That Grasshopper Ate My T-Shirt!

Western ranchers are gearing for a major plague of grasshoppers. In Wyoming, 2.9 million acres were infestations with 15 or more grasshoppers per square yard last year, a more than 10-fold increase from 2008. That’s a whopping mess of grasshoppers, and the outbreak may get even worse this year. Grasshopper fritters anyone?

Manitou Island Bird Survey

Manitou Island is situated in Lake Superior just off the eastern tip of Northern Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.

As documented by Joseph Youngman and others, volunteer observers made 17 trips to Manitou totaling 63 days from 2002 through 2007 and recorded 204 species. They also documented major migratory flights of raptors over the island, and determined that at least 80 species may nest there. Since then, periodic surveys have continued through 2009.

Financial support for the survey has been provided by the Copper Country Audubon Club, Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society, the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II, a Michigan Natural Heritage Program Grant, and several private citizens.

State Bird Journals: Revised

Note: Originally published on 3/9/10, this post has been revised by incorporating information on New Jersey Birds, a journal published by New Jersey Audubon Society.

This review was prompted by my curiosity about how Michigan Birds and Natural History, a journal affiliated with the Michigan Audubon Society (MAS), compares to other State and regional bird journals being published in the United States. In the first two weeks of March 2010, I conducted an extensive Internet survey to gather information on bird journals and their affiliated organizations. I here summarize information relating to (a) organizational relationships, (b) frequency of publication, (c) longevity, (d) page counts, (e) seasonal field notes, (f) online journal access, (g) organizational membership, (h) membership dues structure, and (i) organizational income and assets.

Organizational Relationships of State Bird Journals:

In the United States, there are 35 "State" bird journals representing 35 States, plus 1 "regional" journal representing 7 States (Table 1), with all but one of the journals being received as a benefit of membership in a State or regional organization (Table 2); the sole exception is Michigan Birds and Natural History. Five of the 35 "State" journals are directly or indirectly associated with an Audubon society (HI, IN, MI, MO, NJ), the others with a separate ornithological society.

Additionally, Bird Observer—The New England Birding Journal is published privately (annual subscription rate of $21 for 6 issues), with no organizational affiliation but with Editorial Staff, Corporate Officers, and Board of Directors. It offers camera-ready quarter-, half-, and full-page ads for $35, $55, and $100.

Frequency of Publication:

Three journals are published annually, 6 are published biannually, and 23 are published quarterly. Outliers include Colorado Birds and Michigan Birds and Natural History (5 times/year), Bird Observer (6 times/year), and Elepaio (9 times/year).

Longevity:

The longevity (as of 2010) of 34 State journals for which I was able to determine such information ranged from 8 years (Journal of Louisiana Ornithology) to 88 years (Indiana Audubon Quarterly), with a median of 58 years. From this perspective, Michigan Birds and Natural History is relatively young, as it turns just 17 in 2010. However, if one considers MBNH to be a legitimate successor to the Jack-Pine Warbler (the ornithological journal), then MBNH can justifiably lay claim to an 88-year publishing lineage, tying the IAQ for longest-running State bird journal.

Page Counts:

As a general rule, State bird journals tend to be rather small in terms of the number of pages. To get a handle on this, I obtained information on total page numbers in the five most recent volumes for nine journals (all journals for which I was able to download such information), realizing that this may not be a representative sample.

For those nine journals, median page counts ranged from 28 (Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society) to 340 (Passenger Pigeon), with a median of about 101. Page counts for two recent volumes of Michigan Birds and Natural History (2007 and 2008) averaged 252, making it more than twice the size of the average State bird journal sampled.

Seasonal Field Notes:

Organizations in at least three States (New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia) publish their quarterly field observations separate from their journals. The respective publications for New Mexico and Virginia are NMOS Field Notes and Virginia Birds. Through a partnership with Natural Heritage New Mexico, the New Mexico Ornithological Society even offers a searchable database for NMOS Field Notes. I was not able to determine if Texas field notes are available only online or if members receive them in a print format.

Online Journal Access:

All or substantial portions of 14 journals are now (or soon will be) available online as PDF files, and in a few cases the archives are searchable. The 14 journals are:

Alabama Birdlife: Volumes 1-54 (1953-2008). Full articles, plus Search feature.

Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society: Online archive of first 37 issues (1968-2004), with issues available as PDF files, courtesy of the Oklahoma State University Library Electronic Publishing Center.

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society: Just two volumes (2006-2007) are currently available online as PDF files.

