Well it was great to see everyone at our first meeting
of the year, including a few new faces, as we look forward to October and
fall migration. Many of you have heard about the passing of our long-time
member, Sarah Gillespie who was definitely a bird and nature lover and who
posthumously gifted the Chapter some money. The executive board thought
is would be great to utilize this gift in a slightly different way than
simply sustaining the chapter.
We would like to hear suggestions from the chapter on other ways to continue
to remember her and to bring focus to what was important to her, our chapter
and organization. We thought
about using some of the initial funds to set up an observational viewing
stand along the Trace or Lake Thoreau.
We would also like to set up a trust (or other financial arrangement)
from which the chapter can draw off the interest for small grants or scholarships.
We would love to hear your ideas and planning advice so that
we can continue to honor Ms. Gillespie who entrusted us.
All this would still mean we would have to do our normal
fundraising to meet the chapterÕs regular needs.
If successful we can continue to grow funds, which will contribute
more towards efforts of honoring those who we have enjoyed the company of
discovering the natural world around us.
So fundraising and other ideas are important to continue to
make a difference in our community and are always welcome.
Thanks to Ms. GillespieÕs thoughtfulness we now have
more of the ability to do so.
So like our migrating birds, we too have the opportunity to move to some
great opportunities in the future while still landing in familiar territory.
If you are or would like to become a Chapter Member
of Pine Woods Audubon, now is the time to pay your dues of $20/year.
This membership fee keeps the newsletter coming each month
and helps to defray the costs of programs like Junior Birders, Audubon Adventures,
Bird Fest, and other public and chapter programs.
While we still get a very small subsidy from National Audubon
for those people who renew their memberships with the national office, it
is not enough to run our chapter.
We need help from our friends.
Speaking of the National Audubon Society, for a limited
time, when someone you know joins Audubon (a first time member), our chapter
will get their FULL membership fee.
Please, tell your friends and neighbors, join for a loved one or friend,
or give some Christmas gifts this way.
See Diane Lafferty for info.
The quiz this month will be an audible, a make-up for
the technical problem at the last meeting of last season. So BRING YOUR
EARS!
Answer to September Bird Quiz:
The record setting bird blown onto the Mississippi Gulf
Coast last hurricane season was the American Flamingo. If you guessed just
plain 'ol flamingo, YOU LOSE. All good birders should know there are at least
6 species of flamingo, 2 old world and 4 new world. The American is the only
one inhabiting the Caribbean, hence the one most likely to get blown our
way.
Apparently some 4-6 flamingos were seen on our coast,
and one or two of them stuck around long enough to catch the attention of
some bad characters. At one time young folks were seen throwing rocks at
a flamingo, and a couple of days later it was found dead with its neck broken
in three places.
Also of interest, in Ancient Rome flamingo tongues were
considered a delicacy! (Wikipedia, source of all knowledge.)
We stopped by Tower Rd on the way to Ashe nursery we
saw or heard wood ducks, great blue heron, blue jay, white-eyed vireo, great
egret, carolina chickadee, pileated woodpecker, great-crested flycatcher
and UFDs. We then headed on southward to the Ashe Lake. We saw eastern bluebirds,
mockingbirds, red-tailed hawks, loggerhead shrikes, eastern meadowlarks,
Pine Warbler, cardinals, a yellow-bellied sapsucker, red-bellied woodpecker,
turkey vultures, and black vultures.
The birds may have been few but the butterflies and caterpillars
made it an exceptional day. After consulting my caterpillar book the most
of the caterpillars were buckeyes. We also found all kind of sulphur's and
palamedes and gulf fritillary's. The large caterpillars that Jean made disappear
do not seem to be in my book.The roads were covered with mostly buckeyes
and sulphur's .
Although our group was small, Ron, Jean, Kathy and I
had an enjoyable day.
Pine Woods Audubon invites everyone to our Thursday,
October 1st program at 7:00 p.m.:
"A Passion for Birds" presented by Skipper Anding of Jackson, MS.
Anding's program is an informative and pictorial program
all about his long time love of birds and birding.
Mr. Anding is known for his commercially-used photos of birds
and his knowledge of the birds in our local area.
Pine Woods Audubon Society meets at the Education Center
in the Hattiesburg Zoo at Kamper Park.
Meetings are free to the public and members.
Refreshments are served.
