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May 7 , 2008
The Louisiana coast loses the equivalent of a football field every 38 minutes, approximately 25 square miles lost to erosion each and every year. Since 1930, over 1,900 square miles have been lost, an area larger than the state of Delaware.
The reasons for this land loss are well known: levees and canals.
The arrival of Europeans in Louisiana marked the beginning of attempts at flood control. The annual flood of the Mississippi and its tributaries was (and is) a threat to agriculture and to human habitation. After the great flood of 1927, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the levee system on the Mississippi. The river would be heretofore held in a virtual straightjacket. As a consequence, the alluvial sediments that have for eons replenished the marsh every spring fail to arrive. In 1963, the Corps of Engineers finished its flood control project on the Mississippi with the construction of the Old River Structure, a control dam at the confluence of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, 200 miles north of New Orleans. The structure permits the control of the water level in the main branch of the river. The floodgates are opened when and if the water level gets too high. The structure accomplishes another function: it prevents the main channel from following its natural course which would be to flow into the Atchafalaya. Without the structure, the river would eventually abandon the channel that leads to New Orleans with a disastrous effect on shipping along the river at the ports of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The other main culprit in coastal erosion is the 80,000 miles of canals which cut through the marshes. The great majority of canals were dug for oil exploration. These canals allow the intrusion of salt water from the Gulf into the freshwater marsh. As a result, the aquatic plants are decimated and the roots systems that are the cohesive element of these “trembling prairies” disappears.
Quite simply, South Louisiana is floating away. The alluvial sediments which up until the 1930s were responsible for the creation of new land no longer arrive. With every acre of land loss the natural protection against tropical storms is reduced. Each 3 miles of marsh diminishes the level of the tidal surge by 1 foot. In 1960 there were approximately 100 miles of swamp between New Orleans and the Gulf. Today that number has dwindled. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused additional land loss. In addition, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) has caused additional loss. This canal was built in the 1960s to allow marine traffic to access the Gulf directly without having to travel the sinuous meanders of the river. The project was responsible for the transfer of more dirt than that moved during the construction of the Panama Canal. MRGO has not actually been utilized very much. It did, however, destroy 217 acres of swamp due to salt intrusion. With each acre of land loss goes a corresponding area of natural protection for the city.
The threat to New Orleans is made more acute by global warming. One of the effects of which is an increase in the frequency and violence of tropical storms. The situation is made even more menacing by the increase in sea level. A recipe for disaster.
According to Torbjörn Törnqvsit, director of the National Institute for Climatic Change Coastal Reasearch Center, sea level along the Louisiana coast is rising at a rate 4 to 6 times higher than in the preceding 1000 years. 6000 years ago, sea level worldwide was approximately 15 feet lower. Since the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age, sea level has been rising. Before the Industrial Revolution, the rise was on the order of one half millimeter per year. The rate of sea level rise at Grande Isle, south of New Orleans is currently 10 millimeters per year, 20 times higher.
To make matters worse, south Louisiana is sinking. The causes for the subsidence are multiple and complex but the extraction of minerals (oil) and the draining of marshes for residential development are major causes. Louisiana is facing a critical situation. The good news is that the state of affairs along the coast is serving as the laboratory. The lessons learned in Louisiana will eventually be used to good advantage for the protection of coastal areas around the world. It remains to be seen, however, if viable solutions will be found to restore the Louisiana coast and protect the cities of New Orleans, Houma and Thibdeaux. Unfortunately the political leaders are unable to come to grips with the situation. In Louisiana, employment takes precedence over coastal protection. The economy is the determining factor in the politics surrounding coastal restoration and the community as a whole seems unable to make the hard choices that will be required to preserve the natural environment and the human community of south Louisiana. There is no plan for the future 50 or 100 years from now. Should we be unable to solve the problems, Mother Nature will solve them for us one way or another.
On December 31, 1925, Percy Viosca, a biologist working for the Louisiana Department of Conservation addressed the Ecological Society of America at its annual conference in Kansas City. “Man-made modifications in Louisiana wetlands, which are changing the conditions of existence from its very foundations, are the result of flood protection, deforestation, deepening channels and the cutting of navigation and drainage canals. Time is ripe for an enormous development of the Louisiana wetlands along new and intelligent lines”. Unfortunately Viosca’s words went unheeded and we have seen devastating erosion and astounding land loss as a result. Today, Viosca has been replaced by a new generation of dedicated and far seeing ecologists: Oliver Houck, Mark Davis and Tyrone Foreman being but a few. The question is whether their words will go unheeded as well.
