California Energy Commission says no to desert solar plant that could kill birds

Turns out it's not just wind turbines that kill birds. 

The High Country News Goat Blog reports on the threat to birds from high-intensity solar power arrays.

"Birdorable" Birds

Apparently aimed at the brain-dead birder, here you go.

Don't say you weren't warned.

.

Do Bird Song Phone Apps and Other Recorded Playbacks Harm Birds?

The "harmful misuse" of mobile phone apps that mimic birdsong can stop birds performing important tasks such as feeding their young, experts have told the BBC.

Concerned about visitors using bird-call apps to entice seldom-seen species before their cameras, Dorset Wildlife Trust is also asking people to stop using the technology on all of its 42 reserves, arguing that it distracts birds from nesting and tending their young.

Tony Whitehead, from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), has also urged people to consider the consequences of their actions, saying:

Repeatedly playing a recording of birdsong or calls to encourage a bird to respond in order to see it or photograph it can divert a territorial bird from other important duties, such as feeding its young. It is selfish and shows no respect to the bird.

Clearly, this is a difficult and enduring problem. Local San Diego birders may recall a discussion on the subject on the old SDBirds listserv in September 2012 that quickly turned heated, and in which the best arguments presented in favor of using sound recordings in the field was, "I want to, so I will!" So very American.

So what's the objective ground truth?  Well, it depends who you listen to.  But there's an excellent and thoughtful piece on the subject at Sibley Guides online that seems to provide a useful starting place.

Noting that most claims for and against use of recordings are speculative and lacking in substantive research, Sibley offers these recommendations:

Respect for the Birds

• Plan carefully and understand your quarry so that you can guess where the bird is, or where it is likely to be. If you have already heard it or seen it, consider those locations when deciding where to play audio. You must be in (or very near) the bird’s territory to get a useful response.
•  
• Choose your spot and set the stage – Visualize the scenario of the bird coming into view. How will it approach the recording, and where will it sit so that you can see it? You should play the recording from a location that offers the bird a comfortable approach through its preferred habitat, and also has openings, edges, and/or prominent perches where it will come into view. Many playback efforts are unsuccessful either because the bird will not cross unsuitable habitat, or because dense vegetation allows it to approach closely while remaining hidden.
•  
• Begin by playing the recording quietly for just a few seconds – for example just two or three songs, then stop, watch, and listen.
•  
• Use short snippets – If there is any response, try very short snippets of song after that, even stopping the recording after half of a normal song, to try to tease the bird into the open without posing a serious challenge to its self-esteem.
•  
• Watch for a response – If there is no obvious response after 30-60 seconds, play another 15-30 seconds of sound. Remember that the bird may respond by approaching silently, or by guarding its mate, so a lack of song is not necessarily a lack of response, and you can assume that you are being watched. Watch the vegetation carefully on all sides for an approach, and also watch and listen for a response from neighboring males.
•  
• Remain calm – If you still don’t detect any response, play the recording again, watch and wait, and repeat. But don’t keep this up longer than about five minutes, and resist the urge to finish with a prolonged, loud barrage of song.
•  
• Check back later – Many birds will remain silent in the immediate aftermath of the playback, and then begin singing vigorously minutes later. Males in other territories might monitor the playback, and the challenge to their neighbor, and also be stimulated to sing minutes later. If you can wait around, or circle back to check on the area after 10 to 30 minutes, you may find that the desired response to playback is occurring then.
•  

Respect for ones fellow birders

• Be courteous – Before starting, ask your fellow birders if anyone objects to using playback.
•  
• Don’t surprise people – Before each burst of playback, announce to the group that you are about to start playback (just quietly saying “playback” will do), and hold the device up above your head during playback so other birders can see at a glance the source of the sound.
•  
• Be unobtrusive – Keep the volume low and play only short clips of sound – 30 seconds or less – then pause to watch and listen for a response.

My Most Miserable Months: Life As a Palomar Audubon Society Board Member

Between March 2013 and September 2013, I did my best to serve as an elected Director on the Board of Palomar Audubon Society, a non-profit charitable corporation headquartered in Escondido, California.

When I finally threw in the towel and gave up trying to help people who clearly didn't want to be helped, I resolved to adopt a "live and let live" approach towards those usually-genial but sorely misguided people.  However, since I've learned these folks are still dragging my name through the mud, I feel the need to set the record straight.

* * *

To make a very long story short, I did my best to avoid getting involved with the corporate governance of this operation.  As an attorney at law, I know too well the perils of trying to run a non-profit corporation alongside folks who don't share my professional background and ethical responsibilities.

Nevertheless, after several years of social birding with Palomar Audubon, these folks kept pleading with me to get more involved by serving on their Board.

Sadly, however, after I relented and agreed to serve as a Palomar Audubon Society Director, I quickly learned that the folks who have been running Palomar Audubon Society for at least the past few years had precious little understanding of the seriousness involved in running any publicly chartered non-profit charitable corporation.

Among the problems I soon discovered were:

• A complete lack of any kind of training or indoctrination program for new officers and directors (which probably goes a long, long ways towards explaining all the other serious problems I found at Palomar Audubon Society) 
• A propensity to willfully ignore the provisions of the corporation's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws on the ground that it is just too much hard work
• Use of illegal email voting procedures for official board actions
• Complete lack of Board editorial control or oversight of the Society's official newsletters and website
• Failure to review and update the Society's Bylaws in over a decade as California non-profit corporation law and the federal tax code continued to change and evolve
• Inability and/or unwillingness to read and follow the corporation's simple Bylaws with respect to quorum rules, term of office for Officers and Directors, number of Board and Member meetings required annually, and many other crucial aspects of corporate governance
• Lack of proper notice for Board and Member meetings, and especially for the election by the Members of corporate Officers and Directors
• Lack of any long-term plan for recruiting and filling Director, Officer, Committee Chair, and Committee vacancies
• Public announcement of appointment of a new Conservation Committee Chair (arguably the most important non-elective position in this kind of conservation organization) without the required approval of the Board of Directors
• An embarrassing lack of sophistication and understanding of what it actually means to "partner" with another non-profit or agency in the conservation field
• An irrational desire on the part of some Board members to continue a donor relationship with the Wildlife Research Institute of Ramona (WRI) ... long after it was discovered that WRI director David Bittner had pled guilty to Federal crimes associated with the illegal taking of protected raptors

This is by no means an exhaustive list of problems evident at Palomar Audubon Society.  But it does provide a general flavor of the many problems I discovered during my brief time dealing with the "leaders" of that non-profit.

