Page 4 - Boca ViewPointe - November '24

Page 4, Viewpointe November 2024
Something In The Water?

By William A. Gralnick if you’re going to do 60,000 miles to get to it. If these were—or weren’t—traversing the country. Their findings
were our snowbirds that would mean if they decided to show a titanic drop-off of 2.6 billion birds between fall
Is there something drive down to Florida they would wear out an entire set and spring migrations. What’s more, though species that
in the water? I’m seeing of tires! winter in the United States have shorter fall flights, they
and hearing weird things Other migrations involve birds flying east-west or up suffered the bulk of the losses, indicating that northern
out there when my pup and down mountains. Even flightless birds migrate, such populations face greater threats than those in the tropics.
and I take our morning as the Adélie penguin, which makes a nearly 8,000-mile In sum, we are losing billions of birds a year.
constitutional. A few weeks ago I heard a bird sound trek through frigid Antarctica. Again, were this penguin They need help and so do we. Remember, birds are not
that was unfamiliar to me. Know of course, I’m not a one of our snowbirds, how many pairs of shoes do you only a delightful part of our lives, they are a vital part of
bird maven and I recognize very few bird sounds, but I think it would go through walking 8,000 miles? what makes the environment go round. They eat countless
know the ones I hear around the neighborhood even if I However, as spectacular as these facts are, one can numbers of insects. They eat and then replant countless
do not know what feather-friend is producing them. These only be so cute in dealing with them because… a big numbers of seeds. Their eggs provide nourishment in
sounds were coming from the direction we were going so slice of them never flies back—casualties of natural places with starving populations.
I followed them until I was almost on top of where they causes like weather and predation, and unnatural causes So the next time you hear about a piece of legislation
seemed to be coming from. That alone is unusual because like oil pits, feral cats, and glass collisions.” Some cities proposed that will endanger birds oppose it. The next time
usually a bird will flush and fly away when you get too with skyscrapers are taking measures to help the birds. you hear of a petition to create another bird sanctuary
close for comfort. I looked hard and saw two small brown They are putting in panes of glass in different spots on sign it. Maybe I’m sounding like the Goose on the roof
woodpeckers. To this day, I don’t know what they are, I the building that the birds would notice and cause them honking out a tune…but don’t fiddle around with the
just know they are not from here. They came here from to alter their flight pattern. A new problem has grown up future of these creatures we so often take for granted.
there, wherever there is for them. And that will take you with the growing of wind farms. Birds are flying into the
into this article with but one more observation. propellers in huge numbers. It turns out there is a simple Columnist and author Bill Gralnick was born and
The morning of this writing, I walked out into a solution—paint one or more of the blades black. The birds raised in Brooklyn, NY. He recently finished a humorous
cacophony of honks. This time I looked up and there, fly around it. All we have to do is convince the builders memoir trilogy. The first book is “The War of the Itchy
perched on the peak of the roof was a bird I did recognize. to do it. The needs are urgent. Balls and Other Tales from Brooklyn.” The second is
It was an Egyptian Goose. They are labeled an invasive Now scientists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in “George Washington Didn’t Sleep Here.” The recently
species but I don’t know what harm they bring other Ithaca, New York, have put a first-ever estimate on those published third is, That’s Why They Call It Work.” He
than noise when you’d like it to be quiet. This bird had missing travelers. By tracking migratory night flights is currently working on a novel. His books are available
its neck stretched to the sky and was honking up a storm. from 2013 to 2017 on weather radar maps, measuring on Amazon and his other writings at https://www.
It is migration season so I’m thinking he was sounding the magnitude, and plugging the numbers into a cloud- williamgralnickauthor.com. 
off to fellow geese maybe inviting them to try out Boca computing service, they tallied how many land birds
Pointe as a landing spot. My curiosity got the best of me
and, lucky you, I’m going to share the results. A writer
can do that. The reader makes the choice thereafter. So,
migration. ª
The figures are stunning. Take this from the Audubon
Society. Each fall, billions of birds like the robin and Two Boca Raton Offices: 151 N. Ocean Blvd. • 21073 Powerline Rd. #63
wo Boca Raton Offices: 151 N. Ocean Blvd. • 21073 Powerline Rd. #63
T
tanager make their way to the Lower 48 or to the tropics.
“DEDICATED TO RESULTS”
Read that again, I did: billions. “DEDICA TED T O RESUL TS”
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to-pole roundtrips spanning more than 60,000 miles—a
record, believed to be the world’s longest migration of
any animal. “You really have got to like your winter home
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