Better Late Than Never -- Water Birds Finally Get Exposure and Respite

Preparing at last to migrate? Better late than never as brutal winter finally begins draw to a slow close.

The change was subtle and would be imperceptible to most.  

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But, for the first time in nearly two months, the ducks and geese did not display the same desperation and urgency that I have come to know over many weeks of ice and snow covered grounds, waterways and frigid temperatures.

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Though still hungry and gobbling up every morsel tossed to them last night, the water birds were not trampling over each other nor making attempts to follow me home.

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In fact, seeming to enjoy the refreshing and balmy temperatures of more than 50 degrees yesterday, they appeared almost comfortable.

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New York City has not experienced such temperature in more than two months.

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Nevertheless, despite the respite, grounds still remain covered in melting snow and watercourses iced over. Put simply, the water birds are not out of the woods yet.

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Though it seems I personally have been covering the subject of this winter's deadly impacts on waterfowl to the point of redundancy in this blog, the issue is only receiving attention in the news media now.  Below a number of media reports released in just the past couple of days: 

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http://globalnews.ca/news/1868899/ducks-and-waterfowl-are-starving-to-death-due-to-frigid-temperatures/

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/03/09/southampton-seeks-publics-help-to-fatten-up-starving-ducks/

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/2015/03/07/brutal-winter-starving-wildlife/24579949/

http://readingeagle.com/life/article/bill-uhrich-brutal-winter-conspires-against-snow-geese-and-tundra-swans-migration

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While always "better late than never," it is regrettable that more attention and exposure wasn't devoted to this issue sooner -- before "tens of thousands" of water birds perished due to starvation on frozen watercourses in the north east, around the Great Lakes and in Long Island and other parts of New York. 

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One would think that what we are seeing now and is being reported was easily predictable were we tuned into what was happening around us and observant of bird behavior.

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Thankfully, some people were plugged in and made diligent efforts to feed water birds in some New York City parks throughout the brutal winter and thus keep losses to a minimum.  Though deaths still occurred, reality is that they would have been substantially higher were no efforts to occur at all.

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As matters are, wildlife rehabs, animal shelters and veterinarians have had their work cut out for them this winter and deserve generous public support.  One such organization in New York City is the Wild Bird Fund.  http://wildbirdfund.org/

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As noted in two of the news pieces above, we do not yet know the impacts of this harsh winter on bird migrations nor nesting rituals. But birds need proper nourishment before they can actually take off for arduous journeys of hundreds or even thousands of miles. Thus is the reason for the town of Southampton to now spread tons of corn feed to malnourished water birds despite the warmer temperatures and thawing lakes. Unless "fattened up" the ducks will lack the energy needed for lengthy and taxing migrations.  

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Thus far, (unlike past years) I have not observed or heard any flocks of migratory geese passing over or stopping briefly for rest and feed at Central Park, nor seen any notations of local migrations on Facebook about it.  

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Nevertheless, goose and duck numbers are down slightly at the Reservoir from what they have been over the past few weeks. That suggests the birds are starting to move and forage around more now in preparation for spring migrations.

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As said earlier in this post, better late than never. -- PCA

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