January 09 newsletter (Read-Only)

www.jayhawkaudubon.org
Volume 33, Issue 5
JANUARY, 2009
Monday, January 26th
Birds of Peru:
Business & Beauty
Peru harbors over 1,800 bird species. This biological blessing provides opportunities for
economic development through ecotourism but also poses a challenge to conservationists
through the overwhelming number of rare and range-restricted species. Steve Roels, our
January 26th speaker, will investigate birding businesses and recent conservation efforts in
Peru as well as share photos from his trip to the country last summer.
Steve is currently a KU graduate student in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Macaw. www.fcit.usf.edu.
Biology. He is also volunteering as JAS Field Trip Chair revitalizing a position that has
been empty too long. Previous jobs include serving as a Conservation Associate at the
Kansas Land Trust and a Field Surveyor for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. Steve and his wife, Sarah, traveled to
Peru last June. Here is your opportunity to leave January to its frozen self for an evening while you envision one of
the world’s birding meccas.
Dutch Treat Dinner with Steve Roels: 5:30 pm. Zen Zero. 811 Massachusetts.
Bar-tailed
Hummingbird.
www.fcit.usf.edu
Program: 7:30 pm. Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall. 1245 New Hampshire.
Ample parking in the lot east of the church. Refreshments served.
All Programs of the Jayhawk Audubon Society are free and open to the public
Calling all big-hearted, loyal, bird-feeding folk
to the last JAS SEED, BOOK & FEEDER SALE of the winter
Saturday, January 31st
Lawrence Senior Center
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
745 Vermont Street
This is the stock-up sale to get your birds through that last blizzard we’ll have in March or April or who-knows-when
since this is Kansas, erratic weather’s poster child . Use the order form on page 5 or at www.jayhawkaudubon.org
to pre-order before the January 26th deadline. Call Linda or use snail or email: ditchlily@sprynet.com. Pre-ordering
helps us a lot, but come to the sale even if you miss the cut-off; we’ll have plenty of seed for walk-in purchase. You
know you need to get a new field guide or a replacement feeder anyway, plus you really ought to
buy a bird song CD and start listening so you’re ready for those elusive spring warblers.
Note that there is a new low price of $14.50 for 25 pounds of black oil sunflower seed AND it’s
locally grown by Ted Grinter. No 50 lb. bags of black oil this sale though. See you on the 31st.
P.S. If you are out of seed now, call Linda because she has some stored: 785-842-2300.
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JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
EAGLES DAY 2009
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Come One! Come All for FREE!
We're Celebrating the Eagles' Return
JAS President
& Prairie
Park Nature
Center volunteer Chuck
Herman with
a Red- tailed
Hawk at Eagles Day
The 13th Annual Eagles Day in Lawrence sponsored
by the Jayhawk Audubon Society, the U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers, ICL Performance Products LP, Kansas Dept of
Wildlife and Parks, and the Westar Energy Green Team will
celebrate the return of Bald Eagles to area lakes and rivers.
There will be live Bald and Golden Eagles and other wildlings
to help us appreciate these glorious animals.
Ranger-Led Eagle Viewing Excursions:
Times: 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Place: Meet in the parking lot at Clinton Lake
Corps of Engineers office.
Dress: appropriate for the weather. You will be outdoors. Waterproof footwear strongly advised.
Last-minute info on the walk: (785) 843-7665
Other Eagles Day activities will be at Free State HS, 4700
Overland Drive, one block north of the intersection of 6th St.
and Wakarusa Drive. Nature and environmental exhibits will
be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with activities for kids of all
ages: Come build a bird house to take home, make an eagle,
dissect an owl pellet . . . and bunches of other fun things.
IT’S ALL FREE. Map at http://www.kawvalleyeaglesday.com
Presentations
11:00 a.m. – Bunnie Watkins, “The Great Migration Challenge"
12:00 -- Mike Watkins, "A History of Bald Eagles in Kansas"
1:00 p.m.– Marty Birrell, “A Close Up Look at Eagles and
Other Raptors”
3:00 p.m.– Eco
Elvis, Singing Live at Free State HS!
Check his website http://www.ecoelvis.com/
The green jumpsuit is not to be missed…..
Call the Shaws at 842-0475 for more info or
to volunteer to help put up posters. You will
be greatly appreciated.
Need more Eagles? Go to Saturday’s
Eagle Day at Perry Lake
10:00 a.m. January 24
Perry Community Center & Field Trip
On January 24, 2009, as a prelude to the big Lawrence Eagle
Day event of January 25th, a mini EAGLE DAY AT PERRY
LAKE will be held at the Perry Community Center, 506 E. Front
St, Perry KS. This program will begin at 10:00 a.m. with Corps
of Engineers Biologist Mike Watkins giving a presentation on the
nesting Bald Eagles in northeast Kansas, including Perry and
Clinton Lakes. This presentation will be followed by an eagle
viewing field trip to Perry Lake, led by Corps of Engineers Park
Manager Bunnie Watkins. The program is free and open to all
ages. Interested individuals should contact Bunnie Watkins at
785-597-5144 for more information.
