Gulf oil disaster spells calamity for Canadian migratory birds

By Bradley Bouzane, Canwest News Service July 5, 2010 OTTAWA — Tens of thousands of Canadian migratory birds are threatened by the environmental crisis caused by a spreading slick of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, says a Canadian bird expert. While news reports continue to show images of oil-soaked birds around the Southern U.S. where hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil is spilling unchecked from BP’s deepwater well for the past 2 1/2 months, they’re not the only ones affected. Ted Cheskey, manager of bird conservation with Nature Canada, said dozens of bird species use the Gulf coastal region for feeding and other purposes on their way from Canada to Central and South America, in addition to those who spend longer stretches in the affected areas. “It’s extremely dangerous,” Cheskey said Monday. “There’s dozens of species that use the various habitats along the Gulf that could be affected by this oil spill. “It’s depressing to watch this thing unfold week after week and feel totally helpless.” Cheskey said between 40 and 60 species — ranging from waterfowl and diving water birds to shore birds — will likely be affected, as well as predatory birds, such as ospreys and bald eagles, that may eat contaminated birds. During bird counts last December, he said, one-day tallies of various bird species around Pensacola, Fla., indicated population numbers in the hundreds for many species that breed in Canada — which means there’s likely thousands in the area. The sampling gauges the population within a 25-kilometre radius. “This spill is clearly unprecedented in terms of its scale,” Cheskey said. “There have been other spills in the Gulf . . . and they all have an impact, but they’ve been contained much faster and they’ve been smaller. This one has the potential of affecting the coastline of Cuba and much of the Gulf coastline. “There are thousands of shore birds (from Canada) that will be walking along the beach and getting oiled. It sounds like it’s pretty much impossible to avoid that, so we’re talking about a huge disaster for sure.” Some of the at-risk species include the Canada goose, common loon, American white pelican and northern gannet. …