• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Keiller Kyle and the Last Great Colonial Nesting Birds

May 4, 2013 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

Tricolored Blackbird- Linda Pitman
Photo by Linda Pitman

No one alive today has seen two of north America’s three species of colonial nesting song birds. Both the Carolina Parakeet and the Passenger Pigeon went extinct in the wild over a hundred years ago. Today, the loss of these magnificent birds is lamented by nature lovers around the world.

Unbeknown to most Valley residents, the last of our great colonial nesters is making a stand for survival right here in the Central Valley. Like their extinct predecessors, Tri-colored Blackbirds are at risk because their nesting and flocking behavior makes them vulnerable to disasters that can wipe out tens of thousands of birds in one dire event. In the last seventy years, the population has declined by eighty percent.

Even experienced birders sometimes have trouble distinguishing Tri-colored Blackbirds from the more common Red-winged Blackbird, and most people pass by blackbird flocks without a thought of how many different species might be in one large group. Hence, it’s difficult to generate concern for Tri-colored Blackbirds because to the untrained eye, there are blackbirds all around us.

Enter Keiller Kyle. Kyle is one among a new vanguard of young, highly-trained, and passionately devoted scientists who are revolutionizing wildlife conservation in the west. There was a time when threatened and endangered species fomented confrontation and conflict. Today, they serve as a basis for cooperation, in large part because Kyle and people like him have become so adept at showing others the many benefits of the natural world.

Kyle has a Master’s Degree in ecology from Indiana’s Purdue University and grew up on a dairy. He’s thus uniquely qualified to be the point man for the effort to rescue Tri-colored Blackbirds. Loss of wetland nesting habitat has forced the birds to adapt to nesting in farmers’ fields, especially grain fields. Many of these fields are near or even adjacent to dairies. When Keiller Kyle knocks on a dairy owner’s door to begin to work out a way to help the birds, he has no trouble seeing things from the owner’s point of view.

It also doesn’t hurt that Kyle can cite facts and figures dear to any dairyman’s or farmer’s heart. Consider this: A 10,000 bird colony, not uncommon in the Central Valley, will eat over 20 million insects in a single breeding season. The birds especially like feasting on agricultural pests like flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and beetles. Given today’s concern for the effects of pesticides on everything from human health to honeybees, the benefits of natural alternatives can’t be overemphasized.

Kyle also has an answer for those who complain about the expense of rescuing threatened and endangered wildlife. Working through Audubon California, Kyle and his allies in conservation have established the “Five Dollars, Five Birds” campaign. Because intervening early in a species’ decline is far more cost-effective than waiting until the situation is desperate, it only takes a buck a bird to reverse the decline. Kyle and Audubon have pledged that 100% of every donation will go to the blackbird recovery effort.

Long-time residents of the Central Valley remember days when flights of waterfowl darkened the skies and flocks of swans blotted out the sun. Migrating Swainson’s hawks formed cyclone-like formations as they circled into the sky during spring and fall migration. Huge populations of blackbirds sang exuberantly in the spring and played their critical role in the complex ecology of nature’s balance. It was one of the great spectacles in nature’s vast panorama.

Today, thanks to the advancements of science and the dedication of a new generation of conservation pioneers, Keiller Kyle and his allies at Audubon California are working to ensure that our vast skies are once again filled with birds. With just a little help from Valley citizens, their goal is well within reach.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Nature Tagged With: Audubon California, Keiller Kyle, Tri-colored Blackbird

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Scott Young says

    July 7, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    truly sad…

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America's largest rainforest
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America’s largest rainforest
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a focus of political battles over old-growth logging and road-building in forests for decades, has received new protection from the Biden administration.
theconversation.com
As California?s climate heats up, Valley fever spikes ? especially on Central Coast
As California’s climate heats up, Valley fever spikes, especially on Central Coast
Because the fungus that causes the disease spreads easily in hot, arid conditions, the number of cases will grow, UC Berkeley study says
www.mercurynews.com
Activists sue to block Newsom's homeless mental illness treatment program
Activists sue to block Newsom’s homeless mental illness treatment program
Gov. Gavin Newsom championed compelled mental health treatment for homeless Californians. Now, activists are trying to stop it before it gets off the ground.
sjvsun.com
The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right
The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right
How an extreme transformation in American religion poses an existential threat to our democracy
newrepublic.com
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes of the L.A. Times interview Mayor Karen Bass about homelessness and housing problems in California.
calmatters.org
A Water War Is Brewing Over the Dwindling Colorado River
A Water War Is Brewing Over the Dwindling Colorado River
This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative…
talkingpointsmemo.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
ACLU sues Phoenix over homeless sweeps, citations
ACLU sues Phoenix over homeless sweeps, citations
The ACLU of Arizona has filed a lawsuit against the city of Phoenix over cleanup sweeps of homeless encampments.
www.azcentral.com
'Full-on crisis': Groundwater in California's Central Valley disappearing at alarming rate
‘Full-on crisis’: Groundwater in California’s Central Valley disappearing at alarming rate
Excessive groundwater pumping has long been depleting aquifers in California’s Central Valley. Now, scientists say the depletion is accelerating.
www.latimes.com
San Francisco?s homeless sweeps are unlawful ? and the city will pay for it
San Francisco’s homeless sweeps are unlawful and the city will pay for it
San Francisco’s campaign to remove homeless people from the streets clearly violates…
www.sfchronicle.com
A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.'s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty. Here's why
A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty. Here’s why
The Cecil Hotel was supposed to be an innovative new model for permanent supportive housing in L.A. Why is it struggling to fill rooms?
news.yahoo.com
Fentanyl on campus: One Bay Area school saved a student?s life. Another missed the signs of an overdose. Is your school ready?
Fentanyl on campus: One Bay Area school saved a student’s life. Another missed the signs of an overdose. Is your school ready?
Suddenly, Bay Area schools are playing a critical role in combating the alarming rise of fentanyl that is spilling onto high school campuses. But a Bay Area News Group survey found most may not be….
www.mercurynews.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design