~Bunnie Watkins~~~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rivers and Wildlife
Celebration
Audubon Nebraska presents the 39th annual Rivers and
Wildlife Celebration in Kearney, March 20-22, 2009, to
coincide with the migration of 500,000 Sandhill Cranes and
millions of waterfowl through central Nebraska.
Featured speakers this year are:
Pete Dunne – Author and birding expert from
Cape May Bird Observatory
Joel Sartore – National Geographic photographer
Felipe Chavez-Ramirez – Director, Platte River
Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust
Local birding experts will lead field trips to the best birding
hotspots in the area throughout the festival. Tours may include
stops at local prairie-chicken booming grounds and prairie dog
towns. There will also be trips to viewing blinds along the
Platte River at Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary at sunrise and
sunset. Witnessing Sandhill cranes leaving and returning to the
river up close is a spectacle no birder should miss. Field trips
have limited space, so participants are encouraged to register
early. For more workshops and
presenters see the brochure.
For a registration brochure,
call or write Audubon Nebraska,
P.O. Box 117, Denton, NE 68339;
(402) 797-2301 or visit
www.Nebraska.audubon.org.
Email Nebraska@audubon.org.
Dancing Cranes.
Additional crane viewing info at
Cornell Lab of
www.rowesanctuary.org or call
Ornithology
Rowe Sanctuary (308)468-5282.
~ Kevin Poague, Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
KID’S PAGE
3
GO ON A WINTER NEST QUEST!
PREPARING:
STARTING OUT:
Oriole’s nest. Journey North
QUESTING:
Downy Woodpecker.
Dianne Pierce.
IMAGINING:
Field Mouse nest. 50Birds.com
MORE FUN:
Get your nature journal, pencil or pen and warm clothes.
Natural History Museum of LA.
Take a helper: a best buddy, mom, dad, brothers, sisters…any sharp eyes.
Pick a place that has trees and shrubs of different kinds and sizes.
Maybe your own neighborhood, local park or nature center, or your
favorite spot for nature hikes. A stream or lake also attracts birds.
Make a map of the place in your journal showing paths, streets and landmarks.
You can make the map before your quest if you know the area already.
It’s fine to draw the map as you quest too.
Your map can be as big or small as you want it to be. You may need to
spread it over several pages in your journal if you like big maps.
As you walk, scan trees and bushes for nests. Depending where you go,
you may see anything from little songbird cup nests made of grasses and
twigs to very large, stick nests made by hawks.
Mark nest locations on your map. Write down what the nest is made of,
its size and anything else you want to remember, like the date or weather.
Do you see holes in any tree trunks that may be woodpecker nests?
Are there any huge clumps of leaves in the trees? These could be squirrel
nests. What about animal tracks? Put these on your map too if you want.
Do the birds seem to have a certain type of tree or part of the tree
they like best for their nests?
Are there nests you walked past many times in the summer that you
never saw because they were so well hidden by leaves?
Can you tell what might be growing or living nearby in the summer
that the birds could eat?
Are the birds you see now in the winter the same ones that made the
nests? A bird field guide will tell you or you can check back in the summer.
WHAT ??QUESTIONS?? DO YOU HAVE?
Next spring or summer repeat your nest quest.
Songbirds don’t reuse their nests (they usually fall apart during
the winter), but do they use the same tree or one nearby?
Go to a wetlands and look for nests in reeds and grasses.
They may not all belong to birds.
BEST IDEA: GO ON AN EAGLES DAY FIELD TRIP
AND LEARN MORE ABOUT EAGLES AND THEIR NESTS.
Eagles often use nests again and again. One nest in Ohio is
known to have been used for 34 years in a row!!!
Bald Eagle Nest
Florida Game & Fish
See http://www.kawvalleyeaglesday.com/index.php for field trip times and other
Eagles Day activities: January 25, 2009. Free State High School. (or page 2 of this newsletter)
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JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
KID’S PAGE
Coloring Page from www.pgc.state.pa.us
Pennsylvania Game Commission
Color the Bald Eagles and their nest.
If you want a realistic look, give the
parent a white head and tail, dark
brown body and yellow beak and feet.
The babies are downy gray.
ANSWERS
lad
gel
gab
gal
lea
ell
bade
gale
ball
glee
legal
label
blade
beagle
The Kid’s Page found 40 plus! We bet you can beat us!
bad
lab
leg
beg
led
eel
glad
dale
lead
bale
bagel
glade
gable
gelled
Well...usually a fish….but the Kid’s Page challenges
you to spell as many different words as you can
using the letters in the name “BALD EAGLE”.
dab
age
bag
lag
ale
aged
dell
deal
bell
bled
ladle
algae
bleed
balled
WHAT’S IN A BALD EAGLE????
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
From the
Recycling in Kansas Newsletter
JANUARY 2009, VOL. 21, NO. 1
COAL PLANT
We were able to stop the huge, ugly, dangerous, unnecessary coal plant in
western Kansas, but the Kansas Legislature will probably be at it again this
year. The Legislature begins business on January 12. Write or call or e-mail
your state senator and representative telling them that we DON’T WANT
THAT POLLUTING PLANT IN KANSAS. If you need to know who your
legislators are, call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-432-3924.
