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Wood Warblers of Lake County (Field Guide)
Wood of Lake County An educational wildlife pamphlet provided by the Lake County Public Resources Department Parks & Trails Division 2 The Lake County Public Resources Department, Parks & Trails Division, manages more than three dozen parks, preserves and boat ramps. Lake County park rangers lead regularly scheduled nature in some of these parks. In partnership with the Lake County hikes, bird and butterfly surveys and other outdoor adventures Water Authority, Parks & Trails also schedules guided paddling adventures. For a listing of Lake County parks and events, call 352-253-4950, email [email protected] or visit Forwww.lakecountyfl.gov/parks. more information about birds that can be seen in Lake County, or bookstores. Information on birds is also available online at the check out a field guide to birds available at many local libraries Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, www.birds.cornell.edu. Bird watchers in Florida tend to bring a little more on their trips than their Northern peers. While the average temperature in Lake County is a mild 72°F, the summer months in Central Florida can be steamy. Outside enthusiasts are always encouraged to carry sunscreen to protect skin from sunburn, insect repellent to ward off mosquitoes and plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Sunscreen should be 15 SPF or higher and applied 20 minutes before. 3 Park rangers recommend these six popular comprehensive guides: • A Field Guide to the Birds, Eastern and Central North America (Fourth Edition, 1980, Roger Tory Peterson) • Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Eastern Region (First Edition, 1996, Donald and Lillian Stokes) • All the Birds of North America (First Edition, 1997, The American Bird Conservancy) • Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Fourth Edition, 2002, The National Geographic Society) • Focus Guide to the Birds of North America (First Edition, 2000, Kenn Kaufman) • The Sibley Guide to Birds (First Edition, 2000, David Allen Sibley) Insect repellent should contain DEET. -
Archaeologists Uncovering Evidence of North Abaco Lucayan Settlement
June 15, 2019 The Abaconian Section A Page 1 VOLUME 29 NUMBER 12 June 15th, 2019 Archaeologists Uncovering Evidence What’s Inside of North Abaco Lucayan Settlement ^SIP Raises $50K B13 •7UDIÀF)DWDOLW\$ •$UPHG 5REEHUV &DXJKW $ Dr. Bill Keegan of the University of Florida is leading a team of researchers focusing on an area near Blackwood in North •&HQWUDO 3LQHV 0HWLQJ Abaco. Above: Scientists and researchers on site. Evidence of tools and clay pottery were discovered. See page 2. $ Treasure Cay Resort and S.C. Bootle Murphy Town Second •&DOHQGDU$ High Strengthen Partnership Annual Home-Coming By Lydia Bain •0HGLD&HQWHU$ The community of Murphy Town held its 2nd annual home- coming celebration. The Theme •&ODVV\2OLYH$ for this year’s event is “UNITY IS STRENGTH”. •',<(OHFWULF%LOOV$ This special event was held on Friday June 7, at the Murphy Town Community Center. The of- •9LVLWRUV*XLGH$ ficial opening started at 7:00 p.m. They began with the singing of the •*DUGHQLQJ ZLWK -DFN From left to right: Pastor Herbert Edgecombe (Chairman, School Board), Arnald Coo- National Anthem which was led by per (Principal), Stephen Kappeler (General Manager, Treasure Cay Resort & Marina), Jamal Mcdonald, followed by brief % Jasmine Bodie (Teacher, Home Economics), James Pritchard (Contractor). See Page 7. remarks from the Island Adminis- trator Maxine Duncombe. •&URVVZRUG% Mr. Matthew Taylor who is the vice president for the Committee, was the M.C. for this occasion. •/HWWHUV WR WKH (GLWRU Even though the official open- % ing began at 7:00pm, earlier in the Requested afternoon, a few of the food ven- Service Service Change Change Permit NO 4595 NO Permit •&ODVVLÀHGV% WEST PALM BCH FL BCH PALM WEST dors from the community sold vari- Stuart, FL 34997 FL Stuart, PAID 5675 SE Grouper Ave Grouper SE 5675 US POSTAGE US Stuart Web Inc. -
Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus Ater) Doug Powless
