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The AIH Transcript for May 5, 2017

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

Chris Howden: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden, sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

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CH: Tonight:

The Life aquatic. as the rain continues in Quebec, streets on Montreal’s West Island look more like lakes. But despite an imminent evacuation order, our guest has opted to stay put, rather than play the wading game.

CH: A berd in the hand. United Arab Emirates has a shortage of fresh water, so naturally, it plans to select a choice iceberg in Antarctica and simply tow it ten thousand kilometers north.

CO: It may or may not be the little things in life. A recent study suggested tiny “microbeads” were harming fish. But now, the study has been retracted because there were particular problems with how it examined the particulate problem.

CH: Her last shot. Four years after U.S. Army specialist Hilda Clayton died in a mortar accident in Afghanistan. Her final photograph of the explosion that killed her has been released.

CO: The not mating game. When female dragonflies are subjected to unwanted advances from male dragonflies, they don't just refuse to get busy. They get totally un-busy, falling out of the air and feigning that they've kicked the bucket.

CH: And… not on the same page. Our guest last night sternly criticized the cute little book borrowing centers in people's yards called “Little Free Libraries”. But tonight, the founder of the nonprofit pumps up the volumes. As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that assigns these stories to our shelving unit.

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Part 1: Quebec flood, microbeads retraction, Little Free Library follow-up

Quebec flood

Guest: Jean Ouellette

CH: “It's the most serious flood in decades. And it's only going to get worse.” Those are the words of Quebec’s public security minister Martin Coiteux today, about the rainfall and flooding in his province. He says the floods will last not hours or days, but weeks. The Quebec government has asked the federal government for assistance from the Canadian Forces, which was approved earlier today. One of the hardest hit areas in Montreal is Ile Mercier, off the city's West Island. Jean Ouellette lives there and we reached him earlier today.

CO: Where are you right now Jean?

JEAN OUELLETTE: I'm in my kitchen living room I just had a meal at my neighbors and I had a good chai — a good tea — and now I'm with my friends and my brother-in-law and we're going to get back to work. I was upset this morning because we just wanted sandbags so we could keep fighting.

CO: What happened this morning?

JO: Well this morning, they closed off the bridge we cannot cross anymore with any vehicle. They have been delivering sandbags to us.

CO: And there's only one bridge onto the island isn't there?

JO: Yeah, it's a small island. The closed off the road, so there was no more sandbags coming in. So basically they were just kind of condemning us and just they told us to evacuate and abandon our houses. Some people are already under water and I understand. But you're still OK, we have to keep fighting. So it was a little upsetting not to be able to get any help. Not only not to be able to get help, but to get hindrance.

CO: What do you mean hindrance?

JO: We can't cross the bridge. They said now the city doesn't give, which isn’t true. We went to the city, the city said firepersons cannot bring the bags anymore because they are in charge. We said we just want the bags and we'll bring them ourselves. So the city was very cooperative. They helped us. And then, we managed with pickups to get the pallets that they delivered to us on the other side of the bridge.

CO: How did you do that?

JO: A bunch of us just took the bags across and delivered it to ourselves and who ever needed it. And we helped each other.

CO: Across the bridge?

JO: Yeah.

CO: So you weren't worried about the fact that they're saying the bridge wasn't safe?

JO: This is it, maybe it’s not safe for very high loads. But with the light pickup it was OK. We just basically want to keep fighting to save our houses because some people are higher than I am and they just need maybe 100 bags and they save the house. So this is it.

CO: What are you doing to save your house?

JO: Well, we just built a wall around it like a dam.

CO: Have you had any water get in so far?

JO: Well, water seeps in through the foundation because of the internal pressure. It comes in from under, but I have three pumps running right now and you just throw it out. So we're not dry, I can't have a coffee in my basement. But I’m not flooded.

CO: But you said that you want to get back to work. What are you what are you working at? What are you trying to do in order to keep your house safe?

JO: We have to monitor the levels around the house basically. This morning, there was about one foot of leeway, if you wish, of bags over the water. So I want to keep ahead of the water. I don't want to be chasing the water. So now we can relax a little bit. That's why I'm more calm. I had a chi, but we can't relax too much. We have to keep at it. And for some neighbors it's more urgent, so we have to go help where the water is catching up basically. If it ever gets all that water comes in the house, then we’ll just surrender. No worries.

CO: And if the water is in the house, you’ll leave?

JO: Of course.

CO: Jean, you sound like someone who is very self-sufficient. You're in charge, you're very calm. What have you seen some of your neighbors? Are some people pretty stressed out? I would say most people are cool. Most of them have seen floods before. Some of them have been living here for a long time. There was a little bit intensity this morning, like I was saying. Myself, I was pretty pissed off like I was going across the bridge and the chief of the fire department told me I was looking at you coming and the way you were walking, I could see you were pissed off. So we had reasons to be, but most of the people are actually very cool.

CO: Did you have a chance to speak with Mayor Coderre?

JO: Yeah, just briefly. He told me that they will not cut the power and they would supply sandbags.

CO: Because people were very angry about this sandbag issue. Did they give Mayor Coderre a piece of their mind?

JO: Some of them. For some people it comes out differently. Yeah, I’m OK. I was pissed off I had a few [Speaking: French]. I got my point across and I was right. And when you're right and people know it, we come to reason.

CO: What will happen over the weekend since you're going to get more rain? What are you watching for?

JO: We’re just going to watch the water level with the bags and it's heavy work. But you know, it’s like you do the work now or you do it after. I try to do it now and save the house rather than have a big headache.

CO: Jean, It's good to talk to you. I hope you stay high and dry this weekend. I admire your spirit. Thank you.

JO: OK, thank you very much. It was a pleasure talking to you.

CO: Bye bye.

JO: Bye bye.

CH: Jean Ouellette lives on Ile Mercier, off of Montreal's West Island. That's where we reached him.

[Music: Inide rock]

Microbeads retraction

Guest: Fredric Jutfelt

CH: Microbeads are those little plastic pellets you find in exfoliating scrubs and cleansers that leave your face feeling silky and smooth. They also damage aquatic ecosystems when you wash them down the drain. Well, according to one widely reported study published last year in the journal “Science,” fish even find those microbeads more appetizing than their regular food. That research added to a growing body of evidence suggesting micro plastics should be banned from using cosmetics. But this week, science retracted that study. Frederick Jutfelt is a marine scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. We reached him in Trondheim, Norway.

CO: Professor Jutfelt, what was so significant about this study when it was published last year?

FREDRIC JUTFELT: Well, they claim to show that fish had strong behavioral abnormalities after being exposed to micro plastics for a couple of weeks. And this was in fish larvae and perch larvae. And that the effects were that they couldn't detect predators and they were also eaten at a higher frequency than control fish.

