Potential effects of sea level rise and high tide flooding on Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis (eastern black rail) coastal breeding areas
Catherine A. Nikiel, Marta P. Lyons
2025, Open-File Report 2021-1104-F
Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis (eastern black rails; Gmelin, 1789) are facing increasing risk from flooding in coastal breeding habitats because of rising sea levels combined with standard high tide flooding. In this report, we examine regional differences in relative rates of sea level rise, days in the breeding season above historical...
Effects of northern bobwhite habitat management on avian species of conservation concern
Johanna M. H. Ford, Anna Maureen Tucker, Adam K. Janke, Tyler M. Harms, Riggs O. Wilson
2025, Ecological Indicators (172)
The umbrella species concept is often used as a tool to guide management decisions and focus efforts towards one focal species whose habitat needs overlap that of other species. We assessed this concept in the context of an agriculturally dominant landscape using one of the most well-studied avian species in...
Foundational science in flight—USGS bird programs support conservation, culture, and a thriving U.S. economy
David Ziolkowski, Antonio Celis-Murillo, Jenn Malpass, Keith L. Pardieck, Julien Martin, Lauren Emily Walker
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3011
Birds are vital to our economy, ecosystems, and cultural heritage. Investing in bird conservation benefits communities, businesses, and working lands while reinforcing our nation’s legacy of stewardship and biodiversity. By valuing birds, we ensure a richer, healthier, and more vibrant future for all Americans. The USGS leads two national bird...
Population trends of native and non-native forest birds on the island of Molokai, Hawaii
Lauren K. Smith, Seth Judge, Ayesha Genz, Lainie Berry, Laura K Berthold, Hanna L. Mounce, Richard J. Camp
2025, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (137) 51-64
Hawaiʻi’s avifauna has undergone profound changes over the past 1,000 years, with many endemic bird species driven to extinction and non-native introductions reshaping forest ecosystems. On the island of Molokaʻi, habitat degradation and the introduction of mosquito-borne disease, mainly avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum), have caused extinctions and severe declines in native...
North American Waterfowl Management Plan survey regional profile—Southeast region
Nicholas W. Cole, David C. Fulton
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5102
Executive SummaryGaining a better understanding of the human dimensions of waterfowl management to inform the North American Waterfowl Management Plan is a valuable but challenging goal for the future success of waterfowl management. Increasing engagement with key stakeholder groups will lead to more support and effective waterfowl management. Social systems...
Piping Plover home ranges do not appear to be impacted by restoration of barrier islands and headlands
Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Amanda Nicole Anderson, Delaina LeBlanc, Robert C. Dobbs, Brock Geary, Hardin Waddle
2025, Preprint
Restoration of barrier island and headland habitats can alter existing and create new habitats, which may impact wildlife occupying these areas such as the threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). We used resight data from banded birds to develop minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density estimates (KDE) of individual Piping...
Effectiveness of stewardship and management strategies to conserve coastal bird populations in the northern Gulf of Mexico: A literature review
Jennifer L. Fuller, Nicole L. Michel, Evan M. Adams, Abigail J. Darrah, Auriel Fournier, Jacquelyn K. Grace, Lianne Koczur, Bethany A.C. Kraft, Terri J. Maness, Sarah P. Saunders, Caz M. Taylor, Kiara L. Valentine, Theodore J. Zenzal Jr.
2025, Journal of Field Ornithology (96)
Shorebirds, seabirds, and wading birds (hereafter coastal birds) have experienced considerable losses over the last century and require proactive conservation management to stabilize or grow populations. Habitat loss and/or degradation and human disturbance are among the most urgent threats faced by coastal bird populations. Identifying effective conservation management techniques to...
