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Hi Paul & All, Oct 16, 2010
If I follow your train ot thought correctly, I agree with you entirely. As is often the case, Aldo Leopold said it best; "We grieve only for what we know".
If people, and especially young people, are discouraged by regulation from taking an interest in such things as feathers, turtle eggs... then one will over time generate a "Who Cares" attitude with respect to Conservation.
I may have a few of the facts scrambled (OK when eggs are involved) but there is an interesting connection between Conservation and egg collections. When DDT was suspected to be causing thinning of egg shells, the convincing evidence was found in an extensive collection of egg shells at the London Museum (?). The mean shell thickness of certain species (don't recall) remained essentially constant over many decades and then became increasingly thinner over time after DDT came into use.
This, in turn, led to the realization that toxins which are soluble in lipids will tend to become concentated as one moves up the food chain and consequently led to better design of pesticides.
But the Age of Foolishness is by no means restricted to Natural History. I recently replaced a section of copper pipe that had started to leak and bought some new solder in case there was not enough on my old spool (~1970). The contrast between old and new is a cameo of the basis of chemiphobia.
The old spool says in plain language "50% tin 50% lead". The new spool says 50/50 in large type, without explaining what these numbers refer to, and in much smaller type says "Warning: this product contains lead and may contain other toxic metals...Do not breathe dust.... Wash hands after handling...."
How exactly could one generate solder dust ? If one handled solder long enough to to acquire biologically significant amouns of lead would one have to have done this over a period of 1000 years, 10,000 years or a much longer period ?
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul S. Boyer
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Feather identification.
It is true that, technically, it is forbidden to have any part of the protected migratory birds, which is just about all of them except traditional game birds and invasives (like the House Sparrow and the Starling). This means that the great feather collection I had as a kid was technically illegal, as was the fine collection of bird skulls I had assembled. I better not even talk about the eggshells which I picked up around nests. Fortunately, nothing ever happened to me, because I grew up in simpler and altogether better times.
It is pure stupidity, and an example of how supposedly clever legislators (and, in this case, also diplomats) don't usually comprehend all the repercussions of their actions, when they get into large policy issues. The human brain (and also the brain of a legislator, which is mostly similar) is usually best suited for simple decisions, on the level of "What should I have for breakfast this morning?"
There may be a way to get a permit for a feather collection. I would hope so. In fact, I would like to see people request a permit every time they see a feather.
Technically, if you take a feather to the museum for identification, you should be pulled over on the way and arrested. I suppose that you can take a picture of said feather, though.
On 16 Oct 2010, at 11:40 AM, Kathleen MacAulay wrote:
Hi Terry,
Yes, as Marg says, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to possess migratory birds or any parts thereof without a permit. Migratory birds includes shorebirds, songbirds, raptors and other groups. It is permitted to possess feathers of species which are legally hunted here, I think.
For feather id, if it happens to be a wing feather, the Slater Museum of Natural History has an online database of wing images which is quite extensive, which you can see here. There's another database for flight feathers only from the USFWS, which can be found here. It's neat because it tries to help you id feathers, but it doesn't have as many non-game species as the museum.
Kathleen MacAulay
Milford Station
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Terry Boswell <ta_boz@hotmail.com>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Sent: Sat, October 16, 2010 10:26:04 AM
Subject: [NatureNS] Feather identification.
To all
My wife and I get out on the trails regularly and quite often discover bird feathers. Does anyone know of a good web site to aid in feather identification? Also, are there any legal issues with owning / collecting feathers in Canada?
Terry Boswell
Cork St., Halifax
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Hi Paul & All,
Oct 16, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> If I follow your train ot thought
correctly, I agree with you entirely. As is often the case, Aldo Leopold said it
best; "We grieve only for what we know". </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> If people, and especially young
people, are discouraged by regulation from taking an interest in such
things as feathers, turtle eggs... then one will over time generate a "Who
Cares" attitude with respect to Conservation. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> I may have a few of the facts scrambled (OK
when eggs are involved) but there is an interesting connection between
Conservation and egg collections. When DDT was suspected to be causing thinning
of egg shells, the convincing evi