Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Day 99, Opposite Day: Clean Up Crews Leave Oiled Beaches Alone and Focus On Beaches With Barely a Trace of Oil.

After having spent a couple of days with the Coastal Bird Conservation's biologists studying Snowy Plovers in Bay County, Florida(more on that tomorrow), I headed out early to check out some more of the Sunshine State's coastline.  I saw lots and lots of clean up workers, but had to search very hard for any evidence of oil in most places where the crews were located.  At the Pensacola Pier I spoke with locals, who were going into the water for the first time in months.  One told me, "the fish are back, yesterday we saw a Sea Turtle from the pier, and the dolphins look happy, so we figure it's safe."  As he told me that, two Bottle-nosed Dolphins skyrocketed out of the water, about ten feet into the air.  The timing was impeccable.
Bathers enjoy the clean looking water at Pensacola Beach.

Afterwards, I travelled to Fort Pickens with fellow reporter Gregg Hall.  At the point of the refuge, and the mouth of Pensacola Bay we found lots and lots of tarballs.  They were actively washing up with the tide, and there was not a single person picking anything up.  An ailing Ghost Crab was near the shore, acting very lethargic and unwary, a very uncharacteristic behavior for a Ghost Crab.  It had oil on it legs and carapace.  Also in the mouth of the bay was a large barge that was actively decontaminating oiled equipment.  The chemical they were using, along with the oil and dispersant was being aerosolized by the act of pressure washing, and the odor was pretty offensive, and probably quite toxic.  Gregg felt sick when we got to the car.  I felt sick when I realized that someone stole my sandals which I had left at the edge of the beach.
Ocypode quadrata, the Ghost Crab.  A usually lightening fast, carrion eating denizen of the beach.  This one seemed drunk.  

After Pensacola, I drove to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.  In Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach, armies of clean up workers were deployed along the most touristy parts of the beach, and once again, it was near to impossible to find a trace of oil.  Perhaps they have been effective, or perhaps there's just less oil.  At the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge, a place that should be kept as pristine as possible, as it is one of the last refugia along this coast for many species, including Snowy Plovers and Black Skimmers.  Guess what?  That's right, no clean up workers.  Not one for miles around, but I did see Snowy Plovers, and copious amounts of tarballs, nearly everywhere.  I collected a pint of them in no time at all.  They were everywhere, and the surfline was choked with more coming ashore.  I also saw lots of Bobcat tracks.

Speaking of tracks.  Despite the clearly demarcated lane of travel mapped out along the beach with flags and signs, the clean up crews have turned the entire beach into a veritable highway.  Exactly what I had just witnessed being handled so well by biologists and response contractors in regards to the Snowy Plovers in Bay County, FL is being completely neglected on what ought to be our most protected piece of coast in this region.  Once again it is painfully illustrated that without constant hand holding, the clean up effort will neglect their obligations to be stewards of the environment, and show their true colors by tearing apart the beach.  This is probably the only place where Snowy Plovers nest with success in the area, and where endangered Piping Plovers depend on for foraging and wintering habitat.  Without some serious work, and restructuring, the response to BP's oil spill may push some of our most cherished and vulnerable birds unnecessarily toward the brink.  Our wildlife agencies should be ashamed of themselves that it has gone this far, and that they continue to rebuff offers of help from the numerous volunteers across the country who could be helping in this area.  It is quite obvious that they don't have the situation under control. 
The newly christened Highway Bon Secour.  How would you like to be a little fluffball of a Snowy Plover chick crossing that at rush hour?  
Tarballs like this were everywhere on Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge today.  And clean up crews were no where to be found.  Guess someone needs to be reminded of the definition of "refuge"! 

Imperiled Bird Colony Questions Persist on Day 98 of the Gulf Oil Disaster

I continue to be baffled by the decisions being made by the response effort as it concerns wildlife.  A most distressing situation that illustrates just how ineffective and poorly managed the response has been is that of the multi-species nesting colony on Raccoon Island.  Known to many locals as Last Island, this 5 km. long island in the Isles Deniers chain in Terrebonne Bay contains one of the largest populations of nesting  seabirds in the state of Louisiana, including thousands of Brown Pelicans, Louisiana's State Bird.  One would assume that being such an important resource for local wildlife that it would be indentified as en extreme priority for protection and monitoring. 

