Nature’s Noel

As I sit looking out my window this Christmas Eve, my thoughts travel many miles to a valley in Montana where a family of wolves settle in against the harsh Montana Winter. My thoughts also travel to Alaska where a wolf pack follows the faint scent of a meal that had long past.

So often at this time of year we reflect on the love of family and friends and all that is good. Yet we pause not for even a moment to reflect on the incredible beauty of nature and how little we’ve done to protect it.

In Alaska more than 1000 wolves have been killed by aerial hunting. Ran to exhaustion before they are shot from the air, the wolves have little chance to escape the bullet. Protection has been lifted on the wolves of Yellowstone as well. Hundreds have already been shot for no reason other than being a wolf.

Idaho has extended their wolf hunt into the Spring denning period when wolves are particularly vulnerable. Killing just a single pregnant female can have a huge impact on the population.

Polar bears are drowning due to lack of sea ice yet no one really seams to care about the changing climate. Why can we spend untold billions of dollars to fight a war that in the end changes nothing, yet we refuse to spend anything on our planet that is dieing.

We’re poisoning our water, we’re polluting our air. We’re overfishing our oceans, we’re destroying our rain forests. Is it even possible for us to stop?

As I watch the snow fall silently upon the frozen ground outside my window, I worry about our planets future. I hope that you and your family have a joyous holiday. I hope one day our planet and all it’s inhabitants, human, plant and animal can do the same.

Below is my Christmas gift to you. It’s the most precious gift I can give.
I hope you enjoy it.

[flv:http://www.silverphoenixllc.com/phoenixblog/movies/Noel.flv 592 331]

Where Do You Hide 500,000 Snow Geese?

where

I’ve been checking the weekly bird counts at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge since mid-October for the migration of the snow geese. It’s a spectacular sight with tens of thousands of birds arriving in a single day. But the numbers never rose above a couple hundred at best.

I emailed refuge manager Larry Klimek to find out if I had missed them somehow. Larry informed me that something caused the snow geese to change their migration patterns. In fact, the geese haven’t made DeSoto a stop in their migration for the last five years. They now come through Central Nebraska on their way South.

So what has changed to cause half a million birds to find refuge elsewhere? Has so much land along their Iowa route been turned into housing developments that they’ve shifted their route? Has global warming done something to change it?

Whatever it is, Iowan’s have lost the opportunity to view one of natures true spectacles.

But it’s not just us that have missed out. Eagles, coyote, fox and other predators have one less source to help sustain them into the winter months. Might this effect their populations in Iowa? Can they make the shift as well to follow the geese? Will we see a decrease in their numbers? Only time will tell.

Hopefully next Fall I can witness the mass migration with my own eyes before it is lost forever only to reside in fireside chats on a cold winter night.

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is part of a network of refuges devoted to preserving and restoring increasingly scarce habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The refuge is comprised of 8,358 acres in Iowa and Nebraska and lies in the Missouri River Valley floodplain on a former meander of the Missouri River.

Each year, especially during the fall, spectacular flights of up to 500,000 ducks and geese mark the changing seasons along this traditional waterfowl flyway.

Once an oxbow of the Missouri River, DeSoto provides a crucial resting and feeding spot for migratory waterfowl as the flee the snow covered lands of their Arctic nesting grounds.

Filming this spectacle can be hit and miss. The drive South is fueled by Winter storms that cover their feeding grounds with snow and freeze their ponds and lakes. The largest concentration usually takes place in Fall around November and December. Flocks of 20,000 or more birds can arrive in a single day. They’ll stay at DeSoto until the Winter storms push them farther South until they reach their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast.

As of this post, the flocks have yet to arrive.