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Audubon Washington Audubon
Washington E-Newswire Audubon Washington
E-Newswire February 2007 Volume 3 Number 2
Mid-Winter Fun: GBBC Is Easy, Free and Helps Bird Conservation
SEATTLE – Parents, teachers, kids and nature-lovers of all
kinds will be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count
February 16-19. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the
event, and the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab
of Ornithology, who co-sponsor it, are challenging people
everywhere (new birders and veterans alike) to participate
in greater numbers than ever before. Last year 1,544 participants
at over 240 locations across Washington State identified 313,984
birds belonging to 206 species. This kind of participation
is a huge help to scientists trying to follow bird movements
and population trends. Observers simply count the highest
number of each species they see during an outing or a sitting
and enter their tally on the Great
Backyard Bird Count website. Birdwatchers can quickly
see their entries form patterns that tell new stories about
the birds. Visitors to the website can also compare their
sightings with results from other participants, as checklists
pour in from throughout the U.S. and Canada. Janis Dickinson,
director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
says, “We often fail to notice how rich our surroundings are,
but counting birds, even for just 15 minutes, is not only
educational – it can provide a lasting source of enjoyment,
turning a daily walk into a treasure hunt.”
Saturday in
the Park with SAM
SEATTLE—Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center has teamed
up with the Seattle Art Museum to lead the first of SAM’s
public programs to be offered at the new Olympic Sculpture
Park. Join experienced naturalist Stewart Wechsler on Saturday,
February 10, from 1:00 – 2:00 PM for a Walk in the Park. Mr.
Wechsler will lead a group through the different ecological
areas of the park, discussing the native plantings and the
various bird species, including shorebirds, that are attracted
to the new park habitat. The group will use copies of the
Seward Park Field Guide as they participate in the walk. The
Guide was developed specifically for Seward Park by Seattle
Public School students, but it is broad enough to serve as
a Pacific Northwest guide as well. This free event starts
at the PACCAR Pavilion, located at 2901 Western Avenue, Seattle.
For more information, click here.
Olympic
Birding Trail Loop of Birding Trail Unveiled in Olympia
OLYMPIA – Feb. 14 – Under the watchful yellow
eyes of a live Great Horned Owl and Red-tailed Hawk, two species
of bird regularly seen on the Olympic Peninsula, Rep. Lynn
Kessler and Sen. Ken Jacobsen today in the state capitol unveiled
Audubon Washington’s fourth and newest route of the
Great Washington State Birding Trail, the Olympic Loop. Audubon
Washington Executive Director Nina Carter stated that the
trails and their birds attract visitors to primarily rural
locations, which spurs economic development and gives residents
increased incentive to safeguard natural areas around their
communities and regions. The Olympic Loop features more than
200 of our 365 bird species. Read details here.
Audubon Washington works with many private partners and public
agencies on the Trail,
which will eventually cover the whole state.
House Party
for Bluebirds
FRIDAY HARBOR – A “Bluebird House Party” will be held on Thursday,
February 8 at 10am in Friday Harbor to construct 50-100 bluebird
boxes and 3-4 aviaries as part of a plan to re-introduce Western
Bluebirds to the San Juan Islands. Why Western Bluebirds?
Barb Jensen of San Juan County Audubon explains, “Western
Bluebirds were once common in the islands. They are associated
with oak habitat for their food resource but have declined
do to no breeding pairs here in the last few decades since
the cavities in which they nest are gone.” The good news is
that nestbox programs to replace the loss of cavities in snags
have been used successfully to restore bluebird populations
in many areas of North America. The San Juan Islands Western
Bluebird Reintroduction Project will release 90 birds during
the next five years. Release areas will initially be concentrated
in San Juan Valley (due to its ideal bluebird habitat). Eventually
birds may be released on Lopez Island as well. Breeding pairs
of bluebirds will be introduced in early March from a healthy,
viable population at the Ft. Lewis prairie near Tacoma. Learn
more, and find out how you can help, in the San Juan Islander
story here.