One of the only ways that the response effort has been protecting important islands is through the placement of a combination of deflective and sorbent boom to lessen the effects of the oil coming ashore from the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Breton Island, another seabird colony in Breton sound on the eastern side of the Mississippi River delta is heavily armored with a combination of this booming material that includes several rings of protection around the entire island, with the outer ring being a very heavy duty type which is meant for more open water application.  There are many types of boom, and there has been a shortage and a difficulty in getting as much boom as needed in certain instances.  That being a fact, many of these outer island areas have been protected with inferior boom that is designed for inner harbor applications, and is rendered completely ineffective by any type of wave action.  On day 92 work finally began to place more sturdy deflective boom around Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, 3 months late.  Many birds have already died or have been rescued due to the effects of the oil on that island, and not until this late date has the spill response effort begun to armor it in the most effective way possible. 

Raccoon Island, one of the most densely populated islands with birds in the entire state was left with one layer of deflective inner harbor type boom, which was completely useless against the waves and the wind from a storm in early July.  As of last Friday, day 94, this boom was still piled high up on the beach, having been washed ashore with the same oil that drenched a large number of birds, an event that was brought to light by Cornell University biologists studying the colony.  Had Tropical Storm Bonnie been stronger and hit Louisiana’s coast, Raccoon Island would have been utterly defenseless against the likely incursion of crude that would have been brought in with the waves as it lacked any boom at all.  It makes no sense that this island was not identified as a higher priority, and now we are seeing massive effects which have been documented by New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran on his website.  

What’s more is that wildlife officials from the state and federal agencies continue to stand by their protocol, which states, "If the percentage of the colony oiled exceeds 50%, a team of at least three highly
qualified biologists (ornithologists, species specific managers, etc.) from LDWF and USFWS will collaborate and develop a unified decision and protocol to remove the birds.".  These very same agencies routinely penetrate this island to band individual birds during the breeding season, and these same agencies were routinely making rescues on these colonies even after they published this protocol.  I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but given the evidence, it seems that the agencies are consciously choosing not to capture and rehabilitate certain species, unless a serendipitous encounter with an oiled bird gives them no choice.  Here is a link to a document showing non-biologist crews on Raccoon Island.  Were they doing harm?  Couldn't someone do this and rescue a few birds? On many islands different species are segregated, and it is very possible to approach certain groups of birds without coming into contact with, or jeopardizing other birds.

I absolutely believe that this protocol makes sense on certain islands, and that it would do more harm to attempt to rescue individual birds, as is the case on Cat Island, also in Barataria Bay.  The proximity to shore and location of nests in Mangrove trees creates a situation that any incursion would likely cause young birds to fledge prematurely.  In fact this was witnessed on Wednesday, July 21, when two clean up crew boats were removing saturated boom that had become lodged in the Black Mangrove trees, which comprise the island colony.
A clean up worker hurriedly strips of his Tyvek suit, as the fleet of clean up crews inside the boom at Cat Island flee the scene as soon as we arrived.

As we approached, these boats quickly withdrew raising suspicions with our boat that they were up to something questionable.  We initially thought that they were perhaps picking up dead birds from the colony, but then we saw two young Pelicans, weeks away from when they should have left the nest, lying in the oil soaked mud exactly where the boats had been working.
A Brown Pelican, far too young to be out of the nest waits for the oily tide.
Unable to fly or repel water without its plumage grown in, this Pelican will likely succumb to hypothermia.  Another casualty to BP's reckless clean up contractors. 

This type of activity illustrates the lack of communication between wildlife officials and clean up operations. It also underscores the absolute need for third party environmental oversight for all potentially impactful activities performed by the response effort.  

Back to rescuing birds in colonies.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries routinely made rescues on these islands in Barataria Bay, and in fact allowed Jeff Corwin to make a celebrity rescue in mid-June here.  It wasn’t until large numbers of Royal Terns became oiled that they started to stick by this protocol steadfastly.  These birds were right on the edge of the island, and I have witnessed encroachments into these very islands that elicited no response from other colony members.  They absolutely could have and should have been rescued, but instead were left to die a slow and awful death. 
This Royal Tern was rescued, after we discovered it and alerted officials.  It was so weak, and from its ordeal that I seriously doubt that it survived.

If there are reasons, such as survivability of the species to the effects of the oil, or percent of the population that has been affected that is governing these decisions, the associated agencies have the responsibility to engage them, and illuminate a public that deserves to know.  Relying on a broad-spectrum protocol that serves to manage myriad situations with a single and wide brush undermines the entire reason that we hire experts to head our agencies and manage dire situations like the one we have in the Gulf of Mexico.  Cat Island is not Queen Bess Island, which is not Raccoon Island.  The contracted groups that are dealing with the washing and rehabilitation of these birds are more than prepared to deal with these birds and would love to at least try and save a few Royal Terns, even if it’s now too late.

