My good birding mate, M, is a lister. Every month he starts afresh to record the number of bird species he can see in that month, competing against his previous best. Over the last couple of years, we have a sort of unspoken pact that he will come up from Ringwood every month or so to spend the first days of that month with me so we can get his monthly tally off to a good start. This year, we have started his July off with a 106 species in two days; he needs another 20 or so species to beat his previous July best. Mad, or what? Well, mad maybe, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt, even though I am not myself a lister (I am too idle and too forgetful to be a lister). In the course of trying to reach the ton on Saturday, we started off at Titchwell just after dawn and ended up on Haddenham Fen until sunset. Every bird counts: Dunnock, Rook, House Sparrow and so on through the list of everydays until you get to the more exciting: Honey Buzzard, Hobby, Wood and Green Sandpipers, Greenshank, Spoonbill (the alabaster replica that they put up in Titchwell from time to time), Little Gull and so on. With 98 registered, we ended up on Haddenham Fen and in a glorious half hour, added Corn Bunting, Yellow Wagtail, Little Owl (3 of them!) and Grey Partridge. 102, and we still hadn't had such obvious species as Green Woodpecker or Longtailed Tit!
What is the value of this kind of activity? Listen, my beloveds, I have several quite exhausting but fulfilling conservation projects to fill my days, but I don't begrudge a second of the time I join M in his hunt for another record, another best. Apart from anything else, it reminds me of what we are trying to conserve.
In between all this, we had two moth trapping sessions and processed over 800 moths of 80 or so species, including seven different Hawkmoths and a Red Data Book species, Grey Carpet.
So now, if you will excuse me, I am going to sleep for three days without interruption.
Grandpa, why do you like putting names to the birds and butterflies and flowers you see?
So they won't get lost, dear.
Grandpa, I love you, but I think you are terminally weird.
Thank you, dear, but I'd rather you didn't use the word "terminally".
Eat your denture-friendly porridge oats, Grandpa.
3 comments:
Do you think the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is extinct or still in existence?
(Please ignore this question if it holds no interest for you).
It is like Voltaire's comment about God "If he did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him". Since the continued existence of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker would undoubtedly protect woodland currently under threat, I fervently believe that bird has been rediscovered. Yep.
I don't generally cut-and-paste, but there's some news today about the IBW that might interest you.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A federal judge halted a $320 million irrigation project Thursday for fear it could disturb the habitat of a woodpecker that may or may not be extinct.
The dispute involves the ivory-billed woodpecker. The last confirmed sighting of the bird in North America was in 1944, and scientists had thought the species was extinct until 2004, when a kayaker claimed to have spotted one in the area. But scientists have been unable to confirm the sighting.
Still, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that for purposes of the lawsuit brought by environmental groups, he had to assume the woodpecker exists in the area. And he ruled that federal agencies may have violated the Endangered Species Act by not studying the risks fully.
"When an endangered species is allegedly jeopardized, the balance of hardships and public interest tips in favor of the protected species. Here there is evidence" that the ivory-billed woodpecker may be jeopardized, he said.
Post a Comment