Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Coast to Coast” is a summer blog series highlighting some of America’s most imperiled wildlife. By using the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s new state-by-state endangered species map, we will tell  stories about native plants and animals in unique landscapes where Defenders will be focusing its conservation efforts in coming years.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

Imagine hearing the echo of this sound throughout the mature long leaf pine forests of North Carolina’s Sandhills. You glance up in a tree and spot the source: a small bird with zebra-like feathers, drilling a hole in a live pine in search of a tasty ant. You check your guidebook. While the species is named for an almost invisible flash of red on the male’s head, it’s the white cheeks and black hood that give it away.  Drilling away on a summer’s evening, the red-cockaded woodpecker is unaware of the dangers lurking all around.

The red-cockaded woodpecker is endangered throughout its territory, from the coastal Carolinas to the eastern edge of Texas, because of its fondness for live pine trees. Long leaf pine forests once covered most of the southeastern  United States—more than 90 million acres. Now, only a few thousand acres remain, with much of the old pine forests being lost to residential development, agriculture, and golf courses.

While still found in much of its historic range, the woodpecker’s habitat is now so fragmented that fewer than 14,000 individuals survive in just a few places where once more than 4 million used to thrive. Despite this drastic decline, there is still hope.

Some populations have begun to recover thanks  to a collaborative effort of conservation organizations and the U.S. government. The North Carolina Sandhills Conservation Partnership (NCSCP) began in 2000, and in the following years, the partners agreed to protect this crucial land. This effort was declared a success in 2006, five years earlier than expected, when the partnership achieved its primary goal of having one population of more than 1,000 potential couples and 10 populations of more than 350 potential mates.

By taking action, not only did the red-cockaded woodpecker benefit, but plenty of other species as well. Long leaf pine forests are home to nearly 60% of the amphibian and reptile species in the southeast region such as the spotted salamander and black king snake. More than a hundred other endangered or threatened species, like the fox squirrel and the gopher tortoise, exist in these precious areas

Despite significant progress to date, the red-cockaded woodpecker remains a high conservation priority in North Carolina. The state continues to pursue “safe harbor” agreements to encourage private landowners to maintain habitat on their property by offering financial and technical assistance. Defenders is also working across the Southeast to make sure that all landowners are doing their part to conserve red-cockaded woodpeckers and the critical habitat they and other wildlife need to survive.

As exemplified by the NCSCP, protecting these areas takes collaboration. It will take all of us working together to restore this species and eastern longleaf pine forests to their former glory.

To learn more about the red-cockaded woodpecker, watch this short video from the USFWS showing collaborative efforts to protect this special species.

On a chilly bright blue sky day on top of the Vermillion Cliffs in northern Arizona, I finally got to see first-hand the results of a project I worked on while at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the late 1990s.  I stood on the edge of the cliffs with colleagues from Defenders and conservation partners from AZ Fish and Game and The Peregrine Fund watching critically endangered California condors soaring in the wind updrafts and sitting on boulders sunning themselves in the crisp morning’s sun.  They are certainly spectacular birds. Until you actually see one of these massive creatures on the wing, it’s hard to truly visualize just how incredible these birds are and how precarious their future still is.  They are almost magical to watch as they ride the thermals against the strikingly severe cliff sides near the Grand Canyon.

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Condors

Condors

Condor 011

Condor soaring

Condors in flight

Condor flying

Condor soaring

Condor 017

Condors on netting

Condors on netting

Condor

Condor taking flight

Condor taking flight

Condors

Jamie Rappaport Clark

Defenders CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark watches condors soaring

Condors perching

Condor perched on Vermillion Cliffs

Condor perched on Vermillion Cliffs

Condors

Condors perched on Vermillion Cliffs

Condors perched on Vermillion Cliffs

Vermillion Cliffs

Vermillion Cliffs

Condor Wingspan

Display showing the wingspan of a condor

Jamie Rappaport Clark

Though there have been some birds now born in the wild since the original releases from captivity over a decade ago, most still wear the obvious brand of human help in the form of tags and transmitters to track their movements in northern Arizona and southern Utah.   It is only with significant human support that we are making headway in returning these incredible flying creatures back to their rightful place in the wild.  All of the birds now in the wild still require supplemental feeding and are monitored regularly to manage the leading ongoing cause of their deaths today; the ingestion of lead from carcasses and gut piles of animals hunted throughout their range.  As carrion eaters (consumers of dead animals), the lead often left behind by hunters in carcasses or gut piles is ingested during feeding and accumulates quickly to deadly levels in the birds.  If we are seeing it at such high levels on an ongoing basis in condors, just imagine all the other wildlife that feed in a similar fashion.  It is abundantly clear that lead and wildlife are not a good mix for long term survival and sustainability.

