Friday, February 22, 2008
the shopping and bird conservation connection
Go to this link at the Boreal Songbird Initiative's website to link to the Natural Resources Defense Council's "Shop Smart - Save Birds" shopping guide. Instead of me telling you more about it, go to the link - it'll save us both a lot of time. Suffice it to say - it's worth the few seconds of effort involved.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
urban raptor observations
Last night, while walking up to the house at 1:20 am (on the way home from second shift), I saw my old friend, my neighborhood Great Horned Owl. He does not make his presence known very frequently, but I have heard him for a number of years, during all seasons. This was, however, the first time I have ever actually seen him (and I do think it is a male, judging from size). There are plenty of rabbits in this very urban setting, surprisingly enough, so I imagine he is doing alright.
Then today, I had an immature Cooper's Hawk catch, kill and eat a Mourning Dove right outside my window. This is the 3rd COHA I've seen here in the last two weeks (all different birds, two adults, one of each sex, and this big immature female today), but the first time I am sure that one of these accipiters "connected". I have mostly Mourning Doves and House Sparrows attending my feeder, rarely a few starlings, and only one cardinal, one time, within months. I don't attempt to dissuade the House Sparrows here, despite my aversion to their invasive habits and effects on native cavity-nesters. Here in this inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood, there are no native cavity-nesters for them to interfere with! So I leave them be. I think the COHAs are more interested in the doves: a bigger and better meal. Which leaves the House Sparrow tribe with not much to fear. The day before yesterday, one of the COHAs (a smallish adult male) was perched right on the edge of the porch railing for quite a few minutes. Within about 5 minutes of his departure, all of the passerines and doves returned. They kept lifting their heads to gaze nervously in the direction he went, though --- so fear must be a grand motivator of behavior even for these sparrows. After all, how would they know the COHAs really want mostly to eat the doves?
Then today, I had an immature Cooper's Hawk catch, kill and eat a Mourning Dove right outside my window. This is the 3rd COHA I've seen here in the last two weeks (all different birds, two adults, one of each sex, and this big immature female today), but the first time I am sure that one of these accipiters "connected". I have mostly Mourning Doves and House Sparrows attending my feeder, rarely a few starlings, and only one cardinal, one time, within months. I don't attempt to dissuade the House Sparrows here, despite my aversion to their invasive habits and effects on native cavity-nesters. Here in this inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood, there are no native cavity-nesters for them to interfere with! So I leave them be. I think the COHAs are more interested in the doves: a bigger and better meal. Which leaves the House Sparrow tribe with not much to fear. The day before yesterday, one of the COHAs (a smallish adult male) was perched right on the edge of the porch railing for quite a few minutes. Within about 5 minutes of his departure, all of the passerines and doves returned. They kept lifting their heads to gaze nervously in the direction he went, though --- so fear must be a grand motivator of behavior even for these sparrows. After all, how would they know the COHAs really want mostly to eat the doves?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
court order cell tower safeguards for migrating birds
This news is from the Bird Conservation Alliance listserv:
"Federal Court Orders Cell Tower Safeguards for Migrating Birds
Decision could save millions of birds killed each year in tower collisions
Washington, DC (February 19, 2008) – A federal court of appeals today issued a ruling ordering the Federal Communications Commission to carefully evaluate the potential adverse effects of communications towers on migratory bird populations of the Gulf Coast region. A panel of federal judges ruled that national environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act require the FCC to more carefully consider these possible adverse effects in its tower permitting process.
“We are very pleased by today’s ruling which will require the FCC to assess the environmental impacts of towers,” said Darin Schroeder, American Bird Conservancy’s Executive Director of Conservation Advocacy. “Given the large number of bird deaths caused by towers, an environmental review is long overdue. This is a huge victory for migratory birds and the millions of Americans who love to see them each year.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates between five million and fifty million birds are killed each year in collisions and other accidents caused by communications towers. In its decision, the court criticized the FCC for refusing to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service when approving such towers.
The court also said the FCC failed to sufficiently involve the public in its tower approval process.
“The Catch-22 … is that the Commission provides public notice of individual tower applications only after approving them,” the court wrote in its decision.
Tens of thousands of communication towers dot landscapes across the country. In Texas alone, there are over 10,000 of these towers. Each month, the FCC receives more than 20 new applications for tower construction.
The situation is critical along the Gulf Coast where thousands of communications towers dot the 1,000-mile stretch of coastline between Pt. Isabel, Texas and Tampa Bay, Florida. Towers along this major migratory bird route threaten many different bird species. Exhausted from their journey across the Gulf of Mexico, these migrating songbirds collide with towers or the accompanying guy wires. In some cases, the birds confuse the blinking lights atop the cell towers with the night stars they use to navigate their journey. The birds become disoriented and begin circling the tower until they collapse from exhaustion and plummet to the ground.
The public interest law firm Earthjustice brought the case to federal court on behalf of the American Bird Conservancy. Earthjustice attorneys argued that FCC violated federal law by approving dozens of new towers each year with little or no environmental review.
“The court has clearly directed the FCC to respect national environmental laws when handing out permits for these tower.” said Earthjustice attorney Steve Roady. “FCC now must go back and carefully evaluate the environmental impacts of these towers.”
