From the Baltimore Sun

A spring without voices




June 24, 2007

The bicentennial of Rachel Carson's birth is barely a month past and her 
shocking fantasy of a world without birds seems to be coming true.
It's not pesticides that are at fault; Ms. Carson was very effective in 
banning their use. In this case, what's killing some of the most common 
birds in the state and the nation is thoughtless development that robs these 
homebodies of the meadows, pastures and forests they need to thrive.

If there is any doubt about the critical need to carefully manage growth in 
a way that protects wildlife habitat, promotes agricultural conservation, 
preserves wetlands and diminishes the impact of global warming, it should 
quickly be resolved by the prospect of songbirds going silent.

According to a recent study by the Audubon Society, the northern bobwhite 
population in Maryland has dropped by 87 percent over the past four decades 
and remains only on the Eastern Shore. Eastern meadowlarks have seen a 
similar decline, prompted by conversion of meadows to row crops. More 
emphasis on cornfields for ethanol will speed the meadowlark's 
disappearance.

Whip-poor-wills, whose numbers have declined by three-fourths in Maryland 
because their habitat is segmented by roads, now find sanctuary in the Green 
Ridge State Forest in Allegany County, near where the outsized Terrapin Run 
development is planned.

Field sparrows and grasshopper sparrows have declined by 81 percent and 91 
percent, respectively, suffering from such seemingly innocent acts as early 
mowing of grasslands, which now takes place before young birds have grown 
their feathers.

These five birds are not among Maryland's dozen most endangered bird 
species; they simply aren't good at adapting to urban and suburban life. 
Robins, cardinals, blue jays, crows and yellow finches, for example, seem to 
be doing just fine and are eager to share with early risers what birders 
call the "dawn chorus."

But the decline in population of the once common meadow birds must be viewed 
as another warning sign of what's at risk if precious resources are 
squandered. Or even, in the case of ethanol, how addressing one 
environmental problem can create others.

As Ms. Carson predicted, the goal must be to figure out how all life can 
live in harmony with its surroundings - or the hubbub of bird voices will be 
just one of the casualties.



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