Eat more cookies

The BBC liked to a UN report on global ecological condition today that pretty much says we humans are screwing up the planet, and we’ll eventually pay dearly for it.

Those of us who are “into nature”, however, have had this same sense for a long time now. Like every other species, there is a finite number of us that can exist within our habitat. Humans have been able to change our habitats to support more of us, and use political (i.e., military) means to secure greater access to the things that sustain us to that differences between the haves and have nots are perpetuated. We “haves” are doomed once the “have nots” start flexing their own muscles in that wrestling match, and that’s exactly what’s happening with the burgeoning middle classes in China and India. There’s just not enough to go around, and somethings gotta give.

The scary thing is that the stuff that really matters - food and water - is not a given. Wells run dry, and crops fail. Such distasters have beset people since the dawn of civilization. But when the numbers of people affected run into the billions instead of the thousands, then we’ve got some serious global problems.

Regardless of consumption, we need there to be fewer people. We’re just a few years away from 10 billion - can that many really survive on this planet, and if so, at what cost? We really need to put aside our biases against talking about population control, and begin to take overpopulation seriously. Check here to learn more.

I’ve tried to get out to do some birding and banding this fall, with marginal success. Last weekend, I pished in several orange-crowned warblers and a field sparrow:

We’ve done a little banding at Sanborn Lake in Stillwater:

I tried to follow activity at the Boomer Lake scissortail roost this fall, but it’s been difficult to get there regularly. With the passage of a couple of powerful fronts (and the arrival of coots, yellow-rumped warblers, juncos, and white-throated sparrows), most of the scissortails have moved on. I was surprised, though, to find a good number of birds (10-20) still hanging around on Sunday morning (10/21).

I started my 5k run around the lake just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. As I rounded the first curve, three birds flew past me overhead toward the southeast, obliquely oriented to the stiff south wind. By the time I finished my run and made it back to the roost area (25 minutes, 44 seconds later), there was not a scissortail to be found. Had they all left in the time it took me to run the lake?

Two things were different about my visit to the roost that morning compared to previous visits. First, the birds that left the roost were heading southeast (instead of west), and second, the roost completely cleared out - there was not a single straggler hanging around.

So near as I can tell, the scissor-tailed flycatcher vacated their Boomer Lake roost around 8 am on Oct. 21st, flying southeast into a south wind. Safe travels, y’all!

Couple of scissortails in the morning light from within their roost.

A mockingbird posing.

Lots to see and enjoy at Boomer Lake in the autumn!

The red sunrise over Boomer Lake took on a cool effect one morning last weekend:

We’ve had a terrific butterfly migration in Oklahoma the past couple of weeks, but the real story in our backyard has been the invasion of the big yellow butterflies. For the past month or so, they’ve been stuck like glue to our hisbiscus blossoms. The yellow on fushia has been something to behold.

The hisbiscus is a Lowe’s special, but the butterflies are Large Orange Sulphurs (Phoebis agarithe). This is the first I’ve noticed them in the yard since we’ve lived here, so I’m thinking that there has been some kind of a local population increase for these butterflies this year.

Of course, we aren’t the only ones who’ve taken notice of these new guests this fall: One of our jumping spiders managed to catch one of the sulphurs from the hisbiscus, and spent much of today enjoying a rather large meal.

Interesting story here in the rise of creationism in UK schools - and the chilling trend of teachers avoiding evolution instruction rather than get caught up in “controversy”. The twist here is that the rise in students with creationist beliefs comes primarily from muslim communities in the UK, not Christians as in the US.

But the source doesn’t matter, because both are wrong.

There is one simple reason why there is no need to discuss creationism, intelligent design, or related nonsense in a science class: they’re not science:

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said it had recently published guidelines to teachers on the issue.

“Creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories nor testable as scientific fact - and have no place in the science curriculum. “But we advise science teachers that when questions about creationism come up in lessons, it provides an opportunity to explain or explore what makes a scientific theory.”

Well said.

Congress approval

lower even than for Bush

must stop slinging mud

Neat story here on a new analysis of the bite force and likely killing behavior of the Pleistocene sabre-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis. (Great name, btw.)

The analysis suggests that Smilodon had a bite force probably 1/3 that of a modern African lion. Modern lions kill large prey by clamping down on the throat to suffocate their victims. The linked study contends that Smilodon’s jaws were not nearly strong enough to withstand the forces associated with this killing method. Instead, they suggest that Smilodon would wrestle its prey to the ground and get in position to adminster one good slash of the canines through carotid arteries, jugular veins, and trachea for a swift and bloody kill.

