Arctic Char

Everything you wanted to know about this delicious game fish.

Migration

The great fall bird migration is well underway. Lighthouse Point, in New Haven, CT, is manned daily by expert birders during migration. Here is their report of what they observed yesterday:

6 Bald Eagles, c. 800 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 155 Coopers Hawks, c. 300 American Kestrels, c. 80 Northern Flickers c. 4,000 Tree Swallows, c. 2,000 Blue Jays, c. 2,000 American Robins, c. 1,000 Yellow-rumped Warblers, c. 5,000 Red-winged Blackbirds

Sunrise on the marsh

The duck-hunter's view of the world.

The Snow Goose, seemingly endangered in the 1970s, has now become a threat to itself, due to a population boom which threatens its arctic breeding habitat and might be caused by the abundant food which farmers leave on their fields after harvest, along the Mississippi and Central flyways.

In recent years, I have seen their flocks block out the sun in Canada. It's referred to as a "tornado" when they descend upon your decoys in a field in enormous numbers. There are no large numbers in the Northeast, but they do gather in the Chesapeake and I have seen them flying over ski slopes in Vermont in the winter, and loafing on potato fields on Long Island.

This goose comes in a "blue" form, and various mixed-color versions, including the "eagle-head' - blue with white head. The blue version was once called a Blue Goose, but is now known to be just a color variant. The Canadian and US govts are doing all they can to encourage hunting Snow Geese, including a spring season and permitting electronic calls.

They are fun to hunt, if they chose your field, and if you hit them they "go down like a prom dress," as the expression has it: easy to kill, compared to other geese. The deeply frustrating situation is when they chose a field adjacent to yours, and you end up standing there like a dope in your dorky camo hat with earflaps and an unused pile of ammo while hundreds or thousands of them land out of range.

Daily limits of Snows are high in most areas. They are not exactly delicious like a Canada Goose, but there are ways to make them an enjoyable meal, and the rule is that if you kill it, you eat it. More about Snow Goose at CLO here.

Wetlands Litigation

From Yahoo News:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it would decide the reach of the federal government's power to regulate wetlands, an issue pitting environmentalists against property-rights advocates.

The justices agreed to decide a pair of Michigan cases, involving a shopping-center developer and a condominium builder, that will test whether the government's use of the 1972 Clean Water Act represented a permissible exercise of Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce.

The high court will consider whether federal regulators have gone too far by restricting development of wetlands that are not adjacent to navigable waters such as rivers or lakes. Read entire piece.

I hate cases like this in which strong ideas which I hold dear find themselves at war. Property rights? All for them - the foundation of economic freedom. Protection of the land? All for it. Trust states and localities to do the latter? Forget it. But is that right and principled? Maybe not. Are local, state and the federal govt corrupted by money? Yes - but it's not campaign contributions - it's tax money that corrupts them. They get to spend your hard-earned $ to buy re-election. Which is why a town govt will usually prefer a Walmart to a marsh.

Katrina's effects on LA wetlands

An informal report from SW Louisiana, by Ducks Unlimited biologists:

Clay and I spent all day Tuesday in the Pecan Island area getting footage to show effects of the storm (Rita) related to the people in this devastating event and what they are trying to deal with.

Pictures and video can only show part of the devastation that we saw...homes washed away, dead animals and fish, decaying vegetation, mud, etc., etc. Miles and miles....

On Tuesday, most of our time was spent in Vermillion Parish. Hwy 82 runs along a Chenier ridge and through some great duck country. The water along Hwy 82, north and south is still high. Much of the vegetation is dead or dying. Effects of high water for this extended period will have significant effect on this marsh (hundreds of square miles). I am sure some areas will benefit and some will suffer and some areas will recover faster than others. Very difficult to tell at this time on specific areas. Water quality in much of this area is bad to worse. Not sure what effect water quality will have on recovery...if any??? 

On Wednesday, Clay and I spent the day near Gueydan. Clay took video of about 30 Mottled ducks at the NRCS WRP prairie restoration site.

Just west of Gueydan, we found several thousand Bluewinged Teal and a few Pintail in a fallow/idle field. Every duck we saw in two days was in flooded idle fields. Lots of water in the rice country...lots of unharvested second crop...Ag. dept. predict 95% of the ratoon crop was lost. Clay got some video of teal, mottled ducks, shorebirds, etc.

Read the rest on continuation page below:

We are proud to say that we are among the rare and blessed few who have encountered the mythical duck hunter's cutie-pie while hunting last week in Manitoba - the famed and mysterious Maid of the Marsh, who, like a mermaid, or a unicorn, or a white whale, or Bigfoot, materializes like a vision out of the mist and rain and sleet, to present her magnificent self to distract and bother fortunate and intrepid fellows who are on a heroic quest - in this case, the quest for a limit of diver ducks on Manitoba big water.

Yes, we were very lucky to get a photo of this charming creature as scientific proof of her existence, as she gave us her memorable trademark open-mouthed, invitingly seductive glance before she disappeared or dissolved into the fog and the bullrushes and the alcohol  - a momentary vision who came to us in black and white. An illusion? A ghost? The fantasy of a lonely hunter far from home? Well, the photo tells it all.

