Letter from the President John Wright

Well here we are in the month of October and migration is fast upon us. October is also the month of which we celebrate Halloween. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is always a good read this time of year, but it got me to thinking about the specialty of birds during this time of year. Besides ravens I think we can draw similar connections to death with vultures. So perhaps one could take the time to draw attention to the plight of many of vultures worldwide.

Now the public opinion of vultures is not the best, but many don't understand how important these birds are and how they serve the life (and death) process. As cleaners, they can quickly finish off remains before decomposition gets too far along. There are even some species that will also take bones and drop them onto rocks to break them up to get access to the marrow. They are the true undertakers and caretakers of the dead, returning them to ashes and dust–back to their basic components from which life is built.

Right now there is a great decline in vulture populations, mostly in Asia and other third world regions. Even in Europe, carcasses are quickly removed, creating a food shortage for vultures. Much like our own plight with endangered raptors, chemicals are affecting the eggshell development, resulting in a high egg mortality. Farmers poison carcasses to reduce predators, resulting in the incidental killing of vultures.

There are now several conservational efforts being made to save the diversity of species and habitat of vultures. One of the key factors to conservation is education and I would ask everyone to spend some time learning how they can help this under appreciated bird taxa.

So, just like Hans Christian Andersen's "Ugly Duckling" the vulture is a misunderstood bird whose beauty is in its diversity and importance to the bigger purpose it serves. I hope that I have brought to light a better understanding of the "Ugly Duckling” of the bird world during this migration season.

Bird Quiz Larry Smith

I guess the familiar "conk-la-ree" of the Red-winged blackbird was a little too easy - several folks correctly identified the song as rendered by Diane Lafferty's sound box. The song was that of a male, to which the female ordinarily responds with 3-5 short check notes. It might have been a little harder if we could have played the short check notes of the flight calls. I personally have a great deal of difficulty in sorting these out from the notes and grunts of various other blackbirds and black birds.
These sounds along with the RWBB's "Pink call", "Tjeet call", and "Harsh rattles" can be heard on Cornell Lab's All About Birds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide.

And while you are there, you might try to find the bird whose call sounds like "Quick, three beers." – which just happens to be the Bird Quiz for November. Should not be a problem since this was featured in one of local World Class Bird Writer Ronnie Blackwell's recent newspaper columns!

Dauphin Island Fall Migration Field Trip Report Chuck Gramling

On Saturday morning, I just had to go to Dauphin Island though I had decided to pass. If you are hooked on DI bird migrations trips like I am, there is almost no excuse not to go, even if a day trip, as was my case. Saturday was great. I ran into most everyone from PWAS. And the nice folks on DI, John & Jenny Stower who insist on feeding us lunch seems every trip (we are like birds at a feeder after so many years of their hospitality) did not let us down! Ummmm-ummmmm good! And, to boot, they always find us more birds than we had on our list at their deck overlooking the sound marshes.

Shell Mound in the morning (maybe 10:30 arriving) was great. There were warblers despite the cool north wind. There was a good flock of nonstop Redstarts (yellow and orange ones, pretty constant, well maybe 4 or 6 at a time)! And the fall Black Throated Greens, a pair of them at least, the female Black and White Warbler and fall Hooded warblers with not so solid dark black hoods. Well, not a real high species count for me, but worth more than numbers to spend your first hour and a half there seeing non-stop warblers! Jean Jeff gets the award for new names for Red Starts: Turkey Tails (for the way they show those tail feathers when they take of into a typical short jump or flight). Previous award was to Diane for ID the Redstart females as “Yellow-starts.”

After lunch and short excursions in the Lafferty's vehicle to find another 20 or so species, I found myself back at Shell Mound by 1:30 or so. I figured it would be dead, but half an hour into it, another warbler found,,, the Magnolia. I went and checked out the Black and White warbler east of the Bee Tree, and soon the Red Starts returned. I saw a more truly colored Hooded Warbler on the path 6 ft in front of me. Then here comes Larry and Linda, Jay and others, and there is a Tennessee Warble, then a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, then…. It was a great warbler day at Shell Mound.

What other birds were around? We saw pretty much all the egrets and heron types except night crown types and green heron; gull, pelican and tern types; Yellow bellied Sapsuckers and male Flickers; Phobes; Indigo buntings at Shell Mound and the Goat Tree; Scarlet Tanager at the Goat Tree. Once everyone turns in their Sunday counts, we’ll have a final tally of the number of species seen, but I know it was well over 100.

I left by 3:45 PM, but for 5 hours, not telling how many individual warblers seen and enjoyed, it was a very good day trip. Guess the cold front of late worked really well for this trip: a great day, great birds, and great folks Saturday on DI. If you haven’t gone down there yet during migration season, I encourage you to try it. You’ll like it, I promise! Our next group field trip to DIAL will be in April. Check the yearbook or the website for dates and make those reservations early!

Right to Throw Away Day: A Community Service Chuck Gramling

In case you missed it in the newspaper, November 7 has been designated "Right to Throw Away Day" for Forest and Lamar Counties. It is a good chance to get rid of hazard waste and junk appliances for free. Hours will be from 8 AM until 2 PM at both the Bobby Chain Airport and Lamar County Multipurpose Center in Purvis.

The Hattiesburg American listed some of the typical things brought include old paint, paint thinner, wood stain, furniture and silver polish, rat poison, pesticides, drain cleaners and other cleaners, oil, transmission fluid, old tires, washing machines, TV's, refrigerators, deep freezers, etc.

The only items prohibited were explosives, medical waste, and radioactive materials.

I am really glad our local governments sponsor this event most years, so we can get rid of stuff that doesn't fit or belong in normal household trash and landfills. I have already spotted a dead gas grill, one dead TV, before looking for old paint and other liquids on the shelf. I think this is tax dollars well spent (beats these things in our landfills and water tables)!

Calendar of Events

Nov. 5, 2009 (Thursday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Board Meeting, 6:15 p.m. in Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center. The Public is invited to attend.

Nov. 5, 2009 (Thursday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Chapter Meeting, 7 p.m. in Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center. PROGRAM: “River Turtles” (Will Selman, USM Biological Sciences Department). Contact Program Chair Chuck Gramling (601-408-0499) for information.

Nov. 7, 2009 (Saturday): Field Trip: The Upper Pascagoula Drainage Area. Meet in Rose’s Parking Lot at 8 a.m. to depart. We should be back in Hattiesburg for a late lunch, should any late-sleepers care to join us. Contact Ronnie Blackwell (601-818-1788) for more information.

Nov. 7, 2009 (Saturday): Right to Throw Away Day. 8 AM to 2 PM, two locations Bobby Chain Airport and Lamar County Multipurpose Center (Purvis). Free disposal of Hazmats, pesticides, paints, cleaning materials, old tires, old appliances, TV’s, refrigerators, etc, that are not acceptable for normal household trash pick up. Items not accepted are explosives, medical waste, and radioactive materials; all others welcomed.

Nov. 10, 2009 (Tuesday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Birding Committee Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at the Keg & Barrel Restaurant. Contact Ron Blackwell (601-818-1788) for information.

Nov. 15, 2009: Deadline for items for November Pine Warbler to newsletter editor by email (lin.harper@usm.edu) by phone (Ronnie @ 601-818-1788), or by fax (Attn: Lin @ 601-266-6541).