A copy of the decision can be found at
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200802/06-1165a.pdf
"
"Federal Court Orders Cell Tower Safeguards for Migrating Birds
Decision could save millions of birds killed each year in tower collisions
Washington, DC (February 19, 2008) – A federal court of appeals today issued a ruling ordering the Federal Communications Commission to carefully evaluate the potential adverse effects of communications towers on migratory bird populations of the Gulf Coast region. A panel of federal judges ruled that national environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act require the FCC to more carefully consider these possible adverse effects in its tower permitting process.
“We are very pleased by today’s ruling which will require the FCC to assess the environmental impacts of towers,” said Darin Schroeder, American Bird Conservancy’s Executive Director of Conservation Advocacy. “Given the large number of bird deaths caused by towers, an environmental review is long overdue. This is a huge victory for migratory birds and the millions of Americans who love to see them each year.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates between five million and fifty million birds are killed each year in collisions and other accidents caused by communications towers. In its decision, the court criticized the FCC for refusing to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service when approving such towers.
The court also said the FCC failed to sufficiently involve the public in its tower approval process.
“The Catch-22 … is that the Commission provides public notice of individual tower applications only after approving them,” the court wrote in its decision.
Tens of thousands of communication towers dot landscapes across the country. In Texas alone, there are over 10,000 of these towers. Each month, the FCC receives more than 20 new applications for tower construction.
The situation is critical along the Gulf Coast where thousands of communications towers dot the 1,000-mile stretch of coastline between Pt. Isabel, Texas and Tampa Bay, Florida. Towers along this major migratory bird route threaten many different bird species. Exhausted from their journey across the Gulf of Mexico, these migrating songbirds collide with towers or the accompanying guy wires. In some cases, the birds confuse the blinking lights atop the cell towers with the night stars they use to navigate their journey. The birds become disoriented and begin circling the tower until they collapse from exhaustion and plummet to the ground.
The public interest law firm Earthjustice brought the case to federal court on behalf of the American Bird Conservancy. Earthjustice attorneys argued that FCC violated federal law by approving dozens of new towers each year with little or no environmental review.
“The court has clearly directed the FCC to respect national environmental laws when handing out permits for these tower.” said Earthjustice attorney Steve Roady. “FCC now must go back and carefully evaluate the environmental impacts of these towers.”
A copy of the decision can be found at
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200802/06-1165a.pdf
"
conservation news (and some other items)
Efforts to help the Cerulean Warbler resulted in some positive results in 2007. See this page at the website of the Bird Conservation Alliance, to learn more.
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Additional recent news from the Bird Conservation Alliance is here.
Recent news from the American Bird Conservancy is at this page.
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Read about the conservation work and related research at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford at their conservation page.
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Not conservation-related at all...but one of my absolute favorite birds is Harlan's Hawk. To see some excellent discussion and photos of a bird we in Wisconsin almost never see (at least not IN Wisconsin!), go to this post on Bill Schmoker's blog.
*********************************************
Additional recent news from the Bird Conservation Alliance is here.
Recent news from the American Bird Conservancy is at this page.
*********************************************
Read about the conservation work and related research at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford at their conservation page.
*********************************************
Not conservation-related at all...but one of my absolute favorite birds is Harlan's Hawk. To see some excellent discussion and photos of a bird we in Wisconsin almost never see (at least not IN Wisconsin!), go to this post on Bill Schmoker's blog.
citizen science research with many uses, and other news
If you have not heard about the Great Backyard Bird Count, you are surely missing out on a citizen-science research project with a multitude of uses and applications. Go here, to learn more about it.
Whether or not you participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, you can see the results very quickly. One excellent way to visualize the distribution and abundance of birds right now is to look at the maps that result from these data. Go to the maproom.
Click in the box for the species list, and scroll down until you get to the species you are interested in. In the next drop-down list, choose the year (you can look at the data for previous years, as well, of course...but I am interested in the current year, so I am choosing 2008 in this instance)
Then go to the next drop-down list, and click on Great Lakes Region (or any other region you are curious about).
Then click on "View Map", and wait a few seconds for the map to be displayed. If you wait a couple of days, you'll get the map for the entire Great Backyard Bird Count period. If you look today, you'll get the data/map for the results entered up to the last 30 minutes.
Fascinating to see where the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks are this year, for example. The northeastern states and New England have large numbers of both.
Remember that there can be errors in these data! Some beginning backyard birders may misidentify birds. Many people who do this for the first time mix up two species. Lots of folks for example, tell me that they have a "Red-headed Woodpecker" in their yard, when what they REALLY have is a Red-bellied Woodpecker (---surely an easy mistake for beginners to make, considering the amount of red on the heads of these two species), etc.
Whether or not you participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, you can see the results very quickly. One excellent way to visualize the distribution and abundance of birds right now is to look at the maps that result from these data. Go to the maproom.
Click in the box for the species list, and scroll down until you get to the species you are interested in. In the next drop-down list, choose the year (you can look at the data for previous years, as well, of course...but I am interested in the current year, so I am choosing 2008 in this instance)
Then go to the next drop-down list, and click on Great Lakes Region (or any other region you are curious about).
