Old Posts Addenda (5)

 A Baker's Half-dozen 
   Here are some "Breaking News" items relating to subjects already covered in MM. 

1. A Big Bird Kill
   There is a flock of posts in MM relating to birds of various kinds and a few have been devoted to the losses in the avian world. In "Passenger Pigeons", their disappearance was lamented and a description of a large flock over the Bruce Peninsula long ago is provided. Readers of The Times (of London) used to write letters to that paper about the spotting of the first cuckoo in the spring. Now they are rarely seen and the song of the nightingale seldom heard ("Books of The Times.") 
   Soon it is the murres we will be missing.
"Scientists Just Confirmed the Largest Bird-killing Event in Modern History: A Marine Heat Wave in the Pacific Ocean That Began a Decade ago Killed some 4 Million Common Murres in Alaska, Researchers say," Joshua Partlow, The Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2024.
"It would take years of study to confirm they had witnessed the largest die-off of any bird species ever recorded in the modern era, according to new research published in the journal Science on Thursday.... The killing was an order of magnitude larger, she said, than the hundreds of thousands of murres that perished in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.“We’ve had lots of long-term declines that have been observed in wildlife,” she said. “But what’s really different here — that we haven’t seen before — is this really swift catastrophe where in one year we have half the population of this really abundant seabird just wiped out.”

2. What Will Eat the Dead Buzzards?
   The "Vanishing Vultures" in India that were written about in MM in 2017 are in the news again. See:
"The Hidden Value of Vultures: "Researchers believe a massive die-off of the birds led to over 100,000 additional human deaths per year in India, by Ian Rose, The Washington Post, September 14, 2024 and
"How a Crisis for Vultures Led to a Human Disaster: Half a Million Deaths The birds were accidentally poisoned in India. New research on what happened next shows how wildlife collapse can be deadly for people," Catrin Eihorn, NYT, July 29, 2024.
   "Now, economists have put an excruciating figure on just how vital they can be: The sudden near-disappearance of vultures in India about two decades ago led to more than half a million excess human deaths over five years, according to a forthcoming study in the American Economic Review."
  Rotting livestock carcasses, no longer picked to the bones by vultures, polluted waterways and fed an increase in feral dogs, which can carry rabies. It was “a really huge negative sanitation shock,” said Anant Sudarshan, one of the study’s authors and an economics professor at the University of Warwick in England...."
"The findings reveal the unintended consequences that can occur from the collapse of wildlife, especially animals known as keystone species for the outsize roles they play in their ecosystems. Increasingly, economists are seeking to measure such impacts."

    The buzzards are also disappearing in other places. 
“To Save a Scavenger: Why Vultures Need Our Protection," Mary Cunningham, Columbia Magazine, Spring/Summer 2024.
   "Vultures, known (and notorious) for their penchant for rotting flesh, have experienced major population decline over the last few decades, due in large part to poisoning, explains Kendall. Hunters often put pesticides on carcasses to kill the scavengers, making it harder for law enforcement to detect illegal poaching (“circling vultures can indicate the presence of a large carcass and therefore help rangers find dead elephants”). Additionally, farmers sometimes use poison to retaliate against predators that kill their livestock. “When the vultures feed on the bodies, they die within a few hours,” says Kendall, adding that vultures are also sometimes killed by superstitious locals who see them as bad omens."

3. Too Many Crows: The Rochester Roost
   A few years ago you were told about the very large number of crows in Burnaby and when we were in Vancouver recently we saw them at dusk everyday flying over and heading there,(see "A Murder of Crows".) "The Purple Martin Problem" in Nashville was noticed more recently and now there is a big murder of crows close by in upstate New York.
  "Where It Isn’t Christmas Until the City Shoots Lasers at 20,000 Crows: In Rochester, N.Y., every year in early December thousands of crows descend on the city, which tries to shoo them away with loud noises and bright lights," David Andreatta, NYT, Dec. 14, 2024.
  "In Rochester, N.Y., there are telltale signs that the holiday season is underway.Santa’s workshop opens at the outdoor ice rink downtown. There is the lighting of the pyramid of kegs at the local brewery. Productions of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker” begin.Then there are the tens of thousands of crows that descend on the city every day at dusk in early December, and the fireworks and lasers that are deployed to drive them away.City officials and wildlife experts estimate upward of 20,000 crows roost downtown nightly.“It’s like you’re in ‘The Birds,’” said Rachel Kudiba, referring to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film about birds on a murderous rampage."

