FT. MORGAN, Ala., Oct. 8 — As I turned off Gulf Shores Parkway onto Ft. Morgan Road heading for Bob Sargent's bird banding operation on state property past the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, the spiritual "Amazing Grace" on a single flute came across the public radio speakers and put me in the mood for Sunday services in the great outdoors.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

An immature female Magnolia warbler gets banded and then released back into the wild...

Ominously, the station quickly changed to dramatic German orchestra music as the refuge came into view.

There at the end of the road by the famous fort sat Bob Sargent's entourage under a tent amongst the live oaks, waiting on the birds to land in their nets for tagging during the fall migration south.

"This is a beautiful spot," Sargent said. "We've been coming here for a long time, working to prevent the developers from getting it, like they tried one time before..."

Every year about this time, Sargent's team makes camp here to document the numbers and diversity of species which stop here before making the long trans-Gulf flight over the Gulf of Mexico.

After only two days of a two week research effort, the numbers and diversity are above average, Sargent says, indicating a good year for birds, and science.

Photo by Glynn Wilson

Bird expert Bob Sargent contemplates the beauty of his Sunday sactuary on the Ft. Morgan Peninsula.

"We can expect to document 75 different species in the fall. We've already counted 50. Its better this year than we've seen in awhile," he said.

The rarest species spotted this year has been a Brewster's warbler, a hybrid of the blue-winged warbler and the golden-winged warbler.

"I've only seen 10 in 20 years of doing this," Sargent said.

They've also tagged an American restart, a very photogenic species, along with flycatchers and red-bellied woodpeckers and all the usual suspects.

According to another Alabama native and scientist, about half the world's species may face extinction by 2100 because of pollution, climate change, human population growth and other influences, says Edward O. Wilson, who has conducted pioneering research in biology and developed a field known as sociobiology, which links humans and animals in a common evolutionary heritage.

Wilsons new book, The Creation, presents a case for religion and science to work together to protect nature for future generations.

I don't know if it will work or not, but it would be nice to see the religious community do more to protect the planet — for the birds and for people, in the name of creation or the biosphere, depending on your point of view.

As I headed away from the bird banding encampment back toward the main beach road in search of a wireless Internet connection, the people at the Mobile public radio station played the theme song to "The Lone Ranger." Time to get on down the beach and find a brew at the Flora-Bama Roadhouse Lounge.

More to come...