Traveling South? There is an eBird Site for You

Do you have a trip planned to escape the cold grip? Perhaps you are traveling to a place where Vermont birds spend the winter? Help us track migrant birds wherever they go with eBird.

To help learn about Vermont's summer songsters during the winter, we'd like to announce the launch of Hispaniola eBird , an initiative of the Hispaniola Ornithological Society, the Audubon Society of Haiti, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and the National Aviary, in conjunction with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. This is the regional eBird project for the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the birthplace of John James Audubon. The island of Hispaniola has a rich and amazing avifauna with 31 endemic bird species, and we welcome the chance to help learn more about these birds through the inclusion of this island in the eBird database.

At Hispaniola eBird you'll find information specific to birding on the island, and you'll be able to learn more about the birds of this amazing place! Visit Hispaniola eBird and record your past and present observations today.

Wherever your travels take you, there is an eBird portal for you. Here are some that have recently become available for your southern adventures:

Mexico

U.S. Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico

Or, you can enter and explore data anywhere outside of Vermont on the main eBird site. Happy trails!

For more information on summer-winter bird links, check out Partners In Flight, which VINS is an active member.

Vermont Bird Notes 10/27/2006

Snowing Geese!

Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area looks like a snow globe that was just shook. An eagle just crossed the field above the thousands of languid snow geese, erupting them into a noisy and confused whirlwind across the blue sky.

Dead Creek is a migration stopover site for the larger of the two snow geese races, the greater snow goose. The geese stop to refuel on plant stems and roots as well as corn waste left in fields.

These birds nest in the eastern Canadian Arctic and along the western tip of Greenland. They first stop on the St. Lawrence River during migration and then continue down the Richelieu River and Champlain Valley, eventually arriving on wintering grounds in coastal marshes stretching from New Jersey to North Carolina.

A hundred years ago, the world population of greater snow geese was estimated at 3,000. Their numbers have grown dramatically in recent years from 100,000 in 1970 to over one million today. Changes in feeding habits, establishment of sanctuaries, and restrictions on hunting contributed to this dramatic increase.

Biologists now consider them to be overabundant. During the 1980s and 1990s, a subsistence hunt by the Inuit of the eastern Arctic and a fall recreational hunt in southern Canada and the eastern United States were permitted. Since 1999, a special spring conservation harvest has been permitted in Canada to reduce the harmful effects of these large populations on the Arctic habitats where the geese breed. The population increase has stopped and there are signs of a recent decrease.
The sight of thousands of snow geese at Dead Creek in October is one of the most exciting wildlife spectacles you can find in Vermont. As many as 20,000 greater snow geese stop here during October and early November. Vermont Fish and Wildlife provides a telephone recording (802-759-2398) reporting the number of snow geese present at Dead Creek each week. On October 23rd there were 2,000 snow geese.

Other waterfowl reported at Dead Creek last week included Canada geese, pintails, green-winged teal, mallards, black ducks and a ruddy duck. Also, 30 American pipits were reported on the 21st.

Common loons are moving southward down Lake Champlain with 26 reported off Grand Isle on October 18th and 21 on the 22nd. A little gull was seen on Grand Isle on the 16th and 22nd of October.

A late-migrating black-throated blue warbler was seen in Colchester on October 18th. A Wilson’s warbler was sighted at Lake Pinneo in Quechee on the 16th. The largest flock of white-crowned sparrows reported consisted of 50 birds in Hartland.

You can explore all the birds reported last week in Vermont and add your own sightings at Vermont eBird.

Kent McFarland, Conservation Biologist

Mercury in Vermont Air Linked to Power Plants

UNDERHILL, Vt. -Environmental Protection Agency computer models, developed as the federal agency prepared emission rules for coal-fired power plants, showed that no mercury from their stacks would fall on Vermont.

But it does, say scientists working at the Proctor Maple Research Center in Underhill.

Researcher Eric Miller from Ecosystems Research Group and a collaborator on songbird mercury research by VINS biologists, who has been collecting the data, said it shows that spikes in airborne mercury in Vermont follow periods of hours or days in which air stagnates over a coal-fired power plant in Ohio or Pennsylvania.

The EPA computer models "show a zero for the effect of power plants on mercury deposition in Vermont," Miller said last week. "Their model world doesn't jibe with the real world we are measuring."

Miller's findings could help Vermont and other states that are pushing for tougher mercury controls on power plants. They have long maintained that prevailing west winds make New England the tail pipe to emissions from inland parts of the country.

Miller said the biggest jump in airborne mercury during his sampling was Aug. 31, 2005, when air that was over Vermont had spent the previous days stalled near coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania.

The EPA has justified its reading of the science by maintaining that much of the airborne mercury it hears complaints about comes from China and other sources outside the United States.

Miller said his is one of several studies that have raised questions about the EPA's approach.

"If we want to address trying to lower the amount of mercury getting into our environment, we have to have an accurate understanding of the sources responsible," Miller said.

Read article in Burlington Free Press.

Vermont Weekly Bird Notes -- 20 October

Among songbirds that regularly migrate through Vermont each fall, the American pipit is one of the most inconspicuous and seldom observed species. This slender, drab bird of open habitats superficially resembles a sparrow, but is distinguished by its thin bill and tail-bobbing habit. Pipits are more likely to be heard than seen, as birds flying overhead frequently give their short, dry “pip-it” call. Pipits are most likely to be found in sparsely-vegetated areas along shorelines and in fields, especially in the Champlain Valley, where flocks of several to 50 or more birds can be seen walking or running as they forage for invertebrates.

In Vermont, American pipits typically arrive in mid-September, and maximum numbers are recorded in mid- to late October. The Goose Viewing Area at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area is a reliable spot to find these birds, especially in plowed fields or pastures with very short grass. Recent pipit sightings have been reported from the Charlotte Town Beach and Dead Creek, and a flock of up to 40 birds has been seen in a Fairfax farm field over the past two weeks.

Although the great majority of American pipits breed on the arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska, a few populations nest in alpine meadows on isolated mountaintops. In the Northeast, only two small, widely separated breeding “colonies” are known – one on Mt. Washington, the other on Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Anyone wishing to see pipits on their home turf should drive up the Mt. Washington toll road in June to an area called the “Cow Pasture”, at about 5000 feet elevation. Listen for the high-pitched, somewhat jingling notes of the male’s flight display song.

Other birding highlights during the past week included 4-5,000 snow geese, with two brant, at Dead Creek, and three little gulls on Lake Chaplain off Grand Isle. Sparrows have now replaced warblers through most of Vermont, with reports of the season’s first American tree sparrows in So. Starksboro on October 15^th, an early fox sparrow in Huntington on the 13^th, a Lincoln’s sparrow in Quechee on the 10^th, and 15 white-crowned sparrows in Shelburne on the same date. Ten rusty blackbirds were observed at Dead Creek on October 10. This species has become an increasingly rare sight in Vermont, as populations have declined throughout its extensive breeding range in wet forests and wooded swamps of northern New England, Canada, and Alaska.

You can learn about all bird sightings the past week and more on Vermont eBird.

Chris Rimmer -- VINS Conservation Biology

New Book Features Sections by VINS Biologists

The Outside Story is an anthology of new essays contributed by more than two dozen New Hampshire and Vermont writers, including four VINS conservation biologists - Steve Faccio, Dan Lambert, Chris Rimmer and Kent McFarland.

These essays explore a broad range of topics, from acid rain to garter snake mating, native fish to exotic ladybugs, deeryards to deer hunting—all written by and for a local audience and organized in an easy-to-browse, monthly format.

Chuck Wooster and Kevin Peterson will be on NHPR’s “The Exchange” between 9 and 10 AM on October 20th to talk about the book.

You can learn more about the book at http://www.theoutsidestory.org/.

Some Pollinator Populations Declining; Improved Monitoring and More Biological Knowledge Needed to Better Assess Their Status

Long-term population trends for some North American pollinators -- bees, birds, bats, and other animals and insects that spread pollen so plant fertilization can occur -- are "demonstrably downward," says a new report from the National Research Council. However, there is little or no population data for many pollinators, which prompted the committee that wrote the report to call for stepped-up efforts to monitor these creatures and improve understanding of their basic ecology.

In order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants -- including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs, and fuel -- rely on pollinators for fertilization, and farmers often lease thousands of colonies of bees to ensure pollination. Research indicates that shortages of pollinators for agriculture already exist and that decreases in wild pollinator populations could disrupt ecosystems in the future. "Despite its apparent lack of marquee appeal, a decline in pollinator populations is one form of global change that actually has credible potential to alter the shape and structure of terrestrial ecosystems," said committee chair May R. Berenbaum, Swanlund Chair, entomology department, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The report notes that much more data have been gathered on pollinators in Europe, where researchers have definitively documented declines and even extinctions. Nevertheless, there was sufficient evidence for the committee to conclude that some North American species are in decline, especially the honeybee. Honeybees are crucial to agriculture, pollinating more than 90 commercially grown crops; for example, it takes about 1.4 million colonies of honeybees to pollinate 550,000 acres of almond trees in California. Studies show that U.S. honeybee populations have dropped since the 1980s, when a non-native parasitic mite was introduced, although the full extent of the decline is unclear because of problems with the way the federal government collects statistics on the beekeeping industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service should improve its methods for surveying honeybee populations, and do so on a yearly basis, the committee said.

The shortage is significant enough, however, that honeybees had to be imported from outside North America last year for the first time since 1922, when the Honeybee Act banned such imports for fear they would introduce non-native pests. Such fears are still justified, the committee warned, recommending that USDA and relevant agencies in Canada and Mexico take steps to prevent the introduction of new pests, parasites, and pathogens if bees are imported.

Antibiotic-resistant pathogens and encroachment by Africanized honeybees also are hurting North American honeybee levels, the committee noted. It recommended that USDA support research to improve pest-management and bee-breeding practices.

Long-term trends for several wild bee species -- especially bumblebees -- as well as some butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds also show population drops, the committee found. However, it emphasized that a paucity of data on most wild pollinators, together with incomplete knowledge of their taxonomy and ecology, make authoritative assessments exceedingly difficult.

The causes of decline in wild pollinators vary by species and are difficult to determine, the report says. Like the honeybee, the bumblebee has been hurt by the introduction of a non-native parasite. Many pollinator declines are associated with habitat loss, although U.S. data often are inadequate to link the two definitively; one exception is the drop in the bat population, which can be attributed to destruction of cave roosts.

To better track wild pollinators in North America, the United States should collaborate with Canada and Mexico to form a network of long-term monitoring projects, the committee recommended. A rapid, one-time survey should be conducted as soon as possible to establish baseline data to which future assessments can be compared. USDA also should support research to improve the quick identification of pollinator species, which is very difficult in the field.

Although the consequences of wild pollinator declines for nonagricultural settings are more difficult to define, one result could be a greater vulnerability of some plant species to extinction, the report adds. Few plants rely on a single pollinator, but certain species could be at increased risk.

Effective conservation and restoration of pollinator populations requires a level of knowledge that does not yet exist, the committee determined. It urged USDA and other federal agencies to support research aimed at the sustainable management of these populations. In the meantime, landowners can take simple and relatively inexpensive steps to make habitats more "pollinator friendly," for instance by growing native plants. Encouraging such practices will require active public outreach, the committee pointed out.

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), representing several agencies and organizations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico dedicated to raising awareness of this issue, requested the Research Council report. It was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Academies, and the Research Council's Division on Earth and Life Studies. NAPPC will hold a symposium on pollinators, including a presentation of this report, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the USDA in Washington, D.C.; see for more details.

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Status of Pollinators in North America are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu.

Weekly Bird Notes - 13 October

Most people associate gulls with trash heaps, but one gull regularly found in Vermont is noticeably absent from dumps, compost piles, and fast-food parking lots. Several thousand Bonaparte’s Gulls can be found on Lake Champlain throughout September and October. These small gulls prefer to feed in the middle of the lake making it necessary to use a powerful spotting scope or boat to see one well.

It is a rewarding experience if you do happen to see a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls. These gulls are aerial acrobats. They feed like a tern by hovering over the water looking for small fish, at which point they tuck in their wings and plunge into the water. Hard-core birders seek out these flocks to look for really rare gulls, like Little Gull and Black-headed Gull, that like to mingle with Bonaparte’s. There are only ten Little and 13 Black-headed Gull records in Vermont.

Bonaparte’s Gulls breed in the boreal forests of Canada and winter along both coasts and the Great Lakes. They are the only gulls that regularly nest in trees. Imagine trudging through a marsh searching for a small stick nest built in a coniferous tree above eye level. Add to that the fact that the nests are spaced far apart and you are harassed by the gulls long before you reach a nest, and you begin to understand why few scientific studies have been done on this bird. In fact, more is known about their foraging behavior during migration and in winter than during the breeding season.

A Bonaparte’s diet consists of insects, fish, and crustaceans. During the summer months, their agility allows them to feed mainly on insects caught in flight. Large flocks are also found along the edges of glaciers where insects and small fish concentrate. Bonaparte’s practice a behavior called kleptoparasitism, meaning that they steal food from other birds. Usually they steal from smaller shorebirds, like yellowlegs, dunlin, and black-bellied plovers, but they have also been known to stand on the head of a Brown Pelican and steal a fish out of its bill before the pelican can swallow it!

Three hundred Bonaparte’s were sighted off Grand Isle last week, but possibly the best place on Lake Champlain to watch Bonaparte’s gulls is Noblewood Park in Willsboro, NY. Here, the gulls congregate on the sand spit to roost each night and forage off-shore during the day.

Waterfowl are currently moving into Vermont, with notable sightings from the past week of Red-necked Grebe, Red-throated Loon, Brant, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Gadwall, and all three scoter species. Snow Geese are on the rise at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area with 3,000 birds as of the 10^th. A Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, featured in last week’s column, was seen on October 7th in Addison, as were American Pipit, Horned Larks, and Rusty Blackbirds.

You can learn about all bird sightings the past week and more on Vermont eBird.

-Julie Hart, Conservation Biologist

New Bird Discovered in Colombia

A new species of bird was discovered in the Andean cloud forests of Colombia. The discovery of the Yariguies Brush-finch was made by a team of scientists from Colombia and the U.K. and published in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. The government plans to conserve 500 acres of the bird's habitat as a national park.

Read the full Associated Press article.

Migrating Birds Take Hundreds of Daily Powernaps

To help make up for sleep lost during marathon night flights, migratory birds take hundreds of powernaps during the day, each lasting only a few seconds, a new study suggests.

Every autumn, Swainson's thrushes fly up to 3,000 miles from their breeding grounds in northern Canada and Alaska to winter in Central and South America. Come spring, the birds make the long trek back.

The birds fly mostly at night and often for long hours at a time, leaving little time for sleep.

To find out how the birds get through these tiresome periods, scientists observed caged thrushes for an entire year, recording when and how long they slept. They found that during autumn and spring, when the birds are normally migrating, they reverse their typical sleep patterns, staying awake at night and resting during day.

But instead of sleeping for long stretches at a time, the birds took several naps a day, each one lasting only 9 seconds on average.

The thrushes also mixed up their shut-eye sessions with two other forms of sleep. In one, called unilateral eye closure, or UEC, the birds rested one eye and one half of their brains while their other eye and brain hemisphere remained open and active, keeping them semi-alert to danger.

The birds also occasionally slipped into another state, one that any college student who has ever been stuck in a boring lecture can relate to. Called drowsiness, this state is characterized by a partial shutting of both eyes that still allows for some visual processing.

Drowsiness "is probably a state that, to some extent, grants the benefits of sleep while allowing for some of the benefits of wakefulness," said study team member Thomas Fuchs of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

By alternating between naps, UEC and drowsiness, the thrushes and other migratory birds can reap some of the benefits of sleep while only marginally increasing their risks of being eaten, the scientists figure.

"In terms of quality, drowsiness and unihemispheric sleep may be less beneficial than [normal] sleep, but it may also be safer," Fuchs told LiveScience.

The study is detailed this month in the journal Animal Behavior.

Some scientists speculate that some birds might even be able to catch up on some forms of sleep while in flight, but this idea has yet to be fully tested.

The need for sleep is nearly universal in the animal kingdom, but scientists still aren't sure what purpose it serves. Some studies suggest we need sleep to organize the memories we amass during the day and to give our bodies time to rest, but both theories remain unproven.

"I think what's interesting about our findings is that even animals that should be highly adapted to sleep loss cannot go on indefinitely," Fuchs said. "That a need for sleep cannot be eliminated even in these species underscores the importance of sleep for many, if not all, animals."

Story originally published in LiveScience on October 3.

VINS Biologists Awarded Best Science Paper of 2005

A peer-reviewed paper by CBD Biologists Dan Lambert, Kent McFarland, Chris Rimmer, Steve Faccio, and Jon Atwood from Antioch University, has won the Ernest P. Edwards prize for the best major article published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology in 2005.