Chat (NC, SC): 23 volumes online, others in progress. Plus cumulative index and searchable database.

Florida Field Naturalist: All articles from 1973-2006 are downloadable, including searches by date, title, or author.

Elepaio (HI): PDF files of all issues from February 2003 to March 2010.

Indiana Audubon Quarterly: A project is currently underway to digitize all issue since first published in 1929, including searchable index. This feature may be available now for members. In the meantime, one issue of the IAQ is available for public download as a PDF file.

Kansas Ornithological Society Bulletin: All issues from 1950 to 2007 (Volumes 1-58) are available as PDF files.

Kingbird (NY): Searchable archive of articles published 1950-2007.

Migrant (TN): Volumes 1-75 available online as PDF files.

New Jersey Birds: All issues since Fall 2006 (Volume 32, Number 4) are available online in PDF format. Available in online-only format since 2009 (Volume 35) for reasons stated here.

NMOS Bulletin (NM): Articles from Volumes 1-28 (1973-2000) are available as PDF files. Tables of Content only for Volumes 29-36 (2001-2008).

Passenger Pigeon (WI): All issues (1939-2006) are available online as PDF files through the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection.

Raven (VA): All issues (1930-2005) are available as PDF files through the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary.

South Dakota Bird Notes: All Volumes (1948-2003) are available as PDF files (1948-2003).

Five journals have made available, either online or in hard-bound volumes, indices of journal contents:

Loon (MN): Online index to articles by species, but individual articles are not available, with exception of Reports of the Minnesota Bird Records Committee, which are all available as PDF files.

Colorado Birds: Table of Contents and sample articles available online for 4 most recent issues. Hard-bound Subject Index to first 34 years is available for purchase.

Kentucky Warbler: Tables of Content for Volumes 73-85 (1973-2009). Indexes (or highlights) for Volumes 13-72 (1937-1996).

Maryland Birdlife: A CD index is available for purchase.

Ohio Cardinal: Indices of all issues by article and species. Contents only of latest issue, and PDF file of one sample issue.

Six journals list their Tables of Content to a greater or lesser degree:

Bluebird: Covers and tables of content only for Volumes 70-77 (2003-2010).

Iowa Bird Life: Table of Contents of most recent issue only, with 1 article available for download.

Meadowlark: An archive lists the highlights of each issue, Volumes 1-18 (1992-2009), and the contents of the most recent issue are displayed.

Nebraska Bird Review: Tables of Content only, Volumes 66-75 (1998-2007).

Utah Birds: Table of Contents of a single issue posted online.

Washington Birds: Tables of Content for Volumes 1-9 (1989-2006).

In general, less seems to have been done to make known to the general public the contents of Michigan Birds and Natural History and its predecessor, the Jack-Pine Warbler, than most other State bird journals. There is no online or published index, Tables of Content of past or current issues are not available, and only a single "sample" issue (June-August 2008) is downloadable as a PDF file.

Organizational Membership:

Membership in organizations publishing State bird journals tends to be relatively small. Using the National Wildlife Federation’s online Conservation Directory, I was able to determine the size of just eight State organizations; 5 reported having between 101 and 1,000 members, 2 reported having between 1,001 and 10,000 members, and 1 reported having between 10,001 and 100,000 members; New Jersey Audubon Society was the largest, followed by Michigan Audubon Society and the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union.

Membership Dues:

With the exception of Michigan Birds and Natural History, State bird journals are received as a benefit of membership in the organization with which the journal is affiliated. In most cases (24 of 34) a newsletter is also received as part of the membership package (Table 3). Dues structures vary tremendously among the various organizations, with a variety of (sometimes imaginative) membership categories. In the following summary of 12 of the most frequent types of membership categories, I show sample size, median values, and ranges (in parentheses):

Student/Senior/Limited Income (n=37): $14 ($5-20) = MAS Student level

Regular (n=9): $20 ($15-35)

Individual (n=29): $25 ($10-30) = MBNA subscription rate

Family (n=31): $30 ($20-40) = MAS Basic level

Library/Institution (n=10): $30 ($15-45)

Sustaining (n=26): $40 ($20-500)

Contributing (n=14): $50 ($15-60) = MAS Donor level

Business/Corporate/Donor (n=6): $75 ($30-100) = MAS Business level

Supporting (n=8): $75 ($25-100) = MAS Supporting level

Patron (n=8): $300 ($50-2,000)

Life (n=35): $500 ($100-3,000)

Benefactor (n=4): $750 ($150-5,000)

Income and Assets:

Among the 35 State organizations that I was able to find in the online Melissa data lookup for non-profit corporations, the median annual income was $26,216; 15 reported incomes of less than $25,000, while 4 reported incomes exceeding $500,000. New Jersey Audubon Society topped the list at $8.7 million, followed by Michigan Audubon Society $2.6 million {1}, Maryland Ornithological Society ($603,100), and Georgia Ornithological Society ($579,000).