The solutions to the problems of the Louisiana coast are well known. The question is whether our society (Louisiana and the USA) is prepared to take the measures necessary to restore the coast. Here are 10 points, taken from the report of Oliver Houck, Tulane University environmental law professor, published in September 2005. As yet, none of the measures have been implemented.
- Make the maps. Not simply a flood protection map, but a map describing clearly what we can reclaim, what we hope to save and what we are prepared to abandon.
- Re-evaluate the funding. There are several projects which are on the verge of financing which have never received close scrutiny and, which if implemented will have a tremendous impact on the city of New Orleans and all of South Louisiana (i.e. the Morganza Project, see report October, 2006). We need to re-evaluate everything that touches the coast with the maps (#1) in hand. Otherwise, the developers and the politicians will control our fate.
- Free the sediments. 50 years ago, 400 million tons of current born sediment flowed past New Orleans. Today, we are down to 80 million tons. These sediments are contained within the levee walls instead of spilling into the marsh and wind up in the Gulf of Mexico rather than rebuilding the wetlands. Every bit of sediment must be directed into the marsh.
- Free the rivers. Levees must be cut at strategic places and the natural currents permitted to flow. The price of restraining the rivers will ultimately prove too great.
- Eliminate chemical fertilizer. Chemical based agriculture is responsible for the pollution of the coast. It is time that the federal government (and the state government!) recognize this reality and impose controls.
- Heal the marsh. We have the technology to revitalize the wetlands. We need to use it.
- Stop coastal erosion. We know all to well the consequences of land loss. And yet, oil exploration canals are still being dredged and wetlands are being dried for residential development and agricultural exploitation. Each inch of wetlands lost will be hard to recover. We have to stop land loss immediately.
- Leave place for natural processes. Roads and railroads must be elevated. Floodways need to be opened. Oil installations, port facilities and oyster beds have to be consolidated. And areas must be placed off limits to development.
- Dare to think retreat. Residents of the coastal zone are in jeopardy. Oil exploration and port facilities can be maintained through insurance premiums, but this is not the case for residential development. As we are seeing, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain insurance for low lying areas near the coast. It will be hard to abandon areas into which people have settled, but the cost of maintaining residential areas in flood plains will ultimately prove to be too high. We can do it ourselves or have Nature do it for us.
- Admit the reality of global warming. The Louisiana ostrich still has its head in the mud. Global warming needs to be recognized as a permanent reality if we are to plan effectively. Like it or not, tropical storms will be more frequent and more violent in the future. And the sea level will be higher. Both will have a significant impact on the coast.
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/special/landloss.htm
http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/LAwetlands/lawetlands.html
http://www.lca.gov/
April 2 , 2008
There is an expression well known to the barflies among us which came to mind after my first few days in Paris this spring: Coyote ugly. According to the urban legend, a coyote will chew its foot off once it is caught in a steel trap. This is a metaphor for the situation some of you might have had the misfortune of finding yourselves in. After a night of libertinage, imagine awakening to find yourself sleeping alongside a human being whose physical appearance is repugnant. It is well known that the consumption of alcohol hinders good judgment. In the throes of alcohol-induced jubilation, one tends to find potential sexual partners more attractive than would be the case if one were sober. This often leads to a disturbing situation the next morning. Coyote ugly. The sense of the phrase being that rather than awaken the newly acquired and physically repulsive partner, one is capable of chewing off one’s arm. That’s the feeling I get in Paris these days.
Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France in the equivalent of an alcohol induced frenzy. His closest competition, the Socialist Ségolène Royal, was way behind. Sarko promised to solve all of the problems confronting French society by getting tough. First of all, he would take care of the restive immigrant population by finding jobs for the good ones and getting tough on the bad. Secondly, he would fix the moribund economy. No more free ride. The welfare system would be overhauled and the French economy made more competitive and more American-like. What France needs, claimed Sarkozy is a kick in the pants, and he was just the guy to use the boot.
