Cerulean Warblers

Photo by Aaron Boone/Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas

This unhappy news is just in, taken from a press release sent out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We live in the heart of the breeding range of the cerulean warbler and our woods are nearly perfect for their preferred nesting habitat. Still we don't see or hear them every year on our 80 acres. Their habitat in Central America is being decimated as well.

Where's a specialized passerine like the cerulean warbler going to go? My guess is that the species will have to reach critically endangered status before anything will be done for it. And that may be too late.

I've got a soft spot for the cerulean warbler. It nests some years on our farm (one of 13 warbler species we have as breeders). It's a hard bird to see/hear/find. And it's the logo bird for my beloved Ohio Ornithological Society.

If you want to help census cerulean warbler populations, and to contribute to our growing knowledge of this species, visit the Cerulean Warbler Atlas Project conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Finds Cerulean Warbler Not Warranted for Endangered Species Act Listing

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that while populations of the cerulean warbler are declining, listing the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted. The Service will pursue cooperative conservation initiatives designed to reverse population declines and prevent the need to list this migratory songbird.

Today's finding is the result of a review of the warbler's status, which included a comprehensive review of scientific information, as well as information gathered from the public and species experts. The Service evaluated information on the warbler's current population, projected trends in population levels, and threats to the warbler both in the United States and on the bird's wintering grounds in South America.

"We have done an exhaustive review of information, and have consulted national and international experts on this species," said Robyn Thorson, Midwest Regional Director for the Service. "Based on that input, the species is unlikely to be in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future."

A number of conservation groups, headed by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the National Audubon Society, petitioned the Service in 2000 to list the cerulean warbler as a threatened species, citing concerns over loss and fragmentation of habitat. The Service issued a preliminary finding in 2002 that the petition had merit and launched a status review of the species.

Although there is no precise estimate of the current abundance of the cerulean warbler, the Service used a 1995 population estimate of 560,000 warblers during its review of the species' status. Based on 40 years of data obtained through the Breeding Bird Survey which indicates the population is declining at about 3 percent each year, the estimated population in 2006 would be approximately 400,000. At this rate of decline, the Service estimates the cerulean warbler population would number in the tens of thousands 100 years from now.

"This isn't the end of our involvement," Thorson said. "Our intent is to move forward with conservation efforts so that decades from now, we're not once again faced with a listing decision. Even though the cerulean warbler does not meet the criteria for listing as an endangered or threatened species, it is still a bird that needs our attention and help."

Thorson said the Service is already working on efforts to conserve the cerulean warbler and will pursue new initiatives to help the bird. They include continued, long-term monitoring; assistance to the Cerulean Warbler Technical Group; development of partnerships in support of Service programs such as Migratory Bird's Cerulean Warbler Focal Species Strategy; and increased support of international conservation efforts, particularly in South America.

The cerulean warbler is a small woodland songbird that nests across eastern North America from the eastern Great Plains north to Minnesota, Ontario and Quebec, east to Massachusetts, and south to Louisiana. The core area of the warbler's breeding range is the Appalachian Mountain region of eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, southern and western West Virginia, southeastern Ohio, and southwestern Pennsylvania. Cerulean warblers have specific breeding habitat needs consisting of mature deciduous forests with complex vertical vegetation structure. They winter in a narrow elevation band in the Andes Mountains of northern South America.

Threats to the species are thought to include loss and fragmentation of the forests used by warblers during nesting season and loss of habitat in the species' winter habitat in South America. This species undertakes a relatively long migration compared with many other songbirds, covering a distance of about 2,500 miles between the central latitudes of North America and northern latitudes of South America (which includes migrating across the Gulf of Mexico). Loss of suitable habitat at migratory stopover sites may also be a problem, but little is known about the migratory route used by the species.

Information about the Service's finding on the petition to list the cerulean warbler can be found at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eco_serv/soc/index.html

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

-FWS-

New Year's Eve 2006!

