Historical Avian Abundance

 

                        Migrating Semi-palmated Sandpipers Along the Bay of Fundy Shore

If you have witnessed a scene during migration at Mary's Point or Johnson's Mills like the one shown above, you would think that we have an abundance of shorebirds.  Well, that is not true.  Our bird population numbers have been very much in decline over the past 50 years.  This post describes the huge abundance experienced by early immigrants to the Maritime Provinces and in other parts of North America.  

                                    Migrating Semi-palmated Sandpipers at Johnson's Mills, NB

Samuel de Champlain made many trips to Upper and Lower Canada and Acadia in the 1600s.  Fortunately he left an abundance of written records.  There he describes some of our avian and wildlife abundance.  

Razilly, one of Samuel de Champlain’s associates, sailed from France in 1632 with a large group of French citizens who were going to set up a settlement in New France.  At that time there were small settlements at Quebec, Trois Rivières, Tadoussac, and Port Royal.  They reached their destination on September 8, 1632 and the colonists came ashore on the Atlantic coast of Canada at a place they named, La Hève.  Today this is known as, LaHave, near Bridgewater, NS.  

This place had a beautiful harbour and was very attractive.  At the mouth of the harbour was an island whose flat top was covered with raspberry bushes so they named it, Isle aux Framboises.  According to the colonists, the island was completely covered with pigeons.  Thousands of them were feeding on the ripe raspberries.  

“To the settlers, Acadia seemed a place of unimaginable abundance.  On both banks of the river they found ‘an infinity of scallops like those of Mont St. Michel and Saint Jacques’.  In the waters off the coast they discovered ‘lobsters as big as little children’, with fore-claws that could hold a pint of good French wine.  Salmon and shad swarmed in the river.  There were large numbers of deer and moose, birds beyond imagining, wild blueberries and strawberries.”

The pigeons must have been Passenger Pigeons.  ‘Birds beyond imagining’ must have been a sight to behold. The Passenger Pigeons flew in huge flocks, large enough to darken the skies for several minutes. 

 Passenger Pigeons as Shown in a Display at the Royal Ontario Museum 

                         

In another reference Champlain mentions shooting game for food and how easy it was to shoot thousands of shorebirds and other avian species for food.  He described going to the shore of a river or other body of water and in just minutes coming back with thousands of birds taken down with their guns.

If the early settlers found that kind of abundance at LaHave, NS, in 1632, imagine what there was all over the Maritime area.  It must have been an incredible sight.  Perhaps they did not find it astonishing but if Champlain wrote about it, it must have been much more than what they were used to seeing in France.  

Similar numbers were common in many other parts of North America as you would expect.  Birds were so numerous they were shot and served in restaurants.  Accoring to Professor Henry Nehrling in 1893, "There is scarcely a hotel in New Orleans where small birds do not form an item on the bill of fare.  At certain seasons the robin, wood-thrush, thrasher, olive-backed thrush, hermit-thrush, chewink, flicker, and many of our beautiful sparrows form the bulk of the victims; but catbirds, cardinals, and almost all small birds, even swallows, can be found in the markets."

Humans are prone to extravagance and waste.  Our small bird populations in the early days were slaughtered for 'sport' as well as food.  The following quote describes the way they were shot as 'sport' in the US and the same behaviour quite likely occurred here. 

According to John Muir, in Among the Birds of the Yosemite, 1898, "Not even genuine piety can make the robin-killer quite respectable.  Saturday is the great  slaughter day in the bay region.  Then the city pot-hunters, with a ragtag of boys, go forth to kill, kept in countenance by a sprinkling of regular sportsmen arranged in self-conscious majesty and leggins, leading dogs and carrying hammerless, breech-loading guns of famous makers.  Over the fine landscapes the killing goes forward with shameful enthusiasm.  After escaping countless dangers thousands fall, big bagfuls are gathered, many are left wounded to die slowly, no Red Cross Society to help them."

 

It is no wonder our 'historical avian abundance' has disappeared.  We modern humans are not innocent either.  We have contributed hugely to the dramatic decline.  Many articles have been written and speeches made about the causes.  They will not be covered here but we need to soberly think about what we once had and what exists today.  Take for example the Barn Swallow shown below.  When we set up housekeeping in the late 1960s we had many pairs nesting in our barn and flying around our pond and the nearby river.  They have all been gone now for several years.  I have to look hard to find a Barn Swallow.  

