:

The Yellowthroat
Voice of the
Oconee Rivers Audubon Society
April 2007 Vol. 17 No. 4

Next Meeting: Upcoming Spring Bird Walks

Thursday, April 5, 7:00 p.m.
Sandy Creek Nature Center Have you heard the birds starting to sing? Time to get
outdoors and join the spring bird walks, which ORAS
sponsors jointly with Sandy Creek Nature Center.
Dr. David Dallmeyer, UGA Professor of Geology, Whether you are an experienced birder or a beginner,
will talk about "Coastal Processes and Conservation: come join us as we witness the miracle of the
What Will Be Left for Future Generations?" northward migration.
Topics will include Call Ed Maioriello at 208-8504 for details.
• the natural processes that help shape the Georgia
• April 7, UGA Whitehall Forest:
coast,
Meet at gate for caravan in at 8:00 a.m.
• the potential impacts of global warming and sea
(Don't be late!)
level rise,
• April 14, Sandy Creek Nature Center
• the effects of attempts to "stabilize" the Georgia
Meet at Allen House at 8:00 a.m.
coast,
• April 21, Botanical Garden
• how the Georgia coastal legal system works,
Meet in upper parking lot at 8:00 a.m.
• current and near-future "development" pressures
• May 5, Sandy Creek Nature Center
and their potential effects on the Georgia coast.
Bird walk and Cook's Trail Cleanup
If you want to get a head start thinking about the
Meet at Allen House at 8:00 a.m.
coast, you can take an audio tour of Jekyll Island with
Dr. Dallmeyer at the Georgia Sea Grant web site:
http://www.marsci.uga.edu/gaseagrant/Jekyll%20Islan Upcoming Spring Field Trips
d.html. Dr. Dallmeyer has talked to ORAS several
times, about global warming in 2004 and about Come to the April meeting for additional information.
penguins in 2001. Or call Ed Maioriello at 208-8504 for details.
• April 28 Field trip to Kennesaw Mountain
• May 12 Field trip to Georgia International
Meetings are held…the first Thursday of the month at
7:00 p.m. To get to the Nature Center, take Highway Horse Park (Conyers)
• May 19 Field trip to Ivy Log Gap Road/Sosebee
441, exit # 12, off the north side of the perimeter, go
north on 441 approximately one mile, and turn left at Cove
the Sandy Creek Nature Center sign displaying this
logo: April Raffle
Marian and Bill Van Eseltine have donated a
beautifully crafted redwood bird feeder for the April
raffle. Remember that one dollar buys you a chance.

