About Those Birds

The Snowy Plover in the United States and the Kentish Plover in Europe look quite similar, almost identical. For the longest time, these two birds were thought to be of the same species, just on two sides of the Atlantic. Well, scientists at the Universities of Bath and Sheffield have found that they are two distinct species. The bird’s true identities have been questioned by scientists for some time and now those questions can rest.

The Snowy Plover is threatened in the United States and it is possible that these new findings could help conserve the bird for the future. When local populations disappear, people are not too concerned, but now that this is an entire species, conservation efforts will be more strict.

The scientists analyzed 166 birds from two populations of Snowy Plover, four populations of Kentish Plover, and a population similar species, the White-fronted Plovers in Africa. Surprisingly, the Kentish Plovers in Europe were more closely related to their African relatives. This shows that the bird populations split in America then split in Europe and Africa.

It makes sense for these populations of plover to separate into different species because the birds did not have a chance to breed with each other, which would have kept them the same species. The ocean was in-between them and they never had a chance.

Top Picture: Snowy Plover by mikebaird on Flickr.

Bottom Picture: Kentish Plover by Joaquim Antunes on Flickr.

Source.

The Mountain Plover is an endangered species that spends most of its time in the Great Plains all the way to Canada in North America. Much like other birds, the decline in mountain plover populations is due to habitat loss and urban development. Agriculture, oil, and gas development are also other contributors to the population decline. It has now been caught in a political debate. In California, two environmental groups, the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the Forest Guardians, have filed a suit to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The groups are saying that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed the mountain plover by refusing to put it on the endangered species list. According to the two groups, the plover was supposed to be put on the list in 2003, but it was subsequently denied. A possible reason for the denial was President Bush’s interference with the Endangered Species Act. This would mean that the mountain plover was not added to the list for political reasons, where lobbyists affect the Endangered Species Act in a negative way. The lobbyists do not understand the science behind needing to put an animal on the list, therefore they cannot help the animal.

Lauren McCain of the Forest Guardians in Denver states “the mountain plover case reflects a pattern of denying endangered species protection for purely political reasons. We’ve seen this with many other species, including the Gunnison’s prairie dog. Corporate lobbyists are currently dictating endangered species policy, not sound science.”

In Utah, the mountain plover has gone extinct due to oil and gas development. If that doesn’t mean it should be on the list, then what does?

Click here for the full article.

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