Academic literature on the topic 'Birds, alaska'

The northern wheatear ( Oenanthe oenanthe ) is a small (approx. 25 g), insectivorous migrant with one of the largest ranges of any songbird in the world, breeding from the eastern Canadian Arctic across Greenland, Eurasia and into Alaska (AK). However, there is no evidence that breeding populations in the New World have established overwintering sites in the Western Hemisphere. Using light-level geolocators, we demonstrate that individuals from these New World regions overwinter in northern sub-Sahara Africa, with Alaskan birds travelling approximately 14 500 km each way and an eastern Canadian Arctic bird crossing a wide stretch of the North Atlantic (approx. 3500 km). These remarkable journeys, particularly for a bird of this size, last between one to three months depending on breeding location and season (autumn/spring) and result in mean overall migration speeds of up to 290 km d −1 . Stable-hydrogen isotope analysis of winter-grown feathers sampled from breeding birds generally support the notion that Alaskan birds overwinter primarily in eastern Africa and eastern Canadian Arctic birds overwinter mainly in western Africa. Our results provide the first evidence of a migratory songbird capable of linking African ecosystems of the Old World with Arctic regions of the New World.

Breeding bird response to habitat rehabilitation after anthropogenic disturbance has received little attention in the Arctic. The North Slope of Alaska is an important breeding ground for many populations of migratory birds and has also supported major oilfields since the late 1960s. The most obvious impacts of industrial development to nesting birds are direct habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from the construction of infrastructure, along with increased mechanical noise, vehicle traffic, and other forms of anthropogenic disturbance. In response to state and federal requirements, efforts have been made to rehabilitate abandoned portions of the oilfields. We compared bird use at rehabilitation sites and at nearby paired reference sites. Densities of shorebirds and passerines varied between rehabilitation sites and reference sites, but waterfowl densities did not. Specifically, passerine and shorebird densities were higher at reference sites in the early or mid-season and lower at reference sites in the late season. Additionally, birds on rehabilitation sites were primarily observed foraging and resting, while behavior observed on paired reference sites was more diverse and included courtship displays, nesting, and aggression. Further, rehabilitation sites supported significantly fewer nests and fewer species than recorded at reference sites. Our findings suggest that sites 3 to 10 years post rehabilitation do not provide bird habitat comparable to nearby reference sites and, by extension, do not provide shorebird and passerine habitat comparable to that found prior to development. However, rehabilitation sites appear to provide adequate habitat for waterfowl and are important to shorebirds and passerines as foraging areas. Continued monitoring will be needed to establish the long-term suitability of rehabilitation sites, compared to reference sites, as breeding habitat for birds.

AbstractEndogenous stores of energy allow birds to survive periods of severe weather and food shortage during winter. We documented changes in lipid, protein, moisture, and ash in body tissues of adult female Pacific Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) and modeled the energetic costs of wintering. Birds were collected at the extremes of their winter range, in Alaska and Baja California, Mexico. Body lipids decreased over winter for birds in Alaska but increased for those in Baja California. Conversely, body protein increased over winter for Brant in Alaska and remained stable for birds in Baja California. Lipid stores likely fuel migration for Brant wintering in Baja California and ensure winter survival for those in Alaska. Increases in body protein may support earlier reproduction for Brant in Alaska. Predicted energy demands were similar between sites during late winter but avenues of expenditure were different. Birds in Baja California spent more energy on lipid synthesis while those in Alaska incurred higher thermoregulatory costs. Estimated daily intake rates of eelgrass were similar between sites in early winter; however, feeding time was more constrained in Alaska because of high tides and short photoperiods. Despite differences in energetic costs and foraging time, Brant wintering at both sites appeared to be in good condition. We suggest that wintering in Alaska may be more advantageous than long-distance migration if winter survival is similar between sites and constraints on foraging time do not impair body condition.

