Rare bird’s appearance draws crowds, boosts economy


Jason Nark reports for Philly.com

BB, a black-backed oriole, flew around, perched on branches, and ate orange slices and peanuts for several weeks in Berks County, causing a small economic boom.

One man, when he heard about the wayward bird, dropped everything and drove straight through from Nebraska.

All told, 1,824 people from 35 states, plus the United Kingdom and Canada, came to Lower Heidelberg Township, Berks County, for a few months earlier this year to catch a glimpse of the black-backed oriole from central Mexico that shouldn’t have been there. Not a few members of the species. Just one black-backed oriole. 

Most of these people stood in Tom Binder’s driveway in a sprawling development where all the streets are named after Monopoly properties.

“People really went nuts over this bird,” Binder said this week.

BB — a bird with a nickname and a Facebook page — generated $223,000, “or about $3,000 per day over 67 days,” in global spending, according to a study released last month by the University of New South Wales in Australia.

“I’ve always wondered how much money is generated by this unique and unpredictable part of birding — vagrant bird chasing — given the number of people who sometimes travel long distances to see an individual bird outside its normal range,” said Corey Callaghan, the study’s author and a Ph.D. candidate at the school.

“This was a rare opportunity to find out, and our study reveals just how much people are prepared to pay. There are dozens of similar events around the world each year.”

People booked flights, frantically, and hotels. They bought coffee at Sheetz.

The oriole arrived in a bird feeder on Indiana Avenue on Jan. 26. The owner didn’t recognize the species, took a picture, and sent it off to a friend familiar with ornithology. Soon, the word spread and the crowds came. The black-backed oriole had only been seen once before in the United States, in San Diego, but it was deemed to be an escapee.

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Friends of PSEG sneaking a big one through NJ Legislature?

Details of bill not yet made public, so no clue as to how much utility customers will have to pay to keep nuclear plants afloat


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

After months of behind-the-scenes lobbying, a bill to provide Public Service Enterprise with subsidies to keep its nuclear power plants open is apparently in the legislative hopper.

The bill (S-3560) presumably filed late evening yesterday, is not yet public on the Office of Legislative Services website (as of 7:40 this morning), so how much utility customers will have to fork over to subsidize the three plants in South Jersey is not yet known.

Nevertheless, it appears there will be a joint legislative hearing of the bill by Senate and Assembly committees some time next week, amid predictions the legislation will likely be taken up and approved by both houses in the final two sessions of the lame-duck Legislature in early January.


Senate President Stephen Sweeney is the sponsor.

PSEG is pushing the bill, threatening to close its plants if the state does not provide lucrative financial incentives as New York and Illinois have done to avert the shutdown of nuclear units in those states. The nuclear industry is facing steep economic challenges in competing against cheap natural-gas plants.

But the subsidies are opposed by a broad coalition of business groups, energy competitors, consumer advocates, and environmental organizations. They argue PSEG has failed to prove the plants are not profitable and question why utility customers should bail them out.

It is not clear how much PSEG is seeking to prop up the plants, but opponents say the cost could run as much as $300 million or more a year for as long as a decade. If the ratepayer subsidies are too high, clean-energy advocates fear it will crowd out investments in renewable-energy alternatives, such as solar and wind power.

The lack of information left the Statehouse awash in rumors yesterday over a process that was remarkably opaque even for a lame-duck session. Typically well-informed lawmakers acknowledged not knowing details in the bill.


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An ancient discovery guaranteed to make your scalp itch

National Geographic reports:Scientists discovered a dinosaur feather encased in pieces of Cretaceous-era amber, with a tick tangled up in the plumage. It’s the first direct evidence that ticks afflicted dinosaurs and primitive birds. One of the ticks was engorged with blood when
it died, but the chances of extracting dino DNA are extremely low.

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Pennsylvania’s vast, privately owned forestlands imperiled







Jason Nark reports for Philly.com:

With about 58 percent of its 28.6 million acres covered in forest, Pennsylvania still honors its namesake, “Penn’s Woods,” as one of the more heavily-wooded states in the country. The largest forests are several hours’ drive from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in north-central Pennsylvania, in counties like Elk, Cameron and Clinton, but unbroken canopies roll across the horizon from all of the state’s big highways.
It’s often assumed that most Pennsylvania forestland is owned and protected by the state, the federal government, or nonprofit conservancies. But clues on country roads, the thousands of “No Hunting” signs tacked to trees and gated gravel roads, reveal what makes Penn’s Woods unique: Nearly three-quarters of it is privately owned. And in a myriad of ways, endangered.
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Jersey City hires law firm to fight Liberty State Park marina

By Ron Zeitlinger

The Jersey Journal

Jersey City is not sitting back and waiting to see how the proposed development of Liberty State Park plays out.
The city announced this morning that it has hired the law firm of Riker Danzig, Scherer, Hyland, & Perretti, LLP to protect Liberty State Park against the development of a new marina.

The Jersey Journal reported last week that Suntex, which operates Liberty Landing Marina on the north side of the park,
has a proposal before the state Department of Environmental Protection to lease 45 acres of the the south side of the park to open another marina; and to expand the existing marina by 10 acres.
“Once again, the Christie Administration has proven their utter disregard for the importance of public parks in New Jersey,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said. “This development is one that would drastically change the landscape of one of the state’s best public parks, and to add insult to injury, has progressed up until this point behind closed doors.
“This lack of integrity has become business as usual, and this time, one of our best public assets will suffer unless we as a city fight back.”
City officials said the law firm will pursue legal options against the proposed marina, citing a misalignment between the proposed use and the original purpose of the public park, as well as safety concerns for residents and local wildlife.
The contract with the firm is not to exceed $25,000, according to a resolution on the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting.
“We are immensely grateful to Mayor Fulop for delivering the legal resources necessary to protect the south side of Liberty State Park for the public to continue to picnic, fish, walk and
enjoy unblemished views of the New York Harbor freely,”
Greg Remaud, deputy director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, said
in a statement.
Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, has been vocal in his opposition to the proposal. He organized a rally in the park on Dec. 2 to show state leaders the immense local opposition to the plan.

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France’s Macron to Trump: Up yours, but with politeness

France’s President Emmanuel Macron meets with former U.N. Secretary-Generals
Kofi Annan (left) and Ban Ki-moon (right) at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday.AP photo



Richard Gonzales reports for NPR:

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump, has awarded long-term research grants to 18 climate scientists — 13 of them U.S.-based researchers — to relocate to France and pursue their work with the blessing of a government that doesn’t cast doubt on the threat of climate change.

The announcement Monday makes good on a pledge Macron made earlier this year after the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate accord to offer France as a “second homeland” to climate researchers in order to “make our planet great again.”

Macron’s appeal produced 1,822 applicants, nearly two-thirds from the United States. Candidates had to have a proven track record on climate research and propose a project that would take three to five years to complete. That period roughly matches Trump current term in office.

Trump has proposed cuts in federal funding for scientific research. As Macron told the winners of the French grants, “we will be there to replace” U.S. support for climate research.

One of the winners, Camille Parmesan of the University of Texas at Austin, told the Associated Press that the French offer “gave me such a psychological boost, to have that kind of support, to have the head of state saying I value what you do.”

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