C-Notes #5 – Birdwatchradio Number 9, A Georgia Festival and Picking It Up!
September 14, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Birdwatchradio.com casts program #9: If you haven’t heard one of Birdwatchradio.com’s podcasts it is definately time. September 10th’s episode celebrates Birdwatcher’s Digests’ 30th year and interviews Bill Thompson III, the magazine’s editor. Host Steve Moore also shares a wonderful story about his latest life bird.
We reviewed Birdwatchradio.com last February and they are doing a great job sharing information with the bird-loving community.
October Bird Festival: The 2008 Georgia’s Colonial Coast Birding & Nature Festival is coming up October 9 to October 13, Jekyll Island in Southeast Georgia. The event will have seminars on various topics from shorebird identification to digiscoping, plenty of great field trips and Pete Dunne will be the keynote speaker and will also lead a field trip. You can register online until September 22nd.
This is definitely a festival we would love to attend. Birding festivals are a fun, energetic way to raise money and awareness for the protection of our birds.
Pick it Up!: Are you a birder who hates seeing trash in the marsh? Garbage in the woods? Do you Pick It Up?
Klaus, a fantastic photographer and nature lover (Virtua Gallery), has started up a way that you can freely pledge your willingness to pick up trash you find! You can even add a Pick it Up! badge to your site. Thanks Klaus!
C-Notes #4 – American Woodcock Conservation, Wetland Restoration and Another Young Birder
September 10, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
American Woodcock Conservation in Pennsylvania: Wildlife officials in Pennsylvania are creating over 783,000 acres of new habitat to help increase American Woodcock populations to what they were in the 1970s. Also, the new conservation plan is designed to set up 12 demonstration areas to help officials highlight how habitat management can improve populations for a bird that is underappreciated.
Breakdown:
- 571,000 acres on private land
- 67,900 acres on state game lands
- 144,250 acres on other public lands
Yazoo Pumps No More: The Environmental Protection Agency decided to veto a $220 million flood-control project in the Mississippi Delta. This project, the Yazoo Pump, was deeply opposed by the National Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, and other conservation groups.
Messing with the Mississippi River has caused and continues to cause all sorts of problems for the millions of birds that use it as a migration flyway twice a year. Wetlands, once thought of as wastelands, are also crucial to the livelihood of all animal species. Conserving the Mississippi River watershed would save the U.S. money in the long run over cleaning up after hurricane-induced flooding.
The Mississippi River Basin drains about 40 percent of the area of the lower 48 states, making it the largest watershed in the country. Up to 90 percent of all freshwater entering the Gulf of Mexico comes from the Mississippi River.
Taken together, the Mississippi River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico encompass more than 40 million acres of large river floodplain, coastal wetlands and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Approximately 60 percent of all North American bird species depend upon the River’s habitats, including 40 percent of all waterfowl and shorebirds that migrate along the Mississippi flyway.
Source: Denver Post
15-Year Old Josh Corvill Shows Birding is Anything But Geeky: A wonderful article about a young western birder with a passion that easily could convince more teenagers to become birders.
“I am birding all the time. Every second of every day I am birding. I have seen several cool birds from the window of my English classroom.†Josh is the youngest participant in the online Montana Outdoor Birding Group, which has cemented his reputation statewide. Not bad for someone who doesn’t even have a drivers’ license yet.
On a Montana Outdoor Birding Group posting about a February bird sighting, Josh wrote: “I was just outside having a snowball fight with some friends, and a GREAT HORNED OWL flew over!!! This was not even 20 minutes ago!!! … Number 71!!! OH YAH!!! You can tell I still have an adrenaline rush, can’t you.†– The Daily InterLake
Read entire article
C-Notes #3 – Illinois Land Acquisitions and Awards
September 6, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Farm to Floodplain: For over 80 years, farmland at Emiquon in Illinois has been manipulated to remain dry. In 2007, the Nature Conservancy shut down pumps turning 7100 acres into a wetland that attracts thousands of waterfowl and Bald Eagles.
Read more about this project in Jason’s Journal (Jason is the Deputy Director of the Illinois River Program)
Boone County Illinois conserves new land: The Boone County Conservation District recently acquired 80 acres of new land from two separate adjoining land owners. The site will be called the Piscasaw Fen Conservation Area. The site is along a riparian corridor and contains both woodland and wetland habitats. The acquisition was funded by grants from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the Grand Victoria Foundation and Chum’s Foundation.
Organization of the year: The Nature Conservancy in Illinois has been named Organization of the Year at the 2008 Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame Banquet for 50 years of extraordinary contributions.
C-Notes #2 – Lost Scenes, eBird and Wintering Thrushes
September 4, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Lost Scenes of Winged Migration: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library will be archiving some of the 200 hours of film from the spectacular documentary of Winged Migration. Winged Migration helps viewers fall in love with birds, spurring the will to conserve them.
New Flickr photo group for eBird – If you have seen any birds outside their normal range or seasonal occurrence, or exceedingly large numbers of birds you can not only post them on e-bird, but you can now add any photos to the photo-sharing site flickr.
Wintering site for Bicknell’s Thrush – In the Sierra De Bahoruco National Park in southwestern Dominican Republic there is a significant population of wintering Bicknell’s Thrushes. The American Bird Conservancy is working with Grupo Jaragua to strengthen the protection of the park which is also home to the endanged Bay-breasted Cuckoo found no where else in the world.
C-Notes #1 – Kenyan Conservation, A New Bird, and Help for a Wren
August 30, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Welcome to the first edition of C-Notes, an ongoing series designed to pull together 2-3 small tidbits of important bird conservation issues.
Do it for Dominic The Small African Fellowship for Conservation, a project conceived by 10,000 Birds, wants to get the word out about a young Kenyan conservationist named Dominic who is working to promote the importance of conservation in his country. Feel free to donate a few dollars towards this cause.
The Smithsonian Institute discovers a new bird species in Gabon, Africa. The bird was first observed by scientists in 2001, but thought to be a juvenile of a different species. The bird is called the Olive-backed Forest Robin, named for its distinctive coloring on its back and rump, although the male also has a bright orange throat.
Audubon Arkansas and Arkansas State University have developed a project that seeks to survey wrens in Arkansas. This citizen science project is calling on interested individuals to help count wrens in Arkansas. The Bewick’s Wren is in decline in Arkansas. Although rare, this species can be found anywhere in the state. To find out how you can report sightings, check out the Arkansas Wren Survey.
