Economic impacts, risk factors, and deterrent strategies related to fruit damage by birds were investigated in a fouryear study across North America. Here we focus primarily on bird management strategies tested in the Pacific Northwest, including visual deterrents such as hawk-kites, inflatable tube-men, and falconry. Fields protected by professional bird-abatement falconry showed less blueberry damage than non-falconry fields. Neither hawk kites nor kite-falconry combinations showed strong damage prevention. A pilot trial of inflatable tube-men in blueberries showed a potential deterrent effect in one of three blocks. Bird management strategies that are biodiversity-friendly, such as falconry and predator nest boxes, may also be useful in marketing fruit.
Vocal variation within calls that are generally stereotyped suggests multiple simultaneous functions. These vocal cues may be especially important for group-living species. We describe two fundamental call transition types within repeated call sequences of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas): embellishment -discrete changes to a specific part of a call -and morphingnon-discrete small changes across a call. Of transitions between consecutive calls, 31% were embellished and 20% morphed. Modifications between pairs of consecutive calls were often followed by another modification of the same type, with sequences of embellished transitions generally alternating between ornamentation and simplification. Ten classes of embellishment varied in rate of occurrence as well as temporal location within a call. Most common were the addition/deletion of pulsed or tonal elements. Functions of these modifications could include conveying information on location or the emotional state of the signaller, or they could be products of vocal innovation.
Interactions between killer whales ( Orcinus orca (Linnaeus, 1758)) and long-finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)) have been documented on numerous occasions, usually involving predation events and pursuits. Here, the first documented account of a long-finned pilot whale calf seen in echelon position with one killer whale in a group of three killer whales is described, along with one further interaction of the same killer whale group with other long-finned pilot whales. Behavioral, locational, and photographic data were recorded and analyzed for killer whales between 2011 and 2022 and for long-finned pilot whales between 2019 and 2022 off West Iceland. The data were used to obtain background information on the killer whale group involved in the apparent alloparental behavior. The described event also presents the first documented account of epimeletic behavior of a killer whale toward a non-conspecific. The movements of the same killer whale group in conjunction with other killer whales during a subsequent interaction with a group of long-finned pilot whales do not fit any previously observed behavioral patterns described for interactions between these species and may represent an active effort to obtain another long-finned pilot whale calf. Long-finned pilot whale and killer whale interactions might be more complex than previously thought and influenced by multiple drivers.
From 11 February to 31 March 2018, a lone male sperm whale visited coastal waters from the northeast to southern ends of Vancouver Island. This whale, named "Yukusam" after the Namgis First Nation word for Hanson Island, near where the whale was first observed and recorded, is the first sperm whale recorded acoustically in the area since 1984 and is the only sperm whale ever observed in coastal waters between Vancouver Island and continental North America. The Yukusam tracking story is a showcase for the potential of acoustic observatory collaborations. Tracking a single animal over such time and distance is remarkable. It obviously helped that Yukusam was the only sperm whale in the area, but still, the experience hints at the potential for using diverse independent observatories collaboratively. We then aim to see all the observatories running automated detection classification and location software and having all the data tied in to a public database for a total of almost 500 Gb of recordings, with labels. Supplemental material @ http://sabiod.org/yukusam
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