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) Doug Powless Grandville, Kent Co., MI. 5/4/2008 © John Van Orman (Click to view a comparison of Atlas I to II) Brown-headed Cowbirds likely flourished Distribution Brown-headed Cowbirds breed in grassland, alongside the Pleistocene megafauna that once prairie, and agricultural habitats across southern roamed North America (Rothstein and Peer Canada to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and 2005). In modern times, flocks of cowbirds south into central Mexico (Lowther 1993). The followed the great herds of bison across the center of concentration and highest abundance grasslands of the continent, feeding on insects of the cowbird during summer occurs in the kicked up, and depositing their eggs in other Great Plains and Midwestern prairie states birds’ nests along the way. An obligate brood where herds of wild bison and other ungulates parasite, the Brown-headed Cowbird is once roamed (Lowther 1993, Chace et al. 2005). documented leaving eggs in the nests of hundreds of species (Friedmann and Kiff 1985, Wild bison occurred in southern Michigan and Lowther 1993). The evolution of this breeding across forest openings in the East until about strategy is one of the most fascinating aspects of 1800 before being hunted to near-extinction North American ornithology (Lanyon 1992, across the continent (Baker 1983, Kurta 1995). Winfree 1999, Rothstein et al. 2002), but the Flocks of cowbirds likely also inhabited the cowbird has long drawn disdain. Chapman prairies and woodland openings of southern (1927) called it “. a thoroughly contemptible Michigan prior to the 1800s (Walkinshaw creature, lacking in every moral and maternal 1991). -
Ecology, Morphology, and Behavior in the New World Wood Warblers
Ecology, Morphology, and Behavior in the New World Wood Warblers A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Brandan L. Gray August 2019 © 2019 Brandan L. Gray. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Ecology, Morphology, and Behavior in the New World Wood Warblers by BRANDAN L. GRAY has been approved for the Department of Biological Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences by Donald B. Miles Professor of Biological Sciences Florenz Plassmann Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT GRAY, BRANDAN L., Ph.D., August 2019, Biological Sciences Ecology, Morphology, and Behavior in the New World Wood Warblers Director of Dissertation: Donald B. Miles In a rapidly changing world, species are faced with habitat alteration, changing climate and weather patterns, changing community interactions, novel resources, novel dangers, and a host of other natural and anthropogenic challenges. Conservationists endeavor to understand how changing ecology will impact local populations and local communities so efforts and funds can be allocated to those taxa/ecosystems exhibiting the greatest need. Ecological morphological and functional morphological research form the foundation of our understanding of selection-driven morphological evolution. Studies which identify and describe ecomorphological or functional morphological relationships will improve our fundamental understanding of how taxa respond to ecological selective pressures and will improve our ability to identify and conserve those aspects of nature unable to cope with rapid change. The New World wood warblers (family Parulidae) exhibit extensive taxonomic, behavioral, ecological, and morphological variation. -
2011 Annual Report
2011 ANNUAL REPORT Bahamas National Trust 39 March 2011 – March 2012 BNT OFFICERS Neil McKinney, President John F. Bethell, Deputy President Lawrence Glinton, Honourary Secretary Peter Stokes, Honourary Treasurer MEMBERS OF COUNCIL Glenn Bannister Elected Member Shirley Cartwright Elected Member Barbara Thompson Elected Member Pericles Maillis Elected Member D. Stewart Morrison Elected Member Andy Fowler Elected Member Teresa Butler Governor General’s Representative Nakira Wilchcombe Governor General’s Representative Michael Braynen Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources Earlston McPhee Ministry of Tourism Christopher Russell Ministry of the Environment Patricia Collins Ministry of Education Dan Brumbaugh,PhD American Museum of Natural History Nancy Clum,PhD Wildlife Conservation Society Matt Jefferey National Audubon Society Valerie Paul, PhD Smithsonian Institution Pamela Reid, PhD University of Miami Mark Lewis US Parks Service SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS Karen Bjorndal, PhD, Scientific Advisor , University of Florida Alan Bolten, PhD, Scientific Advisor, University of Florida Bahamas National Trust 1 PRESIDENT’s MessAGE The Bahamas National Trust continues to make tre- mendous strides in improving the infrastructure and management of the national parks. Work has contin- ued at the Primeval Forest with the final Phase in pro- gress for this jewel of a park. In Andros our park war- dens in partnership with students from the University of Maryland have worked in the Blue Hole National Park to create firewalls and build benches and tables for visitors. The BNT has recently completed a conceptual plan for the Abaco National Park and will be conducting com- munity consultation to introduce the plan and receive feedback on our proposed infrastructure at this very im- portant park. -
