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Brown Pelican Numbers Hit Record High in the Farallones

Editor — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:17:59 +0000

The Farallon Islands, located in the Gulf of the Farallones off the coast of San Francisco, California, around 32 kilometers south of Point Reyes, are home to a growing number of Brown Pelicans that at one time were facing extinction. Conservationists at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory have noted that the numbers of these fascinating birds have reached a forty-year peak, which is great news for all who have been keeping track of fluctuating Brown Pelican numbers since 1968.

In 1968 the Brown Pelican population was struggling to recover from DDT poisoning, a controversial toxic pesticide that was used extensively for crop spraying. The DDT had washed from fields into the water and accumulated in the fish that were eaten by the pelicans. This resulted in the thinning of the pelican’s egg shells, which in turn prevented the embryos from developing properly. The pelican population at that time numbered 363. This year the mid-July count on Southeast Farallon Island recorded 5,856 pelicans – the highest count since records started to be kept in 1968.

The observatory’s education and outreach director, Melissa Pitkin, and observatory biologist Russ Bradley, are delighted with the latest count results and the fact that the birds are covering the marine terrace and large numbers are roosting in other areas of the island. It is very likely that this number may increase in the fall, which has historically been the case.

The Brown Pelican population on the Farallon Islands (often referred to simply as the Farralones) has fluctuated dramatically over the past forty years, with 1984 being the only other time that their numbers exceeded 5,000. In the late 1970s the population was around 2,000 and after increasing to over 5,000 in 1984, it dropped back to less than 2,000 towards the end of that decade. In the 1990s the number fell below 1,000 before rising to more than 4,000 and dropping to less than 3,000 just before the end of the millennium. In the early 2000’s the population was around 1,000 and climbed to its current number of 5,856. There are a number of reasons for these drastic fluctuations, including changes in food sources, weather events such as El Nino and synchronous timing of the pelican’s usual northward movement.

The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is between 106-137 cm in length, with a wingspan of between 1.8 and 1.5 meters and weighing between 2.8 and 5.5 kgs. They are accomplished divers, and unlike many pelican species that fish from the surface, Brown Pelicans dive from the air to deftly catch anchovies, sardines and shrimp. They are also known to eat invertebrates such as squid and are often seen around docks and fishing boats waiting for scraps of fish.

The worldwide Brown Pelican population is estimated at 650,000 with around 400,000 of these being resident in Peru. In light of the ongoing concern about issues such as global warming and the resultant negative effects being seen in nature, the fact that Brown Pelican numbers are increasing is very encouraging to bird lovers and conservationists.

Monterey Bay Birding Festival

Editor — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:30:41 +0000

Birders living near the Central Coast of California simply have to make the most of the Fourth Annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival. Whether you are a beginner or a more advanced bird watcher, young or old, local or not, you will find that this great annual event has something for everyone. This year’s festival will be offering a lot of opportunities for beginners. But there will still be plenty on offer for experienced birders.

The main appeal of every bird festival is, of course, the birds. The Monterey Bay Birding Festival is no different and birders will find that vast majority of the more than 600 bird species to be seen in California can be spotted in the Monterey Bay area. The Monterey Bay region and the nearby Pajaro Valley have a wonderful variety of habitats which house an incredible variety of birds. Habitats found here include beaches, ocean, forest, rivers, sloughs and wetlands – no wonder there are so many birds living in this area! However this is not all that the Monterey Bay Birding Festival has to offer visitors. Beginner birders stand the chance to learn from a number of skilled and knowledgeable birders who will act as team leaders on birding trips and help you to find, identify and learn more about the birds living in the area. There will also be workshops, vendors and lectures for more advanced birders. In total more than 70 different activities have been planned for the three days of the birding festival so you can be sure that there will be plenty of interesting things to see and do.

