January-February 2004 Mobile Bay Audubon Society Newsletters

8/9/2019 January-February 2004 Mobile Bay Audubon Society Newsletters

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Mobile BayJANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2004

VOLUME XX III NO. 1

A CHAPTER OFT H ENATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETYSINCE1971Audubon Society

Contents

An exciting event will takeplace in Alabama on October 14-17, 2004. We are in the process ofplanning the first annual AlabamaCoastal BirdFest which includesthe following groups: Mobile BayNational Estuary Program,Faulkner State CommunityCollege, Alabama Department ofConservation and Natural Re-

sources, U.S. Fish and WildlifeService, Alabama Gulf CoastConvention and Visitors Bureau,Mobile Convention and VisitorsCorporation, Baldwin CountyCommission, Mississippi AlabamaSea Grant, Alabama Power Foun-dation, City of Fairhope, TheNature Conservancy, the WeeksBay Reserve Foundation and theMobile Bay Audubon Society.

Our location makes this an

excellent time of the year forbirding, and the weather istypically beautiful. Birding tripswill feature the 240 mile long Alabama Coastal Birding Trail, aseries of loops that describes thebirding spots most frequented by Alabama birders. All proceeds will

AlabamaCoastal BirdFest

By John Borom

Taken from the front page of the MobileRegister on December 22, 2003

Birding Boom

Brings TouristsWildlife officials say moremoney is spent in thestate on watching birdsthan on hunting

By Garry MitchellAssociated Press Writer

Alabama has more riches thanmost realize in its skies and back

yardsbirds.In an eye-opening analysis,federal wildlife officials found thatmore money is spent on watchingbirds and other wildlife inAlabama than is spent on hunt-ing.

Counting purchases oneverything from vehicles forexploring to birdseed and binocu-lars for closer looks, $626 millionwas spent in 2001 on watching

birds and other wildlife inAlabamacompared with about$601 million on hunting and$719 million on fishing, accord-ing to an economic analysis bythe US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Using US Census data, the

Continued on page2 Continued on page3

Alabama CoastalBirdfest ..... 1Birding Boom ..................... 1Board of Directors .............. 2Newsletter Deadline ........... 4New Sign at Fairhope Pier .. 4The Great Backyard BirdCount .................................. 5

Snapshot of Last YearsCount .................................. 5Methylmercury ................... 6New Members .................... 8Christmas Party .................. 8Birds Are Where You FindThem .................................. 9The Birds Are Tardy ........... 9Window Strikes .................. 10Calendar .............................. 11Membership Application ... 12


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be used to purchase and improvehabitat for birds on the AlabamaGulf Coast.

In addition to field trips,BirdFest will include special freeactivities that are designed topromote birding, environmental

stewardship and ethics. It willalso include evening speakers, asilent auction, exhibits and a few

workshops. Individuals whoregister for birding events will begiven discounts if they aremembers of the Mobile Bay Audubon Society.

The entire schedule of eventsfor the Alabama Coastal BirdFest

will be placed on the Mobile BayAudubon Society website in thenear future.


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officials estimate that about703,000 people took part inbird-watching in Alabama in2001. The vast majority werebackyard bird-watchersonly70,000 were out-of-state visitors

but about 40 percent of allwatchers take trips to find birds.Trips to zoos werent counted.

We get large numbers ofbirders throughout the year fromBirmingham and Nashvilleareas, said Dwight Cooley,manager of the Wheeler WildlifeRefuge near Decatur.

There are a lot of birderswho are looking for new places togo. They think nothing of drivingsix, seven, 10 hours to an area forgood birding. Once they find anarea, something special bringsthem back, like large numbers of waterfowl, Cooley said.

Fish & Wildlife officialsadmit its tricky to estimate howmuch a bird-watcher will spendper trip.

But money spent for binocu-lars in a store or a sandwich in a

restaurant on a trip has a rippleeffect on the economy, the F&Wanalysis of birding says. Prices forbinoculars and telescopes canexceed $500.

They also buy field guides,bird food, bird houses, campinggear and even boats and off-roadvehicles.

According to the analysis, atypical nature tourist is about 52years old, about as likely to be aman as a woman, and have anindividual median income ofnearly $62,000 a year. They arewell-educated people whogenerally have completed at leastfour years of college.

They tend to take shorttripstwo nights and three days

within a six-hour drive one-wayfrom their home, averaging over10 such trips each year.

