World Bird Wednesday XXXVI

Breaking News: Pelicans Invade Michigan

   Pelicans in Michigan? Preposterous.
  A pelican sighting is a strange occurrence around here and worthy of a write up in the local papers when one does fall out of the sky and onto a Michigan lake. It's the kind of thing Grandpa would have reminisced about as he cleaned his dentures before bed, so rare and remarkable was the experience. Such sights are lately becoming more common here in the Lower Peninsula.
  I postulate now that American White Pelicans are on the move from the high plains of North Dakota and Manitoba pushing their migratory boundary eastward to include the Great Lakes. Be warned Michigan, it's probably only a matter of time before they start breeding here too. This is my own and highly undocumented sense of the coming storm. 
 Huge flocks of pelicans congregate for the spring breeding ritual just east of the Canadian Rockies on islands situated inside inland lakes where the rookeries are better protected from predators with a natural mote. Their wintering grounds run along the California/Mexican Pacific rim and the Gulf coast. From my readings I gather that where you find these pelican rookeries you will also see cormorants and gulls as part of the fish loving entourage. On their own, white pelicans can put a beating on a fishery. A single bird, weighing in at thirty pounds, will eat more that half it's body weight in fish daily. Consider also that the birds have mastered the art of hunting in floating packs. When surrounding a school of fish pelicans beat their wings and plunge their bills into the water driving panicked schools shoreward toward the shallows where the feeding frenzy can begin. Hundreds of pounds of fish can be consumed in such a sitting. A mass migration of pelicans would mean a new nightmare for Great Lakes sport fishermen who already pace the floor nightly worrying about the Asian Flying Carp invasion that appears immanent. But that's another story. Michigan's lakes offer the Federally protected pelicans a shining opportunity as their numbers increase again. Who could blame them for being smitten with the Mitten but can we be expected to accommodate these needy immigrants?

  Immigration can be a touchy subject depending on what part of the world you live in. As a regions resources dwindle the living must skedaddle or stay to compete in a system whose rules have change. Migration plays a supreme role in the interplay between all living things. Animal, plant, insects, you name it. We generally first experience the issues of immigration in our early days of school when it arrives in the form of the new kid in class.  
The new kid's challenge comes down to fitting his puzzle piece securely into a bewildering new picture. The classic suspicious loner.
 The class forms a more complicated social structure that must make room for the stranger. They have their vested interests and alliances to consider. Whose point of view should take precedence?
When migration occurs on a larger scale the unsettling dynamics are similar to school yard politics. Emotions get hot, rumors run wild, and the bullies seek a victim.





Immigration and migration is at it's essence the insatiable movement of life around this planet.
We are all immigrants.
Okay tough guy, go ahead and try to put a stop to it.

Pelicans are used to this migration business having seen a lot of it in the 35 million years they have flown the skies of planet Earth. That's about the same time our primitive ape ancestors also set up shop and began their journeys. A lot of creatures have come and gone in the pelicans time. They once fished for saber toothed salmon for goodness sake!
  The White European pelican and the American white pelican are extremely similar even though their territories are eight thousand miles distant. It is thought that in those warm pre-ice age days there was a single flock of ancient white pelicans that fed near the warm arctic ocean waters. The group was split in two when the great white North reemerged and pushed them down the two separate continents toward the equator.

The fossil record below is believed to be that of a pelican bill and neck bones from about 30 million years ago, a design so successful we see it today as it was then, virtually unchanged and apparently perfected.  For what it's worth Pelicans can claim seniority status in our emerging world.

 

All of the world's seven varieties of pelicans are spectacular to see in person. The American White variety are among natures largest flying animals with a wing span nearly nine feet across. Their disposition seems to be that of a gentle giant. Due to the loss of suitable wetland habitat pelicans have often been pushed out of their traditional breeding grounds. Are they on the move again, playing the survival game like they have for tens of millions of years? Probably. Thanks this time to those annoying little terrestrially bound apes that have recently evolved into Us, the latest wild card challenge to the White pelicans quest to peacefully fish the wetlands of planet Earth for another thirty thousand millennium.

Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.

World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.



#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

Come on it's your turn!

World Bird Wednesday XXXV

                                Bald Eagle: No Big Deal?