French society has always tended toward the bitchy, at least as long as I have been coming here. The French have evolved complaining into an art form. Never have I seen, however, disgruntlement verging on despair. When Mitterand was elected, there was a great euphoria. The country was incredulous that the Socialist had come to power. This wave of jubilation lasted through his first term in office and spilled over into the second before disillusionment crippled the government. The result was the return to power of the right. When Chirac came to power, there was, once again, a sense of satisfaction and the belief that his conservative policies would ultimately solve the social and economic problems in France. This lasted through his first term and propelled him to a second mandate. In his last election, in 1995, the country was again uneasy. To the general surprise, however, the threat to Chirac’s government came not from the leftist Socialist party, but from the right wing, anti-immigrant Front National of Jean-Marie Lepen. Ultimately Chirac proved unable to deliver on his promise of reform, and was abandoned by the population.
In the last presidential election, French men and women rallied around the diminutive Minister of the Interior who had been in charge of controlling the riots that had set the suburbs of Paris on fire in 2005. Sarkozy was gonna kick some ass and get France back on track. It has taken only a few months for disappointment to set in. In contrast to his predecessors, Sarkozy’s popularity has plummeted in record time. It is not the fact that the French have turned on their president, but the relatively short time that it has taken. Coyote ugly. The French are debating whether they should chew off their collective paw. Cinderella has turned into a pumpkin.
Municipal elections were held in France last week. The result was a resounding victory for the Socialist party. Under the French system, the office of mayor has an importance which is much greater than the equivalent in the US. Although the comparison is far from perfect, the mayors of France collectively have a power somewhat equivalent to that of the governors of the states in the U.S. The political party of a mayoral candidate has as much influence in getting out the vote than his or her personal popularity. That the country resoundingly voted for Socialist mayors has less to do with the competence of the individual candidates than with sending a message to the president, and that message is: we don’t love you any more.
Sarkozy’s can best be characterized as brash. In an encounter which seems to typify the style of the newly elected French president, upon meeting a farmer who refused to shake his hand (so as not to “dirty” himself according to reports), Sarkozy replied, “Fuck off, you little asshole” (Casse-toi, petit con). What is remarkable is that almost everyone that I meet refers to this episode and makes the comparison with Chirac. Once, when Chirac was heckled by someone in the audience who called out “Asshole”, he replied, “Nice to meet you, my name is Jacques Chirac.” These two anecdotes have become part of French folklore, but go far to illustrate the perception of the new president as a egomaniac addicted to bling-bling whose personal behavior borders on the pathological. His celebrated divorce and subsequent marriage to model turned pop singer, Carla Bruni is seen by most Frenchmen as Sarkozy’s own business. However, his apparent craving for recognition and his association with the rich and famous is seen as undignified, particularly when many Frenchmen are facing a dismal economic future. In an effort to seem more presidential, Sarkozy of late has taken to laying wreaths at war monuments and toning down the media attention he apparently craves.
Not to change the subject, but speaking of Coyote ugly, George W. Bush will leave office with the U.S. economy in shambles and mired in a senseless war which has cost billions of dollars and thousands of U.S. lives as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. Two thirds of all Americans believe that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. On the fifth anniversary of the invasion, George W. Bush maintained fervently that “deposing Sadam” was the “right thing to do”. The king has no clothes. We have squandered billions of dollars and untold thousands of lives, have lost our standing in the world, and are mired in a futile war with no end-game apparent. And yet, Americans do not seem to upset with the situation. Maybe we should import French people to teach us how to march in the streets, or at least how to complain. American democracy seems headed down a dead end. Most of us seem happy to watch sports on TV and eat junk food. Coyote ugly. But who’s the coyote and who’s the ugly?
Which bring us to my final topic: I hereby support the candidacy of Barak Obama for president of the U.S. Senator John McCain was just in Paris visiting President Sarkozy. McCain was on his way back from a mission in Iraq. Trying to appear presidential. In an obvious attempt to pander to the French, he proclaimed, “the U.S. needs to listen to its allies more.” Oh, please. A good American, and certainly a war hero, but he is evidently unable to break with the knuckle-headed policies of the current president that got us in this shitty mess to begin with. “We’ll stay in Iraq if it takes 100 years,” he has said. He also proclaimed himself honored by the endorsement of George W. Bush. The same George W. Bush whose campaign spread the rumor that McCain had an illegitimate black bastard child during the South Carolina primary in 1999. If McCain is elected we’ll have to chew off more than a paw.
