Our Views: Bird count helps nature

Christmas has passed, but for Baton Rouge area birdwatchers, the real conclusion of the holiday season is Saturday, when the Baton Rouge Audubon Society hosts its Christmas Bird Count. The New Orleans Audubon Society held its Christmas Bird Count Dec. 22.

The National Audubon Society hosts Christmas Bird Counts across America during the holidays each year. On the day of the count, volunteers count birds in designated areas, tabulating the results and sending them to Audubon’s national headquarters. Over time, the results yield valuable clues about population trends among birds — a key indicator of ecological health for other creatures, including humans.

The first Christmas Bird Count was held on Christmas Day in 1900, when ornithologist Frank Chapman proposed the holiday activity of counting birds rather than shooting them. At that time, many sportsmen engaged in a Christmas Day tradition called a Side Hunt, in which teams of hunters would compete to see who could kill the biggest pile of furred and feathered creatures. The result wasn’t really sport but mass slaughter, and Chapman’s bird count was an enlightened alternative that eventually gained popularity.

We commend the area volunteers involved in this year’s count. Their work is an important part of preserving bird life in Louisiana — and throughout the country.

Comments

1) Comment by bourbon-soda - 13/01/2013

What about the poor smallpox virus? No advocates?

2) Comment by potkcalb - 06/01/2013

I am well aware that all life forms are always evolving and that the major determinant of that is the environment. The point that I am making is that the human animal, because of his intellect and technology, is altering the environment so rapidly that it is having a devastating effect on a myriad of other life forms. We are not entirely helpless and unable to do anything about it. Witness the heroic efforts to save the Whooping Crane, the California Condor, and the successful efforts to remove the Bald Eagle and the Peregrine Falcon from the endangered list. I think these efforts are worthwhile even if it means that we can not plunder the national forests and other pristine regionsto satisfy our appetite for raw materials.

3) Comment by [e-mail] - 06/01/2013

Only the strong survive, and change is as inevitable as the turning of the Earth.

4) Comment by potkcalb - 06/01/2013

"Ecological health" is a valid concern considering that the human animal ( in our hallowed and exalted magnificence) is rapidly exterminating so many of the other creatures of the earth.

5) Comment by [e-mail] - 05/01/2013

It's not often that I agree with the "Our Views" opinons, but this one I must say is quite apropos, except for the one tidbit that you threw in about "ecological health". Bird watchers enjoy birds, and there's a lot of worse things in the world.