[Taxacom] Whooping crane news

[Mark Egger]

Yes, one begins to wonder just how much oil is in this particular  
stratum, because most of it may well wind up in the Gulf of Mexico and  
adjacent lands and seas. I wonder if they Big Oil guys even have a  
clue?? It's appalling how little they apparently know about what they  
are doing. It is also amusing in a highly pathetic sense how some in  
the anti-science crew are now attempting to blame this on Obama.  
Whatever one thinks about Obama, it is only the most extreme exercise  
in cynical political exploitationism that would propose such a  
concept. That paragon of profoundly twisted reasoning, "columnist"  
Charles Krauthammer, even suggested in an essay today (29 May) that  
environmentalists are to blame for the oil spill, for forcing the poor  
oil companies to drill near populated areas instead of (in his words)  
"the barren...remote wilderness" of ANWR, etc. Unbelievable!

Mark


On May 29, 2010, at 8:23 PM, Kenneth Kinman wrote:

> Dear All,
>       The sad news is that the Canadian conservationist, Ernie Kuyt,
> has died, and a memorial service was held yesterday.  He was
> particularly devoted to bringing the whooping crane back from near
> extinction.
>      The good news is that the whooping cranes have produced a record
> 74 nests in Canada this spring (topping the previous record of 66  
> nests
> in 2008).  This is a bit surprising given the unusually high losses of
> these cranes in 2009 due to the drought (and poor food supplies) along
> the Texas coast.  The remaining whoopers have apparently recovered  
> their
> health and reproductive vigor.
>         ------Ken Kinman
> P.S.  The record number of nests will hopefully produce a record  
> number
> of chicks as well.  However, with the continuing oil spill in the Gulf
> of Mexico (and today's announced failure of BP's "top kill" plan), who
> knows how this might influence the food supply once the whooping  
> cranes
> return to the Texas coast in the fall.  Another decline in blue crab
> populations would again be detrimental, and we can't even rule out  
> that
> crude oil could even eventually wash up into the Aransas Refuge, which
> could even poison their food supply.  Nothing would surprise me given
> the spreading scope of that disaster.  One turn of the weather pattern
> could next threaten either Texas or Florida.
>
>
>
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