Feeding the Birds at My Window

If you feed the birds at your window, this story

may send shivers down your spine as well.  

Once again toxic insecticides have intruded into

our lives and this time they have been found in

the bird seed that we lovingly put out for our feathered friends.

The company guilty of doing this is Scott's, the ones who make
Miracle Grow and they will be paying some big fines and court
costs for their unthinkable actions.

So, now to avoid eating insecticides, we must not only buy organic food for ourselves and our pets, but also for the beautiful winged ones that we love to watch at our windows.

I am sickened to learn that for all of these years, I have been feeding poisoned food to the sweet creatures that I only meant to help.

But, most of all, I am angry with the companies who feel that they have the right to do this and that they never would have stopped, if they had not been caught and dragged into court.
What happened to accountability in American companies and their leaders?

Where has the moral compass that used to guide America and Americans gone?

Why have we as a Nation allowed greed, profit and money to become our ruler?

I personally feel that the president of any company that produces products with chemicals and/or toxins that they know will harm people and/or animals, should be forced to consume that product themselves, first.

If they become ill, or worst case, don't survive, guess their product is not safe enough for the innocents.

Seems fair, doesn't it?

Will be heading out to the store in the morning and my first purchase will be Organic bird seed.

Feed the Birds Organically

Avoiding Poisonous Birdseed

The Quintessential Shot in the Dark

A special place, the H‏álpata Tastanaki Preserve,
one of the few remaining habitats left in the State for
the Endangered Florida Scrub Jay is about to
become a hunting ground.

Try to imagine being in your bedroom late at night
snuggling under the warm covers and then boom.......

A shot rings out ending your peace and tranquility,
not to mention your hearing abilities.
When you look up, someone is standing over you, with a shot gun.

This is what is about to take place and the victim of this scene, is the very Endangered Scrub Jay, the only bird native to our state, who like the Florida Panther, has only a very tiny habitat left to call home.

If you live in Florida and have the time and the desire, please consider attending this public hearing/meeting of the SW Water Management District:

February 28, at 9AM

2379 Broad Street

Brooksville, Florida

Any questions?

Please call LuAnne Stout at: 352 796-7211 ext. 4605

The Florida Scrub Jay deserves to have Floridians defend its right to a peaceful night's sleep, right?

Speak Up For Florida's Only Native Bird, the Scrub Jay

No Damn Dam

                                              

Earthjustice has filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service in an attempt to undo an outrageous waste of money and complete disregard for a wildlife folly known as the

 "Cross Florida Barge Canal Project, that was shut down by Nixon in 1971.

The original project was meant to connect the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico and when it was stopped, the dam was left behind to the absolute detriment of local wildlife, the Ocklawaha River and the Ocala National Forest.

If you drive north on County Highway 19 in Lake County and head towards Palatka, you will drive right over this meaningless canal.

This project is kind of the Florida version of a "bridge to nowhere."

The dam, once called the Rodman Dam, is now nothing more than a self serving recreational play ground for fishing and boating communities and it needs to come down, so that the wildlife can return to their ancestral warmer waters, which in the cold months, are where they desperately need to be to survive.

The lives of the Endangered Manatee and Shortnose Sturgeon, are at stake and while they cannot vote, they do have many concerned Florida voters watching out for them.

Conservationists File Suit to Remove Dam

Earthjustice to File Suit Against U.S. Forest Service

Florida Environmentalists Target Rodman Dam

Managing Manatee Habitats

This is one time when human interference is benefiting

Florida's Endangered Wildlife in a positive manner.

Step forward the Nature Conservancy to do some
much needed housekeeping on the Manatee's waterways.

This process will include a dredging sweep of their pathways throughout Florida.

Once all of the cleanup is finished, the enemies will remain as they have always been for the Manatees, boat strikes and severely cold weather.

A record number of over 1,500 have died in the last three years,
it is time for the Manatee to get a break.

Florida Manatee: Opening a Door to Survival

Take a Look at the Process in Progress

Where Have You Gone, Oh Beautiful Blue?

Only the size of a quarter, the Miami Blue Butterfly
is/was one of the rarest, most beautiful creatures to ever
inhabit Florida and now it seems that they may have finally left us.

This is personally sad because on every trip down to the Keys,
I look for it, pretty sure now that the joy of an encounter with
a Blue will not be happening.

