TWiB Notes: Bird collisions, another urban owl, and plover news
A Burrowing Owl takes to a sand dune.
And they say nothing ever happens around here.
There are many new migrants arriving at the time of this writing. House Wren, Chipping Sparrow, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Barn Swallows and Rough-winged Swallows have joined the Tree Swallows that have been here for some weeks.
There’s been quite a bit of action on the advocacy front, too. Last year’s deadly migration event at McCormick Place was a clarion call for making Chicago’s buildings more bird-friendly. There’s an effort afoot to call on the city’s Department of Planning and Development to make bird-friendly design mandatory. You can have your voice heard, too, at www.birdfriendlychicago.org.
Wetlands have been in the news ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett decision removed protections at the federal level last year. There’s a bill in the Illinois legislature that would protect some wetlands on private land. Recall that 90 percent of wetlands in Illinois already have been lost. The wetlands and land owners we feature in FLUDDLES are opting into programs that protect the waters on their land. Not every land owner does the same.
The death of a Great Horned Owl in Chicago’s Lincoln Park is likely to draw further attention to the use of rodenticides in urban areas. An adult male that was found unresponsive last week likely died from consuming rats laden with poison. The big raptor had just fledged an owlet with its mate a few weeks prior. There are echoes of Flaco’s story, another tale of an urban owl being felled by its highly altered environment.
Also, there was a Burrowing Owl at Montrose Beach Dunes this weekend:
Burrowing Owls are a western species that also includes a small population in Florida, oddly enough. They don’t show up in Illinois too often.
Mural to feature Monty and Rose
The late Piping Plovers Monty and Rose will receive a lasting tribute in the form of a mural by artist Dorian Sylvain at Uptown Library, 929 West Buena. The completion of the mural will be celebrated this Saturday with a series of festivities beginning at 9:30 a.m. as Tamima Itani reads from her book, “Monty and Rose Nest at Montrose.” Later there will be a showing of my film, “Monty and Rose 2: The World of Monty and Rose” at 11:30 a.m.
The season’s first Piping Plovers have arrived at Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Word is that the first arrival, YibBee, a male, is already goosestepping and courting a female.