Friday, December 16, 2005

Loose Feathers #13

News and links on birds, birding, and the environment.

  • The whooping cranes fledged in 2005 have now reached their winter home in Florida, under the direction of ultralight aircraft. A crowd of onlookers was waiting to greet their arrival.
  • The latest impact of global warming is being felt by polar bears. More bears have been found swimming far offshore, and as a result more have been found dead as a result of drowning. (Via AMERICAblog.)
  • While Bush warms the hearts of his corporate supporters by refusing to consider action on global warming and other environmental issues, American governors and mayors have been working for reform at the local level. Unfortunately one plan cited in that article, a regional carbon-credit arrangement in the northeast, has been threatened by the withdrawal of two states from the agreement at the last minute.
  • Westborough News profiles Canada geese, their migration patterns, and status in Massachusetts.
  • New Jersey, meanwhile, wants to reduce its resident Canada goose population by 60 percent over the next ten years. The plan is being considered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a new policy that allows different regulations for different states. Landowners would be allowed to destroy nests and eggs during the breeding season and kill geese from April 1 to August 31.