True As Far As It Goes...

From today's Connecticut Post:

... seven years after the state launched its Nitrogen Credit Exchange program, there is no clear indication hypoxia in the Sound is declining. The hypoxic area spiked in 2003, and from 2004 to 2008 has fluctuated slightly below the 20-year average, dropping in some years and rising in others, according to a state report.

And yet there are still five years to go until the 2014 deadline for reaching the nitrogen reduction goal (plus three years beyond that for New York City to reach the extended deadline it was put on). So while it's true there's no clear indication that conditions are improving, it's a bit unfair to expect that there would be.

Add to that the reality that New York City, by far the biggest contributor of nitrogen to Long Island Sound, has yet to finish its sewage upgrades (and that nitrogen from the city actually increases for part of the duration of its construction work) and that Westchester County is still getting its work underway and it makes worries about failure a bit premature, in my opinion.

Spicebush Swallowtail

I came upon this spicebush swallowtail in the garden, around noon, first on a raspberry bush and then on the leaves of a cultivated plant that's grown here for years but that we don't know the name of. The butterfly seemed fresh and bright and, while I know nothing about the life cycle of spicebush swallowtails, I could imagine that it had just emerged and was drying its wings for the first times.

Blight

Michael Pollan is always arguing (plausibly) that the centralization of our food supply makes it easier for pathogens like salmonella and E. coli to spread far and wide. The news over the last eight days that a blight being spread by tomato plants bought as Wal Mart shows that the same thing can happen not just to the consumers but to the food supply itself.

As far as I can tell, my friend and former colleague Bill Cary broke the story a week ago, here. The Times website has it today.

Marine Mammals

Here's what happened to the 200 or so dolphins that were feeding in the western end of Long Island Sound in June:

Ed Michels, the East Hampton harbormaster, reports that dolphins have entered the Peconic Estuary after several weeks of plying Long Island Sound.

Also note his last paragraph: a pair of humpback whales have been seen south of Block Island. I have no idea if that's unusual.

Still Good

From the Connecticut DEP, which was out on Long Island Sound collecting water quality data on July 7 through 9:

Thirty-six stations were sampled. Bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations fell below 4.8 mg/L at four stations, although none fell below 3.5 mg/L. This is an improvement over last year when 10 stations were below 4.8 mg/L and three of those stations were below 3.5 mg/L. The lowest concentration was observed at Station A4 (3.83 mg/L). The area of bottom water with DO concentrations less than 4.8 mg/L is 50.7 square miles (131.2 km2).

So things are good compared to last year. The DEP followed this with a word of caution though:

The next survey (HYJUL09) is scheduled for 20- 23 July. Concentrations will likely decline below 3.5 mg/L with the far west stations becoming hypoxic.

Terrapins on the Runway

Why did the turtle cross the runway or, more to the point, why did 78 diamond-backed terrapins cross the runway at JFK airport last week? Answer here.

Pictures of Petrels

Check out these photos of Wilson's storm-petrels, taken by Larry Flynn.



Here's what his email said:

Friends,

I did a 22nm loop in Long Is Sound today from Westport to Stamford, I came across nine Wilson's Storm Petrels. Eight of them were around five different Lobster boats, never more than two at a time. I only came across one that was not near a lobster boat.
They are there, but they were out towards the middle of the sound, four in CT, five in NY.
Enclosed are a few pics from today for your enjoyment.

Larry

Thanks, Larry!

Pelagic Birds

Two young, hotshot birders from Connecticut took a round-trip on the New London-Orient Point Ferry yesterday specifically to look for pelagic birds in Connecticut's portion of Long Island Sound, and came away with a sighting of seven Wilson's storm-petrels.

One of the birders, Nick Bonomo, then wrote about it on his blog (called Shorebirder, here), which turns ot to be fun to read if you're into birds. (I also liked and identified with one of the items in his list of ways he spends his time: "...watching the Mets blow a 5-run lead.")

Dozens of Wilson's storm-petrels were in the Sound, off Stamford, four years ago, by the way.