From my journal, July 22, 2010, Day 93

"Yesterday I saw huge tracts of marshland in Barataria Bay with the thickest oil I have seen yet, and no clean up effort underway.  We also saw a ribbon of fresh oil flowing into the marshlands, ten miles inside the bay.  The wide swath of oil was over a mile long and so noxious that my throat still burns from the fumes.  A small boat was present, but no skimmers were working to contain the oil, though we had passed many such boats, anchored in the bay before we found this oil.  It is quite frankly, absolutely infuriating to hear the claims by BP that they are working to clean the Gulf.  The efforts here are little more than a disorganized circus, and the fact that many birds are experiencing a respite from direct heavy oiling owes itself to nothing more than the weather, and the toxic dispersants having kept the Louisiana Crude from the shores.

While our tour of the breeding colonies yesterday offered much hope as many of the Brown Pelicans, and Heronids seem to be fledging birds without oil.  There was also much sadness as the Royal tern colony on Queen Bess Island has almost completely perished.  Where there were over a hundred chicks gathered along the oily rocks on the western shore of the island, I only counted two live chicks, and saw a few lumps of feathers."  

July 24, Grand Isle, Louisiana in Photos

Today, parts of the beach were opened, and the hot zone designation removed.  What this meant to many was that you could actually swim in the water.  Some people swam crab pots out and collected bounties like this basket of Blue Crabs.  Though the LDWF claims that the seafood is safe to eat, I think it dubious at best to assume that these crabs have not been contaminated by the heavy oil that still sits on the ocean floor through out the area.
In fact, though there was a stand down of work do to the non-existent tropical storm, fresh oil washed ashore, and with so many people on the island for the "island aid" concert, they had to at least pretend to clean a little.  These guys filled about 45 bags of oiled waste.  Jumped over the fence, out of the hot zone, cross contaminating the beach and left the area.  They cleaned about 5 percent of the oil that had come in.
The longer they leave oil in these shores, the more likely birds like this Laughing Gull will become contaminated.  Day 96, this Gull is a goner.
A benefit concert was held, instead of the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, which is the country's largest fishing event.  The concert was a success as far as good music and enjoyment was concerned, and the weather cooperated more or less throughout the day.
Leanne Rimes' performance was the big hit, and also the big ticket expense.  At $75,000, her performance likely meant that the 8,500 tickets sold  at $10.00 each didn't even break even, to raise money for the community of Grand Isle.  She did rock some Waylon Jennings though!
Even the Queen of Grand Isle showed up.
In the end, the oil kept coming ashore, and once again I am left questioning every aspect of this catastrophe, and what it means to be human. 

Isle Grand Terre Revisited

Although the weather was gorgeous, and there was barely a puff of wind, the Unified Command imposed a general stand down of response work in the Gulf of Mexico in preparation for Tropical Storm Bonnie, due to hit in some 48 hours.  What this meant was that there was no one in the area to help oiled wildlife, and also meant that there was no security on any of the islands that have been off limits for the past month and a half.  This included Isle Grand Terre, an island that Richard Shephard and I spent a lot of time on in the beginning of this catastrophe.  Two weeks ago, while performing a NRDA transect on Grand Terre, biologists were accosted by Jefferson Parish Sheriffs wielding AK-47s, though the biologists had all of the necessary permits and clearances, and were working through the USFWS and BP.  Birdwatchers=assault rifles; a warranted show of force? I think not. With that in mind, I was a little nervous when Geologist Adam Griffith form Western Carolina State asked me to accompany him to the island, but nothing good ever comes without a little sacrifice, right?
Carnal evidence in the wrack.  Since search and rescue efforts don't include walking barrier islands, many birds like this will never be counted, nor oiled birds ever rescued on these beaches. 

Luckily, when we got there we could see that there was no one present, and no assault weapons awaiting our arrival. Unfortunately though, my suspicions that the clean up crews on the island were doing little to actually clean up the oil were totally substantiated, and that the harm they are doing to the ecosystem by driving all over the island was clear and evident.  Large swaths of vegetation were dead, replaced by deep tire ruts, and active erosion was a  visible consequence on the east end of the island.
Last month, vegetation extended all through this now muddy mess.  Even though a fence now blocks vehicles from driving here, the damage has clearly been done.

