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More Durham warblers; web polls and field guide
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: More Durham warblers; web polls and field guide
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 15:14:42 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
The warbler flow through Durham has slowed but not stopped. This morning
in my yard the Black-throated Blue was still singing, joined by a
yard-first Northern Parula and a couple of Ovenbirds. No action during my
bike ride to school, but at lunch on campus I saw my first Yellow Warbler
of the year. I walked back to the Bio Sci building and heard the songs of
Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue, and American Redstart, as well as a
Great Crested Flycatcher. Any Duke-based birders who want to investigate
before they go home, this was in the woods on the west side of the Bryan
Center. I'm about to ride to the Primate Center, maybe there'll be more
warblers there...
I also found a pair of Columbines flowering in a weedy patch at the edge
of the woods too. Are they native to the Piedmont? I've seen wild ones in
Massachusetts before, but these are the first I have seen in NC.
I may have mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, the National
Audubon Society has created an on-line version of their field guides at
http://www.enature.com/. Not only are the birds here, so is everything
from mammals through spiders and seashells. It has the usual weaknesses
of the Audubon guides which we've discussed on this listserv before (use
of photos, organization by physical resemblance instead of taxonomy) but
also the same strengths (similar species grouped together, interesting
text). It might come in handy for folks who have a question in mind when
their field guide isn't handy. For example, about the Columbines I just
mentioned, it says that Aquilegia canadensis ranges from Canada south to
Georgia (but doesn't distinguish between mountains, piedmont, and coastal
plain).
My last point is a little off-topic, even for me. But it's shown up on at
least three other birding listservs, so I expect it'll show up here
eventually too. The Environmental News Network has weekly on-line polls
about various issues at http://www.enn.com/poll/. Most are about general
issues like politics and energy. Last week's concerned the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, which (if I recall correctly) diverts some revenues
from offshore oil production to purchasing land for conservation (which
includes bird habitat, the closest this comes to relevancy for
Carolinabirds). According to messages on the other birding listservs,
anti-environmental groups have targeted this website's polls and are
urging their members to vote against protection in wildlife habitat. The
results of the polls probably have no direct consequences, but they do
give environmental organizations ammunition with which to lobby
government officials and make good things happen, and it's just plain
embarassing to have poll results claiming that we *don't* want to
conserve wildlife habitat. So anyone with a few spare moments, visit that
website and vote in their polls; you can vote in some dating back to
January on all kinds of topics, and after you vote you can see the
results of the poll so far.
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/