Black Hills rush
Only this time it's not for gold but for a bird. And an extremely rare one at that.
I was in New York City last week when I got a call from a friend describing a near impossible scenario taking place in South Dakota. It seems a young man doing bird studies had found an orange-billed nightingale thrush in the Black Hills on July 10 and proceeded to record it and photograph it.
Just to let you know how huge this news is consider this: it's only the second confirmed record in the US (apart from another dead specimen) and the first outside of Texas. Folks this is a Mexican bird!
Many of my collegues have already seen it but my schedule won't allow me to do so. At least not until August. This news is creating a tsunami of visitors to the area and will for some time.
What's it doing in South Dakota, you ask? Invariably I turn to Roger Tory Peterson to answer such questions. He said, "Birds have wings and tend to use them."
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/22/2010 at 2:30 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bird watching, birding, black hills, northland outdoors, orange billed nightingale thrush
Want to see a photographic first?
Biologist Daniel Lebbin working at Peru’s Abra Patricia Bird Reserve was able to take the shot of a lifetime, the first ever photograph of an Ochre-fronted Antpitta (don't worry, I hadn't heard of it either) in the wild.
According to the American Bird Conservancy (which Lebbin was working for), the bird was first discovered in 1976 and exists only in two remote locations at certain altitudes in the Andes. At least that's the only places they've been found thus far.
I won't show this copyrighted photo but click here to see it. It's not the best of shots and the bird is far from being tropically stunning, but at least he got the picture. Cool.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/22/2010 at 2:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: antpitta, birding, northland outdoors, peru
A breezy end to prairie chickens?
It's no surprise I'm not a proponent of wind energy. Let me state that right upfront. Look in past posts for the litany of reasons.
To add to that list I came across a column in the Oklahoman by Ed Godfrey. Seems a local power company (Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.) is giving another dose of cash--in this instance $4.9 million--to the Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation. Why? To buy land as a sort of cap-and-trade scheme in order to mitigate expected losses of lesser prairie chickens on land dedicated to wind farms.
Ed writes:
But will it really save the birds? Can the Wildlife Department just buy more land to replace prairie chicken country that is lost by the development of wind power?
Unfortunately, the best place to harvest wind energy in Oklahoma is in the last remaining places where prairie chickens can survive.
The two can't co-exist on the same ground. Prairie chickens see wind turbines as raptor roosts. The birds instinctively scatter from the ominous shadows of wind turbines.
...
Even Alan Peoples, head of the wildlife division for the state Wildlife Department, admitted to wildlife commissioners at Tuesday's meeting of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission that it might be a losing battle.
"We are trying to work as hard as we can to stave off the inevitable," Peoples told commissioners. "The lesser prairie chicken is in peril. There is no doubt about it."
I particularly like his closing sentence:
Wind farms didn't cause the prairie chickens' plight. But wind farms may drive the final nail in their coffin.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/17/2010 at 6:09 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, northland outdoors, prairie chicken, wind energy, wind farms, wind turbines
If you happen to go to BC...
The news of two albino common ravens in the Qualicum Beach area of British Columbia has been out for awhile and I've seen a few articles about it. None had great accompanying photos but this one does (Vancouver Sun).
...recent sightings of two of the extremely rare creatures north of Nanaimo, B.C., have bird-watchers around the world taking interest — with many flocking to the Qualicum Beach area to see if they can have a first-hand look.
Colin Bartlett, owner of Nanaimo's Backyard Bird and Nature Store and a local bird expert, said sightings of the white ravens began with reports of one about 10 years ago, meaning this year’s increase to two is a big jump. He said if the ravens are full albinos, it would be a "very rare" occurrence.
It's believed that the last time a white raven was seen elsewhere in the world was three years ago in England. Before that, one was sighted in Alaska in 2003.
Nope. I've never seen one. But it would be rather exciting I should think. I suppose I should redouble my efforts around here to find one. Needle-in-the-haystack to be sure, but you never know.
Click on the link above for a couple of great photos of this rather rare occurrence.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/16/2010 at 7:58 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: albino raven, bird watching, birding, northland outdoors
Can you add diatryma to your life list?
