Ms. Quoyeser's 4th grade class
Ross School
Endangered Bird Reports
A Poem by Rosie K.
Bank Swallow
small endangered bird
pointed wings
swoops down to feed its young
insects,
stuffed in her tiny, acorn mouth
your river bank home
suddenly filled with sticky cement
deadly mud fills your nest
destroys your home
your quiet song
near the side of the beautiful sandy creek
your home was once dug in
I whisper
Riparia, riparia
I’m so sorry
Bell’s Vieros Conservation
and Recovery
There are only 300 Least Bell’s Vireos’s left! The vireo is close to extinction. It became endangered for different reasons. When people put in dams and concrete waterways, the smaller streams dried up. This made the Vireo’s habitat weaker. Pollution and tree cutting has also ruined their habitat. The cowbirds have caused problems too. They lay their eggs in other bird’s nests rather than making their own nests. When their babies hatch, they cause the little Vireo babies to starve. There is an important law protecting this bird: the Endangered Species Act.
California Clapper Rail
Short necked, long legged, compact water bird
It’s coloring rich and intricate
Dark brown streaks
Olive brown back and wings with
Rust and Cinnamon
The Clapper Rail nestles in coastal salt marshes
Hiding in the pickleweed and cordgrass
Its long curved beak probes
The soft mud for invertebrates and seeds
They share the incubation of their rust spotted eggs and
Care for their young several weeks after birth
Sadly, the building of cities and diking of wetlands has led
To the destruction of their marsh habitats
And the demise of their species
That and the appetites of red foxes, Norway rats and feral cats.
Cuckoo Conservation and Recovery
There are lonely 30-50 breeding pairs of the Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo in all of California. This bird is very close to extinction. It becamse rare in 1971 and was declared a California endangered species in 1988. This bird is endangered because 95% of its riparian habitat has been removed or damaged due to agriculture and water diversion. Pesticides have poisoned their food and created thin-shelled eggs. There is no federal protection for this bird. Farmers are working with the Nature Conservancy to restore habitat along the Sacramento River. The state along with the Nature Conservancy has been buying and restoring cuckoo nesting habitat.
The Elf Owl
By Katie G.
The elf owl
The smallest owl
Gray and brown plumage
Flies a thousand miles
North to nest
Pure white eggs
Downy owlets
Fledgings fly
South for winter
Year after year.
But each year
Fewer trees, fewer nests
Fewer pure white eggs
Fewer downy owlets
Fewer fledglings fly
Fewer owls.
The elf owl –
Endangered
Wick-er! Wick-er!
Black-barred with a spotted belly
It probes the soil for insects
The Northern Flicker
Peers out from inside a cactus
Hops around on a decaying log
Wick-er! Wick-er!
The first fledgling of late May
Begs for food
Wick-er! Wick-er!
Destruction of riparian woodlands
Competition with European starlings
Wick-er! Wick-er!
GILA WOODPECKER
black and white zebra striped back,
plain grayish tan head and breast drifting
through the forest crying its high-
pitched, rolling “churr”!
by March pairs are hammering trees
with their chisel-like brazen beaks, hollowing
out cavities in dead limbs
and trembling tree trunks.
but oh, why has your woodland been
destroyed? who is stealing your territory?
less than 100 of the beautiful birds
still nest in California! oh beloved bird!
let's save your habitat and protect your nesting sites…
by Jonny B.
Least Tern Conservation and Recovery
The least tern became endangered in 1970. The number one concern humans have is that the birds’ nesting habitats are being destroyed by beachgoers. This bird requires a large expanse of shoreline and as a result of the destruction, few nesting grounds remain in Coastal California today. Surprisingly, many of the surviving tern colonies exist near highways and aircraft taxiways, around areas known to flood, or on landfills. The least tern must have a place near the shoreline to be able to get food. The bird is forced to change its nesting grounds to places which only have four to five acres and have too much disturbance. American kestrels, feral cats, non-native red foxes, American crows, and others all take terns for their prey. In 1970 there were only six hundred pairs found. Now the population has increased, but the annual rate of increase is different each year. By 1991, the estimated breeding population had tripled to 1,800 breeding pairs and 1.875 fledglings. The increase might be due to the protection of existing colonies and the making of new colonies manmade or natural sites.