In the center of the island, the bathymetry lends to the accumulation and pooling of oil as it comes ashore.  In late May and early June this area was thick with black crude, which would get covered by sand with the tides, and bubble up through the substrate as it warmed with the mid-day sun.  This oil was there without any attempt to clean it up for over a month, and then they started sending the crews out, and blocked all access.  From the pier on Grand Isle, I have been able to see a persistent black strip through my spotting scope, which I assumed was oil, and yesterday I confirmed that indeed, a month of "clean up" has done nothing to improve the situation, and migrating birds will surely find a heavily contaminated beach.
Large mats of weathered oil, and saturated sand continually bleed toxins into the Gulf potentially contaminating wildlife. 

Thick mats of weathered oil, mixed with sand dot the beach, and fresh tar balls and even emulsified oil was washing ashore.  On the east end of the island, completely saturated boom was strewn about, and left in lagoons like toxic tea bags, where many of the birds forage and bathe.  On day 94 of the spill it appears that BP is content with its "show" of force, and has its fingers crossed that the forecasted inclement weather will wash away all evidence of their lousy job here.
This saturated boom likely washed in shore with the high tides in early July.  It has been laying here since, contaminating everything that touches it, including this important tidal lagoon which is used by many birds for foraging and bathing. 

Short Stop Effort Gives Hope For Some But Not All Birds Affected By the Oil Spill

The talk in the media seems to have died down a bit about the "short stop" marsh augmentation projects in the Gulf, but rice farmers in southwestern Louisiana and elsewhere are just getting started in an effort that many hope will provide alternate habitat and food resources for many migrating birds as they wing their way south.  Last week I met with Ducks Unlimited's Manager of Conservation Programs for Louisiana, Bob Dew in Vermillion Parish to speak with a rice farmer about a possible contract to flood his fields.  We met at a crossroads of two little travelled highways in southwest Louisiana, and were soon bumping and rattling down a long dirt road which would eventually take us to the Whitelake Wetlands Conservation Area, a 71,000 acre network of marsh and agriculture which is owned and administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 17.5 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico.
D.U.'s Bob Dew and Rice Farmer Kim Trahan talk about their options. 

Upon entering the conservation area I began to see birds.  White Ibises circled in the sky and copious amounts of Black-necked Stilts cruised over our convoy as we came to halt at a flooded rice paddock worked by rice farmer, Kim Trahan.  We piled out of our trucks, and I was immediately overwhelmed by the number of birds in the wetland habitat.  Several hundred Mottled Ducks rose to the air to give themselves a little more distance from us, but nearby were many White, and White-faced Ibis, scores of Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, and Stilts as well.  This flooded field was kind of a fluke occurrence.  Normally Kim would have pumped it out and plowed it to prepare for planting, but due to a pump issue, water remained, and it provided a great showcase for the potential of the short stop program, and an opportunity to see its effects in the immediate present time.
Bob Dew talks about D.U.'s role in conservation of wetlands in Louisiana as hundreds of Mottled Ducks take flight behind him.

The short stop program is being implemented through a number of organizations in the Gulf, and through a number of funds, but much of the process is being orchestrated through the National Fish and Wildlife Federation using money from BP's re-claimed oil fund.  Curiously, BP once owned the Whitelake Wetlands complex before it was transferred to the State of Louisiana in 2002.  Ducks Unlimited, with their long history of working with landowners here in Louisiana on wetlands conservation, was a natural partner to help identify areas of need and see the implementation of many of these flooded field projects.  Working mostly through levee control, impoundments and through terracing Bob Dew told me that D.U. has helped conserve over 100,000 acres of marsh habitat in Louisiana, which has been losing land along its coastline at an astonishing rate causing many changes in the marsh and estuarine habitats and ecosystems in the state.

 
Kim Trahan looks at the map to identify possible project locations. 

D.U. identified 6-700,000 possible acres in southwestern Louisiana that could be ameliorated to help provide potential habitat for migrating birds, which greatly exceeds the available land in the eastern part of the state, which is closer to the more heavily impacted areas by the Gulf Oil Spill.  The lack of agricultural land to work with in the direct vicinity of areas most impacted by the spill, and along the lower Mississippi flyway is a concern, but this project is at least tackling something that they can do, which is to augment some habitat near these areas that are used by many of the same species likely to be impacted by the spill.  A higher per acre price is being offered as an incentive to farmers who begin their work immediately.

