If you’ve upgraded to new or better binoculars or spotting scopes, here’s an excellent way to recycle your old optics. The American Birding Association has a program known as Birder’s Exchange. You send your optics (in good repair, please) to ABA, and it sees that they are put to good use in Central American and other countries where “our” migrant birds winter, where conservation efforts are important, and where resources are very limited. Researchers working in these countries often have no binoculars and not even identification books, particularly books in Spanish. You can help with books by contributing funds to purchase the one guide to North American birds that has a Spanish-language edition (Kenn Kaufman’s recent guide). This is an important effort that the ABA has been pursuing for years. Hundreds of binoculars and scopes have been donated. More are needed. To participate, package the items carefully and send them to Birder’s Exchange, ABA, 4945 N. 30th St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80919.

The 2009-2010 federal duck stamp goes on sale today (Friday, June 26). Every person with an interest in or concern for birds should buy one. Ninety-eight percent of the $15 cost is used to purchase land for national wildlife refuges and waterfowl management districts. Purchase of the stamp is required if you hunt waterfowl. Benefits of stamp funds reach far beyond ducks, however. The habitat created for waterfowl, like refuge habitat, supports hundreds of non-game bird species. If you’ve ever birded at one of Minnesota’s national wildlife refuges you know what I mean. Buy the stamp. Hunters put them on their hunting license. I stick mine on the cover of my Sibley identification guide. Put yours somewhere where you and others can see it often. Let it serve as a reminder of the importance of this purchase. Most post offices will have the stamp on Friday, as will many sporting goods stores. Minnesota’s 13 national wildlife refuges, all offering excellent birdwatching, are Agassiz, Big Stone, Crane Meadows, Hamden Slough, Mille Lacs, Minnesota Valley, Rice Lake, Rydell, Sherburne, Tamarac, and Upper Mississippi River. There are eight waterfowl management districts covering more than 267,000 acres. (Images from US Fish and Wildlife Service)

A year ago I was birding in Churchill, Manitoba, listening to warblers sing, watching shorebirds court. This year six-foot snow drifts on the roads there make birding impossible. Much worse, the extremely late spring in northern Manitoba and across the eastern Arctic has made breeding impossible for many species of waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds. An entire class year has been lost for many species. An early return of non-breeders is predicted. You could be seeing birds returning south weeks ahead of schedule. To read about this go to a story on the Web site of the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper:

www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/big-chill-in-churchill-47992231.html

Domestic cats — cuddly, purring, and well-fed — kill hundreds of millions of song birds each year. Domestic cats are among the world’s most efficient predators. The problem, of course, is not with the cats. They’re doing what comes naturally. The problem is with cat owners who let their pets outside, where the cat’s hunting instinct is dominant, full tummy or not. Birds have enough problems with us. Keeping cats indoors is one thing we can do to help birds that costs nothing and is immediately effective. The cat benefits, too. Indoor cats are healthier and safer. The American Bird Conservancy has placed an explanatory video on YouTube. The Web address is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fvN7FNUPas. Take a look. The cat pictured here — an animal with an attitude and what appears to be too many toes — was hunting on a golf course in Arizona a couple of years ago.  Â

I’ve mentioned this before: the Web site of grrlscientist is worth a regular visit. Devorah Bennu, of Brooklyn, N.Y., offers a consistently interesting collection of photos and text about birds. The address is http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/. This week, check out the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, and read the article about Gouldian Finches and how the females of that bird species can determine the sex of their offspring. She posts new material each week. Her Web address is listed at the right on this page. On the Web site of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html) you can find an archive of its regular Birding Community E-bulletin, also consistently interesting and worth a look.

  Last week the federal government issued a report on the status of the nation’s 800 wild bird species. In brief, there is news both good and bad. Good news first: Many wetland bird species such as ducks, egrets, herons, Osprey, and pelicans are doing well, in some cases showing dramatic increases in numbers. This is attributed to conservation efforts by both the government (DUCK STAMPS!!) and private organizations (Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Pheasants Forever, among others). These efforts have resulted in restoration and conservation of over 30 million wetland acres. On the other side, grassland bird species have declined 40 percent during the past 40 years. Bird species using arid land are down 30 percent. Coastal shorebird species are cause for worry. Species dependent on U. S. oceans are down 39 percent. To read the report go to http://www.stateofthebirds.org   (In the photo are Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeon.) Â

Chimney Swift nesting towers are popping up in Minnesota. This is important because swift populations are not growing, and they are losing their preferred nesting sites. When Chimney Swifts were known as American Swifts the birds nested in tree snags or hollows. These birds cannot perch or stand. When not in the air they cling to a rough surface — the inside of a tree snag or the inside of a chimney. The name changed when chimneys became part of our landscape, and the swifts took advantage. The birds build a nest of sticks stuck to the side of a chimney with their saliva. A nesting tower is a construction about 14 feet high and 18 inches square. It provides a perfect nesting opportunity. The one pictured is on the west shore of Mille Lacs Lake, thanks to the local Ojibwa tribe. Another is in place at Aveda headquarters in Blaine, courtesy of that company. About half a dozen others are in the planning stages. This should be helpful for the swifts. We cut tree snags down. The design of new chimneys today makes nesting by swifts impossible. The towers are helping us keep swifts in the air here. For more information go to web address www.chimneyswifts.org.

