Several national wildlife refuges (and related lands) currently have Bald Eagle Cams that will be beaming live images of eaglets now that nesting season is upon us. Blackwater National Wildlife in Maryland has two eggs in their Eagle Cam nest, which sits 80 feet up in a loblolly pine tree at the refuge.

The National Conservation Training Center (training center of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) also has a live Bald Eagle Cam that had a good bit of drama last year when an intruder eagle showed up at the nest.

And the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma also has an Eagle Cam with chicks currently in the nest, so be sure to check it out.

National wildlife refuges have been instrumental in helping bald eagles rebound from their lowly populations back in the days of DDT, which pushed them to the brink of extinction. Fortunately they’re making a wonderful comeback.

The Island Sun reports that the final touches are being put on a documentary about conservation legend J.N. “Ding” Darling.

After extensive travel and research over the several years, conducting interviews and scouring through archived treasures and special collections, Marvo Entertainment Group LLC is preparing to release a 60-minute documentary – entitled “America’s Darling” – this fall, just in time for the “Ding” Darling Days celebration at the JN “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel.

Pulitzer-Prize winning American cartoonist Ding Darling conceived the idea for the Federal Duck Stamp program and drew the first stamp design. He was also appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as head of the U.S. Biological Survey, the forerunner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And he was a founding member — and the first president — of the National Wildlife Federation.

During the production of the film, Koltinsky and some of his team members have travelled across the country – from Florida to West Virginia to Washington, DC to Iowa – gathering valuable biographical information and poring through documents, cartoons and other archived Darling relics.

“We have discovered so many treasures, it is difficult to say which are most interesting,” explained Koltinsky. “In addition to finding never-before-seen film footage of Darling, we have discovered a number of original sketches and even some travel sketchbooks. These items put a new light on Darling’s development as an artist, and we are developing an exhibit based on these artifacts to accompany the film.”

The upcoming release of the film will be good timing — 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Darling. Visit the Marvo Entertainment Group website to see a video about the film and to learn more about the project.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that for the second time in recorded history an endangered short-tailed albatross chick has hatched at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The chick hatched Jan 12, just hours after oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and marine life artist Wyland visited the nest. This is only the second known time a short-tailed albatross chick has hatched any place other than two small islands in Japan. The chick’s parents will spend the next five months bringing food to the chick every one to three days, flying tens of thousands of miles to find food.

“The short-tailed albatross chick raised last year thrived and fledged so we know it has good, experienced parents,” Schulmeister said. “Adequate food and weather permitting, this chick will fledge and join its sibling at sea.”

As this website reported in April 2011, 110,000 Laysan and black-footed albatross chicks – about 22 percent of that year’s albatross production – were lost as a result of the Japan tsunami and two severe winter storms preceding it in January and February. And during the tsunami, the first short-tailed albatross chick at the refuge was washed approximately 100 feet from its nest, but was later safely returned by refuge biologists.

Storms aren’t the only threats at Midway Atoll, which is out in the Pacific Ocean:

Unfortunately, an ever increasing amount of plastic debris is mixed with albatross food sources in the ocean. When the debris is inadvertently swallowed by the adults and later fed to chicks, it can cause death to the chicks through dehydration.

News-Journal.com in Texas reports that the land/water transfer between the Army and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Texas is still on hold, four months after the parties last met.

The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant is a federal Superfund pollution site, and the USFWS wants assurances that the Army will adequately clean the site before the transfer. But the memorandum of understanding the USFWS has with the Army does not contain assurances about cleaning the site and it also allows the Army to turn the property over to a third party (like a developer) if the USFWS turns it down. This worries local citizens, the Restoration Advisory Board, and even politicians like Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rep. Louie Gohmert, all of who want the land to go to the refuge.

“For the past six years, saving Caddo Lake has been a critical priority,” Gohmert said in a prepared statement Friday. “Sen. … Hutchison and I have been diligently working on this matter, and she has offered to take the lead in trying to resolve the differences between the U.S. Army and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.”

Gohmert was optimistic he and Hutchison can break the impasse.

“We believe we can then facilitate the transfer of the land in question,” he said. “We will continue to work closely with Sen. Hutchison’s office and to pressure both government entities to resolve their differences.”

The U.S. Department of Interior announced the first donation of land for the new Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge in southern Florida.

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As part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today accepted the first donation of land in south-central Florida to officially establish the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area – conserving one of the last remaining grassland and longleaf pine savanna landscapes in eastern North America.

The new refuge and conservation area – the 556th unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System – is being established with the support of local ranchers, farmers and landowners who are working cooperatively with Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve the wildlife values on their lands while retaining their right to raise livestock or crops, an approach championed by the Obama administration.

