Prairie Chicken Snippet #1

This is a subject bound to develop into a major controversy. Wind developers seek areas which they consider worthless land. Of course, they want to have a peak amount of wind available so they can generate every available amp watt and volt possible.

I want to support "clean" energy but I also have several gut feelings that Big Money- that never seems to really be very ethical nor really very environmental is now securely in control.

Near Ellesworth, Kansas is a huge wind farm located at least 100 miles away from anywhere. Why? Why do development companies pick these areas which are relatively pristine, and begin the process of ruining them?

These huge wind farms cover 30-60,000 acres. The average person sees them, feels good about them, but does not understand the full implications.

If windfarms are situated on native grasslands- those areas can no longer be burned readily. Prairies need fire to prevent encroachment of trees.

We are not certain of all the implications for prairie chickens and honestly- the current data does not show a clear cut negative. But these studies are only very short term. They do not show the long term trends, which could take 20-30 year to become clear.

However, in my mind the placing of the huge wind farm on the ridges of Sullivan county where the last remnant populations of Greater Prairie Chickens are still hanging on, is foolish and short sighted.

Taller towers could be used to catch the same winds, while being placed on lower ridges or even in the farmed bottomlands which are not so critical to the prairie chickens. The maps of Charles Schwartz's original manuscript are conclusive. The density was highest of all in the northern Missouri counties on the long ridgetops with poor soils. These areas were NOT completely tree free and other grasses like bromegrass, red-top (Agrostis) and timothy were common. All of these are introduced grasses, but prairie chickens and the insects they needed to raise young did fine in them.

In our agricultural communities, trends can spread very quickly. If one farmer makes a bunch of money because he planted soybeans, the next year, 20 farmers will be planting soybeans because they need the success too. It is really hard to make money in farming. Of course, with so many more acres planted in the same crop -the prices rarely reach the same levels as before.

The point is long-term versus short-term.

Long-term the soils that form the basis of all agriculture are fairly poor in Putnam, Sullivan and northern Linn counties. They are well suited for growing grasses and are not productive for row crop agriculture. These counties in the 1940's were the stronghold for a species once numbering in the millions-The Greater Prairie Chicken. As the ornithologist, Mark Robbins recently wrote to me… "is everyone going to just stand around while the species goes extinct?"

May 29, 2010-

All of us, yes, all of us, have a space inside where -what ever we were trained with as right and wrong - lives.

So two things are important in this. One is what were we trained with. The other is how much have we listened to this space?

Other people will debate the divinity or the environment vs genetic attributes of this space- but for today, I don't really care about them. Because in the state of Louisiana the largest Oil-related environmental disaster to ever occur is going on before our eyes.

Many years ago, Neil Young came up with the lines in one of his songs "Even Richard Nixon has God's soul". I'd bet even that applies to Bernard Madoff or Tony Hayward. Each HAVE a touch of conscience. I'd bet they were at least exposed to either one of the worlds major religions and thus have at least a basic understanding that there are right things to do and wrong things to do.

Now Republicans are seeking to shift away the blame from the Bush Administration. But they have LONG been the party that seeks to allow businesses to do anything they damn well please.

Dick Chaney held a series of secret meetings widely known to be with energy developers and oil executives in the White House beginning in the first week of the Bush Administration.

How they can fool so many so often is what scares me. Because at this moment, inside of us all is the feeling of despair about this disaster.

And that is why this blog is named Darkest before the Dawn- we are just not that smart a species. Long Run vs Short Run. We are controlled by interests and economics that value only the short run.

Right now how many oystermen in Louisiana are thinking unlimited oil development offshore in waters over a few thousand feet is a really smart thing? What about the shrimpers? Then, what other kind of fishermen are out there in the Gulf? All of them have lost a way to make a living. All of them are now faced with understanding the overriding importance of the environment.

Some how, some way we need to begin to shift to a longer term outlook which puts Our environmental health at the forefront - before short term gain.

Economy is important but taking care of the environment and Long term goals are actually more important.

I hope to be leaving for the Gulf soon to film this in person.

Upper Texas Gulf Coast

In the whole of Birding, migration is a time of importance and sheer enjoyment.

The importance is because birds are moving from the wintering grounds into areas of habitat where over 1000's of years each species has found a way to maintain populations. The enjoyment comes from our ability to find so many diverse species in a short period of time and often in a concentrated location.

High Island is a bump on an otherwise flat plain of coastal marsh and formerly prairie. There are photos that point this out in a marvelous way during a difficult time. After September 2008, when Hurricane Ike cleaned off the Bolivar Peninsula, High Island was photographed so beautifully.

