H.R.2584 Bill. Chicken Police! Red-headed Woodpecker. Albatross. Pale-headed Brush-Finch. Rufa Red Knot. Cargo Trailer.

For "Winged Wednesday:

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H.R.2584 Bill that is one of the worst assaults on birds and other wildlife ever to come before Congress.

"Tell your Representative Vote "No" on Devastating Environmental Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon begin debate on, H.R. 2584, an environmental spending bill that is one of the worst assaults on birds and other wildlife ever to come before Congress. The bill is loaded with devastating funding cuts and anti-environmental provisions that will wreak havoc on our land, water, air, and wildlife.  Bird conservation programs face some of the steepest cuts:
•    The Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, the only federal U.S. grants program specifically dedicated to the conservation of our migrant birds throughout the Americas, will be completely eliminated.
•    State Wildlife Grants, the nation’s core program for preventing birds and wildlife from becoming endangered, has been reduced by over 64%.
•    The North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which provides funding for conservation projects that benefit wetland birds, has been reduced by over 40%.
•    The Endangered Species Act would be effectively gutted by preventing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from spending any money to list a new species or designate Critical Habitat that is vital to endangered species’ survival.
•    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be prohibited from implementing any measures to protect endangered species from pesticides, spelling disaster for species that are already on the brink of extinction due to pesticides and other threats."

Kirtland's Warbler by Ron Austing

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"Please ACT NOW! Tell your Representative to prevent these funding cuts and anti-environmental provisions and to vote NO on H.R. 2584.
We have made it easy for you to take action - simply click on the link below, enter your zip code, and then send the automatically generated email to your Representatives by asking them to vote against these funding cuts and anti-environmental provisions and to vote NO on the final passage of H.R. 2584.
For additional impact, take a little extra time to add some thoughts of your own to the text we have provided.  For maximum impact, please call your Representatives (instructions found here)."
Sincerely,

Anne Law
Deputy Director of Conservation Advocacy
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Chicken Police.

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Red-headed Woodpecker


"The striking Red-headed Woodpecker is most often found in savanna-like areas of widely scattered trees with grassy understories. It especially favors oak savannas, beech woods, river bottoms, and groves of dead and dying trees, which provide nesting, roosting, and foraging sites.
This species is highly omnivorous, consuming acorns, seeds, fruit, and insects, bird eggs and nestlings, and even small rodents. It is one of only four woodpecker species known to store food, caching future meals under bark or shingles, in wood crevices, or in fence posts.

The Red-headed Woodpecker is declining over much of its range, mainly due to lack of suitable habitat. Savanna-like habitats have become increasingly rare due to decades of fire suppression, and in places where they do occur, such as woodlots and parks, habitat is made less than ideal by removal of snags (dead trees), since those can sometimes pose a human hazard.
Loss of habitat continues to be the biggest threat to this colorful woodpecker.  Woodland restoration efforts should focus on increasing suitable habitat, such as projects underway in the Central Hardwoods Joint Venture."
Support ABC efforts to save this and other WatchList bird species!
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First Short-tailed Albatross Born In U.S. Fledges
A Short-tailed Albatross chick has successfully fledged on an island in the Hawaiian archipelago, marking the first time this endangered species has ever been known to breed successfully outside of Japan.
Read the full story here



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Axis Deer on Big Island, Hawaii A New Threat to Native Birds, Agriculture, Natural Resources
"A coalition of resource managers on Hawai‘i have confirmed the presence of a new threat to the island’s biodiversity – introduced axis deer – in the areas of Kohala, Ka‘u, Kona, and Mauna Kea.
“These new deer on the Big Island are apparently the result of a deliberate inter-island introduction. We need to do a better job of public education about the impacts of alien species, especially to Hawai‘i’s native birds and plants.  Removing introduced species can be both terribly costly and very inefficient.” "
Read the full story here

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Efforts to Save Bird Once Thought Extinct Rewarded by Lowering of Species' Threat Status
"One of the world’s rarest birds passed a key milestone: the Pale-headed Brush-Finch has been downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the IUCN Red List of globally threatened birds after of more than a decade of sustained conservation action.
The Pale-headed Brush-Finch has likely always been a rare bird with a tiny range, restricted to two arid rainshadow valleys in the Andes of southern Ecuador. In the late 1960s, however, agriculture began to destroy its limited habitat, and the species was not seen for more than 30 years."
Read the full story here

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Rufa Red Knot Wintering Population Drops by More than 5,000, Accelerating Slide to Extinction
"Scientists released a report announcing that a decrease of at least 5,000 rufa Red Knots was observed at key wintering grounds in Tierra del Fuego, Chile from the previous year. Scientists reported population counts of wintering knots in other locations declined as well. The estimated current total population of the migratory shorebird is now unlikely to be more than 25,000.
The decline in Red Knot numbers elevates the importance of implementing stronger protections at Delaware Bay, a key U.S. stopover where migrating knots depend on an abundant supply of horseshoe crab eggs to fuel the final leg of their migration to breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic."

Read the full story here

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Yesterday:

Ray did some more prep work on the outside front of the cargo trailer.  It is now primed and ready for the final paint.



Misty enjoyed being driven down to Jay's again when I went to pick him up.  She likes to wander around on the vacant lot across from their place, as there are very few things for her to bump into.  She has a cataract in her left eye, and glaucoma in the right.  She shows confidence walking in places that she knows, and has a spring in her step.   As I am her "Seeing Eye Person", she is guided on a leash so she won't get hurt bumping into the one tree or the prickly bush on the corner.  Anyway, dogs are supposed to be leashed in this subdivision.

Jay and I went up to my attic and found another sheet of bed foam, cut it to fit, and glued it onto the bed foam for the twin bed in the cargo trailer.  The twin bed foam has to be built up to the same height as the dinette/bed cushions, in case they want to make the two twins into one big king bed.  When Ray and I cut the other one, we also washed it, so it can't be glued yet.   It dripped outside all night, but we moved it to finish drying over some boards in the rafters in the workshop in case it rained.   Fat Chance!!   Rain is forecast, and it feels really muggy like it wants to rain, but it just doesn't happen, not here anyway.

Then Jay and I glued the little extra pieces on the sides of the dinette cushions, so they are ready to be covered. The lady who used to make beautiful cushion covers for me passed away, so unless I can find someone else, I will have to do it myself.  Mine won't look as good!

But it will have to wait, as I am taking Jay to the doctor early today.