                                                                Barn Swallow

The Great Auk is an extreme example.  We had 1000s of them and they have all been gone since the last 2 were shot on Eldey Island, Iceland in 1844 - the complete loss of a unique, wonderful species!  All we New Brunswickers have left are a few bones taken from Funk Island off the north shore of Newfoundland where 1000s of Great Auks used to nest.  These bones are stored in the New Brunswick Museum.  

                                               Great Auk Bones   [New Brunswick Museum]

How did we get from the infinite abundance to our low numbers today and even to extinction?  We need to soberly examine ourselves and change our ways and the repercussions of our so-called 'advanced' civilization before it is too late for many more species and eventually even ourselves!

Reference

Hackett Fisher, David. Champlain's Dream. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2008. p. 483.

Hill, Jen, Ed. An Exhilaration of Wings. The Literature of Birdwatching. Viking Press, USA. 1999.

Red Crossbill - A Wandering Finch

                                                    Red Crossbill Male in Pine Tree  [Internet Photo]

The Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra) is listed as an irregularly uncommon resident of New Brunswick.  It is a member of the Fringillidae family.  Small flocks wander around the province at any time seeking their favourite food, seeds from the cones of coniferous trees.  They move sporadically from one food source to another.  They are quite tame, often feeding contentedly ignoring any human interference around them.  They can be seen along the shoulders of roads in winter where they gather to feed on road salt.  

This species is considered nomadic and irruptive.  Its movements and occurrence are tied closely to the availability of conifer seeds.  Although they breed normally in late summer (June to September) when seed production is high, they are known to nest at any time of year if they find a suitable cone crop. Given that coniferous trees do not produce cones every year and some years produce a heavier crop than others, erratic movements of the species are expected.  

The range of this species is extensive.  It is a permanent resident of most of southern Canada from Newfoundland across southern Canada to the west where its range covers all of Alberta and British Columbia and into Yukon.  The range extends southward to include most of the western US and into Mexico.  Most of that area provides permanent residency but the species appears as a winter resident only in much of the mid-western US.  This species is paleoarctic, occurring also in northern and central Europe, and into north Africa.  In Europe it shares its habitat with three other crossbill species, the Two-barred Crossbill (White-winged Crossbill), the Scottish Crossbill and the Parrot Crossbill.  

                                        Red Crossbill Female in Pine Tree   [Marbeth Wilson Photo]

The Red Crossbill is a sexually dimorphic species.  Males look quite different from females.  It is a chunky medium-sized finch, 16 cm long and slightly larger than a close cousin also occurring here, the White-winged Crossbill.  It has a large head and a notched tail.  Its main feature is its stout crossed bill, the curved top beak crossed over the curved bottom beak.  The male is entirely brick red with dark wings and tail.  The wings have no wing bars, a distinguishing feature.  The back has some dark scaling and the under tail coverts are white with black chevrons.  See top photo.  The female is light to dark yellow overall with dark wings and tail.  The throat is light gray.  The juvenile is brown streaked overall but paler underneath.  It may have pale narrow wing bars.  The female pictured above shows a very pale yellow colouring.  

The binomial name for the Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, is derived from the ancient Greek work loxos meaning 'crosswise' and the 'curvirostra' is Latin for 'curved bill'.  The species was given this name by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.  This species was well known long before that.  It has been mentioned in the literature since 1254 from which a sketch by Matthew Paris survives of a crossbill holding fruit in its beak.     The species was mentioned many times since then in early literature, drawings and sculptures.  A quotation from Roger Twysden from 1593 describing a flock of crossbills in an orchard states, "in the apple season of 1593, an immense multitude of unknown birds came into England ... swallowing nothing but the pippins, and for the purpose of dividing the apple, their beaks were admirably adapted by nature, for they turn back, and strike one point upon the other, so as to show ..  the transverse sickles, one turned past the other."

                                    Red Crossbill Male in Spruce Tree   [Internet Photo]

Red Crossbills show a great variation in bill shape, voice and size and their species may be comprised of many species.  Some are now designated as subspecies.  Because some are genetically distinct some will likely eventually be put into separate species.  Sorting them out is a difficult task.  Nine (or ten) types are now listed for North and Central America.  European species add even more complexity to the puzzle.  The different  forms are called 'calls' or 'types'.

