Page 26 - bon-dia-aruba-20220916

A26 u.s. news
Diabierna 16 September 2022

New atlas of bird migration shows extraordinary journeys

WASHINGTON (AP) — grate between the two loca-
A bay-breasted warbler tions. For example, ospreys,
weighs about the same as bobolinks and at least 12 oth-
four pennies, but twice er species migrate between
a year makes an extraor- Washington, D.C. and Fonte
dinary journey. The tiny Boa, Brazil.
songbird flies nearly 4,000
miles (6,437 kilometers) As new tracking data be-
between Canada's spruce comes available, the site will
forests and its winter- continue to expand. Melanie
ing grounds in northern Smith, program director for
South America. the site, said the next phase of
expansion will add more data
"Migratory birds are these about seabirds.
little globetrotters," said Jill
Deppe, the senior director Washington, D.C. resident
of the migratory bird initia- Michael Herrera started bird-
tive at the National Audubon watching about four months
Society. ago and was quickly hooked.
"It's almost like this hidden
A new online atlas of bird mi- world that's right in front of
gration, published on Thurs- your eyes," he said. "Once
day, draws from an unprec- you start paying attention, all
edented number of scientific these details that were like
and community data sources background noise suddenly
to illustrate the routes of from hundreds of scientific have meaning."
about 450 bird species in the studies that use GPS tags to
Americas, including the war- track bird movements, as Herrera said he's eager to
blers. well as more than 100 years learn more about the migra-
of bird-banding data col- tory routes of waterbirds in
The Bird Migration Explorer lected by USGS, community the mid-Atlantic region, such
mapping tool, available free science observations entered as great blue herons and great
to the public, is an ongoing into Cornell's eBird platform, egrets.
collaboration between 11 genomic analysis of feathers
groups that collect and ana- to pinpoint bird origins, and Georgetown's Marra hopes
lyze data on bird movements, other data. that engaging the public will
including the Cornell Lab help spotlight some of the
of Ornithology, Smithson- "The past twenty years have conservation challenges fac-
ian Migratory Bird Center, seen a true renaissance in dif- ing birds, including loss of
the U.S. Geological Sur- ferent technologies to track The site allows a user to en- and South America as a cal- habitat and climate change.
vey, Georgetown University, bird migrations around the ter a species — for instance, endar bar scrolls through the
Colorado State University, world at scales that haven't osprey — and watch move- months of the year. In the past 50 years, the popu-
and the National Audubon been possible before," said ments over the course of a lation of birds in the U.S. and
Society. Peter Marra, a bird migration year. For example, data from Or users can enter the city Canada has dropped nearly
expert at Georgetown Uni- 378 tracked ospreys show up where they live and click 30%, with migratory species
For the first time, the site will versity who collaborated on as yellow dots that move be- elsewhere on the map for a facing some of the steepest
bring together online data the project. tween coastal North America partial list of birds that mi- declines.

US charges man who threatened to crash plane into Walmart

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — company.
An airport worker who
flew a stolen airplane er- During Patterson's flight, he
ratically over north Mis- called 911 and said he intend-
sissippi and threatened ed to crash the plane into a
to crash into a Walmart is Walmart in Tupelo. He urged
now facing federal charg- the emergency operator to
es on top of state ones. get the store evacuated, ac-
cording to court records.
Cory Wayne Patterson, 29, of
Shannon, Mississippi, was ar- Police negotiators convinced
rested Wednesday on federal Patterson to land, but he
charges of destruction of an didn't know how. He was
aircraft and threats involving coached by a private pilot
destruction of aircraft, court said. He circled for five hours amination for his client. he was sick of living. into nearly landing at the Tu-
records show. Conviction on over unnerved Mississippi- pelo airport but he aborted
the first charge would carry ans before ending the flight Patterson remains in custody. "I picked Walmart because it the attempt at the last minute
up to 20 years in prison and safely in a soybean field near He was arrested after he land- would be quick and easy to and resumed the flight, au-
the second would carry up to Ripley, Mississippi, where ed the plane and was jailed on evacuate. I am not interested thorities said.
five years. police arrested him. state charges of grand larceny in hurting anyone," the note
and making terrorist threats. said. Patterson landed the plane
Before dawn Sept. 3, Pat- Patterson made a brief ap- near Ripley, Mississippi,
terson took a twin-engine pearance Wednesday before Federal court records include Patterson also wrote that about 85 miles (140 kilome-
Beechcraft King Air C90A U.S. Magistrate Judge David a hand-written note from Walmart is owned by billion- ters) southeast of Memphis,
from the airport in Tupelo, A. Sanders in Oxford. Patter- Patterson that an FBI agent aires who pay workers low Tennessee, and about 45
Mississippi, where he had a son's attorney, Tony Farese, testified he found in the wages and that the insurance miles (70 kilometers) north-
job fueling airplanes, police requested a psychological ex- plane. Patterson wrote that would cover any losses to the west of Tupelo.