[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Robin Carter's book, Re: Song Sparrow habitat, and so on...
- To: Carolinabirds <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: Robin Carter's book, Re: Song Sparrow habitat, and so on...
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 19:27:42 -0400 (EDT)
- In-Reply-To: <39303B9E.B22EDE8F@ipass.net>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi C-birders,
This list is regularly beseiged by requests from birders seeking a copy
of Robin Carter's birder's guide to South Carolina. Well, this afternoon,
while helping my mall-o-phobic girfriend visit Northgate Mall in Durham,
I noticed a copy for sale there in the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Only
one copy was on the shelf, so it'll be a race among Triangle-area birders
to grab it, unless they have more copies in the back...
On the topic of Song Sparrows: not only do they seem to nest in suburban
and even urban habitats, as Kent Fiala suggested, but they nest rarely
elsewhere! I can't remember seeing one in even remotely natural habitat
during the breeding season around here. The most reliable spot I know for
breeding Song Sparrows in Durham is along the railroad tracks on the
south side of Brightleaf Square.
A couple of political actions with which folks should be concerned, in
addition to those that Derb Carter and Sidney Maddock posted (a
conservationsist's work is never done, sigh...):
In response to Virginia's ongoing refusal to regulate the uncontrolled
and catastrophic horseshoe crab harvest, the National Marine Fisheries
Service has proposed a horseshoe crab sanctuary in federal waters at the
mouth of the Delaware Bay. Most of the unregulated fishing takes place
here, and is then landed in Virginia; the increasingly few crabs that
avoid capture breed on the shores of Delaware Bay and provide food for
millions of migrating shorebirds, in particular 80% of this hemisphere's
population of Red Knots. The notice of the proposed sanctuary in the
Federal Register is at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a000503c.html
NMFS is asking for comments on the proposal by Friday, June 2; you can
fax them to 301-427-2313 or mail them to:
Richard Schaefer, Chief
Staff Office for Intergovernmental and Recreational Fisheries (Fx2)
National Marine Fisheries Service
8484 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
On a more general note, CARA (which we've discussed here before) has
passed the House and is being considered by the Senate. I imagine that
John Edwards is probably already supporting it, and I doubt that
petitioning Jesse Helms will do much good, so maybe there is little for
NC birders to do; I have no idea if the SC Senators are perhaps more in
need of phone calls and faxes...
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/