I am very familiar with the area to the south of Houston and Galveston, which it appears may be ground zero this Saturday. Birds who have existed at critical population levels for years may get cleaned out, namely the Whooping Cranes and Atwater Prairie Chickens. A 25 foot tidal surge here would meet with no resistance. Brazos Bend has great wetlands, where I saw my first Masked Duck and a ton of Black-bellied Tree Ducks; I imagine a tidal surge would inundate this wooded swamp as well. With the human tragedy looming, perhaps some would find it trivial to think of the natural history risks that arise, but I love these places and the creatures that haunt them and I fear for their survival. Whit-tailed Hawks and the hundred thousand or so shorebirds on the Bolivar Flats just north of Houston are also at risk. The last sighting of the Eskimo Curlew was in a small wetland on Galveston, this is going to cause some real damage to some of the best coastal birding on the planet.
Mark Alt=20 Brooklyn Center, MN=20 [email protected]=20 "I recalled that I had read somewhere that in the Middle Ages Hell was envisioned as a place without birds." Jim Harrison=20
