January 2013. Chris Teren, a wildlife photographer from Washington State in USA recently took these gorgeous photos of a leucistic bald eagle on the Nooksack River in the north of the state. The eagle looks even more attractive than usual with the white patches on his body and wings.
Chris has more images of the eagle, and he also has some other lovely wildlife shots, especially of orca. Click here to go to Chris Teren’s website.
The patches are caused by leucism; Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.
Click here to see our gallery of albino and leucistic animals and birds.
Population of threatened Marbled Murrelet down almost 30 percent in last ten years
Rare birds declining due to habitat loss
December 2012. US Federal conservation efforts haven’t come close to reversing or even halting the decline of the Marbled Murrelet, a seabird that nests in old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. That’s the conclusion of a major new peer-reviewed study of the status of the Marbled Murrelet, which was prepared by scientists from the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Crescent Research, a private research firm.
The study found that Marbled Murrelet numbers in five different study areas fell sharply between 2001 and 2010, from a total count of roughly 22,200 to a total count of roughly 16,700. The five study areas encompass all but one of the Marbled Murrelet conservation zones identified in the federal Marbled Murrelet Recovery Plan.
“This study confirms the fears that many conservationists have held for years,” said Steve Holmer, Senior Policy Analyst for American Bird Conservancy. “By showing that the Marbled Murrelet is still in sharp decline, the study emphasizes the need for stronger, more aggressive conservation measures.”
Nest in tall trees
Marbled Murrelets nest in tall trees found in forests in Washington, Oregon and California. The authors of the study cite the loss of nesting habitat as a major cause of the murrelet’s decline over the past century; they add that it still may be a contributing factor, thanks to major fires, logging and big wind storms.
Human proximity
Other changes cited as potentially important ranged from increased nest predation to reductions in the quality and availability of marine creatures eaten by the birds. Increased nest predation seems to be associated with the presence of more crows and ravens, which in turn is linked to growing human settlements and the presence of campgrounds.
Logging halted
This study was published on the heels of a court ruling that stopped timber sales and logging in three state-owned Oregon forests that are home to Marbled Murrelets. Federal District Court Judge Ann Aiken recently granted an injunction that prevents the state from proceeding on 11 timber sales, plus any other logging in occupied murrelet nest sites in the Elliot, Clatsop and Tillamook state forests. The ruling stops logging in murrelet habitat until the resolution of a case filed by Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Portland Audubon Society. Those groups are asserting that the state’s logging practices are harming the federally-protected seabird.
The Marbled Murrelet was Federally listed in 1992 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a designation that requires Federal agencies to carry out conservation programs for each listed species and ensure that any actions the agency funds, authorizes, or carries out are not likely to jeopardize the survival of the species, or to adversely modify species designated critical habitat.
The study was published in the international research journal The Condor.
Jaguar seen previously in different mountain range
December 2012. An adult male jaguar and an adult male ocelot have been photographed in two separate southern Arizona mountain ranges by automated wildlife monitoring cameras. The images were collected as part of the Jaguar Survey and Monitoring Project led by the University of Arizona. Both animals appear to be in good health.
Jaguar photographed in 2011 & 2012 in different locations
In late November 2012, the UA project team downloaded photos from wildlife cameras set up as part of the research project and found new pictures of a jaguar in the Santa Rita Mountains. A total of ten jaguar photos were taken by three UA cameras and one Arizona Game and Fish Department camera. The cat’s unique spot pattern matched that of a male jaguar in the Whetstone Mountains photographed by a hunter in the fall of 2011, providing clear evidence that the big cats travel between southern Arizona’s “sky island” mountain ranges.
A September 2012 jaguar “tail” photo was previously reported by the Arizona Game and Fish Department from a hunter’s automated wildlife monitoring camera in the Santa Rita Mountains. None of the UA photos can be matched to this “tail” photo because, in the new photos, the tail is obscured or the opposite side of the jaguar was photographed. However, the jaguar is most likely the same individual.
Ocelot
In addition, a new ocelot photo was taken in the Huachuca Mountains west of Sierra Vista by one of the UA project cameras. Again, comparisons of the spot patterns revealed this to be the same male ocelot that has been reported by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and photographed in the Huachucas several times in 2011 and 2012. However, the UA photo was taken about 4 miles away from the previous photos, demonstrating that even the smaller cats move across the rugged Arizona landscape.
The purpose of the UA research project is to establish a non-invasive, hands-off system for detecting and monitoring jaguars and ocelots. The project is using motion-sensor-activated “trail” cameras placed in areas most likely to detect the spotted cats. Once fully operational, up to 240 paired cameras will be in place throughout the project area to capture images of both sides of detected animals.