CO: This is a groundbreaking kind of a study isn't it?

FJ: Yes, definitely. So it did get a lot of attention because of these things. And of course, not being able to detect or avoid predators is very important for fish. So it could potentially have a great significance for wild fish.

CO: How did you come to realize this study was flawed?

FJ: Well, me and my close collaborator, Josephine, we worked in the same room as this experiment was being conducted and we collaborated with the first author. Dr. Lonnstedt was also a friend and a close collaborator. So we had a pretty good idea what the experiment was about.

CO: And what were the claims that you found were wrong?

FJ: Well basically, when we read the paper and the details of the method description nothing was accurate. All of the details were made up. So for example, the exposure duration we know that the researcher was only there for 10 days. But the duration of exposure was three weeks. We also know that it was only six beakers containing these perch and in the paper it said it had 30 beakers as replicates. When my colleague Josephine and I worked on like the Pike, the predator of these perch larvae — the small perch — we gave a few or a spare pike to the researcher. And so we know we only gave them about five Pike and in the paper it was claimed that about 50 to 60 Pike were used.

CO: So what do you conclude about this? Was it just sloppy work or what?

FJ: No, it's way past sloppy work. It's completely fabricated and this is also verified because we asked for the raw data when it was published because we thought maybe parts of it were conducted somewhere else or it was somehow done in a different place at a different time. But we repeatedly requested the raw data and we were not sent the raw data, we were given various excuses. And then the one of the messages after 10 days of trying to get the raw data was that the laptop was stolen with the backups. So there was no more real data to be found anywhere.

CO: You say that one of the researchers and this was a friend and a colleague. This wasn’t some university some distance away where you didn't know anybody. These were people you knew. How difficult was it for you to actually call them on this?

FJ: yeah, it took about a day. At first, me and Josephine discussed the discrepancies between what we saw and what was what was actually done when we read the paper immediately. And I mean we saw it the first day it was out. And then we said oh, we can't really do anything about it. And the next hour we thought well it's ridiculous. It's completely made up; we have to do something about it. But then we argued back and forth. But after a day or so we realized that we have to do something about it. We had to report it.

CO: And why do you think your colleague did it?

FJ: It's always impossible to speculate on someone else's motive. But in general, in science, there is a high pressure on young researchers to produce a lot of papers and produce a lot of the high impact papers. So a paper in science like this is the highest prestige thing young researchers can do so. So there is a pressure on researchers to publish in high impact journals.

CO: But I mean there’s cutting corners and then, as you say, just wholly fabricating something. In this case where this had huge influence on people and their decisions. It probably was it went farther than anything to do to support the case for banning microbeads in cosmetics and then in all kinds of products.

FJ: I've heard that argument too. I'm not sure it had such a major impact because I think it was on the tail end of that realisation that micro plastics are everywhere in waterways. I think it was more surfing on the wave of the discussion about plastics rather than causing it. So I'm not sure it had such an impact on policy that some people think. There are already so many papers showing them that plastics in the environment are doing all kinds of damage to animals.

CO: Just finally science is under attack these days. There's been efforts to discredit the value of research especially when it affects commercial interests. What damage does this do to the credibility of science do you think?

FJ: That is something that we considered of course, and it is important. But I think in some people's eyes it might be evidence that science is fraudulent. In my view, this is the proof that science is working. The scientific process is always cleaning out faulty conclusions and bad methodology. And like in this case, fraudulent papers. I think this is proof of that process working.

CO: Professor Jutfelt, good to talk to you. Thank you.

FJ: Thank you very much.

CO: Good night.

FJ: Good night.

CH: Frederick Jutfelt is a marine scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. We reached him in Trondheim, Norway. The government of Canada declared microbeads a toxic substance last year and many cosmetics companies have begun to phase out their use. The lead author of the retracted paper, Oona Lonnstedt has defended her work but in a statement to the journal “Nature”, she said she requested science retract the study because quote, “Science has to rest on solid ground and the results of this study, even if they are correct, will not be trusted as long as a suspicion of misconduct remains.” Unquote.

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Little Free Library follow-up

Guest: Todd Bol

CH: To some, a Little Free Library is a simple concept. Quote, It's about sharing books. It's fun and it's free.” Unquote. Well others see it as quote, “harmless, well-heeled liberal pseudo-intellectual wankery.” Unquote. Those are just two of the many responses we got after speaking last night to Jane Schmidt. She's a Toronto librarian who's challenging the nonprofit group that distributes the birdhouse-like book exchange boxes. Ms. Schmidt points out that many of the boxes are located in well-to-do neighborhoods, not in the so-called “book deserts” the little free library purports to help. And she worries they may undermine political support for public libraries. Todd Bol is the founder of The Little Free Library nonprofit. We reached him in Hudson, Wisconsin.

CO: Mr. Bol, we've had a flood of comments about Little Free Library since our interview. Many people are very attached to them. But, as we've just heard, one of our listeners Allison McKay she says the phenomenon is harmless well-heeled liberal pseudo-intellectual wankery. What do you say to that?

TODD BOL: That’s a lot of things to be said. You know Little Free Libraries has been around just about five years and it's taken off across the globe. And we have over 55,000 Little Free Libraries across the planet. And we consistently hear people say that I've met more people in the last two or three days with the Little Free Library than I have in 20 years. I’ve met more neighbors that we've ever met. People are sharing books and sharing ideas and they're doing all kinds of really cool things with little free libraries.

CO: Now you speak on your website of, this is quote, “watering ‘book deserts’ and bringing books to places that don't have many.” The librarian we spoke with last night, Jane Schmidt, she crunched the numbers in two Canadian cities: Toronto and Calgary. And what she found is that most little free libraries are in places where people are financially quite comfortable and well-schooled and have access to libraries and also probably the money to buy the books. What “book deserts” are you serving?

TB: Well, I agree with what she's saying and what happens is people listen to radio programs like this or read about us and they put up Little Free Library in front of their house. And then what they do is they start to reach out and they start to put the Little Free Libraries maybe at the laundromat at a high needs neighborhood. And it starts expanding more and more and as it gets more mature in a community it starts to go to higher needs neighborhoods. And also, we have an impact fund where people apply every month — thousands sometimes — and we give out Little Free Libraries to high needs neighborhoods as much as we can. And we strive to give in more and more diverse neighborhoods everywhere.

CO: I saw on your website the solicitation for contributions for the impact fund. It's also, as I understand a $40 to register as a Little Free Library. You say there's 55,000 of them. What do you do with all that money?

TB: I've never been asked that. But you know we do the best we can to run programs. We have a program called Action Book Club. We try to put them in communities of high need as much as possible and distribute to libraries. All that money is not a lot of all that money.