Shorebird Project
Proposals Awarded
ABERDEEN - Congratulations to Grays Harbor Audubon and Pilchuck
Audubon, the two Washington State chapters that were awarded
funding from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation to support
six hands-on pilot projects undertaken in Ecuador by Audubon
Washington chapters. The goal of these projects is to contribute
to the conservation of shorebirds and their habitats on the
Pacific coast. The projects will be funded for two years,
and Pilchuck will be implementing the 12-step action guide
for IBA conservation. For more about Grays
Harbor Audubon and Pilchuck
Audubon please visits their websites.
Reach Out –
Reach Within – Hanford Reach
TRI-CITIES - Mark your calendars for this springs ACOW
taking place April 13-15 in the Tri-Cities. Sponsored by Lower
Columbia Audubon Society, there will be a special talk/presentation
on the Hanford Reach National Monument and a great variety
of tour opportunities, including birding walks (maybe some
burrowing owls in residence,) a Columbia River boat tour of
the Hanford Reach - the last free flowing stretch of the Columbia
River - and even the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave
Observatory (LIGO,) for those who want a different type of
tour. Speakers include Jack Nisbet, author of Sources
of the River, who will speak on “Birding Between the
Mountains, 1800-1860” and Mike Denny, recipient of Audubon
Washington’s Science Award, who will give a presentation on
Owls. A tour of the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve is also in
the works, though not assured at this point.
First Guided
Birding Field Trip to Skokomish Delta
SHELTON – On January 13th Andrew Beelik of Black Hills Audubon
led four tribal members and five Mason County bird watchers
on the first guided birding field trip to the Skokomish Delta.
The Delta, Site # 48 on the Olympic Loop of the Great Washington
State Birding Trail, is an Important Bird Area owned by the
Skokomish Tribe. Since the reservation is closed to non-tribal
members, the only way to see the birds of the Delta is on
a guided tour. On their three-hour walk along the half-mile
delta dike out to Hood Canal waters, the group counted 28
species, including Black, Surf, and White-winged Scoters,
Common Loon, Horned Grebe, more than 200 Western Grebes, and
of course, Bald Eagles. The trip was hosted by Lelena Amiotte,
Environmental Program Coordinator, and Jennifer Green of the
Skokomish Tribe Natural Resources Department. Because of the
restricted access to Skokomish Delta, Audubon Washington’s
Birding Trails Director, Christie Norman, says, “It is quite
the coup for Audubon to have it on the birding trail map!”
If you would like to go, reserve your guide ahead of time
through the Skokomish
Tribe Department of Natural Resources, 360-877-2110. Tribal
lands are open for guided birding the second Saturday of each
month.
Invasive
Species Council
OLYMPIA – The second meeting of the the Invasive
Species Council was held January 29th in Olympia and included
a celebration of the environmental community's work to establish
the Council. The Council, established by the state legislature
in 2006, is charged with writing a strategic plan to control,
manage, and eradicate existing populations of invasive species
in Washington State and prevent new infestations. Audubon
Washington is a founding member, and has an employee on the
steering committee of theWashington Invasive Species Coalition,
a group of conservation organizations that lobbied hard for
the creation of The Council. Bríd Nowlan, hired by Audubon
WA, represents the environmental community on this issue.
At its first meeting, The Council appointed Nowlan an ex officio
member of the Council, with Nina Carter as her alternate.
To subscribe to the Coalition's listserv, to receive regular
updates, email Bríd at bnowlan@seanet.com.
Rat on Your
Cat
Washington, D.C. - NPR
reports that the American Bird Conservatory is asking pet
owners to help count any small animals their household pets
kill. Experts say outdoor cats may kill hundreds of millions
of wild birds each year -- but they aren't exactly sure how
many. When pet owners see a household pet kill a bird, squirrel,
or anything else, they can go to the ABC's "Project Predator
Watch" Web site and fill in the details.
Tidbits
for the Flock: For the first time, the Journal of
Improbable Research from Harvard has awarded an Ig Nobel prize
for ORNITHOLOGY! Ian Schwab and Phillip May from UC Davis
won for their research into why woodpeckers, despite bashing
their heads against trees all day, don't get headaches. The
citation for the woodpecker research and information about
other Ig Nobel winners is here.
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