Bright Lights, Big City, Dead Birds

Hundreds of species of birds migrate at night. If the skies are clear and their path is moonlit these migrants will often fly at high altitudes avoiding any possible obstructions. But the lights of 20th century society can be confusing to them, especially on foggy, rainy nights or when cloud cover is low. Then they may fly directly into tall lighted structures such as skyscrapers, transmission towers, monuments, lighthouses and the like. Where spotlights are shone into the night sky the birds fly into the light and become entrapped , unable or unwilling to fly out again. Eventually, exhausted, they fall to the ground. Some birds are killed outright. Others are stunned and will revive in a couple of hours. Those birds that survive collisions with office towers clustered in a city\u27s downtown core find themselves trapped in a maze of brightly-lit, reflective buildings. Their chances of survival are slim. Feral cats, rats, gulls and other animals learn to take advantage of this easy food source. When people appear on the scene, the disoriented migrants panic and try to take cover in the nearest tree or shrub - whether it\u27s behind a wall of glass or reflected in it. Those birds that do not die upon impact will go into shock, easily falling prey to scavengers or being crushed by unsuspecting feet

Miniaturized data loggers and computer programming improve seabird risk and damage assessments for marine oil spills in Atlantic Canada

Obtaining useful information on marine birds that can aid in oil spill (and other hydrocarbon release) risk and damage assessments in offshore environments is challenging. Technological innovations in miniaturization have allowed archival data loggers to be deployed successfully on marine birds vulnerable to hydrocarbons on water. A number of species, including murres (both Common, Uria aalge, and Thick-billed, U. lomvia) have been tracked using geolocation devices in eastern Canada, increasing our knowledge of the seasonality and colony-specific nature of their susceptibility to oil on water in offshore hydrocarbon production areas and major shipping lanes. Archival data tags are starting to resolve questions around behaviour of vulnerable seabirds at small spatial scales relevant to oil spill impact modelling, specifically to determine the duration and frequency at which birds fly at sea. Advances in data capture methods using voice activated software have eased the burden on seabird observers who are collecting increasingly more detailed information on seabirds during ship-board and aerial transects. Computer programs that integrate seabird density and bird behaviour have been constructed, all with a goal of creating more credible seabird oil spill risk and damage assessments. In this paper, we discuss how each of these technological and computing innovations can help define critical inputs into seabird risk and damage assessments, and when combined, can provide a more realistic understanding of the impacts to seabirds from any hydrocarbon release

Reducing the Risk of Birds Colliding into Windows: A Practical Guide for Homes and Businesses

This fact sheet explains the problem of birds colliding into windows, why they fly into windows, windows that pose the greatest threat, what you can do to reduce the risk, and what to do if you find an injured bird

Building a Bird: Musculoskeletal Modeling and Simulation of Wing-Assisted Incline Running during Avian Ontogeny

Flapping flight is the most power-demanding mode of locomotion, associated with a suite of anatomical specializations in extant adult birds. In contrast, many developing birds use their forelimbs to negotiate environments long before acquiring “flight adaptations,” recruiting their developing wings to continuously enhance leg performance and, in some cases, fly. How does anatomical development influence these locomotor behaviors? Isolating morphological contributions to wing performance is extremely challenging using purely empirical approaches. However, musculoskeletal modeling and simulation techniques can incorporate empirical data to explicitly examine the functional consequences of changing morphology by manipulating anatomical parameters individually and estimating their effects on locomotion. To assess how ontogenetic changes in anatomy affect locomotor capacity, we combined existing empirical data on muscle morphology, skeletal kinematics, and aerodynamic force production with advanced biomechanical modeling and simulation techniques to analyze the ontogeny of pectoral limb function in a precocial ground bird (Alectoris chukar). Simulations of wing-assisted incline running (WAIR) using these newly developed musculoskeletal models collectively suggest that immature birds have excess muscle capacity and are limited more by feather morphology, possibly because feathers grow more quickly and have a different style of growth than bones and muscles. These results provide critical information about the ontogeny and evolution of avian locomotion by (i) establishing how muscular and aerodynamic forces interface with the skeletal system to generate movement in morphing juvenile birds, and (ii) providing a benchmark to inform biomechanical modeling and simulation of other locomotor behaviors, both across extant species and among extinct theropod dinosaurs

Unhand me!

During the spring I go out into the field and study Yellow Warblers, a small bird common in Illinois. I'm interested in how they react to different playbacks we present to them, both behaviorally and physiologically, which can be measured by taking blood samples. To band birds and take samples, we put up mist nets which the birds have a hard time seeing, and they fly into it and get caught. However, all kinds of birds fly around our field site so sometimes we get bycatch, which is always interesting because you get to hold a new species for the first time. This Tree Swallow male was chasing a female swallow when they both landed right into the net. This male was very grumpy about the situation but resumed chasing his female after they were released. You'll notice that the feet of this bird barely extend beyond the grasp of our hand. That's because swallows are birds who spend almost all their time on the wing eating insects, and thus their legs have become short and stubby over time making them difficult to get a grip on!Ope