AZ Game and Fish and The Peregrine Fund have been working diligently through voluntary ammunition swap programs (free exchanging of lead bullets for copper or steel).  In addition, they have an around the clock program of supplemental feeding and monitoring of the birds’ lead levels with intervention by trapping and treatment to remove lead from the systems of those birds most affected.  Regardless, the condor population overall is still in real trouble.

Though there has been a positive response from hunters with the ammunition swap out program in Arizona, there is no such opportunity in Utah and that makes recovery of the condor all the more complicated and frustrating.   The birds range from their “home base” at the Vermillion Cliffs but are now flying further and further away into Utah where there are no controls or incentives to use other than lead shot while hunting.  Until the lead is out of ammunition used to hunt wildlife, it will continue to be a labor intensive uphill battle to save the condors.

It’s time for ammunition manufacturers to step up and do what was done for waterfowl decades ago.  Conversion away from lead should not affect hunter success, but it will do a world of good for condors and other critters.  The science is clear, now we need to encourage manufacturers and hunters to step up.

The National Wildlife Refuge System is the only system of federal lands in the U.S. dedicated primarily to conserving wildlife and their habitats. But what happens when Congress doesn’t give our refuges the funding they need? Defenders of Wildlife and 20 other organizations that make up the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) released a report this week that sheds light on that very question.

Restoring America’s Wildlife Refuges 2011: Assets for All Americans points to a long history of inadequate funding that has left the Refuge System struggling to fulfill its conservation mission. For example, in 2010, the Refuge System:

• had an average of only $3.36 to spend per acre to manage and protect more than 150 million acres of land and water.
• had to leave 87% of the 2.5 million acres overrun with invasive plants untreated.
• could only afford to employ 213 of the recommended 845 law enforcement officers needed to protect refuge resources and visitors.
• faced a more than $3.3 billion backlog of important operations and maintenance projects.    

Refuge funding is vital to protecting habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers and other wildlife

Though still far below what’s needed, small budget increases over the past few years have offered hope for our refuges. Unfortunately, some members of Congress want to turn back the clock on funding to 2008. That would mean cutting $69 million from the Refuge System’s already stretched budget, forcing habitat management projects to be scaled back further and critical staff positions to be eliminated. That’s why CARE is urging Congress to maintain a steady investment in the Refuge System and keep these special places on the right path to protect America’s wildlife. 

Learn more:

Read the full report here.

Watch this video by Defenders’ Federal Lands Director Peter Nelson to find out how funding our refuges helps protect the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

Funding Refuges to Save Woodpeckers

Braving the cold has its rewards. A bald eagle (like this one) topped the list.

I just spent a frigid but fun Saturday leading a dozen kids and their families on a bird count here in Washington, D.C. Brent Elementary School held its second annual “New Year’s Bird Count,” a spin-off of the nationwide Christmas Bird Count (sponsored by the National Audubon Society). Brent is the first public school in the nation to follow this citizen science tradition, and close to 150 people participated this year.

I led a group out to Hains Point, an area along the Potomac River. We caravanned around the island, stopping at various pull-offs to scan the ice floes in the river or the trees along the golf course.

“Those are just a bunch of seagulls,” muttered several participants as we got out of the car to look at a large flock out on the ice. I, too, have been guilty of ‘gull glaze over’ in the past and knew I had to set up my spotting scope quickly to peak their interest.

“Wow!” I heard now, as they saw the birds magnified, “what kind of gull is that?” Herring, great black-backed, ring-billed gull – three identities revealed as differences in leg color, body size and bill markings were noticed. “I didn’t know there were different types of gulls!” exclaimed one parent excitedly.

Northern shovelers (like the ones pictured here) left an impression.

Ducks, too, became a lesson of reward through closer observation. Amidst the common mallards, we discovered a pair of northern shovelers, or rather their rear ends as they swam away from us. The handsome male, dressed in emerald and chestnut, received several oohs and aahs through the scope. We also found a lesser scaup (another duck), and admired his jet black head and golden eye.

Blue jays and starlings perched in bare branches, tufted titmice flitted along the ground below. A northern mockingbird struck a pose on a trash can as we drove by. Suddenly I spotted a silhouette atop a tree and we pulled over quickly. It was a merlin, a small, streaky breasted falcon. “Cool!” remarked one parent, admiring it in the scope. My sentiments exactly.

Our count ended with a bald eagle sighting (the first for most of the kids) and a fly over of nearly six hundred Canada geese. Not your typical Saturday for these families, who gained a new appreciation of the wildlife around them and made discoveries together.

One woman commented to me, “I never knew what I was missing” when it came to birds. All it took was a closer look and the willingness to get out there and do it.