http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/bnn.xml American Bird Conservancy provides news and information on birds and bird conservation through the Bird News Network en-us Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:48:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/120203.html The National Park Service has published the final rule on the contentious issue of off-road vehicle use at North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore following a seven-year process which had prompted a lawsuit from several conservation organizations.]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:48:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120202.html Many of the 48 million Americans who enjoy bird watching will have a strong interest in the pending verdict in an unprecedented lawsuit in Toronto, Canada. One of the deadliest threats to birds worldwide - building collisions - has, in a sense, been put on trial.]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:33:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120125.html American Bird Conservancy today called on federal government to take action to eliminate the massive avian mortality threat posed by the continued use of uncapped metal or PVC mining claim marker pipes on public lands in the West.]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:40:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/120124.html The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has banned the importation and interstate transportation of four nonnative constrictor snakes. Release of snakes into the wild is threatening birds and other animals in the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems across the United States.]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:40:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120123.html For the second time ever recorded, an endangered Short-tailed Albatross has nested in the United States and produced a chick. The recent discovery of the nest and chick on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands follows the fledging of the first U.S.-born chick last year at the same site by the same parents.]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120113.html Jason Berry, a researcher at American Bird Conservancy has broken the modern day record for the number of bird species seen in Washington, D.C. in a single year.]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120112.html A new study published in the journal Ecological Economics has found that, contrary to some critical earlier studies, community conservation programs, when done properly, can produce demonstrable changes in local community behavior and lead to improved environmental conservation. A second study has also found that ecotourism in Peru is providing numerous opportunities for the advancement of conservation programs.]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:05:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120111.html Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposal to regulate the killing of seabirds by vessels in the Hawaiian swordfish fishery. The action is important because it marks the first time the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, America's foremost law protecting migratory bird species, has been invoked to protect seabirds in federal waters. ]]> Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120109.html Researchers at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, who have been conducting a two year study focusing on the diets of Tiger Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, have made a surprising discovery: not only are the sharks feeding on fish and other marine organisms, they are also feeding on land-based birds, such as woodpeckers, tanagers, meadowlarks, catbirds, kingbirds, and swallows.]]> Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:10:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/120106.html The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering an application from West Butte Wind Power LLC for a permit under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The permit would allow for the incidental take of a limited number of Golden Eagles at their proposed facility in central Oregon. This application is the first of its kind for a wind project; historically, many industry developers have ignored permitting altogether and built wind farms at sites with little or no regard for the potential impacts on eagles, resulting in the deaths of possibly thousands of these birds in recent decades.]]> Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:48:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111229.html Today, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans to create a rule authorizing competitive leasing for wind and solar projects on the public land it administers. The announcement states that before competitive leasing for wind projects could occur, the agency would designate wind energy development zones.]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:50:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111220.html A critical, 318-acre parcel of land in southwestern Ecuador has been acquired as part of the Buenaventura Reserve, and will help protect the globally endangered El Oro Parakeet - a bird that appears to number fewer than 1,000 individuals in the wild.]]> Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:40:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111215.html Officials in Utah are estimating that about 1,500 Eared Grebes were killed late Monday night, possibly as a result of confusing a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cedar City with a body of water and landing on the asphalt during a storm. An additional 3,500 apparently dazed and confused grebes were rounded up through the night by hand by volunteers and staff of the Utah Department of Wildlife, and eventually released into a nearby lake.]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:20:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111214.html American Bird Conservancy today formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect millions of birds from the negative impacts of wind energy by developing regulations that will safeguard wildlife and reward responsible wind energy development.]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111209.html The first predator proof fence in the United States is producing dramatic results that may eventually lead to a resurgence in decimated seabird populations in Hawai'i. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater, which nests in the remote coastal dunes on the now-fenced Ka'ena Point at the northwestern tip of O'ahu, has produced the highest number of chicks since the annual survey began in 1994.]]> Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:50:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111208.html Tomorrow's expected announcement by the Bureau of Land Management that it will team up with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a new range-wide conservation strategy for the Greater Sage-Grouse is being received with optimism by two leading conservation organizations as a key step in providing long-term protection for the iconic western bird, which has suffered extensive losses in recent decades.]]> Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:15:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111207.html Plans to build a 32-turbine wind farm near the coast of Washington in a key breeding area for a threatened seabird have been halted to the relief of conservationists.]]> Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111130.html The endangered Nene, also known as Hawaiian Goose, whose wild population 60 years ago had shrunk to a meager 20-30 birds, has been making a remarkable comeback thanks to decades of captive breeding programs, predator control, and habitat management. The current population is estimated to be around 2,000.]]> Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:30:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111129.html The state of Hawai'i will soon begin implementing biological control to curb one of the archipelago's most environmentally damaging, invasive plants - strawberry guava. The decision follows publication of a Final Environmental Assessment that found no significant negative impacts would result from such measures.]]> Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:40:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/111122.html American Bird Conservancy is asking Nevada citizens to act on a state law that now gives them the ability to prevent thousands, possibly millions of bird deaths at mining claim sites. The law, passed in 2009, included a provision that became effective this month enabling anyone to pull up claim marker stakes that are improperly set and act as bird-killing traps.]]> Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:15:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111121.html An extensive new study by the Avian Ecology Program of the Archbold Biological Station on the health of the Florida Scrub-Jay, the only bird endemic to the state of Florida, has found that despite significant efforts to protect the species, populations have dropped significantly in the last 18 years. In managed study areas, populations have fallen by as much as 25%, but it is likely that the total species' population throughout the state may have dropped as much as 35 - 40 percent.]]> Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:15:00 EST http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/111118.html For the first time at any Peruvian reserve, visitors to the Owlet Lodge in the Abra Patricia-Alto Nieva Private Conservation Area are now seeing an Undulated Antpitta habituated to worm feeding. The ability to bring the bird into view in this fashion is particularly exciting to bird watchers since the Undulated Antpitta is normally very secretive and extremely difficult to see in the dense vegetation it usually inhabits.]]> Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:56:00 EST