We studied birds in the Shumagin Islands in 18 of the 37 years from 1970 to 2006 and synthesized all available information on birds of this area. A total of 126 forms of 125 species, including hypothetical species, has been recorded in the Shumagins, of which aquatic birds constitute 67% and terrestrial birds 33%. Overall, 52% of all forms breed, probably breed, or formerly bred; of these, aquatic birds represent 57% and terrestrial birds 43%. The avifauna is heavily weighted toward Nearctic (39% of all forms) and Beringian (32%) forms, followed by Holarctic (21%), Palearctic (6%), and Oceanian (2%) forms; breeding taxa are even more heavily weighted toward Beringian (46%) and Nearctic (40%) forms. The Shumagins have few breeding waterfowl, other freshwater birds, and shorebirds and are not on important flyways for any of these groups, despite lying near important spring and fall staging areas on the nearby Alaska Peninsula. The seabird and terrestrial avifaunas are diverse and similar to those in nearby areas, especially the eastern Aleutians. Populations of several seabird species in the Shumagins have declined substantially over the last 40 years. Two terrestrial species, the Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) and Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), have expanded their breeding ranges into this area, and breeding distributions of some terrestrial birds in the outer Shumagins appear to be changing. Changes in range or breeding status have been caused, at least in part, by predation by introduced foxes, overgrazing by introduced cattle degrading already limited habitat, and the introduction of ground squirrels.

Most emperor geese (Chen canagica) nest in a narrow coastal region of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska, but their winter distribution extends more than 3000 km from Kodiak Island, Alaska, to the Commander Islands, Russia. We marked 53 adult female emperor geese with satellite transmitters on the YKD in 1999, 2002, and 2003 to examine whether chronology of migration or use of seasonal habitats differed among birds that wintered in different regions. Females that migrated relatively short distances (650–1010 km) between the YKD and winter sites on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula bypassed autumn staging areas on the Bering Sea coast of the Alaska Peninsula or used them for shorter periods (mean = 57 days) than birds that made longer migrations (1600–2640 km) to the western Aleutian Islands (mean = 97 days). Alaska Peninsula migrants spent more days at winter sites (mean = 172 days, 95% CI: 129–214 days) than western Aleutian Island migrants (mean = 91 days, 95% CI: 83–99 days). Birds that migrated 930–1610 km to the eastern Aleutian Islands spent intermediate intervals at fall staging (mean = 77 days) and wintering areas (mean = 108 days, 95% CI: 95–119 days). Return dates to the YKD did not differ among birds that wintered in different regions. Coastal staging areas on the Alaska Peninsula may be especially important in autumn to prepare Aleutian migrants physiologically for long-distance migration to winter sites, and in spring to enable emperor geese that migrate different distances to reach comparable levels of condition before nesting.

ABSTRACTFrom August to September 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assisted the Alaska Division of Public Health with an outbreak investigation of campylobacteriosis occurring among the residents of Southcentral Alaska. During the investigation, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) ofCampylobacter jejuniisolates from human, raw pea, and wild bird fecal samples confirmed the epidemiologic link between illness and the consumption of raw peas contaminated by sandhill cranes for 15 of 43 epidemiologically linked human isolates. However, an association between the remaining epidemiologically linked human infections and the pea and wild bird isolates was not established. To better understand the molecular epidemiology of the outbreak,C. jejuniisolates (n= 130; 59 from humans, 40 from peas, and 31 from wild birds) were further characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Here we present the molecular evidence to demonstrate the association of many more humanC. jejuniinfections associated with the outbreak with raw peas and wild bird feces. Among all sequence types (STs) identified, 26 of 39 (67%) were novel and exclusive to the outbreak. Five clusters of overlapping STs (n= 32 isolates; 17 from humans, 2 from peas, and 13 from wild birds) were identified. In particular, cluster E (n= 7 isolates; ST-5049) consisted of isolates from humans, peas, and wild birds. Novel STs clustered closely with isolates typically associated with wild birds and the environment but distinct from lineages commonly seen in human infections. Novel STs and alleles recovered from human outbreak isolates allowed additional infections caused by these rare genotypes to be attributed to the contaminated raw peas.