The Wetlands of Watsonville Nature Center at Ramsay Park will also feature during the festival as it will be offering free, bilingual family days on both Saturday and Sunday for the whole family. This is the perfect compliment to the weekend’s activities and should definitely be taken advantage of. Pajaro Valley and the Monterey Bay region is well known for being the biggest bird hotspot on the Central Coast of California and fall is the perfect time to visit this fantastic area as this is when a number of shorebirds choose to winter here. The festival will be taking place on 26-18 September 2008, so register for the Monterey Bay Birding Festival now to make sure that you don’t miss out!

Parrots International Symposium 2008

Editor — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:39:18 +0000

The fourth annual Parrots International Symposium, to take place on 31 May and 1 June 2008, will have the theme “Parrots of the Caribbean“. This increasingly popular symposium, which will take place on board the HMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, is hosted by Parrots International with the aim of increasing knowledge about wild and companion parrots through the sharing of information on parrot conservation and field research.

Parrots International is an organization of volunteers with a wide range of experience, talents, knowledge and education. This enthusiastic team is dedicated to the conservation of any endangered parrot species, as well as to improving the welfare of all parrots in the wild. All knowledge gained through research efforts serves to benefit these beautiful birds, whether they are in the wild or household companions.

Parrots International Symposium 2008 is being co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Tropical Research and the UCLA Institute of the Environment, with all proceeds going directly to the support of parrot related conservation projects. Participants in the Parrots International Symposium will have the opportunity to attend lectures by renowned experts and dedicated researchers from South America, the United Kingdom, Bonaire, Trinidad, various European countries, the Bahamas, Belgium, and different regions in the United States.

Parrots International Symposium 2008 will kick off on the Friday evening, 30 May, with a Speakers Reception. This promises to be a fun-filled evening of renewing old friendships and making new friends among like-minded people who have the welfare of parrots at heart. Dr. Mark L. Stafford, the President and co-founder of Parrots International, is a dentist by profession, but has a conservation background with BA degrees in both Environmental Studies and Environmental Biology. Dr. Stafford and his wife Marie devote much of their time and resources to visiting and evaluating conservation projects, and participants can enjoy Dr. Stafford’s presentation on projects that Parrots International are involved in.

Lectures will be presented by nineteen experts during the two-day symposium and participants can look forward to discussions on various research and conservation projects, including the Tambopata Research Project, the Gabriel Foundation, Yellow-shouldered Amazon Project and the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Project. Topics that will be presented include parrot behavior, an update on the status of the Blue-throated Macaw, the risks of introduced parrots to island populations, the translocation of the Kuhl’s Lory, the reintroduction of the blue-and-gold Macaw to the Nariva Swamp in Trinidad, threatened parrots of Colombia and the Avian Flu Task Force.

Other features of the Parrots International Symposium 2008 include poster presentations, a banquet, silent auctions and loads of stunning prizes. Bird-lovers are sure to enjoy the Parrots International Symposium 2008, which promises to be both highly entertaining and educational – all with the focus on benefiting one of the world’s most popular group of birds.

The San Diego Bird Festival

Editor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:37:16 +0000

The 12th San Diego Bird Festival, sponsored by the San Diego Audubon Society, is set to take place from 6 February through to 11 February 2008. The venue for this popular birding festival is the superb Marina Village Conference Center in Mission Bay, San Diego, California.

The six-day program for the San Diego Bird Festival includes many of the most popular events of past festivals, as well a several new trips and workshops. There are 48 events scheduled to take place throughout the festival. The “Local Favorites Trip” will take participants to Old Mission Dam and the Santee and Lindo Lakes – birding havens that are surrounded by busy suburbs. Bird watchers can expect to see an astounding variety and number of birds, including downy and Nuttall’s woodpeckers, wood and ring-necked ducks, western blue-bird and osprey, as well as vermillion and gray flycatchers.

The “Birds of the Anza-Borrego Desert” all-day trip starts at 5:30 to arrive at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park as the sun rises. This rugged desert environment is home to a wide variety of bird species including the great roadrunner, Costa’s hummingbird, cactus wren, phainopepla , black-tailed gnatcatcher and long-eared owl.