The perilous line that these animals walk is wrought with danger
at every turn, the latest for the Blue being the pesticides used to
eradicate the mosquitoes and the out of place Iguana, which eats
the leaves where the Blue used to lay its eggs.

Like nearly all of the about to depart our planet species of this state,
the Blue simply could not compete with the never ending human interference.

If only the people did not dump their unwanted Iguanas in the Keys
and if only the pesticides were not used all over their last tiny habitat.......

Goodbye Blue, though I never met you, I will miss you.

Blue Vanishes From the Keys

Iguanas Hunted In Bahia Hondo

The People Have Spoken!

  

 photo credit: 350.org
 

We do not want the Keystone Pipeline.

815,000 signatures were delivered to Washington yesterday.

How Much Oil Can We Live With?

The two most Endangered Species in Florida,

Florida Panther

perhaps in the world, now share one more 
threat to their existence.

Right now in the Florida legislation there are
not one, but two, Bills on the Docket to support
drilling for oil in parks all over the state.

Two of the Parks on the list are where the
Panther and the Ghost Orchid are presently
hanging on by the narrowest thread.

This latest assault on them, may be the final one
and push them to their deaths.

In a state with nearly non stop wind and sunshine,
could someone please explain why we continue to
punish this planet with our archaic addiction to fossil fuel?

What will it take for Americans to finally let go of this dirty,
destructive source of energy?

How many oil spills can the Earth survive before she just gives up?

What is that saying, "garbage in, garbage out?"

It is time for us to refuse to allow Big Oil to own America any more.

Bill Would Allow Drilling in State Parks

The Newest Victim of the Tar Sands Saga

North American Grey Wolf

As if the potential destruction of the entire water source for eight states and their ecosystems was not enough, now the newest victim of the disastrous plan to cram dirty tar sands oil down the throats of America, is the Canadian wolf.

Sometimes, I wonder if humans deserve to be allowed to live on the same planet with animals, we just don't seem to get along or play well with them.

Maybe we, the humans, should live on our own planet, one without anything to interfere with our master plan, the one where we plow over and cement in everything living.

I am sure that the Koch Brothers who own everything oil and "all that that implies,"could buy such a place, they have more money than most humans in the world, being worth at least $25 Billion, that's billion with a "b", each!

Canadian Government Plans to Poison Wolves

Wolves to be Poisoned Over Tar Sands

Dirty Oil, Dirty Politics

Although the President said no and the people said no,

the politicians, (and we the people, the 99%, all know who you are)

Pipeline Spill in North Dakota
photo by Peter Carrels

who are controlled by the oil and gas industries in this country, had to do what they were financially obligated to do, overturn Obama's rejection of the Keystone Pipeline Plan.

The implications of this dirty deal and the deleterious effect it will have on our environment and all who inhabit it, will endure for eons.

The next step is a vote in the Full House and then on to the Senate and after that ......

We the people have spoken, the President has spoken, but the only speaking that really matters in Washington appears to be that of the Lobbyists with the big checkbooks.

The Environment and Wildlife will lose, they cannot speak this language.

Koch Brothers Positioned to Be Big Winners

Speak Your Mind: Keystone Pipeline

House Panel Advances Keystone Pipeline Plan

Keystone Pipeline: House Energy and Commerce Committee Advances Plan

A Sad Ending For Our Whooping Cranes

Adult and Juvenile
Whooping Crane

After an FAA delay stopped the migration journey of a flock of young Whooping Cranes, the nine chicks will be now be trucked to an Alabama WR and remain there for the rest of the winter.

This long delay in their trip undoubtedly confused them, as once the all clear was finally given, the Cranes refused to follow the plane and continue on to their intended home in Florida.

The question will always remain, if the FAA had not stepped in and stopped the migration before it was finished, would this have happened?

Probably not.

These were very young birds and the journey was already a perilous endeavor to begin with for them.

It is regretful that the Government could not have either made their move before the trip began, or after it was finished.

Stopping the migration midway proved too much for the young Cranes who may now imprint on this new home in Alabama and will never join the remainder of the flock here in Florida.

Endangered Whooping Cranes Stalled in Alabama

Crane Chicks to Finish Migration By Truck

The Everglades Are Losing This War

When the same email subject comes in my mail
three times in a morning and is on every local 
news channel, it must be the subject of today's blog.

This is not a new story and it is not going to end
any time soon either.

The Burmese Pythons in the Everglades are now
out of control and decimating everything living there.

But, the really scary thing is, that soon the victims may become human visitors to the Park.