We compared body size and mass of the whole body, organs, adipose tissue, and muscles of adult Pacific Black Brant ( Branta bernicla nigricans (Lawrence, 1846)) collected concurrently in Alaska and Baja California during the fall, winter, and spring of 2002–2003. Head and tarsal lengths of males were similar between sites and slightly larger for females in Alaska than in Baja California. Brant appear to operate under similar physiological bounds, but patterns of nutrient allocation differ between sites. Birds wintering in Alaska lost similar amounts of adipose tissue during early winter as birds in Baja California gained during late winter before migration. Masses of the body, adipose tissue, and flight muscles during mid-winter were similar between sites. Seasonal adipose tissue deposition may, therefore, equally favor winter residency or long-distance migration. Gonad and liver masses increased in late winter for birds in Alaska but not for those in Baja California, suggesting birds wintering in Baja may delay reproductive development in favor of allocating reserves needed for migration. Phenotypic flexibility allows Brant to use widely divergent wintering sites. The wintering location of Brant likely depends more upon changes in environmental conditions and food availability, than upon physiological differences between the two wintering populations.

This paper discusses Leslie Sharpe’s sound and sculpture installation project “Beak Disorder,” exhibited at Manizales, Columbia for Balance-Unbalance 2016. The work addresses how anthropogenic climate change may be affecting birds in the Pacific Northwest regions of Canada and the United States. “Beak Disorder” is a project that references an unexplained condition documented in birds in the Northwest of Canada and Alaska called “avian keratin disorder” where the bird’s beak becomes distorted and elongated. The work includes a series of 3D printed distorted beaks as well as a sound piece and web component.

Abstract We conducted the first systematic inventory of birds in the lowlands (areas ≤100 m above sea level) of the Alaska Peninsula during summers of 2004–2007 to determine their breeding distributions and habitat associations in this remote region. Using a stratified random survey design, we allocated sample plots by elevation and land cover with a preference for wetland cover types used by shorebirds, a group of particular interest to land managers. We surveyed birds during 10-min counts at 792 points across 52, 5 km × 5 km sample plots distributed from south of the Naknek River (58.70°N,157.00°W) to north of Port Moller (56.00°N,160.52°W). We detected 95 bird species including 19 species of shorebirds and 34 species (36% of total) considered at the time to be of conservation concern for the land managers in the region. The most numerous shorebirds on point counts were dunlin Calidris alpina, short-billed dowitcher Limnodromus griseus, and Wilson's snipe Gallinago delicata. We found the breeding-season endemic marbled godwit Limosa fedoa beringiae at 20 plots within a 3,000-km2 area from north of Ugashik Bay to just north of Port Heiden and east to the headwaters of the Dog Salmon and Ugashik rivers. The most abundant passerines on point counts were American tree sparrow Spizelloides arborea, Lapland longspur Calcarius lapponicus, and savannah sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis. Sandhill crane Antigone canadensis, glaucous-winged gull Larus glaucescens, and greater scaup Aythya marila were also relatively abundant. We categorized habitat associations for 30 common species and found that lowland herbaceous vegetation supported wetland-focused species including sandhill crane, marbled godwit, short-billed dowitcher, and dunlin; whereas, dwarf shrub-ericaceous vegetation supported tundra-associated species such as willow ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus, rock sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis, and American pipit Anthus rubescens. Tall shrub vegetation was important to several species of warblers and sparrows, as well as one species of shorebird (greater yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca). We found that point counts augmented with incidental observations provided an almost complete inventory of lowland-breeding species on the study area. These data form a baseline to monitor any future changes in bird distribution and abundance on the Alaska Peninsula.

Because of the scarcity of information for bird communities at the major mainland rivers of southeastern Alaska, the main objective of this study was to provide baseline information including distribution, status, and habitat associations of breeding birds. I conducted a meta-analysis of all known reports (including the current study) conducted at major mainland rivers during the breeding season. I described bird species composition, distribution, abundance estimates, status, habitat associations, and guild membership for all birds recorded at 11 major mainland rivers. Based on incidental observations, 170 species were recorded by all studies. Of these, 134 species were known or suspected to breed, accounting for 50% of all birds known from Alaska and 80% of all birds known from southeastern Alaska. In addition, I provided information on species of management concern as well as management implications and recommendations. I used point counts to survey birds within deciduous riparian vegetation at 6 major mainland rivers during 2000-2002. I compared bird species composition, abundance, richness, and diversity among four main vegetation types of deciduous riparian vegetation: shrubland, young deciduous forest, mature deciduous forest, and mixed deciduous-coniferous forest. Species richness was similar among all habitat types; however, relative abundance and diversity of birds was highest in mixed forest stands. Mature forests had the greatest number of species associated with the Canadian interior. I also used point counts to compare bird species composition, abundance, richness, and diversity among 6 major mainland rivers consisting of three trans-mountain and three coastal rivers. Latitude, connectivity, and availability of mature and mixed forests were the major factors thought to cause differences in bird communities among rivers. Contrary to our predictions, coastal rivers had higher bird species richness, diversity, point abundance , and point richness than trans-mountain rivers. Of the 10 species associated with the Canadian interior recorded during point counts, 8 occurred at both trans-mountain and coastal rivers.

