Not a VA story but perhaps some of *our* birds were involved.
Laura Catterton
Manassas, Virginia
----- Original Message -----
From: Charlie Lyon
To: LABIRD-L AT lnxpd06.ocs.LSU.EDU
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 6:50 PM
Subject: [LABIRD-L] Purple Martin HARASSMENT in Shreveport,LA
LA-birders,
Over the last several years a post-breeding nocturnal Purple Martin roost
has been present on the grounds of
Christus Schumpert Medical Center in Shreveport, LA. Over the years I have
made periodic posts to LABIRD in regards
to this impressive massive gathering of martins. Last year I did an
interview with Mary Jimenez in regards to this and
she wrote an article that appeared in the Shreveport Times. We included the
Schumpert administration in the article
and Sally Croom, the media relations director was gracious enough to meet
with Mary, and some her comments were
included in the article. Prior to doing the article, I met with Christus
Schumpert's top two administrators, so as to
educate them on some of the biology and life cycle dynamics of this
federally protected migratory bird species. Please
refer to the article which can be found at:
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/html/C55BE74C-B73B-44CE-8309-EB5B06EE1D58.sht
ml
Sally Croom states in the article, "We wanted to do what was environmentally
right for the birds". At that time
Christus Schumpert invested in a service to clean up the morning bird
droppings and decided to tolerate the
six week visit made by the Purple Martins that were staging for their
migration to Amazonian Brazil. Times change and
so do attitudes. Misinformation can correlate with a change in attitude as
well.
Before I preceed further please now refer to an article that appeared in the
Shreveport Times today 8-2-03. This article
can be found at:
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/html/7996AE2A-5C90-4323-A4B4-C7A14B291EFA.sht
ml
You'll note the title of the first article is "Hospital Welcomes Summer
Visitors". The title of today's article is "Texas
company hired to scare away starlings in Highland" Read the article and then
allow me to translate the misinformation.
The Purple Martins have now transformed into "starlings". Highland is the
neighborhood where Christus Schumpert is
located, and Christus Schumpert is the location of the transient Purple
Martin roost that appears to be no longer
welcomed. There are perhaps a hundred or so European Starlings as well as
House Sparrows present that are permanent
residents, but rest of the approximate 125,000 to 150,000 birds present are
PURPLE MARTINS.
Christus Schumpert now has apparantly decided that they need to harass these
roosting martins in an attempt to force them
to leave the hospital grounds. These birds started to form the roost in late
June, and numbers built to approximately
150,000 last week, but now they are about to begin their migration. This is
the worst time I can imagine to start harassing these
birds. This is a critical point in which they are building fat stores so as
to have the energy capabilities to embark upon a
dangerous migration. One third or more martins die in the migration process,
and if they are stressed now prior to their
migration, they will certainly sustain a greater mortality rate as they try
to migrate. The majority of these birds will
depart within the next 10 days, and a few hundred straglers may persist
until the end of August. Last year the bulk
of the flock departed on August 7th. They left without human harassment, and
on the basis of their own biological urges.
I did an emergency surgical case at Christus Schumpert last night, and I was
shocked by what I saw as I drove into the
physicians emergency parking lot. A crew from Avian Flyaway Inc. out of
somewhere in Texas was in the process of not
only harassing but injuring Purple Martins that certainly will die of their
injuries. These people were using air cannons,
fireworks, spot lights, and air horns so as to harass the birds. One man was
using a cane pole so as to beat trees, forcing
martins to fly off their roost. One bystander and his wife picked up five
injured PURPLE MARTINS (these were not starlings,
and all can be assured I know the difference), and another nurse almost in
tears picked up another injured PURPLE MARTIN.
When I left the hospital through the emergency entrance after finishing
surgery around 11pm, I noted two dying PURPLE MARTINS
in the ER entrance area. I've got video evidence of a good bit of this.
I've contacted the Christus Schumpert Administrator on call today, as well
as several city officials, and I hope that this
activity will cease. The Purple Martins are about to depart, so why harass
them now? Cut or trim the trees before the martins
arrive next year, and they will hopefully find another roost site that will
be safe and free of harassing humans. Anyone
interested in Purple Martin conservation, please spread this post around. I
certainly will do the best I can to disseminate an
accurate account of what is happening here. I'll get the Purple Martin
Society as well as the Purple Martin Conservation Association
involved in this. Were any federal laws violated??
Charlie Lyon
Shreveport, LA (A place I wish was safe for Purple Martins)
************
Contact the following to voice your opinion:
Christus Schumpert Medical Center:
http://www.christusschumpert.org/contact_main.htm has a direct contact link. ;
Avian Flyaway Inc. (Bird Relocation Systems) can be reached here:
http://www.avianflyawayinc.com/contact.htm ;
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