Nearly a third of U.S. bird species in trouble: report

Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 19 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly one-third of all U.S. bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, with birds in Hawaii facing a "borderline ecological disaster," scientists reported on Thursday.

The State of the Birds report, issued by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar along with conservation groups and university ornithologists, also noted some successes, including the recovery of the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and other species after the banning of the chemical DDT.

"When we talk about birds and we talk about wildlife, we're also talking about the economics of this country," Salazar told reporters as the report was released.

Wildlife watching and recreation generate $122 billion annually, the report said.

Salazar mentioned revenue from hunting, fishing and bird-watching, but added that President Barack Obama's stimulus package and proposed federal budgets for the remainder of 2009 and 2010 offer more money for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which aims to protect birds and other creatures.

The report, available online at www.stateofthebirds.org, presents data collected by government and academic scientists, as well as information contributed by amateur bird-watchers.

Wetland bird populations have soared since 1968, with an increase of up to 60 from levels 40 years ago. But birds in other habitats -- forests, grasslands and arid areas -- have declined as much as 40 percent.

HAWAIIAN BIRDS MOST VULNERABLE

It is in the perceived paradise of Hawaii that birds have declined the most, the report said.

"More bird species are vulnerable to extinction in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States," according to the report.

Before humans arrived in the Hawaiian islands, possibly as early as the year 300, there were 113 bird species that occurred nowhere else on Earth. Since humans arrived, 71 species have gone extinct and 31 more are listed as threatened or endangered.

The main culprits are new plant and animal species introduced into the Hawaiian ecosystem, said George Wallace of the American Bird Conservancy, who wrote the report's section on Hawaii.

"Most Americans would be surprised that a place that we usually associate with being an idyllic paradise would have so many serious bird conservation problems," Wallace said in a telephone interview.

"These types of isolated island flora and fauna tend to be very, very sensitive to introductions of foreign organisms."

John Fitzpatrick of Cornell University went farther, calling Hawaii a "borderline ecological disaster" and "the epicenter of extinctions and near extinctions."

Overall, the United States is home to more than 800 species of birds; 67 of those are federally listed as endangered or threatened, with an additional 184 species causing concern because of they are narrowly distributed or have declining populations, the report said.

Report: Birds endangered by energy development
Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Yahoo News 19 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration pursues more homegrown energy sources, a new government report faults energy production of all types — wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining — for contributing to steep drops in bird populations.

The first-of-its-kind government report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming.

In almost every case, energy production is also playing a role.

"Energy development has significant negative effects on birds in North America," the report concludes.

Birds can collide with wind turbines and oil and gas wells, and studies have shown that some species, such as prairie chickens and sage grouse, will avoid nesting near the structures.

Ponds created during the extraction of coal-bed methane gas breed mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus, leading to more bird deaths. Transmission lines, roads to access energy fields and mountaintop removal to harvest coal can destroy and fragment birds' living spaces.

Environmentalists and scientists say the report should signal to the Obama administration to act cautiously as it seeks to expand renewable energy production and the electricity grid on public lands and tries to harness wind energy along the nation's coastlines.

The report also shows that conservation efforts can work. Birds that reside in wetlands and the nation's waterfowl have rebounded over the past 40 years, a period marked by increased protections for wetlands.

"We need to go into these energies with our environmental eyes open," said John Fitzpatrick, the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which helped draft the report along with non-profit advocacy groups. "We need to attend to any form of energy development, not just oil and gas."

Many of the bird groups with the most rapid declines in the last 40 years inhabit areas with the greatest potential for energy development.

Among the energy-bird conflicts cited by the report:

• More than half of the monitored bird species that live on prairies have experienced population losses. These birds, such as the lesser prairie-chicken, are threatened by farmers converting grasslands into corn fields to meet demand for biofuels.

• In the Arctic, where two-thirds of all shorebirds are species of concern, melting ice brought about by climate change could open up more areas to oil and gas production. Studies show that trash near drilling rigs attracts gulls that prey on other species.

• Mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia clears patches of forest contributing to the decline of birds like the cerulean warbler that breeds and forests in treetops.

The U.S. State of Birds report, released by the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday, was requested in October 2007 by President George W. Bush.

Salazar, who wants to establish renewable energy zones and is drawing up rules for offshore wind energy production, said Thursday the report should "be a call to action, but it is action in our reach."

The report uses data from three long-running bird censuses to establish trends over time. It shows that birds in Hawaii are more in danger of becoming extinct than anywhere else in the United States. In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30 and 40 percent.

While its findings are similar to earlier studies, it is the first to be issued by the government and the agency in charge of managing energy production on public lands and protecting the nation's wildlife.

The report did not indicate whether one form of energy production is more detrimental than the other.

Federal report highlights threat to Hawaii birds
Audrey Mcavoy, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Mar 09;

HONOLULU – Hawaii's native avian population is in peril, with nearly all the state's birds in danger of becoming extinct, a federal report says.

One-third of the nation's endangered birds are in Hawaii, said the report, issued Thursday by the Interior Department. Thirty-one Hawaiian bird species are listed as endangered, more than anywhere else in the country.

"That is the epicenter of extinctions and near-extinctions," said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which helped produce the study. "Hawaii is (a) borderline ecological disaster."

Hawaii's native birds are threatened by the destruction of their habitats by invasive plant species and feral animals like pigs, goats and sheep.

Diseases, especially those borne by mosquitoes, are another killer.

One of those in trouble is the palila, a yellow-crowned songbird that lives on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea. Its population plunged by more than 60 percent from 6,600 in 2002 to 2,200 last year.

Habitat loss and predators are part of the problem, said Holly Freifeld, a vertebrate recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Honolulu.

Another is that grazing feral sheep ruin mamane trees, which provide palila birds with their preferred food: mamane seed pods. The trees are also being killed by disease.

The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to fence off an area on Mauna Kea, and remove sheep from the fenced area, to give the palila an environment where it can flourish, Freifeld said.

The restored habitat would also likely help other endangered birds which also have lived in the same forest ecosystem, she said.

Similar habitat restoration projects have worked in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge.

Workers there installed fences, controlled invasive plant species, removed pigs, and planted koa and ohia trees.

The Interior Department's report, called "The State of the Birds United States of America 2009," noted Hakalau's populations of the Hawaii creeper and akiapolaau have increased dramatically.

"Application of these successful methods is urgently needed elsewhere," the report said.

Scott Fretz, wildlife program manager at the state's Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said he was confident such efforts could help restore all of Hawaii's endangered bird species, excluding those that have already become extinct.

"The basic, fundamental problem that we have is a lack of funding to do what we need to do," Fretz said. "If we had a lot more funding than we do, we would be able to recover most, if not all, of the species that we have that are endangered."

Fretz said legislation pending before Congress could provide a welcome boost. One would provide funding for restoration efforts. Another designed to provide money to help states cope with climate change would help Hawaii because warmer temperatures allow mosquitoes to enter habitats at higher elevations currently inhabited by the palila and other forest birds.

The U.S. State of Birds report was requested in October 2007 by President George W. Bush.