The point of this is to show that from the air, which of course is what migrants see, High Island is the first big clump of trees appearing along the coast. Consequently, when conditions create a difficult night of migration, tired birds head straight for the first trees available.

In the early 1970's, my childhood friend, Peter, my house-mate Bob and I all piled into my Ford Galaxie 500 for an April trip to Texas. As I recall now our timing was slightly early to the upper coast and we continued on to great birds in the Rio Grande Valley.

In 1975, I returned with my wife Katie and we hit a wonderful fall out primarily consisting of Hooded, Swainson's, Black & White, Orange-crowned, and other migrants in smaller numbers. This again was an early fall out being near the 15th of the month.

1976 the Beaumont convention of the American Birding association. Fantastic birding in both Boy Scout woods as well as Smith Oaks. I think the one photo in the ABA of Ken Kaufmann and myself (both of us at that time with very long beards and hair) was taken in either 'the Cathedral' or in a part of Smith Oaks.

This year I raced back down to make sure the film 'The Big Year' would have actual fallout coverage. The rains and storms pretty much passed over with one day of semi-inclement weather. Fallouts were good but noting rivals the numbers found in the mid 1970's and then a spectacular fallout in April 1996.

April of 1996 was amazing. I had just purchased my Sony Digital Betacam in December of 1995 selling the fantastic BVW-400a to go with widescreen 16x9. So with some cash in my pocket the good old Ford Aerostar van and a new camera, Texas in April is golden.

But at High Island, I was able to film such a great number of birds. For a day or so, it truly felt like 20 years earlier. Huge numbers of American Redstart, Tennessee, Black-throated, Green, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided and Warblers mixed with early migrants like Hooded, Black & White Warblers, and smaller numbers of Yellow-throated and Swainson's Warblers. Blackpoll and Blackburnian Warblers were fairly easily found too. Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeak and Yellow-breasted Chat competed with Gray Catbirds, Swainson Thrushes and other later migrants Scarlet and Summer Tanagers. This footage is now on line at the Macaulay Library - part of Cornell's famous Lab of Ornithology.

So this year, 2010 I had hopes of repeating that golden year. I noted the movement of what looked like a major frontal system pushing in. Leaving Kansas I was pummeled by winds late on the afternoon. I made it only to Oklahoma City before the drive and accumulation of other long days from spring filming took its toll. The next morning found me swamped in Texas traffic needing to be in the woods where I finally arrived. The birds had come in and many reported good numbers and variety. I filmed little dealing with the 1100 miles and a tired body and brain. All the gear and supplies were here now to be ready for the next days.

Unlike 1996 where huge numbers of birds were everywhere, instead, I found myself working a few locations and getting lucky in other ways. There is a Mulberry tree after one enters the gate and before you even get to the Houston Audubon Society's temporary office area. The morning light hits it quite early, the berries were full and ripe so many common and hardy migrants were actively feeding. I got quite excited to see the male Painted Buntings feeding alongside, Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Over the next couple of days, my goal became to film everything that I could in this one tree as the "job" called for birds dripping from trees.

Most migrants passed over High Island moving inland- which is a good thing- But I still filmed species in the one tree.

Late on the day before the afternoon I was planning to leave I wandered over to the old barn. I had been told that all the spaces to photograph had been reserved so I had avoided going over anyway. But, I noticed that some non-photographers were going in and out. I decided to take a peek too. All of the photographers had left- it was about 4 in the afternoon. So I had time to see what might come in.

I slid into the largest window I could find and settled in. Before the gentle afternoon and evening light faded into a darkness deeper than my camera and f/1.7 lens can handle I filmed no fewer than 8 Canada Warblers, 3 Warbling Vireos, a dozen Swainson's, 3 Wood and a Grey-cheeked Thrush, Blue-headed and single Ovenbirds, Black and White Warbler, Hooded Warbler, 2 Kentuckys, and ...

Nashville Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting.

Quietly, I filmed the best Great Crested Flycatcher ever, the best shots of Painted Buntings and so many other clips of bathing warblers it was astonishing. I never made it to Sabine Woods this spring.

I think experiencing the chaos and excitement of migration is one of the ultimate highs of Life.

But these amazing migration points offer so much more than just another place to take a lot of photographs of a lot of birds in a short period of time, or in my case a lot of footage. They offer absorption in a movement of life, a great awakening, the opportunity to feel the humility of understanding things we humans have no possibility to do.

There is nothing like High Island, Texas for birding during migration. Well, Magee Marsh, Ohio... Point Pelee and others feature fabulous numbers of birds too but an entirely different mix. So I will say it again- There is nothing like High Island, Texas for birding during migration.

May 2010

How can it be May? Where did April vanish to?

