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Yard migrants; Kaufman guide; Duke Energy fracas
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Yard migrants; Kaufman guide; Duke Energy fracas
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 17:34:37 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
Was up late last night playing volleyball, which foiled my plan to visit
Old Hope Valley Farm this morning. However, while I was grading
biodiversity class essays in my backyard around 11 AM, warblers started
appearing in the trees overhead. The light was murderous, and the
warblers high above, so most I saw silouettes with frustrating glimpses
of pale yellow and wing bars. However, with a little stubbornness, I
managed to pick out an American Redstart, then a Blackburnian Warbler. A
Cape May Warbler followed not long afterwards. THings quieted down for an
hour or so, or else I was too distracted by work and food to see birds,
but an Eastern Wood-Pewee called and broke the silence. Later on, another
flock moved through, highlighted by my yard's first Magnolia Warbler.
I eventually had to leave, at least partly because around 1 PM the
mosquitoes found me. But before heading to school, I headed to the Wild
Bird Center in Chapel Hill to buy some birdseed, having given my feeders
a thorough cleaning a few days ago in preparation for resuming feeding
again. While there, I also splurged and blew $20 on Kenn Kaufman's new
field guide. First impressions: it's a true pocket guide, much more
comfortable in the pants than even the NGS or Peterson's (much less the
2-volume Sibley guide). And while it does leave out some of the more
difficult-to-ID rarities, such as Little Stint, and many pelagics such as
Fea's Petrel, it still includes a lot. Among pelagics, it features 10
species of shearwater, 8 storm-petrels, 2 albatrosses, and 2 gadfly
petrels. As for rarities, it has most of the species that tend to show up
in the lower 48, like Northern Lapwing, Aztec Thrush, Green Violet-Ear,
Slaty-backed Gull, White Wagtail (grrrrr...) and many others, but leaves
out the many species that only seem to show up on the Aleutian or
Pribilof Islands.
Other interesting features: it segregates rare species to the end of each
group; for instance, the rare hummingbirds are pictured at the end of the
hummingbird section, rather than being in taxonomic order as they are in
the NGS guide. Might cut down on mid-IDs by overeager beginners, and
still more convenient an arrangement than the Peterson guide, which set
all the accidentals - from albatrosses to grosbeaks - at the end of the
book, totally separate from their relatives and similar species. For some
reason, the book starts with waterfowl, not with loons and grebes as
every other guide does; maybe some taxonomic rearrangement I haven't
heard of? And the last page is a handy one-page quick index to bird
groups, so a person can rapidly find the warbler or heron section without
having to flip through the entire 7-page main index.
Last thing, before happy hour starts: a former Carolinabirder, Dan
Lebbin, sends word that a North-Carolina-based company called Duke Energy
International is participating in a proposed dam project in Belize that
is threatening the largest and rarest subspecies of Scarlet Macaw, as
well as many other species such as Ocelot, Morelet's Crocodile, and much
more. Probably lots of winter habitat for our local neotropical migrants
at risk as well. Reportedly the project will generate larger profits for
the corporations involved, but will actually lead to higher electric
bills for Belizeans, and exacerbate health problems (caused by a previous
dam) for people living in communities along the river.
The good news is, a letter-writing campaign organized by the Natural
Resources Defense Council has Duke Energy considering alternatives to the
proposed dam. I have no idea if Duke Energy is affiliated with Duke
Power, the conglomerate that lights most of our homes, but given that
they are at least based in NC, a few more letters from close to home
might encourage them the rest of the way out of this misguided project.
See http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/habitat/belize.asp for more details and
tips for contacting Duke Energy and Fortis, Inc. (another corporation
pushing this project).
Good birding,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/