S.F. to study birds to keep America's Cup afloat

Sounds like a good use of tax dollars.

To keep the big America's Cup contest afloat, San Francisco has agreed to spend $150,000 to study whether the racing boats - and their towering sails - will scare birds on the bay.

The study, which will be conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, is part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by a group that included former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.

"It's not that we're trying to head-shrink the birds," said Mike Lynes of the Golden Gate Audubon Society. "But when they take off because they are frightened, they expend energy, and that can affect their health."


Read more: S.F. to study birds to keep America's Cup afloat - SFGate

 

For Americans that give a shit about wildlife and realize that it can not be replaced, it is.

 

For Libs preoccupied by wealth envy it is too.

 

I'm not totally filled in on the details, but if the expenditure of energy from taking off due to being startled is the biggest concern...

 

I fail to see how expending energy because they're startled is going to kill birds. Are they nesting when they're startled? I mean, I can see if the boats are killing them or butchering their nest sites, but saying it's harmful to a bird's health to fly away when startled is a [pretty gosh danged dumb] reason to "study" anything.

How much hell has been raised over windmills killing birds? I'm asking because I don't know, this isn't bait.

 

I say retrain the birds to swim away rather than fly.

 

a lot

 

Good because I would think those are more dangerous than a startled bird flying away.

 

I think preserving state parks and wildlife are good things, I do think they go about ass backwards sometimes

 

I don't know enough about those species to really say whether this is or is not frivolous. But I don't think it deserves to be ridiculed in ignorance.

 

I think this can be ridiculed unless this is some kind of sloth bird:

 

Right; because they have never seen boats in the SF Bay before.

 

migrating birds push their reserves to the absolute limit. The difference between making it to Central or South America or not can come down to disurbance events at major rest stops.

I know, science. Who gives a shit?

 

I have faith in a bird's ability to survive if they have to fly an extra 15 or 20 ft.

 

San Francisco wants to spend a measly 150K on this. San Francisco residents are probably okay with it. If they weren't, they would probably have been outraged by enough things before now to know that is not the city they should be living in.

 

This is the city that has more households with pets than kids (or something like that, you get the idea), so I'm not overly shocked by this.

 

Funny how they didn't have a problem with it until those rich people in their fancy yachts came to town how.

They wanted to block the race and compromised when it became apparent they would lose.

 

I'm not sold on the wealthy envy angle. Who really gives a crap that much?

 

Perhaps better cardo workouts would help the migrating birds.

 

They fly for days straight. Can't beat that kind of cardio. It is a calorie/food issue.