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Please write your senators- save the Lacey Act. →
The Lacey Act, enacted in 1900, prohibits the interstate transportation of wildlife or plants obtained in violation of federal, state or foreign laws. The statute received attention recently when Gibson Guitars was raided by federal agents for allegedly importing ebony and rosewood in violation of the laws of India and Madagascar. In 2001, several Alabama fishermen were sentenced to eight years in prison for importing lobster in violation of Honduran regulations, even though the Honduran Attorney General stated that the regulations were invalid. Last week, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul introduced S. 2062, the Freedom from Over-Criminalization and Unjust Seizures (“FOCUS”) Act of 2012, to address the Lacey Act’s “broad overcriminalization.” The FOCUS Act would replace the Lacey Act’s criminal penalties with a civil penalty system. It would also strike from the Act all references to “foreign law.”
What this idiotic senator fails to remember (or more likely doesn’t care about) is that this act has single handedly saved several species from extinction, prevents the marketing of wildlife and allows the federal goverment to assist states in protecting their wildlife.
Rarely will I post political stuff here, but this is extremely important. Write to your senators and demand that they not allow this bill to go through. Remind them that sound science and a history of success is extremely important. Remind them that other species have a fundamental right to exist without us killing them all.
If republicans are able to kill the Lacey Act they will without a doubt be that much closer to killing the ESA, and without the Lacey Act the ESA will lose a lot of its bite.
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I helped with a deer rescue at work today... →
And some of the other DFG people got a really good video of it! (click through for the facebook video by CA DFG)
I can’t wait until I get my training in wildlife restraint so that next time I can help hobble/restrain the deer… nonetheless it was very impressive the coordinated effort of DFG, sac metro fire (who are the ones who were in the boat and pulled the deer), and the local animal control folks. He was just about done and almost went under when they lassoed him, but everything worked out well and he was released successfully.
Have I mentioned how much I love this job?
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Rattlesnake Roundup Poll... →
Bottom left of page. VOTE.
Also I’m very amused at the typo of Rattlesnack… since they do eat them at the “event”. Not so amused at just referring to “animal activists” when EVERY professional herpetologist is against roundups in their traditional form (several have bowed to pressure and switched to humane, educational events with only a handful of captive snakes on display. End result: a better response in both profit and number of attendees)
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The first wild rattlesnake I ever encountered- on a field trip with my herpetology class several years ago. Completely changed my perspective on the world and sent me into the field of herpetology.
Speckled Rattlesnake ( C. mitchellii)
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Arabian sand boa, Eryx jayakari Boulenger, Family: Boidae
2004, in Kuwait, photo by: Jeffery Davis
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Feral/Outdoor Cat Fact Sheet →
Both a FAQ and a lovely compilation of a handful of the studies conducted on feral cats and their impact to society. A must read, and worth sharing since feral/outdoor cats are such a huge problem to native fauna worldwide.
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Surprise lifer bird and a miss on the Trumpeters
Alas the trumpeters seem to have moved… but that’s whats chasing is all about… you win some, you lose some and seeing fields upon fields stuffed with dancing sandhill cranes and calling/flying tundra swans made for a good day.
In other birding news- I saw my lifer (and also vagrant) SWAMP SPARROW! he was just chilling near the Falcated Duck (who was awake and swimming… on his third visit my dad finally got to see him)… so many birders missed him because they didn’t walk on the little nature trail. I overheard someone mention it when I visited the site on the first but he eluded me… not so today!
I also now have 87 bird species on my list. (3 mammals, 2 fish, 2 herps)
Big plans for tomorrow- not looking for the tufted duck yet (he’ll be chased on Saturday weather permitting), but an opportunity to go to Monterey came up, so I will be chasing ocean birds, ocean mammals and other shore birds in a day long marathon of hot spots in the area which if my luck is decent I’ll get a lot of new birds for the year and a handful of lifer birds.
and since we’re in the area… Thursday I will track down a California Condor (hopefully)… its will happen this year and will be a great lifer bird as well as a great addition to the list.
I love that this year we got a whole month off, and didn’t start school on the 2nd.
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Naturalist Big Year Challenge
As you may/may not know this year I did a mini-big year challenge with multiple species quests, I fell short on all three but did get to see some cool things. So I’ve put together a Naturalist big year challenge… anyone is welcome to participate with me on any level (say you just know birds, you can do just a bird version) as it’ll be a great reason to get outdoors and notice what’s around you.
The challenge:
- 50 Mammal Species
- 100 Reptile/Amphibian Species
- 500 Bird Species (but a sane person would strive for 200-300)
- 25 Fish Species
- 200 Plant Species
- 100 Insect Families
- 5000 species observations entered into a standard online database- ala INaturalist, HERP, EBird, etc.
- Maintain all outings in a field journal, I’ll be following the Grinnelian Method (I’ll try to find a good description of how to do it)
I’ll be tagging all of my posts related to this adventure with “naturalist big year” and would love to know if any of you are going to be partaking in any aspect of the “big year” quest. :)
Photo reblogged from burdr with 153 notes
The Hawaiian Goose (also known as the Nene) used to be critically endangered, with estimated wild populations between 3 and 10. Now there are between 3,000 and 4,000, both in captivity and in the wild.
Also, they are what you find at the ends of rainbows.
Source: Flickr / islandlightphoto
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My lifer Crotalus atrox (Western Diamondback Rattlesnake) I have a few better pictures, but this’ll do for now. :) He was a feisty one… buzzing the whole time and coiled up as soon as he saw me- Tucson Arizona.
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