New Plan for Rock Creek Park

The Washington Post has a report on a new plan by the National Park Service for Rock Creek Park. The article focuses on the Beach Drive closure issues. Some residents had tried to get a few segments of Beach Drive closed to traffic on weekdays as well as weekends; it will remain closed on weekends but open on weekdays, so there is really not much change there except for a reduction in the speed limit.

Some parts of the plan would rehabilitate trails and streams. Rock Creek itself would be altered to allow certain fish to spawn upstream in their historical breeding grounds. Some trails would be moved to keep them off slopes. While the purpose would be to slow erosion, I think this would be appreciated by hikers and walkers who have to balance carefully and fight gravity as they follow the trails.

The plan also calls for renovations to visitor centers and existing administrative buildings. One point of possible concern comes from the map of proposed changes. The maintenance yard near the nature center appears to be slated as the location for an "administrative facility" if a site outside the park cannot be found. Construction there could degrade necessary habitat for bird migration, as that is one of the "hot spots" while warblers are moving in the spring and fall.

Our powerless delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, complains that the park is underappreciated:

"We have trivialized this park, residents make too little use of it, and tourists don't know where it is," Norton said. "Neither the city or the federal government has bothered to make maximum use of it. The problem is that it had no plan and it's in a state of great deterioration."

As I see it, the main problem is that the park is difficult to access without a car, unless one lives nearby. Several bus lines cross the park, but the only Metro stations near the park are at Silver Spring, Cleveland Park, and Woodley Park. At none of these locations is there a pleasant entrance to the park, and the best areas - from Broad Branch Road up to where Rock Creek crosses into Maryland - can be hard to reach.

Turkey Postscript

When I was in New York over the weekend, I saw a wild turkey in Battery Park. It was foraging near a flock of rock pigeons in one of the fenced-in grassy areas. It seemed an odd place to see a turkey, but apparently one has been hanging around there for a couple months now. I guess there is plenty of food available, and it does not really need to worry about predators in that spot.

Counting Birds

Every year, birders participate in a series of "citizen science" projects during the winter. Though participation probably skews towards more experienced and active birders, people of all age and skill levels are welcome to contribute. These projects help to add extra interest to birding during the winter months when birding otherwise slows down in most places - because of both the weather and the diversity of birds in the area. (One of the few exceptions is along the coast, but not all birders can get there easily or care to fight the wind.)

Two relatively recent developments are Project Feeder Watch and the Great Backyard Bird Count. These are sponsored jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Project Feeder Watch runs this winter from November 12 to sometime in April. (Yes, I am late posting about it!) Participants are asked to count the birds that visit their feeders on two days a week consistently over the course of the program. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a one-weekend event. In 2006 it is the weekend of February 17-20. Counters observe and report the types and numbers of birds they see in their selected counting area over the course of the weekend. This is similar to Project Feeder Watch in some ways, except that it provides a one-weekend snapshot of bird populations across the North America rather than a winter-long picture.

The oldest and most prominent of winter bird projects is the Christmas Bird Count. Christmas bird counts began as a non-lethal alternative to the competitive hunting that was common on Christmas at the turn of the twentieth century. Frank M. Chapman, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and one of the founders of the National Audubon Society, encouraged bird lovers to go out and count as many birds as they could find, instead of shooting them. Over time, these counts became more organized so that the Christmas bird counts so that they developed into a nationwide bird census.

This winter, the Christmas Bird Count period runs from December 14 to January 5. The three-week range of dates gives localities flexibility in planning them (and in providing alternate dates in case of bad weather). It also allows individual birders to participate in multiple counts. (Some people are gluttons for punishment. Ahem.)

In the Washington, D.C., area, there are multiple bird counts, one for each county. A list of counts in Maryland is available here. The District of Columbia count is on December 17. A list of the counts in Virginia can be found here. Once the CBC period is over, there are also some midwinter counts, listed here. One count focuses on the C&O Canal, and covers its 184.5 mile length in 3-4 mile segments. (Check the DC Audubon page for more details.)

What all of these projects have in common is that they attempt to measure the wintering population of each species across North America and in specific regions. While not a perfect census, the data gathered can be useful for establishing broad historical trends. We can see which species are declining, which are increasing, and how wintering ranges shift.

Turkeys, Wild and Otherwise

I expect that today the only bird that I will be watching is the one coming out of the oven. And the bird coming out of the oven will be a turkey.

Wild turkeys are the most distinctive game bird native to North America, and is the only native species to be fully domesticated. The wild turkey belongs to the genus Meleagris of the family Phasianidae, which also includes grouse, prairie-chickens, pheasants, and ptarmigans. It belongs to the order Galliformes, which also includes quail - and domesticated chickens - among others. It shares its genus with the ocellated turkey, a Mexican species that may have been domesticated by Native Americans before the arrival of Columbus.

Wild turkeys prefer woodland habitats but have adopted to agricultural areas, and will even live in proximity to humans. At one time, turkeys largely declined in the 19th century due to land clearing. But because of open space preservation and the relocation of wild birds in the late 20th century, their numbers have rebounded and the decline reversed.

Since I live in a major city, I get to see wild turkeys only very rarely. Turkeys, though, do show up in DC occasionally. When I see them, it has been on forays outside of the district.

Most of us, though, do not eat wild turkeys, but domestic turkeys. The two share the same species but are bred and raised in far different environments. The domesticated turkey was developed from the wild turkeys native to North America, and come in several breeds. Some breeds descend from wild turkeys shipped to Europe, starting as early as the 16th century when explorers brought birds from Mexico back to Spain.

Modern-day domestic turkeys are engineered to produce the maximum amount of white meat as quickly as possible; these are the broad-breasted varieties. The broad-breasted turkeys could not survive away from farms as they cannot fly or run. Most are too weak to breed. Some smaller farming operations raise "heritage breeds" like the Narragansett.

Turkeys - wild or domestic - have become deeply embedded in American culture. Unlike the bald eagle, it is not an official national symbol, even if Benjamin Franklin expressed a preference for the turkey early on:

For my own part I wish the Eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly.... I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as a Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For [in] truth the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.

Whatever Franklin's objections (which may have been tongue-in-cheek), both the bald eagle and the turkey have become important symbols in American culture in different ways. The eagle, with its majestic flight, symbolizes of American power. The turkey has come to be a symbol of abundance and family through its association with the uniquely American secular holiday of Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

More Than One Use for a Turkey

Laura Erickson has a report of a frozen turkey being used to rescue passengers from a burning car:

When they got to the car, Copsy, 42, said he couldn't open the door. Inside, he could see an elderly man in the driver's seat. A female passenger sat next to him, her face white. He tried to smash the glass with his foot, but couldn't do it. In his hands, he held a 20-pound frozen Norbest turkey he and his son had just bought for Thanksgiving.

''I said, `Hell, I'll just use the damn turkey.' And that's what I did,'' Copsy said. He yelled for the driver to cover his face, and used the turkey to smash out three windows.

That is certainly resourceful thinking on the rescuer's part. I am not sure if I would have thought of that.