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Editorial: Myths, Misinformation and Propaganda
December 16th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: Will Park Closure Just Make Things Worse?
November 29th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: October and November Surprises
October 30th, 2008

Editorial: Is the Sky Falling?
September 24th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: Who Reads Cedar Key News?
September 19th, 2008

Editorial: The First Hurdle for Every Child
September 3rd, 2008

Editorial: A View of China from Cedar Key
August 18th, 2008

Editorial: Who Killed the Real Estate Market?
August 8th, 2008

Editorial: Editorial: It`s Clamerica!
July 1st, 2008

Editorial: Can the City Commission Limit Noise?
June 6th, 2008

Editorial: Unintended Results Rock the Boat
May 29th, 2008

Editorial: Creeping Gas Prices
May 13th, 2008

Editorial: Cedar Key Election Soon
April 30th, 2008

Editorial: Questions fo the Candidates
April 2nd, 2008

Editorial: Coming Elections: National County and City
March 19th, 2008

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For the Birds

For the Birds

Editorial

The fall migration of birds is well begun. Some species migrate at night and are barely noticed. Other species make the move during daylight hours. Most species migrate without the aid of man. Over the next few weeks Cedar Key News will report the progress of twenty yearling Whooping Cranes being taught to migrate from Wisconsin to a wild life refuge in Florida just forty miles south of Cedar Key.

The survival of certain bird species is in the hands of man. The pelicans of the Gulf of Mexico were nearly wiped out by DDT before it was banned. The pelicans have recovered well. Bald Eagles, Ospreys and other birds of prey were also endangered by DDT, and their populations have recovered.

Whooping Crane populations have declined because their breeding grounds have been infringed upon by man. Now an innovative program hatches Whoopers in captivity and helps them learn to migrate to safe wintering grounds in Florida. The 2005 group of twenty young birds left Wisconsin October 14, being led by dedicated ultralight pilots and cared for at night by an equally dedicated ground crew. They will join a flock of about fifty adults that migrate on their own after being trained by man. With luck the older birds will soon start reproducing, and with additions from the captive breeding program a self-sustaining flock of 150 will be built.

If the Whooping Crane program is successful it will be a fine example of how man can stop pushing other species to extinction and start living cooperatively with them. The program will also have created an attraction for tourists who want to add Whooping Cranes to the list of birds that they have seen in the wild. And even those people who are not keeping a bird list will be able to see a spectacular white bird wheeling in the air over our marshes.

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