Oil Spill Answers from Bird Conservation Expert on the Ground
Melanie Driscoll. Photo: Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
A week after oil began pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, Melanie Driscoll raced to Venice, Louisiana, to lend her expertise. I first spoke to Driscoll, Audubon’s director of bird conservation for the Louisiana program, on May 1. Now, seven weeks after the disaster began, Driscoll reflects on the challenges of rescuing birds and coordinating an army of volunteers, and the unfortunate negative impacts some efforts to fight the spill are having on birds.
 Volunteers Elizabeth Gibert (left) and Lexie Montgomery meet with Melanie Driscoll (far right) to discuss mobilizing volunteers. Photo: Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine |
More than 13,000 people signed up to volunteer with Audubon. Have you contacted them?
We’ve mostly reached out locally because there’s no housing, no food setup. Folks have been willing to do kind of crazy things. We’ll say, we need you to drive an hour from your home to pick up a bird that was dropped off in a strange place, then drive four hours up the delta and back down another loop to the wildlife rescue center to deliver it, and then drive home. That’ll be 10 hours of driving and $40 worth of gas. A lot of the volunteer work is not glamorous, and a lot of it’s not direct. It may be chopping up sardines in a blender for a rescued bird. These actions are helping just as much as washing a bird.
What challenges do bird rescuers face?
I think still the areas where the birds are most impacted right now are hard to access. Often they’re in colonies, there are still difficult decisions about can you get in to get them, and are you in time by the time you’ve gone out in boats, transported them to shore. A lot of birds with light oiling are adults that can fly. And if they get reported and rescue teams go out, they may not even find the bird because it’s flown off. A little oil on their bellies and not a lot of other damage yet.
What do the beaches and marshes look like? Are they covered in oil?
It’s so hard to tell what’s going on even from here. Sometimes you’ll hear about oil on a beach and go down and not see it. Yesterday I went down to a beach that did have oil on it, little, thumbnail-size blobs. Not astounding, not terribly scary. Just sort of insidious and quiet. And yet, the other day I heard of three-inch diameter tar balls washing up in a place where it wasn’t expected, further west, where we just didn’t think it was coming in yet. If I go out to a site I don’t necessarily see oil, even if it was there the day before, if they’re cleaning things up quickly.
But it has started to wash up in thick blobs into marshes. I talked to fishermen on a dock yesterday and they said, we saw it. It’s in the marsh grass, it’s in the reeds. It’s there, it’s coming, it’s moving west. And it just seems very hit or miss. Some days tarballs toll up onto a beach, and then I guess wind and currents change and the next day that beach may be reasonably clean. But over time it’s coming more and more. It’s hitting more sites every day.
How are the recovery efforts affecting birds?
Because so many people are out looking, birds injured in the course of life that would normally recover on their own or die are being detected and rescued. Birds are also being killed and injured because of the protective efforts. So many more people are driving around, hitting birds on the road. We found a least
 Melanie Driscoll examines a dead least bittern. Photo: Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine |
bittern on the side of the road yesterday in Venice that had been hit by a car. A beautiful, beautiful bird. And it wasn’t direct mortality from oil, almost certainly, the bird was not in an oiled area, it was lying on the side of the road. We were on that road doing an interview with NPR, and car after car after truck after truck, vehicles just flew by, zooming in and out of the area that people were going to the docks to launch boats to go look for birds or lay booms. It’s an area where people go in and out of marinas and refineries. But I’ve been there on and off and I’ve never seen much traffic on that road, and well over a hundred vehicles went by during our brief interview.
Dump trucks are driving on bird habitat, dumping sand into breaches on islands to prevent oil from going into the marshes. The National Guard is dumping sand bags from helicopters to shore up islands. We’ve heard of Wilson’s plover chicks separated from adults by a boat with boom. There’s so much disturbance it’s hard to say what is protection and what is harm.
That human instinct to rush in to rescue can put more pressure on areas and birds and well-intentioned efforts can cause harm, so we’re trying to help direct volunteers so that their impact is beneficial.
keeping birds away
Is there anything that can be done to keep birds away from heavily oiled areas? The pictures circulating on the web and on tv this evening of heavily oiled pelicans are absolutely heartbreaking. And I can't help but wonder, is there anything we can do to try at least to get them out of there before the oil hits, or before it devastates a whole flock? They do it at airports. I'm sure it's not easy. But I couldn't go to bed tonight without posting this comment and hoping for answers. Thanks!
I have been asking the same
I have been asking the same question, after all some of the birds are migratory and have navigation instincts, sea birds like pelicans that go out to sea to hunt have biological homing device. Even if the birds are released elsewhere they will end up in oil again. Oil is in the loop current and will go up the Atlantic Coast eventually, albeit, scientists claim the oil will dissipate to sheen. According to my computer model of the well expelling 20,000 barrels a day until August a sheen on the Atlantic is optimistic. These birds must be taken to zoos or rehabilitation sites sanctioned by the USFW immediately.
I WANT TO HELP!
I live in Ct but can come for a week to help.
Please,does anyone know of a low key,grass roots clean up effort that won't be hindered by Govt interference?
I am so heartbroken.
I also was curious if there was a way to scare off the birds.
What have we done?
Janis a. Email me @ FUNNRON@AOL.COM
Volunteer
I am also from CT and looking to fly down and help. Have had no success in reaching someone yet. Any info would be nice. Thank you!
BP = bastardo petro
i saw an oiled bird on Cnn last nite and it tore at the fibers of my heart.
i'm a huge agape ornis /aves fan; and to see this disaster ufold is heartwrenching.
i'm 35, in CA, and want to help. i can come down and help in any way i can.
michael
I want to help
Hi, I called this number call +1 866 448 5816 from the BP website. They emailed me the information on different websites you can register with.
