Essay by Kip Hansen — July 7, 2024
Warning: This is about birds. If you're only interested in the climate wars, you can just read something else here at WUWT. I'll mention that these two bird species are not threatened by climate change.
Humans have long sought out beautiful birds – for their beauty, their song, their feathers or their eggs. We have made them into pets, museum pieces, clothing and hats, and we have bred some birds for profit (aviculture) and others, poultry, both for food and for eggs.
The prettier the birds, the more often we have killed or caged them. Some species have been lucky – they can be bred relatively easily in captivity, such as canaries and parakeets, and many smaller parrots, so wild populations have been spared. Others do not breed in captivity. Some are protected under national and international law, others are not.
The Indigo Finch is truly beautiful and is highly prized as a “sighting” by bird watchers. I don't see it at my bird feeder as I live too far north. However, I rarely see a close relative, the Indigo Finch, which is strikingly blue, the color of the Indigo Finch's head.
Unfortunately, “Indian Buntings are not 'easy' breeders, but a compatible pair that breeds is usually quite consistent. Males are absolutely intolerant of each other – fights between wild individuals occasionally result in fatalities. … A large, well-planted aviary in a quiet location is common for all successful breeders, and a steady supply of live or preserved insects is necessary if the young are to be reared successfully.” They are protected and may not be captured or sold as pets in the United States.
The magnificent indigo finch is the subject of a report: Beautiful and elusive indigo finches fly through Texas -Texas is home to more indigo finches than any other state, but these jewel-colored beauties are increasingly endangered. This article originally appeared in Texas Monthly (accessible by entering any email address).
This is a pretty bird – and a songbird with a pleasant sound [more here]. And like pretty parrots and canaries, they are captured (in Latin America) and sold in the local and international pet trade. That is the price of beauty.
The story, written by Amy Weaver Dorning, is a long journalistic report about a “secret mission” in the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area [LLELA] with a research group from the University of North Texas [UNT]led by Jim Bednarz, a professor of biology and avian ecologist. Dorning accompanied a group of students on one of their many trips to LLELA to capture, band and measure indigo finches as part of an ongoing multi-year research project on the birds. The university's report on the project mentions in passing that the indigo finch population “has declined in recent decades.”
Dorning's article is worth reading if you are interested in birds and their study: birds are captured, banded and attached with nano-transmitters to track them. Characteristics of nesting areas are recorded and compared with nest-free areas.
What about the “population decline”? No idea – no data from UNT, but there is data from the IUCN Red List:
Least Concern: Population trend stable; number of adults 14 million. Although the species was previously classified as Near Threatened, it was upgraded to Least Concern in the most recent assessment (2018) with the following justification:
“Justification
This species has an extremely large distribution area and therefore does not meet the thresholds for ‘vulnerable’ according to the range size criterion….. The population size is extremely large and therefore does not meet the thresholds for ‘vulnerable’ according to the population size criterion….. The population trend appears to be stable and therefore the species does not meet the thresholds for ‘vulnerable’ according to the population trend criterion…. Therefore it is now classified as Least worrying.” [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22723957/131475071#assessment-information, Assessment Information in detail”
No fault falls on Dorning for stating: “…painted bunting is now listed by the American Bird Conservancy [ABC] as a species of concern.” [I wasn’t able to confirm that listing at the ABC site – kh] Perhaps Dorning has heard or read this somewhere. But the IUCN Red List is the authoritative body on these matters, and assumes that the population is stable and not declining (although it may well be declining in Texas at LLELA). Yet there is little excuse for their parroting: “The indigo finch may need all the PR it can get, especially with climate change posing a growing threat. In late May, tornadoes and accompanying storms in north Texas wreaked havoc at the Lewisville research site.” Tornadoes and storms are weather, not climate change, as we know and as Dorning should know. Not even the climate-change-obsessed IUCN Red List believes the indigo finch is threatened by climate change. Oddly, it contradicts itself when it quotes two of the project leaders: “But there are bright spots. Gage says the birds that lost their nests have most likely already built new ones, and Bednarz points out that the extra rain means there will be a larger insect population this summer, which means more food for the birds, stronger embryos and more bugs to feed their nestlings. “It will all come back,” he says. “Sometimes a disturbance can be a good thing.” For that, at least, praise.
While covering bird stories by Amy Weaver Dorning, we can also find the same little error in her other fairly recent birding/birding story: “Kestrels are disappearing. Here's where to see these 'small but fierce' hawks in Texas.” Kestrels are one of my favourite birds of prey – the Merlin takes first place. Both of these small birds of prey are about 8-12 inches long from head to tail, slightly larger than a robin but smaller than a crow. The kestrel is colourful and is often seen perched on telephone wires, wagging its tail up and down (not sideways).
“American kestrels feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates, as well as small rodents and birds. Common foods include grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles and dragonflies, scorpions and spiders, butterflies and moths, voles, mice, shrews, bats, and small songbirds. American kestrels also sometimes eat small snakes, lizards, and frogs. And some people have reported American kestrels eating larger prey, including squirrels and golden woodpeckers.” [ source ]
Dorning once again spoils a well-written article about birds with a silly claim (as in the headline above): “But this delicate bird of prey also experiences a alarming population decline across the continent, for reasons scientists have not been able to figure out.”
Not according to the IUCN Red List:
On the other hand, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says they are declining, again based on the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 9.2 million and rates it 10 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, suggesting it is a species of relatively low interest in conservation.” [ source ]
I've mentioned before that “bird counting” is a difficult and rather unscientific endeavor – but not for lack of trying. There is simply no easy and reliable way to count birds unless, like penguins, they return regularly and en masse to the same places year after year (even counting penguins is difficult, they can be tricky and sometimes just move to a different location).
Conclusion:
Birds are interesting, even if they are not particularly pretty. There are probably fewer of them today than there were when Europe began colonizing North America in the 16th century – simply because we humans have caused many changes in land use.
Most birds are doing well – especially since humans stopped killing them, as we did (and still do illegally) with most birds of prey.
Of course, according to the laws of nature, there are always winners and losers. Reference: Spotted Owl vs. Barred Owl.
Absolute conclusion: Leave the birds alone and keep your cats indoors (or at least on your property).
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Author’s comment:
I like birds. Really.
Last week I saw about 15 “little brown birds” (sparrows, finches, etc.) harassing a corn snake in my yard. Had the birds been larger (crows, ravens, carrion birds) it would have reminded me of “The Birds”. I like snakes too, so I scared the birds away long enough for the corn snake to get safely into the undergrowth. As for corn snakes, the wiki and herpetology websites tell you that the corn snake's range extends only as far north as New Jersey. This is not true, I have found them quite frequently on farms in the north along the Mohawk River (Erie Canal) on the southern edge of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State.
I know many readers don't like the idea of keeping their cats indoors, but they are pets and they will be better off if you do that. If you want, give them an outdoor enclosure that is fenced all around and on top.
Thank you for reading.
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