Kustvogels

Saturday, Dec. 28, will be the 40th birthday of one of the most significant pieces of environmental history in the U.S.: the Endangered Species Act. Now, with this landmark legislation entering its middle age, it’s an ideal time to reflect on where it has succeeded – and where it has fallen short. On balance, the ESA’s signature feature, the endangered species list, seems overwhelmingly positive. As of January 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed 2,054 species worldwide as endangered or threatened. Some 58 species have been taken off the list: 30 because they’ve recovered, 10 due to extinction, and 18 due to an error found in the original listing data. That might not seem like a resounding success on its face, but rebuilding the populations of species takes time – decades, often. In a 2012 report, the Center for Biological Diversity found that 90 percent of species covered by an ESA plan are recovering their numbers at the expected rate. “Few laws of any kind can boast a 90 percent success rate,” the CBD says.

Florida’s birdlife is some of the most captivating and well-recognized in the country, from impossibly pink Roseate Spoonbills to the raucous gulls and terns of our sandy beaches. At the start of the 20th century, many Florida bird species were in steep decline because of exploitation for the millinery trade. Their bright, ornate feathers were highly prized as decoration for women’s hats. Most of these bird populations rebounded after the federal government banned this practice , yet today many of these birds are again threatened and decreasing. They face pressures on where they live and competition for the food they eat. Habitat loss is often the emphasis of bird conservation efforts, but comprehensive conservation of any species must consider all its vulnerabilities. Forage fish—sometimes known as baitfish or prey fish—play a vital role in the marine ecosystem as a food source for coastal birds and other marine wildlife. These small, nutrient-rich fish are the crucial link between plankton and predators in the ocean food webs. The schooling behavior and relative abundance of forage fish make them ideal prey for much larger coastal predators such as Terns, Pelicans, and Ospreys, as well as their ocean counterparts such as tarpon, snook, and dolphins. In this report, we investigate an area of growing concern for these birds: how declines in populations of forage fish in Florida’s coastal waters could exacerbate declines of seabirds, wading birds, and other fish-eating birds, particularly species of conservation concern such as Least Terns (Sternula antillarum, formerly Sterna antillarum) and Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger)

Es werden einfach nicht mehr Trauerseeschwalben (Chlidonias niger) auf Eiderstedt, auch nicht im EU-Vogelschutzgebiet. In diesem Jahr zählte Experte Claus Ivens 20 Brutpaare und zwölf flügge Küken, im vergangenen Jahr waren es 21 Paare und 21 Küken. Damit setzt sich der Negativ-Trend fort. So waren es 2003 noch 58 Brutpaare und 103 flügge Küken. Einen großen Einbruch verzeichnete Ivens 2009: 36 Paare zogen acht Jungvögel auf. 2008 waren es noch 51 Paare, allerdings wurden nur zwei Küken flügge. Der ehemalige Landwirt aus Kotzenbüll ist seit seiner Jugend fasziniert von dem zierlichen Vogel und kümmert sich seit Jahrzehnten um den Schutz dieser vom Aussterben bedrohten Art, die auf künstlichen Nistflößen auf Tränkekuhlen in den Weiden der Halbinsel brütet. Die legen Ivens und ein Team des Naturschutzbunds Kiel in jedem Frühjahr aus. 121 sind es im EU-Vogelschutzgebiet, 29 im Oldensworter Vorland.

A cocktail of contaminants could threaten to further push the Arctic’s population of glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) into decline, a Canadian scientist has found. The breeding population of the glaucous gull — which looks like your average seagull — has halved in the Canadian Arctic since the 1980s. Several contaminants, plus other threats that endanger the gull, like global warming and new parasites in the environment, work together to harm the gull, explained Jonathan Verreault, a professor at Université du Québec à Montréal and a Canada research chair in comparative avian toxicology. “For example — If I punch you in the stomach, it will hurt. But if I punch you in the back, and the head, and the stomach, it will hurt more. And eventually it can reduce your health if you do it every day,” Verreault said. Verreault studied the gulls near Cape Dorset in 2012 and found levels of contaminants like mercury, polybrominated diphenylether (PBDE) and halogenated flame-retardants in the gulls’ livers, eggs and plasma.

Responding to a 2001 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today denied Endangered Species Act protection to the Kittlitz’s murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris), an Alaskan seabird. “The Kittlitz’s murrelet is one of America’s most imperiled birds, but federal officials have decided not to save the species from extinction,” said Shaye Wolf, the Center’s climate science director. “It’s tragic that our government has denied protection to this clearly endangered seabird, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of drastic population declines.” The Kittlitz’s murrelet — also known as the “glacier murrelet” — forages in coastal waters near glacier outflows, where its fish and zooplankton food is abundant. The number of birds has declined by 80 percent to 90 percent in recent decades in core areas from Glacier Bay to Prince William Sound. In its listing analysis, the Service concluded that Kittlitz’s murrelets in Alaska experienced a large-scale decline of 30 percent per year between 1989 and 2000 and likely have continued to decline at a slower rate since 2000. The Center submitted a petition in 2001 to list the Kittlitz’s murrelet under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In 2004 the Service determined that the Kittlitz’s murrelet warranted protection but was “precluded” from listing, putting this species on a long waiting list for protection. In 2011 the Center and the Service reached a landmark agreement that ensures that all the species on the federal waiting list for protection as of 2010 get decisions within the next four years. Today’s decision resulted from this agreement.