Longtails

Longtails Earl Plato

We saw them for ourselves on the sandy beach at Fort Erie’s Thunder Bay town park. Half buried in the sand their clearly identifiable head revealed the sad truth. These were Longtailed ducks that I knew by the appellation - ‘Old squaws’. Yes, I have favourite birds and the Old squaw is one. I have a beautifully carved model near my desk - long tail and all. What happened to this most northern Arctic bird on the shores of Lake Erie? The day before at the Bert Miller nature Club meeting we were told over thirty Longtails had succumbed. Why? Did the ducks eat something that was contaminated? Botulism is one answer. I travel each January and February to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see these attractive birds at the mouth of the Niagara River. I set up my scope and watch their mating antics and hear their loud unforgettable calls, What are Longtails doing in the Niagara area now in mid-November? ***
They’re coming! Slowly from Western Ontario the Emerald ash borer beetle is heading toward Niagara. 70% of Ontario’s deciduous trees are of the ash species. The Toronto Star article says, “ As many as 200,000 ash trees are dead or dying in the Windsor area from the beetle infestation.” Two years ago while in Western Ontario we saw the ash borer article in the Goderich paper. The locals were worried. What to do? Ken Marchant, tree specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), said that they need to remove every infested tree and chip them so that no Emerald ash borer beetle larvae remains. Now two years later the government already has spent 10 million on making a barrier from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. Marchant said, “ It’s here for good. We’re going to have to live with it.” I hope not.