Bird Man of San Francisco

From the San Francisco Chronicle comes this story about a man who went from homeless and unemployed to author and star of a documentary about his life. His claim to fame? He befriended the feral cherry-headed conures (Aratinga erythrogeny) of Telegraph Hill. About ten years ago, Mark Bittner began feeding, naming, and caring for many of the birds, and his influence was such that when he had to take a year-long break from feeding the birds five years ago, the city was in an uproar, worried that the flock would starve. Mark set up The Parrot Pages website to post information about the flock, and you can also get information about the movie there as well. This web page from ParrotChronicles.com also has a story about Mark, including a photo of him and some brilliant parrot photos. The conures of San Francisco seem to be much loved, unlike the ones in Hawaii mentioned in a previous ISW post.

Monkeying Around

Why are there velvet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in Broward County, Florida? No one is quite sure, though there are various rumors involving escape from a research lab or a roadside tourist attraction. There are two troops (over 100 monkeys) that have established breeding populations at Dania Beach since they first appeared back in the 1950s. According to this article from the St. Petersburg Times, the monkeys have many fans that are concerned about the impact that an impending condominium development will have on the primates. Apparently there's little concern about the potential environmental impact of these "opportunistic feeders."

Hungry Hungry Hippos?

South Africa's Rondevlei Nature Reserve has what is perhaps a new warrior in the fight against invasive species: the Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). As reported by Yahoo! News, a pair of hippos, named Brutus and Cleo, will be joined by two other female hippos (male hippos need a harem to keep them from killing their offspring) at the reserve. The hippos, brought to the reserve by the WWF as a way of controlling non-native wetland plants, are being reintroduced to protected lands across Africa, after being nearly exterminated over the past century.

Tasmanian Devils

From The Sunday Tasmanian comes this article describing the many marine invaders causing problems in the ports of Tasmania. Among them are the Northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis), which is damaging commercial stocks of native bivalves, and Japanese kelp (Undaria pinnatifida), a seaweed that thrives on disturbance caused by native species. Bonus points to the Sunday Tasmanian for using scientific names.

You Make the Call

In one corner, we have Richard Nunnally, who writes a gardening column for Virginia's Richmond Times-Dispatch. He recommends crown vetch (Coronilla varia) to a reader landscaping "several hundred feet of shady, exposed road banks." Mr. Nunnally notes that since the species can be invasive, it "isn't a good choice adjacent to manicured landscape beds." You can even buy seed to grow crown vetch, which the American Seed Trade Association called "an economically indispensable crop," from a number of vendors.

In the other corner (.pdf file), we have the Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation, which categorizes crown vetch as invasive. In response to a request from the American Seed Trade Association, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation reevaluated 11 species on the List of Invasive Alien Plant Species in Virginia, including crown vetch. Crown vetch, along with 9 of the other 11 species, is still on the list (.pdf file) under "Occasionally Invasive Species."

Colonial Tunicate

In response to the discovery last November of an invasive tunicate on the ocean bottom in Georges Bank, the USGS has put together a Didemnum vexillum web page. The goal of the website is to be a clearinghouse for current, detailed information about this tunicate, a marine invertebrate. Scientists are encouraged to contact the webmaster with details of related research projects so that they can be posted on the site.

Update 10/2004: The sea squirt species has been reclassified as Didemnum lahillei.

Sheepish

Animal geneticists from the Agricultural Research Service are attempting to unravel the mystery behind why some sheep have such a strong preference for grazing on leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula). As reported by the ARS News, the goal is to be able to breed herds of sheep who seek out the invasive weed, known to be unpalatable and toxic to other grazing animals.