Montshire Minute

Originally aired during the week of April 28, 2008

Monday

Spring is here and the robins and vireos and red-wing blackbirds are returning to New England from their wintering grounds to the south. Most of New England's familiar songbirds—vireos, orioles, tanagers, hummingbirds, wood warblers, and so on—belong to a group of birds called neotropical migrant birds. These birds winter in the Caribbean and Central America and return north in the spring to breed. And over the past decade or so biologists have observed a steady decline in the population of many species of neotropical migrant birds. This week on the Montshire Minute we'll look at some of the reasons for that decline and check out techniques local researchers are using to learn more about behaviors of migrating birds.

 

Tuesday

In the early 1960's Bachman's warbler became extinct. This small bird spent its winters in Cuba, eating insects that lived in the tropical forest. When Cuba's forests were cleared to plant sugarcane fields, Bachman's warbler had nowhere to find food in the winter.  Extinction came quickly. In the 1980's, when the populations of other neotropical migrant birds began to show a sharp decline, biologists remembered Bachman's warbler and suggested that tropical deforestation was to blame. But soon they discovered that not all the migratory birds that were in trouble were wintering in areas that were being deforested and that non-migratory birds were in trouble too.  Something else was happening. Naturalists now believe that “fragmentation,” a process by which forest areas are broekn up by development, dramatically reduces the quality of local habitat for nesting birds.

 

Wednesday

Wednesday -- This week on the Montshire Minute we're looking at the reasons why ornithologists are concerned about declining populations of songbirds that migrate to our region to nest. For a long time, biologists had assumed that as long as forests were present in New England and the other parts of North America where songbirds breed, the birds would have enough suitable habitat to survive. But when they looked more closely at the problem, they discovered that songbird habitat was being broken into smaller and smaller fragments. Birds seemed to be doing well in large fragments and poorly in smaller ones. Come join us on Saturday, May 3, for the Montshire’s annual Ephemeral Zoo event. Naturalists from the Center for Ecostudies will be on hand to demonstrate how they safely capture and band birds, a technique that helps us learn more about their migratory patterns. This “early bird” program starts at 9:30 a.m.

 

Thursday

When a forest is fragmented, even if there is no net loss in forest area, the percentage of the forest that borders on open fields and human settlements increases. This can be deadly for birds that like to nest deep in the forest. Skunks, raccoons, snakes, and cats can attack the nests, stealing eggs or eating the young.  And the nests are vulnerable to parasites as well. Cowbirds, large birds that live in open fields, lay their eggs in the songbirds' nests. When the eggs hatch, the bigger, stronger cowbird young devour all the food their unwitting foster parents bring back to the nest. Find out more about challenges local songbirds face and techniques scientists use to learn more about bird habitat in our region at the Montshire Museum’s Ephemeral Zoo event Saturday, May 3. The Center for Ecostudies will do a banding demonstration at 9:30 a.m.

 

Friday

Bird banding is a very effective way to study the biology, ecology, behavior, and population of birds. One of the best methods to safely capture a bird is with a mist net. These thin nets are usually made of black nylon, and are almost invisible when set up in a study area. The nets capture birds in flight, but are checked constantly so the birds can’t harm themselves if they struggle to escape. The bird-bander holds the captured bird gently but firmly between the index and middle fingers, with the other fingers loosely cupped around the bird’s body. When the species is confirmed, a tiny metal band marked with a serial number is fitted around the leg. Tomorrow morning at 9:30 at the Montshire Museum’s Ephemeral Zoo event, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies will do a banding demonstration. If we’re lucky, we might see naturalists capture, band and release some of our local feathered friends!

Saturday

Nest parasitism and nest predation affect all forest birds that are forced by habitat fragmentation to nest along the forest's edge.  But migratory birds are more dramatically affected than non-migratory birds.  Migratory birds have shorter breeding seasons than most birds because their young must be strong enough to fly south when winter comes. And many migratory birds also lay fewer eggs than non-migratory birds. A study of one forest tract in Illinois discovered that 80% of all songbird pairs lost their eggs to predators, and that two thirds of the remaining pairs ended up raising cowbirds instead of their own young. Breeding failure has decimated the populations of New England's songbirds too. Learn more about what’s being done to protect local habitat for birds, amphibians, and other creatures at today’s Ephemeral Zoo event at the Montshire Museum.

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Hear the Montshire Minute read by Neal Meglathery each weekday on the following radio stations:

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