Santa Cruz to consider double shot proposal, but birds are still too silly to not fly into tall stuff

Gee Jeff, I am glad he didn't quote me with my "Fabio" remark.

Here is a great example of what is wrong with journalism today. This yahoo actually took a post off a website chat room and used it for a "real" news story.

That is lazy, ignorant, and pretty darn pathetic if you ask me.

I know, it wouldn't make sense or anything to ask the many "experts" around here about how common this kind of opposition is or ask us to comment on the general "not in my back yard" attitude toward amusement parks. If he would have, we would have given him examples about how this happen pretty much everywhere.

Too bad he didn't quote leodude's second post. That would've been classic.

I think they should simply tear down the entire city and let it revert back to its original state. ;)

The writer is a weenie.

That article was soooooo dumb and lame. Those santa cruz folks that are opposing fun just don't know what's going on. If birds fly in to the tower oh well!

get serious....hug a tree then in a different direction then .Let Cruz do what they want to ..... DO I hear alittle overboard on this one???

"Another Coasterbuzz member stated that he wished the park would install something called M:TR, and a third member responded that he'd like to see pancake stands. The park is looking into these options."

It'd be great if the Lemon Chill guy made the paper, too, Den.

Are we to believe that birds, in their infinite migratory and navigatory wisdom, will somehow NOT SEE a giant tower and smack straight into it? A bird who's just flown from Canada to Mexico, avoiding trees and utility poles and jet aircraft ... It's not like our feathered friends use a HIGHWAY ... they don't file flight plans ... they can do pretty much what they darn well please, and I kind of think smacking into a double shot tower would NOT be on their TripTik....

And since when do migratory birds use heavily populated urban areas for their travel anyway? Most birds I know of don't like people, or loud noises, or sudden movements.... Sure, you'll have your house sparrows and starlings and pigeons and mourning doves like you do in any populated space, but does anyone honestly believe that migratory birds would be afftected?

What a lame-o excuse!

And a LOL to themer2 .. your tree-hugging comment gave me a visual of Coaster Buzzers hugging a double shot tower instead.

Actually, you guys really need to do more research.

Tall towers are one of the biggest threats to bird migrations. It's not that they "don't see a giant tower and smack into it," but the tower blinks bright lights due to airspace laws, and that confuses the birds, because birds migrate using the stars. Or, if the lights are too bright, birds are "sucked into" the light. Seen moths get drawn to your porchlights? Same happens to birds with tower lights. Even if they don't smack into the tower, they continue to fly around it, and become exhausted until they cannot fly further, and die of exhaustion.

And though the birds aren't really using urban areas on the ground, they definitely are flying over them. Most bird migration is done at night, high above the cities. During migration, birds only reach the ground to feed, during the daytime.

I mean, I agree that the article was very badly written. And though I'm a birdwatcher, I am not an environmentalist at all. And I'd sure love a great new ride, especially at the Boardwalk. But despite that, the residents of Santa Cruz do have a valid argument.

We invite that as population control here. The North Coast is overrun with those damn poop machine Canada Geese, for really most of the time between spring and summer. Somehow, amazingly, despite the 420-foot Dragster, three 300-foot rides, and a host of others ranging from 100 to 200 feet, there are no birds dropping out of the sky.

Canada Geese usually use coastlines or large rivers as routes, and so are not as fazed by lighted towers. And you would probably see more dead birds if you got to the base of the towers on the rides at sunrise. Again, birds don't migrate by day, most would be killed during the night. You won't see any crashing into the towers during the day.

http://www.towerkill.com/ is an okay site. Not the most in-depth, you can certainly find more scientific pages, but that's just an overview.

Trust me... the ride crews are not cleaning up dead birds in the morning.

This is one great letter. it was in the Santa Cruz Sentinel today:

Everyone should agree with this

Cut trees, save birds
I read with interest the article concerning the Double Shot Boardwalk ride and the risk to migratory birds. Bravo ... this ride should never be built. But this protective step certainly does not go far enough. Potentially, tens of thousands of migratory birds are killed every year in our county due to eucalyptus and redwood tress that grow much too high. I suggest leveling these two species as an added safety precaution. Of course, the city should first conduct an exhaustive analysis of whether the remaining tree species are adequate to meet the housing needs of our local non-migratory bird residents. If not, we should encourage the planting of short-growth public tree housing as quickly as possible.

KARL SCHAFER-JUNGER

SANTA CRUZ

Now there's someone who has their priorities in order (and I thought us enthusiasts were bad). Now I know where the term *bird brain* comes from.

Wood - anything else is an imitation

Talk about weird... as I was reading this very thread... a bird smacked into my living room window... I'm thinking I should go buy a bunch of lottery tickets now...

-Escher

come on seriously , this is so crazy.like all birds are going to carelessly make sure that they fly right in to this tower.Yes And Bet that All rides that are placed in hundreds of amusement parks and theme parks are racking up thousand of piles of dead birds that are flying into these towers.I can see the new papers headlines." Thousands of birds falling from the skys do to towers over 50 feet tall."And you will find this article right after the Micheal Jackson article. Or maybe even better yet,, PARIS HILTON!!!!!!!

When are the parks that have these towers already gonna realize the gold mine at their feet? With so many seagulls and pigeons flying into towers, coaster supports, lighthouses, and phone poles, shouldn't there should be a lot more squab stalls? Hot, toasted birdie on a stick...yum.

-CO

Costaplaya, that sounds tastier than the Puyallup Fairs Krusty Pups!(no,I am not making this up)