CO: Well with 55,000 at $40 each, I was just wondering what you did with it.

TB: That's fine.

CO: The other thing Ms. Schmidt points out is that she's quite worried book exchanges might tempt politicians to cut funding for public libraries. And she cites a small town in Texas that's actually installed five Little Free Libraries and then said that they were not going to be funding the library system in a place near El Paso. And she's worried that this idea that you know citizens can do it for you, which is a phenomenon in many places and that politics shouldn't be involved in these kinds of things. And that the public funding gets withdrawn. What do you say to her?

TB: I say that's horrible. We support libraries probably as much — if not more — than anybody else. We're partners with the Library of Congress. We've won the American Library Association Movers and Shakers Award. And as far as we're concerned, libraries are the great last bastion of community and community coming together and anything we could do to encourage the public library is big for us. And if anybody ever used the little teeny library with 20-30 books in it to compare us to the big library and say that they shouldn’t have that seems absurd.

CO: Well, maybe I didn't see it on your website; I perused it quite a bit. But maybe I missed where you give that shout out for public libraries. Something that Jane Schmidt is saying would be very useful if people would go visit a branch of the libraries encourage others to do that. Contact their politicians and tell them to continue to support libraries. Do you have that on your website?

TB: We certainly have quotes from a variety of libraries and librarians. One being Nancy Pearl, who is one of the key librarians here in the United States, that says that if you love books, you love Little Free Library and absolutely, the more that we can do that the better.

CO: And do you have that or might you put that somewhere on your website?

TB: In the drawing board, we’ve got a couple of prototypes. We have a stamp that says if you join enjoyed this book go check your local library for a greater selection.

CO: Now you've got a part of the website that is where people can purchase these Little Free Libraries. They're quite extraordinary. One of them costs $2,500. Who's buying those boxes?

TB: We don't sell a lot of $2,500 libraries. Most of them sell around $200-$250 and that's probably the area that people most likely buy the libraries.

CO: What about those Walnut Grove with seven days shipping $995 US?

TB: Yes. We don't so many those either, but we do have some customers that like them.

CO: So who buys them?

TB: Attorneys, maybe law firms. Somebody that wants to do a memorial — a special memorial — for someone who's passed.

CO: And again, what do you do with the money you get from those?

TB: We're nonprofit, right? And what we do with our money is that we put all the money that's left over after expenses into programming and try to expand. We're 14 people in Hudson, Wisconsin that have made a pretty solid, positive impact around the world by getting book exchanges out there. We donate Libraries all the time to police departments, fire departments and schools. We do all kinds of good things all around the place. You know the idea that Little Free Libraries is this giant behemoth organization, I find it rather interesting.

CO: I don't think that's the suggestion here. I'm just asking you what you do with your money?

TB: Right. And we put it into programming such as Action Book Club. We put it into libraries that we give to high needs areas. We do all kinds of things with it that helps promote libraries and community.

CO: The final point Ms. Schmidt makes is that she finds that the books available in the boxes tend to be slim pickings and that that maybe if we're going to have them that people might be encouraged to put a higher quality of books in there for the exchange. What do you say to that?

TB: I think that's always a good idea and each and every library has a steward that oversees the library and that's their job to kind of figure out what's the most appropriate books and the best for her community and I think the idea of always trying to improve the books and better quality books is absolutely a good idea.

CO: All right, we'll leave it there. Mr. Bol, thank you.

TB: Thank you very much.

CH: Todd Bol is the founder of The Little Free Library nonprofit. He was in Hudson, Wisconsin. You can find that interview as well as the one with librarian Jane Schmidt on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient]

Fish eye parasite

CH: In the Disney film “The Lion King”, the circle of life involves majestic zebras, wildebeests and a mandrill dangling a lion cub off a cliff. But in real life, there are many circles. One of which involves bird poop, snails, fish eyes and tiny, gross worm-like creatures. This circle starts in the glorious digestive tract of a bird, which generously poops out the eggs of the worm-thing. The worm-thing’s larvae then enter freshwater snails, where they multiply. Then they invade fish wriggling up into the eyes. Where they further mature until the fish are eaten by birds. And this sublime circle begins anew. None of this is a fluke. Well, it's all flukes the worm things are called “eye flukes”. But, these writhing, quivering creatures don't leave their future to chance. They make sure to stay ahead of every curve in the circle, particularly where the fish are concerned. A new study of rainbow trout has found that the flukes actually control the fish's behavior. Infected rainbow trout swim closer to the surface and swim more actively. Both of which make them easier targets for birds. Plus when birds are around, uninfected fish freeze so they won't be noticed. While the infected ones continue to zip around, essentially advertising themselves as dinner. As the study puts it quote, “Our results suggest that the eye fluke changes its host's behavior in order to make it more vulnerable to the final host.” Unquote. That is fascinating, but it is also misleading. There is no final host. In the party that is the circle of life, there are many unwilling hosts. The last of which is also the first and it’s a real party pooper.

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Part 2: UAE iceberg, Afghan death photo

UAE iceberg

Guest: Abdulla Al Shehi

CH: Nothing like ice when it's hot. But that usually involves a short trip to your freezer. Not a trip to the coast of Antarctica. Of course, the plan to grab an Antarctic iceberg and tow it all the way to the United Arab Emirates is not at all usual. Still, a consulting firm in that country says it's possible. Not just possible, the firm says it's just a few years away from actually putting the plan in place and solving the shortage of fresh water in the UAE. Abdulla Al Shehi is the managing director with the National Advisor Bureau. We reached him in Abu Dhabi.

CO: Mr. Al Sheshi, how do you plan to tow these icebergs from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates?

ABDULLA AL SHEHI: The towing of the iceberg is not a new idea. The ideas was presented to his highness in 1975 by a well-known French scientist. So the plan is to first do a satellite imaging to select the best route for the iceberg to be towed. Then after that, we will be using special material andspecially made ships and barges to tow it to the UAE.

CO: And what kind of size of an iceberg are you talking about towing to the UAE?

AA: On average, we talk about 3 kilometers squared.

CO: And how do you get there without it melting along the way?

AA: Without melting?

CO: Yes.

AA: We will be, as I said, we will be insolating it with a special insulation material. Then, for your information, 90 per cent of the iceberg is submerged sea and away from the sun’s heat. So this will cool it off as well.

CO: How long will it take you to actually get it the distance in Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates?

AA: According to the simulation done, it will take up to one year to tow the iceberg to the shores of Fujairah.

CO: You're saying though most of it's underwater, but you’ll probably lose some of that, right? I mean if not a large part of it going through very warm waters.

AA: I agree. We presume, as part of our simulation, the iceberg will lose up to 30 per cent to 40 per cent of its weight during the journey. So the remaining quantity still is huge. We're talking about 20 billion gallons of fresh water on this iceberg.

