New Video : Magpie Attack

8 Responses to New Video : Magpie Attack

1. GW Smith says:

   June 9, 2019 at 7:38 pm

   The Magpie won. Got him to leave. Goes to show that activism works. Good or bad.

   Reply
2. rah says:

   June 9, 2019 at 8:12 pm

   Cool!

   Reply
3. Bruce of Newcastle says:

   June 10, 2019 at 12:11 am

   Our magpies like to do that to cyclists. Normally they bounce off our bike helmets, but a magpie on one of my favorite routes worked out that my ears poke out from under my helmet…

   Reply
4. Colorado Wellington says:

   June 10, 2019 at 5:19 am

   Beautiful shots, Tony!

   —————

   In recent decades, Ferruginous Hawk populations have been declining in parts of the species’ range. The steepest declines have occurred in Canada, which led to the species being federally listed as Threatened in 2010, but migration and North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) counts have also indicated declines in the U.S.

   Continued loss and fragmentation of North American grassland and shrubland systems by agriculture, energy development, and invasive plant species, underscores the need to understand how land management influences habitat quality and demography of the Ferruginous Hawk.

   Birds of North America
   The Cornell Lab of Ornitology
   In collaboration with the American Ornithological Society

   https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/ferhaw/introduction

   Energy development, eh?

   The Ferruginous Hawk uses natural nesting substrates, such as cliffs and trees, and anthropogenic structures, such as oil and gas infrastructure, transmission towers, and even haystacks.

   Huh? Don’t the birds know which energy development is good for them?

   The rapid growth of wind energy development presents a major area of uncertainty regarding fatalities and displacement from habitat, and will require long-term studies to understand potential impacts.

   … uncertainty … so much uncertainty …

   By year’s end, more than 1,500 turbines will be churning out electricity in the gorge, a windy corridor at the forefront of a nationwide effort to produce cleaner energy. Until now, most of the projects have gone up in wheat fields – cultivated land that long ago drove away the rodents that raptors hunt.
   …
   The numbers sound small: Nationwide, collisions kill about 2.3 birds of all varieties per turbine per year, studies show. In the Northwest, it’s about 1.9 birds per turbine. That could mean more than 3,000 bird deaths a year in the gorge.

   But birders say those numbers are meaningless because the totals make no distinction between abundant and rare species. Golden eagles and ferruginous hawks – a threatened species in Washington – already are few in number, said Michael Denny of the Blue Mountain Audubon Society, and even a few fatalities could prove devastating.

   “We’ll have certain species in sharp local decline,” Denny said. “If you lose breeding populations like the ferruginous hawk, you’re not going to see them recover.”
   …
   “We pride ourselves on building projects that adhere to the requirements,” said Darin Huseby, Northwest regional director for developer enXco Inc., a California-based company with several projects in Klickitat County. “We want to be a net benefit to the environment.”

   Bird experts don’t know how many raptors fly above the steppes, but it’s a well-documented and well-traveled migratory route. It’s also known breeding territory for golden eagles. At least one pair nest within two miles of a wind project under construction in south-central Klickitat County, and birders fear the worst.

   “They’re going to get whacked,” said Denny, the Blue Mountain Audubon Society representative, who tried to stop the 97-turbine project, called Windy Point. “They’ll fly right into those turbines.”

   A report by the federal Bonneville Power Administration suggests that annual bird fatalities in the gorge would be similar to the Northwest rate. The BPA reviews wind projects before hooking them into its transmission network. The report concluded that “cumulative mortalities in the Pacific Northwest region are relatively insignificant” compared with total bird populations in the area.

   https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/29/wind-farms-generate-bird-worries

   Oh, never mind …

   Reply
5. MGJ says:

   June 10, 2019 at 12:10 pm

   I don’t know! A billion places to perch and they both want the same one!

   Reply
6. Larry Geiger says:

   June 10, 2019 at 1:04 pm

   Here in Florida the mockingbirds do that to the hawks. The mockingbirds always win.

   Reply
7. Robertv says:

   June 10, 2019 at 2:14 pm

   Not a pleasant bird in the neighborhood. Robbing the eggs and young out of nests from other birds .

   Reply
8. Andrew Watson says:

   June 13, 2019 at 11:29 pm

   Wow, epic, thanks Tony.

   :)

   Andy

   Reply

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