SOME RARE URBAN BIRD SUCCESS STORY'S CONTINUED ......

A newly fledged Robin says hello to Manhattan from a chain fence just several yards from a busy downtown avenue, deep inside New York City.  Cell phone photo of Robin by Fritz.

THE AMERICAN ROBIN

An Urban Success Story

by : Fritz Von Ludwigslust



 Ill take Manhattan! . . . . and they have, by storm and popular demand. Possibly the most famous and loved bird in America, the robin (turdus migratorius) was once only a common transient and irregular winter visitor in inner urban Manhattan, nesting only dependably in the suburbs and the largest city parks. New Yorkers would hear their beautiful caroling in the middle of the night echoing in the moonlight in March and April all over Manhattan, but then they would all but disappear from late May until early autumn. But not anymore! The robin phenomenon started around 2003 or 2004, and it seems that any sheltered ledge or light fixture in the smallest possible garden, terrace, or rooftop is open and acceptable real estate for the red breasted thrush. Robins can be seen in almost any urban area of Manhattan now. This was not the case five years before. In a time when so many of our native urban birds, like the common nighthawk and chimney swift are disappearing, robins are not only stable but thriving in a city near you.
 Robins are approximately ten inches long, have a grayish upper body, darker, almost black head, white eye-ring, throat, and belly, and of course, their trademark brick-red breast. They can be found in every state of the continental U.S., every province of Canada, and even down into Mexico (at some time of the year). They are the most well known member of the thrush family and the closest relative of the endangered blue robin (eastern bluebird). Robins have become extremely adaptable, and live in almost any available habitat. They are the state birds of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin, and are featured on the two-dollar Canadian bill.
Their famous nests of mud and straw can be found in an astonishing list of places near human habitation. The list includes sheltered ledges, lamp-posts, busted chimneys, trellises, arbors; even statues, mailboxes and hanging flower pots. They are second only to wrens for their outrageous choice of nest sites. Their beautiful nests are so sturdy that other animals often utilize them after they are abandoned. Everything from dormice and mourning doves to common nighthawks and insects have used the robins former homes for nesting and roosting.

 A song, a story, and a legend . . . the robin has been celebrated in all forms of music and art: e.g. The Ballad of Cock-Robin, Rockin Robin, and, When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob-bob-bobbin Along. They even have a color named after themrobins egg blue. Everyone knows that robins are the original harbinger of spring, and are often a childs first introduction to birds and nature. In other words, they are literally the singing, living, lawn-ornaments of America.
They are genuine kings of the turf, and must be appreciated and protected. Its truly exciting for New Yorkers to see this native bird among the starlings and house sparrows. I have watched even the most jaded Manhattanites stop to admire and marvel in disbelief that robins are living in this concrete jungle. They are regal, dashing birds that give the city much needed color and beautiful music.

Winter Melody ....  Robins frequently spend the winter deep inside Manhattan, like this male Robin eating Hawthorn berries, just a few feet from a busy major avenue.  Cell phone photo by Fritz.

 You can attract robins to nest in your area by building a nest shelf. (The instructions can be easily found online). Remember to put the shelf in a quiet sheltered area because it is not an ornament to attract unwanted attention from predators. Dont be surprised if a house finch or morning dove decides to take over your shelf. If you live near water, you may also end up with a barn swallow or a phoebe.
 Planting native fruiting and evergreen trees and shrubs, like eastern red cedar, bayberry, inkberry, hawthorn and mountain ash, both insure the survival of our true wild heritage, and also provide nesting sites, food, and shelter for many species of birds, including robins.


* For my European friends, your blackbird (turdus merula) is probably the closest relative you have to our robin. Juvenile robins look amazingly similar to your field fare (turdus pilaris), with their spotted breasts and light brick-red chests. For my friends in Asia, your brown-headed thrush (turdus chrysolaus) and dusky thrush (turdus nau.) look almost identical to our robin.

SOME RARE URBAN BIRD SUCCESS STORY'S ......