My endorsement of Obama is based on one single reason. I am not impressed by his message of “Change”. That’s a pretty easy sell when everything seems to be going to hell. Hillary Clinton seems to me to be more experienced, a better organizer, perhaps even a better leader. But it’s hard to say what somebody will do once in office and confronted with the tremendous challenges of the U.S presidency. I have no problem with having a woman president and I would support Hillary in the event that she is nominated. My reason for endorsing Obama, however, comes down to one thing.
If you go back to March of 2003 in the archives of the monthly reports posted on this web site, you will note that I opposed the invasion of Iraq and predicted that we were getting into a “Viet Nam with sand”. Would that I had been wrong. I remember well the collective lunacy that gripped my country. Where were the “Two thirds of Americans who think the invasion of Iraq was a mistake” back then? Idiots were spray-painting over the French inscriptions on the street signs in my hometown to avenge the fact that French president Chirac dared contradict George W. Bush, and refuse to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Apparently reasonable American journalists were serving as propaganda tools for the government, embedded with combat units in a disgusting effort to cheerlead the invasion. The popular pressure to support the invasion was enormous. Most everybody was for the war. Most everybody that is but me, Bill Nevins and Barak Obama (just kidding, there were millions of us). It didn’t cost me anything, it cost Bill Nevins his job, and it could have cost Barak Obama his political future. Going against popular opinion is something that few politicians seem ready to do, especially with nationalist sentiment rising to a fever pitch (You’re either with us or against us) In this day of “policy by the numbers” (i.e. driven by the polls), it is encouraging to think that there is a politician who chose to resist popular pressure and the relentless drumbeat of the warmongers to follow his own convictions.
I am supporting Barak Obama because he has given me the feeling that somehow in the cesspool of money run national politics, there is someone motivated by principal, who is not afraid to defy the powers that be. For having given me that hope, I support Obama.
March 5 , 2008
In the history of the Cadien/Cajun community of Louisiana, there are three major events. First and foremost, the Deportation from Nova Scotia in 1755. Secondly the Civil war, and finally, the Second World War. Once the USA entered WWII in 1941, practically the entire male population of South Louisiana (as well as the rest of the country) between the ages of 18 and 35, went to war. Many of the young Cajuns had never been farther than the parish line. Many did not speak English. When they returned to Louisiana, after years in the armed services, fighting in every major theater, their identity was profoundly altered. They were proud to be Americans, a term that represented for their fathers an outsider to the French speaking community, as well as someone of whom to be wary. In terms of musical culture, most young Cajuns of their generation shared the American fondness for big band swing. But there was a current, less visible, running underground like the aquifer that flows unseen beneath the South Louisiana prairie. That current was what is called today “Cajun music”,
Most of the Cajuns who went to war and returned were still young men. After the terrible years of the war, they, like most of their American counterparts, wished to have fun, to dance, to fall in love. This desire to let loose contributed directly to the post-war dance phenomenon in Cajun culture. Before the war, dances were communal affairs, house dances which the entire family could attend. After the war, numerous dance halls sprung up. The basic social relationship was altered. At a house dance, the strong tradition of hospitality obliged the host to open his door to any and all who arrived. At the dance hall, or Fais Do-Do as they came to be called, entrance was based, at least for the men, on the ability to pay the ticket price. Alcohol was sold, and thus minor aged children were excluded. The dance tradition of South Louisiana had changed ambiance: from a family gathering, it had evolved into a night club..
A chain of “Fais Do-Do” crossed the Cajun prairie: La Poussière, The Triangle, The China Ball Club, Hick’s Wagon Wheel. These dance halls were integral to the evolution of modern Cajun music. There was no town, no area of the prairie where one could not find a dance hall on a Saturday night. These dance halls created regular employment for a growing coterie of musicians. They contributed to the institutionalization of the genre as the repertoire become more and more standardized. The orchestra evolved as well. The diatonic ten button accordion remained the principal instrument although modified to include a microphone. The fiddle was also a mainstay, but to these instruments were added the peddle steel guitar and the modern drum kit. Playing two or more times a week, the dance bands became more and more sophisticated: Lawrence Walker, Blackie Forestier, Ambrose Thibodeuax, Jimmy C. Newman, Larry Brasseaux, Belton Richard, Aldus Roger and other accordion player-band leaders enjoyed great popularity. Aldus Roger and his Lafayette Playboys were tremendously well-known thanks to the advent of television. Every Sunday morning on KLFY, Channel 10, Aldus Roger broadcast a very popular television show. Sundays will always be associated with an extended family dinner at my grandmother’s house, and the soundtrack was Aldus Roger. With his cattleman’s small brim Stetson and his Buddha-like gaze, Aldus Roger revolutionized accordion playing, incorporating lightening riffs and western swing harmony into the style. Radio shows were likewise very popular, KSIG in Crowley and KROF in Abbeville broadcasting Cajun music live on the weekends. The musicians who was to have the most influence on future generations, however, did not have a radio show, much less a television broadcast. Practically blind and killed tragically at the age of 27, Ira Lejeune would create the songs which have become the heart of the Cajun repertoire.
