[Taxacom] Whooping crane news

[Robin Leech]

For those of who wish to know more about Ernie Kuyt, C.M.
3 May 1929 - 21 May 2010.
On 21 May 2010, Ernie Kuyt of Edmonton, Alberta, passed away
suddenly at the age of 81 years, as a result of injuries received in a
fall.
Born in the Netherlands in 1929, Ernie immigrated to Canada with
his family shortly after WWII.  Ernie's persuit in the field of biology
and conservation led him to Saskatchewan where he met and married
Elsie Kulyk, the lady he would to on to spend an adventurous 50 years
with.  Ernie joined the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1960, and enjoyed
a successful career in wildlife conservation of which 25 years were
dedicated to working with Whooping Cranes, culminating in his being
awarded the Order of Canada.
Ernie is survived by his loving wife Elsie, daughter Pamela (Mike) Stroh,
and son Jonathan.
Memorial Services will be held on Friday, 28 May 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at
Hanstock's Funeral Home, 9810-34 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Nature Conservancy of
Canada, or a conservation-based charity of your choice.

I knew Ernie and his brother, Job, when I was at UBC, Vancouver,
in the late 50s.  Job later went to the U of A in the late 60s to take his
PhD in Zoology, and from there to the U of Lethbridge, where he was
a professor of biology till he retired some years ago.  Ernie's daughter,
Pamela, was a student of mine at the Northern Alberta Institute of
Technology here in Edmonton.

Robin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Egger" <m.egger at comcast.net>
To: "TAXACOM" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2010 1:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Whooping crane news


> 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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>
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