Since 1980 I have been an…

Since 1980 I have been an avid boater and business operator on the St Laurence River in the 1000 Islands. I have now retired and made my home on this river. Early in the 1980's we saw the return of the Blue Heron, followed some years later by the Loon, both have continued a strong comeback of steady but slow growth. One day in the year 2005 I spotted what I first thought was a Loon diving for food but soon realized that this was a different bird as it floated lower in the water and when approached instead of diving it took off and flew up into a nearby pine tree, Loons do not do that, I knew right away that this was not a Loon but a rather strange bird only seen by me before in the Florida Everglades. Over the next few weeks this bird was joined by several more and they frequented the same area and the same tree. By the end of the summer that tree turned white and died along with all the vegetation on the ground below it. The following year their numbers increased by staggering amounts to the point where they outnumbered all other water foul in the area and took to roosting in the next standing pine trees. Today that little island and standing pines is totally destroyed with no chance of recovery for years to come. I can only conclude that the underwater destruction on bait fish and small game fish is suffering also as the fishermen are no longer coming to this beautiful area.