The paper, "A practical model of Bicknell's Thrush distribution in the northeastern United States", was the lead article in the March 2005 issue, and can be viewed on our webpage. The news was announced last week at the business meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society at the North American Ornithological Conference in Vera Cruz, Mexico.

The Wilson Society, founded in 1888, is a world-wide organization of nearly 2500 people who share a curiosity about birds. Named in honor of Alexander Wilson, the Father of American Ornithology, the Society publishes a quarterly journal of ornithology, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology

For more than a century, the Wilson Society has published a scholarly journal with form and content readily accessible to both professional and amateur ornithologists. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology is a quarterly publication consisting of major articles based on original studies of birds and short communications that describe observations of particular interest. Although most articles originate from work conducted in the western hemisphere (a large portion of the research on Neotropical birds is published here), the geographic coverage of the journal is global. The Journal is internationally recognized as an important, major journal of ornithology. The Edwards Prize is given annually for the best major article published during the previous year.

Read the 2005 press release for the publication.

Vermont's Snow Geese in October

A flock of several hundred brilliant white geese with black wing tips dropping from the sky into a large field is a sight you will never forget. In New England, Vermont is the only place where you can regularly see thousands of these spectacular birds resting and feeding during their southward migration in the fall.

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department's Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area on Route 17, about a mile west of Route 22A in Addison, is by far the best place to see Vermont's snow geese. Fish & Wildlife constructed a viewing area off the highway with exhibits explaining the life story of snow geese and other birds frequenting the area.

As many as 10,000 to 20,000 greater snow geese will stop there in October and early November with numbers normally reaching their peak during mid-October.

The Champlain Valley is a primary migration route for greater snow geese. These birds nest in the eastern Canadian Arctic and stop during migration on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Their migration then takes them on a flight down the Richelieu River and Champlain Valley to their wintering grounds along coastal marshes stretching from New Jersey to North Carolina.

Greater snow geese (Anser carulescens atlanticus) are about a pound heavier than their smaller cousins, the lesser snow geese (A.c. carulescens) that use the Mississippi, Central and Pacific flyways. Also, the blue color phase so common in the lesser snow goose population is rare in greater snow geese. Greater snow geese nest in the eastern Canadian Arctic on Baffin, Bylot, Axel Heiberg and Ellesmere Islands, and along the westerly tip of Greenland.

Greater snow goose populations are monitored annually through spring aerial photographic counts along the St. Lawrence River. Their numbers have grown dramatically in recent years from 100,000 in 1970 to one million.

During spring migration, snow geese usually pass quickly through Vermont in late March and early April on their way to the St. Lawrence Valley.

The sight of thousands of snow geese at Dead Creek in October is one of the most exciting wildlife spectacles you can find in the Northeast. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, which protects and conserves wildlife and their habitats for the people of Vermont, urges you to visit the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area this October to see these spectacular birds.

Beginning the first week of October, Vermont Fish & Wildlife will provide a recorded telephone report on numbers of snow geese present at Dead Creek. The number to call is 802-759-2398.

Check out past peak dates for snow geese on Vermont eBird.

Weekly Bird Notes -- 6 October

How can a small, brown sparrow excite a birdwatcher? When it has an orange face, a gray ear patch and crown, and pointed tail feathers. This Vermont rarity is a Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow and peak foliage season is the time to spot one, which is what a few birwatchers did this week at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area. Instead of gawking at the orange foliage, they focused on the orange face of up to three Nelson’s.

Nelson’s is a cryptic species not only because it is one of those little brown sparrows that all look alike to new birders, but because it is notorious for running along the ground rather than popping up out of the vegetation when disturbed. This makes it challenging to get a good glimpse of the bird and see enough detail to distinguish it from its relative the Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Both species have orange on the face and the namesake pointed tail feathers. Nelson’s is distinguished by its duller color, less streaking on the breast, and a distinct dark-light streaking pattern on its back. While they may look the same, they couldn’t be more different ecologically.

