Adventures of the Blue-eyed Bear

A coastal coyote sings; all the stars have fallen from the sky.

Its a little frightening writing this post because in doing so it may make it come true that the Gulf of Mexico is dying. The Blue-eyed bear is now running the Gulf beaches with two coastal coyotes and what they are finding is not good. (This post is based on a photograph by Gerald Herbert of piles of dead starfish on Chandeleur Island in the  Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana). Coyotes survive pretty well on the coast by scavenging what washes ashore. that is dead fish, a seabird or two, maybe some turtle eggs. But they can’t eat oily food! So that means there probably won’t be any pups this year and they may have to move inland which means more possible encounters with humans. Humans and coyotes don’t mix even though some call the coyote “god’s dog” or “song dog”. Coyote will survive! They are tryig to convice the BE Bear to move inland with them but the BE Bear is not sure she is done on the gulf coast yet.

As I write this the top-kill attempt to plug the Deep Horizon oil well has failed. BP is moving to cut the riser pipe and put a containment valve on top of the well. Hope it works as nothing has as of yet. The only good thing to come of this so far is that the President has put a 6 month moratorium on off-shore drilling which stops Shell Oil from drilling in the Chuckchi Sea. No technology exists to respond in a meaningful way to a spill in the arctic sea. The Blue-eyed bear is truly frightened that her land of origin will be that next disaster zone.

The Blue-eyed bear thinks this photo from the Mississippi delta now being soaked in oil says it all. BP how are you going to clean the dragonflies?

The Blue-Eyed Bear says swim away!

The BE Bear has taken to the waters of the Gulf to find the sperm whales that feed and calve near the deep water Mississippi River trench. She wants to tell them to swim away from the ever spreading discharge of the undersea oil geyser. But which way should the whales go? A report by the New York Times  suggests that NOAA is not doing enough to track the the deep sea dispersal of the oil. The research ship Pelican came back this past weekend and reported undersea plumes that were miles long and wide. But NOAA told those researchers to shut up. Thats not good! And its not like they didn’t know this could happen in 2003 the National Research Council came out with a report saying an undersea spill would not quickly rise to the surface and would probably form undersea plumes. Once again humans ignore what they can’t see. All the focus is on the coast but the main tragedy is in the deep ocean and no one is looking.

We also need to know how much oil is coming out of that pipe/hole. If Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle thinks it can be calculated then the BE Bear does too. BP needs to give access to the spill area to independent researchers and the government should insist on that point. But the BE Bear is not holding her breath on that point she thinks BP will resist and try to stop the geyser before any one gets a look. What the BE Bear also wants to know is what happens to all the gas that is coming out with the oil and what effect that may have on ecosystems. So many questions that little is being done to answer.

Other disturbing news is that the Oil is now in the loop current and headed for the Florida straits the keys and the white sand beaches of Cuba. Again this fact seems to be played down by the Gov’t. Though the State department is talking to Cuba. So someone must be concerned. The BE Bear is Concerned and may head down to the Florida Keys.

Only Ajaia ajaja can look.

Recent attempts to mitigate the flow of oil into the Gulf have failed and oil is coming ashore. The bear is tired and can’t look at the devastation. Rosey the Roseate Spoonbill is on the wing and her Eyes will see. She is Ajaia ajaja which sounds like a wail of despair or a cry of pain. In reality Ajaia ajaja is the genus and species name for the Spoonbill. It could also be the name of god. The spoonbill was sacred to the Ohio Hopewell people (200 BC to AD 300) and shows up in their bone and stone carvings. These carvings indicate a prehistoric connection between the Ohio River drainage and the Gulf coast. For that matter the Bear was also sacred to the Hopewell. What these animals meant to these ancient people is not known, but they obviously recognized two powerful spirits. Will these spirits survive intact?

Saving Clammy and Her Friends

The Blue-eyed Bear has made it to the Gulf Coast. Specifically she is somewhere on the bayous and wetlands of the Mississippi River delta. Her determination is to do what she can to help out the animals that could be affected by the oil disaster. She has decided to aim her efforts at rescue toward the bottom of the food chain by moving clams further up the delta and out of harms way.

Drop in the Bucket

Moving clams is hard work. You have to carefully scoop them out of the mud and then quickly get them to a new spot before they dry out. Fortunately, bear claws are the perfect clam scoop and  some new Friends are helping out. Clammy the clam informs the BE Bear as to where the endangered clam beds are and what areas would make good new beds. While, Rosie the Spoonbill helps the BE Bear navigate through the dense marsh grasses. Actually, the BE Bear is just doing the heavy lifting. She wonders if this attempt at rescue will make a difference or if its just a drop in the bucket compared to the destruction of the wildlife and their habitat that will happen as the oil comes ashore.  The Blue-eyed bear thinks maybe its best if it did all come ashore to relieve the impact on the deep sea animals that are suffering the effects of the oil right now. Petroleum will be in the food-chain for a long time to come. Because this disaster is energy related and will have such long range effects it seems it can only be compared to the Chernobyl disaster.

Oily Progression

The Blue-eyed Bear is making her way to the gulf coast to check out the effects of the oil spill for herself. Its a bit tricky to get there since she can’t ask her friends the Orcas to take her.

The BE Bear always loved food from the sea. On the Gulf coast there are mounds as big as houses of old clam shells, oyster shells, coquina shells, that are the remains of countless meals of Native Americans. People and animals have always counted on this clammy resource from the sea for millennium. Now it will be gone. Whether these little creatures will ever come back is unknown.

One day (April 26) your a happy clam minding your own business sucking in and spewing out Mississippi delta water.  Maybe adding on a layer or two of new calcium to your shell. Then in the distance (April 28) you see a haziness in the water. (Did you know that scallops have a row of little blue eyes and they can swim away from predators by jetting water out their shells). The haze looks ominous and the wind is blowing from the southwest. What’s a clam to do, you can’t move far if at all. Soon the haze is all around you and your clam buddies (May 1st). You suck water in but orange haze (oil) clogs your gills. You suck and suck, but you can breath. (If your having trouble imagining this, stick your head in a plastic bag and you’ll get the idea. Don’t try this without someone nearby to pull the bag off if you pass out cause its a lot like  water-boarding. Clams however have no one to pull them back from the edge). Your gills just get gooier and gooier and gooier and your dead. The BE Bear will let you know what she finds!