On one of my many Googling trips across the Internet I learned the scientific name of the red-footed booby and it made me laugh.

Sula sula?  All I could think of was the Yale fight song whose second verse begins, Boola, Boola.

Are there many North American birds with double scientific names?   I searched my field guide and found about 20 birds, most of which also live in Europe where scientific naming began.

The names are sometimes fascinating:

• Nycticorax nycticorax = Night raven, Night raven = Black-crowned night-heron
• Anhinga anhinga = a Tupi (Brazilian Indian) name meaning Devil Bird = Anhinga
• Histrionicus histrionicus = this bird is Theatrical, Theatrical = Harlequin duck
• Tyrannus tyrannus = This Tyrant, Tyrant is very aggressive toward predators = Eastern kingbird
• And, since first published in July 2010 this species has split!  A prehistoric cave dweller = Troglodytes trodlodytes = the Eurasian wren.  Our winter wren is now a different species without a double name: Troglodytes hiemalis.

And finally, Ajaja ajaja used to be my favorite scientific bird name, a fun word to say if you pronounce the J’s as H’s.  Alas, scientists renamed this bird to Platalea ajaja and took half the fun out of the Roseate spoonbill.

(photo of a Red-footed Booby by Deborah Acklin)

p.s. Here are two websites that describe the meanings of scientific bird names: Scientific bird names explained and Bird Names at Ornithology.com.

When I first heard about BP’s Gulf oil leak, I knew it was bad for birds.

Though initially far offshore, the oil immediately affected diving birds: gannets, terns and pelicans.

The first dead gannet broke my heart.  It could only get worse — and it has.

When the oil reached the marshes it hurt herons, egrets and shorebirds who died unreported because the marshes are inaccessible to cameras.  Even birds that were rescued, cleaned and released flew home to get oiled again because the leak keeps flowing.

Recently oil and death moved into camera range and now the public knows.  The spill is very, very bad.  Even if the leak stopped today the oil will linger for months to come.

What can we do?

As individuals we can’t stop this leak but we can help with the cleanup and support those who are helping birds.  There are many ways:

• Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research is leading the wildlife rescue effort.  They’re experts at treating oil-soaked birds and are called as first-responders to oil spill sites around the world.  Based in Newark, Delaware they’ve been in Louisiana since April, directly helping bird by bird.  Please support them here.
• The American Birding Association has set up a special fund to support bird rescue efforts.
• The National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation are both mobilizing volunteers, urging their members to speak up for wildlife and collecting donations to help clean-up efforts.

Want to volunteer in the Gulf?  Check the websites above or click here to sign up at “deepwaterhorizonresponse.com” or here for the International Bird Rescue Research Center.

And finally, you can work to keep this from happening again by telling those in power, especially your Congressman and Senator who made the laws that allowed this to happen, that you’ve had enough.

We don’t have to live like this.

(Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class John Miller, released under the Creative Commons license with some rights reserved.  Click on the photo to see the original and a complete description.)

Another rainy Sunday afternoon and it’s making me stir crazy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it’s not icy but I wanted to hike in the woods today and cold rain isn’t any fun.

Is anyone else anxious for good weather?  It appears so.

Dianne Machesney sent me this picture from North Park near the Lone Pine ball field and wrote, “Some unknown person has been decorating two tree limb stubs for years now. They change with the seasons and often sport Steeler clothes.”

To me this character’s saying, “Rain is a hopeful sign of spring.”

True, I should try to enjoy the rain.  By the end of the week the lows will be 18 degrees.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Some time in the next two weeks the people of State College, Pennsylvania will wake to find dead birds dropping from the sky.

If all goes as planned there will be 15,000 dead starlings on rooftops, in gutters, on patios, in gardens, on parking lots, playsets and fields. 

No amount of advanced warning can prepare people for how appalling this will be but the U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying anyway.  Last week the Centre Daily Times and WJAC-TV announced that USDA has permission to poison the large flock of European starlings near University Park airport because they might pose an aviation hazard. 

Really?  Well, they caused a plane to return to the airport three years ago.  That incident did not result in a mass poisoning but last year’s crash-landing on the Hudson River has the FAA focused on bird strikes.  For them, poison is appealing because it looks like the problem is solved when thousands of birds die.  Unfortunately it’s not an effective long term solution compared to non-lethal methods.

But aren’t there laws protecting birds?  Yes, but not always.  European starlings are not protected because they are non-native and listed as a nuisance species.  USDA is even allowed to poison protected species if farmers claim the birds are damaging their crops.  

So will the poison be dangerous to people and pets?  It depends on who you ask.  USDA uses DRC-1339 which they say only kills starlings (or blackbirds or crows or whatever bird they happen to be targeting) but if that were the case how do you explain these warnings on the label and these rules for handling it?

• Those who mix it with bait must wear respirators if they are dealing with a pound or more of it.
• Bait must be carefully placed and removed to insure non-target species are not exposed.
• Treated baits cannot be placed within 50 feet of water.  
• It is prohibited to graze animals or grow crops on treated areas for 365 days.

The USDA will be as careful as possible, but the fact is that they’ll be putting DRC-1339 into thousands of portable poison containers (birds) who will fly around the surrounding area for a short time and deposit it by dying in unknown and unpredictable places.  It is impossible to fully control the process. 

Whenever they conduct one of these operations people are appalled and outraged and when they make their outrage known USDA is not asked back again for a very long time.  State College is about to go through this.  Stay tuned for the results. 

OK, I’ll climb down from my soapbox now.  Just don’t say you haven’t been warned.

(image from Wikipedia, in the public domain, color altered)

The sky was clear, the full moon bright.  Last night my backyard was flooded with light as bright as day.

The trees and even the twigs cast shadows.  If I was a mouse there would be no hiding from an owl in that silvery light.

Above the Arctic Circle the sun set on September 21 inaugurating six months of perpetual darkness – or so I thought until the moon reminded me that once a month everything is revealed.

I imagine last night on Banks Island.  The sea ice glints in the moonlight.  An arctic fox crouches to pounce on a lemming.  A raven scans the ice for seal guts, remains of a polar bear’s meal.  Night is turned to day.

The Snow Moon will wane.  In two weeks time only stars will illuminate the scene.  The night will be dim until the next full moon – a Blue Moon – on December 31.

(photo by Chuck Tague.  See Chuck’s moon-watch in Florida and his Full Moon Schedule for 2010.)