CO: What do you plan to do with it?

AA: The first thing and the main purpose for this is for drinking water and irrigation purposes. But we believe the presence of this iceberg will cause a micro-climate causing in the region as well.

CO: Are there restrictions on this? Can you actually go to the Antarctica and just take an iceberg and move it? Or are there international laws or protocol?

AA: We are not taking it from Antarctica. We are taking it from an island called Heard Island. Near Heard Island, there are so many icebergs which float and unfortunately, once they float, they melt wasting so many billions of gallons of fresh water. So the island is three thousand kilometers north to Antarctica. So we are not taking it from Antarctica, yeah?

CO: You're going to tow it. And where will you have it? Where will you keep this iceberg while you're harvesting it's water?

AA: It will be 25 kilometers away from the shore of Fujairah, which is in the eastern coast of the UAE. It will be in the Arabian Sea.

CO: If it's going to create a micro-climate and a huge amount of fresh water. What effect is it going to have on the ecosystem of the Arabian Sea while it sits there?

AA: The ecosystem will create nothing because you are talking about drop in the ocean. The Arabian Sea is part of the Indian Ocean, which is the biggest ocean in the world. So this iceberg will cause minimal affects. Currently, due to desalination, they dump the water into the ocean or the Arabian Sea causing the salinity of the sea water to increase. The presence of this iceberg being fresh water will stabilize that water restoring the ecosystem back its nature.

CO: Have you done any kind of impact study on the environment to see? I know you’re saying it’s a small part of the Indian Ocean, but still a part of it?

AA: all simulation has been done and has been finished. It touched on minimal affect to nature.

CO: Are there any international laws that you need to adhere to in order to do this?

AA: Of course, we would require approval of the UAE government. We will talk with them with this regard.

CO: Why is it necessary? How bad is the drought that you're experiencing in the UAE?

AA: I can say 90 per cent of our drinking water is coming from desalination plants, which not only pollutes the air, it is costly to burn fuels and affect the sea water salinity. So many creatures in the sea are affected by this and the population increasing by every year. So we are in need of every single drop of water. And unfortunately, these icebergs are disintegrating from Antarctica and are floating in the ocean due to global warming, as you know. And unfortunately, once they float in the ocean they melt wasting billions of fresh water, which is a need for all of humans.

CO: The statistics are that people in the Emirates use quite a bit of water: 500 liters of water per day, which is far more than the average. Do you think that more can be done to reduce the consumption of water in your country in order to do that?

AA: There is big room for improvement, I agree. Still the desalination is the main source of drinking water at the moment.

CO: And this iceberg will not be just for drinking, it will also be for irrigation, is that right?

AA: Correct. So in irrigation will offset CO2 from the air to fight the global warming issue.

CO: Have there been any objections to your plan?

AA: So far, we haven't seen anything. We saw positive response from either the public or even the government in however we approached it.

CO: When do you plan to start towing this iceberg?

AA: By the second quarter of 2019 is the official start.

CO: All right, we'll leave it there. Mr. Al Shehi, thank you.

AA: Thank you for your time. Thank you.

CH: That was Abdulla Al Shehi, the managing director of the National Advisor Bureau. He's in Abu Dhabi.

[Music: Jazz]

From Our Archives: refugee deaths

CH: It took 20 months. But Hungary has indicted 11 people suspected of being human smugglers for the deaths of 71 refugees. Two summers ago, their bodies were found suffocated in the back of a fruit truck. 59 men, eight women and four children from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. In the indictment, prosecutors allege that the following day, the gang smuggled another 67 refugees across the Hungarian-Austrian border. That time, people were able to kick through the door of the unventilated truck. They all survived. Channel Four Journalist Lindsey Hilsum was one of the first people on the scene after the grisly discovery of the 71 who died. As It Happens guest host Helen Mann spoke with her that evening in August 2015. Here's part of that interview, from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

LINDSEY HILSUM: We've been covering the story of the refugees and migrants. So we've been following their trail. And today, we were coming to a summit of the European Union and the Balkan countries in Vienna. So we just passed the truck and didn't think anything of it. And then we heard that there had been a truck full of refugees and migrants who had suffocated. So we turned back and we went past the truck again and we opened the windows to film. Then there was the most terrible stench of death, was just blown by the window, across the motorway and into our vehicle. Now that's a smell that I have smiled many times in my life when I've been covering wars and the genocide in Rwanda, or in Syria, or Iraq and so on. It's not a smell I thought I would smell in Austria, one of the most prosperous countries in the world, here in the heart of the European Union.

HELEN MANN: Authorities assume that they suffocated in this truck. Is the assumption that the driver just left them there? That he or she abandoned the truck?

LH: Yes, the Austrian police are saying that the driver fled and that he may no longer be in Austria. They're also saying that they think the people may have died before they got into Austria, in other words that they suffocated to death while still in Hungary. The assumption is that there were far too many people crammed in the back of this vehicle, which had no windows and presumably almost no air.

HM: What do you think the chances are that the people who abandoned these refugees in the truck will be found and held to account?

LH: Well, with the Austrian authorities saying that they think that they have already fled the country I think it will be quite difficult. But we know that there are networks of people smugglers. One of the things that European Union leaders are always talking about is catching the people smugglers. They think that's a very important thing to do, but I'm not sure how many resources they're putting into that? And even if they do catch the people smugglers, that's not going to solve the problem. The problem is all these refugees and migrants who are so desperate to leave their countries and come here. That problem isn’t going to be solved by dealing with the criminals or the people smugglers.

CH: From our archives, that was Channel Four international editor Lindsey Hilsum in August 2015. She was speaking to guest host Helen Mann about 71 refugees who had died by suffocation in the back of a truck near the Hungarian border in Austria. Yesterday, Hungary announced 11 people had been charged in those deaths.

[Music: Electronic]

Afghan death photo

Guest: Steven Miller

CH: The frame of the photo is filled mostly with fire and smoke and flying debris. A soldier with his hand on his face stands in the middle of the chaos. It was the last image U.S. Army specialist Hilda Clayton ever took. She died in the blast. Specialist Clayton was killed in Afghanistan almost four years ago, along with four Afghan National Army soldiers. Now, her family has decided to release her final photograph. It was published this week in the U.S. Army's “Military Review” magazine. You can also find it on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih. Major Steven Miller was Specialist Clayton’s supervisor at the time of her death. We reached him in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

CO: Major Miller, can you first of all tell us about Specialist Clayton? What kind of person was she?

STEVEN MILLER: Specialist Clayton, I didn't have the privilege of knowing her for too long. She came to our unit just a few months before she passed away. But she was a remarkable soldier, one who always wanted to do great things and managed to do that.

