Vegeation Crisis -- Leslie Street Spit

[norman]

Still waiting for that summary ... (highlighting and italics mine)



Cormorants at
Tommy Thompson Park


Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) is undertaking a process to investigate management options for the Double-crested Cormorant colony at Tommy Thompson Park (TTP). TRCA has established an advisory group of stakeholders and experts to review the status of the TTP cormorant colony and provide recommendations on possible management approaches. TRCA also consulted with the public at a meeting held on April 3, 2008. The meeting notes and presentation from the public meeting are available for download (please see below).

Toronto and Region Conservation, in consultation with the advisory group and the public, has developed a strategic approach for cormorants for 2008. The 2008 Strategic Approach for Cormorants at Tommy Thompson Park will be presented at the Authority Meeting (#4/08) on May 23, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. at Black Creek Pioneer Village, 1000 Murray Ross Parkway. The meeting communication will be available online on May 19, 2008 for review. The public may attend all meetings of the Authority. If you would like additional information about this meeting, please contact Kathy Stranks at 416-661-6600 ext 5264.

Double-crested Cormorants represent one of several species of waterbirds that nest in colonies at TTP, also known as the Leslie Street Spit. Cormorant populations in the Great Lakes declined dramatically in the 1960s and 70s, primarily because of toxic contaminants, such as DDT, which caused thinning of eggshells and other health problems, leading to reproductive failure. Due to new regulations, increased enforcement and public awareness, toxic contaminants were significantly reduced by the 1980s, and cormorant populations have made a dramatic and successful recovery.

The colonies of cormorants and other waterbirds, including Black-crowned Night-Herons, Ring-billed Gulls and Common Terns, are a significant feature of TTP and one of the reasons it is celebrated as an important ecological site. However, the large number of cormorants at TTP (7,241 nests in 2007, representing approximately 30,000 birds) has resulted in the loss of approximately 25 per cent of the tree cover at TTP, and there are concerns about the effects on the many other species of plants and animals that live there or stop-over to rest and feed during migration.

Toronto and Region Conservation is seeking input on possible management measures to limit further spread of the cormorant population at TTP. The intent is to balance the continued existence of a healthy, thriving cormorant colony with the maintenance of other values of TTP. Management techniques being considered include: do nothing, deterrence, habitat improvements and egg oiling. Toronto and Region Conservation is not considering lethal culling, which has been used in other places around the Great Lakes.

[Craig McL]

ther only thinking of oiling eggs at this point , as of may 29 08 ... this is first hand info ..

Craig

[norman]

Been away for a while, but I must say the number of hits on this topic was startling ... anyhoo, oiling eggs (how do they get up there -- certainly not by climbing; all the plant life is near extirpation 'cause those gosh-darn snakebirds or whatever gone an' pooed all them good-eatin' fish all over ... we're doomed. Doomed!) is "culling" without causing a fuss. On islands, they can blow them away -- Dang, it's a legal turkey-shoot! Yeehaw!!


I haven't looked to see if the MRTCA published the outcome of their meeting, but I've been to similar affairs, and I guess there a few disillusioned biogist employees on hand, and the usual disingenuous bureaucrats spouting the company lines ... urgh. Vomit-inducing blather about "studies" and "habitat destruction" and "Oiling is the most humane option" to kill off birds we created ideal habitat for, and they're just not cute enough to let live and "Where'd you put the donuts, Phil?"


Why is it that municipal government bureaucracies are the worst of all? Ever try to find the person you were told was the person who ran the department you have issues with, succeed, and then dial into voicemail for a month? And then be informed that she or he is working in another department but here's the new guy who was transferred from some completely different department and knows jack about this but here's his number and then it's the voicemail and just give up? Inept bureaucracies devolve into "secret societies" whose most striking feature is purposely avoiding contact with us peasants. Whew. I need a few Advil.

Cheers, folks.

[Axeman]

I think this discussion is best had over a pint...

That said, my own personal oversation is that I first noticed them in the Port Credit area in 1993...prior to that, I had watched the black crowned night heron steadily climb from the late seventies / early eighties to the point where predictably every summer evening they would fly overhead with their haunting croaks as they made their way to their feeding grounds...but by 1995 they had disappeared. And there seem to be a lot of cormorants in the area now.

I miss the night herons.

[Axeman]

Somewhere in this thread, someone noted that at present, the authorities are thinking of oiling cormorant eggs v. a cull. A bit of a seque...but I know that CG eggs are oiled...and I was wondering if they did that to duck eggs as well...its just that I notice that in addition to far fewer goslings in the Port Credit area...there are significantly fewer ducklings...and like the night herons, I miss the ducklings.