From the blinds and the mini-helicopter to the quick trip to the upper Texas coast, the whole month of April was a blur.

One of the clearest/sharpest parts of that month was spent in blinds filming Greater Prairie Chickens in Kansas. After initially starting out on what was supposed to be the largest booming ground of these birds near Tecumseh, Nebraska, I shifted down to Kansas for logistical reasons after it became clear that there were just as many birds in Kansas and that the Nebraska booming grounds- for whatever reason- were all significantly smaller than either of the previous two years.

On a booming ground north of Emporia, I found a great location with good access and a nice number of males- 24. This seemed to be a good mix of location, nice size (in terms of number of males), only a few hours commute and good back drops. When on one day of shooting- 11 females arrived to look over the "boys", I was ecstatic. It became easy to make a commitment to a specific area.

In a marathon, one's mind needs focus to provide clarity, to monitor muscle and other bodily functions. In so much of the rest of our 'normal' lives this is done on an unconscious level. Becoming a marathoner, during the '90's changed some of this in my life, permanently.

Now my marathons are longer in nature. This film began in 2008 and I did not receive any funding until August of 2009. I made a commitment to this project by taking out a $30,000 loan thinking I would simply repay it immediately when the backer provided the first check. But then the recession kicked in. The first backer was unable to do anything at the time we had both talked about.

Free fall. I have never jumped out of a plane.

The courage and commitment to running those marathons has proved very useful to me in business. I've only made so much money because my heart out races my brain. But the steady pace comes through in the long run.

By mid-April, shooting the aerial footage of the extensive fires from the mini-Helicopter operated so well by Tabb Firchau was complete. Then the High speed camera arrived. This proved to be a major headache and an expensive lesson. I ended up with about 2 shooting days and fortunately the footage looked pretty good. Earlier a single worn-down battery (provided by the rental company) inside a proprietary box that controls important aspects of this beast allowed these horrible grainy bars across the image.

Finally, with only a few days left, after many emails and several phone calls, the problem was solved. Rain and poor weather delayed - I finally got the sunny conditions needed - perseverance furthers as the I-Ching advises. Steady pace- as I have learned.

Suddenly- in touch with post production supervisors from Fox Studios it rapidly became apparent that their advice was incompetent. The shooting for a new feature film the Big Year was due to begin in about 10 days but the contracted crew was not going to show up to a major location until well after the peak of migration had passed overhead.

I was somewhat dumbfounded by this and literally realized that if I hit the coast in time I could rescue the scene because the hired crew- supposed experts- were going to totally blow it.

Before I knew it, I was on my way to High Island, Texas... and that is where the next entry will begin.

30,000 b.i.f.

30,000 is a pretty big number. If I lived modestly at home and traveled little I could get by with that as a salary in dollars. It is probably a lot of pickles, and although I am certain is a LOT of popcorn kernals, I bet it would fit in one or two 50 pound bags-like the ones for sunflowers.

Today, was a lovely day in Nebraska. I am in the south-eastern corner not far from Missouri, Iowa or Kansas. In spite of a short quick trip to Kearney yesterday, tomorrow will be my third day here. I am over budget on the equipment so I am saving by staying in a modest but nice smaller motel.

Day began with a colorful sunrise, but the wispy clouds gave way to a hazy greyness. The birds I was filming did not get the orange glow washing over them. They danced and fought a bit too far away at 120 yards. I could not move but learned about this booming ground.

The small town square is centered on a stunning Courthouse. I arrived about 5 pm and used the warm light to create a feel which I will continue to use as I shoot other courthouses for this film.

Dashing west to get the sunset, I found some abandoned barns and one old corral. These may serve for some night time scenes which I have planned.

The temperature reached at least 52 degrees and while I was filming melting snow... trust me- it will be more interesting than it sounds, I heard in the distance a familiar call. The sky was a deep blue above the yellow and brown prairie grasses. Far overhead, was the first line of several. Honking in some of the most perfect V's I've ever seen, were about 300 Snow Geese. For about 20 minutes (all of which I churned in torment as my camera was locked in a timelapse which I could not change and the second camera was - yes... in the charming motel where I had left it after a late breakfast...) skein after skein of white lines with the scattered blue morph passed over at nearly 1500 feet.

Now I am a counter. I love to know how many birds are in a flock. Over many years I have honed this skill. Lock in a group, rapidly assess the number, then working in "chunks" of roughly equal amounts one keeps a count. But today, it was so beautiful. The deep blue was perfect. The flying geese were in lines and V's and following each was another. Then the waves became wider and more closely packed. The V's merged and separated, but family groups of 2-5 seemed to always stay together. WNW - direct and determined they flew. Next stop- Rainwater Basin. Looking west I realized there were a thousand birds passing over in less than a minute.