Twenty organizations reported assets ranging from $31,400 to $26.2 million, with a median value of $228,900. New Jersey Audubon Society topped the list, followed by Michigan Audubon Society ($10.7 million) {1}, Georgia Ornithological Society ($2.2 million), and Maryland Ornithological Society ($1.8 million).

{1} Income and asset figures for MAS represent the sum totals for operations in the Lansing office as reported under four different Tax I.D. numbers.

Table 1: State and Regional Bird Journals.

Alabama Birdlife, Bird Observer—The New England Birding Journal, Bluebird (MO), Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society, Chat (NC, SC), Colorado Birds, Connecticut Warbler, Delmarva Ornithologist (DE), Elepaio (HI), Florida Field Naturalist, Indiana Audubon Quarterly, Iowa Bird Life, Journal of Louisiana Ornithology, Kansas Ornithological Society Bulletin, Kentucky Warbler, Kingbird (NY), Mississippi Kite, Loon (MN), Maryland Birds, Meadowlark (IL), Michigan Birds and Natural History, Migrant (TN), Nebraska Bird Review, New Jersey Birds, NMOS Bulletin, Ohio Cardinal, Oregon Birds, Oriole (GA), Passenger Pigeon (WI), Pennsylvania Birds, Raven (VA) Redstart (WV), South Dakota Bird Notes, Utah Birds, Washington Birds, Western Birds (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA).

Table 2: Organizations Publishing State Bird Journals.

Alabama Ornithological Society; Audubon Society of Missouri, Brooks Bird Club (WV); Carolina Bird Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists; Connecticut Ornithological Association; Delmarva Ornithological Society (DE); Florida Ornithological Society; Georgia Ornithological Society; Hawaii Audubon Society; Illinois Ornithological Society; Indiana Audubon Society; Iowa Ornithologists’ Union; Kansas Ornithological Society; Kentucky Ornithological Society; Louisiana Ornithological Society; Maryland Ornithological Society; Michigan Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union; Mississippi Ornithological Society; Nebraska Ornithologist’s Union; New Jersey Audubon Society; New Mexico Ornithological Society; New York State Ornithological Association; Ohio Ornithological Society; Oklahoma Ornithological Society; Oregon Field Ornithologists; Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology; South Dakota Ornithologist’s Union; Tennessee Ornithological Society; Texas Ornithological Society; Utah Ornithological Society; Virginia Society of Ornithology; Washington Ornithological Society; Western Field Ornithologists; Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Table 3: Newsletters of State Organizations that Publish Bird Journals

Badger Birder (WI), Cardinal (IN), CBC Newsletter (NC, SC), Cerulean (OH), COA Bulletin (CT), D.O.S. Flyer (DE), GOShawk (GA), Horned Lark (KS), IOU News (IA), Kestrel (KY), Kestrel Express (NJ), LOS News (LA), Mail Bag (WV), Minnesota Birding, New York Birders, NOU Newsletter (NE), PSO Pileated (PA), Scissortail (OK), Snail Kite (FL), Tennessee Warbler, VSO Newsletter (VA), Wings Over the Prairie (IL), WFO Newsletter (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA), WOS News (WA), Yellowhammer (AL), Yellowthroat (MD).

Safe Passage to Migrating Birds

A 2009 State of Michigan proclamation designates the period of March 15 to May 31 and August 15 to October 31 as Safe Passage Great Lakes Days, an effort to protect migrating birds from the collision hazards posed by tall, lighted buildings.

. . . residents and property managers are reminded to close shades or turn out lights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. (or dawn) on tall buildings from the fifth floor and above.

Read the proclamation signed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm here, and see what actions are being taken in such places as Ann Arbor and Detroit

Ruffed Grouse in Michigan

Perhaps it is a tribute to the abundance of Ruffed Grouse in the Wolverine State, or maybe a reflection of the zeal with which some sportsmen pursue this wily gamebird. For whatever reason, the number of local chapters of the Ruffed Grouse Society in Michigan (27) equals the number in Pennsylvania and exceeds the number of chapters in Minnesota (23). Interestingly, New York State—where Gardiner Bump did his landmark study on Ruffed Grouse—has a mere 15 chapters.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment has assembled several valuable sources of information on Ruffed Grouse here, including a status report and conservation plan, and has published management guidelines for landowners.

