News: Songbirds, Swifts & Hummingbirds

[burdi]

Trouble in Manitoba’s golden-winged warblers population

NOVEMBER 28, 2017 — Manitoba offers a special home to golden-winged warblers and until recently we were thought to have the most genetically pure populations of these striking songbirds. But new research suggests this is changing.

Link to entire story: https://news.umanitoba.ca/manitobas-golden-winged-warblers-worlds-last-pure-population-touched-by-local-and-distant-conservation-problems/

[burdi]

Four rare chimney swift chicks that tumbled from a chimney in Lower Fort Garry have been rehabilitated.

Read the news story here: Rare chicks rescued in Manitoba catch flight to Ontario before heading south

[Jazzerkins]

I hope there is a follow-up to tell all that are interested what exactly the message was.  I am now very curious.

[The Peregrine Chick]

This is very very cool .... but its from a few years ago, which seems appropriate ...


World War II Carrier Pigeon With Coded Message Found In England
Huffington Post - 2 Nov 2012

A retired probation officer in England cleaning out his chimney recently was startled to sweep up a 70-year-old secret amid the soot: the skeleton of a World War II carrier pigeon with a coded message still attached to its leg.


Read the rest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/world-war-ii-carrier-pigeon-surrey_n_2057149.html

[Kinderchick]

Thanks for sharing this link, Jazz. 

[Jazzerkins]

Here is a link for a hummingbird cam in Texas.  Hope you enjoy it.

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/50/West_Texas_Hummingbirds/#_ga=1.118311689.1246567654.1408030501

[Kinderchick]

Lovely blog & hummer photos! Thanks for sharing, gemcity.

[GCG]

This newsletter was sent by Eaglejim (Dayton Ohio) No recent sightings of Cindy and Jim, the resident eagles of Dayton, so he wrote about flight and the Wright Brothers. As another Daytonian living here in Winnipeg, I am proud to share.

https://eastwoodeaglewatchers.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/the-wonders-of-flight/#comments

[burdi]

Very interesting story.

I wish this little bird a happy life.

[GCG]

A very happy ending. Thank you for sharing! 

[Kinderchick]

Now that was a very interesting read! Thanks for posting, TPC.

[The Peregrine Chick]

Hummingbird found in flower bouquet in Victoria set free
May 9, 2015 / Cindy E. Harnett / Times Colonist



A rehabilitated baby hummingbird that survived being stored in a fridge, wrapped in an Easter bouquet and carted four hours in a Victoria-bound refrigerated van was set free Friday.  The SPCA’s Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre in Metchosin sent the seven-week old hummingbird, patient No. 15-202, buzzing away after more than a month of care.

“It was a fascinating story and quite a journey for this little bird,” said Wild ARC manager Kari Marks. “He lived through the initial ordeal, coming down here from Courtenay, and has done well since.”

While other Victorians were finding hidden eggs during the Easter holiday last month, Nancy Packard found a live hummingbird in an Easter bouquet of roses, lilies and chrysanthemums from Courtenay Fifth Street Florist.  Packard heard buzzing coming from her bouquet and thought a bee might be trapped inside. She carefully peeled back the cellophane to find the bird with its feet stuck to the tape on the packaging.  Packard’s son untangled the bird’s tiny feet, but it wouldn’t fly away. It just kept peeping and chirping, even more as it warmed up.

When the bird was unable to draw liquid from a feeder, Packard put it in a box and drove it to Wild ARC.  Staff immediately recognized the bird as a fledgling Anna’s hummingbird, common on Vancouver Island.  The bird was not feeding because it was only weeks old, Marks said. 
The bird was fed with a small syringe. Three days later, it was feeding itself and soon didn’t want human contact or attention, which is normal, said senior wildlife rehabilitator Christina Carrieres.  The hummingbird flew away Friday, weighing 4.5 grams.

Fifth Street Florist owner Steven Meier said a tiny bird’s nest was discovered underneath the shop’s salal greenery, which is added to the flower arrangements.  Meier said the “miracle” bird could have been in the salal stored in the flower shop’s back cooler for days.  Marks said the cold storage might have helped the hummingbird by slowing down its usually fast metabolism. Wild ARC treats about 80 hummingbirds a year, most the victims of cats, said Carrieres. But patient No. 15-202 was special.

“He flew straight up and strongly so,” Marks said of releasing the hummingbird. “He was a very spunky little bird.”


source:  http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/hummingbird-found-in-flower-bouquet-in-victoria-set-free-1.1929604

[The Peregrine Chick]

Birds in the Maritimes are starving, unable to find food in deep snow
TWN News / Katie Jones reporting

Saturday, April 11, 2015, 3:36 PM -   Maritime residents are being asked to come to the aid of starving birds across the region in the midst of persisting cold temperatures and heavy snow.

Piles of snow left behind by months of wintry storms still cover much of the ground across the Maritime provinces, preventing birds from foraging for food.

The issue has become a growing concern as it coincides with the beginning of spring. A lack of proper food sources is taking the greatest toll on migratory birds that have recently returned from the south.

The delayed start to the spring season is hindering birds from getting to the bugs, worms and seeds that they typically feast on at this time of year.


Read the rest of the story and view videos & photos at TWN News - Birds in the Maritimes are starving unable to find food in deep snow

[The Peregrine Chick]

This from a birders e-loop I listen in on ... made me smile ...

Hi guys today Amélie from Beaverhill Bird Observatory, Alberta retrap one of our birds.. Yes we say our bird, because we band it...it's not your birds, no way...but I guess she is super happy.(we are too, of course)

A least Flycatcher who flew 4100+km (2547 miles) from may 5 2013 Minatitlan, southern Veracruz State to may 28, 2014. Alberta, in the middle of nowhere..

A wonderful link between México and Canada...

Please don't close your nets, we are sending more birds, yesterday an alder Flycatcher and the last very late Gray Catbird... an we are ready to receive yours for the next fall...


... bird banders are such happy odd creatures when one of "theirs" turns up ... even in the middle of nowhere .... 

[The Peregrine Chick]

Pope's peace doves attacked by crow and seagull
Associated Press / 26 January 2014   

Fate of white doves unclear after being released by children standing alongside pontiff in front of crowd in St Peter's Square

Two white doves that were released as a peace gesture by children standing alongside Pope Francis were attacked by other birds.  As tens of thousands of people watched in St Peter's Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace.  One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove. It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off.

Speaking at the window beforehand, Francis appealed for peace in Ukraine, where anti-government protesters have died.


link to source (with photos): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/26/pope-doves-attacked-by-crow-seagull-st-peters-square