Wild Birds

HORRIFIC, deliberate slaughter of protected migratory birds is challenging the nation's wildlife laws and its ethics of conservation.Recently, an Arkansas subdivision builder leveled a woodlands containing hundreds of egret nests and a Texas town bulldozed a large nesting ground of herons and egrets. Hundreds of legally protected birds were wantonly killed.The most heinous act of destruction occurred on a private island in eastern Lake Ontario, when more than 900 cormorants were systematically exterminated by a shotgun killer.

Atop the National Aquarium in Baltimore, away from the crowds, is a hidden oasis where the turtles and lizards sometimes come to bask in the sun. Their caretaker says it's also a nice spot for wild birds - and him, too. The 4,000-square-foot "green roof," a 4-inch deep collection of soil and succulent plants over a rubber liner, has been serving many purposes since it was built in 2004. Besides acting as an urban refuge, it's helping cut utility bills and control rainwater into the harbor.

Do you have any idea how many people are for the birds? How many watch them, feed them, house them, provide bathing facilities for them, and even -- for various reasons -- count them? We're talking about birds in the wild of course, and here's one answer: About one-third of the adult population of North America puts out about a billion pounds of birdseed every year. Among outdoor activities, bird watching has eclipsed golfing, hiking and skiing in the United States. And birding -- the all-encompassing term for watching and caring for wild birds -- is a $14 billion a year business.

Virology Bird flu watch for U.S., territories Monitoring of wild migratory birds to prevent a deadly bird flu virus is expanding to cover the entire nation and U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. The stepped-up testing will be done by scientists in the lower 48 states, Hawaii and other Pacific islands. They will begin keeping an eye out for the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu that has killed more than 100 people, mostly in Asia. In Alaska, where the first migratory birds began arriving, monitoring started just before summer.

An article and photograph in yesterday's editions of The Sun described how seven women shot 45 mallard ducks during morning hunt on a Dorchester County farm. Forty-three of the ducks were banded birds raised and released on the farm, and two of the ducks were wild birds. State law governing the number of ducks hunters can shoot on a single day -- the "bag limit" rule -- exempts from the count birds raised and released on a farm, so the hunters were not in violation of the individual daily bag limit for mallards, which is four birds (with only one being female)

ROME --Defying the dire predictions of health officials, the flocks of migratory birds that flew south to Africa last fall, then back over Europe in recent weeks did not carry the deadly bird flu virus or spread it during their annual journey, scientists have concluded. International health officials had feared that the disease would spread to Africa during the southward migration and return to Europe with a vengeance during the reverse migration this spring. That has not happened, which is a significant finding for Europe because it is far easier to monitor a virus that exists domestically on farms but not in the wild.

WASHINGTON -- If it walks like a political action committee and quacks like a political action committee it may be "Duc Pac," the private campaign contribution fund of a prominent Washington lobbyist and duck hunter.Virtually all of the fund's few thousand dollars appears to come from the family of lobbyist J.D. Williams.Most of Duc Pac's political contributions go to members of Congress who have helped block Interior Department interference in the operations of private duck "shooting preserves" -- such as one owned by Mr. Williams.

The Baltimore County Council agreed last night to designate as a bird sanctuary an area in Cub Hill that includes a neighborhood of condominiums. The bill imposes fines for killing or injuring wild birds in a 24-acre area that includes the Doncaster Village condominiums, near Bellbeck Road. County officials said the legislation restates a federal law against bird killings and will have no effect on county land-use policy, as some of the bill's supporters had hoped. Also last night, the council agreed on a development package requiring property owners to start building houses within four years of the approval of their development plans.

Atop the National Aquarium in Baltimore, away from the crowds, is a hidden oasis where the turtles and lizards sometimes come to bask in the sun. Their caretaker says it's also a nice spot for wild birds - and him, too. The 4,000-square-foot "green roof," a 4-inch deep collection of soil and succulent plants over a rubber liner, has been serving many purposes since it was built in 2004. Besides acting as an urban refuge, it's helping cut utility bills and control rainwater into the harbor.

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere and millions of birds begin their ancient long-distance migrations, scientific evidence is mounting that the deadly Asian strain of H5N1 "bird flu" virus is flying with them. If so, the virus may soon wing its way into Alaska - where biologists are establishing an unprecedented surveillance network as part of an aggressive, $29 million early warning campaign with a new focus on birds in the wild. Until now, scientists' greatest focus has been on domestic flocks.