The life of Ira Lejeune is the archetypical example of the blues. Legally blind, wearing glasses thick as the bottom of a Coke bottle, Ira Lejeune was physically unable to work in the fields. In the rural economy of South Louisiana in the 1940s and 1950s, this meant that he was confined to the lowest level of a rural, underprivileged society. Even the most successful musicians were obliged to work at other jobs in order to survive. Aldus Roger was a carpenter. Lawrence Walker was a farmer. Ira Lejeune, however, could do little but play music. He played in the cafés, passing the hat, during the week and in the dance halls on the weekend. His style was awkward. He played sitting down, while all of his contemporaries played standing. His playing was considered “too fast” for dancing, and his band was perhaps the least popular of all. His legacy, however, dominates the tradition. He recorded 24 songs, most of them in his kitchen on a “portable” recorder. These songs have become the heart of the Cajun tradition. Single handedly, Ira Lejeune was responsible for the resurgence of the accordion.
In 1948, Ira Lejeune recorded the “Valse du Pont d’Amour”, the Love Bridge Waltz. This song, released on 78-rpm disc would shake up popular music in South Louisiana. The dance hall tradition would never be the same. The Love Bridge Waltz was a phenomenal success and although its author would never know the success his talent deserved during his lifetime, his legacy will dominate Cajun music forever. One night upon returning from a dance, the car in which Ira Lejeune was riding had a flat tire on highway 13 between Eunice and Crowley. While one of the musicians repaired the tire, Ira ambled about. He probably never saw the car that hit him. By the time he arrived at the Crowley hospital, he was dead. He was 27 years old.
Two years before the release of the Love Bridge Waltz, another song was released on 78 which would have a similar impact, but this time in the Black Creole community of South Louisiana. The song was called Ma Tee Fee (Ma Petite Fille) and the artist was called Clifton Chenier. Clifton was the pioneer and in effect the creator of a style of music which has come to be called Zydeco. In 1950, he was working as a laborer in Houston Texas. It was there that Clifton met Lightning Hopkins. Until then, he had never heard the 12 bar blues. That meeting was for Clifton and epiphany. Returning to Louisiana, Clifton abandoned the 10 button diatonic accordion of his father and began to play the chromatic accordion. This allowed him to play the three chords of the blues style. Clifton also modernized the Black Creole orchestra, adding drums, and saxophone.
Clifton Chenier’s music was influenced by Black American music, the blues, but always remained unique and uniquely South Louisiana. His brother Cleveland was the first to play the “frottoir” or rub-board, modifying the clothes-washing rub-board into a large metal big which he hung across his chest, playing with metal beer-can openers. Thanks to Clifton, Zydeco took a modern, urban direction, but the root always stayed the same. Amédé Ardoin, cousin of Bois-Sec Ardoin, had the greatest influence on Clifton Chenier. It might seem surprising given the distance between Cajun music and Zydeco today, but the greatest influence on Ira Lejeune was likewise Armédé Ardoin.
Although Cajun music and Zydeco represent two distinct styles today, they share the same root and sprang from the same cultural context. At the beginning of the 20th century, in a situation which recalls the creation of Jazz in nearby New Orleans, on the Attakapas prairie of Southwest Louisiana, a variety of influences came together in the creation of a new musical style unique to the region. Amédé Ardoin was a black man. Amédé Breaux was a white man. When I listen to their recording of the 1930s, I cannot tell them apart. The various ethnic influences; French-Acadian, German, American, Irish intersected. The outcome was a new and entirely unique musical genre. After WWII, white Cajun music and black Zydeco parted ways, each influenced by different American sounds which came from outside of Louisiana. The isolation of the French speaking community of Louisiana was forever broken by the advent of American culture following the Second World War. The introduction of the drum kit would have a significant impact, the Cajuns and the Black Creoles responding differently in their approach to rhythm. The difference was as remarkable and as different as Poitou is different from Senégal. And yet, although Cajun music and Zydeco have evolved into two absolutely distinct musical styles, if we go back a few generations, it is apparent that both styles sprang from the same root. In the incredibly rich melting pot of early 20th century Southwest Louisiana, French speaking white people and French speaking black people would take the diatonic accordion popularized by German immigrants and create a new and singular style of dance music which is being enjoyed throughout the world today.
