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This weekend's migrants; CARA fracas



Hi Carolinabirders,

I saw almost no migrant landbirds at all on Saturday, despite being 
outside all day. The reason was I was out in the Green Swamp; I virtually 
never see any birds there. Whether the habitat is really so birdless, or 
whether I'm so fascinated by the carnivorous plants, herps, insects and 
spiders there that I'm missing all the birds, I can't say. I did see a 
few interesting dragonflies (including some kind of emerald, Somatochlora 
sp.) and loads of butterflies, most notably two Long-tailed Skippers 
(Urbanus proteus). One confused me by lacking long tails, but I 
recognized it by its metallic blue sheen. Bird highlights for the day 
were a Northern Harrier flying along I-40, 2 Osprey flying over Lake 
Waccamaw, 2 White-eyed Vireo in the shrubs along the boardwalk near the 
lake, and a Pileated Woodpecker just as we were leaving the parking lot.

Sunday, after calling Frank but failing to wake him up, I decided to hang 
around the yard. Picked up my yard-first Yellow-billed Cuckoo, an Eastern 
Wood-Pewee, and a few warblers: Black-and-white, American Redstart, 
Black-throated Green, Blackburnian. I also noticed a sudden abundance of 
Rufous-sided Towhees; they sporadically visit, especially when toss 
millet around, but Sunday there were at least 5 with no millet in sight. 
Migrants, maybe?

Spent that afternoon assisting with a fish survey of Ellerbee Creek. Lots 
of interesting critters in the water, but didn't notice many birds...

Monday morning I was trying to grade more essays in the backyard when 
some action picked up. Most of it was American Robins and Northern 
Cardinals, but I spotted the Pewee for the third time in four days. Also 
a Northern Mockingbird, which surprisingly was the first for my yard; 
shows just how woodsy the area is, not open enough for them. Most notable 
was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which I thought might be the first for 
the Triangle until I saw Frank's delayed report from Saturday.

A final note before I get back to work: apparently CARA, the bill that 
would guarantee funding for wildlife habitat conservation, has run into 
another snag. There are different messages flying around 4-5 other e-mail 
lists, I'm a little confused on the details; but they all agree that a 
few senators are making a last-ditch attempt to derail the bill by 
replacing it with a much weaker substitute, one that pays lip service to 
conservation but, unlike CARA, does not require that any funds actually 
be spent on procuring wildlife habitat. The messages all also agree that 
we should e-mail or call our senators and encourage them to hurry up and 
bring CARA to a vote before the Senate adjourns and they all go home to 
campaign for re-election. There's a majority of the senate willing to 
vote to pass CARA, but they have to get it out of committee and on the 
floor before they can vote on it, and time's getting short... I'll paste 
one of the messages below.

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/


___________________________________________________
REMAIN TRUE TO SPIRIT OF CARA
STAND FIRM FOR CARA

Contact: Denise Obert, Regional Organizer, National Wildlife Federation,
8925 Leesburg Pike Vienna, VA 22184(703) 790-4334, obert@nwf.org

Some in Congress pushing a "quick fix" compromise as a substitute for the
sweeping conservation funding program contained in the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act (CARA). That compromise, called the "Lands Trust"
proposal, is now part of a larger federal spending bill. This compromise
is NOT CARA, nor is it an adequate substitute for CARA. Because of this,
Senate leaders say they still want to bring CARA up for a vote. We need
your help to make sure that they make good on their promise.

1.Please call Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) TODAY and ask him
to schedule an immediate vote on CARA. TIME IS SHORT so please call NOW
and leave a message at Senator Lott's office at: 202-224-6253. Or you can
email to: senatorlott@lott.senate.gov

When you contact Senator Lott's office please make one or more of the
following points:

-The "Lands Trust" compromise currently on the table is no substitute for
CARA. There's no clear funding for wildlife, money in future years is not
assured and funding levels are too low to meet our nation's many natural
resource needs.

-63 Senators have already signed a letter supporting CARA and the House
of Representatives voted for the bill by a 3 to 1 margin.

-Only CARA has the support of more than 5000 conservation, civic and
business organizations; all 50 state governors; the U.S. Conference of
Mayor and others.

2.If you can, please also call Senator Warner and Robb and urge them to
ask Senator Lott for a vote on CARA. You can reach your Senators by
calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or through the web at
http://congress.nw.dc.us/nwf/congdir.html.

3.If you have another 30 seconds, please also call the White House and
ask them to stand firm for CARA (tel: 202/456-1414)

Remember -- if CARA becomes law, it will be the most significant
investment in conservation this country has made in a generation!


Background:

In May the House of Representative overwhelming passed the Conservation
and Reinvestment Act(CARA) 315 to 102, with a majority of both parties
supporting the bill. A Senate Committee passed a similar bipartisan
proposal.  Some in Congress are now pushing a "quick fix" compromise as a
substitute for the sweeping conservation funding program contained in the
Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA). That compromise, called the
"Lands Trust" proposal, is now part of a larger federal spending bill.
This compromise is NOT CARA, nor is it an adequate substitute for CARA.
Because of this, Senate leaders say they still want to bring CARA up for
a vote. We need your help to make sure that they make good on their
promise.

If CARA passes, Virginia could get $51 million each year which then could
be leveraged into much more when matched by localities and organizations.

SUMMARY OF TOTAL ANNUAL FUNDING $2.99 BILLION (approximately)

Funding amount listed are annual numbers.

Land and Water Conservation Fund ($900 million) -$450 million for both
State and Federal programs.

Urban Park and Forestry Programs ($125 million)

- $75 million Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program.

- $50 million Urban and Community Forestry program. This Forest Service
program focuses on restoring and maintaining trees, forests, and greenway
corridors. It provides matching grants to states, local governments, and
communities of all sizes for technical assistance, education, and
research.

Historic Preservation Fund ($150 million)

-At least half of the money must be distributed to States, tribes and
local governments to carry out their responsibilities under the National
Historic Preservation Act

- $15 million for the American Battlefield Protection Program.

National Park and Indian Lands Restoration

Programs ($125 million)

-$100 million to protect significant natural, cultural, or historic
resources at units of the National Park System.

-Establishes a $25 million fund for a competitive grant program to assist
Indian tribes in the restoration of degraded lands, resource protection,
or protection of public health and safety.


Conservation Easements ($100 million)

-$50 million Forest Legacy program. This Forest Service program assists
States and local governments to identify important forest lands, at risk
of conversion to non-forest uses, and protect them primarily through the
use of conservation easements.

-$50 million for Farmland and Ranchland Protection.

Remember -- if CARA becomes law, it will be the most significant
investment in conservation this country has made in a generation!