Organizing birders to spot birds in trouble
ITHACA -- It is wait and see time, on the effects the ongoing oil spill will have on the Gulf Coast, and the many birds that rely on the ecosystem.
But waiting does not mean inactivity: at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the eBird Project, run with National Audubon Society, is brainstorming ways to track--and quickly respond, if oil fouls migrating and nesting birds.
On Tuesday, eBird Project co-Manager Marshall Iliff was pulling up databases that include types of birds observed, and where they're being seen along the Gulf Coast. The tracking information, sent in by birders, is available in real time on the eBird.org website for all over the country, but they're developing an app that will correlate the spotting information with oil problem locations. Brian Sullivan, who also manages the eBird Project, says they hope to put birders on the front line ---and the monitoring will go on long after the actual spill is cleaned up. They're making a list of about twenty species of shore and water birds, like sandpipers and pelicans, to pay especial attention to, as they track.
Dr. Ken Rosenberg, Director of Conservation Science at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, says birds are very visible environmental indicators, and by monitoring how they are affected, will help track how other life forms--including humans--are affected by the massive spill.
Because spring migrations were early this year, many of the birds that would be in the Gulf Coast area after coming across the Gulf of Mexico have already moved north of the area, and have been spared oil contamination.
There are still concerns about the late migrants, and for the birds that nest along the Gulf Coast. And, the real worry, that the currents might move the oil on the surface---and the much greater contamination under the surface, out into the Atlantic and up our East Coast.
They're settling in for long-term---years---of monitoring.
www.eBird.org will have updates.