If fully realized, the refuge and conservation area will span 150,000 acres north of Lake Okeechobee. Two-thirds of the acreage, or 100,000 acres, will be protected through conservation easements purchased from willing sellers. With easements, private landowners retain ownership of their land, as well as the ability to continue farming or ranching the land. The easements would ensure the land could not be subdivided or developed.

“This is an outstanding example of the 21st century approach to conservation envisioned by President Obama when he unveiled his America’s Great Outdoors initiative last year,” Salazar said. “Working in close partnership with landowners, we are taking a major step to safeguard the long-term health of the Everglades in the Kissimmee Valley, while ensuring the area’s ranching and farming heritage and economy remain strong. Just as we have done in Kansas, Montana and the Dakotas, our locally-driven, cooperative approach to conserving the Everglades Headwaters will help grow a robust outdoor recreation economy for central Florida, while preserving ranchers’ rights to live off the land.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which manages the National Wildlife Refuge System, is working closely with ranchers and other private landowners, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other state agencies, conservation organizations, users’ groups, Native American tribes and federal agencies in the creation of the new refuge and conservation area.

“We are inspired by the excellent conservation opportunities that exist here as a result of the efforts of our ranching community to protect working lands across generations,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “The extraordinary vision of our many partners will help protect significant wildlife species while supporting a way of life that is vital to our citizens. This effort will restore wetlands in the headwaters area, preserve working ranches, and support a healthy environment for central and south Florida, as well as increase opportunities to hunt, fish, hike, bird watch, and learn about the importance of this landscape.”

The establishment of the new refuge and conservation area is one of a series of conservation projects under the Obama administration to work locally with landowners, conservation stakeholders, and state, tribal and local governments to conserve vital habitat on working landscapes. These include:

• The million-acre Flint Hills Legacy Conservation Area in Kansas – the first new unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System authorized under the Obama administration, which will help maintain the integrity of tallgrass prairie wildlife habitat, stream water quality and the agricultural heritage of the Flint Hills;
• The proposed Dakota Grassland Conservation Area, which will conserve prairie landscapes, wildlife resources and working lands in the Prairie Pothole Region, an area that supports more than half of the nation’s migratory waterfowl; and
• The successful community-based conservation initiatives taking place in the Crown of the Continent, a vast and intact landscape that includes portions of northwestern Montana as well as British Columbia and Alberta.

The Everglades, which receives water from the Kissimmee River Valley, will benefit from the conservation and restoration of its headwaters through enhanced water quality, quantity and storage.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held six public meetings in 2011 to gather input on the proposal; collected written comments; and met with representatives of local, state and federal agencies, as well as Native American tribes.

Salazar announced the Service’s intent to evaluate this area in January 2011 and proposed to establish the new refuge and conservation area last September. During 2011, the Service received more than 40,000 comments on the proposal, the overwhelming majority of which expressed support.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a falcated duck, which is a nomadic teal from Asia or perhaps Russia, has been causing quite a stir at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, which is part of the Sacramento NWR Complex in California.

The falcated duck has captured the affections of thousands who have made the trip to see it, as well as wildlife lovers from across America who have heard of it. It has also inspired many people to get outdoors and visit the refuge who otherwise have had little orientation to birds, wildlife and the outdoor experience…

“I was thinking the same thing, that if you want to see it, you better come this week,” said Mike Peters, manager for the Colusa refuge. Storms, he explained, push waterfowl out of their routine and change the locations of where they rest, feed and water.

Of the vast places to land, all the wetlands, refuges, rice fields, sinks, ponds, rivers, sloughs and bypasses in Alaska, Canada and the western United States, the odds of such a rare bird landing on an island in a refuge 60 yards from a viewing deck, and then staying there for more than a month, are practically like seeing Bigfoot.

So if you can get to Colusa NWR in the next week, make an effort to see this unusual bird.

The Thief River Falls Times reports that Maggie Anderson has retired as manager of the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota after 16 years as manager and after 38 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

According to the article, prior to her time at Agassiz NWR, she was refuge manager at Petit Manan NWR in Milbridge, Maine, and Lee Metcalf NWR in Stevensville, Montana. She also served as a primary assistant at Seney NWR in Seney, Michigan, serving as a district manager in Michigan, and serving as a refuge manager trainee at Moosehorn NWR in Calais, Maine.

Anderson looks fondly back on her career. She listed several studies during her time at Agassiz NWR. The Fish and Wildlife Service teamed up with the state of Minnesota to study the declining moose population. That study was the first time climate change was implicated in the population decline, she said. Anderson counted getting science to show what happened in terms of the declining populations of moose, Franklin’s gulls and American bitterns as major accomplishments…

Another memorable moment involved a December presentation to the Fish and Wildlife Service director on sediment issues at Agassiz NWR. Sediment issues are the biggest threat to the refuge, Anderson said. She added that she hopes the refuge and its partners will be able to reduce the sediment coming into the refuge and manage the sediment that is already there. She anticipated that sediment buildup may cause flooding and also lead to issues farther downstream.