While many have heralded this project as a saving grace here in the Gulf, one thing was obviously missing during my visit with Dew and Trahan, migratory shorebirds.  Many species of migratory shorebirds will undoubtedly use this habitat, and it is certain that they will benefit from the creation of more foraging areas on their flight paths. Species like Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Marbled Godwits, Pectoral Sandpipers and American Avocets will all likely benefit from these additional habitats and food sources.  However, the most vulnerable species which use the Gulf of Mexico during migration and wintering will likely see no benefit at all.  Species like the Black Skimmer and American Oystercatcher and Snowy and Piping Plovers will not be affected, nor will many other coastal species.  Vocal bird expert, Ted Eubanks recently wrote about this subject on his blog "Birdspert", and expressed his worry for what he's identified as the "top 25" species of bird likely to be impacted by the spill.  To me, this doesn't detract from the value of the project, I'm just nervous that the P.R. machine that is B.P. and its affiliates will use this effort as a showcase of all they are doing and the most at risk birds will be forgotten in the fray.  From what I have seen in Louisiana and elsewhere, I think that scenario is very likely.  

Just as I thought the immediate danger of heavy oiling had subsided here in southern Louisiana, just yesterday on a boat tour of Barataria Bay we discovered a huge swath of fresh surface oil, in a ribbon over a mile long that had penetrated over ten miles deep into the Bay.  We also saw the most heavily oiled marsh and beaches that I have seen to date.  There were no clean up efforts underway in either of these localities, on day 92 of BP's disaster in the Gulf, and my throat is still burning from the exposure.  I will absolutely never travel anywhere without my respirator again. Despite the well meaning efforts of many, it remains hard to have hope and be optimistic for our most fragile fowl here in the Gulf.
Heavily impacted marsh near Bay Jimmy, deep into Barataria Bay with absolutely no clean up. 
This swath continued for a long way ten miles deep into Barataria Bay, and there was no cleanup in sight, 7/20/10 

Oiled Wildlife Training in Houston a Huge Success

This Friday I travelled to Houston, Texas to attend an oiled wildlife training at Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education, (WR and E) in Houston, Texas.  It was an immense pleasure to finally meet Sharon Schmaltz, Executive Director of WR and E. I was lucky to get a place in one of the three all day programs, each of which was booked to the 90 person capacity in a short time after they were announced. That's over 250 people trained in oiled wildlife response! The programs are meant to educate people in the issues surrounding oiled wildlife recovery and rehabilitation, including laws that govern the handling of affected animals, biology, capture techniques and triage and the actual cleaning of oiled wildlife.
Sharon addresses the packed house   

The large conference room at WR and E was full of participants which included 9 uniformed U.S. Fish and Wildlife employees and several oil industry people from Chevron and Shell.  Sharon Schmaltz has worked in wildlife response and rehabilitation for 26 years, and along with Dr. Jill Heatley, the training was exceptionally educational and well run.  WR and E routinely provides these trainings for oil industry personnel, and has worked with BP in spill response and training in the past.  The morning was spent in the classroom learning the ins and outs of oil spill response in regards to wildlife, and then in the afternoon, we donned the Tyvek and set about learning the techniques of cleaning oiled animals on oiled feathers, and un-oiled, yet living Peking Ducks.
US Fish and Wildlife Employees practice handling a live duck 

Curiously, WR and E have not been asked to assist in this spill response so far.  Despite the fact that they are the most experienced response group in the region, having responded to 60 oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, including 5 so far in 2010, one of which was in Breton Sound, Louisiana they have been sidelined.  Despite the fact that they have a network of over 200 staff and volunteers, handle 7-8,000 animals per year, and have a 30,000 square foot facility to potentially house affected wildlife, they have not been called on to assist in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  In fact in 2005 when a pelican breeding island in Breton Sound, Louisiana was oiled by Hess, WR and E led the response to rescue 983 Brown Pelicans, making them the most experienced group dealing with oiled Brown Pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico.
The ducks get a bath   

Instead, BP chose Rhonda Murgatroyd to head the oiled wildlife response for their unified command.  When you visit her company's website you will notice a tally of four spill responses. You will also notice that the homepage features this statement;

" We know that an impact or potential impact to wildlife is the most visible aspect of an incident in the public eye. It is not something that any Responsible Party or Potential Responsible Party wants to have as a part of a response."  