Age Ratios and Their Possible Use in Determining Autumn Routes of Passerine Migrants
Wilson Bull., 93(2), 1981, pp. 164-188 AGE RATIOS AND THEIR POSSIBLE USE IN DETERMINING AUTUMN ROUTES OF PASSERINE MIGRANTS C.JOHN RALPH A principal interest of early students of passerine migration was the determination of direction, location and width of migratory routes. In such studies, it was presumed that an area where the species was most abun- dant was the main migration route. However, during fall, passerine mi- grants tend to be silent and inconspicuous, rendering censusing subjective at best. Species also differ in preferred habitat, affecting the results of censuses and the number captured by mist netting. In this study, I used the abundance of migrants with another possible criterion, their age ratios, in order to hypothesize possible migratory routes. Based upon information about species abundance in different areas, a lively debate sprang up in the past between a school favoring narrow routes and one advocating broad front migration. The former suggested that birds followed topographical features (“leading lines”) such as river valleys, coast lines and mountain ranges (Baird 1866, Palmen 1876, Winkenwer- der 1902, Clark 1912, Schenk 1922). The latter group proposed that a species migrated over a broad geographical area regardless of topograph- ical features (Gatke 1895; Cooke 1904, 1905; Geyr von Schweppenburg 1917, 1924; Moreau 1927). Thompson (1926) and later Lincoln (1935), sug- gested that both schools were probably right, depending upon the species involved. Early ornithologists were possibly misled because of the differ- ences between easily observable (and often narrow front), diurnal migra- tion and less obvious, but probably more common, nocturnal movements. -
FLORIDA FIELD NATURALIST a Fledgling Brown-Headed Cowbird
FLORIDA FIELD NATURALIST NOTES A fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird specimen from Pinellas County.-First evi- dences of breeding in Florida by the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothms ater) were in 1956 and 19.57 near Pensacola (Sprunt 1963, Weston 1965). Since then the species has become a common breeder throughout northern Florida and now is spreading rapidly southward in the peninsula. Here \I-e repo~tfirst evidence of breeding in Pinellas County, halfway down Florida peninsula, and describe Tampa Bay area population increases of the species during recent summers. A young fledgling Brox-n-headed Cowbird was brought to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Pinellas County on 2 June 198.5. It died the same day. Precise locality data were not kept, but little doubt exists the bird was obtained locally. Rarely are birds brought to the sanctuary from outside the county, and for these more precise locality data are kept. The specimen, a female (ovary 3..5 X 3mm, not granular), weighed only 17.5 grams. It is preserved as a study skin (GEW 5736) at the University of South Florida. The primaries and rectrices have remnants of sheaths and the tail (.56.5 mm total length) is about 10 mm shorter than average for adult females. Cowbirds typically weigh about 30 grams at fledging (Mayfield 1960). The incomplete feather growth and light weight support a local origin for the bird. The Nesting Season reports in American Birds and its predecessor Audubon Field Notes provide a good account of the expansion of the Brown-headed Cowbird's breeding range in Florida. -
RRH: Seewagen and Newhouse • SONGBIRD STOPOVERS at a RECLAIMED LANDFILL