February 6, 2008
American Indians placed hollowed
out gourds around their campsites in the spring and summer
to attract purple martins (progne subis). In addition to their acrobatic
flight and cheerful song, the largest of the swallow family
is particularly known for its healthy insectivorous appetite. Purple
martins around the home is bad news for mosquitoes which
is good news for people around where I live. The relationship
between homo sapiens and progne subis in North America is
centuries old.
We have supported a purple martin colony
chez moi almost since the construction of the house in 1981. I have watched with
great pleasure the generations follow one another (the oldest
purple martin on record was 13 years old). I anxiously
await their return in the early spring. I have protected
the colony from rat snakes and house sparrows. Hearing
their twittering song make me feel good. The flight of
the fledglings in June is always a joyful time, the joy mixed
with some nostalgia since it is never long after the young chicks
learn to fly that the whole gang will abandon the cages and take
to the fields. Hearing the call of their ancient
instinct, they will form huge flocks of hundred or thousands
of individuals, roosting under bridges in tumultuous throngs. One
fine autumn day, a North wind at their backs, they will take
to the sky, headed across the Gulf of Mexico toward their wintering
ground in Brazil. In the spring of 2007, for the first
time in over 25 years, the cages were empty. My purple
martins did not return.
There is an old Cajun legend that pretends
that the purple martins return on Mardi Gras day. Since carnival swings between
early February and early March every year, the veracity of this
rural folk tale defies belief. I am here, however,
to testify. I have never known a Mardi Gras on which a
purple martin scout did not arrive. Usually it will happen
early in the morning. Walking around the yard, I will hear
a whistle. I never pay much attention, but at one point,
it will hit me: they’re back. I will have put up
the cages for some time, being careful not to clean them out
too much since a little dried mud is helpful in starting the
construction of the nest. It is fabulous to imagine that
a small bird can time the arrival of his spring migration of
more than a thousand miles to coincide with a French Catholic
holiday, especially since the date changes every year. Strange
but true.
The scout will turn around the cages
for a day or two, falling precipitously from the sky. For a few days, he will be
the only swallow I see. However, soon enough, he will be
accompanied by others, females as well as males. The
males will make a show, dive-bombing and bolting off, their eyes
filled with love. Purple martins form permanent couples,
returning each year to the same spot. Several days after
the arrival of the first bird, the cages will be occupied and
the nest building begun.
It was Mother’s Day eve, 2003 that our purple martin colony
had its worst moment. In the evening twilight, I noticed
a shadow moving up the pole to one of the cages. My heart
fell. A Texas rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta indheimer) had
invaded the colony The Texas rat snake is a friend
to the farmer. Non-venomous, and fond of mice and rats,
my relation with the rat snake was “live and let live”. But
when the snake invaded the purple martin colony, it had crossed
the line. My wife Claude and I were dumbstruck. We hadn’t
the vaguest idea of what to do. Climbing up a ladder in the dark
to remove a three foot snake didn’t seem particularly appealing. The
rat snake kills its victims by suffocation like the python. In
the silence of the night, it seemed that we could hear little
bones breaking.
Finally I had an idea. I had a large transparent plastic
bag. With it in hand, I climbed up to the cage and passed
it ever so gently over the top, thereby trapping our unwanted
visitor. I duct-taped the bottom and we went to bed. The
next morning the snake was in the bottom of the bag, apparently
worn out and short of breath. Now what?
I have a friend who works for the US
Fish and Wildlife Service. I
called him thinking that he would come over and fetch the snake. After
all, it’s his job. But it was Mother’s Day
Sunday. The best he could do for me was to leave his snake
stick out and invite me to come over and get it. A snake
stick is a baton of approximately three feet in length with a
trigger on one end and a clamp on the other. Within an
hour, the snake was in the truck on the way to his new home. We
found a spot, sufficiently far away, in a small woods near a
winding bayou. We liberated the snake, wished him well
and returned to see to our swallows.
