Cleaning out the Bird Bath
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News
- Winners of the Audubon Bird a competition
- What does Hitchcock’s movie The Birds have in common with the closing of all Mississippi beaches?
- Answer: Algae
- Blue-green algae blooms have invaded Mississippi beaches
- Cyanobacteria are toxic blue-green algae blooms which threaten most of what it touches
- green when metabolising and turn bluish when the scums are dying
- Hard to identify one toxic algae bloom from another
- domoic acid and BMAA (a neurotoxin) are released as the bloom dies and the cells become . Domoic acid has been implicated in serious food poisonings, even deaths associated with shellfish and BMAA in neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer’s disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and an ALS/Pakinsonism-dementia complex of Guam (Guam’s disease).
- Santa Cruz August 17 1961
- In the early morning hours of August 17, 1961, residents of Santa Cruz were invaded by a massive flight of sooty shearwaters slamming into their homes and littering the streets and town. The Santa Cruz Sentinel Sentinel reported the incident under the headline; ‘Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes’
- Hitchcock later called the paper letting them know that he was going to use the newspaper article for research. It is said that the movie The Birds was going to be shot in England but Hitchcock was so inspired by the event he shot the movie in California.
- Now what do toxic algae blooms have in common with Du Maurier’s book The Birds and Hitchcock’s famous adaptation?
- It is said that the Sooty Shearwater attack was due to toxic blooms from algae.
- Evidence for a role for algal bloom poisoning in a mass disorientation and death of sea birds was presented in 1991, when a similar incident of unusual bird behaviour was observed around Monterey Bay in California. Studies of the dead birds, including brown pelicans and Brandt’s cormorants showed they were poisoned by domoic acid, probably from the anchovies that the birds fed on.
- The cause
- Scientists believe the algae feeds off of nitrogen from agricultural runoff which is also the number one water polluter
- How long will this last?
- Until the spillway is closed. Hurricane Barry will prevent the spillway from closing preventing freshwater from entering the Mississippi.
- Resources
- https://scepticsbook.com/2010/01/08/a-tale-of-blue-green-algae-attacking-birds-hollywood-and-neurodegeneration/
- https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc\_summ.jsp?cntn\_id=298181
- https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mississippi-closing-beach-because-toxic-200800443.html
- https://www.wxxv25.com/2019/07/12/barry-guaranteed-cause-mississippi-river-swell-likely-delaying-closing-bonnet-carre-spillway/
Segment: Birds Nesting in Your House
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- It is a violation of U.S. law to hunt, capture, injure, remove, or relocate any migratory bird…dead or alive…covers feathers and any other bird part
- Resources
- Birds in air ducts
- Pigeons, crows, sparrows, and starlings
- Bird droppings carry the respiratory disease histoplasmosis which can kill you
- Ways to detour
- Seal openings with caulk
- Prevent corners of gutters from decay
- Place steel screening around vents
- Seal openings with caulk
- Resources
- Birds in Chimneys
- Chimney Swift
- Ways to Detour
- Chimney Guard
- You have from two weeks to 30 days to wait it out
- Resources
- When removing nests after a bird fledges
- Be careful of bird mites
- Good news is they are used to bothering birds with thinner skin
- Bad news is when the birds do fledge they don’t stop looking for food
- Humans have tougher skin but the mites can still cause some damage
- People can kill bird mites with heat generated by a hair dryer or disinfectant cleaners
- Resources
- Be careful of bird mites
Checklists
- Tim: Least Tern
- Austin:Chuck-will’s-widow, Black-crowned Night Heron (cover art)
Back Porch Birding Challenge
- To commentate our new Back Porch Birding Facebook Group
- 10 different species at your feeder
- One week
- All of our listeners are located in different areas across the globe
- The first person who reports their eBird checklist wins!