If you would like, Janis I can foward you the email they sent me?
My heart breaks also everytime i see helpless bird full of oil.
Michele
Response from Greg Butcher, Audubon's bird conservation director
I asked Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society, to respond to your questions about trying to keep birds away from the oil. Here's what he had to say:
The oil is very widespread. The birds are committed to using their traditional areas. While they are healthy, they are extremely difficult to catch. If they were caught and moved, the adults would fly right back. If they were harassed during the breeding season to try to get them to move, they would come right back because they are attached to their eggs and young. Because the oil is so widespread, the birds would have to move much farther than they would from an airport.
Prevention is key with oil. Once it is spilled there is little we can do. Once the leak has stopped and the clean-up has progressed, we can think about restoring the lost bird populations.
Greg Butcher
Thank you Alisa and Greg,
Thank you Alisa and Greg, for following up. I really appreciate your taking the time to answer my question. It's just heartbreaking to think that the oil is coming and not much can be done to keep the birds away from it (or it away from the birds). Thank you for all you are doing. I have signed up as a volunteer and spent one day down in Venice. I'm untrained, so I understand there isn't much I can do at this stage. I'll be down in Cocodrie next weekend. Wish I could do more!
Brown Pelican Babies
I live in Ohio and due to finances, I can't go down there to help. I feed a variety of birds and animals in my backyard with birdseed o my heart goes out to you. We have animal rescue farms here in Ohio. Not including the empty stores in the Cleveland and suburbs. Rescue/shelter space is possible up here.
From what I read on your post, rescue is difficult. The healthy birds can fly away, and when they are afflicted it is way too late.
Are you going to post any statistics about how many pelicans and their young that you are saving? I understand that the brown pelican was removed from the endangered list last year. Can you net the parents and their young in some cases? Can you provide food and water in dishes for them?
It is obvious they can not go back to their environment. Where will these birds or animals go in the long term after they are rescued. What are the plans?
How can we donate to this cause? Thanks.
supply donations
A friend sent me a list of supplies that concerned parties can donate to assist in the preservation of the Gulf Coast Bird/Wildlife population.
There was no address in the posting.
Where can I send supplies such as: clean toothbrushes, towels, sheets, storage containers, Dawn dishwashing detergent (unopened) and Pepto Bismol (unopened).
I have a box ready to ship, I just need an address.
Thank You,
Jimmy Jay
Los Angeles, CA
Would like to help clean up!
I am also interested in a grass roots clean effort.I am untrained,but would like to help in any way I can.The pictures of the oil soaked pelicans just got to me.Any information/websites,would be greatly appreciated.Thank you.
Susan Long
go from
go from here:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/page/2931/46359/
Oil Spill suggestion
Hello,
I've been thinking about the oil spill alot lately, I don't live near the shore but everything is affecting me quite abit. I am an animal lover and hearing about these dolphins and birds that have died and all the animals in danger i had a thought. What if someone installed a small amount of sonar radar near the oil spill so that dolphins and whales would stay away and swim into to safe waters. Dolphins and whales will beach themselves to get away from sonar radar which can kill them. If sonar is near the oil the mammals will try to escape the sound and swim away instead of endangering themselves. And maybe the fish will swim away too and that would lead the sea birds away from the oil to chase the fish. It's just a thought.
i don`t know if this would
i don`t know if this would work but it sounds like an idea that makes sense. maybe you should probably spread it further than this forum. i don`t know if here it`ll be heard by the people who can do something about it. why don`t you write an e-mail to audubon directly, if you didn`t already.
I would love to help!
I can offer about three weeks of volunteer work to come and help with clean up. I'm not trained, but I learn quickly, and I'm happy to camp if there's not living space provided. Please feel free to send an email to me with any helpful information for joining a team. Thank you
Can the birds learn to avoid
Can the birds learn to avoid the oil? If you release a pelican that has been washed and generally had a near-death experience, will he move on his own?
how to help
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/bp-pays-oiled-bird-cleaning
After birds are caught,
After birds are caught, cleaned and rehabbed, why would we release them if we know they will go right back to where they were found? Seems like a futile effort if they remain in danger to be injured all over again. It is heart wrenching.
help
I see so many people from New England myself included who would come down to help!! But see no response to the offer.
Want to help
This is so heartbreaking. I have been on the web all morning trying to find out how to help. I live in Seatte but have a little place in Dunedin Fl. I don't think the oil has reached the area yet but there is a Osprey Habitat there and I want to go help when the time comes. This is just so sad...
Does anyone know how I can get haz mat or wild bird rehabilitation training in my area? How could we have let this happen.
I want to help
I too saw the cnn coverage, my daughter and I cried our eyes out . We want to personally come and wash birds we want to help them so badly. Are there any makeshift camps going on for this effort.
Julie and Cassidy
Migratory Birds
Is there any way to divert birds that will migrate to the Gulf next winter?
no response
I recently signed up to volunteer on the Audubon website. Are you still looking for volunteers? I have not yet been contacted. Can I expect to be contacted?
volunteer to clean birds
We live in the Galveston area, lucky not to have oil, so would like to help with the bird rescue and cleaning. Please let us know where to go and what to do. Thank you
hair booms
I have been told that booms made of hair and animal fur are not as effective in soaking up oil as once thought. There is a nationwide call for hair salons to send in their clippings. Can someone give an accurate answer to this question?
Thanks!
I just caught wind of this
I just caught wind of this you published as refered by 640-553 .Really it's a good stuff for those who are looking for Volunteer Abroad Programs,(ref# HP0-S27)I would like to tweet on it and keep my eye behind at every moment you blogging.
Phoone# 350-018642-524