People are still trying to help the least tern to survive and be removed form the endangered list. Chain link fences are keeping predators and intruders away. There are landfill islands built in Bolsa Chica Ecological reserve to attract nesting terns.
Marbled Murrelet
By Ryan G.
a mystery to ornithologists for decades
the marbled murrelet depends on coastal old growth
coniferous forests
vulnerable to destruction of your fast disappearing habitat
small robin-sized bird with powerful wings
maneuvering deftly through the forest canopy
flying underwater in pursuit of prey
elusive birds
spotted in predawn light circling above the trees
your loud, high-pitched keer notes
piercing the silence
more often heard than seen
you fly at speeds over 50 mph
you nest in mature coastal forests
chicks pluck off cryptic grayish yellow down
revealing black and white juvenal plumage
logging and oil spills are destroying your habitat
constraints on logging in and around old growth forests
habitat acquisition and protection
will ensure your future
“Northern Spotted Owl”
“Found Poems"
By: Emma D.
Round headed and dark
Eyed
Dense, brown plumage marked by the
Large white spots
In damp, dense, old-growth coniferous
Forests, they call, “hoo – hoo – hoo
- hoo”
nesting in tall trees and when fully
grown, they leave the nest area
Because of clear – cutting, the owls will
Disappear within 20-30 years
The San Clemente Sage Sparrow
By Gigi R.
Tiny bird, so gray, so black,
two white lines above each delicate eye
with a single black spot.
Your white colored belly,
So soft and full of tasy bugs.
Oh! Little bird, your song so high-
pitched, in early February,
in the scrub, in your nest,
lies spotted eggs in one clutch.
Oh why do they have to harm you!
They’re destroying your land
and taking it away!
Predators invade your nest and steal
your precious eggs and you have nothing
left except your nest and your lonely habitat!
Greater Sandhill Crane
(by Martin M)
As the Greater Sandhill soars above the sky
Swooping and gliding through the air
Changing the views of every eye
The earth falls under its spell
Yet this creature lives in fear
of the light of its life going out
Endangered Bird Found Poem
San Clemente Logggerhead Shrike
By Alec B.
The Loggerhead Shrike
is aggressive and conspicuous
as it soars through the night.
Setting out with their stout to hook the prey
without a doubt. For the grasslands are grand
and no prey can hide
from the rare and endangered San Clemente Shrike.
Predators beware that the shrike is rare
and our government does care.
For now it is protected, a recovery plan is in place,
for the survival and breeding
on the San Clemente Island and the Loggerhead Shrike.
John M.
Flying Flocks
The Graceful Sawinson’s hawk
Bi-colored patterns
Dark grey flight feathers
Nests of sticks in the tall trees
Near rivers and streams.
Flocks of hundreds of hunting birds.
Huge round trip migrations,
Thousands of miles.
Habitat located in Central California,
Vulnerable to agricultural pesticides,
Sophie
March 16, 2005
Endangered Bird Found Poem
Inyo California Towhee
Chink, chink in an accelerating series of notes
Relatively soft plumage
pale, rusty orange undertail coverts
distinguishable primarily by geographic range
you live in desert scrub with neighboring dense stands of
riparian vegetation
crying out with joy, you see 2-4 bluish white eggs marked
with brown and purple
the young fledge in about 8 days
poor little bird, you are in danger
there is only 250-300 of you left
water diversion, groundwater pumping, livestock grazing,
mining, and recreational activities; you fear these
you depend on continued management and preservation of
your critical habitat –
you depend on it, or you shall be no more