Bird x Bird (also known as bird by bird), an art show and silent auction, will be held Saturday, Feb. 21, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Northrup King Building, Gallery 332, 1500 Jackson St. NE in Minneapolis. Works in many media, featuring birds, will be auctioned for the benefit of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis and the Audubon Center of the Northwoods near Sandstone. This will be the seventh annual art auction to raise funds for support of critical habitat and environmental education. Admission is free. Artwork to be shown includes paintings, prints, sculpture, and photographs. For more information go to www.birdxbird.org.     Â

 Boreal Chickadee is one of the bird species tracked in the recent study by National Audubon of climate-change impact on winter range. Minnesota has lost over 90 percent of its wintering Boreal Chickadees to northward movement, according to the study. Audubon used Christmas Bird Count data from the past 40 years from both the U.S. and Canada. It determined a line at which an equal number of birds of a particular species was reported on each side, north and south. In 1968, that line for Boreal Chickadees was almost 300 miles south of where it is now. When Bob Janssen published his 1987 book “Birds in Minnesota” he wrote that migrant Boreal Chickadees were reported “every fall” in Duluth. In addition to counting raptors, observers at Hawk Ridge in Duluth have for the past two years counted migrants of all species. Six Boreal Chickadees were seen in 2007, none in 2008, according to Debbie Waters, education director for the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory. The habitat conditions this little bird needs are changing. Today, it can survive the weather found north of their former winter range. Other bird species reported in declining numbers here are American Three-toed Woodpecker and Bohemian Waxwing. On the other hand, 18 species are more common here in the winter than they were in 1968. They are Rough-legged Hawk, Dark-eyed Junco, Hermit Thrush, Purple Finch, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Crow, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Tundra Swan, Cedar Waxwing, White-throated Sparrow, Redhead, Mourning Dove, Red-breasted Merganser, Caroline Wren, Gadwall, and American Robin. Some of these birds are staying the winter. Others are able to linger longer before moving south (if they do) because, apparently, milder weather allows them to do so. Robins are an obvious example of increased winter population: thousands of robins have been observed in Minnesota this winter, and they’re doing just fine, thank you. (The Boreal Chickadee in the photo was found last week nibbling deer parts along Admiral Road in the Sax-Zim bog area northwest of Duluth.)

I have written recently about the Rose-breasted Grosbeak that has so far over-wintered in our neighborhood. It is a daily visitor to the seed feeders attached by suction cups to a large glass door in our dining room. On the night of 30 Dec the temp fell to 15 below zero here (western Minneapolis suburb). For the two days before that when the grosbeak came to feed it didn’t look good. We did not think the bird would make it through that frigid night. It was breathing hard and fast, its bill gaping with each breath. We’ve seen it in prolonged shivering. On the 31st we didn’t see it all day long, assumed it was a goner, then discovered it sitting in the feeder after dark. It arrived as we were about to leave the house to attend a New Year’s celebration. We would not have been surprised to find the bird dead when we got home. Nope. There he sat, in the feeder, leaning against the glass, gaping with a steady rhythm. The bird obviously was not going to wherever it has usually roosted for the night. My wife and I discussed what we could or should do. We decided to see what the morning brought. At daylight the grosbeak was exactly where it had been at 1 a.m. Now what? Capturing the bird and taking it to a rehab site was/is a possibility. The bird is very mobile, however, flying well. It allows us to stand almost nosed-to-nose with it as long as glass separates us, but sudden movements by us inside or our appearance on the deck put it to flight. That makes capture difficult. The 0ther problem I have is that the bird is programmed to die. It’s failure to migrate indicates to me a defect that under natural circumstances would have been or should be fatal. Circumstances here are not natural because we feed birds, and this fellow has taken advantage of that. Still, nature has maintained viable populations of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and all other species by culling from their populations those individuals unfit for survival. If a bird that should migrate to Mexico instead spends the winter in Minnesota, that bird is unfit. It should be allowed to die. If its defect is genetic and could be passed to offspring that only weakens the species. A female that could invest her genes in a healthy and normal male bird wastes those genes if she mates with a defective male. That’s the way the system works. And so, although we already tamper with nature by feeding and putting out water, we’ve decided to do no more. The grosbeak is on its own. What would you do in this situation?