Winter 2004
Lost Flocks
by Emily Butterfield
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Terry Wahl stood in Marine Park at Post Point in Fairhaven and stared through his spotting scope across the rippling, gray water and rocky shores. He searched Bellingham Bay for a flock of birds. When the only group of birds he found was gulls, Wahl shook his head in disappointment. Wahl said 30 years ago he would have had no problem finding a more diverse array of birds on the bay.
Experts have witnessed a decline in the total number of birds in the bay area in the last 40 years, when bird counts in Bellingham Bay began. Biologists, environmentalists and field observers said while many factors can affect birds, they believe a number of local factors, such as industrial development, have led to the decrease in bird populations.
Wahl is a Bellingham resident and a field ornithologist who has been compiling bird records in Washington and Whatcom County for nearly 40 years.
Bellingham Bay has approximately 115 different bird species present at different times throughout the year. Wahl said he has noticed a general decline in the bird population in Bellingham Bay through various studies. He wrote the book “Birds of Whatcom County,” which was published in 1995.
Wahl began participating in the National Audubon Society’s Christmas bird count in 1967 to look at population trends in the Bellingham area. He also helped conduct the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program from 1978 to 1979 with the University of Washington’s School of Forestry. The researchers counted seabirds in marine waters from the U.S.-Canadian border through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia.
Industrial development during the last 150 years has drastically altered the area from Post Point in Fairhaven to the cement plant pier, located just west of where Squalicum Creek flows into the bay. The development has affected the bird trends in the area, Wahl said.
“There is practically no natural shoreline from the cement plant pier to Post Point,” Wahl said. “This area contains all the industries and marinas and they have had a major effect on the bay. If you look back 100 years, there were big clusters of swans on the waterfront wading around all winter. You don’t see them anymore because the area was dredged.”
Born and raised in the Bellingham area, Wahl can recall what the bay looked like before much of the development took place.
“Every winter we used to have 600 to 800 diving ducks, which roosted and fed on the tidelands where the marina is now,” Wahl said. “They came in and dredged that all out, made the water permanently deeper and now we have practically no scaup.”
As a diving duck, scaup must be able dive to the bottom to feed. Increased water depth makes reaching the bottom and finding food difficult.
Ann Eissinger, owner and principal biologist at Nahkeeta Northwest, an environmental consulting business, said she thinks pollution is one of the main factors in the decline of birds.
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Terry Wahl, a local field ornithologist collecting information on bird populations, looks for sea ducks through his spotting scope. |
Eissinger said toxins such as PCB’s, chlorines and heavy metals from industry contaminate the bay. The contaminants can cause tumors, reproductive problems and death to birds. Although the bay is not as contaminated as it used to be, the effects are still there, Eissinger said.
Don Burgess, director of the Environmental Learning Center at the North Cascades Institute, a conservation and education organization, said he believes an increase in human presence has affected bird species in the bay because it disrupts their habitats.
“We’re seeing a disruption of the quiet nesting (areas) as more people are exploring the shoreline,” Burgess said. “They are scattering shore-bird flocks and are disruptive to eagles and herons that are hunting.”
Wahl said he has also noticed an increase in recreational activities in and around the bay during the last 50 years.
“(Watercrafts) are deadly for disturbing the wild animals,” Wahl said.
Even kayakers can disrupt birds. Kayakers often do not realize that when they are quietly attempting to bird watch, they scare off a number of birds in the process, he said.
“Anytime you disturb a wild animal, you’re putting a stress load and an energy demand on it,” Wahl said.
Eissinger said factors interact over time, making it hard to isolate the exact problems that cause a species to decline. But birds can be good indicators of problems below the water line, she said.
“If they’ve changed, what else has changed?” Wahl said. “Ultimately how does that affect us? I think it could indicate there is less productivity in the water; food may not be produced there.”
Eissinger said she believes a species will need to approach extinction before the community becomes aware of the problem because people have other priorities. People are losing sight of what is going on around them, she said. It is time for people to start taking action and the community needs to work together to conquer the environmental issues, she said.
“People need to support strong environmental legislation and enforcement of environmental law,” Eissinger said. “As citizens we need to be fully aware of environmental platforms, support them and let decision makers know our opinions.”
Wahl has devoted his time to educating the community on the state of birds in Bellingham Bay. By carrying out bird counts for nearly 40 years, he has
provided people with vital information about the birds in the bay.
As Wahl gathers his maps and scope to leave Post Point, he is saddened by the statistics’ frightening trend. The numbers illustrate that the birds he has spent his life observing are disappearing. Wahl plans on continuing to conduct the Christmas bird count and hopes to see a change in the trend.
“I would like to see the numbers go up like they were in the old times,” Wahl said. “Without a major change in the physical part and attitude, there will be a continued decline.”