If you wonder about the make and model of the shotgun, your priorities are way off. No - we are not a porn site. Sorry to disappoint. This is science. We think the gun is a Win 42, a .410 and definitely no duck gun in anyone's hands, but a fine gun for shooting pigeons and starlings around the barn. And that is not cellulite - that is abundant health.

 

Posted on April 7, 2005

Maple Sugar

We have two species of Scaup in North
America, but they look very similar, and
90% of them are Lesser Scaup. Unlike the Teal, featured last week, Scaup are divers, feeding on crustaceans (especially amphipods), mollusks, insects, minnows, and some plant material.

They are long-time favorites of duck hunters (despite their anchovy-like flavor which I enjoy), with historically abundant populations along the Atlantic coast during migration, but their population has been unaccountably declining over the past decade. You can see their flocks resting in fresh or salt water, or wheeling in the sky like schools of fish, between October and February, with most birds wintering in the southern US and Central America. Their main breeding grounds are the northern boreal forests.

More on scaup here.

Does hunting have a measurable effect on duck populations? No. As with most critters, habitat is everything. We will bag a few bluebills next week, in Canada. And eat them, too, cooked rare. Never cook duck anything more than rare. And never with anything with an orange flavor - overpowers the duck. Cooked pears or figs are far better with duck.

Teal are small ducks which, in migration, appear as fast, low-flying small flocks. Duck hunters know well how quickly they can appear over the reeds using their ground-hugging radar, and be past you before you know they are there. Early migrators, both species of teal have moved from their northern marsh breeding grounds to their homes in Central and South America by the time fall hunting season begins in the northern US. I doubt that we will bag any teal in our trip to Manitoba during the first week of October - they will be south.

The Blue-wing is the second most common duck in North America - after the mallard. (The blue wing patch is only visible in flight.) One of these days, we will get into the subject of duck plumage, an interesting subject because ducks have two plumages, breeding and non-breeding (or "eclipse.") Duck photos tend to show the colorful breeding plumage of the males, as in this photo, rather than the drab eclipse plumage which beginning birders and hunters find confusing.

During migration, both teal species are found in fresh-water or brackish ponds and marshes, often standing around on mud flats, looking bored but content. More on teal here.

Fair Chase

Ducks Unlimited, along with other hunter-conservationist groups, has begun a "Hunt Fair Chase" promotional program. "Fair Chase", for you non-hunters, refers to the ethics of hunting. Yes, man has a weapon and the animal does not, but there are many ways to apply ethics and respect to the ancient and honorable tradition.

For me, one of the primary ethics is to support conservation measures, and to do it - not to wait for the government to do it. That's why I love Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy, and a few others.

The General principles, as expressed at the DU website:

Fair Chase allows the hunter to pursue game, using hunting skills, knowledge of wildlife & outdoor savvy, without putting the game animal at an unfair disadvantage.  The principles of fair chase encourage hunters to: show respect to landowners & managers; respect wildlife; obey game laws; show courteous to other hunters and those that don't hunt; clearly identify your target; and remain ethical and safe at all times.

Something Beautiful for a Sad Time

Did you know that you can plant clematis in the fall? It's a good way to jump-start them. Best source for these climbers who require shaded roots, here. They have detailed planting instructions, too - important for these vines.

Sea Turtle Protection

Among the many predators which interfere with sea turtle reproductive success, Mexicans with the notion that turtle eggs enhance male potency are among the worst.

People hang out on the beaches of Mexico at night with flashlights, and after a female has finished laying, they raid the nest in the sand and sell the eggs at ridiculous prices to sexually-insecure hombres. Sea turtles have enough problems (few of their babies survive to adulthood, fishing nets ensnare and drown them, some are illegally hunted for meat and shell, and shipping and propellers do damage too).

So Mexico has produced an ad. Will it help? Worth a try. I don't think a photo of a turtle would have quite the same impact. Hey, amigos, try Viagra instead. It's cheaper than turtle eggs, and it really does work. Story here. 

For sea turtle conservation, we like the World Turtle Trust.

Worst Case Scenarios for Storm

From Stratfor.com, an excellent intelligence source which has sent out a Red Alert:

The Port of Southern Louisiana is the fifth-largest port in the world in terms of tonnage, and the largest port in the United States. The only global ports larger are Singapore, Rotterdam, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is bigger than Houston, Chiba and Nagoya, Antwerp and New York/New Jersey. It is a key link in U.S. imports and exports and critical to the global economy.

To read the rest, you need to sign on their site. Some of their stuff is free, but it's copywrited. 

 

I just got word from my migration
source that the Nighthawks are on
the move in New England, heading to South America for the winter. No longer as common as they once were in the Northeast, these aerial acrobats catch bugs on the wing and often nest on flat gravel rooftops.

Their falcon-like shape, their flight, their white wing-flash, and their loud beeping noise are easy diagnostics. They are seen as often in town as in the country - maybe more often in town, at dusk.