Mexican jaguars
The University of Arizona is conducting this large-scale project to detect and monitor jaguars and ocelots along the northern boundary of the U.S.-Mexico international border, from the Baboquivari Mountains in Arizona to the south-western “boot heel” of New Mexico.
Dog search
The researchers are also employing a specially-trained scat detection dog to assist the team in collecting potential jaguar and ocelot scat in the areas where a jaguar or ocelot has been detected by camera. The UA Conservation Genetics lab under the leadership of Melanie Culver, U.S. Geological Survey geneticist in the UA School of Natural Resources and the Environment, will conduct genetic testing of the scat to verify species and possibly identify the individual cats.
Out of two million US soldiers who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, psychiatrists estimate that one in three may, at some point, develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is the story of five American soldiers stricken with PTSD. One is on trial for murder, two committed suicide and two others are still in the army, struggling to get treatment.
The murders of Afghan civilians and high rates of suicide among the soldiers stationed there are believed to stem from the failure of Lewis-McChord’s doctors to adequately treat mental health problems. In the past five years, approximately 300 soldiers saw their PTSD diagnoses reversed by doctors at the base. The Army is currently investigating whether doctors at Lewis-McChord reversed the diagnoses in order to save money.
Now, a Working In These Times investigation has found that workers assigned to help families suffering from the effects of PTSD have been told to close cases on suicidal patients in order to save money, haven’t been paid on time and have been forced to attend anti-union meetings that they claim the contractor, Strategic Resources Inc. (SRI), has billed to the federal government, in violation of federal law. (In July, an In These Times expose on union busting at Fort Lewis-McChord spurred a federal investigation into whether General Dynamics was illegally using government dollars to engage in union-busting.)
Kevin Cummings, an organizer with the International Association of Machinists (IAM), has been attempting to unionize mental health counselors employed by SRI at Lewis-McChord for the past several months. Counselors at the base tell Working In These Times they often have been told to close cases early in order to save money and to lie to federal investigators about how much the contractor was reimbursing them for driving expenditures. They also report being met with illegal threats and intimidation when they tried to unionize.
“[SRI] had no idea really what victim advocates do,” says Kara Karlson, a former counselor with SRI’s Victim Advocacy group. “It’s just completely about money-making. When we were hired on, they didn’t send us any training materials. I got a company handbook that was only eight pages long. They would do whatever they could to save a penny for themselves and hang you out to dry.”
“There was a lot of pressure to close cases quickly even if we didn’t feel like we should close them,” says another counselor who works in SRI’s New Parents Support Program, and who requested anonymity out of fear of being fired. “I had a friend who was working with a family that had a suicidal teenager and was told to back away from the family. She refused to back away. They wanted other services to take on the risk of dealing with someone who is suicidal.”
“[Workers] are directed to keep a certain number of cases open and keep a certain number of cases closed,” says IAM’s Cummings. “The lead will tell them, ‘You have too many cases open, close that one.’ They are telling them to close cases on people on suicide watch. If [SRI] need [to hire] additional bodies, they need to get them. Maybe the contract needs to be opened to help them hire additional people.”
In addition to finding it difficult to provide proper treatment, counselors in SRI’s New Parent Support Program and its Victim Advocacy Group say their pay was cut by as much as 25 percent when SRI took over their contract three years ago.
Most federal contractors must abide by the Service Contract Act, which mandates that workers be paid the prevailing wage for the job in the region. However, workers at SRI, many of whom have master’s degrees, allege the company misclassified them as less skilled employees. As a result, they make only $27.50 per hour, instead of the $36.05 per hour that would be mandated under the Service Contract Act’s provisions if they were classified properly. The workers hope that if the Department of Labor reviews their contract, it will find that their work falls under the better-paying classification.
In addition, SRI has refused to pay workers overtime, claiming that they are exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to Cummings. However, he says that isn’t actually the case.
PTSD Among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Skyrockets: here.
US Senator complains about wolf pack killing in his own state
Washington State eliminates wolf pack
September 2102. Washington State Senator Kevin Ranker, who is the chairman of the Washington State Senate committee that oversees The Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), has issued a terse letter to the WDFW describing its recent decision to exterminate an entire wolf [pack] in Washington State as “a serious failure.”
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) undertook the extermination of the pack of wolves in Northeast Washington and an agency marksman killed the pack’s alpha male just south of the Canadian border. The alpha male wolf was shot from a helicopter; it was the last of the six of wolves from the Wedge Pack that were killed by the ‘Wildlife’ Service, including the alpha female.
