News stories tagged with "birding"

(12/14/11) For the 112th year, volunteer birders are fanning out across the country for the annual birding census this winter. The Christmas Bird Count continues through January 5th.

The all-volunteer effort takes a snapshot of bird populations to monitor their status and distribution across the Western Hemisphere. Data collected during the Christmas Bird Count helps researchers monitor bird behavior and bird conservation. You could call it bird watching with a benefit.

Todd Moe spoke with Long Lake birder Joan Collins, who says the Audubon Society started the Christmas Bird Count in 1900 as an alternative to a Victorian-era holiday hunting tradition of shooting the greatest number of birds.

(08/18/11) Two Adirondack men have been accused of stoning a great blue heron to death. The attack happened last week on the bank of the Ausable River in the town of Jay.

The case has sparked anger and indignation. But wildlife experts say they often see animals wounded or killed by humans. As Brian Mann reports, some are calling for tougher penalties for this type of crime.

Brian Mann has our story. more

(06/09/11) Save the River is the only policy advocate on environmental issues on the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence River.

Now they are collaborating with area schools and taking students on field trips to learn from the river first hand. David Sommerstein tagged along with a group of seventh graders from Thousand Islands middle school and has this report. more

(04/14/11) After a farmer found an injured Golden eagle in New York this winter, wildlife veterinarians in Massachusetts treated the bird. And a biologist outfitted it with a GPS tracking device before releasing it in Connecticut. The goal is to map its migration north to Canada. The data is designed to help site wind turbines in places that are safe for these birds. WNPR's Nancy Cohen reports from a windswept hilltop where Golden eagle was released into the wild. more

(03/30/11) This winter's record-breaking snows have taken a toll on our roads and our roofs. But we humans aren't the only ones having a hard time. Barred Owls in New York and Vermont have been struggling to hunt prey under the deep snow pack. So the nocturnal hunters have been getting creative - and showing up in unexpected places. Angela Evancie has more. more

(05/07/09) Almost ten years ago, conservationists tried a novel experiment to protect the common tern, a threatened native bird on the St. Lawrence River. The tern's nesting habitat was getting overrun by gulls and geese. So a group of people sort of faked that habitat on the Seaway's giant navigation buoys, known as "nav cells". The plan worked. In 2006, the number of tern nests on the St. Lawrence was the highest recorded since 1982. The tern restoration project is a collaboration between Save the River, the Thousand Islands Land Trust, and Massena-based biologist Lee Harper. And the group has not stood pat. For our series "Story 2.0" - revisiting reports from the NCPR archive - David Sommerstein returns to the Thousand Islands to see the latest in tern-saving technology - a wire grid that keeps tern chicks in and other aggressive birds out.

(08/29/08) Iberdrola is one of the owners of the Maple Ridge wind farm on the Tug Hill Plateau. With 195 turbines spanning miles of ridgeline, it's the largest wind farm in the East. Bill Moore is an energy consultant for Iberdrola. Starting in the late 1990s, Moore was the man who went door-to-door to persuade local residents to welcome wind power. Today the project has been producing electricity for almost three years. David Sommerstein asked Bill Moore how it's been going. They talk about megawatts, bird and bat mortality, and the vicious debate over wind power in the North Country.

Since their conversation, the New York Times reported that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down sometimes because regional electric lines have been too congested to send the power downstate. Moore wouldn't talk about the article on tape. But he did confirm that Maple Ridge has had to shut down its turbines "about half a dozen times a year." Moore said that happens during the spring and fall, when electricity demand is lowest. He said as more wind farms come online in Clinton and Jefferson Counties, the problem could get worse. He agreed with the basic premise of the Times story, that wind energy is hampered by "insufficient grid capacity" to deliver electricity from where the wind blows to where the most people are.

(10/31/07) Crows are garrulous, clubby birds. Good fliers, fun to watch. But they have their place. Flocks (proper name "murders") can provide human-like entertainment in the countryside. But in cities...not so much. Some cities like Watertown bring in professionals to get rid of crows, particularly at this time of year. Mary Corriveau is city manager of Watertown. She tells Jonathan Brown the birds are starting to flock downtown where asphalt and heated buildings help keep them warm through the winter.

(08/24/07) The end of August is a special chance to take full advantage of a birder's paradise just a few minutes from Canton. You name it: mergansers, black terns, bitterns, even loons and bald eagles, all make the Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Management Area their summer home. The area opens its off-limits refuge to the public for two weeks each summer, this year through August 31. Still, much of the area's 4,300 acres of wetlands is accessible throughout the summer. From a canoe, a labyrinth of shifting cattails leads to the open water of Indian Creek, which links the Grasse and Oswagatchie Rivers. David Sommerstein took a tour with a wildlife expert and sent this audio postcard.

(03/23/07) Leah Filo is a biologist with the Wild Center in Tupper Lake. She's spent most of her professional life doing field work with migratory songbirds. In January, she joined the search for a ghost among birds, the ivory-billed woodpecker - and she came back a believer. The ivory-billed was long thought to be extinct - but in April 2005, a partnership led by Cornell University's ornithology lab formally announced the rediscovery of the ivory-billed in an area of Arkansas bottom land swamp known as the Big Woods. They cited "visual encounters", a video clip, and sounds linked to ivory-bills. Not everyone believes. Since then, scientists and volunteers have been scouring likely habitat for more sightings. Leah Filo volunteered to help and found herself spending two weeks in the very Big Woods of the 2005 sightings -- along the White River in Arkansas. It was wet and chilly -- nights in the 30s, days in the 40s. It's bottom land forest, mostly deciduous woods that flood frequently. Leah spent most of her time in waders. She kept lots of notes, and kept an audio journal as well. She spoke with Martha Foley.