Lammergeier - Stilfser Joch

Prima volta nella vita. Mi è passato sopra la testa in pieno paese, a portata di fotocamera di cellulare. Ovviamente ho avuto i riflessi di una cozza sullo scoglio e quindi niente foto. 

Ma tanto queste son più belle.

The winter trio:

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Dunnock/Passera scopaiola (Prunella modularis) visiting my garden.

A few days ago, I saw a dusky warbler ( Phylloscopus fuscatus ) for the first time ever. This is the bird we are talking about (photo from a fellow birder):

Not that relevant aestethically: just one of the many warblers around the world. A small, cute, passeriformes.  What’s exceptional, is the fact I saw it near Como Lake, Italy. Why exceptional? Well, that’s where this round boi (or girl) usually lives:

So this Siberian crazy mf somehow ended up quite far away from where it should be right now (Southern Asia), crossing the Urals or the Kazakh Steppes, the Eastern European Plains, the Carpathians and the Alps. 

Wildlife rehabilitators don’t know what will come through their doors. Sometimes, just another day on the job seems more like something from the pages of a comic book. Through their specialized skill, thorough care, and permits issued under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, rehabilitators continue to support bird conservation into the Treaty’s next century.

The following gives a bird’s eye view of the kind of outstanding work done by our Permittee partners,

A Great Blue Heron cared for at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center

When this Great Blue Heron arrived at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center in Friday Harbor, Washington, it was very thin and weak, but no wounds or injuries were found. The staff was puzzled. The bird was also seriously dehydrated, so rehabilitators tube-fed it fluids and left it to rest.

When staff checked on the heron a couple hours later, they found a red gelatinous blob on the bedding. Concerned that it might be blood, they were in for a surprise. 

Imagine you are a young bird, hatched during the summer. Though, you are only a few months old, and you have to migrate south for the winter—maybe 100’s or 1000’s of miles. Then you must adapt to that winter habitat. In the spring, you must migrate back to where you were hatched!

(Black-throated Green Warbler (male), winters in Central America & northern South America, photo taken in Washington Park, May 3, 2008)

Migrating to warmer areas in the fall is one of the main strategies that birds, especially insectivores, use to survive the winter. Migration might be innate (genetically controlled), but each bird still has to brave the dangers of a long flight to its winter quarters.

Some birds make very long flights such as the Arctic Tern which breeds in the Arctic and flies to its winter area in Antarctic waters. Others like the Fox Sparrow migrate, but mostly stay in the US and Canada. The photos here are just a few examples migrants that make their way through Illinois each spring and fall. 

(Fox Sparrow, photo taken on Marsh Road, November 2012)

Each species has evolved its own migration patterns and winter quarters. Many birds migrate at night and use the moon and stars as cues for orientation, but others migrate during the day such as hawks and swallows. Besides dealing with natural dangers such as bad weather (which can exact heavy casualties) and predators, birds also have to navigate humans obstructions and dangers including:

Tall buildings and TV transmitting towers;

Large reflecting windows that cause disorientation;

Speeding cars, trucks and trains;

Maurading cats and dogs; and

Agricultural seeds and sprays containing neonicotin (a single seed coated with neonicotinoid is enough to kill a songbird).

(Blue Grosbeak, winters from Mexico to Panama, photo taken in Buckhart, May 2, 2008)

These threats kill millions of birds each year. However, habitat destruction is the worst enemy, because birds it leaves birds without a place to live and nest to replenish their numbers. 

This spring (2016) birds are also contending with unusually warm temperatures which have caused vegetation to grow almost a month ahead of schedule. Does this cause the migrant birds to be out of sync with their food resources? Ornithologists are observing birds to find out.

(Scarlet Tanager (male), winters from Panama to Bolivia, photo taken in Washington Park, April 28, 2008)

What can you do to help? There are many ways in which humans can help migratory birds. Here are just a few:

Put up window clings to help birds avoid flying into the glass.

Provide feeders with a variety of foods.

Plant native plants that provide food and shelter for birds.

Keep cats indoors.

Never disturb nesting birds (all migratory birds are federally protected).

(Baltimore Oriole (male), winters from Mexico to northern South America, photo taken in Lincoln Memorial Gardens, May 1, 2008)