Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois
Illinois Birds and the Gulf Oil Spill
Over the past several months we have seen the Gulf environment
slowly destroyed by the BP oil spill
resulting in the loss of livelihood
to many residents as well as the loss
of life to a multitude of plant and
animals. For members of the
Guardians to whom birds have
a special place, the impact has
been tragic. The fact that the well
has been finally capped does not
mean, however, that the tragedy is
over, but rather the impact on birds that
frequent Illinois may have just begun.
During the year, over 90% of the
bird species in Illinois can be observed
in Jo Daviess County, in part because
we are located within the Mississippi
Flyway for migrating birds. With the
fall migration to the south, the birds
travel directly to the Gulf to either stay
there for the winter or to rest prior to
making their journey across the Gulf to
Central and South America. It is estimated
that 60 species of birds in Illinois
are part of this migration, not to
mention other species that pass through
Illinois to nesting sites further north.
So what will happen? The short answer
is that the birds will be negatively
affected, but we don’t really know by
how much. It is estimated that over a
billion birds make each of the spring
and fall migrations to the Gulf. The
presence of oil can have several bad
effects. The oil itself, not to mention
the dispersants used for dispersing it, is
toxic, so ingestion can kill the birds
directly, even in small amounts. Second,
the moment a bird’s feathers
touch oil, it is harder for it to fly. At
the same time the birds must fly further
to find food, sapping their energy at a
time when they are already near their
limit from their long migration. For
water birds, the oil removes the feathers’
waterproofing and insulating
qualities leading to hypothermia. Finally,
the oil could end up killing part
of the food supply, such as small fish
or invertebrates, eaten by the birds.
Illinois birds that may be in particular
danger are water or wading birds
including grebes, least terns, piping
plovers, red-breasted mergansers, sanderlings,
scaup, spotted sandpipers,
Virginia rails, and yellow-crowned
night herons. There is also a concern
for the migratory songbirds such as
warblers, orioles, buntings, flycatchers,
and swallows that depend on the
coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Wildlife managers are actively working
to alleviate the danger. US Fish and
Wildlife Service is working with the
other agencies as well as conservation
groups like Ducks Unlimited and the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
to improve or create bird-friendly habitat. They plan to burn or remove exotic
plants choking some national wildlife,
expand programs that flood rice or corn
fields north of the coast and take other
steps. Wildlife managers also may consider
scaring birds away from badly
oiled areas but those efforts — usually
using fireworks, horns or plastic
streamers — typically only work for the
short-term.
Leading the development and implementation
of migratory bird habitat
restoration projects along the Gulf
Coast are the Fish and Wildlife Service’s
Joint Ventures -- collaborative,
regionally based, public-private partnerships
that work to conserve bird
habitat within specific geographic regions.
Joint Venture scientists are providing
the strategic underpinnings for
habitat restoration efforts, bringing
together conservation partners and marshalling
resources to address spill impacts
to wildlife in the short and long
term. The Service’s habitat restoration
efforts will also support the Migratory
Bird Habitat Initiative, an effort
launched by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) to work with
farmers, ranchers and other landowners
to manage portions of their land to enhance
habitat for migrating birds in
portions of eight states.
Only time will tell how much impact
the oil spill will have on the bird populations
and whether alleviation efforts
will have any substantial success. It is
expected that the full impact of the oil
spill will take years and likely decades
to sort out. It will be necessary to continue
with clean-up and new habitat
formation programs as well as monitoring
programs. US Fish and Wildlife
Service plays a role in long-term coordinated
bird monitoring efforts to determine
bird movements, behaviors, and
gather statistical data on mortality rates.
Waterfowl Population Surveys allow
the Service to identify baseline waterfowl
population statistics by surveying
North America’s waterfowl breeding
grounds.
How can we help? Although we live
a thousand miles from the Gulf, the
Conservation Guardians can play an
important roll. Perhaps most important,
every effort should be made to increase
protection of nesting habitats to maximize
the numbers of newly hatched
birds. Many bird species have already
been under stress due to loss of habitat,
and that stress will only increase due to
the oil spill. It will also be important
for local groups, such as the Conservation
Guardians, to help through such
activities as the spring and winter bird
counts to help evaluate the long-term
trends on bird populations in our area.
The counts made here will be combined
with assessments around the country to
create a national picture of the total
impact of the Gulf oil spill.
Let us hope that the total impact will
be minimal and that bird populations
can rebound.
— Rich Mattas
