Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)

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A new survey conducted in Minnesota’s Chippewa National Forest and Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest by a research team led by Scott Loss of the University of Minnesota and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has revealed a direct link between the presence of invasive European earthworms (Lumbricus spp.) and reduced numbers of Ovenbirds in mixed sugar maple and basswood forests. The results are detailed in a paper published on-line in the scientific journal “Landscape Ecology.”

Image right: An ovenbird. (Photo by Simon Pierre Barrette)

European earthworms are invading previously earthworm-free hardwood forests in North America the scientists say, and consuming the rich layer of leaf litter on the forest floor. In turn, herbaceous plants that thrive in thick leaf litter and provide cover for ground-nesting birds are thinning out, replaced by grasses and sedges. As a result, Ovenbird nests are more visible and vulnerable to predators and Ovenbirds searching for nesting sites reject these low-cover areas outright. Areas of reduced leaf litter also contain fewer bugs for the Ovenbirds to eat, requiring them to establish larger territories, resulting in fewer birds over a given area.

Image left:  A forest without earthworms has a rich understory of herbaceous plants, tree seedlings, and shrubs, and a thick, spongy leaf litter layer. (Photo by Scott Loss)

The worms invading northern Midwestern forests (as well as forests in the  northeastern U.S. and Canada) have been in the United States since soon after the first European settlers arrived, Scott Loss explains, brought over inadvertently in the ballast of ships, in the root balls of agricultural plants or on purpose for use in gardening. Only now is the leading edge of their continued invasion, caused mainly by logging activities and fishermen dumping their bait, reaching interior wilderness areas such as parts of the study site in the remote forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota. “Night crawlers [Lumbricus terrestris] and the slightly smaller red worms [also called leaf worms or beaver tails, Lumbricus rubellus], have the most damaging impacts to the soil, litter layer, and plants in forests that were historically earthworm-free,” Loss says.

Image right: A forest experiencing heavy earthworm invasion often has few remaining herbaceous plants and seedlings, no intact litter layer, and extensive patches of bare soil. (Photo by Scott Loss)

“Everyone has probably heard at one time or another that earthworms have really positive effects in breaking down soil and making it more porous,” Loss explains. “This is true in agricultural and garden settings but not in forests in the Midwest which have developed decomposition systems without earth worms.” Because the forested areas of the Midwest United States were once covered in glaciers, there are no native earthworm species present in the soil, Loss explains. “These earthworm-free forests developed a slow fungus-based decomposition process characterized by a deep organic litter layer on the forest floor.”

Image left: An Ovenbird incubating eggs on a nest. (Photo by Scott Loss)

Earthworms feed on this layer of leaf litter and make it decompose much faster, Loss says. “As a result, we see the loss of sensitive forest-floor species such as trillium, Solomons seal, sarsaparilla and sugar maple seedlings and a shift in dominance to disturbance-adapted species like Pennsylvania sedge.

One result is reduced nest concealment for the Ovenbird and increased predation by squirrel and bird predators.

The researchers found no decline in three other species of ground-nesting birds included in their survey—the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus), Black-and-White Warbler (Mniotilta varia) and Veery (Catharus fuscescens)—nor did they find a correlation between Ovenbird decline and invasive worms in other forest types, such as red oak, paper birch and aspen.

Image right: Scott Loss uses a liquid-mustard mixture to sample earthworms.  The mustard contains a skin irritant that causes earthworms to come to the surface. (Photo by Sara Schmelzer Loss)

“Our results suggest that Ovenbird density may decline by as much as 25 percent in maple-basswood forests heavily invaded by invasive earthworms,” the researchers conclude. “Maple-basswood forests are among the preferred ovenbird habitats in the region, comprise a considerable portion of the region’s woodlands…and are experiencing Lumbricus invasions across most of the northern Midwest.” Previous studies have demonstrated that invasive earthworms also are harmful to other native North American species, such as salamanders.

Image left: Ovenbird nests in earthworm-free forests (left, arrow pointing to nest opening) are well-concealed.  In areas with invasive earthworms (right), nests are less concealed and therefore more vulnerable to predators. (Photos by Scott Loss)

There is reason for concern that the overall population of Ovenbirds could decline, Loss points out. “Ovenbirds migrate to Central America and the Caribbean and back every year, a trip during which they can fly into buildings and towers or get nabbed by a cat as they rest on the ground, and they also face loss of habitat on their breeding and wintering grounds. Now, here is yet another potential threat to their survival.”

