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repent, for the end (of landbird migration) is nigh...



Hi Carolinabirders,

After a mostly birdless weekend, I spent some time in the backyard this 
morning, cleaning and refilling feeders and such. Most of the activity 
stemmed from passing squads of American Robins. No other thrushes mixed 
in, though I looked persistently... Then I spotted a couple of rotund 
little buggers over by the brush-pile. Opened the door, and heard a flock 
of White-throated Sparrows calling. Finally a small flock of insectivores 
arrived, but instead of warblers, I found a trio of Golden-crowned 
Kinglets. The usual Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers were absent, but a 
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a nice male Hairy Woodpecker passed through, 
both scoffing at my suet feeder as they fed in the trees above. It's 
beginning to look a lot like winter... Well, not entirely. No Brown 
Creepers yet, and no Dark-eyed Juncos, at least not in the Piedmont. But 
they can't be far behind!

Comments on some recent posts:

Texan birders have made a regular practice of riding on rice-harvesting 
machinery, watching for rails. I remember reading a count a few weeks ago 
of over 600 Sora from a single rice field. If there are substantial rice 
fields out there in the Carolinas somewhere, and if a conveniently placed 
birder could find out the expected date of harvest and ask permission 
for birders to watch, it would probably make for quite a spectacle as 
rails, bitterns, sparrows, and other birds flee the combine. Depending on 
the lay of the land, whether there was a convenient watching point, it 
might even be worth organizing a group trip via the nearest Audubon 
Society affiliate or birding club.

The Massachusetts birding listserv has noted an abundance of Clay-colored 
Sparrows straying east this fall. One even speculated that this fall 
invasion might lead to some eastern nesting records next spring...

And to wrap up with some legislative gobbledygook: Unfortunately, western 
anti-conservation senators on the appropriations committee apparently 
succeeded in holding up CARA. Instead, some replacement legislation 
passed which supplies much less money in the short term, none at all in 
the long term, and makes no guarantees about which states will receive 
money or on what that money will be spent. Check the Georgia listserv 
archives on-line for details from E.J. Williams on how to pester your 
senators and attempt to get CARA on the Senate floor before they adjourn.

Closer to home, the below message mentions a meeting tomorrow morning of 
a state commission governing emissions from coal-fired plants over 
whether to reduce nitrate emissions or not. I was under the impression 
that our emissions mostly headed east over the ocean, but if we expect 
states further west to reduce THEIR emissions so that the firs atop Mount 
Mitchell might someday regain their health (and their Black-capped 
Chickadees), then we should try to set an example for them... read on!

>From: Hope Taylor <htaylor@gloryroad.net>
>Subject: Calls needed to swing votes on the EMC!!  Thanks!
>Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 15:16:51 -0400
>
>     There is a last minute need for calls to urge the commissioners to
>vote for a permanent rule to reduce NOx from NC coal-fired utility
>boilers as called for by the environmental community's plan.  Even the
>state's own ozone modelling calculations show that smaller reductions
>will not eliminate ozone violations in several parts of the state!
>
>     There has been very heavy lobbying by Duke and CP&L in recent weeks,
>making it look like NC is "way out ahead of other states" on NOx
>reductions, therefore putting our economy at risk.  We are NOT ahead of
>other states on this, and because of our location and meteorological
>conditions, we have further to go!
>
>     These are the three commissioners we consider "swing votes":
>
>Leo Green - 252.237.5365 (O)
>Jim Melvin - 336.691.9803 (O), 336.288.1177 (H)
>Will Fowler - 252.393.7709 (O)
>
>     Seven commissioners will be voting with us, five definitely with the
>utilities, so these three are critical.
>
>Please call them with a brief, simple message to vote for maximum
>reductions in NOx to protect our respiratory health, our forests and
>water quality, or something like that.  If you have a personal asthma
>story or dying forest story, just add it if there's time and you don't
>seem to be irritating the commissioner.
>
>     Thanks so much for your help!  For anyone who's interested, the EMC
>meeting is Thursday morning, 9:00 AM in the Archdale building in
>Raleigh.  Call me if you need directions.
>
>                                                 Hope


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

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