The Rochester-Finger Lakes region is a hotspot for birds.

The Lake Ontario shore attracts a variety of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. And Rochester is flanked by major migratory bird stopover points. To the west, there's the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and the state's Oak Orchard and Tonawanda Wildlife Management Areas. To the east, there's the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.

This fall, as the migration starts, birds will stop along the lake or at the refuges and then continue south, in some cases making their way to the marshes and shore areas along the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the birds could be at risk of coming in contact with oil.

Several area bird experts say that although they're not overly concerned, there is a possibility that the spill will impact some locally familiar migratory birds.

"It's something we won't know until it happens," says Mike Burger, director of conservation and science for Audubon New York. Burger says that it's critical for people to participate in bird counts; that way researchers can track whether specific populations are declining.

Birds play an important role in keeping ecosystems balanced, so any damage from the oil could go beyond the birds themselves.

Birds feed on some fish species in the Great Lakes, for example, which helps control fish numbers. Other birds feed on algae or aquatic organisms, helping to keep those in check. If those species overpopulate, they can choke out other species in that ecosystem.

For now, wildlife experts make their predictions on potential bird impacts based on past migratory patterns, habitat, food needs, and where in the gulf area oil has made landfall. Determining whether a specific species is at risk becomes a series of ifs. But waterfowl and shorebirds, experts say, will face the most risk. Wading birds are also at risk.

BP finally plugged its gushing oil well last week. But there were mixed reports on how the recovery is going. The federal government said the cleanup is going well, and released a report that said three-quarters of the five million barrels of oil that spewed into the water had been collected, dispersed, or removed through natural processes.

National newspapers ran with that information, but others challenged it. The St. Petersburg Times, a Florida daily, ran an August 4 story that featured scientists questioning the government's conclusions. They argued that there's still plenty to worry about and that the true consequences of the spill may not be known for close to a decade.

Environmental groups also challenged the government's claims. Many environmentalists and some scientists are warning that the spill still poses a danger, especially since there are large amounts of oil unaccounted for.

Quite a few locally familiar bird species migrate south and may wind up at the gulf.

There shouldn't be an impact on some of the region's common waterfowl. Many Canada geese, wood ducks, and mallards stick around through the winter. They may fly south if the body of water they congregate around freezes, but only until they find open water.

Ducks such as the green-winged teal, gadwall, and northern shoveler, all of which migrate through the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, are likely to winter along the gulf or the Atlantic shore. The canvasbacks that migrate through Montezuma are also likely to winter along the gulf or the Atlantic shore.

There's some uncertainty about the area's great blue herons. Some will stick around through the winter, but many head south near the Gulf Coast as the cold sets in here and water freezes over. Great blue herons do populate the marshes along the gulf, but it's uncertain if any come from this region, says Michael Wasilco, regional wildlife manager for the Department of Environmental Conservation. There's never been an in-depth study on migration patterns of local great blue herons.

The herons could be in trouble if oil spreads into their marshes, Wasilco says. That hasn't happened yet, but some officials, scientists, and environmentalists worry that it's still a possibility.

Shorebirds could, however, face significant risks. They are the ones that live along the beaches, the very same areas where oil made landfall. And almost all of the shorebirds that migrate through the Rochester-Finger Lakes area head to the gulf, says Guy Baldassarre, a wildlife biology professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

Those shorebirds include the American bittern, least bittern, least sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, and greater and lesser yellowlegs.

Oil can hurt birds in two ways: through physical contact or ingestion. Oil can coat their feathers, which makes it hard for the birds to regulate their body temperature.

If a bird ingests it, oil can cause health problems or death. Contaminated food sources could pose health risks, too; already, researchers have found crabs with oil inside of their shells and some birds eat those crabs.

The oil hasn't gone far into the marshes, which is good because marshes are difficult to clean. That protects some birds, wading birds in particular. But oil and tar balls have washed up on beaches, which is where shorebirds hang out.

But the beaches, unlike the marshes, are easy to clean up, Baldassarre says. It's just a matter of removing the contaminated sand and soil. And there have been widespread cleanup efforts.

"Hopefully this isn't going to be as bad as we thought," Baldassarre says.

The timing of the spill could have been worse, too. It happened between the spring and fall migrations, so there weren't large numbers of birds making stopovers along the gulf.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has also taken steps to attract migrating birds to alternate stops. It's flooded land in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi to try to divert birds from the shore. It's also cultivating extra rice and grains for the same purpose.

The threat the spill poses to all kinds of birds is a visible consequence of US and North American energy choices. The reason BP drilled an iffy well in a difficult location was because it was profitable. It's profitable because consumers demand increasing quantities of oil.

The positive side, if you can call it that, of the spill is that people are discussing oil drilling and its consequences, Baldassarre says. Offshore oil spills are infrequent, he says, but when they happen, they're catastrophic.

The BP spill has provided "wind behind the sails" of alternative energy technologies.

Birds are something that people can relate to. People are used to seeing different kinds of birds near their homes, near the lake, or in the wildlife preserves they visit. That these same birds are in danger because of a disaster thousands of miles away helps direct public attention to a non-local disaster.

What this whole situation shows is that an environmental catastrophe in one part of the country can affect wildlife and ecosystems in another.

"That's why we have to take care of them while they're here," Audubon New York's Burger says of migratory birds.

That means protecting bird habitat and making sure shorelines are clean. When the birds come back, whether they'll live and breed here for the summer or stop over on their way further north, they could be stressed from their time at the gulf. They'll need a safe haven.