Giff Beaton
Go left at the end of this short road. The ENSAT Giff Beaton will speak at the May meeting on the
building will be a short way down the road on your subject of his new book, Dragonflies and Damselflies
right. of Georgia and the Southeast.
Global Warming Greenland ice sheet could disappear in several
excerpted from thousand years. Hurricanes and typhoons are expected
http://www.audubon.org/globalWarming/index.php to become more intense. Precipitation is expected to
increase at high latitudes and decrease in subtropical
According to the latest United Nations scientific areas. Moreover, if greenhouse gases continue to build
report, leading scientists around the world agree that at even a moderate rate, experts predict that sea levels
man-made greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are will be 7 to 24 inches higher by 2100, causing
causing global warming. Effects are already being devastating erosion and flooding of the coastal cities
seen worldwide. And long-term consequences are and villages where millions of Earth's inhabitants live.
devastating, pointing to a darker future each day we
fail to act. Is wildlife already being affected by global
warming?
How do we know global warming is really There is mounting scientific evidence that global
happening? warming is already having profound effects on birds,
Over the last several decades, scientists have carefully broader biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and ecosystems.
studied patterns of climate change around the world. Here are some of the ways that global warming is
In its most recent assessment, the IPCC reviewed affecting wildlife:
hundreds of these studies on such topics as past Geographic range
climate changes, observations of retreating ice, The ranges of many plants and animals are moving
warming and rising seas, and other changes, as well as toward the poles and toward higher elevations. For
a wide array of supercomputer simulations to model example, the ranges of many British breeding birds
how the planet has and will be affected by increasing were, on average, more than 11 miles farther north in
amounts of greenhouse gases. Together these studies the period from 1988-91 than they were in the period
offer a stark portrait of a rapidly changing world: from 1968-72, according to comparisons derived from
• Temperatures have risen about 1.3 degrees F since breeding bird atlases. (British butterflies are also
the late 19th century. Greenhouse gas levels in the being found farther north.)
atmosphere have increased by 18% (nitrous Reproduction timing
oxide), 35% (carbon dioxide), and 148% Egg-laying, flowering, and spawning are occurring
(methane). earlier for many species, in some cases disrupting
• Mountain glaciers and snow cover are declining in delicate cycles that ensure that insects and other food
most parts of the world. are available for young animals. For example, Tree
• The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are Swallows across North America have advanced egg-
melting and breaking up. laying by as many as nine days from 1959 to 1991.
• The area covered by Arctic sea ice in winter has Migration timing and patterns
shrunk about 2.7% each decade since 1978, with Spring migration is occurring earlier and fall
even greater summertime reductions. migration later in many species. For example, 25
• Global sea levels rose between 5 and 9 inches migratory bird species are arriving in Manitoba,
during the 20th century. Canada, earlier than they did 63 years ago; only two
are arriving later.
• The North Atlantic has shown increased hurricane
Frequency and intensity of pest outbreaks
intensity since 1970.
Global warming increases droughts in some areas; and
• Precipitation amounts have increased in northern
spruce budworm outbreaks frequently follow
Europe, the eastern Americas, and parts of Asia.
droughts, perhaps because dry weather increases the
Elsewhere, droughts have become longer and
stress on host trees or allows more spruce budworm
more severe.
eggs to be laid. Spruce budworms can be lethal to
What are the likely impacts of global warming if it spruce trees, and spruce-fir forests are a very
continues at current rates? important habitat type in the northern hemisphere for
Most experts agree that at current rates of a wide variety of plants and animals.
greenhouse gas build-up, the climate could warm by
What are some specific impacts on birds?
about 3.5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit sometime after
Under two scenarios of global climate change,
2050, and the average global temperature might rise
there will be major shifts in the ranges and
even higher. The expected consequences of such
abundances of many of the 150 common bird species
warming include major disruptions to agriculture,
in the Eastern United States over the next 100 years or
water supplies, and the diversity of life on Earth. The
so; 50-52% of species will decrease in abundance by Mafia Cowbirds
25% or more, while 37-40% of species will exhibit from abstract at http://www.pnas.org/ for article by Jeffrey P.
range reductions of 25% or more. Hoover and Scott K. Robinson
Long-distance migrants may be more vulnerable to Why do many hosts accept costly avian brood
global warming than other species. As winter parasitism even when parasitic eggs and nestlings
temperatures increased between 1980 and 1992 at differ dramatically in appearance from their own?
Lake Constance in Central Europe, the proportion of Scientists argue that evolutionary lag or equilibrium
long-distance migrant bird species decreased while the can explain this evolutionary enigma. Few, however,
number and proportion of residents and short-distance consider the potential of parasitic birds to enforce
migrants increased. In North America, many of our acceptance by destroying eggs or nestlings of hosts