Michigan Purple Martins

Michigan Purple Martins is "devoted to the study of Purple Martins in the State Michigan." It features maps of all known active and available (but inactive) colonies in the State, with a detailed history of each colony. It also features a Discussion Forum.

I encourage everyone out there hosting a Purple Martin colony to add it to this interactive site.

Recovery Plan for a Non-Recoverable Species?

I just ran across a couple of remarkable quotes from an article by John Beetham at A DC Birding Blog about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plans to release a final recovery plan for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Beetham included several paragraphs from a limited-access article by Rex Dalton that was posted at Nature News, which is where the following selected quotes originally appeared:

"We don’t believe a recoverable population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers exists," says Ron Rohrbaugh, a conservation biologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who headed the original search team.

Followed, two paragraphs later, by this:

Jerome Jackson, an ornithologist at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers who serves on the FWS’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker recovery team, says that a draft recovery plan from 2007 is "incredibly biased". In his view, the plan has overemphasized evidence of the bird’s existence to shore up political support for saving it. "I don’t think I’m going to be happy with the final plan either," he adds.

I find it rather remarkable that the FWS is still pursuing finalization of this recovery plan given the sorry state of the U.S. economy, the Federal budget, and Ivory-bill populations.

Michigan’s Important Bird Areas

As of the present time, 99 sites in Michigan have been identified, nominated, or recognized as Important Bird Areas—parcels of habitat that are considered essential for avian conservation.

Feeding Birds or Baiting Deer?

A Gaylord, Michigan, man who feeds birds has run afoul of a new State law that prohibits feeding or baiting deer and elk as a precaution against chronic wasting disease.

Although Ken Borton’s sunflower-stocked feeders are suspended nearly six feet off the ground, wildlife officials "told him he must scoop up the leftover seed casings each day to be in compliance with the law."

Competitive Birding Coming to the Big Screen

Considering the cast of comedians assembled to portray birders in the movie version of Mark Obmascik’s birding tale, The Big Year, this film (scheduled for release in 2011) could turn out to be an utter disaster. Birders take their seemingly (to normal people) zany pursuits seriously, after all, and don’t like to be portrayed as nut cases.

Bird Banding in Michigan

Bird banders are a relatively small but dedicated subset of the larger cohort of birders and ornithologists. They are represented in Michigan by Michigan Field Ornithologists and Bird Banders.

As attested to by these early papers by Dayton Stoner (.PDF) and Wm. I. Lyon (.PDF), Michigan has a rich and colorful history of banding dating back some 90 years, to the very beginnings of organized bird banding in the U.S.

Organizatons actively engaged in banding birds in Michigan include the following:

Great Lakes HummerNet

Kalamazoo Nature Center

Rouge River Bird Observatory

Whitefish Point Bird Observatory

All-Black King Penguin

Defying all odds, a melanistic King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) has been photographed in Antarctica. This bird just looks so weird!

Full or partial melanism is exceedingly rare in the King Penguin, there being only about four previously published records (.PDF).

Michigan Bluebird Society

The Michigan Bluebird Society is a group of individuals dedicated to helping bluebirds and other cavity-nesting bird species in the State of Michigan.

It’s time to get those nest-boxes ready!

State Bird Journals

This review was prompted by my curiosity about how Michigan Birds and Natural History, a journal affiliated with the Michigan Audubon Society (MAS), compares to other State and regional bird journals being published in the United States. In the first two weeks of March 2010, I conducted an extensive Internet survey to gather information on bird journals and their affiliated organizations. I here summarize information relating to (a) organizational relationships, (b) frequency of publication, (c) longevity, (d) page counts, (e) seasonal field notes, (f) online journal access, (g) organizational membership, (h) membership dues structure, and (i) organizational income and assets.

Organizational Relationships of State Bird Journals:

In the United States, there are 35 "State" bird journals representing 35 States, plus 1 "regional" journal representing 7 States (Table 1), with all but one of the journals being received as a benefit of membership in a State or regional organization (Table 2); the sole exception is Michigan Birds and Natural History. Five of the 35 "State" journals are directly or indirectly associated with an Audubon society (HI, IN, MI, MO, NJ), the others with a separate ornithological society.

