Hi all,
In memory of the great KEVIN LI who we will never forget, Delia?& I went down to Jack Block Park (just east of Alki)? at 7 pm to see if any of ?Kevin?s? Purple Martins were there.?
NO MARTINS tonight, hopefully that will change as we continue our ?Blockwatch,? but we saw enough other birds that we thought we?d start a Jack Block Park life-list from here on.? Check how many birds were squeezed into this tiny little park this evening:
1.?????? Eurasian Starling
2.?????? American Crow
3.?????? Glaucous-winged Gull
4.?????? Brown-headed Cowbird
5.?????? American Robin
6.?????? Great Blue Heron
7.?????? Belted Kingfisher
8.?????? Western Wood-pewee
9.?????? Bullock?s Oriole
10.?? American Goldfinch
11.?? White-crowned Sparrow
12.?? Barn Swallow
13.?? Violet-green Swallow
14.?? Cedar Waxwing
15.?? Pigeon Guillemot
16.?? Anna?s Hummingbird
?
I?m interested in the comments on the BP oil spill.? Regardless of the political positions we take on the spill, It?s an event that seems to drive home a depressing message about how completely?POWERLESS we are stop the oil from hitting the beaches and the birds.??It seems to symbolize?hopelessness in the face of a vast array of threats to nature and biodiversity.? We might as well, it would seem,?try to stop the?waves from forming, or try to stop the wind from blowing.?
But that message is the one TOXIC THING about this spill that we can easily correct and reverse.? Consider this somewhat shocking news:
At this moment the World Land Trust needs the astonishingly small sum of only $45,000 to close the funding gap and be able to buy 3000 acres of Beni savannah in Bolivia that could save the one of the RAREST and most SPECTACULAR birds on the planet:? the Blue-throated Macaw.
Think how small the sum, how high the stakes.? How saving this species would change the history of life on earth, and how, although it must be accomplished in a few days, it?s within the reach of this wonderful organization and how our various donations, however small, are so critically important and REALLY MATTER.
?
Here is the link?to the?World Land Trust's Blue-throated Macaw campaign:
http://www.worldlandtrust-us.org/?page=boliviansavannah
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It's easy to donate. As a rep. of WLT told me, small sums are really welcome and really help.
This is the same organization that helped conservation-minded Colombians secure habitat for and?bring back the Yellow-eared Parrot, a bird that was once widely considered?EXTINCT and that now is happily, meerly?endangered, numbering?over 1000.
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?Thanks greatly everyone.? Ed Newbold Beacon Hill Seattle ednewbold1 at yahoo.com
PS.? Speaking of Corvid nest predation, we saw maybe?two examples at McClain nature area south of Olympia on Sat, with Steller's Jay playing both perp and victim role.? At one point?a Chestnut-backed Chickadee family were clearly objecting to the presence of Steller's Jays, but we couldn't make out what had actually happened.? At another time, we saw a Raven raid a Steller's Jay nest in the forest canopy and?speed off through the?treetops holding a?large Jay nestling in it's beak, while a Steller's Jay followed?in hot but futile pursuit.