CO: These two photos that are published, one is by her and I want to ask about that first. It’s just a remarkable capturing of a moment, which is the time of her own death. Can you tell us what's going on in that photo?

SM: In that photo, Specialist Clayton had been out photographing an Afghan National Army mortar training exercise. And tragically, as happens on occasion in military training events, a weapon system failed and the mortar tube exploded and she was there to document that event.

CO: Who is in the photo?

SM: I don't know their names. They’re Afghan National Army soldiers who the U.S. military forces had partnered with to train them and advise. They’re Afghan National Army soldiers and I do not know their names.

CO: There were four who were killed, is that right?

SM: That's correct.

CO: The second photo, can you tell us about that one?

SM: The second photo was taken by an Afghan National Army public affairs photojournalist. He is one who Specialist Clayton, had trained as part of the mission that we were advising and training the Afghan national army so that Afghan National Army soldier was also killed. The emarkable piece of that was the fact that he was standing next to her and she, in the days and weeks leading up to that event, that explosion, she had trained him on proper use of the camera and improved use of the camera and imagery collection as well.

CO: In his photo, at the bottom left hand corner you can see the lens of a camera. Is that Specialist Clayton?

SM: No, the camera that you see in the lower left in the one photo is a photojournalist who was an Afghan National Army videographer. Specialist Clayton was to be the right of the Afghan National Army soldier, who took the photo that you see there.

CO: Was the videographer killed as well?

SM: I don't know? I believe he survived the initial blast, but I don't know what came after that.

CO: It's hard to imagine when you see that. It's so unusual to see a blast close up like that and to see the people who are undoubtedly going to perish because of the size of the explosion. It's a very disturbing image isn't it?

SM: Yes.

CO: Why have you decided to publish them?

SM: Well, it wasn't me they decided to publish them. I am one of several people who had access to the photos all these years. But since this day in 2013, I have remained in contact with the families through the unit that she belonged to. We thought this was the right time in this particular edition of this journal: the “Military Review” and this edition was dealing with some gender related issues. And family approved of the publication of this vote and even the entire spread as you see. Not just the photo, but entire layout of that page.

CO: What does the “Military Review”, people like yourself. What do you have to consider before you publish something of that nature?

SM: Well, there's a lot that goes into it. One of the considerations were that there's no shortage of images of things exploding or blowing up. This one is different from those because there is a deeper story to it. And so the editorial review team said we're not going to publish just a gratuitous photo of something blowing up for the sake of the image. But the story of this photo matches the theme of the new edition of the Journal: gender integration and the role of women in combat.

CO: What do you think this photo and these photos say about women in the U.S. Army?

SM: I don't know that the photos themselves say anything about women in the U.S. Army in particular because women have served in and around the US Army since beginning and they will continue to. This photo highlights one particular woman who served valiantly and died in service as many other women have. She is unique in that she was able to capture the moment of it. But she is one of many who served.

CO: With the Afghans who are dying or being injured in this photo, did their families know about the photo? Have they been able to see it?

SM: I can't speak to that. The Afghan National Army has their own release procedures and processes. I know that the photo taken by the Afghan National Army soldier that we have here was provided by the Afghan National Army public affairs team.

CO: What do you think that Hilda Clayton, the specialist who took the photo, what do you think she would think about this being published?

SM: I think that she would appreciate it and would be pleased that she was able to demonstrate a remarkable moment in time. And more than that a remarkable moment in history.

CO: We will leave it there. Major Miller, thank you.

SM: Thank you, Carol. I appreciate it.

CH: We reached Major Steven Miller in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He's a former colleague of U.S. Army Specialist Hilda Clayton, who died in Afghanistan in 2013 taking photos during a training exercise. You can see her final photograph on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Jazz]

Little Libraries feedback

CH: Earlier in the show, we spoke with Todd Bol founder of the Little Free Library. He defended his nonprofit group after Ryerson University librarian Jean Schmidt called the book exchange system, “a disturbing trend” on last night's program. Many of you shared your thoughts on the makeshift libraries. The verdict is still out, but prior to our interview with Mr. Bol, most of you agreed any argument against Little Free Libraries needs to be shelved. We heard from you on our Talkback line.

[Sound: A loud beep]

JOCK MACKENZIE: Hi my name is Jock Mackenzie, I'm from Red Deer, Alberta. We in Red Deer are doing wonderful things for reading. We've got “Books on the Bus”. We have a program called “Reading College” and we have several Little Free Libraries. I think they're a wonderful concept. I know of several people who have them. One is a good friend of mine, a teacher-librarian, who has an absolutely gorgeous looking Little Library and it's filled with fabulous books. Not plumber’s manuals or do anything for dummies.

[Sound: A loud beep]

RABECCA REID: Hi, Rebecca Reid in Kitchener calling here in regards to your Little Free Library pathetic collection quote. Just what I'd let you know what’s in my Little Free Library: I have “The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe”, C.S. Lewis; “Taming of the Queen”, Philippa Gregory; Eric Carle, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?; Judy Bloom, “Double Fudge”; Beverly Cleary, “Ramona and her Father”, Maeve Binchy, “Tara Road”. Is that a pathetic collection? I don't think so! Thanks. Bye bye.

CO: The pro-Little Library rally was just as strong online on Facebook, Debbie Spertus wrote, “I take a book about once a month. I get a kick when I see my donated books are gone. Enjoying a fun exchange makes our neighborhood a bit nicer. That doesn't stop me from supporting libraries or literacy. It's not an either or.”

CH: On our website, Allison Howard wrote, “Our experience living in a lower income area in a small town as Little Free Library stewards is that many of our library users are either intimidated by the public library or by public spaces in general or don't have the mobility to get there.” Cathy Brown wrote, “If the presence of these Little Free Libraries causes one person to pick out and read a book who otherwise would not have bothered. If it makes books available to one person who otherwise would not have had that access. Then I say yay!”

CO: Also on our website, Alex MacDonald wrote, “We get about 30 visits per day. A kid walking home from school. A senior walking with a nurse. A cleaning lady walking home. All people who generally don't have time to drop by one of the public libraries or simply cannot access them. The average income from my neighborhood doesn't tell you about the elderly woman who drops by every morning to pick up a book to read to her husband who had a stroke and is in a care facility. It doesn't tell you about the discreet public housing a few doors down from me, where the mom with three young kids stopped by every day to get a book to read them at bedtime. The data also doesn't show the four Little Libraries I've opened up in rural Dominican Republic, where there are no public libraries largely from donations of various neighbors who went out of their way to specifically get me Spanish books. Data can only tell you so much.

