Birds and Nature

""Whooping Crane Census Flight March 15, 2009 The ninth aerial census of the 2008-09 crane season at Aransas was conducted March 15, 2009 with USFWS observer Tom Stehn in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, Texas. ...... Whooping Crane Numbers With estimated losses that has occurred at Aransas this winter, the current flock size is estimated at 226 adults + 23 juveniles = 249. The estimated peak winter flock size was 232 adults + 38 juveniles = 270 total. Mortality Today's flight provided evidence of 3 additional mortalities, with total winter mortality now estimated for the winter at 6 adults and 15 chicks totaling 21 whooping cranes, a loss of 7.8% of the flock that was a record 270 in the fall. In the last 20 years, the current winter ranks as the worst in terms of mortality, ahead of 1990 when 7.5% of the whooping cranes (11 out of 146) died at Aransas. The 3rd worst winter in 1993 showed a 4.9% loss at Aransas (7 out of 14

"18-02-2009 North American scientists studying West Nile virus have shown that more diverse bird populations can help to buffer people against infection. Since the virus first spread to North America it has reached epidemic proportions and claimed over 1,100 human lives. “This is an important example of the links between biodiversity and human health”, commented Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Research and Indicators Coordinator. Biodiversity is increasingly being recognised as socially and economically important because of the valuable services it provides. The authors of this latest research - John Swaddle and Stavros Calos - highlighted the “increasing evidence for economically valuable ecosystem services provided by biodiversity”. " ******* "Scientists studying the virus looked at US counties east of the Mississippi River and compared their avian diversity with the number of human cases. They found that high bird diversity was linked with low incidence of t