Recent declines in nesting success of some fish-eating seabirds in Alaska have been attributed to declines in availability of certain schooling forage fishes (e.g., capelin Mallotus villosus, Pacific sand lance Ammodytes hexapterus, and Pacific herring Clupea harengus pallasi). These fishes tend to have high lipid content compared with other species and, consequently, are assumed to have high nutritional value as food for young seabirds. I tested hypotheses that type of fish consumed by the nestling, and lipid:protein ratio of the diet constrain growth and development of piscivorous seabird nestlings. I raised seabird nestlings (Black-legged Kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla and Tufted Puffins, Fratercula cirrhata) on controlled diets of either capelin, herring, or sand lance (high-lipid fish), or juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcograma; a low-lipid fish). Seabird nestlings fed herring, sand lance, or capelin had higher growth rates (body mass and wing length) than nestlings fed equal biomass rations of pollock. Growth in body mass and wing length of kittiwake nestlings was not affected by lipid:protein ratio of the diet when on a high nutritional plane (i.e., high caloric intake), but growth was significantly affected by dietary lipid:protein ratio when on a low plane of nutrition. Growth in body mass and wing length of puffins was not significantly affected by the lipid:protein ratio of the diet. Diets with a higher lipid:protein ratio resulted in greater fat reserves in both seabird species, regardless of nutritional plane. Additionally, diets with a higher lipid:protein ratio resulted in higher apparent metabolizable energy coefficients. The increased growth rates, fat reserves, and energy utilization efficiencies of chicks fed high-lipid diets suggest that pre- and post-fledging survival are enhanced when parent seabirds have access to high-lipid forage fish.
Graduation date: 2000