Nationwide, with some 70million bird-watchers, totalspending for wildlife watchinggrew 41 percent from 1991 to2001, the federal analysis says,with Alabama benefiting from the

increase.This spring, for example, 16.8

percent of vacationers visited theBon Secour Wildlife Refuge ascompared with 6.4 percent in2001. In addition, activitiesinvolving wildlife observation grewfrom 10.3 percent to 17.2 percentfor the same period, according toGulf Shores visitors bureauestimates.

Officials at the AlabamaDepartment of Conservation andNatural Resources, pointing tothe economic success of a coastalbirding trail, are completing theNorth Alabama Birding Trail,which will go through 12 coun-ties. The project, with about 50sites, began Sept. 10 and could be

finished by spring 2005. James C. White of Decatur,

former president of the TennesseeValley chapter of the AudubonSociety, said his bird-watchingactivities have taken him aroundthe world. He expects the north Alabama trail will dramaticallyimprove bird-watching in the

area.Im sure it will attract a lot of

birding enthusiasts, White saidin a recent telephone interview. Icould name a couple of hundredbirders in this local area.

The Conservation Depart-ment contracted with FermataInc., an Austin, Texas-based firm,to handle the new trail. The siteswill be organized in loops thatrequire no more than a longweekend to view. Kiosks will bebuilt at each site, with informa-tion on the birds.

Fermata project managerMary Jeanne Packer of Rutland,Vt., said equipment purchases forbird-watching, including SUVs

Continued from page 1

Continued on page4


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and even motor homes, may notnecessarily be bought in Alabamabut restaurants and motels profitfrom the activity.

One of our goals is to de-velop more services directly tied to

the place and market those as partof the overall nature tourismexperience, Pack said. Thoseservices include guides and sales ofunique merchandise such ashandcrafted furniture and potterymade from local clay.

Mark Sasser, the ConservationDepartments coordinator of the$280,000 project funded by theUS Fish and Wildlife Service and

local agencies, said the economicimpact on the Tennessee Valleycould be $30 million the firstyear. There are 3 million peopleliving in cities that includeNashville, Knoxville and Atlanta,within a six-hour drive of northAlabama.

He said similar trail projectshave been successful in Texas,Arizona, and Lake Erie.

No Alabama tax dollars are

being spent on this project,

Sasser said.On the coast, Jereme Phillips,

a wildlife biologist at Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge in coastal BaldwinCounty, said hard-core birders

tend to know the best places towatch the migratory flightsandthat means Alabamas coast.

This is one of the mostimportant stopover sites in theUnited States for tropical migra-tory birds, said Phillips.

This flight path extends intoMobile and out to DauphinIsland as the birds come and goacross the Gulf of Mexico as

seasons change.The Bon Secour refuge onFort Morgan Peninsula is on theAlabama Coastal Birding Trail andin one of the giant circles for Audubons annual Christmas birdcount. Birds are countedandsome banded for identificationinthe circles each 15 miles indiameter or about 177 squaremiles. The count by volunteersfrom Alabama to Venezuela

continues through Jan. 5.

Continued from page 3

NewsletterDeadline

Any member is welcomed andencouraged to submit articles forthe newsletter. I would be happy

to include anything you think would be of interest to themembership.Please send your articles for theMarch/April issue to DelaneSmall by February 26.Address:1 Fiesta DriveSpanish Fort, AL 36527Email: [email protected]

Resolution 2003-29 waspassed on April 7 designating theCity of Daphne a bird sanctuaryand a sign was placed in theDaphne Bayfront Park. Thank youMayor Harry Brown and theDaphne City Council for thispositive effort and thank youDavid Yeager and the Mobile BayNational Estuary program for

funding the sign. Picturedfromleft to right are Harry Brown,David Yeager and John Borom.


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Help Scientists Track Birds in Your Community

The Great Backyard BirdCount will be February 13-16,2004. It is hosted by the NationalAudubon Society and Cornell

Laboratory of Ornithology.Now that winter has gripped

much of the continent, where arethe birds? Bird populations aredynamic; they are constantly influx. Scientists want to take asnapshot of our North Americanbird populations, and you canhelp us do just that. In 2003citizen scientists lie you submittedalmost 50,000 checklists totaling

more than four million birds of512 species.Everyones contribution is

important. It doesnt matter

whether you identify, count, andreport the five species coming toyour backyard feeder or the 75species you see during a days

outing to a wildlife refuge. Yourbird list can help answer questionsabout the health of our birdpopulations.

