durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, April 7, 2022 22 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly- owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the newspaper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca newsroom@durhamregion.com facebook.com/newsdurham @newsdurham WHO WE ARE Vice President Dana Robbins Regional General Manager Anne Beswick Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Managing Editor Mike Lacey Director of Advertising Tanya Pacheco Director Distribution Jason Christie Director Creative Services Katherine Porcheron Durham Advisory Council Dan Carter; Esther Enyolu; Jake Farr; Dr. Vidal Chavannes; Cynthia Davis; Elaine Popp/Don Lovisa; John Henry; Sue McGovern; Kerri King; Steve Yamada; Kelly LaRocca; Peter Bethlenfalvy; Dr. Steven Murphy; Norah Marsh; Tracy Paterson; Chris Darling; Christina Curry CONTACT US This Week Phone: 905- 579-4407 Newsroom: 905-215-0462 Sales: 905-215-0424 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-579-2238 Web: www.durhamregion.com Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at durhamregion.com Delivery For all delivery inquiries, call 905- 579-4407 or visit the Contact Us page on durhamregion.com. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT DURHAMREGION.COM They're on their way, flying through the night. While you and I are sound asleep, lost in dreamland, millions of birds are flooding north in the darkness, following the stars. Radar screens literally go blue, picking up small feathered forms, until half the continent seems to be covered with clouds even in clear weather. Clouds of songbirds. Gazing at the full moon through a telescope was one way birders tried to judge how many birds were migrating in years past, watching the dots zip by. And listening for their flight calls. These days, new technologies, from using geolocator backpacks to tinier nanotags, are telling us amazing things about bird migration. That blackpoll warblers fly 3,500 kilometres nonstop across the Atlantic in 88 hours, for starters, and wood thrushes cross the Gulf of Mexico in 10. Of the 650 bird species nesting in North America, more than half are long-distance migrants, wintering in Central and South America and flying thousands of kilometres to breed, an exhausting, arduous trek. I love the German word zegenruhe, describing restless caged birds crowding to one side of their enclosures during normal migration periods, an innate response to take off. Why go to all that effort, using up precious fat and even muscle reserves in a single gruelling thrust? Why risk the danger of storms, food shortages en route, plus collisions with TV, cell and wind towers, skyscrapers, and the lethal window glass in billions of homes along the way? Ornithologists believe that if so many birds stayed near the equator year- round they'd soon devour most insect life, resulting in failed nesting and starvation. Commuting to temperate zones, as they have throughout the ice ages, gives them access to a great multitude of nesting sites and an explosion of hatching insects and caterpillars, protein for their young. Plus, long daylight hours to feed and raise them. Migrating songbirds produce an average clutch of four to six chicks, compared to one to two back in the tropics. And while hungry mouths are away, tropical insect populations rebound. Why do songbirds fly at night? For one thing, it's cooler for their pumping wings and muscles, plus often calmer. And under cover of darkness, songbirds are safe from swift-flying predators. Migrants tend to take off on a night's flight half an hour after sunset, and if all goes well, set down hundreds of kilometres north at dawn, in a sheltered habitat with lots of hatching midges, where they can rest and refuel. From now through the end of May, look for them in the early morning in trees in your yard! Nature queries can be sent to mcarney1490@gmail.com. Check out BirdCast.info for nightly forecasts of migrating birds heading to Canada. Metroland columnist Margaret Carney finds so much to discover and marvel at when exploring the great outdoors. WHILE WE SLEEP, 'CLOUDS OF SONGBIRDS' ARE WINGING TO DURHAM MARGARET CARNEY Column One of Durham's long-distance fliers, chestnut-sided warblers travel from Central America. Columnist Margaret Carney notes some birds travel incredible distances -- fast. She says blackpoll warblers, for example, fly 3,500 km nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 88 hours, while wood thrushes cross the Gulf of Mexico in a mere 10 hours. Mike McEvoy photo CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER WHITBY NEEDS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE To the editor: Re: 'Storm pushed the limits': Whitby IDs ways to improve snow response. This report is only a first step on a greater journey toward much needed improvement. In Queen's Common West (bounded by Des Newman/Dundas/ Rossland), the area south of Bonacord is the responsibility of the town, however the area to the north is the responsibility of the developer. This proximity led to a communication breakdown from Jan. 16 to 19 whereby the town believed it was the responsibility of the developer. Calls to the number provided on the town's website went unanswered. On Jan. 19, councillors Roy, Mulcahy and Shahid asked on Facebook what roads had not been plowed yet. After another debate on whose responsibility the area is, our area was finally addressed. This highlighted the need for a cultural shift within the town. There is a plan to improve communications but I hope it's not only a technological solution that the town is seeking. Sometimes it's as simple as having someone on hand. It boils down to customer service and responding in a way that meets the expectations of residents living in the internet era. The town should adopt a 'making the connection' service standard, whereby a resident that needs assistance should be helped. For example, when the town says it's the developer's responsibility, the town has better connections than a 1-800 number that all residents in unassumed areas already have -- the town should make the connection. Other issues that the report did not cover: protection for residents who live in unassumed areas -- who pay full tax but do not get full service; bridging the communications gap between the engineering, building and operations departments; fairness for taxpayers by rotating the circuits for tertiary roads; staggering staff start times to skirt the 14-hour deployment time; and, exploring outsourcing for plowing and becoming an oversight entity. The town keeps labelling this as a 15-to-20 year event but with climate change, storms of these kind will be more frequent. 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