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
                                                                                                                             Albert Einstein

   I was 19 the first time a Bald eagle soared into my world. My career as a vagabond had begun the year before with hitchhikes from Detroit to Florida and then from Motown to L.A.town. That new summer I was back in the American West. My hiking partner and I were traipsing through the high country around Estes Park, Colorado when across the distance we saw a black spot cutting through the air between the peaks. Even at that great distance the speck soon took on the white/brown/white spectrum that let us know a Bald eagle was in our midst. To our astonishment the bird flew directly at us and without as much as a single beat of it's wings crossed directly over our heads. I fell on my back side and gasped in awe at the shear size and presence of the creature above me. It's curiosity satisfied, the eagle drifted off and was lost to my eye. I was lucky to see an eagle that day and I would not see another for thirty odd years.

My eagle sighting took place in the summer of 1973 the same year the Endangered Species Act was passed. A survey was completed the next year and only 791 breeding pairs of Bald eagles were found in the entire lower 48 states. From sea to shining sea so to speak. That was good news since just 10 years earlier in 1963 a remnant of only 487 nesting couples were counted from the estimated population of 100,000 pairs thought to have existed in 1782 when the Eagle won a fierce battle with the turkey to become the national symbol of the United States. A lot of blood was spilled in the 19th and 20th centuries both literally and figuratively as human beings began drinking deeply of our planet's treasures and both the turkey and Bald eagle would come close to landing in nature's scrap heap.
   The concept of "Better Living Through Chemistry" came into it's hey-day during WWII when the miracle insecticide DDT was scrubbing the world clean of the yucky little creatures that inhabit the margins of our civilization. It seemed like a good idea at the time, after all, who hasn't wondered in a secret moment about the Lord's wisdom in creating the mosquito and we certainly wouldn't attempt to anthropomorphise the best of human nature using a malaria carrier as our totem. And so the domino's began to fall as the poison swept up the food chain until it threatened to finish off the revered Bald eagle once and forever. Fortunately we Americans required the charismatic raptors as a metaphor to describe our own grand illusions and could not stomach the obvious grim symbolism of its impending doom. We would not tolerate the shameful loss of our national icon even if it meant our potatoes, apples, chickens, and cows could no longer dance with us ecstatically on a bug free world stage. In 1972 DDT was banned in the U.S.  Brilliant move.
   

  When I first moved to the Pine River seven years ago and began to appreciate the marvelous variety of bird life around me I struck up a conversation with an older head who predicted that we would again have Bald eagles back in our area within five years. At the time it sounded like a hopeful bit of nonsense. I am elated to report that the old timer's premonition was right on the money. These days, 'round here, you'll see an eagle every day if you keep your head up. Bald Eagles were taken off the endangered species list in 2007 when nesting couples had reached a population of nearly 10,000. Whew, that was close!
  There is even an official Bald eagle day here in the U.S. celebrated June 20th when we're asked to wear B.E. tee shirts and rejoice in our patriotic ideals. I made a motion we also wear mosquito tee shirts in a subtle effort to empathise the larger circle of life lessons learned from the recovery of our majestic eagles. That motion was squashed!

   It is a great world, what's left of it. And I'm grateful to to the energetic and devoted people who did the heavy lifting back in the year 1940 to get the Bald Eagle Protection Act passed that made any human interference with the life cycle of the Bald and Golden Eagles illegal, like shooting them for target practice as an example.

  Survival of the fittest is the way of this world, no question, I get that. Summing it up unpoetically; we live to eat only to be eaten. My Grand Hope for Homo-Sapiens is that we might someday see ourselves as a buffer to that Darwinian harshness and help to preserve our planets vastness instead of being so enthusiastic about consuming it. I would like it if we humans thought of ourselves as planet Earth's librarians, cataloging and preserving its wonders. I realise that for some "Librarian to the Planet" might sound like a demotion from our current lofty position as self-proclaimed Lords of the Universe.

   

   Awe, that simple, vastly underrated emotion humans feel when confronted with a force or thing immensely greater than themselves, might be the natural worlds, and in that our own, best salvation. I felt awe the first time I saw waves break on the Pacific Ocean, caught sight of the snow capped Rockies, and observed the Northern Lights. Awe inspires respect and puts the order of things in their proper perspective. To experience awe changes a person. It is the emotion that can energises our best intentions, guide our principles, and help us to pay closer attention to the Big Picture. The feeling of awe gives us hard evidence that the world is not here for just "us guys," and that seeing a Bald eagle floating in the mountain air can and should always be a big deal!

 Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

   This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.

   World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.

   You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents.

                                                  

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

Come on it's your turn!

World Bird Wednesday XXXIV

                                                     Gone Fishin'

Suzanne and I are off and away this week. I hope you will enjoying seeing a few of my favorite headers and a few others that didn't quite make the cut. See you next week with a heftier serving!

Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.

World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.

You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents.

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!


The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

Come on it's your turn!!

World Bird Wednesday XXXIII

                                             Now That's a Mouthful

  

   It's Fish fly season in Michigan! This flying insect that breeds at the bottom of our coastal lakes and rivers, the very thing you see Lady Red Winged blackbird gorging on, is an Old Testament style pestilence that comes forth from the deep in numbers incalculable. They adorn every window, side walk and lamp post within five miles of the water with their slippery, squirming bodies. For fun you can stealthily place a fat one on your friends ear. The fish fly will wait patiently until your victim feels the slight yet annoying probing of the bugs rear antennas. You will get a good laugh when your loved one shakes their head frantically and slaps at their ear. It's a harmless practical joke as the little guys do not sting or bite, this being their only but important virtue.

   The life of a fish fly is compressed into a single day. Hatch-sex-and fly until you die pretty much sums up it's frivolous existance. Common afterlife advice recommends heading for the white light if you should see such a thing on your way out. Presumably it leads to greener pastures. Apparently fish fly culture suggests a similar rule. As the sun sets on their big day the flies rapturously fly off in the direction of any bright light and swirl about until they drop dead in stinking piles by the millions. Whoops, wrong white light!

   Here's a artsy fartsy picture that almost makes the fish fly pestilence look pleasant and looking at it dispassionately I suppose our local curse is an avian windfall.

I was hanging out in Detroit at the end of last week doing the firefighting thing. Ours is a 24 hour shift that ends at 7:30 AM. It was a good time for my son Joshua and I to take a drive over to Belle Isle, enjoy the sights from the middle of the river, and shake off our long night of putting the wet stuff on the red stuff. Soon after crossing the MacArthur bridge that spans the mainland to the island we spotted a Great Blue heron looking to spear breakfast at the North end of the pond facing Scott fountain, a magnificent white marble monument bequeathed to Detroit by it's most scurrilous playboy prankster at his death in 1910. After a frivolous life spent chasing wild women, gambling, ceaselessly suing his many adversaries, and playing vindictive practical jokes with money inherited from his father, James Scott had few friends among the living. His enemies were legion. As the hard drinking socialites health failed he conceived a brilliant plan to foil his stuffy detractors one last time. Played from beyond the grave, even as he made for the white light, Scott's lawyers laid down his final trump card.

    

With no relative to contest his last wishes James left the good people of Detroit with an interesting moral dilemma. Scott willed half a million dollars to the city specifically for the erection of a grand fountain on the crown jewel of Detroit's river front, Belle Isle, with this stipulation; that a heroic life size statue of himself also be commissioned and positioned there to watch over the fountain and further pester his still living adversaries. A towering Washington Monument style Doric column had been proposed for the same prime spot now coveted by James Scott by certain well heeled citizens but those efforts had failed to find traction financially. That the self serving Scott, lounging now in the Great Beyond, might out maneuver them caused a fury of contempt. The pulpits, politicians, and halls of commerce rang with a single voice,"This contemptible man, whose life valued no more than a fish fly for the common good that it achieved, should not be honored in this folly of cosmic self-promotion. Let the money rot like fish flies in July!"

                                                                                          Letting Them Gag On Their Indignation

                                                                             15 years after his death Scott's cynical point was made. As the funds increased in value the temptation could not be resisted any longer and the fountain, with a contented looking bronze sculpture of James Scott looking on, was commissioned and built. The Cass Gilbert designed fountain is impossibly beautifully. The 510 foot circumference of the lower basin cradles dozens of fanciful characters carved from impeccable white marble spewing jets of water. At night, when the fish flies are out of season, it is illuminated magnificently and can render one speechless with wonder. 

   100 years after Mr. Scott's demise this improbable monument envisioned by the vile practical joker, whose last act was to expose the frailty of his fellow citizens righteous indignation when faced with a fat stack of dirty money, still says a mouthful.

Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most beautiful treasurers, the birds.

World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.

You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents.

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!


The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs. Click on them and view their beautiful posts.

Come on it's your turn!