WASHINGTON, March 20, 2009
Birds In Decline; Energy Production Blamed
Report: Steep Drops In Population Over Last 40 Years Pegged To Expansion Of Energy Sources
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An adult male cerulean warbler is seen in Litchfield County, Conn. (AP/National Audubon Society)
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The first-of-its-kind report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming.
It shows that birds in Hawaii are more in danger of becoming extinct than anywhere else in the United States. In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30 and 40 percent.
But in almost every case, energy production has also played a role.
Environmentalists and scientists say the report should influence the Obama administration to act cautiously as it seeks to expand renewable energy production and the electricity grid on public lands and tries to harness wind energy along the nation's coastlines.
"We need to go into these energies with our environmental eyes open," said John Fitzpatrick, the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which helped draft the report along with non-profit advocacy groups. "We need to attend to any form of energy development, not just oil and gas."
Many of the bird groups with the most rapid declines in the last 40 years inhabit areas with the greatest potential for energy development.
Among the energy-bird conflicts cited by the report:
The U.S. State of Birds report, released by the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday, was requested in October 2007 by President George W. Bush.
The report did not indicate whether one form of energy production is more detrimental than the other.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- WastingtonDC: When I go hunting, fifty miles from the metro area, I see endless varieties of colorful birds, with plentiful juveniles, vying for food, and nesting safely in forests, fields, and backyards. Here, 15 minutes from the White House, we feed the grackles, crows, sparrows, and other dull plumaged birds daily year round, and exclaim with joy, on sighting the rare Cardinal, or any other bird with vibrant color, while knowing, sadly, that they will potentially decrease to zero in cities. The reason is the proliferation of raccoons, foxes, outdoor/feral cats, skunks, and particularly the silent killers, opossums that destroyed several hundreds of my Mother's farm fowl until I culled the miscreants, and wired off the barn loft, to keep the protected owls, and night hawks from flying in, pushing a roosting hen off the rafters, and grabbing them in the air, consuming them on the upper loft floor. Hanging chicken wire over any flyable entrances stopped the beautiful owl's nightly raids, but only culling stops the four legged eating machines that grow to incredible populations where ever they cannot be controlled by culling. Here, the squirrels and raccoons raid my feeders day and night, wasting most of the seeds on the ground. They cannot be culled, and if trapped and deported to the local forest, are replaced by limitless others that strip every nest of eggs and young, year round, regardless of the efforts of bird lovers. These pests have destroyed the majority of the domestic fowl on my family member's farm near the metro areas, as the varmints are simply too numerous and culling them is either illegal, or too politically incorrect, in today's urban and near urban world. It is past time to return to our roots, allowing backyard hens, and like many states attitude to the grackles and other nuisance crop destroying alien species, encouraging homeowners to cull the overpopulation of stray cats, and the four legged eating machine natural varmints that build up to incredible populations, when not controlled.
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- schotzy81 writes:
"envionmental extremists ... wackos can now go after their true enemy: any human progress"
To schotzy81, and all the other schotzy81's out their in the World
You'd be advised to adjust your definitions, open your eyes, and wise up
"Progress" that progresses our azz's over the edge of a cliff is not very progressive
;-) - Reply to this comment
- Don't forget the real reason of bird decline, global warming! Mr. Obama, please tax all forms of the energy we use to save the birds!!
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- Glad to see they're finally waking up, albeit still yawning. Birds have been on the decline here and in Europe for more like 50 years. Many are already extinct. Everything humans touch, directly or indirectly, turns into a death knell - and it will include ourselves eventually.
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- schotzy81 said: "instead the wackos can now go after their true enemy: All energy and any human progress. "
Its also possible you have your head up your **s and are too proud to admit it. - Reply to this comment
- Now that the envionmentalist extremists have a friend in the White House, they are free to drop their facade. No more is this about "green energy" vs. "dirty energy", but instead the wackos can now go after their true enemy: All energy and any human progress.
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- Another huge advantage of "attic exhaust fan turbines" is that they catch a breeze from ANY direction instantly, with no need to "power down", rotate, and "power up".
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- "Windmill" style turbines should be banned and replaced with giant-size versions of "attic exhaust fan turbines". With this type, you'd get more torque for the generators, there would be no windspeed shutdown limitation, when the potential to generate the MOST power exists, as there are with Windmill style. Birds could not be harmed because the sharp edge is always moving away from their flight, and the smoothe edge would be a slight glancing blow at most. Plus, these are easily visible and avoidable by birds. Why is no one looking at these types? The slightest breeze sets them spinning like mad.
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