Methodology
North American Bird Conservation Initiative, A. Rodewald, Mike Brasher, John Alexander, Elisabeth M. Ammon, Tracy E. Borneman, Dustin Brewer, Stephen Brown, Jennie N. Duberstein, Beth Flint, Adam Hannuksela, Kathleen Holland, J. A. Hostetler, Edwin Juarez, Robin Kaler, Chris Latimer, Elva Manquera, Kate Martin, Chris McCreedy, Nicole Michel, Corina Newsome, Andrew Olsen, Marc Romano, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, B. Ryder, Rebekah J. Rylander, John R. Sauer, Adam Smith, Dena Spatz, Caleb Spiegel, Tice Supplee, Roberta Swift, Eric VanderWerf, Josh Vest, Olivia Wang
2025, Report, State of the birds report, United States of America 2025
Following the approach developed by Gregory and van Strien (2010), State of the Birds reports focus on composite summaries of population change for collections of species that share common primary habitat or taxonomic affinity. In this report, we provide composite indexes for habitat-obligate species as defined in earlier reports (Grassland, Aridland, Eastern Forest and...
Avian influenza infection and antibodies not identified in eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) sampled on the Delmarva Peninsula
Jeffery D. Sullivan, Johanna Alexandra Harvey, Rebecca L. Poulson, David E. Stallknecht, C. Robert Long, Cindy P. Driscoll, Diann Prosser, Jennifer M. Mullinax
2025, Avian Diseases (69) 2-5
Although highly pathogenic avian influenza presents a notable threat to domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo domesticus), there have been minimal infections identified in wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) across the United States. Indeed, recent infections in wild turkeys have either been linked back to or suspected to be the result of spillback...
A practical decision tool for marine bird mortality assessments
Johanna Alexandra Harvey, Andrew M. Ramey, Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Gregory Robertson, Marc Romano, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Megan Boldenow, Philip W. Atkinson, Diann J. Prosser
2025, Preprint
Given the rise in anthropogenic, environmental, and disease events contributing to marine bird mortality, there is a critical need to improve the rigor of mortality assessments. Deficits in data collection and mortality estimation can hinder a manager’s ability to document event scales and inform population level impacts. Therefore, to inform...
When the wild things are: Defining mammalian diel activity and plasticity
Kadambari Devarajan, Mason Fidino, Zach J. Farris, Solny A. Adalsteinsson, Gabriel Andrade-Ponce, Julia Angstmann, Whitney Anthonysamy, Jesica Aquino, Addisu Asefa, Belen Avila, Larissa L. Bailey, Lyandra Maria de Sousa Barbosa, Marcela de Frias Barreto, Owain Barton, Chloe E Bates, Mayara Guimarães Beltrão, Tori Bird, Elizabeth G Biro, Francesco Bisi, Daniel Bohórquez, Mark S. Boyce, Justin S. Brashares, Grace Bullington, Phoebe Burns, Jessica Burr, Andrew R. Butler, Kendall L. Calhoun, Tien Trung Cao, Natalia Casado, Juan Camilo Cepeda-Duque, Jonathon D. Cepek, Adriano Garcia Chiarello, Merri Collins, Pedro Cordeiro-Estrela, Sebastian Costa, Giacomo Cremonesi, Bogdan Cristescu, Paula Cruz, Anna Carolina Figueiredo de Albuquerque, Carlos De Angelo, Cláudia Bueno De Campos, Liana Mara Mendes De Sena, Mario Di Bitetti, Douglas de Matos Dias, Duane R. Diefenbach, Tim S. Doherty, Thais P dos Santos, Gabriela Teixeira Duarte, Timothy M. Eppley, John Erb, Carolina Franco Esteves, Bryn Evans, Maria L.M. Falcão, Hugo