Fortunately, I subsequently found that my "election" was fatally flawed, and that I had therefore never actually been a legally constitued member of the Palomar Audubon Society Board of Directors.  Great relief that!

Due to the ugly things that were said and done during the course of my brief time trying to serve the Members of Palomar Audubon Society, we have also completely withdrawn from having anything to do with Palomar Audubon Society.  Which is actually quite sad, considering that up until this year -- and as lame as Palomar Audubon Society can be with respect to actual birding expertise -- Palomar Audubon Society had become a large part of our social life.

* * *

Otherwise, I wouldn't presume to tell anyone what to do with their charitable dollars.   However, I would recommend that before you donate significant funds to any non-profit, take the time to learn about the organization's management through research, and through direct observation of the non-profit's leadership at Board meetings and the like.

In addition, if you are ever approached to serve on the board of any non-profit, be very careful about who you're getting involved with.  Many non-profits are professionally managed and beyond reproach.  Others, however, are run with all the professionalism of a church bake sale.  Or of a numbers racket. 

Nor do the state Attorney's General tend to devote much in the way of resources to overseeing these ubiquitous organizations which have proliferated like fleas as unscrupulous individuals have come to recognize the naive generosity of many Americans who will unquestionably donate to anything or anyone labeled "non-profit."      

Done right, non-profit board service is also very demanding work ... albeit work that one can rightly take great pride in if done well.

In the worst case, as a non-profit director or officer you may find yourself being held personally liable for the transgressions of the non-profit, or of your fellow Directors or Officers.  

Bottom line:  Be careful out there!  As with many other aspects of life in this Brave New World, you're pretty much on your own nowadays.

Great New Birder Documentary

Devoting equal time and affection to birds and birders, first-time filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball adeptly explores humanity, nature and the precarious balance between the two in "BIRDERS: THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT".

On the bird level, Kimball captures a remarkable number of species in Central Park with some stunning HD photography in this brief but amazing 58-minute film.

The film also introduces some truly devoted NYC birders, including a group of old-school birders with the obligatory photo cannons, brass-instrument technician Chuck McAlexander, and septuagenarian bird-tour leader Starr Saphir -- a true matriarch of Central Park birdwatching who, sadly, has sucumbed to cancer since the film was shot, and who was once memorialized by TV's Conan "Coco" O’Brien when he joined one of Starr's locally-famous field trips.

Kimball looks at Central Park birding in all four seasons. But as expected, Spring and Fall migration are his "stars" when hundreds of birders converge to take advantage of the "Central Park Effect" -- shorthand for the observed phenomenon that as the earth becomes more urbanized and developed, migrating birds increasingly seek out islands of nature like Central Park.

This is, in the end, an HD film, so Kimball spends a lot of time on striking birds like Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Hooded Warblers, and the like but. But as veteran birder Lloyd Spitalnik sagely notes, "If you get tired of looking at the common birds, you might as well just pack it in." Indeed.

Then there's birder Chris Cooper, who says his friends don't see him from April 15th through Memorial Day.  But if his friends question his annual obsession, Chris says he now counters by rattling off his "seven pleasures of birding":

• The beauty of the birds
• The beauty of being in a natural setting
• The joys of hunting, without the bloodshed
• The joy of collecting (in that the practice of keeping lists -- life lists, day lists, etc.-- appeals to the same impulse as, say, stamp collecting)
• The joy of puzzle-solving (in making those tough identifications)
• The pleasure of scientific discovery (new observations about behavior, etc.); and last but not least
• The "Unicorn Effect," by which Cooper refers to the phenomenon familiar to most birders -- the idea that there are birds you've heard of, or seen in books that capture your imagination, but you've never seen for yourself ... then one day, there it is in front of you, as if some mythical creature has stepped out of a storybook and come to life.

The film also includes the obligatory interviews with "experts" like David Burg with WildMetro, Dr. John Fitzpatrick from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and John Flicker from National Audubon.   But it's the "regular" birders who are the most endearing here.

Is there a downside to this film?  Just that it further enshrines Jonathan Franzen as the public face of American birding -- an unfortunate extension of Franzen's novels and essays he’s written for The New Yorker about his birding activities.  Laura Helmuth's article at Slate.com does a good job of explaining what an embarrassment Franzen is to the rest of us birders.  Sure, birders are all a bit obsessive-compulsive, and quite a few birders are socially retarded.  But we don't need this untalented jerk out there scaring people away from birding with his self doubts and self-loathing, his guilt-tripping about time taken away from worthier pursuits, and so forth.

Corrupt California State Parks system still needs work

According to a story in the LA Times, a new audit reveals that the California parks department, which was rocked by an accounting scandal last year, has not completely corrected its bad practices.   Assemblywoman Beth Gaines (R-Rocklin), who requested the audit, added that parks officials should be "moving faster."

The parks scandal broke last summer when it was revealed that the department had a surplus of $54 million at the same time the state was threatening to close parks because of a budget crisis. A subsequent investigation determined that roughly $20 million was deliberately hidden by parks officials.

Added Assemblywoman Gaines:  "California's state parks are among its most precious and beautiful resources. At the very least, they deserve reliable bookkeeping and quality leadership, neither of which they have right now."

What!?  Even with a Marine Corps "general" at the helm, the agency lacks "quality leadership"?!

Actually, I worked for this "general" a few years back.  He wasn't much a leader then either.  Which is why I don't subscribe to this modern cult of American military exceptionalism.  In my experience, it's mainly misguided self-delusion, plus a whole lot of smoke and mirrors.

New birder movie?

