Whither the American Ostrich?

Living in a country in which emus, kiwi, ostriches and virtually all flightless birds don't run free, I was struck by this news today:

U.S.-Mexico border fence may harm animal migration

A plan to fence off a third of the U.S. border to stop illegal immigration from Mexico may harm migration routes used by animals including rare birds and jaguars, environmentalists and U.S. authorities warn.

The House of Representatives passed a bill this month authorizing the construction of about 700 miles (1,120km) of double fencing along the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border, which was crossed by more than one million illegal immigrants last year.

The proposal, which the Senate is expected to vote on in coming days, seeks to build continuous barriers separated by an access road for patrol vehicles on long stretches of the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Environmentalists and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wardens say the barrier would disrupt the migration of scores of species from jaguars to hawks and humming birds along a wildlife corridor linking northern Mexico and the U.S. southwest known as the "Sky Islands."

Not surprisingly, environmentalists are up in arms about a massive construction project. Also not surprisingly, environmentalists care more about the safety of humming birds than their own species and fellow Americans.

What did surprise me is that I am supposed to be persuaded that a land borne fence is going to stop hawks, hummingbirds, and other flying birds from migrating. Assuming that fence isn't going to be built high enough to disrupt air traffic, am I to believe that a noble avian species such as a hawk is not going to be able to fly over this thing? Even low flying birds like humming birds shouldn't have too much trouble.

A wall like the border wall separating Israel from Gaza is probably what we have in mind. This post from Michael Totten's trip to Israel during the Hezbollah uprising contains a few photos of how our wall will likely appear and be sized. Again, birds won't be able to get past this thing? Are you kidding me?

Like I emailed my father after reading this story:

Natural selection would seem to dictate to me that any bird species that can't fly over a fence probably doesn't deserve to escape extinction.