Fernandes-Ferreira, John R. Fieberg, Luiz Carlos Firmino de Souza Filho, Jason Fisher, Marie-Josee Fortin, George A. Gale, Travis Gallo, Laken S Ganoe, Rony Garcia-Anleu, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Tiziana A. Gelmi-Candusso, Phillys N. Gichuru, Quimey Gomez, Austin M. Green, Luiza Neves Guimarães, Jeffrey D. Haight, Lavendar R. Harris, Zachary D. Hawn, Jordan Heiman, Huy Quoc Hoang, Sarah Huebner, Fabiola Iannarilli, María Eugenia Iezzi, Jacob S. Ivan, Kodi J. Jaspers, Mark J Jordan, Jason Kamilar, Mamadou Kane, Mohammad Hosein Karimi, Marcella J. Kelly, Michel T. Kohl, William P. Kuvlesky, Andrew Ladle, Rachel N. Larson, Quy Tan Le, Duy Le, Van Son Le, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Patrick E Lendrum, Jesse S. Lewis, Andrés Link, Diego J. Lizcano, Jason V. Lombardi, Robert Long, Eva López-Tello, Camile Lugarini, David Lugo, Paula MacKay, Maria Madadi, Rodolfo Assis Magalhães, Seth B. Magle, Ludmila Hufnagel Regis Diniz Maia, Salvador Mandujano, Taisiia Marchenkova, Paulo Henrique Marinho, Laurie Marker, Julia Martinez Pardo, Adriano Martinoli, Rodrigo Lima Massara, Juliana Masseloux, Dina Matiukhina, Amy E. Mayer, Luis Mazariegos, Maureen R. McClung, Alex McInturff, Darby McPhail, Amy Mertl, Christopher R. Middaugh, David Miller, David Mills, Dale Miquelle, Vivianna Miritis, Remington J. Moll, Peter K. Molnar, Robert Montgomery, Toni Lyn Morelli, Alessio Mortelliti, Rachael I. Mueller, Anna S. Mukhacheva, Kayleigh Mullen, Asia Murphy, Vance Nepomuceno, Dusit Ngoprasert, An Nguyen, Thanh Van Nguyen, Van Thai Nguyen, Hoa Anh Nguyen Quang, Rob Nipko, Ana Clarissa Costa Nobre, Joseph Northrup, Megan A. Owen, Adriano Pereira Paglia, Meredith S. Palmer, Gabriela Palomo-Munoz, Lain E. Pardo, Chrystina Parks, Ana Maria de Oliveira Paschoal, Brent Patterson, Agustin Paviolo, Liba Pejchar, Mary E. Pendergast, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Timofei Petrov, Mairi K.P. Poisson, Daiana Jeronimo Polli, Morteza Pourmirzai, Alexander Reebin, Katie R. Remine, Lindsey Rich, Christopher S. Richardson, Facundo Robino, Daniel G Rocha, Fabiana Lopes Rocha, Flávio Henrique Guimarães Rodrigues, Adam T. Rohnke, Travis J. Ryan, Carmen M. Salsbury, Heather A. Sander, Nadia Maria da Cruz Santos-Cavalcante, Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Ivan Seryodkin, Dede Hendra Setiawan, Shabnam Shadloo, Mahsa Shahhosseini, Graeme Shannon, Catherine J. Shier, G. Bradley Smith, Tom Snyder, Rahel Sollmann, Kimberly L. Sparks, Kriangsak Sribuarod, Colleen Cassady St. Claire, Theodore Stankowich, Robert Steinmetz, Cassondra J Stevenson, Sunarto Sunarto, Thilina D. Surasinghe, Svetlana V. Sutyrina, Ronald R. Swaisgood, Atie Taktehrani, Kanchan Thapa, Matthew Thorton, Andrew Tilker, Mathias W. Tobler, Van Bang Tran, Jody Tucker, Russell C. Van Horn, Juan S. Vargas-Soto, Karen L. Velásquez, Jan Venter, Eduardo M. Venticinque, Stijn Verschueren, Erin Wampole, Darcy J. Watchorn, Oliver R. Wearn, Katherine Weiss, Alejandro Welschen, Febri Anggriawan Widodo, Jacque Williamson, Andreas Wilting, George Wittemyer, Arturo Zavaleta, Amanda J. Zellmer, Brian Daniel Gerber
2025, Science Advances (11)
Circadian rhythms are a mechanism by which species adapt to environmental variability and fundamental to understanding species behavior. However, we lack data and a standardized framework to accurately assess and compare temporal activity for species during rapid ecological change. Through a global network representing 38 countries, we leveraged 8.9 million...