IMDB suggests there's a new movie about birding on the horizon.  At least in Canada.

It stars the always enjoyable Graham Greene and Fred Willard.  

The plot summary says: "A mild mannered birder seeks revenge on a younger rival, after losing the highly coveted Head of Ornithology position at the National Park"

Hmm.  Birder on birder action?  Sounds like a typical day in ever-collegial San Diego!

Laysan Albatross in Anza-Borrego Desert

From Philip Unitt of our great San Diego Natural History Museum, via SDBirds (membership required):

On 26 June, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park ranger Steve Bier found the remains of a Laysan Albatross near the confluence of Fish Creek and Lycium washes in the Split Mountain area of the park. Bob Thériault brought it to the San Diego Natural History Museum last Wednesday. A predator had evidently scavenged the carcass, but it left the head neck, wings, feet, sternum, coracoids, furcula, and scapulae, as well as some chunks of feathers. So there is ample preservable material to attest to the identification, and I have catalogued the specimen as SDNHM 53922. Steve had last been in the area on 21 June and had not seen the carcass then, so it may have come down shortly after that date. The remaining skin was quite dry, but how long would a scavenged carcass take to reach that stage in temperatures that reached 121° F?

This is at least the 10th occurrence of the Laysan Albatross in SE California/SW Arizona, all in late spring/early summer. Two of the previous reports are for the Anza-Borrego Desert (Blair Valley, Coyote Creek), but this is the first for which the identification can be verified independently. It’s inferred that these albatrosses are moving north from the Gulf of California, although to my knowledge no migration of the Laysan Albatrosses has been described that would account for the concentration of occurrences at this season.

I can just see the albatross cruising over the Anza-Borrego Desert, looking down, and saying “Fish Creek?! I was duped!”

Thanks to Steve and Bob for recovering this remarkable specimen and getting it to the museum!

That's pretty cool.

Craft brewer saturation?

A recent article at Time on-line suggests that we may be reaching in America a point of craft-beer saturation.  Are Time's concerns premature?  

Here in San Diego County in California, we sure seem to have a bad case of irrational exuberance when it comes to opening new craft breweries.  That trend seems to have been further encouraged by a fast-growing industry involving brewery tours patronized by customers who don’t seem to know a whole lot about beer, but who are always looking for a new way to kill a weekend afternoon that'll make them seem cooler and hipper at work come Monday morning (i.e., not just wandering the mega-mall with all the other Zekes).

Based on that evidence alone I’d say, yes, we may already have surpassed market saturation.  In my book, the only worthwhile market entry in San Diego County over the past year has been BNS in Santee, California.  And half BNS’s attention will be paid to distilled spirits!

However, consider that the last “peak” in numbers of American breweries appears to have been the year 1870, when 3,286 breweries produced an average of 2,009 barrels (which are amazingly accurate numbers for a time of such generally poor record-keeping!).  See Stack, Martin. "A Concise History of America's Brewing Industry". EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. July 4, 2003. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/stack.brewing.industry.history.us (citing data from the United States Brewers Association, 1979 Brewers Almanac, Washington DC: 12-13).

By 1980, the number of American breweries had shrunk to a mere 101.  Although per capita beer consumption had grown over the century from just 5.3 gallons annually in 1870, to a whopping  23.1 gallons annually in 1980!

Granted, in 1870 there was no Anheuser-Busch, Miller-Coors, or Pabst Brewing – at least not on their current scale.  And those mega-brewers still dominate the brewing market in America.

Still, if we start with the 1870 numbers, and scale up for per capita consumption increases, and also scale up for population increases, we see that America in 2013 could conceivably support as many as 114,650 breweries.  That’s a far cry from the current national stock of 2,500 craft breweries reported by Time.

Personal Grooming Products May Be Harming Great Lakes Marine Life

Scientific American reports that three of the Great Lakes—Huron, Superior and Erie—are awash in plastic. But it's not the work of a Christo-like landscape artist covering the waterfront. Rather, small plastic beads, known as micro plastic, are the offenders, according to survey results to be published this summer in Marine Pollution Bulletin. 

Where does all this plastic come from?  Turns out some cosmetics manufacturers use these micro beads, or micro exfoliates, as abrasives in facial and body scrubs. 

These particles are too small for water treatment plants to filter, so they wash down the drain and into the Great Lakes. 

The biggest worry: fish such as yellow perch or turtles and gulls think of them as dinner. If fish or birds eat the inert beads, the material can deprive them of nutrients from real food or get lodged in their stomachs or intestines, blocking digestive systems.  

These wee bits of plastic, essentially "solid oil," also absorb chemicals "like a sponge."  The pollutants can remain in the environment for more than 50 years and can accumulate in fish and other organisms, proceeding up the food chain on ingestion by other species (e.g., humans) where they can cause DNA damage, which, in turn, can lead to cancer or physiological impairment.

This doesn't mean people should stop washing.  Some folks are pleading the case with cosmetics manufacturers to simply replace the plastic micro beads with natural exfoliating materials, such as pumice, oatmeal, apricot or walnut husks, that cosmetics companies like Burt's Bees or St. Ives already employ in their products.

The Body Shop and L'Oreal have already announced discontinuation of plastic micro beads in their facial and body cleansers, and Johnson & Johnson has just announced it will cease using micro beads in all of its products. Unilever has also announced that it will stop using micro beads by 2015. 

That leaves Proctor & Gamble.  But with more than $80 billion in annual sales, P&G is a very glaring exception to an otherwise hopeful trend.

And with a ~50-year environmental lifespan, it would always be better if we didn't do these things in the first place, yes?

Birds of a slightly different kind

The U.S. Navy has announced that he U.S. Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101 received the Navy's first F-35C Lightning II carrier variant aircraft from Lockheed Martin today at the squadron's home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

The Navy says the F-35C is a fifth generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment.

The F-35C will enhance the flexibility, power projection, and strike capabilities of carrier air wings and joint task forces and will complement the capabilities of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which currently serves as the Navy's premier strike fighter.

