Could Essex County Have Some of its Natural Areas Restored? v2

Wow, I read this short blog entry from the Windsor Star today, along with an excellent comment from Pelee Wings. I will simply re-post both comments in this blog posting.

Long story short, birding has brought to light something that I never realized about Southwestern Ontario. There is no significant forested area for at least a two or three hour drive. Every last acre  of land was converted to farmland and most of the swamps drained.

One of my best blog postings describes how Point Pelee was dyked and drained around the year 1895. Check it out here if you care to:  Nerdy for Birdy: Pondering the Origins of Point Pelee's Onion Fields

This Windsor star blog posting does not give much information, but would be incredible news if there is some truth and some real action and dedication to get things done. Here goes:

Canada’s first priority natural area is in Essex County

September 27, 2012. 1:42 pm • Section: Essex County, News, Windsor

About half of Essex County has become the first priority natural area in Canada.
“It is historic,” Essex MP Jeff Watson said after he made the announcement on Fighting Island Thursday.
The Western Lake Erie Watersheds priority natural area is a defined area for protection that includes land in western and southern Essex County. It stretches from Tecumseh, Windsor and LaSalle east to Leamington and includes areas that drain into the Detroit River and Lake Erie.
Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Essex Region Conservation Authority have agreed to work together and focus on this area.
“Our region is important because we have the most species at risk of both plant and animal anywhere in Canada and we have the most fragmented habitat here,” Watson said.
It may involve land acquisition projects and it is hoped the new focus will encourage landowners to voluntarily agree to continue to keep their lands in a natural state, Watson said.
About three per cent of the area is protected as a national park or conservation lands which is the lowest amount of protected areas in any region in Ontario.
Richard Wyma, general manager of the Essex Region Conservation Authority, said the agreement recognizes the importance of the Carolinian habitat and expresses a sense of urgency in improving and protecting it. The agreement is a model that could be used elsewhere.
Wyma said the agreement will focus existing grants and he hopes it will attract more funding. He said there is a lot of work to do.
“It is more about how do we do more tree planting. How do we do more of our water quality improvement projects?”
source: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/09/27/64147/?fb_comment_id=fbc_118515151632800_98935_118599614957687#f17dafa5ed2ff42

On Facebook, Pelee Wings commented on this article:

Pelee Wings Natureoptics Paddlesports commented on blogs.windsorstar.com.

Sounds like the impetus we need to get on with restoring the drained wetlands in South-east Leamington adjacent Point Pelee National Park so Hillman Marsh would once again connect with the Point Pelee National Park marshes after it was drained on a big scale 140 years ago. It appears all of the big players are on side - Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Essex Region Conservation Authority..... now if we could just get the Municipality of Leamington and its narrow-minded agribusiness barons to pull their head out of the sand and recognize the national significance of our region we may make some progress in restoring habitat in this area which sadly hosts the largest list of species at risk in all of Canada. Imagine our up-and-coming wine region coupled with one of Canada’s very best ecotourism destinations which includes Point Pelee, the Big Creek marshes at Holiday Beach and wetlands of Cedar Creek then add in our warm climate making south Essex County a unique 3 season recreational haven ….. or imagine that we continue to turn every last square foot of our rich natural heritage into more corn and soybean fields. I applaud the vision our federal, provincial and County agencies have laid out today for restoring south Essex; now let’s get on with it.

This image highlights some natural areas that could be targeted with respect to southern Essex County. Imagine hearing a Pileated Woodpecker, or seeing Cerulean Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers in Essex! I can't help but think of Chief Seattle's famous quote: "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected."

Jeff Watson just went up a few notches in my books. I think its cool to hear a politician use the term 'Fragmented Habitat' in a speech... I'm blown away really. Any actions that government and NGOs take to restore some of our natural history is worth celebrating. Is this just another empty headline? Only time will tell.

Good Birding!

Dwaynejava

 

 PS: Nashville & Tennessee Warblers, along with more Red-breasted Nuthatches at Ojibway tonight. 

PSS: Recent recognition of Holiday Beach causing some media stir:

Cowbird Parasitism of a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher Nest

I started this posting on the 12th of July and never got around to posting it until now. I really wanted to write a long discussion on the topic that got into urban sprawl, habitat fragmentation, and how our economic system demands that we grow our population.... But I'll just leave it as a posting about what the title says.

Three years ago when I started birding, I had photographed this bird (above) at the Ojibway feeder station. I didn't really know what the bird was but eventually identified it as a Brown Headed Blackbird.  I came to find out that this is not a bird that birders like, due to its reproductive strategy. According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park (SNZP): "A single female (cowbird) is capable of laying nearly one egg per day at the peak of the breeding season, and produces a total of 30-40 eggs over the 2-3 month breeding period (May-July). Because female cowbirds usually lay only one egg in a host nest, this translates into 30-40 nests parasitized (usually of at least several different species) per female in one season." (Petit)

SNZP continues to describe the parasitism strategy as follows: "Typically, female cowbirds find potential host nests by perching during early morning hours in a location with high visibility such as a dead tree in a forest opening, observing behavior of host females that are building nests, and following the unsuspecting birds directly to their nests. Once the nest location is known, the cowbird returns during the egg-laying period of the host female and deposits her own egg in the nest"(Petit).

Blue grey Gnatcatcher, in front of its nest

So, a few days ago, I had noticed a very gregarious pair of Blue Grey Gnatcatchers as I was walking at Ojibway Park. I noticed them feeding their fledglings at their nest (see above). A few days later, I went back to observe the nest (from a safe distance of course) and was saddened to see a large brown bird perched on the tiny moss and lichen Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest.  Imagine how angry, confused and sad the parents are when they realize the fledgling they spent all of their energy on isn't even their own.

Large Cowbird Fledgling on a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest

Habitat fragmentation & Urban Sprawl

Pg 114 of Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Bird Behavior has an excellent diagram that I wanted to put here but I want to respect the copyright restrictions of the books and may elaborate on the topic in a later blog posting.

How our economy grows & Urban Sprawl


Again, I lack the time  to elaborate on this topic at present, but hopefully I can push it into an upcoming posting. I wanted to consider the idea that economic growth can come from two major sources: 1-Export Innovative products (such as Ipods and Windmills) and 2-grow the population. I also wanted to get into Dutch Disease, an economic term, not biological. Natural resource extraction in Canada, particularly the Alberta Tar Sands tend to increase the value of our currency, which hurts other sectors such as manufacturing. We've seen the Canadian dollar at parity with the US dollar for the last few years as well as an exodus of manufacturers from Ontario. I guess these ideas could be considered totally off topic, but I really wanted to tie in how this Brown headed Cowbird fledgling sitting on a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest is symbolic of our how we are affecting our ecosystems. Economics tells us that we will continue to fuel our system with more growth, more urban sprawl, more fragmentation and resource extraction, all things that will continue to hurt our ecosystems and give the Brown headed Cowbird the perfect conditions for it to thrive.


Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

Further Reading:

Petit Lisa, "Brown-headed Cowbirds: From Buffalo Birds to Modern Scourge", Smithsonian National Zoological Park, ND, WEB, July 12, 2012 , http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/fact_sheets/default.cfm?fxsht=3

Boesveld Sarah , "Efforts to curb urban sprawl not working - Jobs are following in the outward expansion of cities", Vancouver Sun, June 18, 2012, WEB, July 12, 2012, http://www.vancouversun.com/news/whoarewe/Efforts+curb+urban+sprawl+working+census+shows/6174917/story.html

Wikipedia, Habitat Fragmentation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_fragmentation

Cowbird and Upland Sandpiper in Glencoe Ontario.