favorite songbirds are long-distance migrants. Species that eject parasitic eggs and thereby reject parasitism.
such as Baltimore Oriole, Barn Swallow, Wood A March 5 article (written by Jeffrey Hoover and
Thrush, and Scarlet Tanager could well be driven Scott Robinson and published online ahead of a print
from the places where we expect to find them, more version in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
ominously, from the habitats to which they are best Sciences) presents experimental evidence of mafia
suited. behavior in the Brown-headed Cowbird.
A 90% decline in Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus Researchers manipulated ejection of cowbird eggs
griseus) off the California coast in just seven years and cowbird access to predator-proof nests in a
(1987 -1994) has been associated with warming of the common host to test experimentally for mafia
California Current, which flows from southern British behavior. When cowbird access was allowed, 56% of
Columbia to Baja California. "ejector" nests were depredated compared with only
All of the remaining marshland in the Blackwater 6% of "accepter" nests. No nests were destroyed when
National Wildlife Refuge (an Important Bird Area in cowbird access was always denied or when access was
Maryland that provides important habitat for many denied after we removed cowbird eggs, indicating that
birds, including Black Rail and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed cowbirds were responsible. Nonparasitized nests were
Sparrow, two of Audubon's Red WatchList species) is depredated at an intermediate rate (20%) when
expected to disappear within 25 years as a result of cowbirds were allowed access, suggesting that
both climate change and aquifer extraction. cowbirds may occasionally "farm" hosts to create
Global warming and associated drought in the additional opportunities for parasitism. Cowbirds
Prairie Potholes region (southeastern Alberta and parasitized most (85%) renests of the hosts whose
northeastern Montana to southern Manitoba and nests were depredated. Ejector nests produced 60%
western Minnesota) will lead to significant reductions fewer host offspring than accepter nests because of the
in the populations of 14 species of migratory predatory behavior attributed to cowbirds. Widespread
waterfowl; 30-50% fewer prairie ponds will hold predatory behaviors in cowbirds could slow the
water in spring by 2060, with an associated 40-50% evolution of rejection behaviors and further threaten
decline in the numbers of ducks settling to breed in populations of some of the >100 species of regular
the area. cowbird hosts.
The ranges of many European and African birds
are likely to shift by at least 600 miles, with a decline
in species richness and reduction in average range
sizes (based on simulations made for the impacts of a Give the Gift of Audubon!
variety of late 21st century climate models on For an introductory National Audubon Society
European and African birds). membership (which includes Audubon magazine, local
membership, and a subscription to The Yellowthroat),
mail this form with a $20.00 check payable to NAS to
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Athens, GA 30608
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Georgia’s Important Bird Areas Oconee Rivers Audubon Society
Mary Elfner, the new Georgia Important Bird Areas President Edwige Damron 613-9875
(IBAs) Coordinator, talked to the March 1 ORAS Vice-President Mary Case 548-3848
meeting about the importance of volunteers in Treasurer Jim McMinn
Secretary Albie Smith
identifying and nominating areas that provide critical
Field Trip Chair Ed Maioriello 208-8504
habitat for birds. Georgia currently has 48 sites including Program Chair Gary Crider 353-0383
the Georgia Botanical Gardens/UGA Whitehall Forest. Conservation Chair Linda Russell
Then she called on us to continue our support of Georgia Education Chair Kate Mowbray 613-3615 ext 221
IBAs as the organization moves beyond identification to Membership Chair Gordon Ward
an “on-the-ground conservation” phase. Hospitality Co-Chairs Marianne Happek & Sarah Cliett
For additional information, see the following sites: Volunteer Coordinator Gabriella Gardenas 254-3086
http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/ Yellowthroat Editor Maggie Nettles 543-8823
Web & Publishing John Posey 769-1417
http://www.atlantaaudubon.org/aaswww/iba/iba.htm
The Yellowthroat
And Birding on the Web Published monthly by the
Bill O'Grady and Ed Maioriello, during a short Oconee Rivers Audubon Society
session at the beginning of the March meeting, PO Box 81082
Athens, GA 30608
demonstrated how to use the eBird.org web site both as a Submit information by e-mail to [email protected] or
tool to help collect data for nominating areas as IBAs mail to PO Box 81082 Athens, GA 30608. Articles, artwork,
and as a fun and efficient way to build and share notices, and sighting reports welcomed. The deadline for
multiple personal bird lists. submissions is the first Thursday of each month. All articles and
For additional information about this superb Citizen artwork are copyrighted, and all rights are reserved by the authors.
Science tool, visit http://ebird.org/content/ Opinions expressed in articles are those of the respective authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Oconee Rivers
If you missed Bill’s and Ed’s presentation, the web site
Audubon Society.
has a tutorial so that you can set up an ongoing bird list Visit our website at http://www.oconeeriversaudubon.org/
specifically for your own yard.

Oconee Audubon Society

P.O. Box 81082 Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Athens, Georgia 30608-1082 Athens, GA
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