Call me crazy, but is that really what a wildlife capture and rehabilitation effort should be concerned with?  WR and E desperately wants to help in this effort, and know that they can be of use.  It's also curious to note that Rhonda Murgatroyd's group is also based in the Houston area. I asked WR and E employees if they knew Rhonda Murgatroyd, and the answer was a diplomatic, "yes", but I couldn't get anyone to delve deeper.  Seeing WR and E's amazing facilities and interacting with their knowledgeable and caring staff, I can not fathom that they would not be a huge asset in the response effort in the Gulf of Mexico.  Especially when one takes into account that BP contracted people from a company called Matrix to additionally assist them in the capture and cleaning of wildlife in mid June.  Another interesting fact is that there is no information on that company on the web at all, and when I asked a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Biologist working in Grand Isle about them, he said, "the guy who came out with us couldn't even identify a Black Skimmer."  I asked Rhonda Murgatroyd in a phone conversation about that on 6/13, and she told me, "not all responders are familiar with Gulf birds."  I guess she doesn't know that Black Skimmers aren't just in the Gulf of Mexico, and because of this spill and BP's poor response, they might not be here much longer. 
ABA member and Texas bird guide Roy Rodriguez finishes cleaning his duck.

New Cap Fails To Solve Issues Regarding Rescue of Oiled Birds In Gulf Coast Colonies

This Saturday I ran into the film crew from Cornell University led by Mark Dantzker and Ben Clock on Grand Isle, Louisiana. We were commiserating about the situation with the birds here, and I had just come from a tour of the nesting colonies in Barataria Bay.  I had seen very high mortality to the nesting Royal Terns on Queen Bess Island which I had previously visited on July 2nd, and was commenting on how I really thought that something should be done instead of leaving them to die. Ben commented that, "I know the situation is bad, but if it's any consolation, we were just on Raccoon Island,(another large colony in Terrebonne Bay) and the situation is much better. There is no oil and there are thousands of Royal terns there that look great."  Unfortunately, when their film crew returned last Wednesday what they found was oil, and oiled birds.  

As reported on newswise.com, "The team found oil present on rocks and all along the beaches. Almost all of the juvenile brown pelicans they saw had at least some oil on them, and they estimated that roughly 10 percent were “badly oiled.” Roughly forty percent of juvenile terns also had visible oil on them."
 

Even worse than this discovery is the apparent lack of knowledge of this situation to those in charge of the search and rescue mission here in Louisiana. Terrebonne Parish local and concerned citizen Darlene Eschete, knowing of Raccoon Island's importance to the area's birds recently queried officials on the status of Raccoon Island, "I attended a Deepwater Horizon Response open house last Thursday and asked about this particular island. I was reassured by the Wildlife and Fisheries agents there that they were checking on this island and everything was pristine...no oil."

This apparent lack of attention and response underscores the need for change in the way that things are being handled by the Unified Command and the agencies working within that structure to search for and rescue animals affected by this disaster.  On July 8th when I was on the water checking on the colonies in Barataria Bay we failed to see a single vessel or biologist in over four hours spent on the water.  What we did see around Queen Bess Island was a contractor tending to boom.  This contractor was inside the boom, very close to the island, doing exactly what biologists say they won't do because it will harm the colony.  If that is the case, then they should at the very least coordinate with clean up workers who are going near and onto these islands to salvage some of these birds that are surely perishing due to the effects of the oil that saturates their plumage.
This boat was tending the ineffective boom around Queen Bess Island, approaching it as wildlife officials will not do to rescue severely oiled birds.

What we also saw was a young oiled Brown Pelican that could barely fly.  We called the bird in to officials and waited with the bird, debating on whether or not we should capture it.  After about 20 minutes, the bird in a very labored, lumbering flight managed to get across the boom and near Cat Island, to what must have seemed like safety to the bird, but quite possibly sealed its fate, as there was no way the bird could effectively forage with that much oil in its plumage, and now that it was across the boom, it was highly unlikely to be rescued.
This young, oiled Brown Pelican could barely fly, and surely could not fly well enough to feed itself.

When I asked Felix Lopez, ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working in Grand Isle about the Terns on Queen Bess, he stated that they were aware that the birds were "tan" from the oil, but that it was mostly in their down, which they would lose, and he believed that the birds would be OK.  Most of these birds are a couple of weeks old, to near fledging at this point, and in fact I saw only a couple of Royal Terns that still had downy feathers at all.  These birds are gathering in what is called a creche, or area where the birds congregate before being able to fly.  This is right at the water's edge, which greatly increases their exposure to oil and oiled debris, but it also increases the likelihood that rescuers can get onto the island, and rescue these birds without affecting the other birds in the colony in any way.
With the new laws, this is the closest that I can get, but there are 13 oiled terns in this photo.  Only one still has downy feathers. 