Once during a Christmas Bird Count here in Fargo, I counted a number of gray partridge. Strangley I never saw nor did I hear the birds. But their tracks, fresh in new-fallen snow, gave them away. I was hesitant but the count leader considered this evidence compelling enough to add to the day list.
In Washington state a different sort of tracks were recently discovered. And they were laid down by a bird too. Only this bird was somewhat larger and slightly older. It was a Diatryma.
From the Bellingham Herald:
When it walked the Earth 50 million years ago, the flightless bird, called Diatryma, stood 7 feet tall and weighed perhaps 350 pounds. Think of a creature the size of basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, but with feathers and a massive beak.
People connected with the discovery and retrieval of the fossil say it's the first undisputed track print of a Diatryma ever found, anywhere.
Okay, this really shouldn't count on a life list. But it's neat nonetheless.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/15/2010 at 7:43 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, diatryma, northland outdoors
All rise!
I'm a subscriber to ID Frontiers (free). One thing I've learned during the months and years of reading the posts to this listserv is how little I actually know. The learned folks who opine on this site are impressive in their understanding of the tiniest detail of avian natural history, mostly identification. David Sibley, Ken Kaufmann, et al., are regular contributors to this site, just to drop a couple famous names. It's humbling for armchair birders such as myself. But it serves to challenge and motivate the meek.
A recent post issued a typical challenge with an accompanying set of photos showing what appears to be a weird white-throated sparrow at a banding station in Pennsylvania. Here's the photo (by Maggie McPherson):
This bird shows all the field marks of a white-throated sparrow with one glaring exception. Instead of white feathering on the crown, face, neck, and breast there is dark smudgy gray. I have a guess as to what this bird might be (a melanistic bird, that is one with an overage of melanin [dark pigment]) but I dare not weigh in for fear of being made a fool by the judges sitting high upon lofty thrones.
It's fun to sit back and watch the gifted folk give their opinion and that's exactly what I plan to do. I'll let you know if there is a consensus on this bird.
In the meantime, if you want to peek into some recent posts on ID Frontiers, click here. Be forewarned, it's not for the weak.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/14/2010 at 1:02 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bird watching, birding, id frontiers, northland outdoors
Nearly gallery-worthy
First let me admit to a character trait not fully appreciated by the rest of my family. I'm a collector. Not bottle caps, or coins, or baseball cards (anymore), or anything usually thought of as "collectables." No, I collect dead things. Or at least remnants of them.
In various boxes I have beaver skulls, deer skulls, etc.; even a mountain lion skull I found a few years ago in Arizona. There are other bones also along with odds and ends of this and that. Oh, and I have some nests too.
Four years ago I happened upon an active nest of black-chinned hummingbirds in Nevada. Every couple of days I would check their progress until finally the young birds fledged and left the empty nest. I couldn't resist the temptation so I broke off the branch and kept it thinking one day I would glue it into a plexiglass box and display it somehow.
That day finally happened recently when my wife suggested I put it in a shadow box she had. (Imagine, my wife actually taking interest in this!). Anyway I mentioned I had a photo of two young hummers in the exact nest so together we built a little display with the actual limb glued to the box with the photo as a backdrop:
I'm not an artsy type but I think this thing turned out rather well. I could probably sell it on Ebay or something. But I won't. It's too cool.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/13/2010 at 2:50 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: birding, hummingbird nest, northland outdoors
When the cure makes it worse
Stories about the gulf oil disaster are legion. So much so that media interest is actually waning despite the ongoing tragedy taking place down there. It's getting stale news-wise.
The environmental portion has focused on habitat and wildlife (mostly birds) with the usual oil-soaked bird photos accompanying each piece.
But the Drudge Report carried a different sort of story this week. It was linked from National Geographic. What set this one apart from the herd was its headline:
Gulf Oil Cleanup Crews Trample Nesting Birds
What followed was a story anyone with knowledge of coastal nesting birds could predict:
...according to conservationists, some well-meaning cleanup crews who unknowingly walk into nesting habitat may be doing more harm than the oil itself, experts say.
...But with oil encroaching on Florida's coasts, an army of cleanup crews has descended on the seashore. About 44,300 people are now de-oiling roughly 450 miles (720 kilometers) of Gulf coastline, according to the website for the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, the joint federal-industry task force responding to the Gulf oil spill.