Maggie hopes to travel extensively during her retirement and also volunteer at Agassiz NWR, as well as volunteer at more remote refuges, such as three months in 2013 at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific. Enjoy your retirement, Maggie!

The Post and Courier reports that thanks to the DuPre family and the Nature Conservancy, an important piece of land will be protected between Cape Romain NWR and the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina.

“It’s a special place,” said John DuPre, a forester and part-owner…

At 785 acres, it’s 142 acres larger than James Island County Park. The tract sits along a full mile of the Intracoastal Waterway. Lighthouse Island and Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge are on one side, and Francis Marion National Forest is on the other. “It makes a seamless connection from the uplands to the marsh, and there aren’t many places like that left,” DuPre said…

“There’s a strong conservation ethic up here,” said DuPre, a naturalist who sometimes guides kayak trips through the national forest.

“There was a lot of discussion in the family (about selling to developers) and a lot of back and forth, but in the end, we agreed we didn’t want to see the place turned into a housing development, which is almost certainly what would have happened…”

“Their contribution will ensure the protection of the natural integrity of this area in perpetuity,” said Ashley Demosthenes, associate director of land protection for The Nature Conservancy’s South Carolina chapter.

Tallahassee.com reports that the Operation Migration pilots are being allowed to continue assisting endangered whooping cranes as they migrate south.

As this blog reported on January 6, the FAA had grounded the migration operation in Alabama while the federal agency looked into whether the pilots were flying for hire or for the benefit of a nonprofit organization.

The FAA has granted a one-time waiver to the conservation organization, which is trying to re-establish an Eastern flyway for the cranes by teaching young birds how to make the flight. Operation Migration has been piloting ultra-light aircraft to lead the young whooping cranes each year since 2001. The FAA says it will work with Operation Migration to develop a more comprehensive, long-term solution to the regulatory issue.

The cranes will be split into two groups, with one flying to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge near St. Petersburg and the other coming to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Numerous media and bird-watching sources report that many areas are experiencing a snowy owl invasion this winter. The Washington Post reports:

It’s typical for snowy owls to arrive in the U.S. every three or four winters, but this year’s irruption is widespread, with birders from the Pacific Northwest to New England reporting frequent sightings of the yellow-eyed birds. As many as 30 were spotted in December around South Dakota’s Lake Andes.

“Thirty in one area, that’s mind numbing,” said Mark Robbins, an ornithologist with the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute.

Scientists say a booming lemming population has created an equally large breeding season for snowy owls (which eat lemmings) and the youngsters are heading south in search of birds, voles, field mice, rats, and rabbits.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that sightings have been reported at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington state and as far east as Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts. Other sightings have been reported in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas and North Dakota.

On Capitol Hill these days there seems to be a fever that is pushing politicians to call for more and more budget cuts — often without even knowing the impact of the cuts — and that has led land agencies to look for other forms of funding, such as raising entrance fees.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in California recently had to double its entrance fee from $3 to $6, but fortunately visitors were generous and felt the refuge was worth it.

Caryn Sprugeon and companion Jason Van Doran, of Sacramento, stopped at the refuge on Saturday on their way to Red Bluff.

It was the last day at the old price, but Spurgeon said she would have paid the new fee to visit the refuge.

“I don’t think $6 is too much to ask,” Spurgeon said. “If we don’t support our refuges and parks, they will go away like anything else.”

Some citizens have criticized the increases in fees at other parks, and have claimed that since citizens pay taxes, the entrance should be free. But if Congress keeps cutting funding for our land systems, our refuges and parks will be forced to go directly to the people for operating funds.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Federal Aviation Administration has grounded the pilots with Operation Migration — the volunteers who help train endangered whooping cranes to migrate annually from Wisconsin to Florida, specifically St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida Panhandle and the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge.

Sakrison reported that the FAA issue concerns whether Operation Migration’s pilots are flying for hire or for the benefit of a nonprofit organization. The ultralights are licensed as light sport aircraft under rules that took effect in 2008. Federal regulations prohibit craft licensed that way to be flown for hire or for business activities.

Operation Migration officials have acknowledged that the pilots are paid for a wide range of non-flying activities; they maintain, however, that the pilots fly for the nonprofit organization as unpaid volunteers.

David Sakrison, a director on the board of Operation Migration, said a contingency plan is being developed for continuing the migration without the aircraft if necessary. Meanwhile, the current crop of whooping crane youngsters are stuck in northwest Alabama, where they await an FAA decision.