Poultry or Avian Science Commons^™

Woodland Birds, Color Photo Section [March 2016, Pp. 25–32]

Nebraska Bird Review

Photographs of Swainson’s Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, and Varied Thrush and Hairy Woodpecker (p. 25); White-eyed Vireo, Long-eared Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Broad-winged Hawk (p. 26); Chestnut-sided Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Bay-breasted Warbler (p. 27); Blackpoll Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Screech-Owl, and Green Heron (p. 28); quiz (four birds) (p. 29); Caspian Tern, Great Blue Heron, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and Cattle Egret (p. 30); Mississippi Kite, Snow Buntings, White-winged Dove, and Black-bellied Plover (p. 31); and intermediate Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed (Pink-sided) Junco, Mourning Doves, and Eastern Phoebe (p. 32).

2015–2016 Christmas Bird Counts, Don Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

Fifteen counts were held during the 2015–16 Christmas Bird Count season, which is one more than last season when the Harrison count was canceled. The Grand Island count was held on December 12, two days prior to the start of the officially sanctioned CBC time slot, but its results are included in this discussion.

Ten of the counts were done on or before December 22 under mild conditions with little snow cover and mostly to entirely open water. While the weather became more seasonable toward the end of the period, it was still fairly benign. As a result, most of …

Eight Years Of Bird Banding In Nebraska’S Chadron State Park, Josh Lefever

Nebraska Bird Review

Each autumn since 2008, the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies has sent a trained biologist to capture, band, and collect data on the birds that make use of the Pine Ridge region on their journey south. Eight years of mist-netting at Chadron State Park, in the heart of the Pine Ridge, has given insights into the unique assemblage of birds found there, and how alteration by fire can affect birds' use of the habitat. The Chadron State Park banding station is located on a hillside near the west edge of the park, with an overstory of Ponderosa Pines and a …

Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Treasurer’S Report, December 31, 2015

Nebraska Bird Review

One-page spreadsheet constituting the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union treasurer's report at year end (December 31) of 2015. The grand total is $59,997.24.

Swans: Their Biology And Natural History, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

The seven species of swans of the world are an easily and universally recognized group of waterfowl, which have historically played important roles in the folklore, myths and legends in many of the world’s cultures. Among the largest of all flying birds, they have also almost universally been used as symbols of royalty, grace and beauty, and largely for these reasons swans have only rarely been considered acceptable as targets for sport hunting. Swans occur on all the continents except Africa, although most species are associated with the temperate and arctic zones of North America and Eurasia. Among birds, swans …

Overview Of The Endangered Species Program, Glen Smart

United States Geological Survey: Publications

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, we became increasingly aware, as a Nation, of declining populations of birds and mammals. Rates of extinction appeared to be skyrocketing and the situation was becoming critical. The country needed to take action to reverse this trend. The Federal government began to show interest in the problem and acknowledged that it needed to intervene on a hands-on basis. The Washington, D.C., office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began to promote a program, championed by Dr. Ray Erickson, senior scientist at headquarters, to initiate captive research and propagation of birds and …

High Throughput Genomic Sequencing Of Bioaerosols In Broiler Chicken Production Facilities, Kate M. O’Brien, Michael S. Chimenti, Morgan Farnell, Tom Tabler, Thomas Bair, Joey Lynn Bray, Matthew W. Nonnenmann

Faculty Publications

Chronic inhalation exposure to agricultural dust promotes the development of chronic respiratory diseases among poultry workers. Poultry dust is composed of dander, chicken feed, litter bedding and microbes. However, the microbial composition and abundance has not been fully elucidated. Genomic DNA was extracted from settled dust and personal inhalable dust collected while performing litter sampling or mortality collection tasks. DNA libraries were sequenced using a paired-end sequencing-by-synthesis approach on an Illumina HiSeq 2500. Sequencing data showed that poultry dust is predominantly composed of bacteria (64–67%) with a small quantity of avian, human and feed DNA (< 2% of total reads). Staphylococcus sp. AL1, Salinicoccus carnicancri and Lactobacillus crispatus were the most abundant bacterial species in personal exposure samples of inhalable dust. Settled dust had a moderate relative abundance of these species as well as Staphylococcus lentus and Lactobacillus salivarius. There was a statistical difference between the microbial composition of aerosolized and settled dust. Unlike settled dust composition, aerosolized dust composition had little variance between samples. These data provide an extensive analysis of the microbial composition and relative abundance in personal inhalable poultry dust and settled poultry dust.

