Flying Eastern Meadowlark

NIkon D300s 300 f4 + 1.7X TC, f/9, 1/2000s, ISO 500, -.33 EC, cropped to 37%

I told myself I wasn't going to go to EPCAL today after work - but the clear blue skies and sunshine were calling and I couldn't resist. . . It was the same as it's been the past couple weeks - tons of Kestrels and a few other birds that are all annoyingly skittish but I had some success today including the Eastern Meadowlark seen in flight above.

In related news, The Town of Riverhead (owners of EPCAL) are suing the NYS DEC over new legislation regarding the Endangered Species Act.  Riverhead fears that the new regulations are too stiff and will make it impossible for them to sell the acreage available at EPCAL (and that's a bad thing...?).  For more information please see the story at News12 (sorry for those non-Cablevision subscribers who certainly will be blocked from accessing this).  An abridged version of the story reads below:

Riverhead sues DEC over endangered species regulations

(03/29/11) RIVERHEAD - The Town of Riverhead has filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Conservation over new regulations aimed at protecting endangered species, claiming they could place a financial burden on property owners.

Farmer Lyle Wells says before the new regulations, property owners would only have to buffer an area around endangered species, but now owners must hire a consultant to identify endangered species and monitor their growth forever. That could cost thousands of dollars a year.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter says the new regulations will kill jobs and complicate the town's efforts to sell 1,400 acres of property in Calverton. Walters also complains the rules were enacted without any public input.

Dick Amper, of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, says if Riverhead can't sell its land, it has only itself to blame.

"We've been protecting endangered species for 100 years, and no one has gone out of business as a result," he says.

To learn more about endangered species on Long Island and across the globe, pick up a copy of Carl Safina's The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World