Here is what you can do.Count the birds in your backyard,local park, or other natural area onany or all of the four count days.Watch your bird feeders or take ashort walk in your neighborhoodor park. For each species of bird

that you see, record the highestnumber of individuals that youobserve at any one time duringyour count. Dont add a bird

Last winter, as part of the GreatBackyard Bird count (GBBC), bird

enthusiasts across North America

submitted almost 50,000 checklists

totaling more than four million birds

of 5123 species during the February

count. The event, one of the largest

citizen-science projects in the world,

documented regional declines of the

American Crow that may be the result

of West Nile virus in those regions.

These crows were reported in

alarmingly fewer numbers in Illinois

and Ohio, where West Nile virus has

had a strong presence, backing

findings from the Christmas Bird

Count and Project Feeder Watch. This

decrease may or may not be related to

West Nile, but the situation is

certainly something we need to pay

attention to. Crows are particularly

vulnerable to the virus.

every time you see one at yourfeeder; you could be counting thesame individual.

Watch the birds for at least 15

minutes on each day that youparticipate. We recommendwatching for a little longer, so youcan get a good sense of what birdsare in your area. Enter your countonline at the Great Backyard BirdCount site (http:// www.birdsource.org) and use yourState Checklist to submit yourhighest counts for that day. Viewyour results after you have entered

your count for the day. Visit theMaproom and see results fromacross the continent.

Other species showed increases lastyear during the GBBC. Participants in

the eastern United States counted

more Dark-eyed Juncos than they had

since GBBC 2000, perhaps because of

the massive snowstorm that hit the

eastern seaboard during the weekend

of the count, driving birds to feeders

in high numbers. That same

snowstorm apparently held early

migrants like Red-winged Blackbird,

Eastern Meadowlark and American

Woodcock father south, compared to

previous years.

In the West, Mountain Bluebirds were

reported father south than the year

before, and all of the rosy-finches

(Black, Gray-crowned, Brown-capped)

were documented father north In

previous years, GBBC maps of

Eurasian Collared Doves introduced

in the Bahamas before reaching

Florida in the 1980s, showed thespecies spreading quickly

northwestward. Last years maps

show no change, suggesting a

slowdown in the rate at which the

birds range is spreading.

How will this winter compare to the

last six? What will it reflect about

our bird populations? The

participation of novice and expert

bird watchers alike will help us

answer these questions. We need

every birder to participate with us.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

has become an important means of

gathering data to help birds, but it

cant happen unless people take

part. Whether youre a notice or an

expert, we need you to help us help

birds.

Chapter Networker, Volume VIII, No. 4,Winter 2003

A Snapshot of Last Years Great Backyard BirdCount Findings


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Dont dismiss warningsconcerning methylmercurycontamination in fish! This isespecially important if youre a

woman between 14 and 44 yearsof age, have small children or arepregnant, because methylmercuryexposure can potentially affectmental abilities on a lifelong basis.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and theU.S. EPA are recommending thatwomen from 14 to 44 years of agenot eat more than 12 ounces ofany fish or more than 6 ounces of

freshwater fish per week. Forchildren age 12 and under, thelimit is only 2 ounces. They alsorecommend that no king mack-erel, swordfish, shark or tilefish beeaten at all.

Methylmercury is apotent neurotoxin (poison) thatcan cause birth defects, learningdisabilities, blindness, paralysis,loss of muscular control anddeath. Children of women who

consume fish and seafood contain-ing methylmercury duringpregnancy may be at special riskof brain and nerve damage. Suchdamage could result in neurologi-cal disorders such as attentiondeficit disorder, language delay,and learning difficulties.

Up to 10% of Americanwomen between 16 and 49 yearsold have mercury levels above EPAguidelines, according to a March2001 report by the U.S. Depart-ment of Human Health andServices (Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention). Thereare nearly six million such women.Such women give birth annuallyto 370,000 babies that are atpotential risk of developmental

Methylmercury

problems because of prenatalmercury exposure.

Coal-burning powerplants are a major source of

mercury emissions to the atmo-sphere. Prior to establishing new,more stringent regulations formercury emissions from coal-burning power plants, the U.S.Congress required EPA to conductan independent study of mercurytoxicology.

In July, 2000, the Na-tional Research Council (NRC) ofthe National Academy of Sciencespublished a report entitledToxicological Effects of Methylm-ercury. This report concludedthat EPAs reference dose formethylmercury was scientifically justified for protection of publichealth. This reference dose is thebasis for the recommended weeklyfish consumption rates.

