Some significant Breaking News for us who are watching the birds...
The National Wildlife Federation invoked the Freedom of Information Act to the US Fish and Wildlife Agency, per the impact on the Gulf Birds. Curiously, Fish and Wildlife's data-total only includes half of what the International Bird Rescue has been posting (cited here) number-wise, but their listing of species is more thorough. (Perhaps the totals are older than what IBR has been citing...)
http://www.fws.gov/home/dhoilspill/pdfs/Bird%20Data%20Species%20Spreadsheet%2009142010.pdfThe hardest hit have been the Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, and Northern Gannets. There are many unmentioned-by-IBR species, and many surprises. For example:
~Loons and Mallards are already involved, whereas one might not have expected to see that until well into the Fall migration.
~There are Owls and a few songbirds on the list (Mourning Dove, Mockingbird, American Redstart, Pigeons, Swallows, Purple Martins, some types of Sparrow, Kingbird, and Common Nighthawk).
I'm waiting to see an explanation regarding the discrepancy between the 2 sources: IBR and US Fish and Wildlife. With the latter, being a government agency, one becomes accustomed to the "cover-up factor". Then again, IBR bases its data on BP's own reports, and who better to conceal the facts than them?
IBR's current count:
2070 captured alive
1208 rehabilitated and released
5939 collected dead
Of sporting interest, Canadian Geese are also involved. I'm curious to see if Canada comes forth regarding those numbers (which are low, at present). Technically, the US has an International Treaty with Canada to protect the Canadian Geese...
But hell, the US has hardly protected its own, so I'm absolutely fantasizing that any legal action will make any difference here. As a matter of fact, BP has announced it will not cover Alabama's oil spill claims. Why? Because, they said, Alabama sued them.
If you are interested in any of the truth regarding the chain of events in the whole saga, read the local websites - not the government- or BP-sponsored sites. For example, in the past couple of weeks, a couple of fish-kills occured, and except for the local sites and blogs, I can't find anything on them. The whole thing is swept under the rug.