The populations of many farmland birds have severely declined during the past years. Even (formerly) common species such as the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) and the Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) are strongly affected. The declines were mainly caused by agricultural intensification. In response to the declines, agri-environmental schemes (AES) that integrate protection objectives into agricultural practices are a promising strategy. Until 1992 all EU member states were obliged to develop agri-environment programmes and since this time, AES are widely used. AES are often criticised for being ineffective and expensive. However, good results have been achieved with measures targeted on one bird species and used in projects advising farmers where and how to apply AES. Despite legitimate criticism, AES can help to slow down the declines of farmland bird populations, at least for a transitional period until sustainable agriculture has been established. This requires species-specific AES which are easy to implement and work well for the target species. In the German federal state of Saxony, such AES were developed and tested from 2009 to 2013 in a state-wide conservation project for ground-nesting farmland birds. Two of the studies with AES for the Skylark (study 1) and the Lapwing (study 2), which were part of scientific research, are presented here. For the Skylark, Skylark plots were tested at conventionally managed fields with winter cereals (n=10) or winter oilseed rape (n=10). Each field was divided in a test site with skylark plots and a control site without treatment. Skylark plots are unsown plots about 20 m² in size and applied in a density of about two plots per hectare. Further ten fields with winter cereals were in the same way equipped with additional tramlines that were not used for crop management. Both measures aimed to open the otherwise closed crop canopy to allow Skylarks to reach the ground and improve habitat conditions. Skylark territory mapping was carried out to reveal effects of the treatment. For the Lapwing, 61 lapwing plots were established within conventionally managed winter wheat and winter oilseed rape fields. These unsown fallow plots, mostly 1-2 ha in size, were created during autumn tillage and left bare until next summer. They were meant to provide a breeding site and a habitat for rearing the young. Lapwings and other bird species were mapped at the lapwing plots and nearby control sites. Factors influencing the success of the plots were modelled to obtain information on the design of a well-working AES. All three measures proved to be working well for the target species. At sites with skylark plots or additional tramlines, Skylark territory densities were about twice as high as at untreated control sites. The lapwing plots were also used about twice as likely as the untreated control sites. The hatching success was significantly higher, too. Particularly successful were large (>2 ha), sparsely vegetated lapwing plots at damp sites traditionally used for breeding. Other species also benefitted, especially from lapwing plots. The measures are therefore promising to provide positive effects on Skylark or Lapwing populations. They are relatively easy to implement and were repeatedly applied by the farmers involved in the project. Furthermore, synergy effects for other bird and plant species as well as for the biotope network can be expected by establishing lapwing plots at damp sites. The measures are suitable AES which, if widely adopted, have the potential to slow down, stabilise or even reverse the negative population trends. To promote these and to ensure their correct implementation, advise of farmers seems to be necessary, particularly for lapwing plots.
Bei vielen Agrarvögeln waren in den vergangenen Jahren starke Bestandsrückgänge zu verzeichnen, wobei mit Kiebitz (Vanellus vanellus) und Feldlerche (Alauda arvensis) zwei der ehemals häufigsten Arten am stärksten betroffen sind. Hauptursache hierfür ist die Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft. Eine mögliche Gegenstrategie sind nutzungsintegrierte Artenschutzmaßnahmen, mit denen versucht wird, die Belange des Artenschutzes eng in den landwirtschaftlichen Produktionsprozess einzubetten. Bedeutendstes Umsetzungsinstrument sind hierbei die EU-geförderten Agrarumweltmaßnahmen (AUM), die es seit 1992 in allen Mitgliedsstaaten gibt. Diese erwiesen sich in der Praxis jedoch oft als teuer und wenig erfolgreich. Vielversprechende Resultate wurden meist dann erzielt, wenn die Maßnahmen eng auf die Erfordernisse der Zielart(en) zugeschnitten waren und die Landwirte Beratung und Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung erhielten. Trotz aller Kritik an den AUM können diese zumindest für eine Übergangsphase auf dem Weg zu einer tatsächlich nachhaltigen Landwirtschaft helfen, die drastischen Bestandsrückgänge vieler Agrarvogelarten zu vermindern. Dazu werden aber zielartenspezifische und einfach umsetzbare Maßnahmen benötigt. Im sächsischen Bodenbrüterprojekt wurden von 2009 bis 2015 nutzungsintegrierte Artenschutzmaßnahmen entwickelt und erprobt. Zwei der projektbegleitenden wissenschaftlichen Studien zu AUM für Feldlerche (Studie 1) und Kiebitz (Studie 2) sind in der vorliegenden Arbeit zusammengefasst. Für die Feldlerche erfolgten Siedlungsdichteuntersuchungen auf konventionell bewirtschafteten Feldern mit Wintergetreide (n=10) oder Winterraps (n=10), die jeweils etwa zur Hälfte mit Feldlerchenfenstern bestellt waren, während der Restschlag als Vergleichsfläche diente. Zehn weitere Felder, ausschließlich in Wintergetreide, dienten in gleicher Weise der Erprobung der Anordnung zusätzlicher, für die Bewirtschaftung nicht benötigter Fahrgassen. Feldlerchenfenster sind ca. 20 m² große Saatlücken, die in einer Dichte von etwa zwei Fenstern je Hektar, ebenso wie die zusätzlichen Fahrgassen, die ansonsten dichten Kulturbestände öffnen und dadurch die Besiedlung durch die Zielart erleichtern. Für den Kiebitz wurden 61 Kiebitzinseln in konventionell bewirtschafteten Wintergetreide- und Winterrapsfeldern angelegt. Dies waren selbstbegrünte, meist 1-2 ha große Brachen, die bei der Herbstbestellung zwar bearbeitet, aber nicht gesät wurden. Im folgenden Frühjahr sollten die Flächen der Brut und Jungenaufzucht dienen. Die Untersuchungen beinhalteten Erfassungen der Zielart und weiterer Vogelarten auf den Kiebitzinseln und Vergleichsflächen sowie die statistische Modellierung verschiedener Faktoren für den Erfolg der Flächen. Im Ergebnis erwiesen sich alle drei Maßnahmen als erfolgreich. Auf Flächen mit Feldlerchenfenstern und zusätzlichen Fahrgassen war die Territoriendichte der Zielart etwa doppelt so hoch wie auf den Vergleichsflächen ohne Maßnahme. Die Kiebitzinseln wurden gleichfalls annähernd doppelt so oft von Kiebitzen besiedelt wie die Kontrollflächen. Der Schlupferfolg war signifikant höher. Besonders erfolgreich waren große (ca. >2 ha), spärlich bewachsene Kiebitzinseln an traditionell als Brutplatz genutzten Nassstellen. Insbesondere im Falle der Kiebitzinseln profitierten auch andere Arten. Die untersuchten Maßnahmen sind daher grundsätzlich geeignet, positive Effekte auf die Bestände von Feldlerche oder Kiebitz zu entfalten. Sie sind zudem vergleichsweise einfach umsetzbar und wurden von den am Projekt beteiligten Landwirten wiederholt realisiert. Mit der Anlage von Kiebitzinseln an Nassstellen lassen sich zudem Synergieeffekte für andere Tier- und Pflanzenarten sowie für den Biotopverbund erzielen. Die untersuchten Maßnahmen stellen damit geeignete AUM dar, die bei hinreichender Anwendung das Potenzial haben, die derzeit negativen Bestandstrends der Zielarten zu verlangsamen, zu stabilisieren oder sogar umzukehren. Zur Förderung der Umsetzung erscheint insbesondere im Fall der Kiebitzinseln eine fachliche Beratung der Landwirte unabdingbar.