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center is dedicated to fostering greater understanding, appreciation, and protection of the grand phenomenon of bird migration. Founded in 1991, we are located at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.--John Barrat

“Invasions of non-native earthworms related to population declines of ground-nesting songbirds across a regional extent in northern hardwood forests of North America,” was co-authored by Scott R. Loss, Gerald J. Niemi and Robert B. Blair of the University of Minnesota.

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Image right: Northern cardinal (Click to enlarge. All photos by Gerhard Hofmann, Hofmann & Scheffer Photography)

“Animal vocalizations are specifically adapted to both the structural and acoustic characteristics of their local environment,” said Peter Marra, a co-author of the study and an SCBI ecologist. Marra oversaw and helped design the research. “In order to survive and reproduce, it is imperative for birds to be able to transmit their signals to each other. Now it seems they may be having trouble doing so in urban areas.”

Ambient city noise masks certain lower sound frequencies, making it more difficult for birds to hear one another’s calls over long distances. In addition, hard surfaces—such as buildings—can reflect and distort higher frequency sounds by scattering sound waves and creating multiple reverberations. This can confuse birds and make it difficult for them to pinpoint the source of the call.

Image left: Gray catbird

The results of the researchers’ analysis showed that although there was some variation by species, the birds tended to sing higher notes in areas where there was general noise. The birds tended to sing lower and deeper notes, however, in areas where there were many buildings and hard surfaces. But when the two conditions combined, the birds had trouble altering their songs to accommodate both factors.

“At this point we don’t know exactly how birds adjust their songs,” said Jenélle Dowling, an SCBI intern at the time the research was conducted and lead author of the study. “We expect different species, which differ in their capacity to adjust frequency and type, to respond differently to reverberation and noise.”

By vocalizing, birds are able to identify and locate other members of their species, attract mates and defend their territory. So their ability to adapt to urban living could affect their survival. As urban areas develop rapidly, researchers will continue to investigate how sound from these busy areas affects birds and the effects of development on sound transmission.

Image right: House wren

“This is just another example of how humans continue to impact wildlife,” Marra said. “We now need studies to determine if these changes in song translate into differences in reproductive success,” he added.

This research was carried out in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s Neighborhood Nestwatch citizen science project, where participating citizens allow the researchers to use their property as study sites, as well as volunteer their time to assist with data collection.

Dowling, is currently a doctoral candidate at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in New York. Marra is a conservation scientist at SCBI and advised Dowling. They worked in collaboration with researcher David Luther, who is a term assistant professor in the biology department of George Mason University in Virginia.

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Discovered with a nearly complete skeleton, the feathers retained enough microscopic structure to allow the scientists to confirm the classification of the bird, known by its scientific name Apteribis sp, as a close relative of the American white ibis and scarlet ibis. DNA analysis confirmed this classification.

Image left: Skull (top) and (below) detail of feathers adhering to the cranium of Apteribis sp. from Lanai, Hawaii Islands (Photo courtesy Carla Dove)

Remarkably, the feathers also retained enough pigmentation to allow Dove and Olson to determine the bird had been brown-black to ivory-beige/light brown in color. Before now, any reconstruction of the appearance of a prehistorically extinct Hawaiian bird had been only speculation.

Image right: This scanning electron photomicrograph shows the prongs on the downy barbules of an Apteribis sp. feather. (Photo courtesy Carla Dove)

Apteribis sp. is one of only two species of ibises, both now extinct, known to be flightless. Its skeleton differs so much from its mainland ancestors that the bird’s relationship to other ibises could only be determined through the study of its feathers and DNA analysis, Olson says.

The find is highly unusual because “feathers do not preserve well and often decay before a bird is fossilized,” Dove says. “These weren’t fossil imprints in a rock, but feathers and bones we could actually pick up.”

Exceptional geologic circumstances led to the preservation of the feathers inside a lava cave on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai. The floor of the cave was partially covered in a deep layer of flaky gypsum crystals, which, for hundreds of years absorbed humidity in the cave and created an arid environment ideal for preservation of the feathers. The crystals were shaken off of the walls and ceiling of the lava tube by seismic tremors.

Image right: American white ibis (Photo by Terry Foote at en.wikipedia); below, scarlet ibis (Photo by Hans Hillewaert). Both of these birds are closely related to the extinct Apteribis sp., which did not fly.

From a taxonomic standpoint feathers are significant because the shape of microscopic barbs on specific areas of a feather have distinct features that taxonomists can use to determine what bird group it belongs to, Dove says.

