Posted by kcorliss | Posted in environment, wind, ugh | Posted on 20-01-2012
A recent decision by U.S. District Court judge Daniel Hovland might very well ring much more broadly than in just our little corner of the world. The issue was whether oil companies operating in North Dakota violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 by killing 28 birds which had apparently landed in collection pits currently allowed by North Dakota law. Hovland said no. I think this was a good decision.
Before anyone goes bonkers let me explain…
I’m not privy to the entire written decision of the judge, but a couple of his statements in a Bismarck Tribune story are spot on: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized “countless” ways in which legal acts could result in the deaths of migratory birds, Hovland wrote. Okay, then there’s this one: “It would not be feasible to prosecute all or even most of those persons or entities who technically violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” the judge wrote. Exactly and that has been the problem with selective interpretation and prosecution of the law.
Oil companies have been fined or prosecuted under this law many times over the years but never does a wind power company face the same scrutiny even though wind farms likely kill more birds overall. Why? Because it doesn’t fit the model of oil and gas companies representing the Big Bad Wolf while wind power is the innocent Little Red Riding Hood.
Here’s the other huge problem the judge addresses with his second statement. If one were to make a strict interpretation of the law, any person or entity who kills a bird, unwitttingly or not, is liable for a crime. That literally means if you hit a bird with your car or if one runs into your picture window at home and dies, you should be held accountable under the law. What about the oodles of birds killed annually by running into tall buildings. Should they all be fined under the MBT Act? No, the judge has rightly set the bar higher by ruling it should be a willful act.
Now, is there a problem with current North Dakota rules. Absolutely. But that is being addressed: State regulators have proposed changes that would ban the dumping of liquid waste. A hearing on the changes is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday at the state Capitol.
There should be pretty high environmental standards for these companies to operate in the North Dakota oil patch. An open pit with all sorts of waste should not be allowed to go uncovered or unprotected. Let’s fix that. Companies are benefitting greatly from the petro-wealth found under our state, the least we can do is to demand clean operations from them. But this is wholly separate from the legal decision.
Willy-nilly prosecutions under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are unjust for the reasons stated above and judge Hovland is right.
Posted by kcorliss | Posted in birds | Posted on 19-01-2012
Of all the avian visitors which tend to frequent the backyard feeders of us urban dwellers, perhaps the most unwelcome–at least in the hearts of most–are the small group of woodland hawks in the family Accipitridae. Within this small three-species group (in North America) easily the most common to appear near your bird feeders is the sharp-shinned hawk, at least in winter. (I’m speaking strictly for our immediate area of the southern Red River Valley).
Come summer sharpies disappear to be replaced by their larger cousins, Cooper’s hawks. The third family members–Northern goshawks–are very rare in our local urban area and not even worth mentioning at the moment.
So it was with a degree of surprise that I happened to look out the kitchen window yesterday to see a first-year female Cooper’s hawk throwing herself around in an effort to catch a house sparrow. Twenty minutes of effort produced nothing for her however. Looking at the photo at right, I would only offer one small critique for this bird: You might want to disguise your intent a little better…
Posted by kcorliss | Posted in miscellaneous | Posted on 04-01-2012
First an admission, I like beer. Not so much the usual mass-produced American lagers which end up advertising during major sporting events. No, I much favor the small crafted beers which have been popping up all over the country for the past 20 years or so. It’s a good time to be a beer lover to be sure. I’ll even go so far as to shamelessly plug a local effort to enter this competitive market. A small group of fellows have started the Fargo Brewing Company and I was fortunate enough to be at the public rollout of their wonder Woodchipper Ale some months ago. Yum.
All that aside I received an interesting little brown ale for Christmas from a friend. It was wonderful. Making it the full experience for me was the label which featured a boreal owl of all things. How cool is that, two of the things I enjoy in life tied together in one neat little package?
Posted by kcorliss | Posted in birds, general bird topics | Posted on 03-01-2012
For those among us who “chase” rare birds you will understand the following. The rest, well, consider it a harmless obsession and be done with it…
After seeing the report of a Nutting’s flycatcher in western Arizona starting on the 19th of December I began to wonder if this was a possible species for me to find. I had, after all, a scheduled trip to the Phoenix area later in the month and could, with some effort, make the drive to the location. Hmmm. Oh, I’ve been lured by the siren song of chasing rare birds before with some success and much failure but every opportunity is different…
As background this is a species which has only been positively confirmed in the U.S. four or five times, all in Arizona except one California sighting. In ABA vernacular, this is a code 5 bird; in other words it’s a mega-rarity. Making this somewhat more dramatic is the bird’s stubborn resemblance to an all-too-common resident species of the southwest, the ash-throated flycatcher (they share the genus Myiarchus). Some sources tell you it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart except for voice.
Turns out I did have the time and the bird was still there. Nearly three hours on the road put us in the location detailed nicely by Lauren Harter (one of the original finders of this bird) at the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge outside of Parker, Ariz. An hour of fumbling to find the right trail didn’t help but eventually we were on it. Soon enough three of us were staring at a Myiarchus flycatcher and attempting to match field marks with those of Nutting’s flycatcher. As luck would have it the bird finally vocalized–a rising reeeep!–bingo. A Nutting’s flycatcher. For reasons which escape me I didn’t have my camera and so the image at right was taken with a cell phone. Trust me, it’s the Nutting’s flycatcher.
Aside from the cool part about finding this very exceptional rarity, it turns out a guy named John Vanderpoel was attempting a Big Year in 2011 and just missed setting the record by one bird! The last species he got was…Nutting’s flycatcher at the same location we were only 3 days later. Oh, did I mention I met Mr. Vanderpoel at Oahe Reservoir in South Dakota a few years ago when I was there looking at an ivory gull? Pretty neat. Here’s his blog of his Big Year.
habitat where Nutting's flycatcher was found, Bill Williams NWR