ROME --Defying the dire predictions of health officials, the flocks of migratory birds that flew south to Africa last fall, then back over Europe in recent weeks did not carry the deadly bird flu virus or spread it during their annual journey, scientists have concluded. International health officials had feared that the disease would spread to Africa during the southward migration and return to Europe with a vengeance during the reverse migration this spring. That has not happened, which is a significant finding for Europe because it is far easier to monitor a virus that exists domestically on farms but not in the wild.

The Baltimore County Council agreed last night to designate as a bird sanctuary an area in Cub Hill that includes a neighborhood of condominiums. The bill imposes fines for killing or injuring wild birds in a 24-acre area that includes the Doncaster Village condominiums, near Bellbeck Road. County officials said the legislation restates a federal law against bird killings and will have no effect on county land-use policy, as some of the bill's supporters had hoped. Also last night, the council agreed on a development package requiring property owners to start building houses within four years of the approval of their development plans.

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere and millions of birds begin their ancient long-distance migrations, scientific evidence is mounting that the deadly Asian strain of H5N1 "bird flu" virus is flying with them. If so, the virus may soon wing its way into Alaska - where biologists are establishing an unprecedented surveillance network as part of an aggressive, $29 million early warning campaign with a new focus on birds in the wild. Until now, scientists' greatest focus has been on domestic flocks.

It is a hard heart that doesn't break a little in the presence of a bird in a cage or - in the case of the parrots of California - cheer at an escape. One Los Angeles species to elude the pet trade has so thoroughly transcended entrapment that it is fast becoming an urban natural wonder. Every afternoon at an intersection on the border of the foothill towns of Arcadia and Temple City, an hour before dusk, successive flocks of four, six, 10, as many as 30 red-crowned parrots appear from the west.

COLLEGE PARK - In a low-slung building far from virus-plagued Southeast Asia, scientists are leading a sweeping inquiry into the role that migratory waterfowl and other wild birds might play in spreading avian flu. The research is one groundbreaking aspect of a $5 million project intended to address some of the many unanswered questions about the virus. Avian flu resides harmlessly in the gut of ducks and other waterfowl but is capable of hopscotching into species such as chickens, pigs and-most worrysome-humans.

HONG KONG - A dead peregrine falcon found near two chicken farms here had the avian influenza virus, agricultural officials said yesterday. The falcon is the first sign that the disease spreading in chicken flocks in Vietnam, South Korea and Japan might also be present in China. Hong Kong said it would respond by stepping up the monitoring of chicken farms for the disease, with inspections continuing through the Chinese New Year beginning today. World Health Organization officials have been very alarmed about the spread of the influenza virus, the A(H5N1)

KAWASAKI, Japan -- Kunitoshi Baba, a veterinarian in this industrial city near Tokyo, has for 17 years fought to save wild birds that have become victims of the rapid destruction of the natural environment near urban centers.Mr. Baba, 42, has been looking after ailing wild animals and birds in his spare time since he opened his animal hospital in Kawasaki in 1973."We've continued to deprive animals of their habitats by ripping down trees from the mountains and filling in the tidelands," Mr. Baba said.

HONG KONG - A dead peregrine falcon found near two chicken farms here had the avian influenza virus, agricultural officials said yesterday. The falcon is the first sign that the disease spreading in chicken flocks in Vietnam, South Korea and Japan might also be present in China. Hong Kong said it would respond by stepping up the monitoring of chicken farms for the disease, with inspections continuing through the Chinese New Year beginning today. World Health Organization officials have been very alarmed about the spread of the influenza virus, the A(H5N1)

TOKYO - They are on Tokyo's most-wanted list these days, vilified as child abusers, arsonists, grave robbers and cannibals. They eat everything - including the rotten and the still-living. Don't make eye contact, even from the seeming safety of a window. They remember faces and might stalk you when you emerge, or so people say. The villains are jungle crows - huge, jet-black creatures with intimidating beaks, killer claws and a caw that sounds like a sea gull on steroids. About 21,000 of the birds, which are indigenous to parts of Asia, have taken up residence in Tokyo, triple the number 15 years ago. Until recently, the crows were mostly just an annoyance, cackling like drunken "salarymen" in the predawn hours in Tokyo's few trees and gorging themselves amid the tantalizing, thinly wrapped bags of garbage piled high on city streets.

Bird detective Peter Marra scoured the scene, calculating where to set up the decoy, the bribe, the all-important invisible nets. "We always get our man," said Marra's partner in science, research technician Bob Reitsma, pulling the netting out of his khaki pockets. They decided on the side garden. And soon enough, they got what they were waiting for. A cardinal, one of the target species of a new study of the impact of development and urbanization on birds called Neighborhood Nestwatch, dive-bombed the bird decoy - it apparently thought the chirps Marra played from a tape recorder came from this stuffed bird in its territory - only to become entangled in one of Marra's nets.