Audubon Oil Spill Response Team Update #5: Birds in harm’s way

I'm no stranger to the Gulf Coast, not just a warm body dropped in to assist with the ongoing oil disaster. This is personal for me.

See, I've been birding the Gulf Coast for nine years, since I was a college freshman in Texas. My first introduction was magical, an experience I've never forgotten, and in the years since, this spectacular mosaic of ecosystems and the birds that thrive in it have come to hold a very special place in my heart.

The same heart that now hurts so much.

Justin Nobel has posted a powerful account of last Friday's survey in Jefferson Parish, La., and Melanie Driscoll plans soon to share her thoughts from the day as well.

So this is my offering. In pictures, birds of beach and surf, all captured Friday as they went about their lives.

David J. Ringer
Mississippi River Initiative
National Audubon Society