A Little Good News

Here's a success story, in four parts:

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis),
Ryerson Forest Preserve, Lake Co, IL 3/16/2012

This is an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). In the middle of the 20th century, Eastern Bluebirds underwent a serious decline as a result of competition from House Sparrows and European Starlings for nest sites. But biologists figured out that the right nest boxes could encourage the bluebirds and exclude the starlings, and the establishment of trails of nest boxes, often manned by volunteers, have made the Eastern Bluebird a common sight again. As an example of the decline, CBC numbers in Alabama went from an average of 1.87/party hour in the 1950's to an average of 0.62 in the 1960's, before rebounding to an average of 2.33 over the last 10 years. (1)

This next bird is quite widespread, extending from Cuba to the northeastern corner of Siberia:

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis),
Volo Bog SNA, Lake Co, IL 3/6/2012

It's a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis), a common breeder and very common, if very local, migrant through northeastern Illinois. But it wasn't always such - by 1890, hunting and draining of marshes had eliminated them as a breeding species in the state. It wasn't until 1979 that they started nesting here again. (2) Now, between March and November, it doesn't seem as if I've been birding unless I've heard their stuttering trumpet calls.

This next one is a work in progress:

Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator), Independence Grove FP,
Lake County, IL 1/2/2013

This is a Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator). There are historical records of them nesting in Illinois, although it's hard to say how common they were. But they were eliminated from their Great Lakes nesting range in the 19th century, with the last nesting record for Illinois around 1856. Until May of 2006, that is, when a pair from a release program in Iowa set up shop in Carroll County in NW Illinois. (3) While they still aren't a common sight in Illinois, the populations in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are showing dramatic increases.

Finally, one that has a long ways to go -- largely because of how few there were at one point:

Whooping Crane (Grus americana), Milwaukee County Zoo,
Milwaukee County, WI, 1/9/2013

This is a Whooping Crane (Grus americana), the tallest bird in North America. Adults can stand 5 feet tall. This shot came from the Milwaukee County Zoo -- this individual wouldn't be able to survive in the wild. And getting shots of free-living birds is difficult: from a low of 21 wild and 2 captive birds in 1941, they've managed to recover to a count of 385 wild and 151 captive birds in 2008. (4) Some of those wild birds are releases in Necedah NWR in west-central Wisconsin, where a handful of successful nesting attempts have occurred. These birds have probably always had a low reproductive rate, which makes recovering from a population crash a long, slow process. But today, if you're lucky, you can again see wild Trumpeters and Whoopers crying the wilderness out over the skies of Illinois.

(1) National Audubon Society (2010). The Christmas Bird Count Historical Results [Online]. Availablehttp://www.christmasbirdcount.org [4/6/2014]

(2) http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/cranes/gruscana.htm

(3) Sheryl Devore. http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/oi/documents/may08trumpeterswan.pdf

(4) BirdLife International 2012. Grus americana. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 07 April 2014.