The colony had been decimated. Of the twelve pairs of
mating adults, three pairs remained. I was afraid that
they would abandon the site. This was in May, only a few
weeks before the fledglings took flight. I never saw another
swallow that summer. The following year, on Mardi Gras
day, 2004, my heart raced when I saw the first scout. The
purple martins were back. For the next three years, the
colony re-established itself. I looked forward to the spring
of 2007 when the population would be at its pre-rat-snake level.
On February 20, 2007, while walking
about the yard, I saw him. I
was surprised, as usual. I knew that the purple martin
was one of ours. Our colony is distinguished by a genetic
anomaly. The birds all have a white spot on their secondary
feathers. This bird had the spot. The next day he
came back accompanied by 2 females. All morning long that
little group flew, dropping onto the cages like kamikazes, gently
posing on the roof. They returned for several days. And
then nothing. I waited for a few weeks before taking down
the cages, invaded by house sparrows.
I wonder about the decline of the colony. Is it due to
an unhappy accident, a tropical storm that surprised my birds
en route? The Amazon forest, the winter ground for the
purple martins, is being cleared at an alarming rate, a territory
the size of Delaware sacrificed to the chain saw each year. Were
my birds the victims of habitat destruction? Or was the
problem local? Purple martins prefer open space around
their habitations, primarily to avoid possible predators. I
have planted hundred of trees some of which were intruding into
the purple martin landing strip. Had they simply decided
to go elsewhere? It didn’t seem that the trees had
grown so much over the course of the last year.
Was the problem a problem of nutrition. I live in an agricultural
zone in which pesticides are used in quantity. The local
government has a program of mosquito control. Every so
often in the twilight, a poison truck will pass leaving in its
wake a fog of insecticide aimed at ridding the country of mosquitoes,
which happen to be the favorite food of my birds. Purple
martins are exclusively insectivore. No bugs, no birds. I
will probably never know the exact cause of the disappearance
of my colony, but one thing is sure: the swallow population in
North America, as well as that of all migratory species, is in
danger.
Since the 1960s, avian migration has
been studied with the aid of radar. The pioneer of this research is former LSU professor,
Sydney Gautreaux. Dr. Gautreaux is currently at Clemson
where he directs the migratory bird research (http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/birdrad/index.htm). According
to the scientific analysis, the population of migratory birds
in North America has fallen 50% since 1980. It is impossible
to count with absolute precision the billions of birds which
cross the Gulf of Mexico each year during their annual migration. It
is possible, however, to evaluate the numbers by studying the
density of the radar clouds. From February through the
peak migration of April and May, millions of birds will cross
the Gulf of Mexico at night. By scrutinizing the radar
returns, an approximate number can be determined. Due primarily
to habitat destruction, the number of migratory birds has been
falling precipitously over the last 25 years. And there
is another reason for concern: global warming.
In a new book published by Island,
entitled NO WAY HOME, David Wilcove explains that climate change
may have serious and irreversible consequences for migrating
species: birds, sea turtles,
whales, wildebeests, wild salmon, etc. In the case
of the birds, the problem is one of nutrition. The phenomenon
of bird migration is extraordinary. Although many
of its details remain clouded in mystery, the basics are understood. Why
migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles when there is an
abundant food source in the tropics, the winter ground of most
North American birds? The answer is that by so doing, the
migratory birds avoid competition with tropical species for nesting
territory and nutrition. By undertaking their annual journey,
the birds occupy a nesting territory relatively empty of competition. The
strategy must have some reward since it is estimated that up
to 80% of bird mortality occurs during migration. Over
the course of thousands of years, the birds have evolved their
strategy to take advantage of food sources all along their migratory
route as well as on the nesting grounds themselves. For
insectivorous species like swallows, that means having insects
present. Ideally, the birds will arrive on the nesting
ground at about the same time that the insects are plentiful. Global
warming risks throwing a monkey wrench in the process. With
increased temperatures, insects will hatch earlier than previously. The
birds, however, are cueing on luminosity primarily to undertake
their journey. Which means that they could arrive too late
to take advantage of the peak insect season. No bugs, no
birds.
Mardi Gras this year is February 5. Early. I have
my cages ready to go up. One morning, I am hoping
to se that first scout splitting the ether like a purple thunderbolt,
and pulling up gently to pose on the roof of his home.
January 1, 2008
Chers amis, with my very best wishes
for a New Year filled with love and good music. The regular
monthly report will begin anew on February 6.
– Zachary |
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