 

An inquisitive pair of Monk Parakeets, living in the Greenwood cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City, watch photographer Kazuki and Fritz, watching them.

MONK PARAKEETS
                   IN
             NEW YORK CITY

By : Fritz Von Ludwigslust
Photos by Kazuki





How The Quakers Landed
 Urban legend has it (now documented) that c.1967 a large, live shipment of monk parakeets left their native South American home en route to the pet shops of lower Manhattan. Shortly after landing at JFK airport, the large crates fell and broke, releasing the parakeets who took off in all directions.
 Since then, small, very local colonies of monks have turned up in various areas of the tri-state region: Pelham Parkway, Bronx. Brooklyn College campus. And, the Greenwood cemetery in Brooklyn, NY, which I visited on a cold March day. I had heard and read about these green martians and wanted to investigate for myself. I was accompanied by my friend, photographer Kazuki, who had agreed to take the pictures for me.
 We were immediately taken in by these intelligent, peaceful, and beautiful birds. They built their huge, stick dome nests among the tops of the Gothic cemetery gate, hanging like ornaments on a Christmas tree. They alternated between observant curiosity and, as if we weren't there, oblivion. Some hid and cavorted within the monstrous weeping beeches and thick stands of hemlock and incense cedar. Other monks played and worked together rearranging and rebuilding the nest structures. And (lucky for us) some small groups of five or six monks would fly out from the tower, circle, and land exposed atop the row of small weeping Chinese mulberry trees for head-bobbing meetings.
 Amazingly, pigeons, mourning doves, and even one very cranky, over-territorial mockingbird sat and roosted among the Quakers within inches of the nests in complete harmony, with absolutely no aggression from the obviously much stronger Quakers.

We found this chubby Monk, mumbling to himself, while hiding inside the boughs of a weeping Hemlock tree.

Human De-Conservationism
Extinction and the Starling/House Sparrow Syndrome
 Around the 1900 mark, four of the worst avian ecological disasters possible occurred in the USA. First, the heartless persecution, slaying and ultimate disgraceful extinction of the passenger pigeon and the beautiful Carolina parakeet. (Carolinas were the only member of the parrot family ever to be native to and breed within the USA. They were abundant and even nested as far north as the Great Lakes and the Catskills in New York State.)
 At around the same time, some very ignorant people brought and introduced two of the worst, most destructive agricultural and garden pests in the history of the world. The starling and the house sparrow soon overtook and overpopulated every area from Alaska and Canada south to Argentina and the Falkland Islands. These two non-native birds have been directly responsible for decimating the population of some of the most famous and loved native birds of the USA (which the monks live with in total harmony), including purple martins, eastern bluebirds, redheaded woodpeckers and many more species. They have achieved this basically through hole and nest cavity competition and relentless aggression.
 So what is my point? How is all this pertinent to the monks in New York City? My point is that the monks have shown none of these negative signs of behavior in the almost fifty years since arriving in the tri-state area. They don't compete with other birds for nest sites or territory. They seem very happy to live on tree and weed seeds and buds, and also eat many harmful insects. Monks are no stranger to many of the United States native birds. Long before the colonists arrived such birds as the common nighthawk, kingbird, purple martin, house wren, and many others have been wintering five to six months each year within the native range of the Monks in South America. They have been coexisting and interacting for centuries and obviously the parakeets fit perfectly into the ecosystem here. Most importantly, they maintain very local, contained colonies, and show no signs of taking over the U.S. I also believe that the Quakers are possibly filling the ecological niche of their extinct distant cousins, the Carolina parakeet. Both were native to similar temperate regions of the Americas.
 Kazuki and I left Greenwood Cemetery with an admiration and respect for these wonderful birds. People can learn so much from their intelligent and gentle behavior towards each other and towards other birds, and their loving caring family and social structure. We should welcome these green gems to melting pot of urban America.
 
                         FRITZ VON LUDWIGSLUST New York City

Above left, you can see several Monks in flight, around the Castle-Gate, where there huge dome stick nests are hidden.  To the right a group of Monks having a meeting on an ornamental weeping Mulberry.