With so many people working so close to breeding grounds, frightened adult birds are abandoning their nests, and adults and chicks are being inadvertently trampled.
"Most of us know that the cleanup can do more damage than the oil could ever do," said Riley Hoggard, a resource-management specialist for Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Interesting. I think what Mr. Hoggard is trying to say--if you'll allow me the license to postulate--is: 'Crude oil is a naturally occurring substance and nature has its own wonderful way of living with it and dealing with it. Given time, even this disaster will heal itself despite the gross and unsightly nature of it all right now. Think long-term, not in short human-centric weeks or months or even years, but geological time. The gulf will certainly look different for awhile but years from now you'll have to consult history books to find out what happened here. Such is the resiliency of nature.'
Should we do anything? Of course. But let's do it smartly and with care. I've even run across another article (wish I could find it) which basically said it might be better if we just left everything alone.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/10/2010 at 5:34 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, gulf oil spill, northland outdoors
It's a legacy thing
I can't recall what the rules are which dictate the "official" names of common birds in America. Nor do I want to take the time to research it. My only beef has always been the apparent disconnect between the name and the bird when it comes to descriptive names.
(Note we are talking about common names. In truth, the real name of birds [and any biological entity for that matter] is the latinized binomial; the one science uses but is cumbersome for the general public. Orange-crowned warbler is thus known in the halls of academia as Vermivora celata where the first word denotes genus, the second the species).
Take for instance the orange-crowned warbler. Admittedly the birds have an orange crown. But you are hard-pressed to see this feature in a normal encounter with the bird. In fact, I would suspect there is a large percentage of birders who have never seen the orange crown on an orange-crowned warbler.
No, I suspect most names are derived from specimens in the hand. Some bearded guy from way back when is looking at carcasses and sees a characteristic he feels is unique enough to qualify as being part of the name. Thus, orange-crowned warbler. And it sticks for posterity.
I get the role history plays in all this. Naming rights, first-finder and all that. But shouldn't the species more accurately reflect what's seen in the field?
I only bring this up after receiving some photos from a friend of a woodpecker visiting his feeders. The bird below is called--and this its official common name--a red-bellied woodpecker. See much red? Perhaps the faintest of pinkish blushes is noticeable but not much more. Can't we do better?
Thanks Bob.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/09/2010 at 7:00 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: birding, northland outdoors, red bellied woodpecker
It had to happen
Two days ago I wrote of the euthanizing of over 100 Canada geese in Bend, Ore. The move by the Bend Park and Recreation District did two things. It eliminated a good number of problem geese in the parks and the meat went to feed the homeless. Who could argue with that?
Well, in this day and age the 'who' are out there. Or should I say out there?. My cousin Bill brought them to my attention with an article in Oregonlive.com, headlined, Service planned to mourn geese euthanized in Bend. I kid you not.
To mourn the death of 109 Canada geese that were euthanized at the behest of the Bend Park & Recreation District, some city residents plan to hold a memorial service at the Galveston Bridge in Drake Park on Thursday evening to remember the slain birds.
Event organizers contend the killings were unnecessary, and in an invitation to the event, say individuals can meet to offer their prayers, play music or participate in moments of silence for the geese.
Then there's the quote from a typical sympathizer:
"I think a memorial like this will help people console each other," said 62-year-old Bend resident Foster Fell, as he stood outside the Bend Public Library with fliers decrying the park district's use of lethal methods on Canada geese. "I, myself, in the last few days have been nursing a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat."
Fell said he moved to Bend two years ago to "rub elbows" with Central Oregon's wildlife, and during that time found the Canada goose to be an iconic image of the city and its parks. When he found out that the park district was going to start killing the geese, he started organizing a campaign to persuade it to maintain its nonlethal efforts to control the population.
I am darn near at a loss for what to say. When Canada geese assume a political position nearly equal to that of humans, we have indeed lost our way.
Thanks Bill. kcorliss@forumcomm.com
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/08/2010 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bend oregon, birding, canada geese, northland outdoors
Fuzzy young'uns
I got out to look at birds Sunday morning in an area south of Fargo which has become one of my favorite haunts. The amount of food-carrying by adult birds was amazing.
