News: Waterbirds & Waterfowl

[The Peregrine Chick]

Feel good story for a colder Friday ....

Team rescues Canada goose from icy pond

You will want to watch the video!!

This pond is from one of the constructed wetlands in one of the newer housing developments in Winnipeg.  The wetlands are constructed to act was stormwater systems but also work as wetlands cleaning the water and providing habitat for wildlife.  Interestingly, because it is a wetland with wetland vegetation in/around it rather than a pond with grass running to/near the water's edge, geese don't nest here - they move off to places where the vegetation is lower so they can see what might be coming to raid their nests.  These constructed wetlands are pretty neat actually, they are built usually before even the roads are installed so by the time the houses are being built, they are already doing their job to hold excess water and filter the water at the same time - so rarely are there algae blooms!  They also provide green spaces for residents, habitat for all sorts of wildlife - from the smallest water invertebrates to mammals of all sizes to a huge array of birds species.  They aren't mowed or cut back like more managed vegetation spaces rather they are "managed" with controlled burns every number of years to take out the accumulated old/dead vegetation which promotes healthy regeneration and prevents any particular plant species (including invasive species) from overwhelming the rest of the native plants which in turn helps keep the wetland healthy. 

As you can tell, I think these constructed wetlands in urban areas are kind of neat 

[carly]

Wow what an awesome sight to see!  Thank you for sharing that dupre501!

[dupre501]

'Goose Kindergarten' video goes viral
Dozens of Canada geese stopped traffic in Winnipeg, Manitoba this week.

In the video above two adult geese cross the road with dozens of goslings in tow. The footage was submitted to The Weather Network by Ed Solinske, and it's become a viral hit, racking up thousands of views.

The average Canada goose lays between 2 and 9 eggs each season but it isn't uncommon to see parents wandering the streets with two or three dozen goslings.

What you're seeing in the video above is referred to as a creche.

Canada geese will sometimes babysit, bringing goslings together in a kindergarten-style format.

Geese do this because there's safety in numbers. A group of goslings is far less vulnerable than one that's roaming solo.

It also frees up mature geese, allowing them to keep a protective eye over the entire flock.


https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/goose-kindergarten-video-goes-viral-creche

[The Peregrine Chick]

Third story today all looking at extinction events ... one is interesting but not really back from extinction, one is sad because we've let it get this far, maybe too far and the third, this one, a good news story, but with still a long way to go considering what caused their decline in the first place ...

Endangered bird returns to South Korea 40 years after extinction
John Sharman, The Independent / 22 May 2019



The endangered crested ibis has reportedly been reintroduced to South Korea 40 years after it went extinct in the Asian country.

Forty of the rare wading birds were bred in captivity before being released into the wild at Upo Wetland in South Gyeongsang province, southeast of Seoul, the Yonhap news agency reported. 

The last time a crested ibis was spotted on the Korean peninsula is believed to have been in 1979 when it was spotted in the demilitarised zone separating the south from North Korea.

The bird used to be a common sight until pesticide use reportedly damaged its food sources.

A designated national monument in South Korea, it is also seen in China and Japan.

The captive population in South Korea has now reached 363, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The breeding programme began with a birds donated by Beijing.

In South Korea the crested ibis is linked to an eponymous popular children’s song, composed when Japan ruled the country.

source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/crested-ibis-south-korea-endangered-return-extinct-a8925846.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

British Isles populations of iconic curlew once hundreds of thousands strong ‘to vanish within a decade’
Phoebe Weston, The Independent / 3 June 2019



Curlews could be erased from their heartlands across the British Isles within a decade because of intensive farming, which is destroying their wetland habitats.

The British Isles used to be home to hundreds of thousands of the large wading birds, named after their haunting “cur-lee” call, but could soon be left with just fractured remnants of populations in northern England and Scotland.

There are now only 300 breeding pairs in southern England, 400 in Wales and 500 in Northern Ireland, while figures in the Republic of Ireland have dropped to 138, according to the latest research published in Wader Study.

If these trends continue, Dr James Pearce-Higgins, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), estimates that the birds could disappear from the British Isles entirely within the next 50-100 years.

“The populations are on a steady downward trajectory … On that basis, the future doesn’t look good,” he said.

In the Republic of Ireland the population has dropped by 96 per cent in 30 years. As recently as the 1980s, there were 12,000 pairs. 

To put that into perspective, this decline is equivalent to the population of the Republic of Ireland dropping from 4.8 million to 200,000. This collapse has happened in just one generation.

