[texbirds] Re: Call for Bolivar protection/please sign petition..
- From: Winnie <wbburkett@xxxxxxx>
- To: MBB22222@xxxxxxx, texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 05:39:57 -0400 (EDT)
Mark,
The closing of Rollover is quite controversial unfortunately the information
you have gotten about the closing of the pass is not quite accurate.
First there is "Large amounts of development and "improvements" have been held
up because
Gilcrest and the owners are fighting." I doubt that any development is being
held up because of the fight over Rollover. This affects very little of the
peninsula.
"Once they fill it in, the resting/feeding flats at rollover will be gone."
No the flats will still be there, where would they go.
"Think about how filling it in will change the salinity of that part of the
bay and intercoastal canal." Salinity will change in Rollover Bay but will not
change much past the Intracoastal Waterway. There have been some pretty
fascinating studies done on Galveston Bay salinity and although it looks like a
lot of water goes in and out the pass compared to what goes in and out of
Bolivar Roads it is very inconsequential and has no affect on the salinity of
the bay as a whole.
"Guess what's directly across the bay from Rollover ? Anahuac NWR!" Closing
the pass will not affect Anahuac NWR.
"I wonder what will happen to the rookery at Smith Oaks ? (When the salinity
changes in that part of the canal and the birds have to fly farther to find
food.)" The birds that nest in the Rookery mostly feed in the marshes around
High Island. Most of the birds that feed around Rollover nest on the islands in
Rollover Bay.
"I wonder how much of the beach and bay access will become "private" ?" Beach
access was made public by the Open Beaches Act which is being contested by a
couple of law suits but closing Rollover will not affect it. Bay access is
already mostly private and closing Rollover will not affect that.
I will not address the comments about insurance and FEMA.
Rollover is a man made pass, unfortunately a lot of sediment comes in the
pass, it has filled Rollover Bay and is also deposited in the ICWW. Dredging
the Rollover section of the ICWW costs more then $1 million a year. Could the
sediment problem be solved some other way? Probably. As I said at the beginning
it is a controversial issue that should be evaluated on facts.
The best way to protect Least Terns on the Bolivar Peninsula would be to close
the beaches to vehicular traffic. Unfortunately that will not happen anytime
soon.
Winnie Burkett
Friendswood & the Bolivar Peninsula
-----Original Message-----
From: MBB22222 <MBB22222@xxxxxxx>
To: texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Apr 5, 2013 12:52 am
Subject: [texbirds] Re: Call for Bolivar protection/please sign petition..
just received a few wonderful private emails from people who care. I
annot stop myself from copy one very special. I already went to this site and
igned the petition to protect the Bolivar Peninsula. I think there is
nough Texbirds members to make that petition work. Tomorrow I am going to ask
ore people.
ust read this great email:
Mark,
ait till they fill in Rollover Pass. http://www.rolloverpasstexas.com/
arge amounts of development and "improvements" have been held up because
ilcrest and the owners are fighting.
nce they fill it in, the resting/feeding flats at rollover will be gone.
hink about how filling it in will change the salinity of that part of the
ay and intercoastal canal.
uess what's directly across the bay from Rollover ? Anahuac NWR!
wonder what will happen to the rookery at Smith Oaks ? (When the
alinity changes in that part of the canal and the birds have to fly farther to
find food.)
wonder how much of the beach and bay access will become "private" ?
et's not even think about who really will be paying the insurance
ay-outs the next time a storm washes all the fancy summer only houses away.
an you say FEMA ? Ok, let's be truthful, can you say US the tax payers ?
ure the "specialists" said it wouldn't change anything, but who paid them
o do the "study" ? The developers and rich home owners...
rogress for us doesn't mean progress for any other animal.
TW, another great news; questionable winter LETE data was already put for
eview so it is not showing publicly. What a great fast action. Thanks. So
gnore red arrows and question marks in my posted charts.
ark B Bartosik
ouston, Texas
ttp://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field
n a message dated 4/4/2013 8:47:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
BB22222@xxxxxxx writes:
Because this post will be a little longer I will start with a list of
ouple subjects I will try to discuss so one can skip the first part and
o to
he bottom of the page if only interested to read the second part.
1. Bolivar Peninsula might be very important to Least Terns during spring
igration as the first place to arrive of large flocks after crossing the
ulf of Mexico (base on historical data and my own observations and
umbers
ollected this year).