Additionally, Bird Observer—The New England Birding Journal is published privately (annual subscription rate of $21 for 6 issues), with no organizational affiliation but with Editorial Staff, Corporate Officers, and Board of Directors. It offers camera-ready quarter-, half-, and full-page ads for $35, $55, and $100.

Frequency of Publication:

Three journals are published annually, 6 are published biannually, and 23 are published quarterly. Outliers include Colorado Birds and Michigan Birds and Natural History (5 times/year), Bird Observer (6 times/year), and Elepaio (9 times/year).

Longevity:

The longevity (as of 2010) of 33 State journals for which I was able to determine such information ranged from 13 years (Washington Birds) to 88 years (Indiana Audubon Quarterly), with a median of 62 years. From this perspective, Michigan Birds and Natural History is relatively young, as it turns just 17 in 2010. However, if one considers MBNH to be a legitimate successor to the Jack-Pine Warbler (the ornithological journal), then MBNH can justifiably lay claim to an 88-year publishing lineage, tying the IAQ for longest-running State bird journal.

Page Counts:

As a general rule, State bird journals tend to be rather small in terms of the number of pages. To get a handle on this, I obtained information on total page numbers in the five most recent volumes for eight journals (all journals for which I was able to download such information), realizing that this may not be a representative sample.

For those 8 journals, median page counts ranged from 28 (Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society) to 340 (Passenger Pigeon), with a median of about 120. Page counts for two recent volumes of Michigan Birds and Natural History (2007 and 2008) averaged 252, making it about twice the size of the average State bird journal sampled.

Seasonal Field Notes:

Organizations in at least three States (New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia) publish their quarterly field observations separate from their journals. The respective publications for New Mexico and Virginia are NMOS Field Notes and Virginia Birds. Through a partnership with Natural Heritage New Mexico, the New Mexico Ornithological Society even offers a searchable database for NMOS Field Notes. I was not able to determine if Texas field notes are available only online or if members receive them in a print format.

Online Journal Access:

All or substantial portions of 14 journals are now (or soon will be) available online as PDF files, and in a few cases the archives are searchable. The 14 journals are:

Alabama Birdlife: Volumes 1-54 (1953-2008). Full articles, plus Search feature.

Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society: Online archive of first 37 issues (1968-2004), with issues available as PDF files, courtesy of the Oklahoma State University Library Electronic Publishing Center.

Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society: Just two volumes (2006-2007) are currently available online as PDF files.

Chat (NC, SC): 23 volumes online, others in progress. Plus cumulative index and searchable database.

Florida Field Naturalist: All articles from 1973-2006 are downloadable, including searches by date, title, or author.

Elepaio (HI): PDF files of all issues from February 2003 to March 2010.

Indiana Audubon Quarterly: A project is currently underway to digitize all issue since first published in 1929, including searchable index. This feature may be available now for members. In the meantime, one issue of the IAQ is available for public download as a PDF file.

Kansas Ornithological Society Bulletin: All issues from 1950 to 2007 (Volumes 1-58) are available as PDF files.

Kingbird (NY): Searchable archive of articles published 1950-2007.

Migrant (TN): Volumes 1-75 available online as PDF files.

NMOS Bulletin (NM): Articles from Volumes 1-28 (1973-2000) are available as PDF files. Tables of Content only for Volumes 29-36 (2001-2008).

Passenger Pigeon (WI): All issues (1939-2006) are available online as PDF files through the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection.

Raven (VA): All issues (1930-2005) are available as PDF files through the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary.

South Dakota Bird Notes: All Volumes (1948-2003) are available as PDF files (1948-2003).

Five journals have made available, either online or in hard-bound volumes, indices of journal contents:

Loon (MN): Online index to articles by species, but individual articles are not available, with exception of Reports of the Minnesota Bird Records Committee, which are all available as PDF files.

Colorado Birds: Table of Contents and sample articles available online for 4 most recent issues. Hard-bound Subject Index to first 34 years is available for purchase.

Kentucky Warbler: Tables of Content for Volumes 73-85 (1973-2009). Indexes (or highlights) for Volumes 13-72 (1937-1996).

Maryland Birdlife: A CD index is available for purchase.

Ohio Cardinal: Indices of all issues by article and species. Contents only of latest issue, and PDF file of one sample issue.

Six journals list their Tables of Content to a greater or lesser degree:

Bluebird: Covers and tables of content only for Volumes 70-77 (2003-2010).

Iowa Bird Life: Table of Contents of most recent issue only, with 1 article available for download.