“Birds of the Laguna and Cuyamaca Mountains” is a trip into San Diego County’s mountains, which provide diverse environments of expanses of grasslands and chaparral as well as oak and conifer forests. Weather permitting, the group will stop off at a number of places and should be on the look out for ferruginous hawks, mountain chickadees, lark sparrows, Steller’s and western scrub-jays as well as hairy woodpecker.

Other excursions on the program include “San Diego’s Pacific Rocky Shores Trip”, “Whale Watching and Pelagic Birds off San Diego’s Coastline”, “Birding Along the Border”, “San Diego River Estuary Walk”, plus many more.

The dramatic increase of fires in Southern California over the past ten years has raised concerns among conservationists who fear that one of nature’s most diverse areas is heading for an ecological disaster. The unique “Chaparral, Wrentits and Fire Worshop and Trip” plans to give participants an in-depth look at the problems caused by fire and possible solutions to these problems.

Photographer and author, Kenn Kaufman, will be the keynote speaker at the San Diego Bird Festival banquet. As a world authority on birds and the author of a number of birding books and guides as well as being the field editor for Audubon magazine, Kenn Kaufman will be sharing some of his in-depth knowledge on bird-related subjects which includes his commitment to nature conservation.

Without a doubt, the San Diego Bird Festival is packed with opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty of birds and their habitats and is an event that no bird lover would want to miss.

California’s Aleutian Goose Festival

Editor — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:46:04 +0000

The inhabitants of the small town of Crescent City, situated in rural northwestern California, invite bird and nature lovers everywhere to join them in celebrating the annual Aleutian Goose Festival. The 2008 event, which takes place from 28 to 30 March, will be the 10th annual Aleutian Goose Festival held in honor of these remarkable birds which have been snatched back from the brink of extinction.

A highlight of the Aleutian Goose Festival is the unforgettable sight and sound of tens of thousands of birds rising from their island night-time resting place in numbers that blot out the light of the rising sun as they head for their daily feeding grounds. Virtually the entire Aleutian Canada Goose population arrives in Del Norte County, California, in March each year, remaining for a number of weeks to rest and feed in preparation for their 2,000 mile, three day, non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean to their breeding grounds in the remote Aleutian chain of islands. This pre-flight fattening up is vital, because during their epic journey the geese lose up to a third of their body weight, yet they need to arrive at their destination healthy enough to successfully breed and raise their families.

Although the Aleutian Goose Festival is centered on the activities of the geese, with dawn fly-off sightings and trips to see them feeding in outlying farmland areas, visitors are encouraged to join local and regional naturalists, botanists, ornithologists and historians to enjoy a multitude of nature, bird watching and heritage outings. American Indians from the Tolowa and Yurok tribes, who live in their original tribal areas, offer visitors a unique cultural experience, giving insight into their history and their present way of life.

The Aleutian Canadian Goose population was nearly wiped out as a direct result of the greed of humans. During the 1800s Russian fur trappers set foxes loose on all the Aleutian Islands in the hope that they would breed and thereby boost their fur trade. The foxes quickly adapted to their new home and proceeded to catch and eat all the geese as well as other wildlife. The Aleutian goose was recognized as being an endangered species in 1967 when they numbered less than 500. Over a long period of time no sightings were reported, leading experts to believe that they had become extinct. But thanks to the hard work of dedicated conservationists who found and captured some geese, by 2001 the species had recovered to the extent of being taken off the endangered species list – a rare and rewarding achievement. The Aleutian Canada Goose now numbers more than 60,000 in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain and efforts are being made by Japanese, Russian and American scientists to aid the beautiful birds to return to their original breeding grounds on the islands connecting Russia and Japan.

With a three day program crammed full of excitement, fun and learning, the Aleutian Goose Festival is an event that bird and nature lovers would not want to miss, as like-minded people gather to enjoy a celebration of the wonders of nature.