4. Line 5
   Line 5 is that pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac where we hope it does not rupture. This is about Line 6 which just did. Here is the story:
"Enbridge Pipeline Spills 260,000 litres of oil in Wisconsin," A.P., Dec.14, 2024.
   "Line 6 is a 748.3-kilometre pipeline carrying crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, to a terminal near Griffith, Indiana, according to a company map. Critics noted the spill was discovered during the same week that Wisconsin regulators approved the first permits for Enbridge’s plan to move the aging Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation. Opponents said it would still threaten the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels." 
For Line 5 in MM: see, e.g. "Line 5" and "Line 5 Again."

5. "I'll Bet Ya!"
   I am willing to bet the issue of gambling will soon be as big as the debts being accrued. Among the many posts about betting in MM, this one discussed the large wagers placed by someone named "DRAKE" and Phil Mickleson,(see, "ON Betting.") They are not the only one making big bets.
"Bettor Places Largest NFL Wager of the Year: $3.1Million on the Eagles-Panthers Game," Ben Fawkes, Dec.7, The Athletic. 
On Thursday afternoon, Circa Sports reported taking a $3.1 million wager on the Eagles moneyline (ML) against the Carolina Panthers. The wager was placed at -700 odds, meaning the bettor will win roughly $442,850 if the Eagles win the game straight up...."
He won, by the way: #3.1 Million Bet on Eagles Wins After Panthers' Dropped Pass," David Purdum, ESPN, Dec.8, 2024.

Cathal Kelly is the best reason to get a subscription to the Globe and Mail and he picked Gambling Promotors as major sports villains this year: "Sporting Heroes and Villains From 2024," Dec. 25, 2024:
"Gambling promoters: Gambling is legal. Once upon a time, so was drinking and driving.
Using that fig leaf, Canada’s broadcasts and pages are full of people you recognize encouraging fellow citizens with far less than them to blow their rent money betting the under.
Driven by the NHL and its flunkies in the sports media, it is an unalloyed display of amoral greed. Some day, it will be seen as a national embarrassment. Until then, we will continue doing the Canadian thing by pretending that because it doesn’t affect anybody we know, it’s not happening."

Thomas's "The Cotton Bowl" (2011)

6. A Black Sculpture By a Black Sculptor
   In a post about Hank Willis Thomas you learned about a work of his - which was inspired by an event in the 1960s on the Eastern Shore of Maryland -  now resides in a Vancouver back yard. He continues to sculpt and is doing well. For the post see: "A Black Sculpture.")
"Hank Willis Thomas Sees What America Can't Say: In His Art About Race and Freedom, He Asks Us to Look Closer, and Think Twice," Robin Givhan,The Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2024.
"Over the years, Thomas has blossomed into a public artist. His large-scale sculptures, often inspired by photographs, are now part of landscapes across the country. [and even in Canada.]

7. More Pictures From An Institution
   This title was borrowed from Randall Jarrell and I have used it before. It is found in a post about "Jasper Cropsey" and the controversy that ensued when one of his paintings was sold by the University of Western Ontario. A similar controversy is unfolding in Indiana where, you may be surprised to learn, Valparaiso University is located. 
  UWO needed money back in 1980, just as Valparaiso does now. That University came up with a plan to sell some paintings so new dormitories could be built. The justification for selling the paintings needed a legal basis and the University devised a way of characterizing the paintings so they could be sold without violating the terms of the donation. The former director of the Museum which held the paintings said, “I think it was a clever way of trying to pick at the validity of the paintings, and it was done because they thought they wouldn’t have to answer to anyone but the judge..." 
   This controversy needs more space than can be utilized here. You can learn about the "Cropsey Controversy" at UWO by looking at my earlier post. As well, there was a more recent controversy when the Western History Department had to come up with a way to keep a donor's money, while dropping the donor's name (see "Western and the Hilborn Issue.") For the issue in Indiana, see this article:
"To Sell Prized Paintings, a University Proclaims They’re Not 'Conservative': ‘Valparaiso University is arguing it should never have acquired two paintings, including a Georgia O’Keeffe, in the 1960s. It hopes to sell them to pay for dorm renovations," Annie Agular, NYT, July 19, 2024.
   "An Indiana judge is facing that very question as Valparaiso University contends that it should be able to sell high-value paintings it owns, including a Georgia O’Keeffe landscape of the New Mexico desert, in order to finance a renovation of freshman dormitories.When the private, nonprofit university announced its plan last year, it said the sale was necessary because enrollment had declined, which has also prompted the school to cut some programs and positions. After opposition to the sale of the art that had long hung in its on-campus museum, the college is now arguing before a court that selling two of the paintings is justified because they should never have been acquired in the first place."
  By the way, perhaps the committee that purchased the paintings now up for sale should be re-constituted to handle Valparaiso's investment portfolio:
 The university’s petition says the committee bought the O’Keeffe in 1962 for $5,700 and the Hassam in 1967 for $9,000. “Rust Red Hills” renders New Mexico mountains in draping, muscular forms, and “The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate” explodes a pre-bridge San Francisco Bay into an impressionistic light-dappled array.
   Those modernist American landscapes are now the most valuable works in the Brauer’s collection. Appraisals commissioned by the university estimated fair market values of $10.5 million to $15 million for the O’Keeffe and $1 million to $3.5 million for the Hassam. (The Church is valued at $1 million to $3 million.)