Meadowlark: An archive lists the highlights of each issue, Volumes 1-18 (1992-2009), and the contents of the most recent issue are displayed.

Nebraska Bird Review: Tables of Content only, Volumes 66-75 (1998-2007).

Utah Birds: Table of Contents of a single issue posted online.

Washington Birds: Tables of Content for Volumes 1-9 (1989-2006).

In general, less seems to have been done to make known to the general public the contents of Michigan Birds and Natural History and its predecessor, the Jack-Pine Warbler, than most other State bird journals. There is no online or published index, Tables of Content of past or current issues are not available, and only a single "sample" issue (June-August 2008) is downloadable as a PDF file.

Organizational Membership:

Membership in organizations publishing State bird journals tends to be relatively small. Using the National Wildlife Federation’s online Conservation Directory, I was able to determine the size of just eight State organizations; 5 reported having between 101 and 1,000 members, 2 reported having between 1,001 and 10,000 members, and 1 reported having between 10,001 and 100,000 members; New Jersey Audubon Society was the largest, followed by Michigan Audubon Society and the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union.

Membership Dues:

With the exception of Michigan Birds and Natural History, State bird journals are received as a benefit of membership in the organization with which the journal is affiliated. In most cases (24 of 34) a newsletter is also received as part of the membership package (Table 3). Dues structures vary tremendously among the various organizations, with a variety of (sometimes imaginative) membership categories. In the following summary of 12 of the most frequent types of membership categories, I show sample size, median values, and ranges (in parentheses).

Student/Senior/Limited Income (n=37): $14 ($5-20) = MAS Student level

Regular (n=9): $20 ($15-35)

Individual (n=28): $25 ($10-30) = MBNA subscription rate

Family (n=30): $30 ($20-40) = MAS Basic level

Library/Institution (n=10): $30 ($15-45)

Sustaining (n=26): $40 ($20-500)

Contributing (n=14): $50 ($15-60) = MAS Donor level

Business/Corporate/Donor (n=6): $75 ($30-100) = MAS Business level

Supporting (n=8): $75 ($25-100) = MAS Supporting level

Patron (n=8): $300 ($50-2,000)

Life (n=33): $450 ($100-1,000)

Benefactor (n=4): $750 ($150-5,000)

Income and Assets:

Among the 32 State organizations that I was able to find in the online Melissa data lookup for non-profit corporations, the median annual income was $30,385; 13 reported incomes of less than $25,000, while 3 reported incomes exceeding $500,000. Michigan Audubon Society topped the list at $2.6 million {1}. Two other organizations with incomes of greater than $500,000 were the Georgia Ornithological Society and the Maryland Ornithological Society.

Nineteen organizations reported assets ranging from $31,400 to $10.7 million, with a median value of $207,000; Georgia Ornithological Society, Maryland Ornithological Society, and Michigan Audubon Society all reported assets in excess of $1 million, with MAS topping the list {1}.

{1} Income and asset figures for MAS represent the sum totals for operations in the Lansing office as reported under four different Tax I.D. numbers.

Table 1: State and Regional Bird Journals.

Alabama Birdlife, Bird Observer—The New England Birding Journal, Bluebird (MO), Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society, Chat (NC, SC), Colorado Birds, Connecticut Warbler, Delmarva Ornithologist (DE), Elepaio (HI), Florida Field Naturalist, Indiana Audubon Quarterly, Iowa Bird Life, Journal of Louisiana Ornithology, Kansas Ornithological Society Bulletin, Kentucky Warbler, Kingbird (NY), Mississippi Kite, Loon (MN), Maryland Birds, Meadowlark (IL), Michigan Birds and Natural History, Migrant (TN), Nebraska Bird Review, New Jersey Birds, NMOS Bulletin, Ohio Cardinal, Oregon Birds, Oriole (GA), Passenger Pigeon (WI), Pennsylvania Birds, Raven (VA) Redstart (WV), South Dakota Bird Notes, Utah Birds, Washington Birds, Western Birds (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA).

Table 2: Organizations Publishing State Bird Journals.