DonÕt be shy. Come join us to learn about those wonderful
birds!
For questions, contact Chuck Gramling, 601-268-3859
after 5:00 p.m.
Regular readers know that I'm a fan of Bob and Martha
Sargent and their organization, the Hummer/Bird Study Group, or the HBSG.
The Sargents have been banding birds and mentoring new banders for more
than 20 years. They are world-renowned experts on hummingbirds, but the
Sargents don't limit their efforts to hummers. They band migrating songbirds,
too. The main location for this effort is historic Fort Morgan in lower
Alabama.
The HBSG volunteers take time out of their lives to
work long hours in hard, sometimes brutal, conditions to contribute the raw
data that scientists use to pry apart the complex secrets of bird migration.
But the most amazing thing about these people is that they welcome visitors
to literally look over their shoulders while they work. They don't just study
birds; they educate people as they study. This makes Fort Morgan the focal
point of my favorite fall road trip.
Migrating birds get up early, and bird banders get up
even earlier. Often, the show is over by mid-afternoon.
Fort Morgan is more than three hours away from just
about anywhere in South Mississippi, and that's not taking into account slow
ferries and stops for birds, plant nurseries and produce stands. It's an
awkward distance best remedied by an overnight stay in Gulf Shores. Dauphin
Island is closer, but lodging there is hard to come by when HBSG is banding
birds, and the first ferry doesn't arrive at Fort Morgan until about 8:45
a.m..
Leave early on the day you go and grab an Alabama Coastal
Birding Trail brochure at the Alabama Visitors Center. On your drive out
to Fort Morgan, keep an eye out for migrating hawks and falcons along the
road. You may be asked to pay an entrance fee to enter the fort area - please
do, because keeping the fort open is an ongoing struggle. The main bird-banding
site is known as the Stables. There you'll find magic. And you'll find a
big, extended family. You may meet someone from your neighborhood sitting
next to an ornithologist from
The HBSG volunteers will explain things as they work.
You will be able to walk along with them to check the nets for birds, and
you will be able to see birds as you've never seen them before. If you're
lucky, you will be able to release a bird. Bob is almost always at the Stables
and Martha is, too, if she's not off attending to the small army's latest
emergency. A second banding station, the Middle Ground, is within walking
distance from the Stables. Ask for directions or follow the thin stream
of people headed that way.
This is a limited-time offer, folks. HBSG's banding
at Fort Morgan faces serious challenges. We have had threats to ferry service
and to the fort's future as a historical park. We lose habitat on the Fort
Morgan Peninsula every year from beachfront development and erosion. And,
while HBSG works to understand bird migration, most of the species they
study are in decline - some in crisis.
YouÕll hear more about that from Bob.
As for determination, there is plenty of that. HBSG
is in this for the long haul, but if the Fort Morgan site becomes untenable,
will there be another magical place within a three-hour drive?
Bob, Martha, and their stalwart group will be banding
at Fort Morgan from October 10-22, 2009. Go. If you have kids or
grandkids, take them. If you love birds, go.
Don't wait for the magic to come to you.
*Reprinted from Sun Herald (9-17-08) with permission
from author. Editorial changes were made to original document.
Oct. 1, 2009 (Thursday): Pine Woods Audubon Society
Board Meeting, 6:15 p.m.
in Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center.
The Public is invited to attend.
Oct. 1, 2009 (Thursday):
Pine Woods Audubon Society Chapter Meeting, 7 p.m. in
Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center.
PROGRAM: "A Passion for Birds"
(Skipper Anding, Jackson Audubon).
Contact Program Chair Chuck Gramling (601-408-0499) for information.
Oct. 3, 2009 (Saturday):
Field Trip: Fall Migration, Little Black Creek.
The group will meet in the Rose's Parking Lot at 7:45 a.m. for an 8:00 departure
time. 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.
Oct. 6 , 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.
Oct. 16-17-18, 2009 (Saturday):
Field Trip: Fall Migration Count on Dauphin Island, AL.
Travel and lodging are arranged by individuals.
A group count will be held Saturday evening on island at
time and place TBA. Contact Chuck Gramling (601-408-0499) for information.
Oct. 19,
2009: Deadline for items for November Pine Warbler to newsletter
editor Ronnie Blackwell by email
(blackwellr@comcast.net), by phone (601-818-1788), or by fax (Attn: Lin
@ 601-266-6541).