October 2024

Hot Birds: October 2024

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:14 GMT

A Lark Bunting at Val Cabral’s feeders in Norton on August 21 was Bristol County’s first record of the species. It stuck around for one day and Val graciously welcomed dozens of birders to enjoy the bunting’s brief visit. Peter Modest took the photograph.

On August 22, Tanya Rathbun saw a large white bird by the deck of her home near Mount Greylock and the New York border. It was a Wood Stork, the first record for Berkshire County. It showed no fear of Tanya or her family as it ate slugs in their yard for over an hour, then disappeared. Three days later, John Young found a Wood Stork near Wellfleet, Cape Cod, that similarly vanished after a couple of hours. Ross Sormani took the photograph.

In Memoriam: William E. (Ted) Davis Jr., November 17, 1936 - August 22, 2024

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:07 GMT

November 17, 1936–August 22, 2024

With sadness, we report that Ted Davis passed away on August 22; he was 87 years old. Ted’s involvement in and influence on Bird Observer spanned decades. From 1990 to 1997, he was president of Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts, Inc. He was the journal’s cover art editor from 1989 to 2023, selecting the cover species illustrations and writing the corresponding natural history narratives for nearly 200 issues. Ted had a sharp eye and enthusiasm for avian behavior and loved to share his observations in Bird Observer. He contributed more than 60 personal field notes on avian foraging behavior in species as varied as herons and egrets, shorebirds, gulls, Downy Woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatches. He also wrote extensive biographical sketches of prominent Massachusetts ornithologists. Ted’s final contribution to Bird Observer was a carefully annotated and chronological history of the journal covering the 50-year period 1973–2023.

About Books: Unravelling the Ethics of Killing for Conservation

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:06 GMT

Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation.

Hugh Warwick. 2024. Bloomsbury Wildlife: London, Great Britain.

“Every year millions of animals are killed in the name of conservation.” (p. 9)

“I believe we deserve an honest conversation about conservation.” (p. 9)

The August 12, 2024, edition of the New York Times featured a long op-ed piece written by three professors of philosophy who teach at colleges in Oregon (Hiller, Avram; Odenbaugh, Jay; Rohwer, Yasha. “A Dystopian Proposal to Kill 500,000 Owls” New York Times. August 12, 2024. Page A 16). They were decrying the proposed federal plan to kill 500,000 Barred Owls in the Pacific northwest to help Spotted Owl populations. The reason for this drastic culling is that Barred Owl populations are thought to be increasing in the northwest, and they are aggressively pushing Spotted Owls, already a species in decline, out of their habitats. Avram et al. write that this mass killing is proposed to take place over thirty years and call this plan “a dystopian, rear-guard conservation strategy.”

Is such a mass killing of a wild species the best way to spend time and money? Would the plan even work? The philosophers ultimately questioned the wisdom of restoring current ecosystems to “so-called historical base lines.” In other words, to a time when Spotted Owls were common in the area. The northwest ecosystem is certainly changing because of climate change, and instead of uselessly killing a number of owls, we should be caring for the forest as a whole, ushering it through this inevitable world-altering prolonged event. “We would rather work with the forest as it is now and as it adapts and changes.”

On first reading about this proposed plan of Barred Owl culling, it seemed absurd, unthinkable. After all, the Barred Owls had arrived in the northwest “naturally” by range expansion. They were not simply an invasive. But how are we to consider plans for mass cullings? Are they the best possible idea for protecting Spotted Owls, which were declining anyway due to habitat loss and logging? Is this killing what is ahead for conservation? Fortunately, I had just read Hugh Warwick’s book The Cull of the Wild in which he asks all these questions and many more.

At a Glance: October 2024

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:02 GMT

To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work.

Advertisers 52-5

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:01 GMT