Alabama Ornithological Society; Audubon Society of Missouri, Brooks Bird Club (WV); Carolina Bird Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists; Connecticut Ornithological Association; Delmarva Ornithological Society (DE); Florida Ornithological Society; Georgia Ornithological Society; Hawaii Audubon Society; Illinois Ornithological Society; Indiana Audubon Society; Iowa Ornithologists’ Union; Kansas Ornithological Society; Kentucky Ornithological Society; Louisiana Ornithological Society; Maryland Ornithological Society; Michigan Audubon Society; Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union; Mississippi Ornithological Society; Nebraska Ornithologist’s Union; New Jersey Audubon Society; New Mexico Ornithological Society; New York State Ornithological Association; Ohio Ornithological Society; Oklahoma Ornithological Society; Oregon Field Ornithologists; Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology; South Dakota Ornithologist’s Union; Tennessee Ornithological Society; Texas Ornithological Society; Utah Ornithological Society; Virginia Society of Ornithology; Washington Ornithological Society; Western Field Ornithologists; Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Table 3: Newsletters of State Organizations that Publish Bird Journals

Badger Birder (WI), Cardinal (IN), CBC Newsletter (NC, SC), Cerulean (OH), COA Bulletin (CT), D.O.S. Flyer (DE), GOShawk (GA), Horned Lark (KS), IOU News (IA), Kestrel (KY), Kestrel Express (NJ), LOS News (LA), Mail Bag (WV), Minnesota Birding, New York Birders, NOU Newsletter (NE), PSO Pileated (PA), Scissortail (OK), Snail Kite (FL), Tennessee Warbler, VSO Newsletter (VA), Wings Over the Prairie (IL), WFO Newsletter (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA), WOS News (WA), Yellowhammer (AL), Yellowthroat (MD).

Avian Tautonyms

Disclaimer: The idea for this post comes from a brief discussion topic on the BirdChat listserv that was started by Ken Blackshaw on 03/06/2010. The information provided below was researched personally by me.

In biology, a tautonym is an informal term used to indicate a scientific name of a species in which both parts (i.e., the genus name and the specific epithet) have the same spelling, as in Cardinalis cardinalis for Northern Cardinal. Using the nomenclature of the IOC World Bird List, I have identified 83 avian tautonyms. Where the common name recognized by the Clements Checklist differs from that recognized by the IOC (as reflected in Avibase), the Clements name appears in brackets.

Alle alle, Little Auk [Dovekie]

Amandava amandava, Red Avadavat

Amazilia amazlia, Amazilia Hummingbird

Anhinga anhinga, Anhinga

Anser anser, Greylag Goose [Graylag Goose]

Apus apus, Common Swift

Buteo buteo, Common Buzzard

Bubo bubo, Eurasian Eagle-Owl

Cardinalis cardinalis, Northern Cardinal

Carduelis carduelis, European Goldfinch

Casuarius casuarius, Southern Cassowary

Ciconia ciconia, White Stork

Cinclus cinclus, White-throated Dipper

Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Hawfinch

Cochlearius cochlearius, Boat-billed Heron

Coeligena coeligena, Bronzy Inca

Colius colius, White-backed Mousebird

Coscoroba coscoroba, Coscoroba Swan

Cotinga cotinga, Purple-breasted Cotinga

Coturnix coturnix, Common Quail

Crex crex, Corn Crake

Crossoptilon crossoptilon, White Eared Pheasant [White Eared-Pheasant]

Curaeus curaeus, Austral Blackbird

Cyanicterus cyanicterus, Blue-backed Tanager

Cygnus cygnus, Whooper Swan

Diuca diuca, Common Diuca-Finch

Dives dives, Melodious Blackbird

Ensifera ensifera, Sword-billed Hummingbird

Francolinus francolinus, Black Francolin

Galbula galbula, Green-tailed Jacamar

Gallinago gallinago, Common Snipe

Gallus gallus, Red Junglefowl

Grus grus, Common Crane

Guira guira, Guira Cuckoo

Himantopus himantopus, Black-winged Stilt

Histrionicus histrionicus, Harlequin Duck

Icterus icterus, Venezuelen Troupial [Troupial]

Indicator indicator, Greater Honeyguide

Jacana jacana, Wattled Jacana

Ketupa ketupa, Buffy Fish Owl [Buffy Fish-Owl]

Lagopus lagopus, Willow Ptarmigan

Lerwa lerwa, Snow Partridge

Limosa limosa, Black-tailed Godwit

Luscinia luscinia, Thrush Nightingale

Manacus manacus, White-bearded Manakin

Mascarinus mascarinus, Mascarene Parrot

Melanodera melanodera, White-bridled Finch [Canary-winged Finch]

Milvus milvus, Red Kite

Mitu mitu, Alagoas Curassow

Nycticorax nycticorax, Black-crowned Night Heron

Oenanthe oenanthe, Northern Wheatear

Oriolus oriolus, Eurasian Golden Oriole

Pauxi pauxi, Northern Helmeted Curassow [Helmeted Curassow]

