{"id":1792,"date":"2011-04-08T16:06:12","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T20:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/?p=1792"},"modified":"2011-04-11T08:58:01","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T12:58:01","slug":"proof-warblers-can-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/08\/proof-warblers-can-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Proof! Warblers Can Read!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n\u201cSeen anything?\u201d I asked at the Shell Mounds on Dauphin Island (a world class birding area). \u201cNo,\u201d the Michigan birder replied, \u201cbut last year my brother came here and saw 10 \u2018lifetime birds\u2019 in 20 minutes.\u201d \u201cWow,\u201d I said, \u201cand last year was a down year.\u201d \u201cThen, what would you call this year! Can\u2019t believe my wife and I came 1100 miles for this! Do you expect any \u2018fallouts\u2019 soon?\u201d \u201cNot really,\u201d I answered, \u201cwe\u2019ve had the storms and cool, strong north winds to produce \u2018fallouts\u2019 several times but the birds just aren\u2019t arriving in any numbers at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone I\u2019ve asked says this is \u201cthe worse spring in memory.\u201d The warblers, the highlight for many birders, have been the most conspicuous in their absence. Most birders have only seen a few warblers. So where are the birds this spring? One birder from Georgia said, \u201cI just hope they\u2019re still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the spring migrations, in good years, like 2009, I see hundreds of colorful warblers of more than 20 species. Even in off years, I see around a hundred warblers of a dozen or so species. This year, after many outings, I\u2019ve seen just one migrating warbler, a hooded warbler (not counting the one that fell dead in my backyard).<\/p>\n

Like all years, this spring has had some highlights. My son, Nicholas, saw a swallow-tailed kite. These magnificent birds generally fly up and down the Dauphin Island sand dunes and above the wooded areas of Dauphin Island. Several in my family have also seen some bald eagles near Bay Front Park in Alabama Port. I have also seen some orioles, finches, kingbirds, and vireos. Unfortunately, these have shown up in much fewer numbers and varieties than usual.<\/p>\n

On Dauphin Island, even the non-migrants are a fewer in number. Woodpeckers, wrens, thrashers, sparrows, blue jays, cardinals, towhees, and mockingbirds are noticeably fewer.<\/p>\n

Somehow, according to experts, the birds, just like the humans, have become alarmed after reading reports from \u201cvarious media outlets.\u201d After all, according to the experts, it\u2019s \u201cfair to say that the oil is indeed gone.\u201d But somehow, the birds too have failed to close \u201cthe gap between the public perception of the oil spill and the reality of where we stand.\u201d And where do the experts say we stand? \u201cThe seafood appears to be abundant and is indeed safe to eat while the beaches are among the finest in the world.\u201d So if you happen to see any gullible migrating birds, please pass the word along that all is well in the gulf and the surrounding areas. Also be sure to warn the birds about the \u201cclear and certain danger<\/em><\/strong>\u201d of \u201cvarious media elements<\/em><\/strong>\u201d who might cast doubts on the experts who say that there are \u201cno ecological dangers\u201d<\/em><\/strong> or \u201cgrave concerns<\/em><\/strong>\u201d for the public to worry about … only \u201cquestions<\/em><\/strong>\u201d of \u201cacademic interest<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (for examples of such expert quotes see http:\/\/oil.disl.org\/pdf\/DHOSPerspective.pdf<\/a> \u2013 for examples of irresponsible media keep reading Umpteen Horizons<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \u201cSeen anything?\u201d I asked at the Shell Mounds on Dauphin Island (a world class birding area). \u201cNo,\u201d the Michigan birder replied, \u201cbut last year my brother came here and saw 10 \u2018lifetime birds\u2019 in 20 minutes.\u201d \u201cWow,\u201d I said, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,27],"tags":[162,29,161,160],"class_list":["post-1792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-oil-spill","tag-bird-migration","tag-dauphin-island","tag-fefe-dobson","tag-warblers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}