By 2025, the Navy's aircraft carrier-based air wings will consist of a mix of F-35C, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers electronic attack aircraft, E-2D Hawkeye battle management and control aircraft, Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) air vehicles, MH-60R/S helicopters and Carrier Onboard Delivery logistics aircraft.

Meanwhile according to those keeping track, empirical data from the Defense Department's CFO shows that F-35 unit costs are going up, not coming down. This is contrary to what Secretary Hagel and his F-35 program manager, Lt. Gen. Bogdan, are saying. Moreover, the current unit cost is immense at $219 million for each generic F-35. And, those costs are most likely to go up, not down, as the USMC Short Take Off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) and Navy carrier-capable variants come on line. 

Extended out to 2037, current F-35 program costs work out to a staggering $1.4 million dollars per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  That's not flight hours, mind you -- that's clock hours.

To suggest that the F-35 is controversial would be a breathtaking understatement.  No less an authority than Frank Kendall, DoD's own Undersecretary for Acquisition, has called DoD's approach "acquisition malpractice."

For perspective, the cost to buy one F-35 -- that's buy, not fly -- will cost as much as the annual salary of 2,800 elementary school teachers.  Or 39,800 college Pell Grants.  Or a year of VA medical healthcare for 23,000 military veterans.  Or the purchase and protection of 48,600 acres (which equals about 76 square miles) of bird and wildlife habitat if that's what floats your boat.  (For purposes of comparison, the entire City of San Diego -- from San Ysidro in the south, to Rancho Bernardo in the north -- occupies about 325 square miles of land.)

Of course, that $219 million estimated unit cost doesn't include associated costs to modify aircraft carriers, enlarge and air condition hangars, beef up runways, specially outfit flight crews -- the price list goes on and on and on.  And on.

Nor has the DoD identified any adversary worthy of taking on the F-35 fighter.  But hey, this is what our "austerity" Congress has chosen to spend our collective weal on.  And who are we to question the powers that be?
 

Unwanted intrusions?

Here's a thought.  If you discover a possible breeding pair of birds, and if you think those birds have not been known to breed in this area previsouly, then monitoring the site "regularly" just when the birds are trying to 'hook up' as it were, may not be what's best for the birds.

On the other hand, I guess it's good for a birder who cares mainly about bragging rights?

In the alternative, how about just letting the birds be, and then discretely go back in a month or so to see if anything has come of the observed amorous behavior?

APB on Missing Exotic Stork

Emergency re-posting from SDBirds ...

The San Diego Safari Park (AKA the San Diego Wild Animal Park) is missing a fully flighted juvenile female Painted Stork from the San Diego Safari Park.

She is a young, zoo hatched, and hand raised, and was carried off by the wind Monday during her free-flight training demonstration. She reportedly hit a high thermal and might be anywhere in the North San Diego County area.

Someone has posted photos of a Painted Stork without comment over at SDBirds (membership required) at <http://tinyurl.com/lt4t4ho>.  However, it's not clear if these pics are of the actual missing bird since it looks pretty full-grown.

Anyone with information should call the Safari Park's Ranger Base at
760-738-5010 and give them as much information as possible.  The Rangers will pass the information to the stork's keepers and trainers.

This bird needs help, and the trainers are very worried!

Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust

UPDATE:

In a new NY Times report (login required, we learn that federal policy is actually worsening the depletion of American acquifers.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program, first authorized in the 1996 farm bill, was supposed to help farmers buy more efficient irrigation equipment — sprinklers and pipelines — to save water.   But the new irrigation systems have not helped conserve water supplies.  Instead, farmers are using the subsidies to irrigate more land and plant thirstier crops.

Two Western Democrats — Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, and Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico — have introduced legislation that would ensure that water saved by taxpayer-financed irrigation systems would stay in underground water tables or streams and not be used by farmers to expand their growing operations.  Success seems unlikely in the Republican-led House, however.

As a point of reference, the United States Geological Survey says that while the population has nearly doubled over the last 50 years, water consumption has tripled. And farm irrigation accounts for 80 percent of the water use nationwide, according to the Agriculture Department. 

***

The NY Times reports (login required) that while many Americans are distracted by shiny, new record stock market levels, the nation's historic 'bread basket' is rapidly withering away.
 
The High Plains Aquifer System (HPAS) is a vast yet shallow underground water table aquifer located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. One of the world's largest aquifers, it covers an area of approximately 174,000 square miles in portions of the eight states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
 
The Ogallala Formation of the HPAS underlies about 80 percent of the High Plains and is the principal geologic unit forming the High Plains Aquifer. About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of all ground water used for irrigation in the United States. The aquifer system also supplies drinking water to 82 percent of the 2.3 million people (1990 census) who live within the boundaries of the High Plains study area.
 
While farmers and others have been removing water from the HPAS at a breakneck pace for most of a century, present-day recharge of the aquifer with fresh water occurs at an exceedingly slow rate, suggesting that much of the water in its pore spaces is paleowater, dating back to the most recent ice age … and probably even earlier.
 
Read the rest of the Times story if you've got the stomach. But third-generation Kansas farmer, Ashley Yost, sums it up pretty neatly: “We’re on the last kick. The bulk water is gone.”
 
So what's that got to do with birds, you ask?  

Birds traveling the Great Plains Flyway rely on oases and wetlands fed by the HPAS. When this water is finally too deep to feed these surface resources, birds trying to navigate the area may be faced with hundreds or even thousands of miles of dry, barren desert. 

Also, when the nation is in economic free-fall after we can no longer feed ourselves, it may cut in to one's ability somewhat to spend time chasing rare birds and such?

Loved ... and Hated ... Species

There have been a few posts over at SDBirds here and here and here (Yahoo! and ListServ memberships required) that can be summed up as "Yea, hurrah for Gull-billeds, down with endangered Leasts."  

The controversy seems to be concern by people worried about one species (Gull-billed or Black Terns ... kind of hard to tell which) getting over as it were on other, more maligned and/or deserving species (Least Terns).

This is a great example of the kind of tensions faced every day by folks involved in wildlife conservation.  What’s good for one endangered, threatened, or protected species … may be very bad for another endangered, threatened, or protected species.

