Island off Alabama coast bursting with birds after oil spill

[The Northerner]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - Thousands of baby pelicans grunt and hiss at their parents in tightly packed nests on Gaillard Island, a feathered paradise situated off the coast of Alabama.

The 1,300-acre, man-made island is hosting more than 50,000 birds this summer as nesting pairs gather to raise babies. That number would be considered high in any year, but it's a particularly surprising sight a year after oil from the BP spill fouled surrounding waters.

The Deepwater Horizon rig explosion spewed more than 168 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over three months, the largest spill in U.S. history. But so far, there is no evidence of deformities or ill health among the young on Gaillard Island.

Scientists speculate that the baby boom probably results from an abundance of fish left undisturbed in waterways where the federal government banned commercial and recreational fishing last summer, providing a feast for shore birds.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/island-off-alabama-coast-bursting-birds-oil-spill-175236730.html

[leveymg]

1. Well, then, lets pop some more oil wells and help feed the birds!

G-d I hate industry propaganda, particularly when it gets posted here.

[Poll_Blind]

2. This is awesome- we should just hose those little fuckers down with crude oil more often!

The...federal government banned the commercial and recreational fishing because....(anyone? anyone?)...of the toxins. Since those poisoned fish are not going into human bellies (one hopes, anyway) the birds are having a field day. But the overall health of the birds is in danger. They will accumulate more and more of these chemicals in their bodies as they grow older and will have shortened lifespans because of it. The dispersants (and their effects on the biology of these birds), alone, should cause one to seriously think about just how "booming" this population of birds really is, in the long run.

And ditto what leveymg said.

PB

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. ditto what you BOTH said.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: