The Pine Warbler
(Text-only Version)
May 2007
President's Message
John Wright
I have been so caught up in end of the year activities and it just
doesn’t seem like time for our annual “break” for the summer, but it
is. I guess that is good as it gives us time to think about what
to do next.
We are planning another successful BirdFest with more activities and
educational booths than before. We have made efforts to let
others now about the event and hopefully can compare attendance from
last year. We are also hoping to generate interest in the area
youth to join a junior birder’s program. This program, conducted
by our volunteers, will hopefully get many new faces involved in bird
watching and conservational action locally. We hope to have
monthly outings starting out at Kamper Park then move out to other
areas as interest grows.
Also, as the year winds down, we end it with a dinner. This
year’s dinner will be held at Bianchi’s Pizza (a new restaurant in
Downtown Hattiesburg), Thursday May 3rd at 7 p.m. We have
reserved a room to gather for our silent auction; these “extra” monies
will allow for activities and conservation goals in the year
ahead. Please bring several friends and auction items to the
event. It would be a good way to show more people about our
organization and include them in our wonderful chapter -- no need to
keep something this much fun a secret!
I am proud of what we have done as an organization, and it is that
success which shows the dedicated efforts of the membership.
Please take time to include some”ONE” new to the simple things ONE can
do to help the natural world and the birds we share it with.
Staying in Touch . . .
While we don’t typically send out newsletters during our summer hiatus
every year (June-July-August), we do plan to have some interesting and
worthwhile activities going on that you will want and need to stay in
touch with.
“HOW do I do that ????” you might well ask…..
The Pine Woods Audubon website will continue to be updated through the
summer with news and information that will be of interest to you.
Please check in with the online site regularly to keep up with what’s
going on!
Field Trips In May and Beyond
Chuck
Gramling
May Bird Count
Our May Field Trip will be the Annual Partner’s in Flight Migratory
Bird Count on Saturday, May 12. A show of hands will be requested
at our May Meeting of those folks wanting to count the birds. You
can also contact Larry Smith, count compiler, at 601-264-8364 if you
are not at the meeting and would like to participate. We will
split up into car-sized teams and cover the county. Larry tells
me that this count event is turning into history as there is no longer
a place to submit the data. Still, a good bird count is always a
neat thing to do during late spring migration to see some of our
returning birds. If we continue this count in 2008, perhaps we
might want to give it a new name!
Summer Butterfly Counts
Next we have two “official” North American Butterfly Association
butterfly counts planned. The first count will be Hattiesburg on
Saturday, June 30. We all travel together on the butterfly
count. We hope to spend most all of the morning at the Sewage
Lagoon. We will eat lunch at a cool air conditioned eating spot,
then onto a few select places around town and Longleaf Trace. We
tend to walk a little more on our Hattiesburg count (specifically our
last stop on the Longleaf Trace is a walk). If we hit a few good
spots for those confusing little skipper species, we may easily see
more species here in Hattiesburg than on our Delta count.
The Delta National Forest butterfly count will be Saturday, July
21. So why did people from Hattiesburg start an annual butterfly
count 25 miles north of Vicksburg up highway 61 in some gravel roads
woods setting? The answer is because we found so many butterflies
there! I think this makes our 5th official count there.
2006 was our only ‘bust year’ count on the Delta NF (‘only’ 4 or
5 thousand butterflies reported), but in all other previous years, we
have listed in the top five counts in all North America for total
number of butterflies seen, and we report conservatively. I would add,
if you don’t have a dozen or so butterflies light on you at the same
time during the Delta count, it was a slow day. The Delta count
is easy, all the counting is done by car on the roads, with brief walks
into graveled “hunter camp sites” that let us look into edge of the
trees. We will stop here and there several dozen places as we go
on the 10-mile circle area. We expect to see good birds on both
our butterfly counts as an extra bonus.
The final plans for mid morning meet up times and locations for the
butterfly counts have not yet been made. If you want to come with
us, please contact either Diane Lafferty (601)
264-9654 or Chuck Gramling (601) 268-3859 (emails -
dlaffert@netdoor.com or clgramling@comcast.net). Come join us on the
bird and butterfly counts. Our intent is to have enjoyable
days. You just never know what you will see on any of the counts,
so come find out!
Book Report: An Old Standard
Ron Blackwell
I’ve been frantically performing my annual spring ritual this past
week. I’ve methodically worked my way through every room and closet in
the house, my office, and both cars. Spring cleaning? Me? Of course
not! I’ve left my usual cluttered trail of debris in my wake. I am
looking for a book. It’s the same book I’ve looked for each spring for
the past ten years. Everyone simply calls it that warbler book. Its
proper name is A Field Guide
to Warblers of North America. It is part of the Peterson Field
Guide Series and was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1997. Written by
Jon Dunn and Kimball Garret with illustrations by Tom Shultz and Cindy
House, it is the authority on the subject. In fact, it’s 650 pages of
authority on warblers.
But you may wonder why I am so frantic to find a book on warblers.
After all, spring warblers are all dressed up for the big dance. Surely
I can tell a Blackburnian Warbler from a Cape May Warbler—maybe, maybe
not. As too many of you probably remember, I found and identified a
Black-billed Cuckoo two springs ago that magically morphed into a
Dauphin Island Long-tailed Mockingbird in front of at least 30 people.
At least I had plenty of elbow-room for the next two days. Nobody
wanted to be around me.
But legendary i.d. blunders aside, I could use any of a dozen or so
field guides to successfully sort most of spring’s warblers. But this
book has a secret weapon, its famous bird butt pictures—two pages of
plates depicting the back half of each warbler as seen from directly
below. Every Dauphin Island veteran knows this view very well. It’s the
primary cause of the dreaded “warbler neck” syndrome, and it is the
view from which Blackburnians and Cape Mays truly are almost identical.
Ahh, there it is -- in the birding bag. OK, I’m ready now. Bird UP!