I am aware that many biologists would rather see resources go toward studies and conservation on the population level than toward rescuing individual birds that may or may not survive.  In fact, these Terns have a much lower chance of surviving capture and rehabilitation than birds such as the Brown Pelican.  However, it is not an either or situation, and the responsible party and national sentiment mandates that resources and man power be allocated to the mission of recovering and rehabilitating every animal affected by this spill.  I thought that maybe some larger plan was in the works to monitor these colonies to determine when the potential highest number of birds could be saved, and possibly execute some large scale mission to get as many birds out of harm's way as possible.  Unfortunately, I can only assume that the apparent hands off policy means that the Unified Command structure is content with their blanket decision to not rescue birds from the colonies, but to pluck dead birds from outside the boom. Instead of action they will continue to let the tides inundate colonies and whisk damaged birds away as they succumb to the effects of the oil, while the rest of the country is inundated with dawn detergent and happy images of released birds who's fate we will likely never know.
A dead egret, one of nine birds collected from the boom on Queen Bess Island on the morning of July 6, 2010

Two dead Laughing Gulls plucked from Barataria Bay on July 8, 2010 

Video: Flight Over Barataria Bay With Southwings Aviation

SouthWings Aviation ,  Lower Mississippi River Keepers, and the Achafalya Basin Keepers invited me to fill a seat for a flight over Barataria Bay and the Mississippi River delta.  Our main goal was to check out some of the bird rookery islands, and get a sense for how many birds were nesting in Terrebonne Bay and Barataria Bay.  Unfortunately, weather kept us to the east of Terrebonne Bay, and the clouds meant that the sheen from the oil from the Deepwater Horizon Spill was harder to see.  Either way, it was an amazing opportunity for me, and I am very grateful. 

Interview With My Uncle, Rick Crandall on KEZW Out of Denver, CO

Rickinterview

This has been one of the best interviews that I have done, other than the fact that I mis-spoke about anti-freeze killing dogs.  I was wrong, it only kills cats immediately.

Bird Crisis Increasing As Southbound Migrants Arrive, And Tides Inundate Rookeries

Finally, proactive measures are beginning to address the likelihood that southbound migrants are coming, and they are going to find the oil, meanwhile, the bird situation is deteriorating here at ground zero in Grand Isle, Louisiana.  State and Federal wildlife managers are promoting and activating plans to flood fields and create wetland habitat further North of the Gulf in an effort being called "short stop".  Though nothing on this scale has ever been tried before to halt birds from migrating by offering them alternative habitat, it seems well worth they try to put in the effort.  Strong site fidelity, as well as genetic and behavioral tendencies may keep these birds moving south regardless of what they encounter during their journey, but given the absolute certainty that their normal foraging grounds will certainly contain many inherent dangers given the situation and amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico yet to come ashore it seems to be an option worth experimenting with.

On July 5, local birder David Muth reported that the vanguards of the migrant shorebirds had arrived on Grand Isle, and yesterday, July 6, day 78 of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill I found them myself.  North of the front beach in what are known locally as the "Exxon fields" foraged 5 Marbled Godwits, about 20 Dowitcher, and a Black-bellied Plover.  This may not sound like a lot of birds, but it illustrates that shorebird migration doesn't start in September.  It is here now and revving up, like water through an earthen damn, birds will trickle through in an ever increasing flow until the masses surge in by the thousands.  

Marbled Godwits, Limosa fedoa, breed in the Canadian and American plains from Alberta and into Montana and even further south.  Their population has been estimated at around 170,000 individuals, (Morrison et. al., 2001), and like most of our shorebirds, they are on the decline.  Luckily, they are not shoreline obligates, but can and will forage in the marshes as well, using their long recurved bills to find tasty things, like Fiddler Crabs, down deep in the soft marsh mud.  Unfortunately, though from the air it may not be obvious, oil from this gusher has infiltrated many of the marshes in Barataria Bay, and all along the Gulf Coast, and even those areas that aren't soaked with crude have experienced a contamination that will surely affect the ecosystems on which these birds depend.
An American Oystercatcher at Grand Isle State Park 