It was not until 1995 that the two sharp-tailed sparrows were considered different species. The decision was based on differences in plumage, genetics, song, and where they live. Nelson’s have a loud song described as a steady hissing buzz whereas Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows make a whispered series of wheezy phrases. Nelson’s breeds in freshwater marshes and wet meadows across central Canada south into Minnesota and South Dakota and in saltwater marshes along the coast from Quebec to Maine. The saltmarsh species lives exclusively in Atlantic coastal salt marshes year-round with 95% of their global population breeding in the Northeast. Both species overwinter along the Atlantic coast from New York to Florida and along the Gulf Coast.

There are only four confirmed records of Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow in Vermont. Prior to the species being separated, there were an additional nine records of sharp-tailed sparrows that were most likely also Nelson's.

Other sparrows are moving through the state right now, including Chipping, Lincoln’s, White-throated, Swamp, and White-crowned.

The last day of September was a good day for birding along Lake Champlain. A Tennessee Warbler was seen at Charlotte Town Beach as well as a fly-by Black-bellied Plover and a flock of American Pipits. Later in the day, another group of birdwatchers saw a Parasitic Jaeger fly down the lake from the same location. Further south in Addison, a Connecticut Warbler was reported.

The overhead skies are full of migrating Canada Geese this time of year with the first Snow Geese starting to funnel into the Champlain Valley. A rare Cackling Goose was reported amongst a flock of Canada Geese in Brattleboro on the 3rd.

You can learn about all bird sightings the past week and more on Vermont eBird.

-Julie Hart, Conservation Biologist

By End of Century, Global Warming May Make a Vermont Summer Feel Like One in Present-day Tennessee

Leading Scientists Say How We Manage Emissions Today Will
Dramatically Affect Changes in Northeast Climate and Quality of Life

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Oct. 4–Global warming is poised to substantially change the climate in the Northeast if heat-trapping emissions are not curtailed, and the extent and impacts of the change depend on the choices that governments, businesses and citizens make today. By the end of this century, for instance, summers in Vermont could resemble ones in Tennessee if emissions continue unabated. But if emissions are reduced, summers in Vermont could resemble those of West Virginia. So concludes the first study released today by the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment (NECIA), a collaboration between the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and a team of independent scientists from universities across the Northeast and the nation, including VINS Conservation Biology Department scientists.

“The very notion of the Northeast as we know it is at stake,” said Dr. Cameron Wake, Research Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Climate Change Research Center and co-lead of the report. “The near-term emissions choices we make in the Northeast and throughout the world will help determine the climate and quality of life our children and grandchildren experience.”

The two-year study, Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast, employs state-of-the-art science to project the regional consequences of continued reliance on energy sources such as coal and oil that produce high levels of heat-trapping emissions versus shifting to clean and renewable energy to power our economy. The climate report is the first NECIA product, with additional analyses underway to assess the impacts of global warming on forests and agriculture, coastal and marine resources, human health, and urban centers across the Northeast, as well as options for mitigation and adaptation. A major synthesis report of these findings is expected in early 2007. VINS CBD scientists are studying potential effects of climate change on montane songbirds in the Northeast as part of this synthesis.

While the two emissions scenarios lead to similar consequences in early decades, the report finds the scenarios lead to starkly different outcomes as children born today reach middle-age. The projections analyze the impacts in 30 year increments: 2010-2039, 2040-2069, and 2070-2099.

Average annual temperatures. Under the higher emissions path, temperatures are projected to increase 6.5-12.5oF by the end of the century. An increase of 3.5-6.5oF is projected on the lower path.

Extreme heat days in cities. By the end of the century, many Northeast cities can expect 30 or more days over 90oF under the lower emissions scenario, and 60 or more days per year under the higher emissions scenario. Currently, Northeast cities experience one or two days per summer over 100oF. This number could increase to three to nine days under lower emissions and 14 to 28 days per year under higher emissions.

Less snow. Across the Northeast, the number of days with snow on the ground will be reduced by 50 percent in the higher emissions scenario, but only by 25 percent under the lower scenario. More winter precipitation will fall as rain. Both projections will likely have implications for winter recreation and tourism in the region.

Droughts. Droughts in the region are projected to be much more frequent on the higher emissions path.

Extreme precipitation events. Under both emissions scenarios, more frequent and more intense heavy rainfall events are expected.

“The Northeast’s economy and lifestyle is built around the seasonal cycles—pleasant summers, winter recreational opportunities, and iconic fall foliage,” said report co-lead Katharine Hayhoe, Research Associate Professor in the Dept. of Geosciences at Texas Tech University. “Fortunately, the worst consequences of global warming can be avoided by reducing our emissions starting today.”