“The barbs are unique only on the downy, fluffy part at the base of the feather, not at the tip,” Dove says. “These microstructures are similar among orders of birds—pigeons, ducks, songbirds, for example.

Using the extensive collections in the Division of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History, Dove compared the microscopic structures of the ancient feathers (which she describes as “short barbules with these long prongs,”) to those of modern day birds.

Her analysis confirmed that Apteribis sp. is most closely related the New World ibises of the genus Eudocimus, the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) and scarlet ibis (Eudocimus buber). Apteribis sp. was first described from fossils found on the Hawaiian Islands of Molokai and Maui. It is one of dozens of bird species known to have gone extinct following the arrival of humans on the Hawaiian Islands.

“Fossil Feathers from the Hawaiian Flightless Ibis (Apteribis SP.): Plumage Coloration and Systematics of a Prehistorically Extinct Bird,” by Carla Dove and Storrs Olson appeared in the September 2011 issue of the Journal of Paleontology.

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Image left: Akiapolaau, a Hawaiian honeycreeper (All photos by Jack Jeffrey)

“There were once more than 55 species of these colorful songbirds, and they are so diverse that historically it wasn’t even entirely clear that they were all part of the same group,” said Heather Lerner, who was a former postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics when she conducted this research and is currently an assistant professor of biology at Earlham College and Joseph Moore Museum director.

“Some eat seeds, some eat fruit, some eat snails, some eat nectar. Some have the bills of parrots, others of warblers, while some are finch-like and others have straight, thin bills. So the question that we started with was how did this incredible diversity evolve over time.”

The answer is unique to the Hawaiian Islands, which are part of a conveyor belt of island formation, with new islands popping up as the conveyor belt moves northwest. Each island that forms represents a blank slate for evolution, so as one honeycreeper species moves from one island to a new island, those birds encounter new habitat and ecological niches that may force them to adapt and branch off into distinct species. The researchers looked at the evolution of the Hawaiian honeycreepers after the formation of Kauai-Niihau, Oahu, Maui-Nui and Hawaii. The largest burst of evolution into new species, called a radiation, occurred between 4 million and 2.5 million years ago, after
Kauai-Niihau and Oahu formed but before the remaining two large islands existed, and resulted in the evolution of six of 10 distinct groups of species characterized by different sizes, shapes and colors. These findings will be published in the hard-copy version of Current Biology Nov. 8, with Lerner as lead author. (A PDF version of the paper is available online on Current Biology’s media pages.)

Image left: The Hawaiian honeycreeper Iiwi

“This radiation is one of the natural scientific treasures that the archipelago offers out in the middle of the Pacific,” said Helen James, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the paper. “It was fascinating to be able to tie a biological system to geological formation and allowed us to become the first to offer a full picture of these birds’ adaptive history.”

James’ previous work on Hawaiian bird morphology, the branch of biology that deals with form and structure of organisms, played a pivotal role in determining which avian species to survey to determine the closest living relatives of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. Using genetic data from 28 bird species that seemed similar to the honeycreepers morphologically, genetically or that shared geographic proximity, the paper’s authors determined that the various honeycreeper species evolved from Eurasian rosefinches. Unlike most other ancestral bird species that came from North America and colonized the Hawaiian Islands, the rosefinch likely came from Asia, the scientists found.

“There is a perception that there are no species remaining that are actually native to Hawaii, but these are truly native birds that are scientifically valuable and play an important and unique ecological function,” said Rob Fleischer, head of SCBI’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics and a co-author of the paper. Fleischer has been studying the genetics, evolution and conservation of these birds for more than 25 years.

Image right: The Hawaiian honeycreeper Akepa

More than half of the known 56 species of honeycreeper are already extinct. The paper’s researchers focused on the 19—now 18—species that have not gone extinct, but of those, six are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, four are considered endangered and five are vulnerable.

The next, ongoing step in the research is to use museum specimens and subfossil bones to determine where the extinct species fit into the evolutionary family tree, or phylogeny, to see if the new lineages fit into the overall pattern found in this study.

The study’s authors from SCBI are Lerner and Fleischer. The additional authors are James from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Hofreiter from the University of York and Matthias Meyer from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation.–Lindsay Renick Mayer.

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The dodo’s large size and inability to fly were adaptations that allowed this bird to survive some of the most hostile conditions and climactic events imaginable. Only in the 1600s did a force more deadly than extreme drought and volcanic eruptions lead to its extinction: humans.