Lead author of the new study, Dr Barry O’Donoghue, from the National Parks and Wildlife Service in Ireland, told The Independent: “If you talk to anybody’s grandparents they’ll tell you that curlews were in almost every farm in Ireland. They will tell you the memories the curlew call brings back for them of working in the bogs or in the meadows.

“In contrast, you talk to their grandchildren and they might not have even heard of a curlew, let alone heard its beautiful call. We’re losing part of our cultural heritage as much as our natural heritage.”



Historically, the birds lived across marshes, heathland and farmland. In 1942 they were still so common you could buy them from UK butchers, and in Cornwall they were served up in pies.

Now they are on the Red List as being the highest conservation priority. “In areas such as Ireland, Northern Ireland, southern England and Wales curlews could go extinct in 10 years or so,” said Daniel Brown, senior conservation advisor at RSPB.

“It’s a really special bird and has been synonymous with the hills and valleys across the UK for hundreds of years. Lots of people want to keep it in the landscape,” said Mr Brown.

There are eight species of curlew in the world, two of which are already believed to be extinct. The survival of curlews in the British Isles is critical to global survival of the species, as it is home to 25 per cent of the world’s breeding population.

However, there are still signs of hope. Conservationists are working with landowners and community groups on grassroots projects to improve habitats.

Conservation programmes involving academics and stakeholders are being created up and down the British Isles.

“Time will tell if it’s enough, but there’s definitely a real energy and determination for those involved. We don’t want to lose the bird that has sculpted our lives for generations,” said Dr O’Donoghue.


source: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/curlews-a8936031.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

Amazing to consider the chance of this happening once, let alone twice!

Bird that went extinct 136,000 years ago comes ‘back from the dead’ after evolving again
Andrew Griffin, The Independent / 10 May 2019

A bird that previously went extinct rose from the dead after it evolved all over again, scientists have found.

The last surviving flightless species of bird in the Indian Ocean, a type of rail, has actually been around before, the research found. It came back through a process called "iterative evolution", which saw it emerge twice over, the researchers found.

It means that on two separate occasions – tens of thousands of years apart – a species of rail was able to colonise an atoll called Aldabra. In both cases it eventually became flightless, and those birds from the latter time can still be found on the island now.

Iterative evolution happens when the same or similar structures evolve out of the same common ancestor, but at different times – meaning that the animal actually comes about twice over, completely separately.

This is the first time it has been seen in rails, and one of the most significant ever seen in a bird of any kind.

Read the rest of the article here - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bird-extinct-back-from-dead-madagascar-white-throated-rail-a8908211.html

PS - I've included on the Waterbirds Board because Rails are Waterbirds, even though this is a flightless one the size of a chicken.  Seemed wrong to include with the penguins and we don't really have a Flightless Bird Board ...

[The Peregrine Chick]

This is one of the coolest time-lapse videos I've seen recently ...

Stork nesting on Tower as wetland burns all around
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/gallery/wildfire-burns-behind-stork-who-has-nowhere-to-go-in-fascinating-video/sharevideo/6036710519001

(no worries, bird and nest are fine  )

[The Peregrine Chick]

So often birding stories are sad or bad ... this one, not so much 


image from the International Crane Foundation website


Return of injured Siberian crane celebrated ahead of World Migratory Bird Day
Source: Xinhua | 2018-10-14 23:51:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) - Qiangsheng, a Siberian crane whose name literally means "surviving gunshots," is a critically endangered migratory bird species on the IUCN red list.  Nobody had expected that the bird, whose wings and leg were gravely damaged by poachers' bullets, could fly thousands of miles to the Arctic Siberia where the white cranes breed.  Its rescuers never expected Qiangsheng to return to China. But after a few months, it did.

On Wednesday, Qiangsheng was spotted on a monitor, and its tracker data showed that it had come back to the wetland of Xianghai National Nature Reserve in the northeastern province of Jilin, after spending the summer in the Siberian tundra.  "Qiangsheng flew out of the country on May 14, returned to China on Oct. 9 and arrived at Xianghai Reserve at noon on Oct. 10, basically following the same route there and back," said professor Zhou Haixiang, a veteran ornithologist and member of China's State Committee of UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB).

For the Chinese volunteers who have been battling the poachers, the coming back of Qiangsheng was inspiring news ahead of World Migratory Bird Day on Saturday, the second such day within the year.  Even better, Qiangsheng might have participated in breeding activity this year, analyzed an expert based on data collected near the species' breeding areas.

