Above: 'Lighthouse in Winter' by Shawn Missig. Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, Headlands Beach State Park, 9601 Headlands Rd, Mentor, OH 44060.

When I was growing up there was a comedy album called, “Everything You Know Is Wrong'' - which seems to be very true. As we learn more about science and how nature works, a lot of what we were taught became outdated, and eventually, time strips away more and more of our misunderstandings. 

Photo: Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) by Laura Gooch, Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, 8701 Lakeshore Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44108.

The Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society stands in solidarity with the Black community. All across the U.S., and around the world, protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the brutal murder of George Floyd and countless others from the Black American community at the hands of the police. 

Photo by George Shuklin (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5521043

In order to keep birds of prey, our pets, and wildlife safe, Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society advises the use of covered snap traps for rodent control instead of rodenticide, a poison used to kill rodents. A rodent that has been exposed to rodenticide does not immediately die and may become prey to non-target wildlife, which typically results in the death of that animal. 

Over 200 species of bird have been documented as killed by collision with wind turbines. Passerines (i.e., songbirds) are most commonly reported, followed by raptors that hunt by day such as hawks, eagles and falcons. Although fatality rates for raptors may be lower compared to passerines, raptors are especially vulnerable to collisions due to their flight behaviors. Given the life history traits of raptors (i.e., long-lived and low reproductive rates) their populations are more at risk of decline from the number of different sources of impacts that affect these species on a daily basis. ~ U.S Fish and Wildlife Service

Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society (WCAS) supports the lawsuit filed by American Bird Conservancy and Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio.

Photo: Balloon at Mentor Marsh, 5185 Corduroy Road, Mentor, Ohio 44060 11/24/19. Photo credits: Becky Donaldson.

Photo: Kelly on Flickr. New York City US waterway.

No sitting on the fence! Discarded plastic curtesy of “Anagram”. A considerate note on this balloon warns that it must not be released outdoors in California ...... i suppose the rest of the planet is ok? I generally pick up one or two of these a week. https://www.flickr.com/photos/145360468@N05/48840217372/in/photolist-2hpQT4j-61H5Ch-b44wMK Ramsholt, Suffolk Coastal District, England

Photo: Balloon at Mentor Marsh, 5185 Corduroy Road, Mentor, Ohio 44060 11/24/19. Photo credits: Becky Donaldson.

Around the world, birds and other wildlife are picking up plastics mistaken as food and succumb from consuming the plastics or regurgitate the plastics, along with food, to their young who then die due to lack of nutrition or impaction of plastic in the digestive tract. ​

The public is invited Tues May 28th at 5:00 pm to attend the Cleveland Cuyahoga County City Council Meeting to witness the passage of historic legislation and celebrate this momenteus occasion - to ban single-use plastic bags in Cuyahoga County.

On May 28, 2019 Cuyahoga County Council will likely turn into law a ban on single use plastic bags as a means to transport purchased items in Cuyahoga County. This action is to address environmental public health for us and future generations. The ban will encourage recyclable bag use. At Wendy Park, Cleveland, Ohio Saturday, May 11, 2019.

“The Ohio Senate proposed Senate Bill 210, which would prohibit local government from regulating disposable containers. So, there you have it, there was an effort to reduce the plastic bags, but they moved forward on a state level, to prevent local governments from regulating disposable containers.”