Mouth to Beak CPR, image from video

A veterinarian gives mouth to beak CPR to save a Bald Eagle.

The Bald Eagle was found in June by two women after it had been hit by a car in Oregon. The bird was brought to Dr Jeff Cooney. Jeff is an associate professor of biology at Central Oregon Community College, as well as a veterinarian specializing in raptor rehabilitation.

The Bald Eagle was under anesthesia for an exam and physical therapy. While under anesthesia, the bird stopped breathing. Jeff springs into action and gave the bird mouth to beak resuscitation.

In the video below, you can see the bird’s chest rise and fall with each breath.

Jeff said:

He has gained 10 percent of his body weight and is eating fish like crazy. His attitude is greatly improved, and he’s starting to act like a normal, rambunctious bald eagle.

Jeff goes on to say that the Bald Eagle is well on his way to recovery and that the bird’s fractured wing and dislocated elbow and wrist are all healing. The dislocated shoulder and his paralyzed right leg are his major problems right now. The next several weeks will determine if the bird can be released or live in a facility where the bird can get a second chance being used for educational purposes.

Good luck!

Japanese White-eye by John&Fish

We all know that some seeds consumed by birds survive the digestion process. New research proves some snails do too.

Shinchiro Wada of Tohoku University said:

Biogeography of wingless terrestrial invertebrates, in particular snails, is often faced with mysterious long distance dispersal patterns…

In order to understand these patterns, Wada and his team fed 174 Tornatellides boeningi snails to two bird species: the Japanese White-eye and Brown-eared Bulbul.

Wada explains the results:

We were surprised that a high rate, about 15 percent, of snails were still alive after passing through the gut of [the] birds.

This explains what is happening on the island of Hajima which is south of Tokyo in the Bonin archipelago. The surviving snails take advantage of this experience in order to take up residence on different parts of the island that they could never reach without  the birds.

These particular snails are very small, just a tenth of an inch or 2.5mm. There small size allows the birds to swallow them hole which helps the snail to survive.

Wada said further testing needs to be done to see if any other adaptations allow them to survive.

Osprey by NeitherFanboy

In this video, an Osprey that was caught in some fishing line near Eugene, Oregon is rescued.

Two things to takeway from this video. First, take out what you bring in, whatever it may be. If an Osprey can get caught in fishing line, you can be guaranteed that lots of other birds get caught too.

Second, when possible, call an expert. In the video, they called the Cascades Raptor Center. A person from the center untangled the bird and performed a quick physical check of the bird to make sure it was okay to be released.

This bird was very lucky!

Carbofuran Molecule by Ben Mills

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition by pesticide manufacturers that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s ban of a product blamed for sickening farm workers and killing millions of birds.

The pesticide is called carbofuran and goes by the trade name of Furadan. According to Wikipedia:

Carbofuran has one of the highest acute toxicities to humans of any insecticide widely used on field crops (only aldicarb and parathion are more toxic). A quarter teaspoon (1 mL) can be fatal. Most carbofuran is applied by commercial applicators using closed systems with engineered controls so there is no exposure to it in preparation. Since its toxic effects are due to its activity as a cholinesterase inhibitor it is considered a neurotoxic pesticide.

It is extremely lethal to birds. When in granular form, just a single grain can kill a bird.

In 2009 the EPA banned carbofuran under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because they had determined that all exposure resulting from existing legal uses is unsafe to humans and the environment. Since then industry organizations and corporations have petitioned the U.S. government questioning the ban. Fortunately, the Supreme Court upheld the decision!

Jason Rylander, senior staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife said:

The EPA decision confirmed what we’ve been saying for years: carbofuran is a deadly poison that has absolutely no place in our food or the environment. The court’s action means that, in this case, the health and safety of the American people and our nation’s wildlife have trumped the profits of powerful corporations.

A win for the birds, the environment and humans!

Restoring the Bald Eagle to the Channel Islands, image from video

After the 1960s, there were essentially no Bald Eagles on the islands due to ranchers who considered the bird a menace and the chemical DDT. The Bald Eagles ingested DDT from fish and other marine life that they fed on. Then those eagles would lay eggs with shells too thin to protect the young.

So much hard work had to be done to bring the Bald Eagle back to the islands. Some of which included hanging from a helicopter to replace eggs!

Birding in San Francisco, image from SF Weekly video

Dominik Mosur and Josiah Clark try to beat the record of 149 species seen or heard within the San Francisco city limits.

In their attempt they racked up 136 species. That’s way more than I’ve seen in 24 hours! What’s the most amount of different birds you’ve seen in a single day? Does your area have any records?

via [SF Weekly]

Beautiful Boxes by BirdProject

BirdProject creates black glycerin soaps shaped like a bird. As you use the soap, a clean ceramic white bird is revealed!

I really love this very creative idea! Plus, 50% of the proceeds of each sale go to the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) and the Gulf Restoration Network.

From the BirdProject:

Through the daily act of washing, you will eventually free the clean, white, ceramic birds inside – potent symbols of restoration and recovery. The soap is shaped to be cradled in your hand and is a powerful representation of all creatures affected by the spill.

