I had a great moment this evening while traveling along the Alabama coast. I came across an oil boom covered in birds as the light was fading. The boom was acting as a funnel and trapping fish as the tide was heading out. The birds, Brown Pelicans, Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons, stood waiting. [...]

I started my morning on the formerly stark white beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore just east of Pensacola, Florida. The oil impacts on the coastal barrier islands have not yet reached the level I saw in Alabama but the entire tide line was peppered with gelatinous black tar mats. The islands are very [...]

I visited several areas today around Gulf Shores on the south side of Mobile Bay. As was to be expected after seeing the oil really roll in last night there were a few heavily oiled birds in the area. One thing that was particularly disturbing to find were a number of oiled Snowy Plovers. Snowy [...]

Like most, I have watched the BP oil leak from afar – feeling a mix of anger at the industry that caused it and fearing that the long term ecological consequences will be far more devastating than the disturbing images we’ve seen on television and in print – those things happening silently beneath the water [...]