In dieser Arbeit wurde der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit sich die Habitatansprüche von drei Brutvogelarten, der Offenlandart Feldlerche (Alauda arvensis), der Heckenart Neuntöter (Lanius collurio) und der Waldart Schwarzspecht (Dryocopus martius), mit Landschaftsstrukturmaßen darstellen lassen, und ob sich Landschaftsstrukturmaße für die Habitatmodellierung eignen. Basis für die Berechnung der Landschaftsstrukturmaße ist ein Flächenschema des IÖR-Monitors aus dem Jahr 2013, welches aus Daten des AFIS-ALKIS-ATKIS-Modells (AAA-Modells) aufgebaut wurde. Dieses Schema bietet redundanzfreie Flächennutzungsdaten für ganz Deutschland. Da es nur flächenhafte Elemente enthielt, wurde es um gepufferte linienhafte Elemente, genauer um Hecken, Baumreihen und Feldwege ergänzt. Die Artdaten stammen aus dem Monitoring häufiger Brutvögel (MhB), ebenfalls aus dem Jahr 2013. Die Berechnungen der Landschaftsstrukturmaße wurden mittels ArcGIS-Modellen durchgeführt. Für die Feldlerche und den Schwarzspecht wurden die Landschaftsstrukturmaße Mean Shape Index (MSI), Mean Patch Size (MPS), Anteil geeigneter Habitate (Percentage of Landscape, PLand), Total Core Area (TCA), Fläche geeigneter Biotope ohne anthropogene Störeinflüsse (Fl_ungest) und die Kantendichte der Landschaft (Edge Density, ED) berechnet. Für den Neuntöter sind es MSI, MPS, PLand, Fl_ungest, die Kantendichte und die Fläche geeigneter Gehölzbiotope und Hecken. Es wurde aufgezeigt, dass teilweise höchst signifikante lineare Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Vorkommen der drei Arten und den Landschaftsstrukturmaßen existieren. Die damit erklärten Streuungen der Brutpaarzahlen sind allerdings relativ gering. Das Bestimmtheitsmaß B oder R² der Regressionsgeraden beträgt für die Feldlerche maximal 0,285 bei der Fläche ungestörter Habitate, für den Schwarzspecht maximal 0,332 bei dem Anteil geeigneter Habitate und beim Neuntöter lediglich 0,038, ebenfalls für die Fläche ungestörter Habitate. Der Grund hierfür ist, dass die Arten Ansprüche an die Habitate stellen, die sich nicht mit Landschaftsstrukturmaßen erklären lassen. Die Modelle der multiplen linearen Regression sind ungeeignet, um Brutpaarzahlen der Arten vorherzusagen. Ohnehin war es nur für die Feldlerche möglich, ein solches Modell zu erstellen, das höhere Bestimmtheitsmaße aufweist als die einzelnen Landschaftsstrukturmaße. Deutlich bessere Ergebnisse wurden mit einem Modell erzielt, das die Eignung der Landschaft und ihrer Struktur als Habitat anhand einer Bewertungsmatrix beurteilt. Hier wurde bestimmt, wie hoch der Anteil besetzter Untersuchungsflächen an der Gesamtzahl von Untersuchungsflächen einer bestimmten Gesamtpunktzahl ist. Die Zusammenhänge zwischen Punktzahl und Anteil besetzter Flächen wurde mit teils nichtlinearen Regressionsfunktionen dargestellt. Der Anteil erklärter Abweichungen (R²) beträgt bei der Funktion der Feldlerche 97,1%, der des Schwarzspechts 88,5% und der des Neuntö-ters 49,3%.

