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Long-term effects of 4-aminopyridine exposure to birds and fish
The avian frightening agent, 4-aminopyridine (4AP), was tested on five avian and two fish species to assess the effects of long-term 4AP exposure to nontarget vertebrates. Adult bobwhites ( Colinus virginianus ), mourning doves ( Zenaida macroura ), and ring-necked pheasants ( Phasianus colchicus ) were fed diets containing 3 percent 4AP-treated cracked corn diluted with various ratios of untreated corn for 7 to 35 days. Minimum dilution ratios that produced more than 50 percent mortality were 1:29 for bobwhites and 1:99 for doves. Mortality caused by 4AP could not be determined for pheasants because of their inability to subsist only on corn during the test periods. LCso's were determined for doves (316 ppm) and coturnix quail ( Coturnix coturnix ) (479 ppm) fed exclusively on uniformly treated laboratory rations for 28 to 40 days. Starlings ( Sturnus vulgaris ) treated by gavage daily for 25 days with 1.78 mg/kg 4AP showed no intoxication symptoms. Mortality in all avian species appeared to be the result of acute poisoning, and no evidence of cumulative toxicity was noted in species fed uniformly-treated rations. In 96-hour static tests, channel catfish ( Ictalurus punctatus ) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) showed increasing sensitivity to 4AP with time in test waters ranging from very soft to very hard and from 12 to 22 C. The 96-hour LC 50 's for both species ranged from 2.43 to 7.56 mg/liter (ppm). Toxicity appeared to decrease with increasing water temperatures but was generally unaffected by water hardness. On the basis of the data presented, and the currently registered application rate for 4AP in agricultural crops (0.34 g/ha), long-term hazards to nontarget wildlife were judged to be minimal.
Bird use and nesting in conventional, minimum-tillage, and organic cropland
No abstract available.
Of bugs and birds: Markov Chain Monte Carlo for hierarchical modeling in wildlife research
Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a statistical innovation that allows researchers to fit far more complex models to data than is feasible using conventional methods. Despite its widespread use in a variety of scientific fields, MCMC appears to be underutilized in wildlife applications. This may be due to a misconception that MCMC requires the adoption of a subjective Bayesian analysis, or perhaps simply to its lack of familiarity among wildlife researchers. We introduce the basic ideas of MCMC and software BUGS (Bayesian inference using Gibbs sampling), stressing that a simple and satisfactory intuition for MCMC does not require extraordinary mathematical sophistication. We illustrate the use of MCMC with an analysis of the association between latent factors governing individual heterogeneity in breeding and survival rates of kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ). We conclude with a discussion of the importance of individual heterogeneity for understanding population dynamics and designing management plans.
First records of chlordane-related mortality in wild birds
No abstract available.
A laser system to remotely sense bird movements
No abstract available.
Notes on some winter birds of north central New Mexico
The observations recorded below were made in Santa Fe, Sandoval and Rio Arriba counties during the winter of 1939-1940. Occasional specimens, 54 in all, collected for racial identification, are deposited in the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan.
[Book review] A field guide to the birds of New Zealand and outlying islands
This field guide is so closely patterned after the familiar Peterson style that it may best be described in terms of its departures from that style. Color plates are disappointingly few. They depict: Penguin heads, parrots and kingfisher, eight species of ducks, a pigeon and seven species of native songbirds, eight other passerines and two cuckoos, and nine introduced songbirds (eight of which have been figured more expertly by Peterson in his European or Western guides).
Light attraction in endangered procellariiform birds: Reduction by shielding upward radiation
Autumnal attraction to man-made lighting causes heavy mortality in fledgling Hawaiian seabirds: Newell's Shearwater ( Puffinus auricularis newelli ), Dark-rumped Petrel ( Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis ), and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel ( Oceanodroma castro ). These threatened, endangered, and rare species (respectively) approach and circle lights on their first flight from mountain nesting colonies on the island of Kauai to the sea. We shielded lights of the largest resort to prevent upward radiation on alternate nights during two fledgling seasons. Shielding decreased attraction by nearly 40%. Most attraction occurred 1-4 h after sunset. Full moon dramatically decreased attraction, a phenomenon that has both theoretical and management implications.
Wind energy development: Methods to assess bird and bat fatality rates post-construction
Monitoring fatalities at wind energy facilities after they have been constructed can provide valuable information regarding impacts of wind power development on wildlife. The objective of this monitoring is to estimate abundance of a super-population of carcasses that entered the area within a designated period of time. By definition, the population is not closed and carcasses can enter as they are killed through collision with turbines, and leave as they are removed by scavengers or decompose to a point where they are not recognizable. In addition, the population is not inherently mobile, but can only change location through some external force. A focus on number of animal carcasses comprising the super-population, combined with peculiar traits that resist classic assumptions, distinguish fatality estimation at wind-power facilities from more classic abundance estimates that can be addressed through mark-recapture techniques or other well-known abundance estimators. We review the available methods to estimate the super-population of carcasses at wind power facilities. We discuss the role of these estimates in determining appropriate levels of minimization and mitigation of impacts to individual species of concern. We discuss the potential to extrapolate these measurements to reflect the cumulative effect of the industry on individual species. Finally, we suggest avenues of research needed to strengthen our understanding of the effect wind power development has, and might have in the future, on wildlife on this continent and worldwide.
No. 3: Birds of the Northwest: A hand-book of the ornithology of the region drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries
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Birds of the Colorado Valley: A repository of scientific and popular information concerning North American ornithology: Part first, Passeres to Laniidæ, bibliographic appendix, seventy illustrations
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Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Volume VII: Odontornithes: A monograph on the extinct toothed birds of North America
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Contributions to the anatomy of birds
At the present writing we know of but one species of the so-called Burrowing Owls inhabiting America, and this is represented by three existing races, the typical and largest of those being the Athene cunicularia, a species confined to South America, while its two varieties occur with the limits of the United States.
Field notes on birds observed in Dakota and Montana along the forty-ninth parallel during the seasons of 1873 and 1874
The following notes result from observations made in the field during my connection with the United States Northern Boundary Commission_ Archibald Campbell, Esq., Commissioner, Major W.J Twining, Corps of Engineers, U.S.A. Chief Astronomer. The line surveyed by the Commission in 1873 and 1874 extended from the Red River of the North to the Rocky Mountains, a distance of 850 miles, along the northern border of the Territories of Dakota and Montana, in latitude 49° north.