In order to get started, the BirdProject idea was presented on Kickstarter by Tippy Tippens, an industrial designer. If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a place where anyone can present an idea in an effort to get funding. The creators get a limited amount of time to raise their desired amount. The best part is me, you or anyone else can fund an idea!

In the case of the BirdProject, they placed a wonderful video (which is below) and a very nice written description on Kickstarter. They asked for $2500, which was just half of what the initial run of soaps would cost.

The idea was a huge success and they reached their goal in just 5 days! Over the next 25 days, they more than doubled that amount. So the entire cost of the initial run was covered!

BirdProject Soap and White Ceramic Birds by BirdProject

Another reason I really like this idea is how responsible BirdProject is when it came to the ingredients and manufacturing process. From the BirdProject Kickstarter description:

BirdProject provides work to the area by teaming exclusively with local artists, suppliers, and manufacturers and building positive partnerships between a range of New Orleans communities. Working with community and education based Operation Reach and Stretching Sky Arts Laboratory helps highlight this important issue in the minds of teenagers as well as teaching new skills in both green technologies and entrepreneurial creativity.

The soap is made by Emily Manger Davis of Sweet Olive Soap Works who is a third generation soapmaker from Louisiana.

The soaps are manufactured from natural, locally sourced ingredients: biodiesel glycerin from Operation Reach, fair trade olive oil, aloe, activated black charcoal, and a light cypress scent – reminiscent of Louisianan bayous.

The BirdProject is the launch product of MATTER. To learn more, be sure to visit the BirdProject blog. I really like how they show us the entire process. For example, in one post you can see them testing different ceramic bird sizes and in another they show you the ceramic mold making process. BirdProject also has a Facebook Page and Twitter account.

Blue and White Ceramic Birds by BirdProject

The BirdProject soap is just $24. There is also a limited edition soap for $34 that contains a blue ceramic bird. There are only 500 in the limited edition series, so I would get them quick!

Visit the BirdProject Shop to see all the products that are available!

Wisdom with her chick by USFWS

A Laysan Albatross named Wisdom is the oldest known bird in the United States at 60 years old and she just had a baby!

John Klavitter, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, spotted the bird a few weeks ago with a chick in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge where he is also the deputy manager.

The bird was originally banded while incubating an egg in 1956 by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Chandler Robbins. Since then, Wisdom have worn out a total of 5 bird bands!

In 1956 Chandler conservatively estimated Wisdom to be 5 years since this is the earliest a Laysan Albatross would breed. In reality, these birds usually breed at 8 or 9 years of age after a courtship that can last several years. So, Wisdom could even be a few years older!

Bruce Peterjohn, the chief of the North American Bird Banding Program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland said:

She looks great! And she is now the oldest wild bird documented in the 90-year history of our USGS-FWS and Canadian bird banding program. To know that she can still successfully raise young at age 60-plus, that is beyond words. While the process of banding a bird has not changed greatly during the past century, the information provided by birds marked with a simple numbered metal band has transformed our knowledge of birds.

Bruce goes on to say that Wisdom probably raised at least 30 to 35 chicks in her lifetime. An Albatross lays only one egg and it takes nearly a year to incubate and raise the chick. So sometimes these birds may take the next year off. Since Wisdom is an experienced parent, her numbers may be even higher! John saw her with chicks in 2008, 2009 and 2010! She hasn’t taken a year off for the past 4 years!

From the USGS press release:

Almost as amazing as being a parent at 60 is the number of miles this bird has likely logged – about 50,000 miles a year as an adult – which means that Wisdom has flown at least 2 to 3 million miles since she was first banded. Or, to put it another way, that’s 4 to 6 trips from the Earth to the Moon and back again with plenty of miles to spare.

I hope Wisdom is around for many more years to come!

Baby Hummingbirds in the Nest with Fly by Alek Komarnitsky

Alek Komarnitsky from Boulder, Colorado took some amazing photos of a Rufous Hummingbird nest.

A friend saw Alek’s series of photos of House Finches that were living on his front door. His friend enjoyed the “saga” so much that when he found out about a hummingbird nest on a local golf course, he let Alek know about it.

Alek took literally dozens of photos and a few videos of the nest, the babies and even the mother feeding the babies. The one above is one of my favorites. Notice the fly in the lower right had corner. It definitely gives you a scence of scale!

There’s another photo in his series where you can actually see a tiny insect being passed from the mother to child. Now you don’t see that everyday!

Check out the rest of Alek’s photos at Baby Hummingbird Nest.

Burrowing Owl, image from video by Mac Stone

Get a rare glimpse into the secret lives of Burrowing Owls with this wonderful video by Mac Stone.

Mac is a photographer based out of Gainesville, Florida. A coworker told him about these Burrowing Owls near Homestead, Florida and it didn’t take long for his creativity to take over! Mac explains:

These image sequences were all part of an effort to make a unique photograph of burrowing owls in their natural habitat. As diurnal birds, they spend most of the day outside their burrow keeping watch for predators. In order to get really close without scaring them, I placed my camera inside a road cone which they had grown accustomed to as a marker for their burrow. Leaving my camera in the cone-hide, I could let it cycle a photo every 2 seconds, offering a rare glimpse into the secret life of burrowing owls.

See photos of Mac’s setup and learn more about how he put the whole thing together in his Burrowing Owl post on his blog.