Ornithology Commons^™

Breeding Bird Response To Post Oak Savanna Restoration Seven Years Post Management In Eastern Texas, Courtney Mcinnerney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oak savannas were once an abundant vegetation type in the Midwestern United States that have now declined to <1% of their original distribution. Historically, natural disturbances such as periodic fire and grazing maintained oak savannas, but these have been reduced or eliminated, resulting in woody encroachment and subsequent habitat loss and degradation. In 2009-10, a baseline, pre-restoration study was completed to determine vegetation characteristics, breeding bird abundances, nest success, and nest site selection at the Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area (GEWMA) in eastern Texas. The results showed a lack of savanna vegetation structure on degraded sites and few savanna or grassland obligate bird species. The goal of this study was to determine how breeding birds of oak savanna vegetation types in eastern Texas respond to restoration effects 7 years after initial management. Post-restoration surveys completed in 2016-17 showed a change in avian assemblages from a more woodland dominated community to grassland/savanna community. The presence and breeding of savanna obligate species dickcissel (Spiza americana) and lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) indicates that the restoration was successful. The presence of savanna species can be linked to the herbaceous vegetation that was restored to more closely resemble historic oak savanna structure and can quantify the success of restoration efforts.

Haemosporidian Parasite Community In Migrating Bobolinks On The Galapagos Islands, Noah G. Perlut, Patricia G. Parker, Rosalind B. Renfrew, Maricruz Jaramillo

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) migrate from their breeding grounds in North America to their wintering grounds in South America during the fall each year. A small number of Bobolinks stop temporarily in Galapagos, and potentially carry parasites. On the North American breeding grounds, Bobolinks carry a least two of the four Plasmodium lineages recently detected in resident Galapagos birds. We hypothesized that Bobolinks carried these parasites to Galapagos, where they were bitten by mosquitoes that then transmitted the parasites to resident birds. The haemosporidian parasite community in 44% of the Bobolinks we captured was consistent with those on their …

Age-Specific Differences In Fat Reserves And Migratory Passage Of Setophaga Striata (Blackpoll Warbler), Emily N. Filiberti, Noah G. Perlut

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Adequate fat reserves are vital for long non-stop transatlantic avian-migration movements, such as those made by Setophaga striata (Blackpoll Warbler). Over a 5-y period, we studied differences in preparedness (determined by presence of fat content and arrival time at stopover locations) between hatch-year (HY) and after hatch-year (AHY) Blackpoll Warblers at 3 stopover sites (Hancock and York counties in Maine, and Plymouth County in Massachusetts) covering 2.65° latitude along the Gulf of Maine. Migration timing varied across a latitudinal gradient and between age classes. In September, AHY Blackpoll Warblers were more abundant in the northern and central counties, but HY …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 94, No. 3), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

2017 (29th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) are described in its bylaws (NOURC 2010). The committee’s purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. Accidental and casual species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website www.NOUbirds.org. All records mentioned here are available to interested persons at the NOU archives at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM), Lincoln, NE. Interested parties should contact the current NOU Librarian, whose address can be found …

Bird Hazard Mitigation Training For General Aviation Pilots - A Prospective Research Study, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Thomas Q. Carney

Publications

• General aviation industry
• 446,000 aircraft worldwide
• 211,000 in the U.S.
• Supports $219 billion in total economic output and 1.1 million jobs in the U.S
• Flies approximately 25 million flight hours (U.S.)
• Flies to more than 5,000 public airports
• Primary training ground for most commercial airline pilots

Mitigating The Risk: An Analysis Of Wildlife-Strike Data From São Paulo International Airport (Sbgr) [2011-2017], Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Julius C. Keller Ph.D.

Publications

São Paulo (Guarulhos) International Airport;

• Busiest airport in South America;
• Major hub in Latin America;
• Commercial Operations - 93%;
• International Commercial Operations - 27.1%;
• Major routes – Argentina, Chile, and U.S;
• LATAM, GOL, Azul, American Airlines, Copa, Aerolineas Argentinas, TAP, United Airlines – Most International Flights.

2018 Bird Strike Committee Usa Meeting, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Carlos F.G. Schönhardt

Publications

Offshore Aviation in Brazil Since1980

Air passenger and cargo transport to offshore platforms began in the 1980s. The largest customer in Brazil is PETROBRAS, which ranked fifth in 2011 among the largest publicly traded oil companies in the world.

• Air passenger and Cargo Transport
• Medical Evacuation
• Helicopter Maintenance
• Helicopter Transport of External Cargo.

General Aviation Pilots’ Strategies To Mitigate Bird Strikes, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Thomas Q. Carney Ph.D.

Publications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has partnered with the FAA since 1995.

USDA has assisted the FAA with production of yearly and special reports on wildlife hazards to aviation:

• Develop or enhance existing wildlife hazard management programs (including pilots)
• Create refinements in the development and implementation of integrated research and operational efforts to mitigate the risk of bird strikes

Parasitic Indicators Of Foraging Strategies In Wading Birds, Sarah Gumbleton

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Feeding ecology and trophic interactions of six species of wading birds were explored through a combined analysis of stable isotope profiles and endoparasite communities. Stable isotopes broadly characterize the feeding preferences and geographic information, while parasite communities reflect long-term trends in feeding ecology. Deceased birds were obtained from four South Florida wildlife rehabilitation organizations. Of the 81 birds dissected, 73 contained parasites. Parasites were predominately found within the gastrointestinal tract. Host and range extensions were noted for several parasite taxa. Bird host species had a significant effect on the parasite community (P=0.001) while wildlife center location and maturity status did …

