Greetings birders: Right now there are a few siskins feeding in cedar trees on Green St. adjacent to Agway.
The timing and conditions look good for hearing great egret night flight calls tonight. My past experience suggests that 8:30-10PM is the window to hear egrets, presumably individuals originating from the southern Lake Ontario marshes. I’m unable to go up to Mt Pleasant tonight for a listen but perhaps others can – should be a great night for listening with lots of migrants aloft! Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring. For a reflective read, check out the article Insecticides and Birds, which was presented orally to the National Audubon Society in November 1958, later published in Audubon Magazine (Jan-Feb 1959), and reprinted in the WI Ornithological Society’s Journal: The Passenger Pigeon (linked article). The article details how a serendipitous American Robin study on the University of Michigan campus in Lansing, MI documented the decimation of the local breeding American Robin population due to spraying of DDT over the campus to treat Dutch Elm Disease. For an excellent recent reflection on DDT, Rachel Carson, and our modern toxic stew, see Paul Ehrlich’s piece linked below: http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/commentary-paul-ehrlich-on-rachel-carson -Bill E -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
