durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, June 16, 2022 | 6 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 Aerial spraying in local parks to discourage spongy moths, also known as Lymantria Dispar Dispar (LDD) moths, may come as a relief to anyone who witnessed the widespread defoliation of trees last summer. The thought of spiny, hairy caterpillars crawling everywhere gives me the creeps, too, but I have an added response -- one of hope and expectation. That I may see black-billed cuckoos this summer. Maybe even yellow-billed ones! I hear cuckoos often -- their far-carrying, repeated "kukukus" and "ka-ka- ka-kowlps" coming from tangles in overgrown fields and forest edges. But these slim, brown, pale-bellied birds regularly perch unmoving in dense vegetation, hard to spot though they're a foot-long. If you're lucky enough to flush one you'll see its pointy wings and long tail as it flutters off. Yellowbilled cuckoos, less common in our part of Ontario than black-billed, have large white spots on their undertail feathers, and rufous wing patches visible in flight. Black-billed cuckoos have a red ring around their eyes. These shy, secretive birds happen to love eating bristly caterpillars, and being nomadic, tend to gather where there are outbreaks of forest tent caterpillars and fall webworms, as well as spongy moths, an invasive species introduced to North America in the 1860s. Physiologically unique, the cuckoos are able to regurgitate their stomach linings as a pellet when they get pierced by masses of caterpillar hairs, then regrow a new one. So while blue jays, orioles and rufous-sided to- whees readily feed on spongy moth larvae, and chickadees dine on their egg masses, cuckoos serve as a better natural control during outbreaks. Along with shrews, mice, voles, chipmunks, skunks, raccoons and squirrels, of course, and even bears. Another quirky feature of these cuckoos is how quickly their chicks mature, growing from naked hatchlings to flying juveniles in about 17 days. I've heard tell that their stubbly pin feathers unfurl all at once, in just a few hours! Instead of laying their eggs in other birds' nests, as Eurasian cuckoos and all cowbirds do, most black- and-yellow-billed ones raise their own young, in loose twig-grass-and-root-let nests often built not far from the ground. It's pretty amazing how they fly all the way from their wintering range in South America and somehow locate caterpillar outbreaks, a movable feast, here in far-off Ontario. Cuckoo numbers are decreasing, unfortunately, due to habitat loss from human housing and to pesticides hammering insect populations. Because they often fly low, cuckoos are struck by cars and trucks as well, and this spring a reader had one fly into a window. Nature queries: mcarney1490@gmail.com or 905- 725-2116. Metroland columnist Margaret Carney finds so much to discover and marvel at exploring the great outdoors. ELUSIVE CUCKOOS FEED ON SPONGY MOTHS MARGARET CARNEY Column To the editor: Durham Region council initiated the Envision Durham planning process in 2019. The intent was to figure out how the region can accommodate population growth while meeting goals for carbon emissions reductions, for protection of farmland and biodiversity, and for promotion of walkable complete communities. But on May 25, our elected officials ignored the Envision Durham report and its extensive public input to approve an alternate plan put forward by the Building Industry and Land Development Association. This plan, simply described as the BILD Scenario throughout the May 25 meeting, was opposed by the region's planning staff as well as by over 90 per cent of the citizens who submitted spoken or written presentations. Planning staff told councillors that the BILD scenario will make it difficult or impossible for the region to meet its climate goals, its goals for affordable housing, or its goals for efficient public transit. Yet a majority of councillors voted to approve the BILD scenario, which will convert 9,300 additional acres of farmland into suburban sprawl. Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster was among those who voted for the BILD proposal. Apparently most councillors don't think voters will notice or care that they scrapped a thorough planning study, funded by taxpayers, in favour of a plan from big developers and land speculators. As October's municipal elections approach, it's up to voters to show that we do care, and that we don't want our planning process outsourced to BILD. BART HAWKINS KREPS BOWMANVILLE HIGHWAYS ALLOWED IN GREENBELT To the editor: With all the concerns about highways in the Ontario Greenbelt people need to know that the original Greenbelt legislation specifically states that new provincial highways are permitted in these environmentally sensitive lands. Just look at Highway 407 East built under former Ontario Liberal governments. Place the blame where it lies: former Premier Dalton McGuinty and former Transportation Ministers Kathleen Wynne and Steven del Duca. JIM MCEWEN BOWMANVILLE PLANNING PROCESS 'OUTSOURCED' TO DEVELOPERS LETTERS & COMMENTARY Columnist Margaret Carney notes that cuckoos, "slim, brown, pale-bellied birds, regularly perch unmoving in dense vegetation." And they enjoy feasting on "bristly caterpillars," acting as a natural insecticide. Mike McEvoy photo SHY AND SECRETIVE