Then click on "View Map", and wait a few seconds for the map to be displayed. If you wait a couple of days, you'll get the map for the entire Great Backyard Bird Count period. If you look today, you'll get the data/map for the results entered up to the last 30 minutes.
Fascinating to see where the Pine and Evening Grosbeaks are this year, for example. The northeastern states and New England have large numbers of both.
Remember that there can be errors in these data! Some beginning backyard birders may misidentify birds. Many people who do this for the first time mix up two species. Lots of folks for example, tell me that they have a "Red-headed Woodpecker" in their yard, when what they REALLY have is a Red-bellied Woodpecker (---surely an easy mistake for beginners to make, considering the amount of red on the heads of these two species), etc.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
ethics and climate change
This review was published on the Enviroethics e-mail listserv today:
By James Garvey: The Ethics of Climate Change - right and wrong in a warming world
'The Ethics of Climate Change is a model of philosophical reasoning about one of the greatest moral challenges any generation has ever faced. If you don't yet know why you should be morally outraged about the present situation, read this book. Calmly, carefully, with well-marshalled facts and sound argument, Garvey shows us just how badly the nations of the industrialized world - and the citizens of those nations - are behaving. He also tells us what we need to do about it.'
Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, USA
This review was written by Alison Silver:
"In this book, James Garvey argues that the ultimate rationale for action on climate change cannot be simply economic, political, scientific or social, though no doubt our decisions should be informed by such things. Instead, climate change is largely a moral problem. What we should do about it depends on what matters to us and what we think is right."
"The changes to our planet are already having disastrous effects on the lives of many plants and animals. It's not just the poster boys for climate change, polar bears and mountain gorillas, which are in danger. According to a report in Nature, anything between 15 to 37 percent of all plant and animal species could be locked into extinction by 2050 as a result of climate change. We know from the fossil record that we are now living through the 6th major extinction event in our planet's history. The last one did in the dinosaurs."
"Human beings, too, are suffering and will continue to suffer. The Red Cross argue that as of 2001 there were as many as 25 million environmental refugees, people on the move away from dry wells and failed crops. It's larger than the number they give for people made homeless by war. One sixth of the world's population gets its water from the melting snow and ice tricking down from mountains, a source which looks set to dry up in the years to come. Industry, agriculture and homes on coasts will be adversely affected by the rising sea."
"This book considers a little climate science and a lot of moral philosophy, ultimately finding a way into the many possible positions associated with climate change. It is also a call for action, for doing something about the moral demands placed on both governments and individuals by the fact of climate change. It is a book about choices, responsibility, and where the moral weight falls on our warming world."
"James Garvey is Secretary of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, UK. He is author of The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books (Continuum 2006) and numerous articles and reviews, mostly on the philosophy of mind and the history of philosophy."
By James Garvey: The Ethics of Climate Change - right and wrong in a warming world
'The Ethics of Climate Change is a model of philosophical reasoning about one of the greatest moral challenges any generation has ever faced. If you don't yet know why you should be morally outraged about the present situation, read this book. Calmly, carefully, with well-marshalled facts and sound argument, Garvey shows us just how badly the nations of the industrialized world - and the citizens of those nations - are behaving. He also tells us what we need to do about it.'
Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, USA
This review was written by Alison Silver:
"In this book, James Garvey argues that the ultimate rationale for action on climate change cannot be simply economic, political, scientific or social, though no doubt our decisions should be informed by such things. Instead, climate change is largely a moral problem. What we should do about it depends on what matters to us and what we think is right."
"The changes to our planet are already having disastrous effects on the lives of many plants and animals. It's not just the poster boys for climate change, polar bears and mountain gorillas, which are in danger. According to a report in Nature, anything between 15 to 37 percent of all plant and animal species could be locked into extinction by 2050 as a result of climate change. We know from the fossil record that we are now living through the 6th major extinction event in our planet's history. The last one did in the dinosaurs."
"Human beings, too, are suffering and will continue to suffer. The Red Cross argue that as of 2001 there were as many as 25 million environmental refugees, people on the move away from dry wells and failed crops. It's larger than the number they give for people made homeless by war. One sixth of the world's population gets its water from the melting snow and ice tricking down from mountains, a source which looks set to dry up in the years to come. Industry, agriculture and homes on coasts will be adversely affected by the rising sea."
"This book considers a little climate science and a lot of moral philosophy, ultimately finding a way into the many possible positions associated with climate change. It is also a call for action, for doing something about the moral demands placed on both governments and individuals by the fact of climate change. It is a book about choices, responsibility, and where the moral weight falls on our warming world."
"James Garvey is Secretary of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, UK. He is author of The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books (Continuum 2006) and numerous articles and reviews, mostly on the philosophy of mind and the history of philosophy."
new book on humanity's relationship with birds
Nigel Collar and his colleagues A.J. Long, P. Robles Gil, and J. Rojo have produced a new book we all should be reading. Birds and People: Bonds in a Timeless Journey "is split into five chapters looking at all aspects of human's relationship with birds". Find out more about this book at the BirdLife International website.
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