RRH: Seewagen and Newhouse • SONGBIRD STOPOVERS AT A RECLAIMED LANDFILL MASS CHANGES AND ENERGETIC CONDITION OF GRASSLAND AND SHRUBLAND SONGBIRDS DURING AUTUMN STOPOVERS AT A RECLAIMED LANDFILL IN THE NEW JERSEY MEADOWLANDS CHAD L. SEEWAGEN1,4 AND MICHAEL NEWHOUSE2,3 1Great Hollow Nature Preserve & Ecological Research Center, 225 State Route 37, New Fairfield, CT 06812, USA 2New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, 1 DeKorte Park Plaza, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 3Current address: Kleinfelder Inc., 300 Westage Center Drive, Suite 407, Fishkill, NY 12524 4Corresponding author; email: [email protected] Please send page proofs to the corresponding author at the above e-mail address 1 ABSTRACT.--- Former landfills have long been recognized as a potential source of early 2 successional habitat for wildlife, but their use by migrating grassland and shrubland songbirds 3 has yet to be studied. We estimated mass change rates of five grassland and shrubland songbird 4 species during autumn stopovers at a reclaimed landfill in New Jersey to assess the quality of a 5 former landfill as a stopover habitat. We also examined minimum length of stay, age ratios, and 6 age differences in body mass and fat scores. Regressions of capture time and body mass were 7 statistically significant and indicated gains of 0.8-1.2% of average body mass/hr in Savannah 8 Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis), Lincoln’s Sparrows (Melospiza lincolnii), and Palm 9 Warblers (Setophaga palmarum), but coefficients of determination were weak (< 0.06). White- 10 crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys) and Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) 11 did not gain significant mass. Minimum length of stay based upon recaptures ranged from an 12 average of 4.7 d in Savannah Sparrows to 10.1 d in Indigo Buntings. -
Assessment of the Effects and Impacts of Hurricane Matthew the Bahamas
AssessmentThe Bahamas of the Effects and Impacts of Hurricane Matthew The Bahamas Oct 6, - 7:00 pm 1 2 3 4 6 7 Centre path of Hurricane Matthew 1 Grand Bahama 2 Abaco 8 5 3 Bimini Islands 4 Berry Islands 12 5 Andros Hurricane force winds (74+ mph) 6 New Providence 9 7 11 Eleuthera 50+ knot winds (58+ mph) 8 Cat Island 9 The Exumas 10 Tropical storm force winds (39+mph) 10 Long Island 11 Rum Cay 14 12 San Salvador 13 Ragged Island 14 Crooked Island 15 Acklins 16 Mayaguna 13 15 16 17 The Inaguas 17 Oct 5, - 1:00 am 1 Hurricane Matthew 2 The Bahamas Assessment of the Effects and Impacts of Hurricane Matthew The Bahamas 3 Hurricane Matthew Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Omar Bello Mission Coordinator, Affected Population & Fisheries Robert Williams Technical Coordinator, Power & Telecommunications Michael Hendrickson Macroeconomics Food and Agriculture Organization Roberto De Andrade Fisheries Pan American Health Organization Gustavo Mery Health Sector Specialists Andrés Bazo Housing & Water and Sanitation Jeff De Quattro Environment Francisco Ibarra Tourism, Fisheries Blaine Marcano Education Salvador Marconi National Accounts Esteban Ruiz Roads, Ports and Air Inter-American Development Bank Florencia Attademo-Hirt Country Representative Michael Nelson Chief of Operations Marie Edwige Baron Operations Editorial Production Jim De Quattro Editor 4 The Bahamas Contents Contents 5 List of tables 10 List of figures 11 List of acronyms 13 Executive summary 15 Introduction 19 Affected population 21 Housing 21 Health 22 Education 22 Roads, airports, and ports 23 Telecommunications 23 Power 24 Water and sanitation 24 Tourism 24 Fisheries 25 Environment 26 Economics 26 Methodological approach 27 Description of the event 29 Affected population 35 Introduction 35 1. -
PINE FOREST , Asbushy Alsoknown Beard Grass, and Plants
PINE FOREST SCIENTIFIC NAMES The Caribbean Pine (Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis) also known as Yellow Pine. Other fl ora which can be found in the Bahamian Pine forest are Bletia purpurea, Pineyard Pink Orchid, Andorpogon glomeratus, also known as Bushy Beard Grass, and Pteridium aquilinum, Southern Bracken Fern. Shrubs which populate the area are Wild guava (Tetrazygia bicolor), Five-fi nger or Chicken's foot (Tabebuia bahamense), and Snowberry (Chiococca the alba). The Scale leafed love vine (Cassytha fi liformis) winds its way through understory and around Poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum). The Sabal palmetto (Cocothrinax argenta) may dominate ground fl ora in certain pine forest areas. DESCRIPTION Fire Climax Community The Caribbean Pine is a light-demanding species that requires open areas with no competition from shading broad-leafed plants. Caribbean pinelands are called "fi re Ecosystems of The Bahamas climax communities" by botanists, for if periodic fi res do not occur to remove the shading broad-leafed understory, juvenile pines cannot get suffi cient light to take hold and replace the adult trees as they die off. Without fi res the pinelands would be succeeded by the broad leafed coppice, a hardwood forest. Extremely well adapted to fi re, the Caribbean Pine adults are rarely killed by the fl ames. Their fi re resistance is due to volatile resins in the bark which explode when heated, putting out any small fi res which start at the bark. Juvenile pines are not as resistant as the adults and are generally killed, but reseeding takes place around the base of the adult trees rapidly. -