In myth and folklore, birds (and cranes in particular) have traditionally been symbols of transcendence and rebirth. The Sufi mystic Farid ud-Din Attar, in his The Conference of the Birds, offered a parable of birds going on pilgrimage to find the divine king of their dreams, openly to discover in the end that they were the mystery they had sought all along. The author reads this text on a trip to see sandhill cranes along the Platte River in Nebraska. These cranes fly 10,000 miles between Mexico and northern Alaska (and back) each year, stopping in March to feed for a few weeks. In the history of symbols, birds are routinely portrayed as omens of death, embodiments of departed spirits, or symbols of transcendent mystery. But of all birds, the crane—by the majesty of its size alone—inspires admiration. The huge white bird with a bright red crown is a symbol of longevity and good luck. It was believed to have a life span of a thousand years or more.

This chapter reflects on the author's experience as a guide of St. Paul Tour in Alaska's Pribilof Islands. During the two springs that the author guided there, he saw wood sandpipers — Eurasia's equivalent of America's lesser yellowlegs — on more days than he saw blue skies. But the wind, when it came from the right direction, blew in the good birds — the ones from Russia. For the serious North American birder, Alaska is some semblance of the final frontier. Soon, the islands — especially Attu, the outermost Aleutian, St. Lawrence Island, and St. Paul, in the Pribilofs — became revered vagrant traps: places where one could almost depend on encountering an aggregate of birds virtually never found on North America's mainland, such as common snipe and Siberian rubythroat. The St. Paul Tour is founded on the daily work of finding these out-of-place birds.

This chapter reflects on how the author witnessed the migration of sandhill cranes. The author's neighborhood is a rural subdivision; pocketed with wetlands, it is also a home for birds. The chapter then discusses three things that the author has learned about cranes. First, the birds that migrate over the town of Healy are lesser sandhill cranes, of fifteen crane species worldwide, the only one that breeds in Alaska. Second, cranes, like most creatures, have multiple calls. Third, the Athabascan word for crane is dildoola, lilting the onomatopoeia of their song, and the word for cranberry is dildoola baba, meaning “crane's food.” The author also argues that one cannot write about sandhill cranes without writing about wetlands.

On April 28, 1987, a biologist hiking through the remote Alakai swamp on the island of Kauai paused to listen to the sweet, flutelike song of a distant bird. He recognized the song as belonging to a Kauai ’o’o (Moho braccatus), a sleek chocolate-brown bird native to these woods. He was surely aware of the significance of this particular song, for during the past four years this particular ’o’o, the very last of its kind, had been the object of much attention among scientists and conservationists. But he could not have known that he was about to become the last person ever to hear it. The next time biologists visited the Alakai swamp, the ’o’o was gone, and yet another American species had moved from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead. The causes of the Kauai ’o’o’s extinction are reasonably clear, although the precise role each factor played in the species’ demise is debatable. Much of the bird’s forested habitat was destroyed for agriculture, leaving only a relatively few safe havens on steep slopes or in wet, inaccessible places. Most of these places, in turn, were eventually overrun with alien species, including feral pigs that destroyed the native vegetation, as well as plants and songbirds transported to Hawaii from around the world. The introduction of mosquitoes to Hawaii, which occurred in 1826 when the crew of a sailing ship dumped the mosquito larvae—infested dregs from their water barrels, created additional problems for Hawaii’s beleaguered birds. The mosquitoes became a vector for the spread of avian malaria and avian pox, diseases that were probably carried by the introduced birds. The native avifauna, presumably including the ’o’o, lacked resistance to these diseases, and many species quickly succumbed. Soon, only the forests at higher elevations, where cold temperatures kept the mosquitoes at bay, offered a disease free environment for the native birds. Eventually, however, the mosque toes reached even these forests, including the Alakai swamp, abetted by feral pig wallows, which created pools of stagnant water ideal for breeding mosquitoes. Thus a combination of factors, including habitat destruction, alien species, and diseases, contributed to the demise of the Kauai ’o’o.

