The effect of the Gulf disaster on Midwestern birds

As black crude continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, contaminating some of the continent's richest wildlife habitat, officials fear an oily death could await untold numbers of the state's beloved 12,000 loons and other commonly seen birds in Minnesota such as great blue herons, white pelicans, spotted sandpipers, egrets and ducks when they migrate south in a few months...

An estimated 13 million ducks and 1.5 million geese winter along the Gulf Coast. Blue-winged teal and wood ducks will begin flying south from Minnesota as soon as August. Sandpipers start migrating next month. Loons depart in late October or November...

"It's like a slow-moving train wreck, and the brakes haven't been applied,'' said Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C. "This is a disaster in which we're almost helpless to do anything.''

"We are bracing for what could be a catastrophe,'' said Stacy Craig, LoonWatch Program coordinator in Wisconsin.