State health departmentscurrently list more than 2,500fish consumption advisories due to

mercury contamination. Large-mouth bass, bowfin, and chainpickerel contain high levels ofmercury in many states. However,few people who eat fish frommethylmercury-contaminatedwaters are aware of such warnings,and many people ignore thewarnings.

Whats more, few adviso-ries warn about the cumulativeeffects of eating contaminated fish.

For instance, if someone ingeststhe reference dose by eating ameal of large-mouth bass or a tunasandwich, should that personavoid eating any more fish of thattype that might contain mercury?

There is a general miscon-ception that commercially har-

vested fish and seafood cannot besold in this country if theycontain more than the FDA actionlimit of 1.0 part per million

(ppm) of mercury. In recentyears, the FDA has not tested formethylmercury in domestic orimported marine fish or otherseafood. As a result, some states,such as California, now requiregrocery and seafood stores to postfederal mercury warnings for fresh,frozen and canned seafood.

Methylmercury can causesublethal effects in animals,including impaired growth and

development, adverse effects onthe cardiovascular system, reducedreproductive success, liver andkidney damage, and behavioralabnormalities. As a neurotoxin,methylmercury can cause de-creased motor skills, tremors, theinability to walk, convulsions anddeath. High methylmercurylevels may have contributed to thedeaths of some Florida panthers,

since panthers typically consumelarge amounts of fish. Effects onplants include growth inhibition,decreased chlorophyll, and leafand root damage.

Mercury is a naturalelement which occurs in certainminerals. Bacteria can convertelemental mercury to gaseousmethylmercury, which can beabsorbed by other organisms.Methylmercury is then passed on

to small fish, larger fish and themany animals that feed on thosefish, including man. As it passesup the food chain, methylmercuryis biomagnified at each successivelevel, resulting in concentrationsin top predators that can beseveral million times the initial


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concentrations in water orsediments. For wildlife andhumans, the primary source ofmethylmercury exposure isconsumption of fish.

The amount of mercuryin the atmosphere is estimated to

have increased as much as ten-foldsince the beginning of the indus-trial revolution. This increase hasoccurred worldwide and is duelargely to burning of fossil fuels.Of the estimated 158 tons ofmercury emitted annually into theatmosphere by human activities inthe U.S., approximately 87%comes from point combustionsources, primarily coal burningpower plants. Electrical powerplants built in the 1940s to 1970sare the largest industrial source ofmercury emitted into the atmo-sphere. The Clean Air Act, passedby Congress in 1970 andamended in 1977 and 1990,exempts such older plants fromnew air pollution standards.

An expert panel on mercuryand atmospheric processes concludedthat if all mercury releases werestopped today, it could take 50 yearsfor methylmercury levels in fish toreturn to pre-industrial levels.Skinning, filleting and trimming the

fat from fish does not significantlyreduce the mercury concentration,nor is mercury removed in thecooking process. In fact, mercuryconcentrations are higher in fish aftercooking, because cooking removesmoisture.

For women of child-bearingage and young children, the mostimportant thing to be aware of is notto consume more than the recom-mended amounts of the fish listed onthe fish consumption advisories.

Currently, there is noeffective national education campaignthat focuses on realistically evaluatingthe dangers of consuming freshwaterand marine fish and seafood. Sincecoal-fired electrical power plants arethe largest known source of

manmade mercury emissions,reduction of mercury-containingemissions would be necessary forreducing atmospheric mercury.

State legislatures in 13states, primarily in the Northeast,and the U.S. Congress are currently

considering bills that wouldeliminate or reduce mercury inproducts such as thermometers,electrical switches, and dentalamalgams. The health and environ-mental threats posed by methylm-ercury will only be reduced throughpublic education, use of newtechnologies and stricter regulationsregarding air pollution.

Alabama fish consumptionadvisories can be obtained from theAlabama Department of PublicHealth Division of EpidemiologyRisk Assessment and ToxicologyBranch, P. O. Box 303017, Mont-gomery, AL 36130. Their websiteis www.adph.org.


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Welcome to the Mobile Bay Audubon Society, the local chapter of the National Audubon Society. We thank you foryour support. A few facts about our chapter: Monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday from September thruMay at 7:30 PM alternately in Fairhope and Mobile (See calendar for details of programs and locations.) Programsof interest are planned for each meeting and field trips are scheduled regularly. We are a non-profit organizationalldonations are tax deductible. A list of officers is listed in the newsletter; feel free to call any of them for information.Join us as often as you canwe want to get to know you.