Post Script: 
   The Cropsey post also contains some information about another art controversy at Fisk University and other collections at Dubuque and Colby. Given that such controversies are likely to increase as university budgets decline, the link to the Task Force For the Protection of University Collections --Tookit provided in that post and again above, could be useful. 

The Bonus: 
  Art collections at universities can be valuable resources for the surrounding community as well. For some of the better ones see this article:
"The Best College Art Museums in America: The Post's Art Critics Pick Their Favorite Museums at Colleges and Universities Across the U.S.", The Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2024.
Here they are:
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Harvard Art Museums RISD Museum Yale University Art Gallery Those who commented on the article mentioned, Smith College, the Stanley Museum of Art at Iowa and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. Several mentioned that Princeton was constructing a major new one.    

Passenger Pigeons

     Back in 2014 the passenger pigeon was much in the news because the last one had died 100 years before. Martha was her name and she died in the Cincinnati Zoo (George was already gone). Like the parrot in the Monty Python sketch, she was dead, deceased, had ceased to be, was bereft of life and was no more. She was an ex-passenger pigeon. They are all extinct and there are no more.

     Even if you are not interested in birds you probably read some of those news accounts or you may have come across stories about how, many years ago, the flocks of passenger pigeons were sometimes so large they blocked out the sun and took days to pass. I just ran across one of those stories and it reminded me of the 2014 centenary of the extinction. This story takes place in Ontario and since I have not seen any references to it, I will present it here.

Pigeons on The Bruce

    W. Sherwood Fox was a classics scholar and a president of the University of Western Ontario. He was also very interested in nature which is why he was mentioned in my recent post about John Muir, about whom he wrote an essay in The Bruce Beckons: The Story of Lake Huron’s Great Peninsula. He also wrote one about the passenger pigeon in the same book - “In the Day of the Wild Pigeon,” (Chapter 9). Here is how it begins: 

     “Of the many gifts that Nature bestowed upon The Bruce [ the Bruce Peninsula] one in particular will never be seen there again. Indeed, it has vanished from the face of the earth. It is known now only in museums, in slim dockets of old records, and in the memories of a very few men of exceedingly great age.( p.94)

    The prevalence of the pigeon is noted by his father who arrived on The Bruce in the early 1870s:

     “A picture of his entry into this frontier household was vividly stamped on his memory by two events of the first day: as he stepped from the steamer to the shore and walked to his summer quarters a vast flock of pigeons were flying from the east to their nesting area on the Peninsula and were casting a dark, swiftly moving cloud over the land. At his very first meal, supper, he was served adult wild pigeon. At breakfast the next morning this was the main dish, and for dinner too and then again for supper; indeed, it was the only piece de resistance - and a tough one at that.” (p.95)
 
     The size of the roost was substantial even if one factors in a bit of local pride:

     “The people of the region took pride in believing that the Peninsula was ideal country for the pigeons. It was common opinion around Colpoy’s [Bay] - an opinion based solely on rumour - that the nesting and roosting colonies were so numerous as to form virtually an unbroken chain running northward to a point not far short of Tobermory. Of course, that was not quite true, but to express doubts about it was counted in the new settlement as disloyalty to the wonderful greatness of the Peninsula. However, the only colony that Father himself saw was very long indeed: it began near Chief’s Point on Lake Huron just north of the Sauble River and extended in a broad sinuous line north to within a couple of miles of Lake Berford. That is, it ran from the west side of Amabel Township to a point two or three miles within Albemarle and slightly less than that distance north of Wiarton….” That the colony covered several square miles was all too obvious, but how many one could only guess without making a special expedition to determine the exact figure.” (pp.95-96)

     Here is how the essay ends:

   “But never again will anyone, in The Bruce or elsewhere in North America, know a surfeit of the passenger pigeon. It has gone forever. In The Bruce its numbers began to dwindle rapidly in the last three years of the seventies; by 1885 the birds were scarce indeed. A resident of Red Bay whom I knew saw his last pigeon near there in 1893. As far as the whole Georgian Bay region is concerned the last word of the race’s obituary is this: in May of 1902 three pigeons - a pair and a single bird - were seen near Penetanguishene, Simcoe County.” (p.106)

Pigeons Over Fort Mississauga

   
    There is another Ontario account that indicates just how plentiful the pigeons were in the late 19th century.  It is easier to understand why there are no longer any passenger pigeons in the areas around metropolitan Toronto, however,  since there is not much evidence now of any nature at all and few trees in which any kind of bird could roost. Around 1860 the area was not so barren. This description is from Ross R. King’s The Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada (1866):

     Early in the morning I was apprised by my servant that an extraordinary flock of birds was passing over, such as he had never seen before. Hurrying out and ascending the grassy ramparts, I was perfectly amazed to behold the air filled, the sun obscured by millions of pigeons, not hovering about but darting onwards in a straight line with arrowy flight, in a vast mass a mile or more in breadth, and stretching before and behind as far as the eye could reach.
     Swiftly and steadily the column passed over with a rushing sound, and for hours continued in undiminished myriads advancing over the American forests in the eastern horizon, as the myriads that had passed were lost in the western sky.
     It was late in the afternoon before any decrease in the mass was perceptible, but they became gradually less dense as the day drew to a close… The duration of this flight being about fourteen hours, viz. From four a.m. to six p.m., the column (allowing a probable velocity of sixty miles an hour) could not have been less than three hundred miles in length, with an average breadth, as before stated of one mile.
   During the following day and for several days afterwards, they still continued flying over in immense though greatly diminished numbers, broken up into flanks and keeping much lower, possibly being weaker and younger.

     There are other accounts of large flocks, so many of them in fact, that at least some of them must have been witnessed by reasonable observers who had no need to dramatically exaggerate. This particular account by King has been subjected to some scrutiny which is provided here:

     King never offered a numerical estimate, but Schorger, assigning two birds per square yard and a speed of sixty miles per hour, concludes that the flight involved an amazing 3,717,120,000 pigeons. At least three different scientists have each worked King’s data in recent years and come up with the same results as Schorger, although doubting that the pigeons would be flying at 60 mph as a normal speed during migration….Ken Brock of Indiana University Northwest created a graph showing the numbers of birds at speeds from 35 to 60 mph. But even at 35 mph, closer to the speed at which mourning doves fly, which is more unlikely given that the passenger pigeon was a far more accomplished flier than the dove , King witnessed over a billion birds passing over Fort Mississauga during the period of his observation.

Sources:

This is the place to begin: Project Passenger Pigeon. It is a tremendous website that is continually updated. There is a map one can click on to find information related to the area in which you reside. Canada is included and I learned that there are passenger pigeon skins, skeletons or mounts nearby at Western University and Medway High School.

This book is as good as its title: A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction. Joel Greenberg. Anyone will find it interesting. I was going to get a copy for my grandkids to show them what has been lost, but the story is too sad and there are too many “carnivals of slaughter.”

The Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada is available in its entirety over the Internet. You will find the Fort Mississauga account at the beginning of Chapter VI, on p.121. See also A Feathered River… where several other descriptions are provided. The analysis of the report by King is found on p.6.

If you are really interested see Margaret Mitchell’s The Passenger Pigeon in Ontario. Although it was published in 1935, the University of Toronto Press has made it available over the Internet. Beginning on p.132 you will find a list of the “Last Reported Appearances in Ontario.” The last passenger pigeon reported in Middlesex County was in 1888 (p.135).