CH: Thanks to everyone for your comments. You can find our interview with Little Free Library founder Todd Bol and our interview with librarian Jane Schmidt on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih. You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter: @cbcasithappens. E-mail at: aih@cbc.ca or by phone at 416-205-5687.

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Part 3: Refugees LGBTQ, St Helena update, dragonfly study, Scottish birdwatcher

Reffugees LGBTQ

Guests: Bashir Khan

CH: When gay asylum seekers are testifying before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, they can often expect uncomfortable questions. And not just questions about the threats and discrimination they face in their home countries. They're often asked for intimate details of their sex lives. But starting this week, that is supposed to change. Thanks to new guidelines given to board members who assess LGBTQ refugee claimants. Bashir Khan is a refugee lawyer in Winnipeg. That's where we reached him.

CO: Mr. Khan, why would members of the Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada. Why would they want to know details about an asylum seeker sex life?

BASHIR KHAN: Because they are thinking that this will prove to the refugee board if the person is a genuine refugee claimant or not.

CO: And this isn't a case where somebody is applying because they've been persecuted as being part of the LGBTQ society, right?

BK: Absolutely right. And there were no guidelines in place that were guiding an adjudicating board member of the Refugee Protection Division in how to question an LGBTQ refugee claimant until May the 1st.

CO: What kinds of questions did some of your clients get?

BK: What was the quantity of sexy you and your same sex lover had back in your home country? And what is the quantity of sex that you and your lover have right now, after arriving in Canada? Describe exactly what you do to do to each other when you are extremely intimate?

CO: I understand that you had a lesbian client who was asked how women have sex together?

BK: Yes. Last year, in the fall, I had a board member who dragged my client into four half-day refugee hearings. Normally a refugee hearing finishes after one of the half-days. And in that the questions are very graphic we put to her as to what they do to each other? I even objected to that and the board member said no, I want to ask this. And that was very degrading and you know it was trivializing things that are at the heart of the matter as to why are you afraid? What are the bad things that are going to happen? And instead of trivializing it by talking about just physical sexual behavior.

CO: All right, so tell us some of the questions that you believe they should have been asking that would have been able to determine whether somebody who is LGBTQ should get asylum in Canada?

BK: Sure. Well refugee claimants should be asked about things that go to the heart of the matter. Which are: Since when have you known that you might be gay? Since when have you known that you might be a lesbian or bisexual? How were you able to keep it hidden? And how were you found out? What would happen to you if you wanted to openly practice your sexuality?

CO: And what countries were your clients coming from?

BK: Nigeria is one. Uganda, in Uganda they have “Kill the Gays” bill, which became law under President Mussolini, who was very homophobic.

CO: What would happen to some of these people if they actually did go home?

BK: Oh boy, they would be lynched. They would be tortured and they would be killed. And there would be a number of agents of persecution. They would be imprisoned. Their whole families would honor kill them. There is nothing but a whole list of dangers that awaits them.

CO: We know that asylum seekers to Canada, or any other country, have to show that they were persecuted in their own country for who they are or what they believe in. They will be confronted with questions about their religion or their political beliefs if that was the category. How much more intrusive were these questions about sexuality when they were applying as LGBTQ members?

BK: Well, some board members were being extremely intrusive and inappropriate. They were talking about who performed fellatio upon whom the first time they met? Or who performed the act of cunnilingus upon someone? And that is how often they did that? So it was very, very graphic. I mean let's put it this way, let's say a heterosexual couple is making a refugee claim because their families do not approve of the marriage and their families want to honor kill them because they are heterosexual couple. And if they came to Canada and made a refugee claim, a Canadian Refugee Board member would not be asking tell me how often you've had sex with each other after coming to Canada? Take that as a fact and then go in to well what is the culture? Why is it so intolerant? Why is the family after you? so I guess what this Chairperson Guideline Number Nine does it tells a board member that they don't have unlimited discretion to ask anything they want. It tells them to apply their mind to the heart of the matter rather than ask irrelevant questions when inquisitive style inquiry.

CO: Of your clients and the ones you know of, how often are LGBTQ people accepted as refugees in Canada?

BK: I think I’ve only lost two cases in seven years. But that's my own experience. But I will say that generally if you do a simple Google search, you'll really realize that LGBTQ refugee claimants have not been treated on par with the same rights and protections that straight refugee claimants are being treated. The Chairperson Guideline on Women is there, but there is not, until now, a guideline on other vulnerable minorities such as sexual minorities. So I think we cannot treat sexual minorities like the heterosexual field. We have to treat them as a special, different and vulnerable minority that needs added protection.

CO: So it's not it's not been easy to make a case under the asylum law in Canada if you are LGBTQ?

BK: It hasn't been easy no because there’s been added barriers. But now, at least these guidelines help to level the playing field.

CO: And what does it change for people who are applying for asylum now that these rules have been changed? This is quite ground-breaking, isn't it? So how does it change things for them?

BK: Well, their sexuality is not put on trial. Their story is put up on trial for adjudication, but not their sexuality. And the questions will now go to the key questions at the heart of the matter as to how they were mistreated by society? How they were harmed? How did they manage to keep it hidden? Stereotypes are now out the window because stereotypes can no longer be applied to an LGBTQ refugee claimant the way some members were doing in the past. And that's why this guideline is revolutionary.

CO: We will leave it there. Mr. Khan, thank you.

BK: Thank you.

CH: Bashir Khan is a refugee lawyer in Winnipeg.

[Music: Piano]

St. Helena update

Guest: Hazel Wilmot

SOUNDCLIP

HAZEL WILMOT: I'm just going to mothball the hotel. I’m just going to close the doors, give myself a pink slip. There is nothing I can do.

CH: That was Hazel Wilmot speaking to As It Happens last September. Ms. Wilmot, you may remember, is the owner of the Consulate Hotel on the tiny island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Until recently, the only way to get there was a five-day trip from Cape Town aboard the Royal Mail ship. About a year ago, the island was getting ready to open its first ever airport. Ms. Wilmot invested millions in her hotel expecting an influx of tourists. But after the airport was built, it was discovered that the runway was too windy for many planes to safely land. The tourists never came. Now Ascension Island, which is part of the same territory as St. Helena is also without an airport thanks to potholes on the runway. That means that there are now no regular flights reaching the territory. So we thought we would check in with Ms. Wilmot to see how she's doing. We reached her in Jamestown, St Helena.

CO; Hazel, what did you finally do? Did you mothball the hotel?

HW: We were fortunate in that many of our staff were happy to work reduced hours. So we took the decision to stay open as long as we financially could. We reduced the numbers of staff from 20 to three. And the remaining three staff decided to work less hours for less money and just to help me keep the doors open. And, as a result, with the grace of God and my family, we were able to pay our weekly wages and the insurance.

