Nests Required for a PhD Student to Investigate the Impact of Pesticides on Songbirds

 A recent communication from the BTO requests nests to be sent to Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, a  PhD student at Sussex University, who is currently working on the impact of pesticides on songbirds. Although bird protection law permits the cleaning out of nests between 1^st September and 31^st January, some hole-nesting species, including sparrows, may have second or third broods in the same nest. Therefore, their nests should be left until later in the autumn when it is certain that they are no longer in use. However, once you are certain that the nest is no longer in use, then please consider sending it to Cannelle, to further her important research, part of which, as she explains, is “to understand the exposure of chicks to pesticide within the nest. Birds' nests are composed of a wide range of materials, often including animal-derived materials such as feathers, hair and fur. Parasite treatments are applied on pets and livestock on a regular basis, which could potentially end up in a bird's nest. We intend to find out if chicks are exposed to these treatments.”
 
All you have to do is fill in a short form with details of the nest, and send it and the nest to Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, PhD student, Evolution, Behaviour and Environment School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG.

Cannelle can be contacted at ct430@sussex.ac.uk
 

One of our members, Laura Bimson, has already sent in three nests from her garden in Liverpool 12, photos below. It would be great if more of our members could do the same, and help to further this important research. 

Successful blue tit nest in Laura's garden

10 eggs, 8 chicks

Successful starling nest in Laura's garden

4 eggs, 4 chicks

Unsuccessful starling nest in Laura's garden

5 eggs, 5 deceased chicks

 

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

COLLECTING NESTS

From the Nesting Neighbours participants

We hope this will help us understand the exposure of chicks to pesticides within the nest and the impact on songbirds.

Birds’ nests are composed of a wide range of materials, often including animal-derived materials such as feathers, hair and fur.  Parasite treatments are applied on pets and livestock on a regular basis with a variety of veterinary treatments and they could potentially end up in a bird’s nest. We intend to find out if this happens

Method

So that we can keep track of which nest came from where, please fill in the form below and include in with your nest(s).

Nest(s) should be place in a closed bag (Ziploc bag, envelopes) with one nest per bag. If you are sending multiple nests, please make sure you label them in some way (number on the bag/envelop).

If there are unhatched eggs or dead chicks please leave them in the nest.

You are advised to wear gloves and ensure the Ziploc bag is closed outside. Wash your hands after handling the nest.

Nest Collection Form 

Your name:

Questions:

Is there farmland within 200m of your house? _____________________________

Circle if there are: cattle/sheep/goats/horses/poultry/pigs/dogs/cats

 

Do you have pets or other animals? ______________________ if yes,

What type e.g. dog/cat/rabbit? ________________________________________

How many of each? __________________________________________

 

Do they have access to the outside/your garden? ___________________________________

 

Do you treat them for fleas? _____________ if yes,

With what? _____________________________________________________

How frequent? _______________________________________________________

 

Do you place their hair outside (for birds to build their nests)? ________________________

 

Message from the blog poster: the below should be in table format, but it is not working in Blogger!  If you contact Cannelle, she should be able to send you the form.

Bag number:

Date of nest collection:

Location (postcode):

Habitat (type):

Species:

Total number of eggs:

Number of unhatched eggs:

Total number of chicks:

Number of dead chicks:

 

Written by Debra Williams

Foraging behaviour of gulls

Monika Reiss, PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, who we interviewed recently, has produced the following blog for us about the foraging behaviour of gulls in general, and Liverpool's gulls in particular.

Juvenile herring gulls on the Mersey, April 2020. Photo credit: Debra Williams

 

Diet

Gulls are omnivorous and mostly opportunistic seabirds. Their natural foraging material found in the water can be any kind of marine fish, invertebrates, shrimps, cockles, crabs, crayfish, clams and mussels. Naturally found food in the terrestrial environment may include worms, insects and other birds, their offspring and eggs. It is known that herring gulls are cannibals and they often prey on the adults of their own species and their young. The biggest of all gulls – the great black-backed gull – can even eat common terns, Manx shearwaters and other big gulls. The common and black-headed gulls additionally eat seeds and grains. Their non-natural or anthropogenic food includes fast food like chips, fried chicken, burgers, human refuse gathered from rubbish bins or refuse tips, and discarded fish from fish-processing plants. Their nutritional intake and needs may vary between the seasons; for example, during the breeding period (April-August), the female needs food rich in calcium and protein as she is laying eggs. After the eggs hatch, the parents need to provide a sufficient amount of calories, not only for themselves, but also for their chicks. Gulls’ nutritional needs decrease during the winter when their chicks have fledged.

How do they get food?

Gulls can obtain food in the air, water and on the ground; thanks to many different techniques for sourcing their prey, they can meet their foraging needs. Most of those birds forage on the tidal flats during the low tide; exposed marine fauna is vulnerable and very easy to catch. Gulls can catch their prey by simply walking on the mud flats and picking up small fish or invertebrates. If they find something more difficult to get into, like, for example, shellfish, they pick it up in their beaks and drop it from height onto the rocks, until the shell cracks. Something similar may happen with small mammals or other birds’ chicks: they can either drop them or drown them in the water. Gulls very often fly near shores where they can effectively spot any available food and pick it up. When they find food, they often perform a long, loud call to let other birds know about this potential food source. This behaviour works along with the ‘tit for tat’ rule, and most likely, in the future, this favour will be returned. While swimming – or, rather, ‘loafing’ on the water – birds can passively search for food as well. When they notice a movement under the surface, they can shallowly dive to catch the prey. The common gull has an amazing ability to hover above the surface of the water, with its head down, and can catch fish without diving! Gulls also like to gather around freshly ploughed fields where they can forage on worms and insects. Big groups of gulls are often seen flying behind fishing boats, where they can often steal fish from the fishing nets. Another act of theft performed by urban gulls is stealing human discards from refuse dumps and small rubbish bins; bolder gulls even try to snatch food from people’s hands. But theft is not related to only anthropogenic sources of food – gulls can steal a meal off other birds, too, and sometimes this can cause an air fight.

Where do they get food from?

Gulls are seabirds so their natural food is usually found in waterways like the River Mersey or the Irish Sea, but sometimes they also use small ponds or lakes, for example, lakes in Sefton Park or Princes Park. They also enjoy the beaches at Formby and Crosby. Gulls prefer open spaces which are not full of trees, and they actively avoid dense forests; it is easier for them to spot a predator in an open space. Therefore, they also forage around Stanley Park in Anfield or Wavertree Playground. Urban gulls of Liverpool, especially during the summer months, take advantage of tourists willing to feed them along the docks and also in the city centre. Gulls very often sit on the rooftops, outside restaurants or fish and chip shops, and watch for any refuse or wait to steal the food out of customers’ hands. Another source of human discards is the ‘rubbish tip’ or recycling centre, for example, Otterspool and Old Swan Waste Recycling Centres. Birds can easily access food discards and can very often spend i several hours in these places. As mentioned before, gulls prey on different gulls’ chicks and eggs; this can happen during the breeding season on the rooftops of buildings (shopping centres, university buildings, houses) if they are urban gulls, or in natural colonies like the one in the salt marshes in Southport.

Given that we are now reducing the amount of food waste that is sent to landfill, and that there have been many fewer people and thus food refuse around our city centres recently due to the Covid-19 lockdown, it will be interesting to continue to monitor our urban gulls, to see how they react to this reduction in anthropogenic food sources.

Edited by Debra Williams