Impacts Of Man-Made Structures On Avian Community Metrics In 4 State Parks In Northwestern Arkansas, R. D. Keith, B. Grooms, R. E. Urbanek

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Avian community metrics often differ between areas with no human disturbance and areas with high levels of human disturbance. However, the relationships between avian community metrics and smaller-scale disturbances are not as clear. Our goal was to investigate if avian abundance, richness, evenness, and diversity differed in areas with and without small-scale human developments. We used fixed-radius 50-m avian point counts to compare points which contained a man-made structure (n = 47), such as a picnic area, road, or campsite to those that did not contain a man-made structure (n = 181) at 4 state parks in Arkansas during 18 …

Migratory Bird Program At The U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center/U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Patuxent Research Refuge: Transformations In Management And Research, R. Michael Erwin, Robert Blohm

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), first known as the Patuxent Research Refuge, has a long and rich history of participation in the Department of Interior’s (DOI) cooperative efforts to protect and conserve migratory birds in North America. This chapter describes many of the events and the people involved that constitute this important timeline for international conservation of a shared wildlife resource. The Patuxent Research Refuge, renowned worldwide, is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that has, at different times and under a variety of organizational iterations, provided the physical location …

Flight Mechanics And Control Of Escape Manoeuvres In Hummingbirds. Ii. Aerodynamic Force Production, Flight Control And Performance Limitations, Bo Cheng, Bret W. Tobalske, Donald R. Powers, Tyson L. Hedrick, Yi Wang, Susan M. Wethington, George T.C. Chiu, Xinyan Deng

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

The superior manoeuvrability of hummingbirds emerges from complex interactions of specialized neural and physiological processes with the unique flight dynamics of flapping wings. Escape manoeuvring is an ecologically relevant, natural behaviour of hummingbirds, from which we can gain understanding into the functional limits of vertebrate locomotor capacity. Here, we extend our kinematic analysis of escape manoeuvres from a companion paper to assess two potential limiting factors of the manoeuvring performance of hummingbirds: (1) muscle mechanical power output and (2) delays in the neural sensing and control system. We focused on the magnificent hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens, 7.8 g) and the black-chinned …

University Of Illinois Poultry Research Farm, Luke A. Zimmerman

A with Honors Projects

In this Service Learning project for A with Honors, the student assisted in several research farm trials at the University of Illinois Poultry Research Farm to further his understanding of monogastric nutrition and poultry physiology.

Identification Of Species In Ground Meat Products Sold On The U.S. Commercial Market Using Dna-Based Methods, Dawn Kane, Rosalee S. Hellberg

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

The objective of this study was to test a variety of ground meat products sold on the U.S. commercial market for the presence of potential mislabeling. Forty-eight ground meat samples were purchased from online and retail sources, including both supermarkets and specialty meat retailers. DNA was extracted from each sample in duplicate and tested using DNA barcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. The resulting sequences were identified at the species level using the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). Any samples that failed DNA barcoding went through repeat extraction and sequencing, and due to the possibility of a …

Specialty Poultry Production: Impact Of Genotype, Feed Strategies, Alternative Feedstuffs, And Dietary Enzymes On The Growth Performance And Carcass Characteristics Of Heritage Breed Chickens, Tatijana Fisher

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

There is a growing market for specialty poultry production using alternative genotypes and management systems. However, producers interested in specialty poultry production face several challenges. One challenge is that little published data exists regarding the growth and production parameters for alternative genotypes like slow-growing meat strains and heritage breeds. To address this challenge, research at the University of Kentucky examined the effect of feed strategies, alternative feedstuffs, and dietary enzymes on the growth and performance of heritage breeds of chicken used for either egg- or meat-production. The first trial documented the growth and nutrient intake of pullets from three heritage …

Flight Mechanics And Control Of Escape Manoeuvres In Hummingbirds. I. Flight Kinematics, Bo Cheng, Bret W. Tobalske, Donald R. Powers, Tyson L. Hedrick, Susan M. Wethington, George T.C. Chiu, Xinyan Deng

