Dear all,

 

Elise Kreiss's message about downed barn swallow nests mentioned possible
violation of the Migratory Bird Act. Recently I discovered that property
management in my Germantown development had cleared and leveled a
storm-water drainage area behind a row of townhouses. This area had become a
rich little wetland habitat with cattails and lots of bird activity. I would
be very surprised if at least the RW Blackbirds I had seen there were not
nesting, and that there were avian, mammalian and anuran casualties when the
clearing took place (clearing began in June, according to a neighbor, and
there is still machinery there working on a daily basis).

 

Does anyone know if this might constitute a violation of the Migratory Bird
Act? I realize I probably don't have the evidence needed to prosecute, but I
would like to send a strong message to whoever is in charge. Why the heck
can't they be doing this outside the bird breeding season, if at all?!

 

Jonathan Balcombe

Germantown, MD



 

Author: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
(Macmillan, May 2006)

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