While this was not the largest single group of Snow and Ross' Geese I have witnessed , it none the less had a label under it...

MIGRATION

Oh and a sub-heading of 30,000.

Awards

Getting awards make me feel uneasy. Like I'm supposed to feel superior or something. Perhaps it is part of my era, having grown up in the 1950-60's. Perhaps it is having grown up around so many simple people in farming communities from Missouri. While I am thrilled to be recognized for my work, crowing about it, or even too much 'marketing' makes me want to find a way back to my quiet home.

What ever that thing is, I can do the public speaking part.

This week I was deeply honored to have my show on the Jocotoco Antpitta receive the distinction of having been chosen as an official selection of the Beverly Hills, California "Going Green Film Festival". I think this hit me because after all isn't Los Angeles the center of the motion picture industry? Hollywood, movie stars and all of that. I mean I am from St. Louis and film birds. I am self taught. I live in rural Montana. My neighbors are Richardson's Ground Squirrels and Red-necked Grebes.

The idea for this show came from my friend Andrew who had spent quite a bit of time looking for this bird. He saw it run from the deep, dense and wet cloud forest cover to a compost pile grab and worm and disappear. He said, " I think you can get it."

So I hired Don, spent way too much money getting ready, found an overpriced guide, and we flew to Quito. I "hedged" my bet by staying for 2 months so I could film in a bunch of great places, then adding an extension to Buenos Aires and planning another month in Argentina. Don would stay for about a month and we would film near Quito, Mindo, Cuenca, and Zamora. These are locations that appear from a map to be close by and easy to access.

We made friends with everyone, and I fell in love with Ecuador and its people. The food was fabulous and I rarely have felt more healthy. We found amazing reserves, several run by the Jocotoco Foundation, but- We did not see the Jocotoco Antpitta on our first visit to Tapichalaca.

This is like making a movie and the star doesn't show up. Suddenly, you are in a panic because there is no script... and you are speaking in Spanish while trying to rapidly figure out how to salvage your vanishing investment.

I had forgotten how hard it is to work in foreign countries.

Now I am flying to LAX. Probably no one I know will be there. And to top it off... I get to schmooze with people so I can find the funds to make a conservation-oriented TV series about the rare birds of the world.

Please- send me back to a foreign country, so I can work. My partners at Cortina can do the awards, I'll just film the birds.

Commuting part 1

My commute yesterday was not tied up in traffic. In November, I left northern Virginia after working most of the day, to drive to Cape May. I had already calculated that I would not be able to make it in time to catch the Ferry from Lewes to the Cape. So that left me one option: drive there.

This is part of my routine. My body aches from this option.

I seem to have this ability (or perversion) of driving hundreds of miles in a day to make an appointment the following morning. I neatly stack cases of gear, clothing tents and cameras into confined trunks of small hybrids just so I can get 40+ mpg. This, I tell myself, is helping to save the earth.

From Mapquest, I followed the shortest route to the interstate belt system. Living in rural Montana does Not prepare one for the concept that at 6:15 pm there are still 1,000's of people still doing this same exact thing in an urban area the size of Washington D.C. So about 2 miles from the entrance I encountered the line.

How was I to know that line- realistically- lasted for nearly 20 miles? 2 miles to get on the Beltway, and 18 miles to the exit going north into Maryland.

The quest for peace, wildlife and some level of solitude does not always simultaneously prepare one to adapt to this type of existence. Stop and start driving when conducted by a "country-friendly person" is not "urban friendly". I was victimized with because I routinely feel that it is OK to allow other people (who perhaps are taking advantage of me) cut in. People who are behind me seem to get impatient. I noted that one more than one occasion they felt the need to cut around me and wave with a certain finger upraised. Hey, I'm courteous even to them. All I wanted was a safe overpass to film this ordeal from. The thought of timelapse images of jammed highways, somehow is comforting. As if the digital capturing of this daily insanity some how makes it all better.

Eventually, the pressure of excited people wanting to join this happy throng ebbs, and space occurs between vehicles. Suddenly, movement begins.

I should mention before we move on that this concept of- listen people- of allowing space Between Vehicles, is part of creating movement. Urban people have a great deal of difficulty grasping this concept.

At the slightest sign of an opening, one of them immediately wants to fill that opening. If you think about it: this is Nature abhorring a vacuum in Hyperdrive. Behind every wheel was another Apolo Ono looking to slip into that tiny gap before speeding past into first place. The Need for Speed.

Two days ago, I began my other commute. It is a totally different: non-speed, non-pressure, non-sprint type of commute. The Marathon as a form of commuting.