'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

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'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by Zethra » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:06 am

Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds
Scientist thinks hundreds of gannets died before returning to nest in St. Mary's Bay

A bird researcher has found northern gannets returning to a large nesting colony south of St. John's are faring well despite concerns that a massive oil spill that began in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago would dramatically cut the area's population.

Northern gannets from six colonies in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec migrate to winter in the Gulf annually.

Bill Montevecchi, a Memorial University researcher who has been tracking the birds' journey to the Gulf of Mexico and back again, said Tuesday hundreds of the gannets were likely killed by oil that spilled after a rig explosion on April 20, 2010.

A year later at the Cape St. Mary's colony in eastern Newfoundland, Montevecchi said he believed there are signs that some of the thousands of birds that return to the province to lay just one egg each year have been damaged by the spill.

"We think we saw a few birds that had a few spots of oil on them over there." he said.

Despite some signs of oil, Montevecchi said he's optimistic about the future of the colony, but he would keep an eye on what happens there in the future.

It's still not clear what impact returning to the Gulf of Mexico year after year will have on these birds.

"I have a really good feeling. I have a real concern for what happened, and we should minimize those occurrences," Montevecchi said. "There might be some population effects."

Scientists who studied the Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska suggest the worst might not be over.

Wildlife ecologist Dan Esler, with the Centre for Wildlife Ecology in Delta, B.C., found that lingering residual oil from that spill continued to show up in harlequin ducks.

"Those affects had a sort of demographic trickle-down effect for another decade after that. So a full two decades after the oil was spilled, we hadn't seen a full population recovery," he said.

Esler said it could take years or decades to know the true environmental toll on the Gulf spill.
Source - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundl ... l-420.html
Some rather interesting pictures are also posted in the link to the article.

I find this quite depressing, but atleast there are some who are trying to do stuff about it. :3
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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by SpiritPelt » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:29 am

This is very sad, these birds live here, and yet their habitat has been almost ruined because of an oil spill. Iƒ there wasn't an oil spill, these birds would be perfectly not in-dangered, oil spills are terrible, they just ruin things like ecosystems, thanks for the information Zethra, its very interesting.

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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by Alpha Female » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:59 am

That is quite upsetting, though I'm happy people are trying to help. I'm hoping there won't be too much damage happening to the bird populations.
Thanks for sharing.^^
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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by wolfyattitude » Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:00 am

Aww, what a shame. I always help when there is a big oil spill and it effects animals. I donate to help them and stuff. This is still a huge shame though, but hopefully things will get better. Try not to think negative, think positive. They will get better, because I can't imagine how it can get worse. Thanks for the article, Zethra, it was a very big eye-opener.
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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by dustydawn » Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:01 am

That's a bit of sad news. :3 Yes; It makes me happy to see that people are trying to help out.
Hopefully the bird population doesn't drop a lot.

Thank you for posting this information, Zethra!
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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by Ffeion » Tue May 10, 2011 6:32 am

Poor birds.
I hate it when oil spills, it causes so much stress on animals and people in that area.
Its good to hear that people are trying to solve the problem.
^^ Thanks for posting this Zethra!
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Re: 'Gulf oil spill leaves traces on N.L. birds'

Post by Anthama » Sun May 15, 2011 2:24 pm

Some people... dont even like wildlife. But yah. Its affecting the birds there really bad.
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