This is the season when little more than raising a family is taking place in the avian realm. I've also made this point before but as of this moment--give or take a few weeks--there are more birds in the Northern Hemisphere than any other time of year. From here until the beginning of the next nesting season, their numbers will dwindle. Something to ponder.
Anyway, I can't recall seeing a very young and downy yellow warbler before. We did Sunday:
When I first saw this bird I was surprised it was able to fly, so covered it was with down. But as soon as momma came in and flew away, the young bird followed obediently. Very cool.
For those unaware, yellow warblers are but a tiny handful of neotropical warblers which actually nest in North Dakota, the rest being merely migrants. Yellows, though, are very common throughout the state. In addition, I heard a singing ovenbird Sunday. Yet another North Dakota-nesting warbler but not nearly as common.
For those interested in observing the process of raising young by birds, get out now. It's awesome.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/07/2010 at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bird watching, birding, northland outdoors, yellow warbler
Ever wonder?
(North Dakota landscape)
A lawsuit and subsequent $800,000 fine against Canada's Syncrude within the last year was reported widely. The company was accused of killing 1,606 ducks which had alighted on its settling ponds two years ago. Fair enough.
But howzabout this? During the first eight months of operation, one of the largest windfarms in Canada (Wolfe Island Ecopower) has reported "1,962 bird and bat deaths involving 33 bird species and five bat species." (Read more here)
Lawsuits? Zero. Negative press? Zero. Demontrations by enviros? Zero. Indictments? Zero. Fines? Zero.
Why?
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/07/2010 at 7:00 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bird deaths, birding, northland outdoors, wind power, wind turbine deaths
They continue to surprise us
Creatures are amazing. Just when you think we have them figured out and proscribe certain measures to make it right for them, they do something like this...
Dozens of interior least terns have taken to using the ash ponds at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Allen Fossil Plant in southwest Memphis to lay eggs while dining on minnows, rearing their young and flying freely.
TVA environmental program administrator David Thorpe told The Memphis Commercial-Appeal that the Allen plant's ash pond complex, about a mile east of the Mississippi and just off McKellar Lake, seems to be providing the birds with most of their requirements.
Somewhere there are biologists pounding their fists at this news. It doesn't fit the mold of cordoning off beaches and restricting activities near sand bars. "Just what are these terns thinking? We know what's good for them."
Nature sure has a wry sense of humor. Keeps us humble. Or should.
(story from WHNT.com)
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/06/2010 at 3:23 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, least tern, northland outdoors
Win-win in Bend
What to do with "problem" wildlife has been and continues to be a complicated issue for government officials both nationally and locally. With the growth of environmental groups over the years, it becomes nearly impossible for any course of action to be implemented without lawsuits or at least a blizzard of negative press.
It's a symptom of wealth I contend. It's only a society with enough time and resources to even care, that such issues become so divisive. Poorer countries and their peoples pay much more attention to simply surviving another day than they do with more esoteric agendas like the environment.
Somewhere there should be a middle ground. Habitats and species should be looked after and treated with respect. Too, individuals, cities, and companies should be able to conduct business in a reasonable fashion. This magical middle ground is elusive to be sure. But that ought to be our target.
A great example of success comes from Bend, Oreg., via The Gazette, with the headline:
Nuisance Canada geese help feed hungry people in Oregon
Food banks plumper after Drake Park cleanup
How can you see this as anything other than a win-win? Here you have a species which is abundant almost anywhere. Couple that with an extremely bad economy (Hope and Change) with it's attendant struggles to feed the poor and you have a ripe opportunity to meet in the middle as suggested above.
Canada geese are being served up at food banks in Oregon state, where more than 100 of the iconic birds were gassed last week in retaliation for pooping up a city park.
According to local media reports, 109 Canada geese were taken from Drake Park in Bend, Ore., and asphyxiated with carbon dioxide.
....
Noting Bend was hit hard by the economic downturn -one-third more residents are using NeighborImpact services, while the number of people collecting food stamps has nearly doubled. Miller said the meat is certainly welcome.