CO: How much traffic have you actually had? How many people are coming through?

HW: If it wasn't for the fact that Basil Reid are chartering a plane once a month and the pilots come and stay with us, we would have very, very little in the way of guests staying in the hotel. I can count on one hand the number of people who have stayed since September.

CO: But now your issue is the Ascension Island is not a working airport either. All the potholes and the deterioration of that airstrip has meant that it's very difficult for anything to land there. So now that's the latest development. What are the repercussions for tourism for St Helena since that has developed?

HW: I'm not sure that there will be major repercussions for the tourists because in the past people used to go to Cape Town then to St Helena. Spend eight days here and then go back to Cape Town. That then changed in 2011-2012 when the ship and the St Helena line started pushing for the two Island promotion where people went to Cape Town, St Helena, Ascension and then either flew out or came back to Saint Helena and then back to Cape Town. That was a disastrous decision for the island because we went from visitors for eight days of the month to visitors for two days a month and that severely crippled a lot of people financially. One couldn't survive on a business that only had the doors open for two days of the month. Now the fact that Ascension is closed might mean that people will have to spend eight days on the island if they come from Cape Town on the RMS. So that in effect is good news for us. But there will still be people who would have liked to have flown home quicker. Who don't want to spend eight days on St Helena and then another five days on the boat going back to Cape Town. And that business we’re going to lose. Our biggest problem of course, is the people living on the Ascension or on the Falklands, living and working there who cannot travel freely. Now those on the Falklands have either got to fly from the Falklands to Senegal, to the UK, Johannesburg to catch the RMS. It’s a nightmare.

CO: Wow. So now this airport on St Helena that was supposed to start getting the flights and then what happened is that after I guess it cost about a quarter of a million pounds to build it. Then they discovered that it was too windy for planes to land. What's happened since? Have they been able to get any ability to land regular flights on that airstrip?

HW: Carol, they are able to land small aircraft — small jets that can carry up to eight passengers and three crew. Financially, that's not feasible and one cannot expect the tourist industry to cope with that. So what they did is they monitored the weather for nearly nine months and then looked at all the parameters and said given this weather pattern, we can take that across and given this weather pattern, we can take those many passengers. And they started to put together a picture of what would be possible. And they put it out to tender. And we are waiting for the end of May be advised the preferred bidder is going to be. And they hope to have commercial flights operating by September onwards. It basically depends on the weather, it depends on the aircraft and it depends on how many passengers they can take. You might find that they're going to be operating an aircraft that will normally operate with 180 passengers, but they can only put 60 on board. Now that it's going to be our biggest problem is that we're not going to get the number of people we need in order to keep the tourist industry on the island alive and thriving. They may be able to do one or two flights a week as opposed to only one flight a week. But again, it depends how many people would look to come to St Helena given the adverse of publicity we've had in the last 12 months.

CO: Well I hope things improve for you Hazel. I know it's been a difficult year, but maybe, eventually, they’ll sort this out. But it's good to talk to you again.

HW: Thank you. You know it's not only me. The whole island is on its knees. We desperately need that airport to start operating and start bringing in commercial flights of 50 to 60 passengers a week. Without that, I really fear for the island.

CO: All right. I appreciate that. Hazel, thank you.

HW: A pleasure, Carol. Thank you for the call.

CO: You bet.

HW: Bye bye.

CH: Hazel Wilmot is the owner of the Consulate Hotel in Jamestown, Saint Helena. That's where we reached her.

[Music: Acoustic guitar]

Dragonfly study

Guest: Rassim Khelifa

CH: Even female dragonflies are not immune from unwanted sexual attention. But according to a new study, these particular insects have an extreme but effective ploy for getting males to buzz off. Rassim Khelifa has been watching their behavior. He's an evolutionary biology student at the University of Zurich. And we reached him in Zurich.

CO: Mr. Khelifa, what did you see these female dragonflies do in order to avoid encounters with males?

RASSIM KHELIFA: I discovered sexual death feigning in a species of Dragonfly where females fake death to avoid male harassment.

CO: How do they do that?

RK: Usually they are harassed in the air during flight. And so they crash in the ground and they stay motionless until the male goes away.

CO: And maybe describe the encounter? Where are they and what are they doing when they have to feign death?

RK: So, the female comes to the water to lay eggs. And so after they first compilation, they go to the pond and lay their eggs in the water. But when they leave the site they are also harassed by other males. And so that's where usually this behavior happens.

CO: And why do they do that?

RK: Because multiple mating is not beneficial for the female. It can harm them. And so they increase their survival probability by avoiding multiple copulation.

CO: Are they fertile? Could they actually breed again so soon after they've laid eggs?

RK: Not in the same day. So they can lay eggs in a different day, but in that day usually they lay their eggs and they quit the site because they're actually done. So they can produce more eggs and then come back again.

CO: And so they're exhausted?

RK: Yes.

CO: They're fed up and some male dragonfly wants to come and mate with them.

RK: Yeah, because males want to increase their reproductive success by mating with different females. But the female cannot increase its reproductive success because she has a limited number of eggs. So here there is sexual conflict.

CO: And don't the males know that she's not fertile that moment or that they won't be successful? Have they no way of determining that?

RK: Yeah, it's difficult to determine that. They have only one objective, which is to jump right into any female that flies.

CO: And so this is happening in areas where they are breeding — where they're laying their eggs. Is that where the males go hoping that they can score?

RK: Yeah, exactly because the males spend all the day wondering next to the water because they know that the female will come sooner or later, you know? So they wander there and wait for females.

CO: Can you describe this method by which the females fake their own death?

RK: When they're in the air and they're harassed by a male, they crash in the ground and they stay motionless. And because the male relies on movement to the detect female, he is often fooled by that.

CO: So the female is flying along and then she's being pursued by a male and then she just drops dead?

RK: No, she crashes into the ground. As soon as she lands, she stays motionless.

CO: And does the male go and check her out or does he just presume that she's dead?

RK: Yeah, the male will wander around because he doesn't rely only on colours, but also on movement. So if you do not move the male likelihood of detection decreases substantially.

CO: How long does she have to play dead before he moves on?

RK: It doesn't last a long time. The male wanders a few seconds and then loses interest and leaves.

CO: Does this happen often?

RK: Yes, in my study populations I have seen that often.

CO: Do you know of other animals that the female plays dead in order to avoid having sex?

RK: Yes, there is two species of flies. For the other species it's the males who fakes death to avaid being eaten by the other partner. And there is one species of spider and one species of mantis.

CO: Now, has anyone ever identified this feigned death in Dragonfly before, or are you the first one?

RK: This is the first time that sexual death feigning has been observed in dragonflies.

CO: It's called sexual death feigning.

