Naturally Kiawah Magazine Volume 38 | Page 18

react to hawks with absolute focus. A single peregrine can keep a flock of birds in the air for hours. Why? Because they are trying to get fat and the more weight they carry, the greater their vulnerability. People also pose a threat to shorebirds, keeping them from eating or roosting as they jog, walk their dogs, take photographs, or simply stroll. They can keep shorebirds moving for hours. The damage is decisive because the birds cannot eat, must expend valuable fat, and often expose themselves to predators that have little fear of people. Usually the beleaguered birds will just leave and use areas with less food or far greater threat from predators. People can do great harm to a stopover. But food and access to food can be managed. At first, it seems an impossible job, how can we find more protection 16 for shorebirds when it seems everyone clamors for smaller government. For me, in decades of work throughout the flyway from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego in Chile, the answer has always been the same: Ecological health depends on the community, and there is no better example than on Kiawah Island. Of course, communities must find support from the responsible agencies, and in this, the people of Kiawah benefit from the work of the Town of Kiawah’s wildlife biologists, Jim Jordan and Aaron Given. Add to that the work of South Naturally Kiawah