The photo, courtesy of P. LaTourette, obviously shows a perched nighthawk, but I have never seen one that was not flying. Read more about this bird here.

Thought you all might enjoy a photo of a captive-bred baby Eastern Box Turtle. Captive breeding is done for the pet trade (most of them taken as pets die - they are wild animals with exacting requirements which only their instincts know how to fulfill - you cannot just throw them a mouse once a week like you can with snakes), and for re-stocking of habitat. We do it for the latter. We do not approve of the former. Boxies are charming critters but do not make for responsive pets - stick with dogs and cats unless you are a herp nut. And herp people are strange, isolated, tattooed, eccentric, obsessed folk, like Bird Dog.

Mexican Navy vs. Turtle Killers

Man, is this story disgusting. Real Meal Ministries is right - turtle-lovers separate the men from the boys,  and the moral from the immoral.

Our friends travelling in the Amazon emailed us this photo of the point where the thousands of blackwater tributaries merge to form the brown-water Amazon River.

Grouper Wars

This kind of story is becoming common: battles between commercial and recreational salt-water fishing interests, and secondarily battles between different state and federal agencies. In this case, the fish in question is the big, fat, delicious grouper, but we have seen this happen with Striped Bass. A sustainable natural resource has to be carefully and conservatively managed. I like the idea of auctioning quotas. But what happened to catch-and-release? How many of these big guys do you need to take home? Story in CSM:

Red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico has become one of the nation's most sought-after fish, coveted both by commercial fishermen and rod-and-reelers in Bermuda shorts. But in an effort to safeguard the grouper, fishery management officials have driven a wedge between the two. In July they proposed closing the Gulf grouper grounds to sport fishermen this winter - while leaving the waters open for commercial operators. Read entire.

Known as the Right Whale because it was the whale the whalers wanted most, this baleen whale (plankton-sieving, as opposed to toothed whales like the Sperm Whale) has been in hard times since the whaling era nearly wiped them out. Now it seems that their numbers are most influenced by collisions with shipping, and nothing can or will be done about that.

There are two populations of this mighty 50-foot creature, one in the southern hemisphere and one in the northern. The North Atlantic species is the one that is in trouble. I saw a mom and calf in the Gulf of Maine ten years ago - a special sight. Our New England Humpbacks seem to be doing OK, but the Rights are on a steep decline which only luck or nature can reverse.

An Excellent, professional Blog

Environmental Economics

Sample from recent piece on dam removal:

There are benefits and costs to leaving a dam in place, and there are benefits and costs to removing a dam.  Can cost/benefit analysis help us weigh the relative advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives?  I think so (as do many others). 

The most widespread heron in the world, this
medium-sized heron is locally abundant in its summer breeding areas around much of the US, near water. A colony nester, like most herons, he is most often seen along shorelines at dusk, stalking frogs and minnows. He winters mainly in Central and South America.

Read more about this elegant heron here.

Photo courtesy of P. LaTourette - link to the left.

Abiogenic oil, Science and Politics

We have been hearing about how the earth is running out of oil for decades but thus far there seems to be no end of the petroleum reserves in sight. Those warnings begin to sound like just another Chicken Little story – the sorts of exaggerated scare stories which cause people to dismiss some valid claims and predictions coming from environmentalists.

The theory of “abiogenic” petroleum production  and also here - that is, petroleum production not from ancient plant and microorganism life, but generated chemically in the earth’s mantle – enters the debate about the limits of petroleum reserves. After all, if petroleum hydrocarbons are generated in the mantle from simple molecules like methane, then we are sitting happily on top of an essentially unlimited oil and natural gas production line.

Originally promoted by Russian scientists in the 1960s (eg: n for Natural Petroleum. Click here: Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connectio) in the US the theory has been mostly associated with astronomer Thomas Gold at Cornell. There are two interesting aspects of the abiogenic oil story: First, the science. Second, the politics.

The simplest way to demonstrate the origin of organic (carbon-containing) molecules is to look at the ratios of isotopes of carbon, especially carbon 13. Overall, the evidence strongly suggests that our fuel hydrocarbons do indeed have plant and bacterial origins – that they are “fossil fuels” - but it also indicates a likely but very minor production from non-living origins.

When science leaves the academy and the professional conferences, all sorts of things can happen, as in the global warming debates. Anti-environmentalists, and SUV drivers, want to believe the comforting abiogenic theory, and anti-growth and anti-oil environmentalists want to believe – or to make us believe – that we are down to our last drop. (Here is one such discussion.)

Psychologists and psychiatrists always are telling us about how powerful the wish to believe something can be, and how powerful wishes can be in distorting our version of reality. Even scientists are not immune from this human frailty, but they are hopefully more immune – and their results and opinions are always subject to the scrutiny and challenges of their colleagues. Trying to punch holes in one-another’s hypotheses and data is part of the job. Without the emergence of surprising new evidence, it appears that abiogenic oil is not a meaningful component of oil supply.