As alluded to here in BOTB late last year, The Swinging Orangutangs provided the music for the big New Year's Eve party at The Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, WV. We all survived the show in grand style, managing to perform nearly five hours of music for several hundred enthusiastic revellers. Judging from the usage of the dance floor, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. There were many of our good friends in the crowd, which made things so much easier. Up on stage we were having enough fun ourselves to willingly play an extra half hour for the late-night party people. The hotel repaid the favor by letting us relax in the lounge until after 3 am with some much appreciated food.

Favorite moments of the night for me:

• ending 2006 with a spirited rendition of Steely Dan's Reelin' in the Years
• having Phoebe and Liam there with us at midnight (Liam wearing his Superman costume)
• starting 2007 with a rocking version of Burnin' Down the House by the Talking Heads
• standing onstage watching 250 happy souls gyrating to the music we made
• seeing the boys in the band all duded up in our polka dot shirts and ties. We looked like we belonged onstage together--and we did!
  

Things I would do differently:

• not play two gigs in one day with a major stage set-up in between. I was at the hotel for 26 hours straight. It's a nice place, but I felt like I should be wearing an employee name badge
• get a photo of the whole band in our outfits. I'm sad to miss that photo-op
• Start the boogie music right away. People evidently do not want to listen to any music that is not a DANCE song (either slow or fast) on NYE. In this way it's very much like playing for a wedding

All in all it was a great adventure. A thrilling end to the old year and start to the new.

I'll let the images tell most of the story from here on. . .

The ballroom was packed, the hotel rooms sold out. The barkeeps were perspiring from their exertions.

Julie painted our new logo on the head of Steve's bass drum. The neon green shone brightly from the stage.

Among the evening's first dancers were Phoebe (looking very Coco Chanel) and Liam (Blond Superman). It was so great to have them with us.

Our fab friends Zane and Margaret brought their baby daughter Oona along. She and Zane enjoyed several slow dances. Oona is everyone's fave babe.

Vinnie's smile lit up the room from behind his keyboards. He got the most kisses at midnight.

Marty our bass player looking swankly Italian during a set break.

Marty in action, fingers all a-blur.

It's hard to get a photo of Steve way back there behind his drums. He rocked, so hard.

Up on stage the lights were hot. We eventually shed our jackets and let the polkadots do the talking.

Music in the air, dervishes whirling.

Princess Zick in between I Hear You Knockin' and Take Me to the River.

A pair of orangutangs in their natural element.

Zick sang so well, she earned a feather in her tiara.

Guitarzan riding on the energy from his fellow Orangutangs and the audience, letting the music flow from one year into the next.

Nearly all these images were taken by our best pal Shila Wilson, photographic oracle, energy channeler, fun-seeker, soul sister.

2007's First Bird

As I was loading music equipment in the rain on New Year's Day it occurred to me that I had not yet seen my first bird of 2007! In years past I'd make special trips to birdy places on January 1 to start the year off with interesting birds. When I lived in Baltimore the destination was often Sandy Hook State Park near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. This spot was good for waterfowl, birds rarely seen from my apartment in my urban neighborhood in Charm City.

When I lived in New York City, it was either Central Park or Jamaica Bay NWR on New year's Day. At the start of 2007, however, there was a great possibility that my first bird of the new year would be European starling, rock pigeon, or house sparrow. This was one instance where the rain helped me.

Julie left the hotel before I did, with the kids and her own load of gear. She called on the cell to say that her first bird was a rock pigeon on a billboard along the highway. Then she told me about a pair of buffleheads on a small backyard pond along that same stretch of road. I knew what I had to do.

Keeping my eyes open just enough to see the road, I drove out of Parkersburg and onto the highway. I knew where the pond was, having seen other waterfowl there in the past. As I drove up to the section of highway I forced myself not to look at anything but the road just in front of the van's hood ornament. I got to the pond and laid my eyes on a gorgeous pair of buffleheads, and then a pair of mallards. So my first bird of 2007 was the bufflehead--a fitting start to a year in which I hope to be less of a bufflehead myself.

BOTB's first ten species of 2007:

1. Bufflehead
2. Mallard
3. American Crow
4. Carolina Chickadee
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk
6. Rock Pigeon
7. Mourning Dove
8. Pileated Woodpecker
9. European Starling
10. American Kestrel
    

What was YOUR first bird of 2007?

Happy New (Birding) Year!