The relative influence of climate extremes and species richness on the temporal variability of bird communities
Samantha M. Cady, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Craig A. Davis, Barney Luttbeg, Caleb Powell Roberts, Scott Loss
2025, Ecology (106)
Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecological stability is increasingly urgent as rapid species extinction continues. Though evidence of positive diversity–stability relationships is accumulating, empirical results are inconsistent, and effect sizes tend to be small, raising questions about relative contributions of intrinsic (i.e., species composition/interactions) and extrinsic (i.e., environmental) drivers...
Note to banders, February 2025
Antonio Celis-Murillo
2025, Newsletter
Note to All Banders was a special extra communication with more urgent information relevant to banders. This Note to All Banders was sent to U.S. bird banders on February 12, 2025. This note includes a review of the 2024 successes at the Bird Banding Laboratory. Throughout 2024, the BBL increased...
Developing research tools for demographic study of Rhynchophanes mccownii (thick-billed longspurs)
Megan M. Ring, Rose J. Swift, Michael J. Anteau, Lawrence D. Igl, Mark E Seamans, Scott G. Somershoe, Jay Alan VonBank, John M. Yeiser, Garrett J. MacDonald
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1002
Like numerous other North American grassland bird species, Rhynchophanes mccownii (thick-billed longspur) has experienced severe population declines in the last 50 years. Little is known about population-limiting factors, and knowledge gaps limit conservation efforts on the species; however, before research studies aimed at improving conservation and management actions can be...
Weather, habitat area, connectivity, and number of patches influence breeding ecology of ring-necked pheasants
Sprih Harsh, Robert Charles Lonsinger, Hilary R. Kauth, Andrew J. Gregory
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
Understanding habitat selection is critical in habitat prioritization for species of conservation and management concern. Information on habitat selection is particularly important for grassland bird species whose populations have suffered steep declines over the last few decades. We assessed ring-necked pheasants' (Phasianus colchicus) habitat selection in a dynamic agricultural landscape....
Using GPS tracking data to validate the conservation value of bird migration counts
Ron Efrat, Yael Lehnardt, Daniel Berkowic, Yossi Leshem, Roi Dor, Alexander E. Bragin, Evgeny Bragin, Todd E. Katzner, Nir Sapir
2025, Biological Conservation (302)
Effective conservation of migratory birds requires gathering of information about their population trends, often acquired using migratory bird counts. These schemes ideally operate at migratory bottlenecks, through which a significant portion of the counted migratory populations is funneled. Yet it is rare to validate the conservation value of the data...
Climate-related drivers of migratory bird health in the south-central USA
Renee A. McPherson, Katrina E. Alger, Erik K. Hofmeister
2025, Biological Reviews (100) 1272-1293
Migratory birds are species of concern that play important ecological roles while also supporting recreational opportunities for the hunting and birdwatching public. Direct and indirect effects of climate variability, extremes, and change on migratory bird health manifest at the individual, population, species, and community levels. This review focuses on the...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 in double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) of the Chesapeake Bay, USA
Johanna Alexandra Harvey, Jeffery Dale Sullivan, Rebecca L. Poulson, Deborah L. Carter, Cindy P. Driscoll, Peter C. McGowan, Carl R. Callahan, Amy W. O'Donnell, Jennifer M. Mullinax, David E. Stallknecht, Diann J. Prosser
2025, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (61) 348-356
Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) have historically exhibited low levels of infection and antibodies to avian influenza virus (AIV). The recent global expansion of clade 2.3.4.4b A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza virus H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) has resulted in large-scale mortalities across diverse waterbird taxa including cormorants. We sampled 32 and...