I didn't read of much pushback from the enviros but you can bet it happened. Nonetheless, kudos to the city of Bend for doing it right.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/06/2010 at 1:25 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bend oregon, birding, canada goose, northland outdoors
Nothing like a little mood music
The Bronx Zoo had a problem. It is one of the worldwide locations housing a collection of the rare (purportedly only 400 remain in the wild) Waldrapp ibis. Reproduction was the issue, or rather the lack of it. Seems the past seven years have produced exactly zero chicks.
Enter the mood music. Says the NY Daily News:
Two years ago, Dr. Alan Clark of Fordham University recorded the flock's own mating calls, hoping to create aural Viagra by playing them on an endless loop.
There was too much outdoor ambient noise on the tape, so Clark tried again last year at the Philadelphia Zoo's indoor display.
The recordings, played back in the Bronx last spring, did seem to get them in the mood, but they still produced no chicks.
So this spring, Clark upped the ante and visited a semiwild flock in Austria, returning with the perfect recordings of the birds' three distinct mating calls: a chirrup, a whoop whoop and a shrum shrum.
When they found the right sounds, they were played mornings and afternoons from an iPod hooked to speakers on the ibis' wire mesh enclosure near JungleWorld.
And the birds got busy.
They built nests, preened and necked. Several couples laid eggs, and the six chicks hatched in May. The birds grew to adult size, about 2 pounds, in six weeks.
I suppose it's easy to say 'duh' after the fact. It seems to work with humans (Marvin Gaye anyone?) and it's been shown to be integral to mating behavior in birds. I should think this is a tool every breeding facility would utilize. The good folks at the Bronx Zoo have apparently gotten the memo:
Now zoo officials are trying the same technique on Caribbean and Chilean flamingos, also experiencing a dry spell.
"If it works with this one species, there's the possibility we can apply it to a wide range," said Dr. Nancy Clum, chief ornithologist at the zoo.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/02/2010 at 2:15 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, breeding birds, northland outdoors, waldrapp ibis
At odds over wind power
For reasons which seem obvious to individuals who have watched the evolution of the wind power industry in this country, the good folks in Massachusetts seem to have found themselves in another quandary over a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound.
The Cape Cod Times carried this headline recently:
Government sued over Cape Wind project
Here's the first three graphs:
The federal government's approval of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm earlier this year is facing its first legal challenge.
A coalition of nine individuals, environmental organizations and the project's primary opposition group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. They claim the U.S. Department of Interior violated a host of federal laws in granting Cape Wind permission to build 130 wind turbines in the Sound.
The plaintiffs argue in their 30-page complaint that the federal government's decision will harm endangered bird species and the North Atlantic right whale.
I don't know where this suit will untimately go. Plus their arguments seem a little weak. But it does highlight a modicum of pushback to the industry.
This case, however, is more about politics I would argue. The Kennedys and Kerrys and their ilk are aghast that their precious little area of the world would be sullied by the eyesore wind towers would present. Wind: good. Just so long as it's somewhere else. Or so they seem to say.
As long as it's on the North Dakota prairie though, it's fine. I have not heard one organization say a negative word about the huge wind farms growing out of the North Dakota plains. But the arguments being put forth by these environmental groups (with the exception of the fallacious whale point) are every bit as relevant here as they are in Massachusetts, namely the endangered birds, particularly the whooping crane. But never mind, it's only North Dakota. And no one wants to impede the progress of "green energy."
Wind energy, with its gigantic footprint and piddling unreliable production, is a cruel vastly expensive joke, especially when our state is sitting on enormous amounts of oil and natural gas. They may not want it in Massachusetts. I don't want it here either.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/01/2010 at 4:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: birding, northland outdoors, wind power
Who says science can't be funny?
If you have a few minutes and would like to listen to a thoughtful yet somewhat irreverent discussion on the nature and discovery of a certain flightless bird, you could do worse than zoologist Mike Dickison. Check it out here.
Posted by: kcorliss on 7/01/2010 at 6:12 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: big bird, birding, flightless birds, northland outdoors
Old lady recovering
I often get asked how long birds live. Not long usually. But in general the larger the bird, the longer-lived they tend to be. Such is the case of a Scottish osprey which has won the hearts and mouse clicks of hundreds of thousands of folks around the world...