The BBC write-up of the work stresses how this extremely specialized form of hunting made Smilodon dependent on an abundance of large prey, and especially vulnerable to extinction when those large mammals became scarce. While that is probably true, we’ll never know to what degree the human hunters largely blamed for the “Pleistocene extinction” of large mammals contributed to the demise of sabre-tooths as well. Was it just competition among top predators? Did humans specifically hunt down sabre-tooths to reduce competition or reduce the chance of ending up in sabre-tooth bellies?

Also, comments about the extreme specialization and vulnerability of sabre-tooths in the face of environmental change can be misleading. They can create the impression that there was something “wrong” with these cats. Yet extremely enlarged canines were not unique to Smilodon; several species adopted this type of predation, judging by their teeth. (Check out the Nimravids!) Most dramatically, there was even a “sabre-toothed” marsupial from Australia that was also convergent on this body plan, with even more dramatically enlarged canines than Smilodon.

Many moons ago, I had the good fortune to spend a couple of summers on The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Reserve. I was studying mixed colonies of terns and skimmers, trying to determine the nest predation rates of the Herring and Great Black-backed gulls that had colonized the Virginia Coast in the 1960s and 70s. Because the islands were only accessible by boat, I’d occasionally get dropped off at one end and picked up at another. One day, I walked about 12 miles through the sand on Hog Island - good times. But on these long walks, it gave me a great opportunity to do repeated counts for Piping Plovers - the diminutive, beach-loving, sand-colored sprites of wild beaches in North America. These birds divide people into those who value natural beaches as habitat for rare or endangered native species, and those who think beaches are their own personal playgrounds on which to build homes and hotels, drive four-wheelers, litter, etc. These plovers are really not able to adapt to human disturbance the way, for example, their cousins the Killdeer can.

(Gene Neiminen photo)

One of the most amazing things about Piping Plovers is that the chicks are even cuter than the adults! But the adults always put on a great show of their own, whether engaged in some territorial battle or deftly running and stopping to blend in perfectly with the dunes so that they would disappear before my eyes. I was especially stirred by their calls. They gave a short “PEEP-lo” in a breathy whistle that, amid the incessant wind and wild breakers you could almost imagine you hadn’t actually heard, until some movement gave the bird away. When they really got excited, they’d extend the call to something like “KIP-to! Kip-to! Kip-to peek peek peek!”

Piping Plovers are also interesting in that they have strictly coastal populations and populations that occur in interior North America.

But management for plovers can pay off, and I found this story today about successes on the Hiawatha National Forest. I bet you didn’t think that the US Forest Service was active in management of beach-nesting birds, but here they are:

Piping plover management on the Hiawatha National Forest is a success

posted Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 CST by Kirk Piehler

Nesting pairs and young of this endangered species are increasing. Miles of beaches provide suitable habitat on the Forest.

Piping plover nesting has been increasing on the Hiawatha National Forest. The success is a direct result of Forest Service management.

Piping plover management has proven successful on the Hiawatha National Forest. Since 1988, the federally endangered Great Lakes piping plover (Charadrius melodus) has been recorded nesting on suitable Lake Michigan beaches across the southern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 2001 only a single nest and four or fewer chicks were observed each year. In 1997 and 1998 no nests or piping plover chicks were observed. However, with a continued emphasis on monitoring shoreline habitat and implementing protection measures around the nests, the stage was set for a change. The dramatic results are summarized in the graph.

In 2007, 13 different pairs of piping plovers nested on National Forest land. This is an increase of 4 pairs from the use documented on the Hiawatha in 2006. In nine years, the program has increased the annual number of pairs from zero to 13, and the number of chicks that hatched and left the nests from zero to 21.

The record number of piping plovers is a direct reflection of the intensive management efforts being implemented on the Hiawatha in partnership with various agencies, organizations, and volunteers. These efforts included monitoring nest sites, installing predator exclosures around nests, providing public education, limiting human disturbance, and improving nesting habitat. This dedicated management provides the protections needed for piping plover adults to incubate eggs to hatching and beyond.

Historically, the Great Lakes were estimated to have been home to 800 pairs. Miles of sandy beaches provide suitable habitat for nesting and foraging. Due to various factors, the population suffered serious declines. By 1990 the total population dropped to a low of 12 pairs.

As a result of management, the population has recovered to a known 63 pairs and 124 fledged chicks in 2007. While the 2007 total is a dramatic improvement over the population lows, it is still well below the estimated historic population, and serves as a reminder that habitat loss, predators, and other factors are present and continue to threaten the species rangewide.

For the Hiawatha National Forest, 13 pairs account for approximately 21 percent of the total number of Great Lakes piping plovers, a noteworthy accomplishment for a single National Forest. The wildlife program on the Hiawatha continues to demonstrate that Forest Service personnel and partners have successfully met the challenges in protecting nesting piping plovers and are helping to achieve recovery plan goals.

(Thanks to Lisa Sommers for the information she contributed to this story.)