Two other birds encountered yesterday bring to light some other issues involved with this spill, and its effects on our birds.  Again, at the Grand Isle State Park beach I encountered an American Oystercatcher, Haematopus palliatus.  On July 4th I had encountered four individuals, all of which were oiled on their bellies.  No, they didn't look like the Brown Pelicans in the news dripping with thick crude, but they had sticky, orange oil on their vents and bellies.  They could still fly well, and were foraging, so I did not call them in, as the wildlife rescue mission, admittedly, is not capturing birds that can still fly.  The call in process is such that it doesn't allow for just counting oiled birds, and when called in, biologists must respond to the incident.  With such dire circumstances here, I didn't want to detract from any effort of biologists responding to birds in greater need here on the island.  On July 5th, I spoke with the President of the Baton Rouge Audubon Society Chapter, Eric Liffman, who encountered, presumably, the same individual Oystercatchers at the State Park.  He did feel the need to call them in, and waited for biologists to respond.  Through Eric's spotting scope he could clearly see that they were oiled, but when the biologists got there, they told him that they were NOT oiled.  This is not a subjective matter, and it makes me wonder what the State, Federal and BP criteria are for determining what an oiled bird is?  The American Oystercatcher's population is on the decline and estimated at around 10,000 individuals, (Sanders et al. 2004; Brown et al. 2003).
A dead Royal Tern on Grand Isle Beach, July 6, 2010 

Also yesterday at the State Park, I encountered a dead Royal Tern, Sterna maxima, that had washed up in the oily scum along the tidal wrack.  The Royal Terns are some of the most affected and least talked about birds here in Barataria Bay.  Their colonies line the outer edges of the rookery islands here, and with these high tides and strong winds they have been hit hard by the oil.  I reported earlier that on July 1st, I had seen about 85% oiling of the young of the year Royal Terns on Queen Bess Island, one of the main rookeries.  These rookeries are a real hot topic.  Biologists and the Unified Command have decided not to rescue these oiled birds as the potential for higher mortality throughout the colony exists through disturbance that might occur when rescuers enter the colony to capture birds.  This would happen if targeted birds are flighted, and retreat to the interior of the rookery, thus potentially causing incubating birds, or chicks to abandon their nests, or even trample eggs, thus the effort to save one bird can potentially harm or kill many more.  
Oil Soaked Royal Tern Chicks on Queen Bess Island, July 1, 2010 

On July 1st, when I observed the birds on Queen Bess, these young Royal Terns were still not able to fly, and as I watched them "trying out" their wings, you could tell that their efforts were being hindered by the gooey oil which permeated their plumage.  While the decision to not enter these colonies may make sense in many instances, this policy seems like a broad, "shotgun" approach to the management of this tragic situation, and in my view it would have been very feasible to rescue all of these oiled Royal Tern chicks that have congregated on the crude soaked edge of the colonies.  It may now be too late.
Bird Rescue Underway on Cat Island, Barataria Bay on July 2, 2010 

Yesterday evening, one of the wildlife responders told me, "we got a lot of dead birds in today."  They told me that they had received Spoonbills, Herons, Pelicans and Terns and cited the very high tides that have inundated these colonies.  Hindered by the gooey oil in their plumage, many of these young birds yet unable to fly have a much lower likelihood that they can escape the oily tides coming in.  The wind has been blowing out of the south for over ten days now, helping to pile water into Barataria Bay, where more water stays than leaves in the outgoing tides.  Each day the tides have gotten higher and higher as the new moon tides approach on Saturday and Sunday, when they will peak at their highest.  This morning was the highest tide in the last two months here, yet the actual tidal level on the chart isn't as high as it read for June 14, or the new moon tide in May.  Tides, even higher then when Hurricane Alex passed, piled over boom on Grand Ilse's front beach last night and washed away clean up crews tents, and decontamination stations, and brought oil further up onto the beach then it had occurred up to this point. 

One has to wonder where the arbitrary "hot zone" demarcation now is here in Louisiana.  I know for certain that last night these rookeries also experienced higher water and oil than they had seen previously seen, and certainly, many of these birds that had been stewing in this oil for weeks now, were washed away.  With these heavy winds, and the new laws keeping the media from approaching these islands, America may never know the real effects on these colonies.  We just have to hope that accurate numbers of birds were taken, and that biologists are making ardent efforts to get real data on these populations as they slowly dwindle, so that the "responsible party" will be held accountable.  The agencies here are stretched to their limits with the recovery missions, and while every individual biologist working here is doing their best given the largess of this tragedy, I am skeptical that the Unified Command structure is putting enough resources toward documenting this quickly unfolding crisis.
US Fish and Wildlife Biologist Photographs Dead Royal Tern on Grand Isle, July 6, 2010 
High Tides Dismantle Boom, Strand Decontamination Stations and Bring In Oily Scum to Grand Isle Beach, July 7, 2010