RK: Yeah, because it is to distinguish between death feigning because death feigning is not rare at all.

CO: There's all kinds of death feigning. And I guess there’s sexual sleep feigning too isn’t there? But it's a different kind of animal. You know that your study is getting a lot of attention, right? I mean there's even J.K. Rowling has tweeted about it.

RK: Yeah, it's incredible. I never expected such a thing. It seems that many people, especially women were interested in that and I think because they can relate to this story. We know that women are harassed every day and I think they could not imagine that an insect can come up with such a strategy.

CO: Just one last question. Does the dragonfly hurt herself when she's plummeting to her fake death?

RK: There is a possibility that when she crashes into the ground there is potential damage, but more studies have to be done to understand that.

CO: Well whatever it happens, I guess she figures it's worth it?

RK: Yeah, of course, it's an adaptation against a kind of predator I would say, which is the male.

CO: Of her own species. Mr. Khelifa, good to talk to you. Thank you.

RK: Thanks. Bye.

CH: Rassim Khelifa is an evolutionary biology student at the University of Zurich. His study was published in “Ecology”, a journal published by the Ecological Society of America.

Day 6 promo

CH: A hero is someone who saves the day, usually in a shiny leotard. My leotard has seen better days, but I am about to do something heroic by telling you to save tomorrow on your calendar. That's because it's Free Comic Book Day. Across the country, comic shops will be giving out free comics in celebration. One of the free offerings is a brand new origin story for the Canadian superhero Captain Canuck. Producer Luke Williams talked to some of the people behind the story. And his documentary airs tomorrow on CBC Radio's “Day 6”. Here's a clip.

SOUNDCLIP

LUKE WILLIAMS: Captain Canuck is a costumed hero with super strength, Canadian kindness and an impressive jawline. A couple of years ago, he got a reboot and this year he's getting a brand new origin story.

KALMAN ANDRASOFSZKY: Our reboot of Captain Canuck started with a Free Comic Book Day 0 issue. That was our first offering as a comic book publisher and the first appearance of our rebooted Captain Canuck and the beginnings of the Chapterverse in comic book form.

LW: That's Kalman Andrasofszky, the writer behind the new Captain Canuck. Captain Canuck is the center of what Kalman just called the Chapterverse. That's a self-contained universe of Canadian superheroes. A unique interrelated superhero ecosystem, much like Marvel or DC. It's an ambitious idea because while Canada has produced plenty of well-loved superheroes, they all eventually ran out of steam.

KA: There are these sort of little fragmented bursts. Whereas by contrast in the States, you have a consistent history. One of the things I've tried to do when writing Captain Canuck is to write it as if it was from an alternate universe where there was a thriving Canadian comic book industry that never went away.

CH: That was a short clip from a new documentary called “Captain Canuck Can Be The Hero Canada Needs Again.” It airs tomorrow on CBC Radio's “Day 6” at 10:00 a.m., 10:30 in Newfoundland.

[Music: Folk]

Scottish birdwatcher

Guest: Simon Davies

CH: The red-winged blackbird is a pretty common sight here in Canada. You might have even seen one in your yard and you may not even have cared. But in Europe, they're pretty rare. Rare enough that when one was spotted on a remote Scottish island the birding community there was thrown into a frenzy. Simon Davies is credited with spotting the rogue red-winged blackbird. We reached him in North Ronaldsay, Scotland.

CO: Simon, how many birders have arrived so far looking for this red-winged blackbird?

SIMON DAVIES: Must be just over a hundred now I think.

CO: And how are they arriving?

SD: Most of them have chartered their own planes to come up from other parts of the UK.

CO: They're chartering planes?

SD: Yes.

CO: What do you make of that?

SD: Well, it's not my cup of tea. But it's a fun day out for them. If they’ve got the money then they can go for it.

CO: And they are specifically looking for one bird. Tell us what you're looking for?

SD: Yeah, its a Red-winged blackbird. It's a very common bird over your side of the Atlantic. In North America down to Mexico and up to Canada. It's probably one of the commonest breeding birds in North America.

CO: But not so much in North Ronaldsay?

SD: No, not at all of this side. It just shows how bird watching is all relative.

CO: Where did you first see it?

SD: It was up the top the North Island. I was just carrying out my normal daily census of the birds, which we do here on the island. And I had an unfamiliar call and it flew in and landed. And I watched it for a while and tried to work out exactly what it was. And after a few minutes I intensively worked out what I thought it was. I phoned the news out to tell other people that would be interested.They all came and agreed and then as the modern world suggests we tweeted the news. And that was that.

CO: This bird you saw is neither black nor does it have red wings. So can you describe what you actually did see?

SD: The male is black with red wings, but it was a female bird. So it's medium-sized, small songbird. Mainly brown and streaky with a big white eye stripe and a bit of yellow on the throat and a big fan-shaped tail. It is quite distinctive even though it is largely just brown and streaky.

CO: Why do you think a female red-winged blackbird has ended up on your island?

SD: Who knows? It's only speculation, but it is the time of year when birds are migrating over there so it's moving south to north. So it possibly could get blown out to sea by westerly winds that kept on flying across the Atlantic or more likely find a ship that was heading this way and landed on the ship and was just carried across, saw land and hopped off again.

CO: And have the people who have arrived. Have they actually seen the bird?

SD: Yep, everybody's seen it showed quite well. A bit of patience and everybody connected with the bird.

CO: I understand that you've had to actually divert the bird because there are so many people there?

SD: Yeah, we have to control a little bit because there are so many people that if we just let the people go their own way then they would trample over a large area and destroy a breeding habitat for other birds. And it's on private land, so that's no good. We organized the people seeing it in one spot and tried to get the bird to show to everybody at once.

CO: And has she cooperated?

SD: She has indeed. It's been very successful.

CO: But she doesn't have a mate. You haven't seen the male version?

SD: No, no, she's probably the only one on this side Atlantic.

CO: And what do you think will happen to her then?

SD: It's hard to say. I mean there is there is a slight chance she'll re-orientation maybe find her way back across. But rather unlikely, so I just see her living her days here as a spinster on this side of the Atlantic.

CO: And so are you keeping an eye on your charge there? Are you making sure she's OK?

SD: Yeah, we check every day and there are still people wanting to come up. So there's a couple of planes due in tomorrow to come and see her.

CO: Well, Simon, I guess you got your work cut out for you?

SD: Yes, busy all time. I’m more like a taxi driver now.

CO: Thanks for talking to us.

SD: All right.

CH: That was Simon Davies. Earlier this week, he spotted a red-winged blackbird on the remote Scottish island of North Ronaldsay. that is a huge deal in Europe. So much so that plane loads of excited birdwatchers have descended on the remote island since his sighting.

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May 5, 2017 Episode Transcript

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