Daily Archives: January 16, 2015

Greater Sage Grouse, male

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfws_pacificsw

Photo by USFWS Pacific Southwest Region Photostream

Sage-Grouse are an iconic bird of the west evoking images of wild prairies. Their mating dance is among the most unique in the animal kingdom. Living in open sagebrush plains, the Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse species in North America.

Greater Sage-Grouse are notable for elaborate courtship rituals. Each spring males congregate in leks to perform a “strutting display” that sounds like a coffee percolator. Females observe these displays and select the most attractive males. Females make nests on the ground at the base of a sagebrush plant or grass patch. After her clutch of 6-13 eggs hatches, the young are immediately able to follow her.

Greater Sage-Grouse are totally dependent on sagebrush-dominated habitats where they forage on the ground. Lacking a muscular crop they are unable to digest hard seeds like other grouse. Sagebrush is a crucial component of their diet year-round, with leaves, buds, stems, flowers and fruit, as well as insects, the primary food of the Greater Sage-Grouse.

Currently, Greater Sage-Grouse occupy approximately 56 percent of their historical range in the western U.S. They were never native to Kansas. Evidence suggests that habitat fragmentation and destruction has contributed to significant population declines over the past century. If current trends persist, many populations may disappear in several decades, with remaining fragmented populations vulnerable to extinction. The Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the Greater Sage-Grouse warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act but is precluded since the needs of other species facing more immediate and severe threat of extinction take priority. Greater Sage-Grouse live in wilderness areas of western states that are also home to mule deer, elk and pronghorn antelope. We need to protect Sage-Grouse habitat from irresponsible off-road vehicle use, damaging drilling, mining, transmission and other energy development activities.

Remember the Chickadee Checkoff on your Kansas Tax Return!

This is your chance to assist non-game wildlife!!!

The Chickadee Checkoff is a line appearing on the Kansas Individual Income Tax forms. Since1980, it has provided Kansans an opportunity to contribute to wildlife programs. The checkoff has allowed donations to projects for species of wildlife not normally hunted. In other words, if you want some money to go to projects to help eagles, songbirds, threatened and endangered species, turtles, lizards, butterflies and pretty little stream darters, then this gives you the opportunity to donate directly to these programs. Since 1980, over $4 million dollars have been donated for nongame. It surprises many that there are relatively few who keep this vital program going.  The mean number of contributors throughout the checkoff’s history is a little over 16,000. The highest year saw 26,572 contributors and was largely due to the first time the chickadee logo appearing on the tax form and, therefore, creating an effective visual reminder to folks to donate to wildlife.  In recent years around 10,000 folks still donate to this important program for nongame but they give more than twice of what they used to when the program was conceived, going from an average donation of $5.24 to over $12 per contributor. The mean annual donations total $143,590.

2014, the Warmest Year on Record!

Update

by Ted Beringer

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that 2014 was the warmest year on record. For the 134 year period, beginning in 1880 when accurate measurements were first recorded, 2014 eclipsed them all. The NOAA statement on their website reads:

“In 2014, the combined land and ocean surface temperature was 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20^thcentury average, making the year the warmest since records began in 1880. The ocean alone was record warm, while the land alone was fourth warmest.  Five months set new records for warmth: May, June, August, September, and December.  October tied for record warmest.

The 20 warmest years in the historical record have all occurred in the past 20 years. Except for 1998, the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2002.”

Annual temperatures since 1880 compared to the twentieth-century average. The ten warmest years on record (darkest red) have occurred in the most recent decades. Graph by NOAA Climate.gov, based on data from the National Climatic Data Center.

In the United States, nine western states experienced one of their top ten warmest years; seven states in the midwest and Mississippi Valley experienced one of their top ten coolest years.

Meanwhile the World Wildlife Fund projects serious impacts on several species of wildlife: Polar Bears, marine turtles, American Pika & many species of birds. Polar bears are dealing with reduced sea ice and thickness thereby reducing the time for hunting to fatten up for nursing. Marine turtles are dealing with hotter sand temperatures that impact egg hatching success. Pikas need to move to higher altitudes to find the cool temperatures they require; and, moving up a mountain is inherently space-limiting. Birds of all types will have to deal with shrinking habitat as global warming narrows their inhabitable environmental range.