Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/endangered-wildlife/page/5/)
As osprey populations continue to increase, so do the issues that they face in a changing environment.
Experts are spreading the word that extreme caution needs to be taken concerning the birds’ nests on cell phone and powerline towers.
Heavy snowfall is proving to be helpful for some of Michigan’s endangered species, like Karner blue butterflies.
Endangered Kirtland’s warblers spend the summer nesting only in certain areas of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario.
They winter in the Bahamas. Researchers are using tiny light sensors to track how the birds travel between those areas.
Advances in technology help researchers track the birds to get a better understanding of their migration route to the Bahamas.
Is hunting consistent with species recovery?
Freshwater snorkeling is opening a window on Tennessee’s river biodiversity.
Could a similar effort in the Great Lakes region build a consitutency for conserving aquatic species here?
The Bay Shore power plant on Lake Erie has had a checkered environmental past.
But researchers have discovered that the coal-fired power plant near Toledo has also been a harbor in an ecological storm.
Its size and age make the endangered lake sturgeon a fascinating species for most people. But for many Native Americans, the fish is also sacred. And it’s survival of greed, oil spills and habitat destruction signals that the sturgeon remains vigilant in protecting the environment.
If you enjoy birdwatching, you may be able to use your hobby to help protect an endangered Great Lakes shorebird. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is relying on volunteers to monitor the critically endangered piping plover during its nesting season this summer, from May 1st to July 15th. Patrols have already been established in Michigan national forest and state parks, including Sleeping Bear Dunes lakeshore. Most remaining breeding pairs nest in Michigan — with the intensive patrol programs, the number of Great Lakes nesting plovers rose from 17 pairs in 1986 to 59 pairs in 2005, according to the National Park Service. But numbers have dropped in recent years: 25 pairs in 2009, 23 pairs in 2010 and 18 pairs in 2011.
Native mussels have rapidly declined in the Great Lakes region, casualties of the zebra and quagga mussels brought in the ballast of ships. The foreign mussels attach to the native ones so that they can’t open, feed, breathe or breed.
Scientists are using small, dead animals to trap the endangered American burying beetles. They are raising the beetles in Ohio and introducing them into forests. Other researchers are looking for them in Michigan.