Red Crossbills normally nest in mid-to-late summer.  The nest is built near the end of a large conifer branch and is a shallow saucer made of bark strips, grass and roots and lined with moss and plant down.   The female lays 3 to 4 light green or blue eggs spotted with brown or lavender and she  incubates them 12 to 18 days.  This species eats a variety of foods; insects, seeds, buds, fruits and, of course, the seeds of coniferous trees.  Large-billed individuals prefer pine cones and smaller-billed individuals like spruce cones.  A tree that has been heavily fed upon by crossbills shows cones that have only their central stem remaining and many, many cone scales on the ground under the tree.  When birders are looking for crossbills, they check to see how the cone crop is in the area and then start watching the tops of conifers for a group feeding there.  They also listen for the double-noted call, a kip kip sound.  The Red Crossbill song is several double-noted sounds followed by a warbling trill.  It is a harsher sound than that of the White-winged Crossbill.

Red Crossbills are interesting birds.  I am always delighted when I see them.  I am in no hurry to have the researchers sort out the variation in this species.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be to sort out up to 10 different species of Red Crossbills.  That would make birding very difficult!

American Tree Sparrow - A Winter Sparrow

                                        American Tree Sparrow   [Jim Carroll Photo]

The American Tree Sparrow is a winter finch so we usually see it only in winter.  It is a member of the Emberizidae family along with 47 other species of sparrows.  It is a Spizella sparrow, scientific name Spizella arborea.  Other Spizella sparrows in our area are the Field Sparrow, the Clay-colored Sparrow and the Chipping Sparrow.  If you know these sparrows you can recognize a similarity in body conformation which can make it difficult to tell them apart.

Recent work has classified this species in the Passerellidae family and given it the scientific name, Spizelloides arborea.

The American Tree Sparrow is so called  'American' because there is an Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Passer montanus.  This sparrow looks very different and is rarely in North America so the only confusion would be in the name.

The American Tree Sparrow is average in size, 16 cm long.  The most striking features are its light gray throat, breast and belly  with a single dark spot in the centre of the breast.  Note, there are no stripes on its breast.  It has a gray head and nape and a rufous crown and a rufous eyeline extending posteriorly from the eye.  There are rufous-buff patches on the sides of the breast and the back is streaked with black and rufous.  There are two white wing bars, the upper one sometimes being indistinct.  The bicoloured bill is distinctive, with a dark colour on the top and yellow on the bottom.  

                                               American Tree Sparrow   [Jim Carroll Photo]

The American Tree Sparrow can be confused with the Chipping Sparrow or the Field Sparrow.  The latter two are usually seen only in summer so the most often time you would need to be careful is in the overlapping seasons.  However, there is a Field Sparrow coming to a feeder in New Brunswick this winter so it had to be differentiated from an American Tree Sparrow.  The Chipping Sparrow is slightly smaller, has a rufous crown and a light gray breast and throat.  It does not have the central breast spot and it does have a black eyeline which runs both posteriorly and anteriorly to the bill.  It also does not have the bi-coloured bill, the bill being all black or dark gray.  The Field Sparrow differs by not having the 2-toned bill or the dark central breast spot.  It also has a white eyering.  

I am always delighted to see the American Tree Sparrows return in the late fall.  We have two coming to our feeders periodically this winter.  What I love about this species is its cheerful winter presence and its beautiful song.  It makes a musical high-pitched bell-like tinkle.  When you become familiar with that sound you know the American Tree Sparrows are nearby.  In flight they also make a tweedle-eet sound.  

                                                      American Tree Sparrow Feeding on the Ground

The sparrow shown above is a juvenile and still shows some striping on the breast.  The central breast spot in clearly visible.  It will reach adult plumage as the breeding season approaches.

The American Tree Sparrow breeds in our far north; Labrador, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska.  It does not breed as far north as the Arctic islands.  It spends its winters in the most southerly parts of Canada including the Maritime provinces and most of the continental United States except the most southern part.  

The American Tree Sparrow builds its nest low to the ground in a clump of grass or moss.  The nest is made of stems, strips of bark, moss and grass and lined with feathers, fur and hair.  Three to seven light blue or greenish eggs spotted with brown are laid and are incubated for 12 to 13 days by the female.  This species eats seeds, insects, berries and, in summer, small flowers.  It feeds by scratching on the ground but also forages from foliage and from the snow.  These birds will also feed by beating tall weeds with their wings in order to cause the seeds to fall to the ground.  They readily eat cracked corn, millet and sunflower seeds at feeders.  

It is interesting to note that this species which is called a 'Tree' sparrow does not nest in trees and feeds from the ground.  It was mistakenly named by early settlers from Europe who thought it looked like the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.  Another interesting fact is the result of one study which reports that the American Tree Sparrow watches for predators using its left eye.  That must mean it knows which way to orient itself in order to know what direction from which danger could come.  Interesting.  All in all, this beautiful winter sparrow is an interesting species.