Though global warming is a global problem, the Northeast has a central role to play. Ranked against the nations of the world, the Northeast is the seventh largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the most important heat-trapping gas. Historically, the Northeast has been a leader in clean air policy, directly influencing federal policy. As a recognized innovator on many levels, from policy to technology, the Northeast region is poised to lead the way on emissions reductions, nationally and globally.

Reducing heat-trapping emissions is the most important step to curbing the rate and extent of climate change. Increasing industrial and building efficiency, switching to renewable energy sources such as wind, and driving more efficient vehicles are clear steps the Northeast can take.

“Lowering emissions provides a tremendous opportunity for the Northeast,” said Dr. Peter Frumhoff, Director of the Global Environment Program at UCS and Chair of the NECIA synthesis team. “We can use our intellectual capital to lead the world in innovative technologies and practices that we will all need to leave a healthy climate for future generations.”

To read the new report, visit www.climatechoices.org.

Weekly Bird Notes, September 29, 2006

For long-distance migratory songbirds, consuming more calories during stop-over periods than they expend during nocturnal migratory flights is a critical balancing act. Warblers, orioles, Gray Catbirds, and other neotropical migrants need to fatten up before they depart on each leg of their journey. These fat deposits are the fuel that powers their flights on calm, fall evenings. If they haven’t found enough food during the day to replenish their fat stores, or if they expended too much energy locating food, they’re likely to be at a significant disadvantage. The migration of these individuals may get delayed, exposing them to harsher weather and ever diminishing resources, or they may not have the energy to locate prime habitats for foraging.

Insects, seeds, and berries make up the bulk of a birds’ fall diet. When given a choice, birds will invariably choose the food that offers them the most energy value for their effort. For instance, at a bird feeding station, most species will choose sunflower seeds over cracked corn or millet. These preferred seeds are high in fat and provide more calories than the others. Similarly, a bird that we normally think of as insectivorous during the summer may choose to stuff itself with easy-to-find berries in September, rather than expend energy catching insects.

Some berries are high in carbohydrates and low in fats and sugar, while others are just the opposite. Most berries that ripen in summer such as blackberries, strawberries and Juneberries, are high in carbohydrates. These fruits are relished by many birds during a time when other nourishing food items are plentiful and energy demands are relatively low. But during the high energy demands of fall migration, both low-fat and high-fat berries are available. As would be expected, migrating birds often pig-out on poison-ivy berries, chokecherries, hackberries, elderberries, autumn olive, and many other high-fat fruits to help fuel their southbound journeys, while ignoring low-fat berries.

Many of these high-fat fruits undergo a dual color change as they ripen. For example, chokecherries start out green, and turn pink a few days prior to turning a deep purple. This intermediate color change has been shown to “flag down” passing migrants as an indicator of an imminent food source, much like the Golden Arches might flag down a hungry tourist. In nature’s grand evolutionary scheme of things, this is truly a wonderful system. Those high-fat berries, if not eaten, would quickly be attacked by bacteria and rot on the parent plant, its seeds, contained within the highly nutritious and edible package, not being dispersed.

But what happens to all those low-fat (junkfood) berries that the migrants passed up in favor of the high-energy snacks? Because these berries are low in fats they persist on the plant without rotting. These become important winter foods for Cedar Waxwings, Evening Grosbeaks, woodpeckers, American Robins, and other species that brave our northern winters. But depending on what other foods are available these low-fat fruits, including mountain ash, crab apple, viburnums, sumac, and winterberry, may last well into March before being consumed as a last resort.

Steve Faccio
VINS Conservation Biologist

VINS Rescues Loon Chick

Last week VINS Loon Biologist Eric Hanson and two volunteers, Tara Hacker-Thallet and Liam Gannon, rescued a 14 week old loon chick with fishing line wrapped around its bill last week on Lake Eden using a night lighting technique. The loon was in good shape, thus Eric banded the bird and Dr. Gannon took a blood sample for mercury analysis. The male parent of this bird was rescued from fishing line a month earlier.

Two adult loons from two Woodbury Lakes were not so fortunate and died from fishing line entanglement in August. Capture attempts were not successful for these loons.