                  

"THE NOT SO COMMON NIGHTHAWK"

An illustration from a 1950's book titled "Birds of New York",  the Nighthawk above and its cousin the Whip-poor-will below, are both listed as common species of all of the state, as well as the Nighthawk, being a very common summer resident of roof-tops, in all major cities, including even the most urban areas of Manhattan.  Both species have disapeared by over 95% in New York, as well as most of the surrounding states.

"THE UNCOMMON 'COMMON' NIGHTHAWK"

By: Fritz Von Ludwigslust


There is something incredibly sad, even tragic, about a summer night in New York City without that magic spirit of the starry sky, the common nighthawk (chordeilies minor). They would sail and dive among the lampposts and moonlit rooftops while their beezle-burb-peent calls would echo from above. These calls are now a part of history, for over 95% of these mysterious native birds have disappeared from urban areas in New England, the mid-west, the mid-atlantic, and now even the south-east. The common nighthawk is not a hawk at all. It is a cousin of another nightjar, the whip-poor-will (also experiencing an unprecedented drastic decline). Nighthawks are brown and gray, cryptic, swallow-like birds who feed on thousands of insects a night, and are an extremely beneficial native bird. Many reasons have been cited for their disappearance, including crow and gull predation, loss of gravel-roof habitat, and pesticides. However, I believe the major problem exists in their winter home and on their migration routes. Between the fall of 1994 and summer of 1995 there was an 80% reduction of these birds from the New York City area.


Summer, 2014.
New York City.
Astoria, Queens, and Hoboken, New Jersey.

This was my sixth summer of returning to eight key former nighthawk hotspots. I returned two nights a week from June first to September first, on clear, calm, moonlit nights. Nighthawks had been very common to almost abundant in all these areas until the summer of 1995. The sky was starry but empty. I heard robins and mockingbirds singing in all these areas late at night, but still have never heard a single nighthawk since the late spring of 2002. Mockingbirds are a good meter of what’s living in the area. They can only repeat what they hear. I studied each mockingbird’s repertoire in all eight areas. They were all an exact repetition of the other: a robin, a cardinal, a bluejay, a starling, even car alarms, and a flicker. End result: the mockers had never heard a nighthawk. Despite this sad fact I will continue my personal research, returning to all eight areas this coming summer, in hopes that the nighthawk may return.


 I hope that by bringing this precipitous decline to the public’s attention, I can reinforce the fact that the environment and conservation of native flora and fauna need to be the number one priority in this country now. The nighthawk is a special bird of American folklore, story, and song, sacred to the American Indians, and a true urban legend. Action must be taken quickly to save this spirit of America’s night sky.

"GHOST BIRDS" ...... "CHIMNEY SWIFTS"

Chimney Swifts . . .
Swift . . .ly disappearing from our urban skies.

By: Fritz Von Ludwigslust



What Is That?
Twittering, chattering little acrobatic cinders with wings have been swooping in and out of your chimney stack. They’re not bats. They’re not swallows. They look like small flying cigars. They’re that skydiving spirit of the brick and cement stacks, the chimney swift. What the nighthawk was to the city evening sky, the chimney swift is to the sunlit day sky. At least for now. Following in the sad path of the nighthawk, swifts have disappeared by 45% from all of their urban range in eastern North America. BBC (Breeding Bird Count) and state radar maps confirm this sad fact.

There’s Something In My Chimney
Chaetura Pelagica are small sooty gray swallow-like birds who now nest only in chimney stacks, silos, and abandoned buildings. They are five inches long and depend solely on flying insects as their source of food. They build their nest of twigs and saliva inside these structures. Their disappearance is a big mystery. Some cite pesticides and habitat loss. In addition, newly developed automatic furnace switches can asphyxiate and kill them if the furnace turns on during the breeding season (previously, New York City laws stated furnaces only had to be on between mid-April and mid-October, sparing the chimney swifts during their breeding season here.) So PLEASE, PLEASE cover your chimneys with caps or secure screens if you have an automatic furnace switch or if your chimney is made out of metal. These beneficial birds can be trapped and die inside metal or steel chimneys. Otherwise, encourage and enjoy these beautiful, comical little native birds that will reward you by eating thousands of mosquitoes, flies, and other insects. To attract swifts to nest in your area, you can find out how to build a chimney swift tower on many sites online.

