Birds

I'm doing my annual northward migration to the Puget Sound, after spending the winter in warmer climes. I'm tracking the birds which do the same thing. I'm on the coast, so am on the Pacific Flyway. Birds going north follow the coastline all the way from the equator to the arctic circle to breed.

Another great flyway is from Mexico east of the Rockies to the tundra in Canada. It's a great place to watch the migration this time of year.

Another important flyway is a bit more challenging. Birds that have wintered in the Amazon forest work their way to the Yucatan, cross the Gulf and head north into Canada. For those in the Great Lakes region, these are your spring birds, the warblers and other great singers that you associate with spring.

For those that launch from the Yucatan, the fly over the Gulf to the next landfall is somewhere around Biloxi, MS. Migrating warblers don't just fly in and make a gradual landing on the coast here, they crash in completely out of energy. We've wisely set aside refuges for these migrants, a restaurant so they can fuel up for the next leg.

But what if we cover the coast with oil? The birds come in on empty and hit a hostile environment. Goodbye birds.

It is critical migration season. The birds require a good restaurant when they crash. The oil spill is threatening the restaurant.