We could see this bird back on the brink of extinction
To the Expositor:
As an avid birder, naturalist and conservationist, I was disappointed to read that a Sandhill crane hunt is being proposed for portions of Northeast Ontario, which includes the region I reside in (Temiskaming) and for Manitoulin Island.
The move is apparently being praised by hunters and farmers alike.
But what about the many bird lovers and naturalists on Manitoulin and around the North Shore?
Balanced reporting would have included the Manitoulin Naturalist Club’s viewpoint on the issue.
I am a regular watcher of what is called the “great migration” whereby Sandhill cranes migrate each spring and fall through Northeast Ontario and Northwestern Quebec.
I have observed that the birds arrive before crops are planted in the spring when the ground is still frozen and they return south in the fall after the crops have been harvested.
So how exactly is the crop damage happening?
How many actual complaints against the birds have been officially documented?
But if there is crop damage happening, is there not a more humane way of managing that? Why can’t ultrasonic sound machines, holographic scare tape, bird repellent, bird spikes and raptor decoys be used to keep birds away?
Remember the passenger pigeon?
The population of the passenger pigeons, and other extinct species of birds were deemed sustainable, so what exactly does sustainable mean anyway?
When man can’t control nature, we tend to want to conquer and dominate it.
As it stands, Sandhill cranes are legally protected by the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act 1994.
If hunters and farmers are to be respected for what they chose to do, why can’t birders be respected for protecting what they do?
And this is not an issue about the right to hunt.
What it is about is protecting a species that was on the brink of extinction and, through careful wildlife management, has made a return to healthy numbers, just like the trumpeter swan.
In her book, ‘Silence of the Songbirds’, renowned Canadian ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury notes the Wood thrush, Kentucky warbler, Bobolink and the Eastern kingbird—the migratory songbirds—are disappearing at a frightening rate. By some estimates, we may already have lost almost half of the songbirds that filled the skies only 40 years ago.
As well, Sandhill cranes have a low birth rate. Crane pairs, which mate for life, produce most of their eggs after they’ve been together for at least three years.
If over a period of time their habitat is threatened and they have low birth rate years, we could indeed see this species on the verge of extinction in Ontario.
Please contact your local MPP if you are opposed to the possibility of a Sandhill crane hunt.
Respectfully submitted,
Sue Nielsen
Cobalt, Ontario