Perdix perdix, Grey Partridge [Gray Partridge]

Petronia petronia, Rock Sparrow [Rock Petronia]

Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Common Redstart

Pica pica, Eurasian Magpie

Pipile pipile, Trinidad Piping Guan

Pipra pipra, White-crowned Manakin

Poliocephalus poliocephalus, Hoary-headed Grebe

Porphyrio porphyrio, Purple Swamphen

Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema, Purple-throated Cotinga

Porzana porzana, Spotted Crake

Puffinus puffinus, Manx Shearwater

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, Red-billed Chough

Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Eurasian Bullfinch

Quelea quelea, Red-billed Quelea

Regulus regulus, Goldcrest

Riparia riparia, Sand Martin [Bank Swallow]

Rupicola rupicola, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock

Serinus serinus, European Serin

Suiriri suiriri, Suiriri Flycatcher

Sula sula, Red-footed Booby

Tadorna tadorna, Common Shelduck

Tchagra tchagra, Southern Tchagra

Temnurus temnurus, Ratchet-tailed Treepie

Tetrax tetrax, Little Bustard

Todus todus, Jamaican Tody

Troglydytes troglodytes, Winter Wren

Tyrannus tyrannus, Eastern Kingbird

Vanellus vanellus, Northern Lapwing

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, Yellow-headed Blackbird

Xenopirostris xenopirostris, Lafresnaye’s Vanga

Beer-Cap Bird House

Just what every red-blooded, beer-drinking birder needs, a $100 bird house that leaks! I believe it was P. T. Barnum who said something about a "sucker born every minute."

I suspect that you could build your own for much less, or at least have a whole lot of fun while assembling the basic construction materials!

Michigan Birds and Natural History

Issue 4 (September-October) of Volume 16 (2009) of Michigan Birds and Natural History, a publication of the Michigan Audubon Society, arrived in my mail box on this past Saturday. Contents are as follows:

Dr. Laurence Charles Binford 1935—2009, by Joe Kaplan. Pp. 157-158.–A brief remembrance.

Recent bird records from the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, by Laurence C. Binford. Pp. 159-186.—This update of Binford (2006) lists subsequent records for 229 species through spring 2009, and notes their significance.

Michigan Bird Survey, spring 2009 (March—May), by Jack Reinoehl. Pp. 187-223.—Reports on 308 species reported during the period, including first Michigan record of Fish Crow. Smith’s Longspur was seen in exceptional numbers, while Ross’s Goose, Cattle Egret, and American Avocet were also seen in very unusual numbers.

Citation:

Binford, Laurence C. 2006. Birds of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan. Miscellaneous Publication of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology 195, 307 pp. [.PDF]

Drought and Birds: Mallard

Gary L. Krapu, Albert T. Klett, and Dennis G. Jorde (1983) studied reproductive strategies of Mallards breeding in the prairie pothole region of North Dakota under the variable spring water conditions characteristic of that region. Specifically, they examined "population patterns in eastern and central North Dakota over a 20-year period and examined factors responsible for observed densities and reproductive effort under a broad range of wetland habitat conditions."

In summarizing the results of this important study, I can do no better than provide the authors’ Abstract in full:

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) breeding densities in the prairie pothole habitat of eastern North Dakota during 1961-1980 varied from 2.28 birds/km2 in 1977 to 9.47 birds/km2 in 1963 [a factor of 4.2] and were correlated with pond abundance (r = 0.543, P < 0.05). The number of basins used by pairs declined with drought, as did home-range size. Nesting activity also varied with the number of ponds holding water/km2, ranging from high (including substantial renesting) under favorable water conditions to low during extreme drought. The span between first and last nest initiations declined by 19 days from a wet to a dry year. With severe drought conditions during spring 1977 on the Medina Study Area, pairs returned to attempt nesting but were unsuccessful, and most abandoned activity centers by mid-May. Although the average clutch size declined by about 0.7 egg[s] from a wet to a dry year on the Interstate Study Area, hatchability of eggs remained constant. We describe the adaptive strategy of Mallards for breeding under variable water conditions and food resources in the semiarid environment of mid-continent North America.

Thanks to SORA (the Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) this paper may be read in full by clicking on the title highlighted below.

Citation:

Krapu, Gary L., Albert T. Klett, and Dennis G. Jorde. 1983. The effect of variable spring water conditions on Mallard reproduction. Auk 100: 689-698. [.PDF]