field notes: on bird evolution

As some of you know, I’m in training to become a Certified Master Naturalist for the greater New Orleans area. I hoped that by gaining a better understanding of the plants and animals I encounter in the field, I would get more out of my outdoor experiences. So far, the program has not disappointed.

One of Grand Isle's beautiful bird trails. 

My class spent last weekend in Grand Isle, Louisiana, which was celebrating its annual Migratory Bird Festival. Before bird-watching, Erik Johnson, Director of Bird Conservation at Audubon Louisiana, gave a presentation, which covered (among other things) bird evolutionary biology. I found this topic fascinating, so I thought I’d share a few quick facts:

• Birds did not evolve from flighted dinosaurs, as is commonly assumed, but instead from the non-flighted tetanurans.
• This means that over the course of natural history, flight has evolved more than once!
• Birds’ closest living relatives are actually crocodiles.
• The earliest birds came into existence about 150 million years ago, but 65 million years ago, today’s continents split apart, and birds on different continents evolved in isolation. But they all ended up with mostly the same features and capabilities!

The more I learn, the more surprised and amazed I am by nature - maybe you feel the same.  

Happy learning!
Emily

field notes: on the 2017 coastal master plan

Every five years, government agencies, non-profits, and universities across the southeast work together to publish a Master Plan for a sustainable Louisiana coastline. The Plan seeks to reduce flood risk, protect and promote sustainable ecosystems, and strengthen communities by supporting recreational and commercial coastal activities. An impressive undertaking, the 2017 Coastal Master Plan weighs in at 92 pages and was published in January. This draft plan was open to public comments and updates through March 26th. The final version to be adopted by the state will be released later this year.

Highlights include:

• The $50 billion proactive investment in the coastline is expected to reduce damage due to flooding and resource loss by $150 billion over 50 years
• 120 projects that either build or maintain over 800 square miles of land are recommended
• Projects are expected to reduce annual anticipated storm surge damage by more than:
  • 75% for the Houma, Slidell, Franklin and Charenton, Edgard, Kenner and Metairie, lower St. Mary, and Prairieville and Sorrento regions, and
  • 90% for the Garyville, Ama, Laplace and Reserve, Algiers, Hahnville and Luling, Montz, Donaldsonville, Convent, Vacherie, Larose and Golden Meadow, Morgan City, Abbeville and Delcambre, and Iberia regions
• Projects will increase or improve suitable habitat for: wild crawfish, largemouth bass, alligator, mottled duck, adult bay anchovy, spotted seatrout, small juvenile white and brown shrimp, oyster, and green-winged teal

Learn more about the Master Plan and the planning process by visiting Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s website. As outdoorswomen, it’s our duty to protect the ecosystems from which we forage. This shows how Louisiana will do just that.

Happy learning!
Emily

saint hugh shoots & cooks: bacon-wrapped pheasant

Last Saturday I took part in a fun annual tradition of the Pass Christian Yacht Club: the post-carnival pheasant shoot.

Held at the scenic Taylor Creek Shooting Preserve in Theodore, AL, it was a classic continental shoot, with twenty stalls wrapped around a tower near a picturesque pond. Retrieving dogs were spaced roughly every other stand (lots of dogs!), and neither they nor their guides could have been more attentive. A red beans and rice lunch followed, and by the time we had finished eating, a 150+ birds had already been cleaned and bagged. The efficiently organized day definitely served as a relaxing chaser to the prior week’s Mardi Gras frenzy. I look forward to it becoming one of my own annual traditions.

I took home a few pheasants and made use of the recipe below, but shooters also had the option of donating their game to the Pass Christian Yacht Club for a wild game-theme dinner there this Saturday night. And, fun fact: theirs is the oldest yacht club in the county.

Ingredients
4 pheasants
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
2 lemons, halved
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 apple, sliced
1 teaspoon of cloves
8 slices of bacon

2 boxes of shells fit in the deep pockets of our Shooter's Vest. 

The finished product!

Directions
Rub the birds with salt and pepper to taste, then brown in two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet.
Remove browned birds.
Squeeze the quartered lemons inside the pheasants, then coat with rosemary.
Place squeezed lemons inside the birds.
Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the skillet, stir in cloves, and brown the apple slices.
Remove browned apples from the skillet, and stuff as many apple slices as you can inside the birds.
Wrap each bird in two slices of bacon. Fasten with a toothpick if necessary.
Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes.

Happy cooking!
Emily

in our sights: the sandy hook repeal

Over the past week, you’ve probably heard a lot about the so-called “Sandy Hook” rule. That’s because on Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed into law its repeal. So, we took an unbiased look at what that means for Americans.

Implemented by the Obama administration after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the rule required the Social Security Administration to report the names of people receiving disability benefits for mental health conditions to the FBI. The FBI maintains a database used during background checks to determine eligibility to purchase a firearm. The Sandy Hook rule was expected to add about 75,000 names to that database.

Opponents of the rule, which included both the ACLU and the NRA, claimed that it stripped Americans of their Second Amendment rights without allowing them due process. They also argued that the criteria for determining mental disability within the rule were too vague to be effective, and that it reinforced the stereotype that people with mental disabilities are violent.

Proponents of the rule contended that it was a common-sense measure necessary to keep citizens safe: "If you can't manage your own financial affairs, how can we expect that you're going to be a responsible steward of a dangerous, lethal firearm?" - Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut).

Last month the Senate used the Congressional Review Act (a law that provides Congress at 6-month window to reevaluate actions taken by an outgoing presidential administration) to strike down the rule in a 57 to 43 to vote. President Trump’s Tuesday signing affirmed that repeal.

It’s worth noting that despite the repeal, certain classes of citizens are still banned from legally owning a firearm.  The Gun Control Act of 1968 revokes the Second Amendment rights of the following:

• Fugitives from justice,
• Illegal aliens,
• Unlawful users of certain drugs,
• Those committed to a mental institution,
• Those convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year (covers most felonies), and
• Those convicted of domestic violence crimes.

Happy learning!
Emily