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

Hummingbirds are nature’s masters of aerobatic manoeuvres. Previous research shows that hummingbirds and insects converged evolutionarily upon similar aerodynamic mechanisms and kinematics in hovering. Herein, we use three-dimensional kinematic data to begin to test for similar convergence of kinematics used for escape flight and to explore the effects of body size upon manoeuvring. We studied four hummingbird species in North America including two large species (magnificent hummingbird, Eugenes fulgens, 7.8 g, and blue-throated hummingbird, Lampornis clemenciae, 8.0 g) and two smaller species (broad-billed hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris, 3.4 g, and black-chinned hummingbirds Archilochus alexandri, 3.1 g). Starting from a steady hover, …

Prevalence And Diversity Of The Haemosporidian Blood Parasite Leucocytozoon In Sub-Saharan African Birds, Heather Skeen

Master's Theses

Our knowledge of avian Haemosporidian parasites has increased dramatically with the advent and increased used of molecular technologies. Yet Leucocytozoon, a common avian parasite, remains relatively understudied. Haemosporidian parasite diversity and prevalence has been shown to be dependent on several factors, including host family and habitat, on a microecological scale. In this study I screened 3,375 birds from sub-Saharan Africa for the presence of Leucocytozoon and demonstrate that the patterns of prevalence and diversity continue at a macroecological scale. Using molecular data, I found that the prevalence of Leucocytozoon varied between sampling areas from 3.9% to 62.64% and the diversity …

The Biology Of Eastern Kingbirds At Malheur National Wildlife Refuge: Survival, Reproduction, And Testosterone Secretion, Lucas J. Redmond

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation presents the results of a study that I undertook to better understand the breeding biology of Eastern Kingbirds (hereafter, kingbirds) at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon from 2003 to 2009. Kingbirds are long-distance migratory songbirds that breed across much of North America. This species is socially monogamous but, via frequent extra-pair copulations, is genetically polygamous. Kingbirds exhibit relatively high breeding site fidelity, often returning to the same tree to nest in subsequent years. Both members of a pair provide parental care, but there are often specific duties performed by both male and female kingbirds. For example, …

Transcriptomics Of Chicken Primordial Germ Cells, Nhung Thi Nguyen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) are derived from extraembryonic tissue of the embryo and first appear at stage X of development. They enter the bloodstream and migrate to the genital ridge, unite with somatic tissue to form a developing gonad, and then differentiate to sperm or ova (Fujimoto et al., 1976). Understanding molecular features of both male and female PGCs not only clarify the differentiation mechanism of such cells toward different germ lines, but will also help in selecting for highly productive types of commercial chicken. Most previous studies focused on the location of PGCs (Eyal-Giladi et al., 1981; Swift …

2015 Fall Migration Bird Banding At Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area, Holly Garrod

Nebraska Bird Review

It was a different season of bird banding this year at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska. Due to construction at the nature center, the banding station was moved farther down the road to one of the picnic shelters. The habitat remained mostly the same, with Ponderosa Pine and multispecies-shrub understory dominating the unique ridge landscape characteristic of Wildcat Hills. The new site provided more shrub understory but lacked the running water of Turkey Creek and the bird feeders at the nature center. Bird Conservatory of the Rockies (formerly Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory) has been banding …

Nebraska Bird Review (December 2015) 83(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August–November 2015 ... 154

2015 Fall Migration Bird Banding at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area … 183

South Sioux City Fall Field Days ... 186

Index to Volume 83 … 192

Subscription and Organization Information ... 207

Index To Volume 83

Nebraska Bird Review

Aird, Bruce 156
Akers, Danny 135
Allen, Edward 5, 49, 56, 144, 157
Anderbery, DeAnna 49
Anderson: Branden 50; Kapri 50
Armknecht, Henry 5
Arp, Dennis 56
Arthur, Noah 5, 49, 57, 135, 158
Arterburn, S. W. 148
Aubushon: Cathy 49; Dorothy 49
Avocet, American 65, 88, 112, 164
Azar, Adrian 104

. . .

Yellowlegs: Greater 11, 65, 88, 112, 165, 186, 188; Lesser 11, 24, 66, 88, 112, 165, 186, 188
Yellowthroat, Common 79, 91, 121, 177, 190

Zambon, Teri 6
Zonotrichia/eucophrys: gambelii 180; leucophrys 82, 180; oriantha 82: leucophrys × oriantha 82
Zwartjes, William 106