The Neo-tropical Migrant Mystery
The chimney swift, the common nighthawk, the purple martin, and whippoorwill all share one common, unfortunate bond. They cross the Caribbean enroute to their winter home in the Amazon basin in South America. I believe somewhere there lies the answer to the devastating decline of these birds. Pesticides, jungle deforestation, and even reports of the horrid hobby of using these birds for target practice on a large scale in many South American countries are all possible causes. We need to be in contact not just with ornithologists and conservationists in these countries, but also with government officials. Only they can truly educate the people as to the importance of protecting, and not destroying, these migrant birds.




Above Illustration :
This is my fantasy vision of a funnel of Chimney swifts, entering their stack of brick home for the night.  This is a sight that is slowly disappearing from urban america, where Chimney Swifts were once very common sunmer residents.  Their slow but steady decline, like the uncommon Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will is still largely unanswerable and a scientific enigma.  Illustration collage by Fritz Von Ludwigslust.

"EMPTY CHATEAUS" ...... PURPLE MARTINS...... CONTINUED

The photo above. taken by Kazuki and Fritz, displays the typical Martin hotel in almost any urban area in North America.  The hotel is empty, dilapidated, and has never been used by Purple Martins, only by the two agressive and unwanted pests, starlings and house sparrows.



The Purple Martin has often been celebrated in colonial artwork and revered by the many different tribes of American Indians.  However, as I have written before, the Purple Martin, is no longer a common resident of cities and suburbs, and is missing from most of its former range, where it is still slowly vanishing from where ever it still breeds.


...... What the American Indians knew, and what we should have learned by now ......

Long before the European settlers came to America, the native Indians were already living in complete harmonywith their natural world here.  They were also practicing conservation, ages before it had that title and meaning.  The native Indians had the knowledge, that one Purple Martin alone, could eat hundreds of disease carrying mosquitoes, black flies and gnats in one single day, all without ever disturbing or eating their vegetable, fruit or grain crops.  They also knew, that these beautiful, dashing swallows were territorial, and would drive any predetors, such as hawks or destructive crows away from their homestead, also protecting the Indians crops and small animals.  This is also invaluable for any modern day farmers as well, who have crow raided crops, or poultry and small livestock.
The Indians would cleverly grow special large gourds, to then harvest and dry out.  They would then make an entrance hole in each one for the Martins to enter and build nests inside.  The string of gourds were then put high up on wooden poles, very close to their dwellings and crops for insect control.  The Indians had no need or will to develop dangerous pesticides and chemicals to "solve" their own self induced problems, and pollute their environment.  They worked with the natural world and nature, to keep everything in balance.
And so, on this note, we need to take charge and responsibility, concerning the now serious and grave matters that threaten our environment today, that is being destroyed by us right now, it is everybodys responsibilty.  We are in true danger, of losing some of yhe most legendary and beloved birds, (as well as countless or species of native flora and fauna), in our country and around the world, it is all connected.  

PURPLE MARTIN ......

EMPTY CHATEAUS….
THE PURPLE MARTIN TRAGEDY

 A male Purple Martin, listed, wrongly, in older bird books, as a common summer resident of gardens, farms and even city parks.  This bird is locally rare to absent from more than half of its former range.

