Dr. Keith Arnold is an old friend, once ornithologist at Texas A&M and now comfortably retired. For decades Keith functioned as the bird-sighting gestapo in Texas. He would pass judgement on every lame-brained bird sighting or CBC report that crossed his desk. He had a favorite term for the most outlandish of these; “unbelievable if true.”
Since the Gulf spill I have received countless solicitations from nonprofits wanting my money to help Gulf birds. Many of these spiels have been “unbelievable if true.” Today I received the latest from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). I thought buying organic flowers to help Gulf birds could not be topped, but the NWF came through in the clutch.
The email says that I can help Gulf birds in two ways. First, send NWF money, period. Second, send NWF money to certify my backyard. According to NWF, “many of the bird species impacted by the BP Oil Spill are migratory. One way to help them is to create a Certified Wildlife Habitat™ site in your backyard, school or community.”
Unless your yard is a Gulf beach, name one. My Galveston yard is five blocks from the Gulf, and I cannot think of a bird threatened by the spill that needs my backyard habitat. Not gulls, terns, pelicans, cormorants, boobies, gannets, shorebirds, petrels, shearwaters, or any of the seabirds that are in harm’s way. I can’t think of any land bird that might need to set down on oiled waters during migration, except perhaps for chuck-will’s-widow. Of course beach and marsh shorebirds are at risk, and a few of the land birds that frequent the wetlands (Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow, seaside sparrow). Rails such as the clapper are certainly threatened, but I have never seen a rail other than a sora in my yard. There are certain ducks that winter in these waters (such as lesser scaup), and others make use of the nearshore during migration (blue-winged teal, gadwall, northern pintail). But none of these have ever been seen in my, or your, backyard.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s (CLO) appeal follows the same general line of thinking, but is dramatically different in its approach. “Wildlife biologists are monitoring species such as pelicans and plovers in the immediate path of the oil, but we need bird watchers across the country to help us find out if birds that pass through or winter in the Gulf region carry contamination with them, possibly creating an “oil shadow” of declines in bird reproduction hundreds of miles from the coast.” The email is titled “Will the Gulf Oil Spill Affect Your Backyard Birds?,” and asks for no funds.
What do we make of this? First, the fuel for nonprofits is money, no different from any traditional business in this country. Second, within the nonprofit world the organizations differ in significant ways. For those of us who give and/or serve, it is important to know the character and practical intent (not just the canned mission) of the group. Finally, look for proof. Just who exactly is doing good work in the Gulf, and who is using this event as a fundraiser?
Let me mention two, other than eBird and CLO, that I believe are carrying the load – the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), and the American Birding Association (ABA). ABC focuses on bird conservation policy, and in recent months they have become increasingly outspoken about their concerns. ABA sent Drew Wheelan to the Gulf to report on impacts to birds, and he has proven to be an investigative journalist of the old school.
Why does false advertising matter? Simple. The credibility of conservationists everywhere is on the line. The dark side has been effective in obfuscating the impacts of this spill, and all we have in our favor is truth. I understand that money is the fuel that keeps these nonprofits running, but NWF and others need to be called to account for what is misleading advertising. Our challenge is too great, and our efforts too important, to let such obvious false statements go unchallenged, even when from our friends.
Ted Eubanks
7 July 2010
Hi Ted — Nice approach to this, a topic we talked A LOT about at our recent Board meeting. You would have loved that conversation! We all agreed NOT to use the Gulf disaster as a bald-faced platform for fund-raising, but instead to highlight — hopefully tastefully and without hand-wringing — how citizens could participate. Just FYI, we have had 3-4 people in the Gulf area (mainly Louisiana) doing video-documentation of the deep story, i.e. not just oiled birds for the evening news (though we’ve contributed some of that) but detailed stories about the resources that are at risk down there on those incredibly rich islands and estuaries. We’ve done a few blogs, put up some info-videos on our web site, and will likely be investing considerably down there for months to come. We hope we can put together some stories that move people to ask whether there aren’t some areas along our shores that are too valuable to risk, regardless of the energy boost lying beneath them. Cheers, — Fitz
Hi Ted, thanks for these observations—nonprofits are indeed in a quandary when trying to help in a situation they care about despite there seeming to be so little that can be done. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology survives on memberships, donations, and grants to a far, far larger extent than we gain funding from Cornell University. Trying to balance calls for donations and calls to action, as well as offering pure information, is something we think a lot about. Thank you for noticing.
Your readers may be interested in seeing some of our reporting from the Gulf (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/blog ) We’ve had a team in Louisiana since May 31, documenting natural history as well as oil’s effects in this first summer of the spill. Our reports aren’t investigative like the good work Drew Wheelan is doing, but they do offer readers some very good, and biologically informative, photography as a way to show people some of the intricacies of an ecosystem that, for now, is simply brimming with birds.
in other words… What Fitz said!
– Hugh
Always the right touch.
One question I believe needs to be foregrounded in all this is the degree of contamination we’ll see in all sorts of life in the Gulf and beyond – for instance in the Gulf Stream, where tarballs have yet to show up but where many migratory fish from the Gulf come through (and surely some birds).