I dealt with this problem firsthand in Oregon, where I managed lands on the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Columbia River for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – including the infamous East Sand Island which houses the largest known nesting colonies of Double-crested Cormorants and Caspian Terns in the world. 

In the Columbia River, threatened and endangered Salmon species are king, and most conservation policy revolves around them.  Which means that even Cormorants and Terns, which are “protected” by domestic and international law and treaties, still take a back seat to Salmon. 

Likewise, while Sea Lions are “protected” by the U.S. and most other civilized nations, when Sea Lions feed on migrating Salmon below the Army’s Bonneville Dam, wildlife workers are authorized to use rubber bullets, underwater bombs, and flares to drive the animals away.  And if the non-lethal approach fails, the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho are authorized to kill up to 92 sea lions a year.

Meanwhile, back down river, the birds at the Mouth of the Columbia are continually challenged by erosion of their nesting areas, fluctuating water levels, gull predation on eggs and young, and harassment by predators and humans.  And to add to their troubles, these nesting colonies have already been “relocated” once during 1999-2001, and there is an effort underway to “relocate” at least half of them again by 2015 because of the massive toll they take on migrating Salmon. 

And so it goes.

Adding to these problems is the fact that while the Endangered Species Act mandates that conservation decisions be made solely on the basis of science rather than politics, my good friends over at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) have done yeoman’s’ work documenting all the instances where politics have in fact trumped science.  And that’s a trend that’s apparently only gotten worse during President Obama’s time in office.

And to add even more complication to the mix … otherwise well-meaning people seem helpless to not choose their own favorite and hated species.   And again, not based on science, but because one species is cute, seems vulnerable, or there’s some other emotional attachment.  Or, conversely, another species – perhaps the American Crow, European Starling, Rock Pigeon, or House Finch – may seem vulgar, ugly, or otherwise unwholesome.

So what’s the answer?  That’s a tough one.  I guess less people and more habitat would be a start.  But we here at SDVO don’t hold out lots of hope.

In the Buzz About Bees, Don’t Forget the Natives

Over at the National Wildlife Federation blog, there's a fascinating story about bees.

Honeybees have been in the news a lot this month. On May 2, the federal government published results of a comprehensive study looking at potential causes of the insects’ dramatic decline in a phenomenon known as colony-collapse disorder. 

The widely publicized report blamed a combination of problems, including parasites, pesticides, bad nutrition and low genetic diversity within hives.

The following week, some U.S. activists made headlines by demanding the government ban a class of insecticides, neonicotinoids, after learning the European Union placed a moratorium their use due to concerns the chemicals are harming honeybees. 

The upshot of the story, however, turns on the fact that our familiar honeybees (Apis mellifera) were imported to North America during the 1600s from Europe -- probably because most native American bees weren't honey producers.

While we should not be unconcerned about something as pervasive and disruptive as colony-collapse disorder, the good news is that recent studies show that wild bees and other wildlife are more effective crop pollinators than domestic honeybees.

So what can you do to help?  

Simple.  Kill your lawn, and landscape with native plants!

Sick and dead Gull-billed Terns in San Diego Bay

Local avian biologist Robert Patton has reported that the Gull-billed Tern colony at South San Diego Bay has been experiencing a significant mortality event over the past three days, with 30 documented dead adults to date and additional impaired but still flying individuals observed.

To put this loss in perspective, Robert notes that the local breeding population is estimated at 65 pairs, with a few additional pairs likely but not yet nesting.

Robert says that testing of carcasses and necropsies are currently being conducted to attempt to determine cause of death.

Robert advises that if you observe apparently-impaired or Gull-billed Terns or carcasses, you should contact him, or the staff at the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Reserve.

It's not possible to say at this juncture whether or not this event is similar to the one in 2004, when Southern California experienced a widespread wildlife mortality event in which numerous dead and ill birds were encountered at various locations.  But thinking about recent news stories regarding the incidence of Avian Influenza in Sea Lions and other mammals, it would probably not be a good idea for the untrained and/or poorly-equipped to approach or handle sick or dead birds in such a large-scale event.

Of Eagles, the Law, and Political Favorites

What with all the "scandals" swirling around the Obama Administration these past few days, you'd be forgiven if you missed the local commotion about local raptor expert John David "Dave" Bittner, 68, Executive Director of the Wildlife Research Institute (WRI) based in Ramona, California.  (This WRI appears to be entirely unrelated to the Wildlife Research Institute of Ely, Minnesota which is focused on Black Bear research.)

According to a news release from United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California, Julian resident Bittner pleaded guilty to the unlawful "take" of a golden eagle, in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, on 18 April 2013.  

A "take" under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act means to "pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb."  16 U.S.C. 668c; 50 CFR 22.  In this particular instance, Bittner's offense involved collection of at least one female Golden Eagle for banding without the required permit.  Duffy noted in her conviction announcement that such banding data provides USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with valuable information about the health and distribution of the eagle population in the United States.  

The U.S. Attorney acknowledges that Bittner had possessed a federal bird banding permit, which expired on January 31, 2010.  In February, 2010, Bittner asked the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) to renew his permit.  However, the BBL advised Bittner that he was not in compliance with his expired permit because he had not reported any data for the birds he had banded since October 31, 2006, and that his permit would not be renewed until he submitted the delinquent data.

Dave Bittner (Ramona Sentinel photo)

In entering his guilty plea, Bittner told the judge that he "makes his living" conducting studies of birds and wildlife. His work includes the capture and banding of eagles and other migratory birds, and the tracking of their movements. 

Even though he was refused a succeeding permit by the BBL, the Ramona Sentinel reports that Bittner has admitted that between January 31, 2010, and August 12, 2010, he captured and banded more than 140 migratory birds -- including at least one female Golden Eagle.  Moreover, Bittner admitted that he was fully aware that he had no valid permit to do these things.

Given the popularity of WRI's "Hawk Watch" annual events in Ramona, and in light of Bittner's relatively high political visibility in San Diego County, it seems remarkable that no local media outlet has apparently reported on this story.  Aside from the brief write-up in the Ramona Sentinel, only East County Magazine (a web-only publication) has reported on the story locally.  

Nor did Doug Manchester's San Diego Union-Tribune mention Bittner's recent conviction in a May 17th story about a Bald Eagle hatchling at the Ramona Grasslands.   Although rather than citing Bittner, the story only mentions Chris Meador, WRI's "assistant director."

A check of WRI's website also reveals no comment, nor even a mention, of Bittner's impending sentencing on July 11, 2013, by U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Bartick.  Instead, WRI continues to sell merchandise, report its good works, and solicit funds from donors.

* * *

So when you add it all up, what have we got here?  

Well, it doesn't take an "expert" to understand that capturing and handling a wild raptor, for any purpose, is going to be stressful for the bird.  It also opens up the very real possibility of injury or even death to the bird.

If an individual like Dave Bittner is subjecting birds to that kind of stress and risk, and if it doesn't lead to any contribution to scientific knowledge or understanding (at least outside of Bittner's own personal database and experience), then it seems fairly clear that he was violating both the spirit and the letter of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Hawk in a Can

Add to that the fact that Bittner and WRI have collected many thousands of dollars, from donors who have every right to expect that their contributions will be used for a lawful and objectively scientific purpose,  and you've also now identified very real concerns about the continued legitimacy of WRI's 501c(3) charitable tax-exempt status.

* * *

Of course, in these mixed up times, nothing is ever quite that black and white, is it?

While it in no way excuses Bittner's actions,  we need to also think about the fact that while it was zealously prosecuting Dave Bittner for ignoring the permit requirements of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Obama Administration was being much more lenient with certain other folks.

How so?  

Well, the law which forbids killing, capturing, harassing, etc., eagles, hawks and condors is enforced against oil fields, utility companies and others (like Dave Bittner).  But the Obama administration says those laws will no longer be enforced – if, that is, you happen to own or operate a wind farm.

According to an investigation by Dina Cappiello of the Associated Press, and as reported by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), more than a half-million birds are killed each year by windfarms, including more than 80,000 eagles, falcons and other raptors.  But federal officials have not written a single citation or pursued a single prosecution!

In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is quietly paving the way for more raptor deaths by: 

• Handing out “take" permits that can last for 30 years ... instead of the usual five years 
• Enforcing no penalties for exceeding even these hyper-generous take limits 
• Providing no incentive for wind firms to minimize mortality
• Treating reported bird deaths as confidential business information that will not be made public

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service even went so far as to announce it was issuing "take" permits to wind farms for highly-endangered California Condors.

And unlike the recent allegations regarding selective enforcement of the Tax Code by IRS career employees, AP's investigation reveals that all these actions favoring wind power over raptors were green-lighted by political appointees overriding the objections of USFWS's own scientists.

* * *

Well, that's enough on that subject.  And don't get us wrong.  We're not arguing that Dave Bittner should be let off the hook.  The scientific work he's been doing for years is inextricably bound up with the domestic and international laws and conventions which protect raptors and other species.  Based on the U.S. Attorney's press release, Bittner knew precisely what he was doing when he chose to thumb his nose at the law, and he should most assuredly pay the price.

In addition, when a very public figure like Bittner -- someone who is deeply involved in both the land conservation and wildlife conservation issues that we care deeply about -- takes this kind of very public stumble, it makes it that much tougher for the rest of us doing this important work.

Bittner's serious offense also calls into question the integrity of all the scientific work Bittner has done on projects like the San Diego County Ramona Grassland Preserve, or the Iberdrola Tule Wind Power Project in East San Diego County to name just two.

And that's not even going into the bitter allegations made in several public comments to the Ramona Sentinel story that Bittner "imported" the endangered-wherever-found Stephen's Kangaroo Rat into the Ramona Grasslands.  If that's true, in one fell swoop Bittner enhanced the importance of "his" grasslands, and also killed a Ramona airport expansion project that still rankles among some Ramona residents.

All we're saying is, if one non-lethal raptor "take" negates all the work Dave Bittner has done ... if it merits ending Bittner's career, taking away his livelihood, and jeopardizing the existence of the conservation organization he helped build ... then the very lethal "take" of upwards of 83,000 of these magnificent hunting birds every year by the wind power industry should be met with something other than fat utility deals, government subsidies, and White House insider meet-and-greets. 

And don't even get us re-started on all the federally executed raptor and other bird "takes" in the name of air travel, crop protection ... or even just a bird-free game of golf. 

Fair is fair.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg’s political group funds ads promoting Keystone and ANWR drilling

Grist and ThinkProgress report that Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group has spent considerable resources on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes — including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and constructing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The umbrella group, co-founded by Facebook’s Zuckerberg, NationBuilder’s Joe Green, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Dropbox’s Drew Houston, and others in the tech industry, is called "FWD.US".

If you're dead set against the idea of shifting from an old, dirty, fossil-fuel-driven economy to a new, clean, knowledge-based one -- well, then keep right on enriching Facebook by visiting and using their website!

Coast Highway Improvement Project

As part of improvements planned for the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that runs across the Buena Vista Lagoon just south of the Nature Center, there are apparently plans to add a concrete curb and sidewalk, and to eliminate all street-side parking.

Buena Vista Audubon Society (BVAS), the keepers of the Nature Center, are rightly concerned that these changes will result in frequent overcrowding of the Nature Center parking lot, making it difficult for visitors and BVAS members to access the facility.

BVAS suggests instead building a boardwalk along the east side of the road that crosses the Buena Vista Lagoon. BVAS says such a boardwalk might partially extend over the edge of the water, and could include several wider sections designed to accommodate fishermen and those wishing to observe wildlife. 

We here at SDVO like the idea of a boardwalk along the Coast Highway.  The only thing better ... would be a boardwalk that encircles the entire lagoon!  What an enduring waste it is that this rare resource is virtually locked away from the public which owns it.

Call for Least Tern data

In 2012, biologists studying least terns in Southern California attached geolocator devices to 42 California Least Terns.  These geolocator devices measure daylight in relation to an internal clock, and is used on small birds to track migratory and wintering routes.  