Some one suggested that perhaps the National Guard could be sent in to set up a hunting expedition that will not end until they take back the area.

So, how long might this hunting expedition take?

A very, very long time.

Study: Pythons Killing Everglades Wildlife

How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Florida Everglades

Bill Nelson: Florida Pythons Are Putting Endangered Species At Risk

Bald Eagles and Pesticides

At Kennedy Space Center

Florida has now become a Bald Eagle paradise. 
We see them nearly every single time that we leave the house and sometimes we don't even have to do that.

Very rarely one will just soar over our house on its way to the nearest water.

So, of course, they are everywhere here in Lake County near the Ocala National Forest.

Duh, their primary food source is fish!

You can spot their terribly messy, huge nests from quite a distance away.

And every year they just keep adding on to it, until it finally collapses under the weight of it all and they simply rebuild.

Seeing them sitting casually on the top of a sign or on a lamp post is, for a person who once upon a time would drive for miles just for the hope of finding one, miraculous.

Watching them soar overhead while driving can make keeping the car on the road a challenge.

The reason for the remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction for the Bald Eagle, was the complete ban of the use of the hideous pesticide, DDT.

When in the world are we as a race going to ban ALL pesticides?

We have seen just in this one particular species, the Bald Eagle, the alpha and the omega.

Why don't we get it?

Pesticides are evil and they must be eradicated if we and they are to survive.

Pesticides are everywhere, in everything, they are in our water, in our food, in the air that we breathe and worse for me personally, in our pets foods.

Pesticides have been linked to and are believed to be a primary cause of many types of cancers.

The San Joaquin Valley in California, the land of super farms, has one small town, McFarland, where the incidence of leukemia in children under six, was 80%.

And this was just one example, of so many, of what pesticides can do.

If you, like me, would like to see a world without pesticides, perhaps you could write a letter to the President, your elected politician, a newspaper or whatever, but please, say something, do something.

Remember the slogan for the big chemical company "better living through Chemistry?"

The key word is living!

Don't let the Human race become the next Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagles Move Closer To Cities

A Very Special Public Event

If you are a dedicated nature lover and live in Florida or anywhere within driving distance of the West Coast of the state, better put this date on your Calendar.

FWS Biologist
Larry Richardson

Larry Richardson, the premier Florida Wildlife Biologist and perhaps our best known expert on the Florida Panther and the Ghost Orchid, will be making a public speaking appearance on Sanibel Island February 3rd at the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge.

This is a rare chance to hear from an expert about two of the most Endangered Species in the world and Richard is the one who keeps a watchful eye on both of them.

All of the details about this exciting event are in this story:

Florida Biologist Coming to "Ding" Darling



Florida Panther

Ghost Orchid

 

Fueling Extinction

The Ogallala Aquifer

This is a subject very close to my heart as I have traveled often through the lands of the Ogallala Aquifer and have admired
the beauty of not only the land, but of the wildlife and the people living there.

The idea that another horrific oil spill could happen to this pristine, fragile ecosystem, was incomprehensible and I have railed against this idea since first hearing of it.

Now, that the plan has hopefully, finally been put down, it has been revealed which species were going to be put most 'at risk' by this terrible plan.

For those of you not familiar with the Endangered wildlife
of Florida, we had two of the ten species that could potentially
have been annihilated by the approval of the Keystone Pipeline,
which would have run from Canada to Texas, affecting many wild
things, ecosystems and human populations in its pathway.

One only has to bring to mind the two most recent oil disasters
to understand why this was such a terrible idea to begin with:

the BP Gulf Oil and the Exxon/Mobile Oil Yellowstone River disasters.



           

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle            



Whooping Crane


The two Florida species on the 'at risk' list were:

the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle and the Whooping Crane.

Fueling Extinction Report Reveals Top Ten Most 'At Risk' Species

Fueling Extinction: How Dirty Energy Drives Wildlife to the Brink

Millions Of Dead Bats Is Very Bad News

If you are one of those people who fear Bats because of the stereotype that they inherited from scary old movies, think about this number: 4,500.

That is the number of insects that a Bat can eat every day.

Now imagine that one day very soon, all of the Bats just disappear.

There are going to be lots and lots of bugs just waiting to chew on you.

Like the Everglades in August, is what the U.S. could face without our very best bug controller around to protect us anymore.

Bats are wonderful, efficient little creatures who do so much good for us and we had better figure out how to stop this disease before we lose them.

