AUDUBON SOCIETY: Eagles are rebounding from the brink of extinction, but many other birds continue to experience serious declines. Audubon data shows even bird species we consider common today are losing ground, falling as much as 68 percent in the past 40 years. How would you use laws like the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Clean Water Act to reverse this trend?

(The entire set of questions and answers is available in the September-October issue of Audubon magazine, pp. 58-61).

Obama’s answer at least indicates support for current wildlife-protection laws and acknowledges the Bizarro World of Bush-administration science policy. Less genericness would have been nice, though, like maybe actually using the word “bird.”

McCain’s answer scares the shit out of me. Beneath the progressive-sounding veneer is a contempt for federal regulation in general, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in particular. The Act has been a cornerstone of our country’s efforts to protect native bird species from disappearing forever since 1918. Signed by the U.S. and Canada (actually, at the time, Great Britain signed for Canada), it’s what makes it illegal for you to go out and shoot, capture, or molest any bird you like. It currently protects about 800 species from unregulated killing and entrapment, and forbids tampering with their nesting sites. I don’t want the spirit of this law maintained, I want this law. Further, a lack of “cooperation” with the private sector is hardly the current administration’s problem. Regulators are supposed to enforce the law; I expect them to do their jobs.

The bit about wetlands is encouraging; it may be a sop to the hunting enthusiasts among his base. I agree with hunters that wetlands must be managed properly and conserved to protect waterfowl populations (I respect their right to their hunt for food, although I find the glee with which some waterfowl hunters approach killing repulsive), and it’s good that private organizations of them are committed to that cause. But that management must be done under competent, objective, rational federal control, something that his party’s behavior has put in jeopardy.

Operant conditioning, by contrast, occurs when the animal operates on something in its environment with expectation of producing good consequences or avoiding bad ones. Training a dog or a sea lion to jump through a hoop by providing positive reinforcement, such as a treat, after a successful performance is an example. For the record, though, birds are capable of this type of training. See this parrot riding a scooter or this pigeon in one of B.F. Skinner’s behavioral experiments.

In particular, the remaining Honkers (my name for the feral domesticated Greylag family) have been driven off, and I haven’t seen them in several weeks. So in memory of better times, here’s how it used to be:



That’s how Whitey and the Honkers used to react when they saw me, especially when I had my backpack with me, which they associated with getting fed. On this occasion (the video was taken on 28 March of this year) I hadn’t displayed any food and in fact didn’t even have any with me; the reaction is just a consequence of operant classical, probably, (see here) conditioning and the fact that these birds are brave and aggressive. Note also what appears to be a bit of decision-making going on: after taking only a few seconds of begging to figure out that I’m not going to be giving them anything, they walk over by the bench where I’d been sitting, where the ground typically ends up littered with seeds and crumbs on the occasions when I do have something with me, and then, after finding nothing good there either, they saunter away and begin grazing on their own. The Honkers were usually clever and comical like that, and they were always there (being fat domestics, they weren’t inclined to get airborne much, though I’ve seen them do it). I miss them.

According to the press release about the bridge project, construction is supposed to be complete by the end of the year; I hope they find their way back, and that the area in general goes back to being as birdy as it used to be.

Valentino is a domestic breed, so I don’t think they’re running… afoul… of any wildlife protection laws by keeping her. (The wild Swan Goose is the other species, besides the European Greylags—the ancestors of local celebrities Whitey and the Honkers—from which all domestic geese are descended.) Wouldn’t it be awesome to take your loyal, snow-white pet goose down to a beautiful mountain lake, watch him frolic, and bask in the beauty of nature? Or just to be walking around your house, and pass your goose on the staircase or wherever, and say, “OHHAI MISTUR HONKS!!”

That would be awesome.

Squirrel Fight