As a late night break from wingnut lies, bankers, war atrocities, and too much more of the same, let me point to a small but encouraging story out of Albany, NY. Birds' Pine Bush home born in fire, regrowth The Albany Times Union saw fit to place a photo for this story on the front page above the fold this morning. With everything else going on in the world, for the moment there's a small place where something is going right for a species that shares the planet with us.
ALBANY -- Seconds after Neil Gifford played a recorded call of a male prairie warbler, a male of the species appeared to challenge the apparent intruder. The tiny yellow-and-olive bird swooped down toward the buzzy sound ready to fight -- and flew straight into a fine-mesh net set up in front of a plastic decoy warbler.
Gently extricating the bird, Gifford took some quick measurements and attached a small colored band to the bird's leg. Moments later, the bird fluttered back into the air to resume its hunt for a mate.
more below the fold
The Albany Pine Bush is an area of sandy soils, scrubby pines and other distinctive species found mainly to the west of Albany, New York. Despite constant threats of development and other encroachments it still manages to foster a unique community of organisms that have adapted to its characteristics. One of just 20 similar inland Pine Barrens in the world, the 3010 acres of the Pine Bush Preserve are home to the Karner Blue Butterfly and a battleground.
For one species, the battle is going well. The management policies for the Pine Bush include controlled burns which attempt to mimic the natural rhythms of the landscape. Fire controls invasive species and allows the distinctive scrubby pines to survive where they would otherwise be choked out. This works out just fine for the prairie warblers, as the Times Union story relates.
The cycle of fire and regrowth in the Pine Bush has helped create terrain preferred by the warblers -- mostly open ground with low scrub oaks and other shrubs.
For much of the area's history since its creation during the last Ice Age, fire came naturally from lighting strikes that burned back vegetation. Now, fires are set routinely by wildlife experts in the Pine Bush to fill that need.
"We've seen warbler populations increase in areas where we manage with fire," Gifford said. "Lately, it has been easy to hear three or four males singing at a given time. In the past, we were lucky to hear one."
There's some wonderful photos and a video/audio clip to go along with the story. Click on the link and take a minute or two to appreciate one place where humans seem to be working hard at being true stewards of the environment.
Currently, there are about 200 adult birds throughout the preserve, with most paired off to mate.
Gifford and his staff banded 39 birds this month and will spend the summer watching through binoculars to see how many young hatch. In the fall, the warblers will fly south to wintering grounds in the Caribbean around Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.