The Grey Bat

In Florida we have the Gray Bat, which was already Endangered.
Right now, Bat Deaths number over 5.5 million from White-Nose Syndrome and if help for them doesn't come soon, we may all feel like we are living in the tropics.


Want to help Save Our Bats?
Click on me to learn more at Biological Diversity.

Bat Deaths, a Catastrophe In the Making

Mysterious Killer Threatens Bats

White Nose Syndrome

FWS News Release PDF

A Team Rescue of Endangered Turtles

A Green Sea Turtle Hatchling

The US Air Force and the Coast Guard teamed up this week in Florida to rescue 29 Endangered green sea turtle hatchlings.

We know that these two groups regularly save lives all over the country, but this was a rescue of an altogether different kind.

These little late bloomers were not quite ready for the now cold Atlantic and probably would not have survived the trip without a little help from their new friends.

The hatchlings were eventually released further out to sea in a warmer area and with a little luck, they should have a better chance for survival.

Team Turtle Rescue

Beginning A New Way of Thinking

This week, Goldie Hawn was a guest on Dr. Oz and as they talked, he remarked on her youthful appearance for her age.

(She is, by the way, my age and I have always found her to be a kindred spirit)

He asked her to what she attributed this and she said that each day she finds five reasons to be grateful and that in doing so, the resultant positive mind set contributes to keeping her healthy and happy.

She has written a new book and has an organization devoted to the subject.

I have always found Goldie to be a positive, intelligent, happy person and have admired her since the late 1960's, when first I saw her in the very silly Laugh-In.

So these are the five things that I am grateful for today:


The person that I share my life with died a few days ago and was brought back to life by a machine in his chest.

The person and the puppy

The puppy that we brought home to help us recover from the tremendous grief
of losing another of her kind is healthy, happy and full of irrepressible joy.


 A field near our home was recently overrun with dozens of Sandhill Cranes.  


Sandhill Cranes

There are so many birds at our window eating, that they have to take a number.

The sun is shining and it is warmer today.

Now this list of five may seem strange to some, but Goldie did not say that it had to make sense to others, only to find five things that you are grateful for each day.

For today, these are mine.

Thank you Goldie. 

Sometimes Red Tape Can Make A Bow




Adult and juvenile Whooping Cranes



Finally after nearly a month of wrangling, finagling and all manner of chatter, the FAA has relented, made a one time exception and the Alabama waylaid Endangered Whooping Cranes are on their way at last, back to Florida.

Welcome home little ones, we hope that your time here will be just a little less stressful than the past few weeks have been.

Whooping Cranes Cleared For Takeoff

Not A Good Week For Whooping Cranes

There were two disturbing stories concerning
Endangered Whooping Cranes this week.

First the annual human led 1200 mile migration
flight from Wisconsin to the Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge in Florida was halted
in Alabama by Government officials who
believe that the flight is in violation of FAA
regulations because the pilots are being paid,
which is against FAA rules.

Some have suggested that if the matter cannot be resolved, the Cranes could be released locally in Alabama, which is not good news for people here in Florida, as this is their winter home and was their destination before they were stopped.

Sport Plane Taking Birds To Florida Is Grounded

Then the next day a Whooping Crane was shot and killed in my home state of Indiana.

Unbelievably, this is the second one to be killed in the past two years in the state.

Whooping Crane Killed In Indiana

It's Cruise Season In Florida

Now that Snow Bird season is in fill swing in Florida, 
the Cruise Ships are lined up at every dock and port
 in the Sunshine state, from Jacksonville to Miami.

The tourists and the Cruise ships bring much needed
income to our state and we are happy to see them all
come here for their vacations.

But, what we don't want, or need, are the disgusting things that Cruise Ships leave behind, like raw sewage, dumped just offshore of our beautiful Florida beaches.

The impact that this has had on our wildlife is hard to understand unless you personally witnessed the damage done to this same wildlife by the BP Oil disaster last summer.

And, it's not just in the Oceans, it's also in our local lakes.

Right now, Boaters all over the state are being stopped and checked and if they are dumping raw sewage, they are being fined, big time.

Two things to consider, swimming in this cesspool pollution can make you very sick and eating any fish that live in it, will as well.

When our waters are used as public bathrooms, we all pay, eventually.

Doing the right thing is easy, finding people who actually will........

Miami Marinetime Law

Time to Clean Up Cruise Ship Pollution

Florida Boating Laws