Berry College S'Cap Of The Day, Norfolk Airport Rant, Bald Eagle Camellia

Here's the Berry College babies today, before the weather got bad. Some kind of prey item to the left:

I have said for years that it is not safe to fly in or out of the Norfolk Airport due to their unwillingness to address their problems with wildlife on their property. The number of birds at the airport is increasing and the number of bird strikes is on the rise. Check out this article and watch the video. Steven Sterling, the airport's Operations Director, is interviewed for the article. Talk about deer in the headlights. This guy is tap-dancing about the issue, and not doing a very good job of it. The article points out that the airport has not implemented corrective measure as recommended by biologists and the FAA. Instead, they have spent $40,000 to harass the Bald Eagles (whose territory is the neighboring Botanical Garden) and tear down their nests. Sterling says they are doing what is reasonable. He states that complying with the necessary action on airport property is the airport's long term goal. What isn't stated is that what they really want is to put in a new runway. (This part is not from the news story, this is my opinion on the matter: I believe that wetlands rules have prevented them from making the changes necessary to put in another runway. But now they can sell these changes under the guise of mitigating a hazard to aviation by removing habitat that is friendly to wildlife. And what a surprise! That would give them room for their new runway. In the mean time, they do nothing about the hazard presented by wildlife on their property. I think this has been their plan all along. Let the problem at the airport fester until they can sell the idea that gets them their runway. They are holding the flying public's safety hostage to get their new runway. They have been trying for a decade to get this runway, and now they see their chance.) The airport is completely negligent. And Mayor Fraim must want another runway because he is complicit in the negligence. (See my previous posts.) I have said from the start of this mess that the airport needs to take action to keep wildlife off of airport property instead of chasing the Bald Eagles out of the Botanical Garden. From the article: 

Bird counts at the airport noted only a handful of bald eagles in the area, but more than a thousand heavy and dangerous birds like the Canada goose and the Double-crested cormorant.

I continue my recommendation to not use that airport! It's just not safe. The last bit of the news article says that Bald Eagles are becoming more abundant in the area. Ummm, when a wrote a letter years ago to the airport, Mayor Fraim, and Norfolk's City Council, I told them that's what would happen when you remove a territorial pair of Bald Eagles that chase other Bald Eagles away... What a bunch of idiots.

Good news! The reports of the demise of Camellia's transmitter are greatly exaggerated! He did report in. The hope is that when the clouds clear, his transmitter will get enough of a charge to start regularly sending his location again. Talons crossed!