Ask Maine Audubonby Christian MilNeil August 26, 2010 Topics: Conservation
Dear MA, Will the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico affect any Maine birds that migrate south for the winter? Maine has a lot of wading birds, waterfowl, and songbirds that spend their winters in or around the Gulf of Mexico. These birds had already started their migration out of the Gulf when the disaster began back in April, but it’s increasingly looking like coastal habitats in the Gulf are going to be in bad shape when these species migrate back south this winter. Some of the specific species that could be affected are snowy egrets, great and little blue herons, Maine’s endangered piping plovers, and dabbling ducks like mallards. Many of these species are economically important to Maine’s tourism industry, either as game for hunting or for birdwatching. We can’t begin to assess the impacts to these species until next summer, when these birds return to Maine from the damaged Gulf. Maine Audubon and its volunteers have been monitoring Maine's bird populations for decades, through projects like the Piping Plover and Least Tern Monitoring Project, Christmas Bird Count, and others. These monitoring efforts won't be able to determine the specific effects of the oil spill - even if we see bird populations decline, there might be some other, unknown factor at work. But we will have general information about Maine's bird populations that will let us raise awareness and step up our conservation efforts if necessary. Many of these research efforts rely on observations and data collected from Maine Audubon volunteers. It’s a good way to help out locally in the wake of the oil spill - if you’re interested, find out more at www.maineaudubon.org/conserve. |
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