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Yard migrants; Kaufman guide; Duke Energy fracas



Hi Carolinabirders,

Was up late last night playing volleyball, which foiled my plan to visit 
Old Hope Valley Farm this morning. However, while I was grading 
biodiversity class essays in my backyard around 11 AM, warblers started 
appearing in the trees overhead. The light was murderous, and the 
warblers high above, so most I saw silouettes with frustrating glimpses 
of pale yellow and wing bars. However, with a little stubbornness, I 
managed to pick out an American Redstart, then a Blackburnian Warbler. A 
Cape May Warbler followed not long afterwards. THings quieted down for an 
hour or so, or else I was too distracted by work and food to see birds, 
but an Eastern Wood-Pewee called and broke the silence. Later on, another 
flock moved through, highlighted by my yard's first Magnolia Warbler.

I eventually had to leave, at least partly because around 1 PM the 
mosquitoes found me. But before heading to school, I headed to the Wild 
Bird Center in Chapel Hill to buy some birdseed, having given my feeders 
a thorough cleaning a few days ago in preparation for resuming feeding 
again. While there, I also splurged and blew $20 on Kenn Kaufman's new 
field guide. First impressions: it's a true pocket guide, much more 
comfortable in the pants than even the NGS or Peterson's (much less the 
2-volume Sibley guide). And while it does leave out some of the more 
difficult-to-ID rarities, such as Little Stint, and many pelagics such as 
Fea's Petrel, it still includes a lot. Among pelagics, it features 10 
species of shearwater, 8 storm-petrels, 2 albatrosses, and 2 gadfly 
petrels. As for rarities, it has most of the species that tend to show up 
in the lower 48, like Northern Lapwing, Aztec Thrush, Green Violet-Ear, 
Slaty-backed Gull, White Wagtail (grrrrr...) and many others, but leaves 
out the many species that only seem to show up on the Aleutian or 
Pribilof Islands.

Other interesting features: it segregates rare species to the end of each 
group; for instance, the rare hummingbirds are pictured at the end of the 
hummingbird section, rather than being in taxonomic order as they are in 
the NGS guide. Might cut down on mid-IDs by overeager beginners, and 
still more convenient an arrangement than the Peterson guide, which set 
all the accidentals - from albatrosses to grosbeaks - at the end of the 
book, totally separate from their relatives and similar species. For some 
reason, the book starts with waterfowl, not with loons and grebes as 
every other guide does; maybe some taxonomic rearrangement I haven't 
heard of? And the last page is a handy one-page quick index to bird 
groups, so a person can rapidly find the warbler or heron section without 
having to flip through the entire 7-page main index.

Last thing, before happy hour starts: a former Carolinabirder, Dan 
Lebbin, sends word that a North-Carolina-based company called Duke Energy 
International is participating in a proposed dam project in Belize that 
is threatening the largest and rarest subspecies of Scarlet Macaw, as 
well as many other species such as Ocelot, Morelet's Crocodile, and much 
more. Probably lots of winter habitat for our local neotropical migrants 
at risk as well. Reportedly the project will generate larger profits for 
the corporations involved, but will actually lead to higher electric 
bills for Belizeans, and exacerbate health problems (caused by a previous 
dam) for people living in communities along the river.

The good news is, a letter-writing campaign organized by the Natural 
Resources Defense Council has Duke Energy considering alternatives to the 
proposed dam. I have no idea if Duke Energy is affiliated with Duke 
Power, the conglomerate that lights most of our homes, but given that 
they are at least based in NC, a few more letters from close to home 
might encourage them the rest of the way out of this misguided project. 
See http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/habitat/belize.asp for more details and 
tips for contacting Duke Energy and Fortis, Inc. (another corporation 
pushing this project).

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/