News article from the Miami Herald - January 5, 2036

[Chipper Chat]

BIRD-SIGHTING IN GULF IS PROVEN FALSE (AP)
An eagle scout who said he witnessed a snowy egret in a tree where his troop was on a camping trip now believes that what he thought was a bird was probably just a speck on his protective gas mask. A spokesman for the Florida Wildlife Assn said officials were skeptical of the initial report as no egrets, pelicans, or terns have been seen off the Florida coast since the devastating oil spill of 2010 all but wiped out Florida's seabird population. The scout troop, which had been camping on one of the barrier islands despite environmental warnings, returned to Miami yesterday with recovered artifacts such as oil-crusted seashells and rotten but preserved-in-oil coconuts which grew until 2015 when all the trees suddenly died. In Washington, President Marco Rubio praised the scouts for their interest in preserving 'old-Florida history' - the way Florida used to be back in its heyday when tourism was the main industry and the rivers were full of edible fish. Florida's population has decreased by half since the oil spill. Florida retirees Justin and Kaitlyn McCollum worked at Disney World before its closure in 2017. They now live in New York City because (as ex-surferdude Justin put it) "we could no longer stand the constant stench of oil in the air and we are bird-lovers. NYC has such beautiful pigeons and starlings"

[cascadiance]

1. And we only have pigeons left then since they are actually robots from the planet Xenu...

As Thom Hartmann notes often...

[Lorien]

2. I saw a brown Pelican flying over a lake in Orlando yesterday

I've been here over 21 years and I've never seen a pelican so far inland. I'm guessing that the bird had figured out that freshwater fish are now about the only safe thing out there.

[Chipper Chat]

3. I never tire of watching pelicans dive for fish.

It is one of the pleasures of living on the Florida coast.