Da birdies have no idea

[rdy2go]

I found this disturbing. Please understand I am no activist, but I do beleive that natue should thrive. I didn't think of this until this morning when I was listening a documentary on the radio. Hundreds of thousands, pehaps millions of migratory birds are getting ready to head south from Canada. The biologist on the radio today said many of them use the gulf of mexico as a destination or a pit stop as they go to their over winter places. Christ, there is potential for a shitty situation. The birds probabaly don't know about that oil huh?:2cents:

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Yes Rdy, and its People who have no conciept of how devistating this damn spill is going to be. They dont realize the impact this is going to have for Generations to come. Its one of the biggest ecological disasters to ever hit in our lifetimes, and they Still dont get it. Its going to hurt, if not wipe out, all of the fishing and shellfishing in the gulf and other regions, kill off many marine species, and eradicate many bird and wildlife species that are just answering their nature instincts to migrate. They are flying right into disaster....and most people dont even Care. To them, "Its only birds. Theres plenty of fish in the ocean there in the Gulf"
Tell that to our grandchildren's kids when they can only see them stuffed in some museum somewhere....:( :disgust::eek2:
Cat, nature lover...:(

[Realist]

Apparently, the damage is not nearly as severe as it would have been, if the spill had occurred in the more frigid waters of the Southern-most, or Northern-most Atlantic, or Pacific. The Exxon Valdez spilled much less oil, but had a larger affect, because of the colder temperature.

Was there damage? .......oh yeah! But, there are microbes present in the gulf, that actually feed on crude oil. They probably would not be in colder waters. (Sounds incredible to me that anything would actually ingest that mess) Still, there's no way to tell the long-term results. If they're gonna continue to drill there, the safety measures will have to be manned by competent personnel.

I live in Florida and, so-far, there's been little, or no oil on the beaches, other than some in the north-western part of the state. The majority of oil seems to have been focused in north-western shores of the gulf.....Louisiana took the brunt of it, I think.

Friends who've fished in the gulf, recently, have seen no oil as far out into the Gulf as 15 miles....... and they caught plenty of fish, too.

The URL where I got some of my information is posted below. The rest was from reading and seeing special reports. I cannot swear by the truthfulness, or accuracy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_sc3270

[tenni]

Interesting Realist.

Just today, I heard that predictions of ten years being needed before the Gulf will heal itself. As far as the migratory birds are concerned, I didn't realize that they were ready to migrate already? I had heard that there were many nesting species that migrated along the east coast of Canada including a lot of very unique species who nest in Newfoundland. If what Realist is stating is true that will be amazing if the birds are not damaged in sufficient quantities to threaten their extinction or severe reduction. That concern was mentioned up here almost right after the oil began spilling.

I'm sure that we have all seen images of the poor Pelicans that have just been taken off the endangered list...probably to be put right back on now.

[Bluebiyou]

Yeah, the birds will probably be okay if it's just migration.
Time will tell about the oil.
It's not as expected on the surface. Good news for the surface creatures (birds).
There is bacteria that feeds on various oils.
We have a parts cleaner unit that must be kept warm to keep the bacteria alive. The bacteria eat oil (to what level of decomposition... what byproducts who knows).
I thought these bacteria were genetically engineered. I could be mistaken.
This brings a few questions to my mind.
Have we released genetically engineered bacteria into the world?
Unwise.
Next, what are the byproducts, and subsequent effects of the byproducts?
What of the Benzene, and lighter components of the crude?

[**Peg**]

...As far as the migratory birds are concerned, I didn't realize that they were ready to migrate already?

they aren't... the prevailing winds are still mainly southwest, the migration won't start until the jet stream brings reliable north winds (to aid their trip south) - similar for all populations west, central or east.

Therefore, the Eastern shorebird migration leaves the Bay of Fundy heading south around the end of August (maybe a little later now due to climate change), and the songbird/raptor migration leaves Point Pelee in mid-September, down the Mississippi flyway, arriving at the Gulf somewhat 2-3 weeks later ('ish).

As they move south, the weather is warmer, so they take their time. It should be fine by the time they arrive at the Gulf, as I've read recently that there seems to be no sign of the spill left on the surface of the ocean ! Amazing. God only knows what's going on underneath, though.


Peg