Ranker’s letter outlines “deep concerns” over Fish and Wildlife’s management of the Wedge Pack. He points out that state guidelines require ‘non-lethal methods of wolf management’ be used first, something he said did not happen.
Press reports indicate that the Wedge wolf pack were preying on one rancher’s stock, and that that rancher persuaded the WDFW to eliminate the pack despite the fact that few serious efforts had been made to deter the Wedge pack from predating the livestock.
October 2012. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting assistance with an investigation involving the suspected illegal killing of a second radio-collared red wolf that was recently found dead. The wolf was found with a suspected gunshot wound east of Belhaven, in Beaufort County, North Carolina: here.
November 2012. In what can only be described as a growing and worrying trend, a 4th Red wolf has been shot dead in North Carolina since September. This fourth wolf was found with a suspected gunshot wound on November 14, 2012, north of Fairfield, in Hyde County, N.C. It’s the fourth radio-collared red wolf taken since September: here.
Jennifer Youngman from the USA, who made this video, writes:
An American bittern feeds in the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge in Washington State a couple of hours before dusk in early March – alert to the human noises recorded here, but not unduly alarmed. His legs were as green as stems, and he swayed his neck like rustling reeds. To the wriggling frog he caught in this video and to all the other little morsels, he must have looked like just another plant.
There is a three-way tie for the bird of the week; sightings of not one but two Connecticut warblers, an American bittern and a buff-breasted sandpiper are all worthy, although they are somewhat expected at this time of the year.
Two different Connecticut warblers. Wow. These warblers are not seen on the Island every year; not because they are really rare, but because they are shy and secretive, tending to stay concealed in the dense shrubbery. Allan Keith spotted one at the Gay Head Cliffs on Sept. 16, the first one he has seen on the Island in maybe 20 years. And even more amazing is that he got to study the bird for about two minutes before it disappeared into the shrubbery. Then, on the morning of the Sept. 18, Lanny McDowell and Pete Gilmour found and photographed one at the Phillips Preserve in Vineyard Haven. It was the first time Mr. McDowell had spotted one on the Island.
Simon Athearn found two American bitterns in a somewhat unusual location — in a hayfield at Katama Farm. He got within 20 feet of the birds and studied them carefully, noting their size, long thick neck and head that pointed upward. When he got home he looked at this month’s photograph of a bittern in the Felix Neck calendar, which identified the bird for him.
Another one of my favorite bird sightings is of a buff-breasted sandpiper, which Allan Keith found on the tidal flats near Crab Creek at Quansoo on Sept. 17. While pastures and hayfields with short grass are the typical habitats for this species, it seems that they also utilize the extensive tidal flats when Edgartown and Tisbury Great Ponds are open to the ocean.
Massive growth of executive pay in nation’s capital
12 July 2012
A recent report by the Washington Post shows the massive growth of executive pay in the Washington, DC area as part of their attempts to skirt the regulatory measures passed by the Obama administration in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
In a related story, it was reported that corporate CEOs have managed to increase their pay by over 20 percent since 2010 by means of transferring their pay from direct salary compensation to indirect means such as stock options, which are tied to company performance, revenue, and profit gain. “Giving long-term awards is more reflective of the scope of decision-making,” Charlie Tharp, a representative of the Center for Executive Compensation, told the Post.
As a result, despite the “slowing” of direct executive compensation, overall median executive pay was able to climb 41 percent and 22 percent in the last two years, reaching a median pay level of $3.1 million in 2011.
EagleBank nearly quadrupled the pay package of chief executive Ronald D. Paul last year after repaying the Troubled Asset Relief Program [paid by taxpayers], which placed constraints on executive compensation: here.
Killer whale possibly killed by U.S. military explosion
Military tests off Washington killed at least one orca, scientist suspects
Mar 22, 2012 12:00 PM PT
Some U.S. scientists believe a killer whale that washed up off the coast of Washington last month might have been killed by a military explosion.
The three-year-old female orca was a member of L-pod, a group that lives in Canadian waters during the summer months.
The killer whale’s carcass washed ashore at Long Beach, Wash., Feb. 11.
A necropsy found the marine mammal died from highly unusual injuries.
“The entire body showed evidence of massive blunt trauma, some sort of pressure wave that was very blunt in nature not the pointed bow of a ship or anything,” said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbour, Wash., about 15 kilometres east of Victoria.
Balcomb suspects the animal was killed by an explosive device, one of 96 the U.S. Navy deployed in the area in 2011.