Follow The Rain? Environmental Drivers Of Tyrannus Migration Across The New World, Maggie P. Macpherson, Alex E. Jahn, Michael T. Murphy, Daniel H. Kim, Victor R. Cueto, Diego T. Tuero, Elliot D. Hill

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Predictable seasonal changes in resources are thought to drive the timing of annual animal migrations; however, we currently understand little about which environmental cues or resources are tracked by different migratory bird species across the planet. Understanding which environmental cues or resources birds track in multiple migratory systems is a prerequisite to developing generalizable conservation plans for migratory birds in a changing global environment. Within the New World, climatic differences experienced by Nearctic–Neotropical migratory (NNM; i.e. breed in North America and spend the nonbreeding period in the Neotropics) and Neotropical austral migratory (NAM; i.e. breed and spend the nonbreeding period …

The Birds Of Nebraska, Paul Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

This annotated list of the birds of Nebraska grew gradually out of research associated with my writing of the Birds of the Great Plains: Breeding Species and Their Distribution (Johnsgard, 1979a). It expands and updates an earlier version that was published in 2013 by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries DigitalCommons’ Zea Books (Johnsgard, 2013a). It has been updated and modified in its current revision to conform with the most recent (2017) major revision of the American Ornithologists’ Society’s Checklist of North American Birds (Chesser et al., 2017). It has also been modified in its current revision to conform very closely …

Wpa News 106 (2018), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Summer 2018), number 106

Published by the World Pheasant Association

The Ecology Of The Usambara Double-Collared Sunbird (Cinnyris Usambaricus), Sarah Lueder

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The ecology of the endemic Usambara Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris usambaricus) was investigated in the surrounding areas of and within Mazumbai Forest Reserve in the Lushoto District of Tanzania. As there is little known concerning the ecology of the species, this study sought to illuminate multiple aspects of their behavior and interactions. Over fourteen days (November 2nd-November 21st), the abundance of the species, their nesting behavior, their habitat preferences, their vocalizations, their diet, and their aggressive behaviors were observed and then analyzed. It was determined the species’ activity likely peaks in the early morning, their nesting is similar to other species …

Plasticity Of Foraging Behaviors In Response To Diverse Environmental Conditions, Morgan Gilmour, José Castillo‐Guerrero, Abram Fleishman, Salvador Hernández‐Vázquez, Hillary Young, Scott Shaffer

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Due to rapidly changing global environmental conditions, many animals are now experiencing concurrent changes in both resource availability and the foraging cues associated with finding those resources. By employing flexible, plastic foraging strategies that use different types of environmental foraging cues, animals could adapt to these novel future environments. To evaluate the extent to which such flexibility and plasticity exist, we analyzed a large dataset of a clade (Sulidae; the boobies) of widespread aerial tropical predators that feed in highly variable marine habitats. These surface foragers are typical of many ocean predators that face dynamic and patchy foraging environments and …

Common Loons Respond Adaptively To A Black Fly That Reduces Nesting Success, Walter H. Piper, Keren B. Tischler, Andrew Reinke

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Nesting birds must often cope with harassment from biting insects, but it is difficult to ascertain what effect such pests might have on breeding success and population dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that a black fly (Simulium annulus) that feeds on the blood of nesting Common Loons (Gavia immer) causes nest abandonment in this charismatic diving bird. In addition, we measured effects of fly-induced abandonment on a loon population, and examined potential predictors of fly abundance and nest abandonment. We also tested a second hypothesis, which holds that loon pairs that abandon a nest owing to …

Nou Spring Field Days And Annual Meeting, Ft. Robinson, May 18-20, 2018, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The NOU Annual Meeting and Spring Field Days, organized by Robin Harding, Jan Johnson and Ruth Stearns, was held at Ft. Robinson State Park in Dawes and Sioux Counties on May 18-20, 2018, with 82 in attendance. Our lodgings and meeting room were in reconstructed buildings of the old Fort. The weather was perfect on Friday and Sunday but perfectly awful on Saturday, with rain all day and a high of 44°F. Finding birds and driving on unpaved roads was challenging on Friday, but the total species list for the meeting is 180. Field trips were led by Kathy DeLara, …

Spring Field Report, March - May 2018, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This spring will be remembered for Nebraska’s first unequivocal record of Swainson’s Warbler, unfortunately a “one day wonder”, but well-photographed. Another mega was a Band-tailed Pigeon, Nebraska’s fourth. The old sports saying “wait until next year” was applicable in spades to woodwarblers; last year was noted for its paucity of most species of wood-warblers, but this year, incredible record numbers occurred for several migrant species: Magnolia, Baybreasted, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, and Palm. Other amazing numbers were the 598,000 Sandhill Cranes counted at peak migration in the Central Platte Valley and the 598 Great Egrets reported within the amazing 414 reports. Several …

First Record Of Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna Bicolor) For Nebraska, Matthew T. Haugen

Nebraska Bird Review

On the afternoon of 5 June 2018, I was scouting local Salt Valley lakes to get an estimate of goose numbers for annual Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) banding operations. At approximately 2:30 p.m. I was tallying my goose counts in the northwest corner of Wagon Train Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster County, when I noticed four ducks on a nearby vegetated mud flat. After closer examination, I recognized the ducks as Fulvous Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor). I spent a few years working in Louisiana in that state’s waterfowl program, and I am familiar with the species and its identification. I was …

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 86 June 2018 Number 2

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March - May 2018, by W. Ross Silcock …50-89

NOU Spring Field Days and Annual Meeting at Ft. Robinson, May 18-20, 2018, by Janis Paseka … 89-95

First Record of Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) for Nebraska, by Matt Haugen … 96-98

Subscription and Organization Information … 99