The following is a report by Steve Cardiff on a survey of shore and sea
birds on Gulf islands.  I am forwarding this with Steve's permission because
authoritative information on the impact of the oil spill is almost
impossible to get through the major media.  Steve's report is just one of an
increasing number that are beginning to come in through LSU and the Fish and
Wildlife Service.  I urge interested Ohio birders to subscribe to the
LABIRD-L mailing list to stay informed. The time is coming when there will
be a large scale rehabilitation effort with a similarly large scale need for
volunteers.

I am following this with another forward from Bob and Lucy Duncan, longtime
regional editors for the Gulf coast for North American Birds.  In it, the
Duncans discuss BP's hold on public news releases and the appalling
background on failure of the regulating agencies to carry out their duties,
specifically with respect to endangered species, all referenced to reports
in the public domain.

Bob

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steven W. Cardiff <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, May 15, 2010 at 4:31 PM
Subject: [LABIRD-L] Birds and Oil Report, Grand Isle to Timbalier Islands
To: [log in to unmask]


Donna and I participated on surveys of Timbalier and East Timbalier islands
yesterday (5/14).  Blobs of BP Deepwater Horizon oil were conspicuously
scattered along the length of the western 4-5 miles of the gulf beach of
main Timbalier Island.  Much of the oil was coating "trash" that had been
washed ashore, human garbage as well as sargassum and other flotsam.  But,
there were also small to large blobs of the distinctive reddish oil on the
sand itself.  This stuff is commonly being referred to as "tar balls," but
it's really has more of a peanut butter consistency.

Along that stretch of Timbalier we had at least 22 out of 180 Sanderlings
with varying amounts of oil on their plumage.  Do the math and that's 12% of
the Sanderlings that are oiled.......  We saw one pair of American
Oystercatchers, and both had oil stains on their belly plumage.  Most of the
oiled shorebirds were concentrated along the western 2 miles of the island
where there was also more oil present, so the percentage of oiled
Sanderlings along that stretch would be MUCH higher if I had kept a separate
tally.  Donna also had one dead Northern Gannet that had oil on it, but
probably impossible to say whether it had succumbed to oil or had just
become oiled as it floated in the gulf.  Interestingly, a separate team
working the eastern end of Timbalier Island did not report any oiled birds.
 None of the oiled shorebirds were moribund, but I would expect that all
will eventually perish without a trace- these sorts of small birds with
patchy oil contamination will likely just wander off and die horrible deaths
in inconspicuous places.  I guess the only good news is that shorebird
migration will be gradually tapering off over the next few weeks, but
anticipate heavy casualties among our later migrant shorebird species and
summering populations of Red Knots and Short-billed Dowtichers.  Anyway, if
we are getting these levels of bird contamination with tiny amounts of oil
hitting the islands, then.......

Moving over to East Timbalier Island, there was a fair amount of oil along
the gulf side and elsewhere on the island where there had been some recent
overwash.  But, the only oiled bird that we saw there was a Royal Tern with
soiled back plumage.

A few noteworthy birds that helped to slightly offset the gloom included an
Osprey, a somewhat late Peregrine Falcon, two first-year Lesser Black-backed
Gulls (plus a 2-3 year bird at Grand Isle today), a couple of Mourning Doves
(migrants?), a couple of Belted Kingfishers, small numbers of migrant
swallows moving east into the wind (15-20 Banks, a Cliff, and about 60
Barns), lots of territorial Marsh Wrens, a female Blackpoll Warbler, a
Northern Waterthrush, and 10 Bobolinks (in ones and twos, only 2 males).

Additional surveys planned for today (Sat. 5/15) were cancelled due to rain
and high winds.  Both Thursday night and Friday night at Grand Isle we were
treated to the stench of oil brought in by the strong SE winds.  Elmer's
Island was open but there was constant truck traffic that made it less than
enjoyable.  Some other LSU bird personnel were out there on separate
projects and may have more details on impacts associated with filling in
shoreline breaches near Caminada Pass and at the mouth of Bayou Von Thunder
 Considerable fill material is being brought in, but I shudder to think of
the disturbance to nesting plovers and Least Terns.  We had 26 pairs of
Wilson's Plovers there last Friday, some of our highest densities anywhere
so far.  Fourchon Beach was closed, with a road block before the bridge and
National Guard bulldozers and other heavy equipment everywhere.  Presumably,
they are filling other breaches in the shoreline east of the beachhead to
protect the marshes.

Steve Cardiff



--
Robert D Powell
Congress Farm Research Institute
Wilmington, OH, USA
[log in to unmask]
http://rdp1710.wordpress.com

Nulla dies sine aves

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