times, including major studies on the loss of about a third of the bird population, shifts in the timing of migration in North America and the likely impacts of climate change on birds. All told, eBird data has been used in about 300 scientific studies around the world. 

“The data allows us just an unparalleled lens into the movement, the distribution and the abundance of birds,’’ said Cornell’s Amanda Rodewald.

The Barn Swallow is one of 610 species featured in maps and animations./ Photo by Brian E. Kushner, provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Cornell data on birds comes in several forms, all free and each with different strengths. The most useful and portable for the birder in the field is found on the eBird smartphone app, which draws from raw data and is the most up to date guidance on where birds can be found. The eBird app is also how you file checklists and keep up with your life list. The companion Merlin Bird ID smartphone app can help you identify birds you see. On the Cornell eBird website, you can find a wealth of maps and species data. For maps and species information, go to the Explore section of the website. You’ll find an introduction to the status and trends maps that are the subject of this post under the Science section of the Cornell website. With so many places you can go for data, it can be confusing to find your way. But if you learn to use all these tools, they provide excellent guidance for finding species, understanding their practices and habitat and tracking their paths through the year.

Beverly: Let’s wind things up with an animation, this one of the Barn Swallow, another long-distance migratory bird that travels from Canada to the southernmost reaches of South America. It’s fall, and all these birds are headed our way. I can’t wait to get out there and start counting!

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Beverly's Birding BasicsBirdingFlying Lessons essayHow we're birding nowMigration

You’ve started down the path to becoming a birder. What next?

by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal

     Let’s say you started birding in the pandemic, bought binoculars, and now you’re hooked. You can identify the songbirds and woodpeckers in your neighborhood. So what happens next? 

A Chestnut-sided Warbler we found in Massachusetts this summer. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal

     I’ve been thinking a lot about that question while hiking through an Audubon sanctuary in western Massachusetts, peering through bushes looking for fist-sized birds that have no interest in being seen.

      Time is of the essence.  The American Redstarts, Chestnut-sided Warblers, the Black-and-Whites, the Yellow Warblers and all the other varieties that spend the summer here will start migrating south any day.

    Not that long ago, I didn’t know a warbler from a sparrow. So exactly what does it take to become a good birder? Once you’ve moved past the cardinals, blue jays and robins, what’s keeping you from finding the Indigo Bunting or a Rose-breasted Grosbeak?

A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

   Becoming a birder is a process, and it could go any number of ways. Some of it depends on your personality,  how much time you have and how mobile you are. Do you like to collect things? Do you crave the thrill of the hunt? What’s your frustration tolerance?

   Let’s say you’ve spotted a bird you can’t identify. Would you rather use a book to compare diagnostic markings such as eye rings and the color of a bird’s bill and feet? Or would you prefer a phone app designed to help you identify the bird easily and instantly. Perhaps you’d want a fellow human who can guide your way.

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Rebuilding troubled species takes decades of patience and persistence

by Anders Gyllenhaal
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.

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