~ Margaret Miller, editor, Recycling in Kansas Newsletter
kanzania@yahoo.com (316) 686-2555
430 Waverly, Wichita KS 67218
JOIN THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
February 13-16, 2009
Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts, by
counting birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as you wish) on one or
more days of the event and reporting sightings online at www.birdcount.org.
Contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 or National
Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or (215) 355-9588, ext 16.
Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund Grants
The Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund had awarded nearly $30,000 for
2009 to six local efforts to preserve and understand nature. Grantees are:
Spencer Museum of Art in support of two 2009 environment-themed
exhibitions with educational components. "Climate Change at the
Poles" and "Trees and Other Ramifications";
Prairie Moon Waldorf School to establish an organic market garden
to serve as an expanded school classroom for academic, artistic and
practical work. The school, located on prime farmland in the Kaw
River Valley, encourages children to connect with the natural world;
Friends of Hidden Valley for stream and habitat restoration at
Hidden Valley Camp, a 40-acre Girl Scout camp in Lawrence;
Kansas Rural Center for an international exchange program aimed at
educating our community about growing food locally;
Kansas Land Trust for signs marking local conservation easements;
Lecompton Elementary School to establish a Monarch way station.
The Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund was established in 2005. The
Douglas County Community Foundation has awarded more than $1 million
in grants this year in support of health, youth, education, arts and culture,
the environment and human services.
~Marilyn Hull, Program and Communications Officer
Douglas County Community Foundation
900 Massachusetts, Suite 406, Lawrence, KS 66044
Phone 785-843-8735 Fax 785-843-8735
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JAS officers & Board Members
President:
Chuck Herman: 913-301-3921
hermansnuthouse@earthlink.net
Vice President: Richard Bean
Recording Sec’y: Julie Trowbridge
Corresponding: Sec’y: Pam Chaffee
Treasurer:
Jennifer Delisle
Member Chapter
Change Report: Chuck & Ruth Herman
Membership
Promotion:
Dayna Carleton
Newsletter:
Susan Iversen: 785-843-1142
siversen@sunflower.com
Conservation:
Sara Katich
Programs:
Joyce Wolf
Education:
VOLUNTEER NEEDED
Field Trips:
Steve Roels
Publicity:
Dayna Carleton
Electronic Communications: Karyn Baker-Riney
Bird Seed Sale: Linda Lips
Birdathon:
Richard Bean
Christmas Count: Galen Pittman
Migratory Count: VOLUNTEER NEEDED
Eagles Day:
Ed & Cynthia Shaw
Hospitality:
Esther Smith
Historian:
Ron Wolf
Books & Feeders: Ron & Joyce Wolf
Board Member: Dena Friesen
Board Member: Lisa Grossman
Board Member: Mark King
Board Member: Jake Vail
Board Member: Alice Weis
Art in Birds/
Birds in Art
Enter a new contest from the Celebrate Urban
Birds Project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Look for art in birds: a broken down nest in winter, a song recording, a video of a bird perching
on your window, something that makes you pause,
look twice, laugh, cry. Take photos, paint, write
a story, create a sculpture. Selected entries will
be posted on the Celebrate Urban Birds website.
First, learn more at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
celebration/challenge/birds-in-art/ Email your
entry to urbanbirds@cornell.edu before 1/31/09.
1. Write "Art in Birds/Birds in Art contest" in
the subject line.
2. Include name and mailing address in the email.
3. Tell us why you submitted your entry to the
Art in Birds/Birds in Art contest.
~ Karen Purcell, Celebrate Urban Birds
Jayhawk Audubon Society
P.O. Box 3741
Lawrence, KS 66046
Return Service Requested
Nonprofit Organization
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Contest:
Application for New Membership in both: National Audubon Society and Jayhawk Chapter
___$15 Student; ___$20 Introductory for NEW members; ____$15 Senior Citizen.
(Make check payable to National Audubon Society.)
Application for Chapter-only Membership (Jayhawk Audubon Society). No Audubon magazine.
___$7.50 Chapter-only (Make check payable to Jayhawk Audubon Society.) Those with National Audubon
memberships are encouraged to support the chapter by voluntarily paying these dues. Chapter membership
expires annually in July.
National Audubon Society members receive four issues per year of the Audubon magazine and are also
members of the Jayhawk Chapter. All members also receive 10 issues of this newsletter per year and are
entitled to discounts on books and feeders that are sold to raise funds to support education and conservation
projects. Please send this completed form and check to Membership Chairs at the following address:
Ruth & Chuck Herman; 20761 Loring Road, Linwood, KS 66052; e-mail contact:
hermansnuthouse@earthlink.net . {National Members Renewing: please use the billing form received
from National and send it with payment to National Audubon Society in Boulder, CO}.
Name __________________________; Address _________________________;
City ___________________________; State ______; ZIP Code (9) digit ______;
Telephone (with Area Code) ___________________
J02: 7XCH
Bald Eagle
Manitoba
Provincial Parks