  Chances are very good, that if you live anywhere in the United States or Canada , that you have seen those large often ornate bird “hotels”, high up on poles in gardens and parks all over the continent. The chances are not good to very slim however, that you have ever actually seen one of the intended tenants of these often beautiful multi-chambered bird “villas, ( except maybe in an old bird book). The proposed, and much desired and loved occupants, are the largest member of the swallow family in North America, the beautiful and very beneficial Purple Martin. They are not actually purple, but a deep royal blue, with dark violet overtones and jet black under parts. “Prone Subis”, are 8 inches long, and always nest in a colony. Females are dusty gray with a blue “wash”. At one time purple martins were quite common throughout America and Canada, (especially in the Deep South, where they have a legendary status). Unfortunately, the purple martin has experienced an incredible and frightening decline in the last several decades, especially the last ten years, and similar to the mysterious disappearance of other native birds, like the common night-hawk, the chimney swift and the well-known, but almost never heard or seen whip-poor-will. All of these birds have a similar common thread. They are all exclusively insectivorous, all winter in the tropical zones of the Americas, and are all vanishing at an alarming rate. Fortunately for the purple martin, some steps can be taken to help to rebuild their decimated population. By putting up, (and more importantly closely monitoring), martin “hotels”, with starling deterrent entrance holes, we can try to bring back colonies of the beautiful and famous native American birds. The main culprits, in the martin tragedy, are definitely the introduced, (and unwanted), English house sparrow, and even more so, the much larger, stronger and even more aggressive European starling. Starlings and house sparrows do not migrate, and so have a head start on choosing and taking over bird houses and other nest sites, before the wanted birds arrive in the spring, such as Bluebirds, tree swallows, (who will also nest in loose colonies with each other and with martins), and of course the purple martin. These “hotels” must be monitored closely to protect the martin colony, blocking the entrance holes until the first martins arrive, helps immensely. You must, I repeat you must follow the guidelines, to put the martin hotels up correctly. The “hotel”, must be very high up on a retractable pole, (twenty feet or higher), and must be by a wide open area, (even by a lake, river, baseball field or beach is ideal). The hotel must be on a pole that can be lowered to monitor any problems that arise. I have been alarmed by my many travels in the United states and Canada, to find most Martin hotels empty, or even worse taken over by those two unwanted bullies the starling and house sparrow. If their cousins the tree swallows move into the hotel, let them be, as they will co-exist just fine with the purple martins. There are many informative sites online, dedicated to these much loved birds of American folklore. Purple Martins are still fairly common, but extremely local in two separate areas, the Great lakes region and the Deep South… especially in Florida. They are a very rare sight to almost completely missing everywhere else in their once extensive (former) range.
  We need to revise and update current data on native bird populations, as almost all of the current information that is out there, appears to be sorely out-dated here in the USA. We need to push to add more species of birds to the official threatened and endangered lists that exist now, as they are out of date, and they are not correct. We also need to enforce stricter laws concerning our migratory birds in other countries as well. Together we also need to encourage county and state officials to use all of our land properly to help our native wildlife. They should employ parks, athletic fields, industrial parks, recreational areas, and even golf courses and cemeteries to put up purple martin “hotels” as well as other bird species nesting boxes and shelves, to bring back these legendary birds of America.



Copyright @  2014  Photo and Story by Fritz Von Ludwigslust.   All Rights Reserved.  

DISAPPEARING LEGENDARY BIRDS OF AMERICAN STORY, SONG AND ART....

 

This beautiful book, published by the US conservation society, shows the rapid and shocking demise of many of the birds listed within, that were,  at that time,  listed as very common birds of gardens, suburbs and city parks.  At least five of the species illustrated, no longer nest or live in large areas of their former range, in fact many are not even found in whole states, where they were once common residents,  nor either as even vagrants or transients. They are completely absent


I PREDICT, THAT IF DRASTIC MEASURES ARE NOT TAKEN IMMEDIATELY, SUCH AS TO COLLECT , SAVE, BREED AND RELEASE CERTAIN ENDANGERED SPECIES , THAT SEVERAL TYPES OF BIRDS SUCH AS THE COMMON NIGHTHAWK AND WHIP-POOR-WILL ,SHALL MOST DEFINITELY BE EXTINCT WELL WITHIN 25 TO 30 YEARS FROM NOW.