Video evidence of a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) preying upon a live Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) duckling in Louisiana
Brad Glorioso, Alex Landry, Gabrielle Mandill
2025, Southeastern Naturalist (23) N90-N93
Most animal matter in the diet of the omnivorous Trachemys scripta (Pond Slider) consists of invertebrate prey items such as insects, crustaceans, and mollusks, but often also includes fish and amphibians. Reptiles, birds, and mammals are less commonly reported, and even when found, it is usually unknown if they were...
Bait trapping of waterfowl increases the environmental contamination of avian influenza virus (AIV)
Cassandra Andrew, Landon McPhee, Kevin Kuchinski, Jordan Wight, Ishraq Rahman, Sarah Mansour, Gabrielle Angelo Cortez, Marzieh Kalhor, Ethan Kenmuir, Natalie Prystajecky, Kathryn Hargan, Andrew Lang, James Leafloor, Catherine Soos, Andrew M. Ramey, Chelsea Himsworth
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4b has circulated in North America since late 2021, resulting in higher rates of morbidity and mortality in wild birds than observed in this region before. The objective of this study was to determine whether baiting, which is widely conducted in Canada...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Barry D. Parkin, Betty R. Euliss
2025, Professional Paper 1842-BB
Keys to Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) management include providing shrub-dominated edge habitat adjacent to grasslands or grasslands with a shrub component (both of which must include dense grass and moderately high litter cover) and avoiding disturbances that eliminate woody vegetation. Field Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 16–134...
Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) abundance in a National Conservation Area in Idaho has increased since the 1970s–1990s
Steven Alsup, James R. Belthoff, Karen Steenhof, Michael N. Kochert, Todd E. Katzner
2025, Journal of Raptor Research (59) 1-13
The Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA), in southwestern Idaho, USA supports a large population of breeding Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus). Abundance of Prairie Falcons in the NCA was previously monitored in 1976–1978 and 1990–1994. That research indicated maximum counts for each period in 1976...
Perpetuation of avian influenza from molt to fall migration in wild Swan Geese (Anser cygnoides): An agent-based modeling approach
John Takekawa, Chang-Yong Choi, Diann J. Prosser, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Nyambaya Batbayar, Xiangming Xiao
2025, Viruses (17)
Wild waterfowl are considered to be the reservoir of avian influenza, but their distinct annual life cycle stages and their contribution to disease dynamics are not well understood. Studies of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus have primarily focused on wintering grounds, where human and poultry densities are high...
Sulfur-to-iron ratio as a proxy for degree of organic sulfurization
Katherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell
2025, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (26)
The degree of organic sulfurization is broadly relevant yet underreported. We present a statistically significant correlation between whole rock S/Fe and the measured degree of organic sulfurization in the thermally immature Cenomanian–Turonian Eagle Ford Group. This relationship shows a sink switch for sulfur from pyrite to organic matter. Excess iron...
An enigmatic wild passerine mortality event in the eastern United States
Sabrina S. Greening, Julie C. Ellis, Nicole L. Lewis, David B. Needle, Cristina M. Tato, Susan Knowles, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Jaimie L. Miller, Daniel A. Grear, Jeffrey M. Lorch, David S. Blehert, Caitlin Burrell, Lisa A. Murphy, Erica A. Miller, C. Brandon Ogbunugafor, Andrea J. Ayala, W. Kelley Thomas, Megan S. Kirchgessner, Christine Casey, Ethan P. Barton, Michael J. Yabsley, Eman Anis, Roderick B. Gagne, Patrice Klein, Cindy P. Driscoll, Chelsea Sykes, Robert H. Poppenga, Nicole M. Nemeth
2025, Veterinary Sciences (12)
The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations. We report on...