On June 22, the UK's Guardian heralded this headline:
World's 'oldest' osprey lives out final days on webcam
Indeed, a 25-year-old female osprey dubbed the Lady of the Loch, appeared to be in a severely weakened state, not eating and not taking water. The story tugged at the world's heartstrings and elicited much empathy from commenters to the site.
Don't rush to the Hallmark store for sympathy cards just yet. She is recovering and doing quite well according to the blog by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. From three days ago:
“Our” female encourages/calls/nags for meal delivery in an ever stronger manner. Although she still appears thin she sounds as if she is her old self again. Will she remain longer this year before flying south in order to gain strength, or perhaps she will more slowly meander as she migrates, taking in the sites towards West Africa? The best to all who follow.
Follow this intriguing story and see the live camera feed here. It's kinda cool.
Posted by: kcorliss on 6/30/2010 at 8:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: bird watching, birding, northland outdoors, osprey
Odd decision indeed
Much discussion has been taking place on various blogs and websites with regard to the government's decision to halt the eradication of salt cedar. This is a weird one.
(tamarisk invasion)
Some background: Salt cedar, or tamarisk, is a woody shrub planted in this country in the early 1800s as a windbreak, to stop erosion, and as an ornamental shrub. Like a lot of efforts to manipulate nature, unintended consequences are released like a pack of hounds.
The tree soon expanded on its own to cover millions of acres of western America, mostly along waterways. Problems: The tamarisk outcompetes and displaces native plant communites to the detriment of whole suites of fauna dependent upon them. Tamarisk increases soil salinity, sucks water from the soil like cocaine, and elevates the threat of fire. It's been found in North Dakota too.
A tool to combat this pervasive problem was found in a little leaf beetle which seemed to be doing well. Along with bulldozing, burning and pulling, the USDA was making some headway. The problem, as I see it, is native plants are slow to colonize these areas which are usually overgrazed by cattle.
Enter the willow flycatcher, or rather the "southwestern" willow flycatcher. Science has yet to decide this bird is distinct from the nominate species but that's an entirely different story (and one I've addressed in the past). It seems the bird has taken to tamarisk as a nesting tree in lieu of native species. Sort of a "any port in a storm" approach. With a lack of native flora the bird is opting to nest anyway, in tamarisk.
CBS News reports on the stoppage:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture ((USDA) has quietly ceased efforts to eradicate tamarisk, or a "salt-cedar" shrubs, from 13 Western and Midwestern states in order to protect populations of the southwestern willow flycatcher, a species of bird that uses the tamarisk for nesting.
In 1995, the flycatcher was named an endangered species, and though the exact effect the tamarisk eradication program had on the bird's population is not yet known, the removal of the plant from the region stood to further decimate the bird's population.
According to the USDA notice released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the use of tamarisk leaf beetles, a natural enemy of the plant, as a biological control agent has been terminated.
While the USDA has not issued a public announcement about this move, it notified some state and local agencies in a June 15th release about plans to stop use of the leaf beetle.
(I am not familiar with PEER but I suggest it's safe to say it's a thinly disguised environmental shakedown group). I contend the USDA is bending over in the face of scrutiny to the detriment of our western lands. Saving the southwestern willow flycatcher by allowing tamarisk to continue its march across the west is nothing but a Faustian bargain.
My take: continue efforts to rid or limit the spread of tamarisk. Aggressively promote native plantings in the wake of removal. The flycatcher will eventually respond to the repopulation of natural ecosystems. Opting to champion merely one species (flycatcher) above the overall health of western lands is ridiculous.
Posted by: kcorliss on 6/30/2010 at 3:00 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: birding, salt cedar, tamarisk, willow flycatcher
When "friends" work at the airport
While checking in for a recent flight from Fargo's Hector International Airport I happened to run into no less than three airline employees I knew, two of which were working for the carrier I was about to board. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries we all went our separate ways.
Without much fanfare my bag was taken and soon disappeared behind the little door not to be seen again for several hours. Does anyone know what happens to your luggage between the time the airline takes it and the moment you see it crawling slowly on the conveyor at your destination? Me neither, but I now have an inkling.
That's okay. I know who they are. Revenge, it is said, is a dish best served cold.
Posted by: kcorliss on 6/30/2010 at 2:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: airline travel, airports, luggage
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