Hi all,
There is an interesting article in the "Conservation in Practice" magazine
(Oct-Dec 2006 issue) by Douglas Fox.
It talks about how ecologists, armed with mass spectrometers, are reading
the isotope signatures of
feathers and that the information could help manage migratory populations.
Apparently the ratios
of stabe isotopes vary from place to place. With falling prices mass
spectroscopy is now being used more.
One example given is the Black Throated Blue Warbler which ranges from
Michigan and Newfoundland down to Georgia during breeding season. For 30
years, its southern population gradually dwindled and until recently no one
knew why. It turned out that birds which wintered on the island of
Hispanola came from the southern end of the species breeding range in the
U.S and Hispanola had undergone extensive deforestation providing an
explanation for the southern breeders' decline that would have been hard to
understand without knowing the birds' migratory connections. Isotopes have
also been harnessed to track movements of dragonflies, monarch butterflies,
elephants, bats, etc. I don't have much of a science background like many
of the MD-Ospreyers I have met so this info on isotopes is new to me.
On another note, I came home today to find a dead Golden Crowned Kinglet on
my steps. I think it flew into the glass on the door. I put it in my
freezer in case anyone wants it. Otherwise it is going
back to nature. Very sad.
Sarel Cousins
New Windsor, MD
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