Image right: Painting of a dodo head by Cornelis Saftleven. Done in 1638,  this painting may be one of the last illustrations made of a live dodo. (Image from Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam)

In a recent paper in the journal “The Holocene” a team of scientists detail the extreme conditions that caused the death of some 500,000 animals on Mauritius during the mid-Holocene at around 4000 years ago. The evidence is a thick bed of fossil bones on Mauritius that spans an area of about 5 acres—the site of a former freshwater lake bed. The fossil layer is dominated by the remains of thousands of dodos and giant tortoises, as well as many small reptiles and flying birds.

Image left: Dodo bone in a matrix of mud, seed and other fossils excavated in a dry lake bed on the Island of Mauritius. (Image copyright Kenneth Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme)

Using radiocarbon dating of the bones, oxygen isotope analysis of geologic features on Mauritius and nearby islands, and the study of the island’s water table, the scientists determined the animals died during an extreme drought that lasted several decades. “Dodos, tortoises, lizards and other animals gathered here because the lake was one of the few sites on the island with fresh water,” says Hanneke Meijer, an ornithologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and one of the paper’s co-authors.

“It is evident that a lot of animals suffered and died during this period, and their populations were greatly reduced,” Meijer continues, “but no species, including the dodo, went extinct during this extreme drought.” Fossil evidence reveals that “all animals were still living and the island’s ecosystem was intact at the time humans arrived in the 1600s.”

Image right: The excavation site on the island of Mauritius where the remains of some 500,000 animals were found, victims of an extreme drought some 4,000 years ago. (Image copyright Mikel Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme)

The dodo was resilient, and perfectly adapted to the island’s habitat, Meijer explains. “The island had no predators or carnivores and the dodo had no need to flee, so it lost its ability to fly. It received a reputation as stupid because it did not flee from humans” and human-introduced predators after they arrived at the dodo’s home in the 1600s.

Today, Meijer says, the forest cover on Mauritius has been reduced by 98 percent with only a few patches of original forest remaining. Considerable resources have been directed to preserving the island’s few remaining endemic species, such as the Mauritian kestrel. (The island’s giant tortoises went extinct in the 1800s when Dutch trade ships filled their holds with these long-lived animals to use as fresh meat on long voyages to and from Indonesia. “Mauritius was a popular stop because it provided fresh water and lots of food,” Meijer says)

Image left: Researchers at the Mauritius Island excavation site sieving excavated mud for small bones, teeth and plant remains. (Image copyright Mikel Rijsdijk/Dodo Research Programme)

Should another extended drought occur similar to the mid-Holocene event, it is very likely the remaining endemic species on Mauritius would not survive as the environment is so degraded. “Even many of the native plant species in the few remaining forest patches would probably perish,” Meijer says.

“With modern climate change scientists are very interested in how island animals adapt, as their ability to move to less disturbed areas is limited,” Meijer explains. “It has always been thought that animals on islands are particularly sensitive to climate change.” In the case of the dodo and other species on Mauritias, this new study reveals an island population highly resilient to climate change.

The article “Mid-Holocene (4200 kyr BP) mass mortalities in Mauritius (Mascarenes): Insular vertebrates resilient to climatic extremes but vulnerable to human impact,” appeared recently in the scientific journal “The Holocene.” (Rijsdijk, K.F., Zinke, J., de Louw, P.G.B., Hume,J.P., van der Plicht, J., Hooghiemstra, H., Meijer, H.J.M., Vonhof, H.B., Porch, N., Florens, F.B.V., Baider, C., van Geel, B., Brinkkemper, J., Vernimmen, T. & Janoo, A., 2011. Mid-Holocene (4200 kyr BP) mass mortalities in Mauritius (Mascarenes): Insular vertebrates resilient to climatic extremes but vulnerable to human impact. The Holocene, doi:10.1177/0959683611405236)

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Image left and below right: Male Micronesian kingfisher chick, born Aug. 20. (Photos by Mehgan Murphy)

This species is extremely difficult to breed due to incompatibility between males and females and the inability of some parents to successfully raise their own chicks. The chick that hatched at the Bird House was incubated and raised by its parents. Keepers weighed it each day to make sure it did not need supplemental feeding. A final pathology report will provide more information about the cause of its death.

“We are encouraged that this pair showed an interest in one another and delighted that they produced fertile eggs,” said Warren Lynch, bird unit manager at SCBI. “We are hand-rearing the chicks, which involves feeding them at two-hour intervals, seven to eight times per day. Should the adults produce fertile eggs again, we will likely let them try to raise the chicks themselves while closely monitoring their parenting skills.”