SURVIVING GUNSHOTS

In March this year, Zhou and his team of volunteers found Qiangsheng with three bullet wounds in the wetlands of Liaohe River, in northeastern Liaoning Province. Its life was hanging by a thread.  The volunteers rushed the bird to Shenyang Predatory Birds Rescue Center, where a four-hour surgery managed to remove the bullets and save its life.  Qiangsheng's wings were shattered and had a broken leg. The volunteers had to bundle together eight of its primary flight feathers to hold its wing in place.  To avoid secondary damage caused by stress responses, Qiangsheng was released into Huanzidong Wetland Reserve in Liaoning shortly after the surgery.

Considering the severity of its wounds, the volunteers thought Qiangsheng would stay at the feeding site for the summer. But after only 50 days of unassisted recovery, it took off with his flock towards the Arctic tundra.  "On May 13, a flock of white cranes departed from Huanzidong Wetland in Faku District, Liaoning, and began their migration. By 5 p.m., the flock flew west by our location in Momoge Wetland," wrote Zhou in his journal.  "Qiangsheng landed 10 km north of us," he wrote, calling it "the white crane whom the volunteers are worried about the most."  Not even the experienced expert had foreseen that the crane, which had barely escaped death, could fly more than 400 km in one day.

FIGHTING POACHING

In the same location that Qiangsheng was found this spring, three other cranes were poisoned by poachers, including one of the only two young chicks of the flock born last year.  The chick and another adult died before rescuers reached them. The other crane was saved and set free a few days later.  After receiving the volunteers' report, Liaoning forest police established a special task force to investigate into the case. A few days later, three suspects were detained.

On Sept. 25, volunteers in Tianjin, a northern port city and important layover site for avian migration, reported two illegal sheds where captured wild birds were forcedly fattened and sold for meat. Over 100,000 birds were found in captivity.  In a matter of days, a joint operative was launched by state and municipal authorities, in which 19,800 law enforcement officers and volunteers conducted inspections of 12,518 risk sites and businesses as of Oct. 4.

China is determined to establish an ecological "red line" by 2020 that will make certain regions protected. Many wildlife experts in China and abroad, including Zhou Haixiang, have urged that wetlands, as a crucial habitat for biodiversity, should be included in the redlined areas to be "under mandatory and rigorous protection."  China plays a fundamental part in the global avian protection given its geographical importance along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the three major migration paths, experts said.

The Siberian crane, also known as white crane or snow crane, is one of the most threatened of the 15 cranes species remaining on Earth, with an estimated global population of 3,200 as of 2010 and a low reproductive rate.  Every year they fly to breed in the Arctic and spend the winter in warmer wetlands in Asia. They have one of the longest migrations among all cranes.  Their wintering site in Poyang in central China holds approximately 95 to 98 percent of the total population.

"May Qiangsheng fly free and prosper. May no harm ever be done to it or its kin," read a comment on the China Wildlife Conservancy Association's post on the crane's update in May.

source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/14/c_137532721.htm

[The Peregrine Chick]

Click on the photos of the tweet or the link below the tweet to go to the original posting if you want to see larger versions of the photos - they are worth taking a closer look at - all things we see in our own recycling or in the garbage - so a real think global act local moment (or I think so at least)

https://twitter.com/RobGMacfarlane/status/953632928097013760

[GCG]

CBC online reports of a Eurasian Crane in Churchill.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/blown-off-course-eurasian-crane-spotted-in-churchill-1.3104875

[Jazzerkins]

Absolutely precious!  I am so glad people stopped and helped them get to water. 

[Kinderchick]

Misplaced ducklings on Portage Ave. here in Winnipeg Tuesday afternoon. Great news story and video about them posted on the CBC website...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/06/05/mb-ducklings-cross-traffic-winnipeg.html

[Kinderchick]

Very interesting to read about The Great Crane Project in the UK. The egg is expected to hatch around May 25th if it is fertile. About the same hatching date as Princess & Ivy's date, I think.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Rare crane egg given 24-hour guard
The Guardian - 20 May 2013



The first common crane egg laid in western Britain for more than 400 years has been given a round-the-clock guard
full story - http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/20/rare-crane-egg-24-hour-guard


The cranes are Monty & Chris and are part of the Great Crane Project
http://www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk/blogs/damon-bridge/fantastic-news-monty-and-chris-are-incubating

[The Peregrine Chick]

Video

Madagascar Pochard Saved From Extinction: Tyne And Wear Animal Manager On His Experience

http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/video/17332/saving-a-species-one-ducklings-step-at-a-time