Some of the most well known and beloved birds of America, are in danger, and a large number of them are even on the verge of extinction, due to many factors, most of them still unknown.  My list includes some of the most famous birds in the history of the United States, most of which people today only recognize by old outdated bird books, photos, story's and songs.  The Whip-poor-will, an over the top mystery of the night, and often celebrated in our folklore, has disappeared by as much as 95 percent from its former range in north-eastern America.  The governments census of birds, is sorely archaic, and needs to be revised immediately, if we are to take measures to save these native avian treasures of our country. Once we have lost a species, it is final and devastating to our native flora and fauna. I have compiled an initial list of ten familiar birds (formerly), of our gardens, parks, farms and wild areas. There are many reasons for the rapid demise of all of these birds, such as habitat destruction, man-made pollution, competition from non-native species and the rapid, selfish devastating suburbanization of America, but not are all known, and need to be investigated now. Who can forget (yet ever recall actually seeing), our Bluebird of happiness, our enigmatic spirit of the roof-tops, the common Nighthawk, the instantly identifiable dashing Red Headed Woodpecker, and the many other loved birds of our memories?  As a lifelong naturalist, I spent all of my early years, and current years, exploring the forests and fields around me, in awe and respect of all the magic that exists in our world.  Nature has been an incredibly healing power for me all of my life, and now it is time for us to heal the nature, (the environment) around us that we have neglected , used and abused. We can not survive without it, yet it can do very well or even much better without us. 



ENDANGERED BIRDS ......

PURPLE MARTIN ......
CHIMNEY SWIFT ......
WHIP-POOR-WILL ......
EASTERN BLUEBIRD ......
RED HEADED WOODPECKER ......
COMMON NIGHT-HAWK ......
MEADOWLARK ......
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE ......
BOBWHITE ......
GROUSE (RUFFED AND SPRUCE) ......





A PERSONAL ENTRY ......

 As a born conservationist, I have many special memories of my Great Lakes Nordic homeland, but not all my fondest memories take place in the wild. One of my most magical experiences took place right in New York City. In May of 1999, I was spending an evening renting movies with friends. After everyone went to sleep, I remained awake in my window-side bed, on the top floor of an old five story building. It was an unusually cool, clear night for the city. I could make out Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, and the North Star above. The scent of bourbon roses and apple blossoms wafted up with the cool breeze from the churchyard below. I drifted off briefly, and awoke to the echoing sound of a robin, serenading the night from the rose hedge below, along with two mourning doves that were cooing softly from a window ledge. I was caught up in the moment when I suddenly became aware of the reverberating calls of two common nighthawks orbiting the sky around me. The night chorus had begun, and I was wrapped up in it. The nighthawks sailed, fluttered, and dove like giant moths all around the silent building, and I could barely make out their silhouettes in the faint crescent moonlight. I had always been fascinated with the nocturnal world, and its enigmatic spirits like whip-poor-wills and night hawks, so I was enraptured watching them, as they rode the night sky, sometimes coming as close as a few feet from me. It was as if my window bed was a small projection booth in the sky, and I was watching and listening to this midnight symphony and scenario unfold, only for me to witness while the whole city slept. I was absolutely lost in a trance from the secretness of this micro other world from the other side of midnight. It seemed to be a separate entity from the city, as elusive as a will-o-the-wisp, coming to life only in the dead of night, then disappearing the hours before dawn. I do not even remember falling asleep. All of the audio and visual elements remain in my mind to this day. The robin. The nighthawks. The apple tree and roses. And the luminous galaxy above it all with the Manhattan skyline glittering in the background like a royal crown of gems and jewels. Sadly night hawks no longer breed in the city and surrounding area, theyre only a beautiful memory now, long gone. That night was true magic from a true chapter in the ongoing tale of an urban naturalist.

 FRITZ VON LUDWIGSLUST   (Circa May 1999)




Copyright @ 2014 by Fritz Von Ludwigslust.  All Rights Reserved.