Micronesian kingfishers flourished in Guam’s limestone forests and coconut plantations until the arrival of the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis), an invasive species that stowed away in military equipment shipped from New Guinea after World War II. Because these reptiles had no natural predators on Guam, their numbers grew and they spread across the island quickly. Within three decades, they hunted Micronesian kingfishers and eight other bird species to the brink of extinction.

In 1984, Guam’s Department of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources captured the country’s remaining 29 Micronesian kingfishers and sent them to zoological institutions around the globe—including the National Zoo—as a hedge against extinction. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums created a Species Survival Plan for the birds. The SSP pairs males and females in order to maintain a genetically diverse and self-sustaining population.

Image right: Female chick born July 25.

To date, 16 chicks have hatched at SCBI, and each provides scientists with the opportunity to learn about the growth, reproduction, health and behavior of the species. Five of SCBI’s kingfishers have gone to other zoos to breed.

“We’re proud that SCBI has been a part of the Micronesian kingfisher recovery from the start, and we hope this pair continues to produce healthy offspring and contribute to its species’ survival,” said Chris Crowe, bird keeper at SCBI. “Both chicks are thriving. The female flies short distances and is increasingly confident and vocal, and the male is beginning to grow feathers and has a healthy appetite for crickets, mice and small lizards.”

As the captive population increases, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Guam’s Department of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources continue to look for suitable release sites in Guam. The availability of release sites continues to shrink, however, due to deforestation and human expansion. Controlling the brown snake population remains a significant challenge as well, though researchers have made progress in developing a variety of barriers, traps and toxicants. Scientists are hopeful that initiatives for snake control and forest protection signify that the reintroduction of the Micronesian kingfisher may soon become feasible. Additionally, field studies of a different subspecies of wild kingfishers are underway on Pohnpei, another Micronesian island, to secure essential biological information on wild populations and to test various reintroduction techniques for use on Guam.

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“Usually we see a species split into two because we find that one of them has a very different DNA than the other, without other indicators,” said Rob Fleischer, head of SCBI’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics. “It’s very unusual to discover a new species of bird these days and especially gratifying when DNA can confirm our original hypothesis that the animal is unique. This bird is unique, both genetically and in appearance, and represents a novel, albeit very rare, species.”

Image left: Bryan’s shearwater (Photo by Reginald David)

Researchers have rarely discovered new species of birds since most of the world’s 9,000-plus species (including about 21 other species of shearwaters) were described before 1900. The majority of new species described since the mid-1900s have been discovered in remote tropical rain and cloud forests, primarily in South America and southeastern Asia. The Bryan’s shearwater is the first new species reported from the United States and Hawaiian Islands since the Po’ouli was described from the forests of Maui in 1974.

The Bryan’s shearwater is the smallest shearwater known to exist. It is black and white with a black or blue-gray bill and blue legs. Biologists found the species in a burrow among a colony of petrels during the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program in 1963. Peter Pyle, an ornithologist at the Institute for Bird Populations, recently examined the specimen and found that it was too small to be a little shearwater (P. assimilis) and that it had a distinct appearance.

According to Fleischer and Andreanna Welch, a former graduate student and Smithsonian predoctoral fellow at SCBI who worked on the genetic analysis, the Bryan’s shearwater differs genetically to a greater degree than found between most other species of its genus, and is distantly related to another similar-looking species, the Boyd’s shearwater (P. boydi). Based on this DNA evidence, researchers estimate that the Bryan’s shearwater separated from other species of shearwaters perhaps more than 2 million years ago. These findings have been published in a paper, A new species of Shearwater (Puffinus) recorded from Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, in the current issue of The Condor.

Researchers do not know where Bryan’s shearwaters breed. According to Pyle, shearwaters and other seabirds often visit nesting burrows on remote islands only at night, and researchers have not discovered the breeding locations of many populations. Individual seabirds from colonies also often “prospect” for new breeding locations, usually far from existing colonies. Bryan’s shearwater could conceivably breed anywhere in the Pacific Ocean basin or even farther afield.

Given that Bryan’s shearwaters have remained undiscovered until now, they could be very rare and possibly even extinct.

“If we can find where this species breeds, we may have a chance to protect it and keep it from going extinct,” Welch said. “Genetic analysis allows us to investigate whether an animal represents an entirely different species, and that knowledge is important for setting conservation priorities and preventing extinction.”

Bryan’s shearwater is named after Edwin Horace Bryan Jr., who was curator of collections at the B.P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu from 1919 until 1968.

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