The 1980s did celebrate space achievements and Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web. But after those memorable events, this decade brought major technological disasters. The Union Carbide gas leak at Bophal, India, in December 1984 killed almost 4,000 immediately. The wreck of the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska in 1988 cost the lives of countless ocean birds and mammals and left 11 million gallons of oil in the ocean. The darkest event was history’s worst nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on April 26, 1986. An eighteen square-mile area surrounding the nuclear plant and its contiguous town Pripyat was made a no-man’s land, not being safe to return for 3,000 years. One last tragedy of the 1980s was the dropping of poison gas on Iraqi Kurds living in the city of Halabja during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). The attack killed 3,200 to 5,000 Kurds; 210,000 were injured. The Iraq High Criminal Court in 2010 acknowledged that the Halabja massacre was an act of genocide.

As the world’s indigenous languages continue to be threatened with extinction, technology can play an important role in indigenous language revitalization, maintenance and preservation (cf. Buszard-Welcher, 2001). The emergence of electronic language archives provides an unprecedented opportunity to both preserve and provide access to often obscure and inaccessible endangered language data. Indeed, the relative ease of use of new electronic tools has made digital archive projects within reach of even modestly funded language communities. However, the ability of these data to endure in electronic format hinges crucially on attention to accepted standards of digital preservation. Lack of attention to open formats can lead to “digital carnage” (Bird & Simons, 2003). Similarly, lack of attention to proper digital storage — for example, by relying on CD-ROM for data preservation — can also lead to data loss (Bradley, 2004).

Studies of traditional methods of animal slaughter, food preparation, and consumption offer archaeozoologists an excellent opportunity to study the link between human behaviour and the resulting bone assemblage. Numerous actualistic studies of butchery have been carried out by archaeologists using stone tools, often especially manufactured by the researchers (e.g. Schick & Toth 1993; Laroulandie 2000). In other instances, traditional butchery practices have been documented, but in most cases the artefacts used were metal. Examples come from the Nunamiut of Alaska (Binford 1981), the Bedouin herders of Israel (Klenck 1995), the Peul cattle herders of Mali (Chenal- Velardé 1996), the !Kung hunter-gatherers of Botswana (Yellen 1977), and semi-urban, urban and village communities from Algeria, France, and Sudan respectively (Chaix & Sidi Maamar 1992). Similarly, for a range of different communities, traditional food preparation and consumption practices have been documented and in many instances the resulting food residues examined (e.g. Brain 1969; Yellen 1977; Binford 1981; Gifford-Gonzalez 1989; Oliver J. 1993). In 1989, the opportunity was taken to document traditional butchery, cooking and consumption of a domestic pig by the Yali people of West Papua (or Irian Jaya). Since this community continues to use traditional artefacts made of stone and organic materials, it may offer a good analogue for the study of prehistoric butchery practices. According to the most recent suvrey available, the Yali population comprises c.30,000 people (Silzer & Clouse 1991) who inhabit the eastern part of the well-known Baliem valley of west Papua. They primarily inhabit the Jayawijaya mountains of the central highlands at an altitude of between 1000 and 2000 m (Koch 1968: 85) although some Yali villages can be found at lower altitudes, down to 200 m, in the southern part of the distribution of the group (Boissière 1999: 55). Like many populations living in the mountainous regions of the island, the Yali are subsistence farmers who cultivate sweet potatoes, yam, taro, plantains, manioc, and sugarcane, and raise pigs, the latter serving a central function in their religious and social life (Koch 1968; Zöllner 1977; Boissière 1999). The men hunt small mammals and birds in the surrounding rainforests, while children and women complete their protein requirements by gathering invertebrates, fruits, mushrooms, and other plants.