Yes, we know this isn't a LETE!

 The geolocator devices are visible on both standing and flying birds. They are a small, black, U-shaped device that was glued to leg bands.

The migratory and wintering routes of the endangered Least Tern are still little understood.  This study hopes to provide information about these aspects of the other eight months of these birds secret lives when they are not spending their summers in California.  

Since the Least Tern was declared an endangered species, a research priority has been to discover the location of their wintering grounds.  This is a joint effort by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Los Angeles Audubon, and the Pasadena Audubon Society.
 
Thomas requests the help of the birding community in spotting returning birds. If you see an individual with one of these devices, please report it to the project biologist, Tom Ryan, at tryanbio@gmail.com.  Tom Ryan is President of Ryan Ecological Consulting and Southern California Center for Avian Studies.

With only 42 birds equipped, and with such fast-moving and small birds, spotting one of these devices will be tough.  But do what you can! 

10 – No, Make That 11! – Things We Can All Do For The Birds

 Over at Audubon Magazine, Susan Tweit suggests 10 things that you can do right now that would help our fine featered friends.

1. Make your yard a bird oasis

Provide the five wildlife bare necessities:  clean water, plants with flowers for nectar and insects (songbirds feed insects to their young), fruit-bearing plants to provide fuel for migration and winter, layers of plants for cover and thermal protection, and nesting habitat and materials. And not some exotics plants you like.  Native plants are the key to a useful environment for native wildlife!

2. Become a (citizen) scientist

Everyday bird observations, reported on a resource like eBird, provide crucial data that would never be gathered if we had to wait for "professional" scientists to get there.

3. Create human bird-focused communities

Share your passion for birds with family and friends. Expand your yard bird habitat by working with neighbors and managers of nearby parks, golf courses, and farms. 

4. Forgo pesticides

Since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published five decades ago, pesticide use in North America has grown to exceed 1.1 billion pounds annually.  Much of it is applied to lawns and gardens.  You can enhance your contribution, and save thousands of gallons of water annually as an added bonus, by killing your lawn and replacing it with shrubs, food gardens, trees, and groundcovers.

5. Shop for the birds

Buy grass-fed beef, switch to shade-grown coffee, and generally try to buy products certified by a reliable organization as being eco-friendly.

6. Join “Lights Out”

Glass-fronted buildings with bright nighttime lighting may be architecturally pleasing, but they’re deadly. Up to a billion birds—mostly migrants—are killed in building collisions in North America each year.  The U.S. Lights Out movement began in Chicago, where bird deaths at one building dropped by roughly 83 percent after the lights were turned off.  Help start a local Lights Out movement where you live!

7. Save energy, cut carbon emissions

PV Solar and a windmill in your yard are great.  But you can do more for the environment, and spend less doing it, by just cutting back on your energy consumption.  Behavior + technology can = big savings!

8. Part with plastics

Floating plastic bags kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds—along with sea turtles and marine mammals—which mistake them for jellyfish and squid, and then starve to death after filling their guts with plastic. Using less plastic also reduces petrochemical consumption and saves energy.

9. Curb your cats

America’s 150 million or so pet cats kill as many as 3,700,000,000 -- that's billion -- birds every year according to a new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center.  Oh, wait.  You think it's cool that your cat is such a great hunter?  Well, then you may as well stop right here.

10. Adopt-a-species

Pick a bird species from your flyway (choose from a list at audm.ag/AudPlan). Become an advocate for that species.  Learn all you can about it.  Work to protect and restore its habitat.  Educate your community about why it's an important species to know, love, and save.

* * *

And now, at the risk of aggravating the chasers and jet-setters out there, we'll suggest one more:

11.   Leave the flying to the birds

This is probably going to cause the most heartburn.  But the fact is, all this human flying all over the place is killing the planet.  And, of course, the birds with it.



If you're anything like us, we've always tended to think of airline travel as a form of public transportation — like a bus, except bigger and faster.  And if you look at aviation only in terms of gross CO2 production, it can certainly seem better than driving an SUV solo cross-country.

But calculations that focus only on fuel miss some important science. It turns out that plane emissions exert a particularly large greenhouse effect because they’re injected straight into the upper atmosphere. Scientists call this “radiative forcing,” and according to researchers at Germany's Atmosfair, it means that the effects of CO2, contrails, ozone, and other plane emissions drive global warming two to five times more than if calculated based on CO2 alone.
 
If you didn't know that, don't feel bad.  It turns out that people who self-identify as environmentalists take more frequent and longer flights than people who don’t label themselves enviros.  Some of these “green" jet-setters believe they’ve "earned" all these flights with their green behavior at home.

To make matters worse, however, greenhouse gases and global climate change are just the start of the problem.  

We've written previously about the wanton destruction of wildlife perpetrated continually in the U.S. by Interior's Wildlife Services using increasingly scarce tax dollars.  And a big part of that effort involves killing birds in and around airports in the name of safety.  

In just the most recently reported year (Oct 1, 2010 to Sep 30, 2011), the tally of birds killed, euthanized, or removed/destroyed (good news!  "Removed/destroyed" just means the "removal or destruction of dens and burrows"!) by Wildlife Services included (but is by no means limited to): 

 