2. Historical data that I used are base on eBird database of entered
ecords. A few records from February 1988 and 1989 (Houston Audubon
olivar
ount) and December (private entry from 1988) seem to be incorrect (will
rovide
ore details). These entered numbers are too large to ignore possible
istake
There is practically nothing known about Least Tern winter territories
probably they are becoming pelagic and are foraging only in open sea far
rom
he shore) and migration routes. Usually gone from the Texas shore in
econd part of September they start showing back in second part of March.
his
ear was exceptional as after March 15 (I saw 16 on that date) they
tarted
o show in larger numbers (e.g. I counted about 90 on March 22) to reach
he peak of birds in one flock about 600-700 on March 25 and hold this
umber
n March 27. So this year (2013) March numbers in Galveston County (and
exas) are a new record significantly larger comparing to historical
ata.
irst arrivals seems to be on regular time but the number of arriving
irds
eem to be much larger. See this chart (ignore the red arrows and
uestion
arks for now as I will get to those later):
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528123
These record numbers are not much of excitement by themselves. But if you
tart to compare them to other places (other states and other Texas parts
f
he shore) on Atlantic and Pacific side thing start looking very
nteresting. As you will see on the next chart only very few LETE arrived
n March
f this year on shores in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and South
arolina. No LETE were recorded during this year in March in California,
labama
nd North Carolina. The largest high count were in Mississippi, 51 LETE
n
arch 24.
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528125
Even if we look at historical data less LETE are found during March in
ther states (California, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, South
nd
orth Carolina) compare to Texas. They seem to show there (other states)
n
arger numbers in April. Interestedly counties other than Galveston County
n Texas also show much lower numbers and later arriving dates during
arch (including this year).
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528127
When looking at the map (blue point this year sightings; red ones March
n 1900-2012) one thing call for attention. Bolivar Peninsula seems to be
an
rriving point for large flocks in earliest dates (especially well visible
his March). Other parts of Texas shore have not only much lower counts
his March but like South Texas arrivals are at later dates. This suggest
hat
he first large flocks of LETE are arriving at Bolivar Peninsula,
robably
pend some time there before commencing further migration. I drawn on the
ap a few speculative migration routes that might or might not be
ccurate.
ut the one marked as green arrow seems to be quite possible and also
uggest that these early flocks that are arriving to Bolivar Peninsula
ight be
oming from Pacific side after crossing southern (narrow) part of land in
entral America with possibly stopover at Yucatán Peninsula. So part of
acific wintering population will come to California and another part
ill
rrive at Gulf of Mexico. Interestingly LETE migrating to California are
rriving in much later dates. See this map and try to draw your own
onclusion.
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528129
Even if my predictions of the migration routes are not very accurate the
act that so many LETE are arriving at Bolivar Peninsula make this place a
ery important area and there is a need to call for special protection
and
ot only because of LETE but other birds as well, as we all know). I
hink I
ead in the` past about some bad projects for developing this peninsula.
ven slogans one can find on the internet sound like horror for future
elfare of bird populations that are utilizing this part of the shore in
arious
onths during the year. Examples:
â¦. The Bolivar Peninsula is undergoing a wonderful and radical
ransformation into a modern resort area on par with anyplace on the Texas
Coast.
Our modern Bolivar Peninsula bares an uncanny resemblance to the great
istoric Roman resort cities of Pomeii and Herculaneum. (I did not
isspelled
ompeii I just copied the text from internet site âas isâ)
Both the Romans and the Bolivar Peninsula have enabled the development of
esort cities based on water related activities with the addition of
odern
ater systems, sewer systems and underground utilities. â¦
I wonder what is done or plan to be done to fully protect this so
mportant
rea.
Now part 2 - correcting/verifying some LETE data in eBird database. The
hart below shows historical data; LETE sightings in Galveston County
most
ightings are from Bolivar Peninsula). I was unable to extract from eBird
ata from all Texas minus Galveston Co. - database choked (anybody knows
f
his operation is possible to do without crashing database?). But if you
ook at the first chart I posted and this one you can easy see that most
rrivals are in Galveston Co (Bolivar to be exact). Also you see peaks
hat
how high counts of LETE in February and December. Well look at the chart
nd
aps attached:
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528131
LETE numbers 50 and 200 in February of 1988 and 89 entered by Houston
udubon Bolivar Count look like mistyping wrong date into the database.
specially that in these years LETE practically arrived in larger numbers
n
pril (there is almost no data entered for March during these two years).
hese
udubon numbers were never used in any of published material I am aware
f.
think it should be corrected (verified?) so other numbers when drawing
harts look not questionable because of possible mistakes. December, a
rivate record, of 320 is also quite unrealistic and make charts looking
ad so
hould be verified and deleted from the database if wrong. Some people
ere telling me earlier that these kind of mistakes are not important in
tatistics - I do not agree this is a case here, again look all chart;
nly in
olivar (compare to the whole US and rest of Texas) we have huge flocks
f
ETE in February and December showing well on the chart.
I hope a few of you lasted that long to reach this point. I am interested
n all comment. Migration routes - anybodyâs guest is as good as mine but
an give/provoke some new idea. Protection of LETE and Bolivar should be
f
nterest to everybody who wants to see these and other birds in the
uture
rriving and breeding on our shore. Correcting entries in eBird database
an
nly improve the database quality - as you can see it can provide great
utput for general analysis especially when data is good. I took many
hortcuts in describing historical data and my own; do not see a point to
rite
everal pages, at least not now.
Arenât they cute when arriving and checking how their summer home looks?
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/149528133
Mark B Bartosik
ouston, Texas
ttp://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field
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