“I suspect she died in U.S. waters. And probably from an explosion,” Balcomb said. “We’re seeking information about what explosions at least the navy would be aware of.”
He said he’s worried that ongoing naval exercises could wipe out entire pods, including the fewer than 90 orcas that make up the endangered resident population in the southern end of Georgia Strait and in Juan de Fuca Strait, between Vancouver Island and Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
Seals also killed
Balcomb said 38 seals died from similar injuries last year, and he says a final body count from L-Pod won’t be known until it returns to the Juan de Fuca Strait in July.
“Chances are some other whales got killed too,” said Balcomb.
The scientist said he hopes an investigation by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service will get access to the Navy’s classified documents on its activities.
However, a spokesperson for the U.S. Navy denies it conducted any exercises using explosives in the area in February.
The Royal Canadian Navy told CBC News it did use sonar in the Strait of Juan de Fuca Feb. 6, but that no marine mammals were in the area at that time.
But some environmentalists are not satisfied.
“We’d like the navy to release the data on what they were doing,” said Jay Ritchlin, of the David Suzuki Foundation.
“We’d also, basically, just like them to understand and acknowledge that this is a critical habitat for these whales and should be designated as off limits for this kind of sonar training.”
Ireland: 14 March. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) have confirmed two records of a pair of killer whales within an eight day interval, close to Barry’s Head in Newfoundland, Co. Cork on 5th and 13th March 2012: here.
March 2012. WDCS understands that up to 615 dolphins (species not determined yet) have been found dead on 135 kilometres of beach north of San Jose, Peru. Tissue samples have been obtained and will be analysed to try to determine why some many dolphins have died: here.
Washington prosecutor wants to jail cartoonist for mocking police
Posted on 08.5.11
By David Edwards
A prosecutor in Renton, Washington wants to send an anonymous Internet cartoonist to jail for embarrassing the police department.
In documents obtained by KIRO 7, prosecutors asked the King County Superior Court to issue a warrant forcing Google to turn over the true identity of cartoonist known as MrFiddlesticks.
One video even seems to address the prosecutor’s obsession with the cartoonist.
“Is there any reason why an anonymous video, with no identifying information that ties it to the department or city is being taken more seriously than officers having sex on duty, arguing with outside agencies while in a drunken stupor off duty, sleeping while on duty, throwing someone off a bridge, and having inappropriate relationships with coworkers and committing adultery?” a cartoon officer asked.
“The reason is that internal dirt is internal,” a cartoon bureaucrat replied. “The department will crucify certain people and take care of others.”
City prosecutors are basing their case on a broad cyberstalking law that makes it a crime to “harass,… torment, or embarrass” a person with “any lewd, lascivious, indecent, or obscene words, images, or language.”
“The cyberstalking angle doesn’t pass the laugh test,” cyber-law expert Venkat Balasubramani told KIRO 7′s Chris Halsne. “It’s a serious stretch and I’d be surprised if somebody looked at it and realistically thought these acts actually fit the statute and we could make somebody criminally liable.”
“I think they were trying to get at the speaker and they looked around for a statute that shoehorned their conduct into and sent that to Google and said ‘turn over the information.’”
The City Attorney’s office and Renton police department did not respond to questions from Halsne.
What will all those xenophobes defending the Danish corporate media anti Muslim cartoons as the apex of free speech say now about this? Don’t hold your breath.
Journalist Kicked Out of ALEC Conference, Threatened With Arrest. Eric Carlson, The Center for Media and Democracy: “After filling out my registration form to receive press credentials, I was told by an alarmed ALEC intern to wait while she fetched her boss. While I did not think she had ever heard my name, the look on her face made me think that perhaps she had heard of our new project ALEC Exposed.org. A very stern looking gentleman – Ted Wagnon of Vox Global Communications – arrived and told me my application would be denied on the grounds that the Center for Media and Democracy was an ‘advocacy organization.’ I asked Wagnon for a written explanation, and he handed me ALEC’s Media Policy, which bears no mention of ‘advocacy organizations’”: here.
Birders are flocking to Skagit County, where a blue-footed booby was reportedly sighted — and photographed — in recent days.
It was the first sighting in Washington state since 1935 for a species native to the west coast of Mexico and the Galapagos Islands.
“The photos are pretty conclusive,” said Bill Tweit, fishery manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Anglers fishing between Anacortes and the San Juan Islands should keep an eye out for a goose-size seabird. … It’s an immature bird, so its feet are white rather than blue.”
Wild animals age, too: Researchers study senescence in blue-footed booby: here.