·      1 Laysan Albatross

·      24,960 Double-crested Cormorants

·      3 Pelagic Cormorants

·      432 Greater Black-backed Gulls

·      142 Bonaparte’s Gulls

·      2770 California Gulls

·      154 Franklin’s Gulls

·      4,879 Glaucous-winged Gulls

·      4,435 Herring Gulls

·      4,820 Laughing Gulls

·      200 Mew Gulls

·      6,072 Ring-billed Gulls

·      474 Western Gulls

·      1 Long-tailed Jaeger

·      2 Red-legged Kittiwakes

·      1793 Mute Swans

·      2 Tundra Swans

·      2 Black Terns

·      9 Caspian Terns

·      4 Common Terns

·      8 Gull-billed Terns

·      1 Royal Tern

·      1 Bald Eagle

·      404 American Kestrels

·      14 Merlins

·      1 Broad-winged Hawk

·      45 Cooper’s Hawks

·      39 Ferruginous Hawks

·      142 Northern Harriers

·      1 Harris Hawk

·      21 Red-shouldered Hawk

·      902 Red-tailed Hawks

·      51 Rough-legged Hawks

·      9 Sharp-shinned Hawks

·      57 Swainson’s Hawks

·      31 Mississippi Kites

·      1 White-tailed Kite

·      101 Nighthawks

·      41 Ospreys

·      1 Barred Owl

·      1 Burrowing Owl

·      143 Common Barn Owls

·      39 Great Horned Owls

·      3 Short-eared Owls

·      62 Loggerhead Shrikes

·      5,508 Black Vultures

·      1,584 Turkey Vultures

·      6,608 Common Ravens

·      10,310 American Crows

·      657,134 Red-Winged Blackbirds

·      20,796 Brewer’s Blackbirds

·      359 Eastern Bluebirds

·      964 Lark Buntings

·      266 Northern Cardinals

·      45,435 Grackles

·      21,895 Mourning Doves (but why only 2,618 super-invasive Eurasian Collared Doves?)

·      120 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers

·      20 Chukars

·      45 Steller’s Jays 

·      25 Eastern Kingbirds

·      375 Western Kingbirds  

·      3,602 Horned Larks

·      18 Lapland Longspurs

·      322 Black-billed Magpies

·      1,501 Eastern Meadowlarks

·      1,482 Western Meadowlarks 

·      1 Say’s Phoebe

·      1 American Pipit 

·      229 American Robins  

·      1 Golden-crowned Sparrow

·      1 Grasshopper Sparrow

·      10 Lincoln’s Sparrows

·      107 Savannah Sparrows

·      277 White-crowned Sparrows 

·      215 Bank Swallows

·      926 Barn Swallows

·      3,941 Cliff Swallows

·      2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows

·      50 Tree Swallows

·      1 Violet-Green Swallows

·      2 Swifts 
·      19 California Towhees

·      417 Wild Turkeys

·      1 Downy Woodpecker

·      61 Gila Woodpeckers 

·      6 Golden-fronted Woodpeckers

·      106 Northern Flickers    

·      191 Atlantic Brants

·      1 Cackling Goose

·      23,700 Canada Geese

·      36 Greater White-fronted Geese

·      9 Buffleheads

·      13 Common Eiders

·      25 Gadwalls

·      5 Harlequin Ducks

·      10 Long-tailed Ducks

·      3036 Mallards

·      37 Hooded Mergansers

·      55 Northern Shovelers

·      85 Greater Scaups

·      84 Blue-winged Teals

·      110 Green-winged Teals

·      453 Sandhill Cranes

·      24 Dunlins

·      236 Great Egrets

·      204 Snowy Egrets

·      38 Pied-Billed Grebes

·      538 Great-blue Herons

·      32 Green Herons

·      8 Little Blue Herons 

·      15 Black-crowned Night-herons

·      15 Yellow-crowned Night-herons

·      2 Tricolored Herons 

·      79 White Ibises

·      17 White-faced Ibises

·      7 Black-bellied Plovers

·      20 American Golden Plovers

·      29 Semipalmated Plovers

·      2,014 Killdeers

·      14 American White Pelicans

·      8 Sanderlings

·      125 Least Sandpipers

·      3 Pectoral Sandpipers

·      3 Rock Sandpipers

·      31 Semipalmated Sandpipers

·      299 Upland Sandpipers

·      12 Western Sandpipers

·      99 Black-necked Stilts

·      69 Wilson’s Snipes

·      3 Whimbrels

·      26 Willets

·      3 American Woodcocks

·      51 Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs

And of course this staggering annual American death tally doesn’t include birds killed but not counted.  Or birds killed, but inaccurately counted.  Or birds killed but hidden.

And, of course, that death toll doesn't include the hundreds of thousands of birds killed every year in and around all those airports all over the world where your latest "eco-tour" flight may be headed.  

Still not that many birds you say in the grand scheme of things?  Well, what if that one Bald Eagle, or one of those Ferruginous Hawks, or that lone Laysan Albatross, was rubbed out so that your pleasure junket to Africa or Thailand or Costa Rica could take off on time?  Does that make a difference?

* * *

So if you care, what can you do?

For starters, go back and re-read #10 (adopt-a-species).  Forget those ridiculous four-digit, jet-setting life lists.  Instead, stay home and learn all you can about all the bird species in your local area.  Observe them in all seasons, year after year.  Observe them day and night.  Watch them in good weather and bad.  Chart their distribution on eBird.  Determine if their frequency is increasing or decreasing. 

Learn about what individuals of "your" species eat, how they procreate, and what things in your local environment help ... and hurt ... them.  

In short, become an expert on “your” species.  Then tell others what you've learned.  You'll be amazed at how it will enrich your connection with nature and your community, and how it will give you a whole new understanding of your own "back yard."

And when you do travel, ride your bike or take public transit whenever possible.

Drive if you must.  Carpool when you can.  But the next time you grab your bins or telescope to chase that hot-off-the-presses rarity that just came over the web ... stop and think about just why you need to see that bird in person.  Especially if you need to drive across the city, county, or even state to see it.  Is this a life bird for you?  If so, maybe it's worth the environmental cost.  Maybe.

Otherwise, is seeing this rarity one more time going to add anything to the body of knowledge?  If it was found, and especially if it was photographed, by a reliable observer ... well, probably not.  

And no matter what you might think or wish, it does nothing for the bird to have you add your eyes to the herd already headed out to trample the brush to see the poor, unsuspecting critter.   

* * *

Finally, if you absolutely, positively have to fly somewhere, buy carbon offsets from a reputable organization. 

But understand that you can never buy enough offsets to have a squeaky clean conscience.  As environmental journalist George Monbiot has sagely observed, “There is no way to halt global warming and continue traveling long distances at high speeds.”

When it comes to flying clean and green ... well, you just can't get there from here.