Jobs, bats, turbines, peanut butter and stupidity
Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 30, 2016
It’s never too early to think about a seasonal job in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Positions are available in a number of fields including wildland firefighting, recreation wilderness, trails, timber and aquatics. Duty locations include district offices in Darrington, Sedro-Woolley, North Bend and Skykomish, as well as several remote guard stations and public service centers throughout the forest.
Applications for temporary positions for the 2017 field season must submitted Nov. 15-21 online at www.usajobs.gov. Information and hiring manager contact are posted on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest’s website at: www.fs.usda.gov/main/mbs/about-forest/jobs.
Bird kills at wind turbines studied: We know turbines kill birds and bats, and that companies are allowed a certain amount of unintended deaths; too many and they are fined. Generally, the number is based on area estimates of bird populations.
Now a Purdue study of DNA and stable isotopes in golden eagle carcasses at the Altamount Pass Wind Resource Area in Northern California finds that a significant portion of raptors that are killed come from hundreds of miles away.
Worldwide, such facilities have been responsible for the deaths of an estimated 140,000 to 328,000 birds and 500,000 to 1.6 million bats, raising questions about their effects on population sustainability, according to www.sciencedaily.com.
Researchers determined 75 percent of the 62 dead birds were from the local population. The other 25 percent likely migrated into the area.
Understanding population levels and how individuals interact with turbines is key to meeting a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target of no net loss to their populations.
Swift Night Out. More than 1,110 Vaux’s swifts dove into a chimney to roost during the Swift Night Out in Monroe Sept. 10, sponsored by the Pilchuck Audubon Society. Volunteers raised approximately $1,700 for research and conservation.
Peanut butter, really? Drones and peanut butter may bring a better future for the endangered black-footed ferret. Vaccine-laced peanut-butter flavored baits are dropped from a drone.When prairie dogs eat the snacks, they are vaccinated against the sylvatic plague, which can devastate a colony, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ferrets are also susceptible to the plague, although captured ferrets are vaccinated before they are released. Both species have little natural immunity to the non-native plague, and ferrets depend almost entirely on a prairie-dog diet, according to the USFWS.
The cost of stupidity. A Texas judge has ordered a 19-year-old who admitted shooting two of the last 450 endangered wild whooping cranes in North America, to turn over all of his firearms, lose his hunting license for five years in all states, and pay $25,850 in restitution. The money will be shared with Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the International Crane Foundation.
Out and about. Birdwatchers on the Centennial Trail (walking south from 84th Street/Getchell Hill Road), spotted Bewick’s wrens, kinglets and a swamp sparrow, and a white-throated sparrow near the dock on the east side of Lake Cassidy.
Northern harriers were seen at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River, and several pairs were working the marsh between Eide Road and the other side of the 532 bridge. Purple martins returned to Whidbey Island’s Lagoon Point for a third summer, including three banded birds.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964.