Unusual Songs in Passerine Birds1
THE OHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Vol. 68 MAY, 1968 No. 3 UNUSUAL SONGS IN PASSERINE BIRDS1 DONALD J. BORROR Faculty of Population and Environmental Biology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43210 ABSTRACT Unusual songs of passerine birds fall into five categories: (1) special songs, sung only under certain circumstances, and considered unusual only because they are seldom heard; (2) developmental stages of primary song; (3) songs resembling those of another species (mimicry); (4) song types outside their usual geographic range, and rare or accidental where heard; and (5) atypical songs. Songs of each category are discussed, and illustrated with examples. Anyone who listens carefully to the songs of passerine birds (perching birds) will occasionally hear songs that appear unusual. These songs may be so unusual as to be scarcely or not at all recognizable, or they may be recognizable but obviously a little different from the bird's usual songs. The purpose of this paper is to describe some examples of unusual songs, and to suggest reasons why a bird might sing such songs. The "usual" songs of a passerine bird are its fully developed advertising songs; these are the songs described in guides to identification and they constitute the vast majority of the songs of a given species that the average observer hears. "Unusual" songs are songs that are seldom heard, and which in one way or another differ from the "usual" songs of the species. Some unusual songs may be atypical; others may be typical, but considered unusual because they are seldom heard. The unusual songs of passerine birds fall into five categories: (1) special songs, sung only under certain circumstances; (2) vocalizations representing develop- mental stages of the advertising song; (3) songs resembling those of another species (mimicry); (4) song types outside their usual geographic range; and (5) atypical songs. -
Terms of Reference Monitoring and Conservation Consultant
Terms of Reference Monitoring and Conservation Consultant I. ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION Project Title: Meeting the Challenge of 2020 in The Bahamas Post Title: Species Monitoring and Conservation Consultant Duration of Consultancy: 200 days II. BACKGROUND The Bahamas is a country of over 700 islands and cays. Its topographical construct of limestone has developed a distinct environment for The Bahamas comprised of numerous irreplaceable habitats and species, including vast expanses of Caribbean pine forest, tidal flats with thriving bonefish populations, extensive barrier reefs, the highest concentration of blue holes in the Western Hemisphere, and critical fish nursery habitat believed to contribute significantly to fisheries stocks throughout the Caribbean region. Even prior to The Bahamas becoming signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, The Bahamas has been involved with the conservation and preservation of nature. The Bahamas established the world’s first land and sea park in 1958 with the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. That initiative was further enhanced when the Government of The Bahamas doubled the existing protected area network in 2002, and in 2008 committed to protecting 20% of the country’s nearshore and marine habitat by 2020 as part of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI). The CCI was accomplished as of May 2019, and currently The Bahamas has a Protected Areas Network of more than fourteen (14) million acres. With that in mind, ‘Meeting the Challenge of 2020 in The Bahamas’ seeks to strengthen and integrate Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) management into broader landscape planning in efforts to reduce pressures on ecosystem services and biodiversity from competing resource uses.