Ottilie Halstead, Membership Chairman

New Members

Bay MinetteElizabeth Wills

Daphne Joe-Sarah Guin

FairhopeConnie KrevesJoe English

Betty G JonesElizabeth TateT Yeager

Gulf ShoresJohn Teipel

LillianMr.-Mrs. Laurene Michie

Mobile Julie BassettJudy P ChildersBarbara EnsmingerLinda HarwellH F Mahan Judith Pierce

William RowellCharlotte Stephens

Orange Beach Judith L Smith

RobertsdaleEloise Pope

SemmesEdward J Nicholas

TheodoreCindy L Mills Alan StablerRenee Vickery

Transfer into Chapter Walter Rosene Jr.Mary-Warren chiversCharles W HayesLinda A MaurerCharles Desroches

The Christmas party/meeting held at theGovernment Street BaptistChrurch was once again agreat success thanks to thevery entertaining presenta-tion of Beverly and John Winn. They shared someof their photos taken on arecent birding trip toJapan.Coupled with the greatfinger foods provided bythe members, the meetingwas one of the best yet!


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Several years ago we flew tosoutheast Arizona in search of theRed-faced Warbler Cardellina

rubrifons. There we joined agroup and boarded a bus toabout 20 miles southwest ofPatagonia. After that we tookanother bus (this one a real old jalop) with no air conditioning.The drive was several hours overboulders and cacti and I won-dered if the silly bird was worthit.

Finally the bus stopped andwe hiked for a mile or two across

the desert to a stand of pineswhere we suffered cacti andbreathed the dust until I thoughtmy lungs were full of debris.

Another mile or two of tip-toeing brought us to a dry creekbed where we sat still and didntspeak for half an hour waitingfor the Red-faced to appear. No

Birds Are Where You Find ThemBy Celeste Hinds

luck. We ate a soggy sandwichand picked cactus spines fromour ankles and dreamed about

air conditioning. To make a longstory short I finally got aglimpse of the elusive warbler. Ifsomeone hadnt told me what itwas I would never have knownfor I didnt see any red on theface. Nevertheless after all theturmoil I noted it as a lifer.

Last month we were in SanMiguel Allende, Mexico andguess what was the first bird Isaw in Parque Juarez you

guessed it. There it sat, plain asday, only a few feet from me. AsI watched several Red-faced Warblers among the scrubbypines I remembered that awfulday in Arizona!

Birds are where you findthem.

The Birds AreTardyBy Celeste Hinds

Today is December 15 andonly two Goldfinches are enjoy-ing breakfast at my feeder. Acouple of White-throated Spar-rows finally arrived yesterday andare scratching on the ground.

Usually by mid December thefeeders are alive with little seedeaters and there is often a blanketof White-throateds on theground.

On December 10 our birdingclass went to Gulf areas where weusually see Red-breasted andHooded Mergansers, but none

were visible. The week prior when

we visited Maeher Park and PintoPass the ever-present Gadwalls wereabsent. A few American Coots andan assortment of herons and egretswere there, but not in the numbersordinarily seen in December.

At first I thought there had notbeen enough cold weather upnorth to drive them down. But theresident Cardinals and Blue Jays were also scarce. Woodpeckers

were not interested in my suet orpeanut butter offerings.This fall Ive only seen a few

Yellow Rumps whereas I wouldnormally expect a dozen aroundthe wooded areas at our pond.

Have the birds gone to Floridaor South Texas? Has disease taken atoll? Whats up?


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The following are from BirdWatchers Digest, taken from theirsection of frequently asked questionsconcerning window strikes:

1. How can I keep birds from flyinginto my windows?

A. Silhouettes of flying hawks orfalcons do work, but they performbest when applied on the outside ofthe glass. Hanging ornaments suchas wind chimes, wind socks, andpotted plants also help. Misting theoutside of the window with a very weak detergent of soda solution willeliminate the reflection but will alsoimpair visibility for you. Awnings,eave extensions, and window screenswill eliminate all reflection and stopthe collision problem. Plastic clingwrap applied to the inside oroutside of the window can also beeffective. One of the most effectivesolutions we have found is FeatherGuard.

2. Every spring and summer wehave a family of bluebirds nesting inour yard, and every year thesebluebirds exhibit the same peculiar

behavior: They fly from window towindow, butting their heads againstthe glass while looking into thehouse. Can you explain this behav-ior?

A: Your birds are fighting theirreflections in the windows, thinkingthat the reflection is a rival bird.One of the solutions we use is toplace screens over the outside of thewindow. Plastic wrap stuck to theoutside will als9o workanything

that will break up the reflection willdo. We have also offered ourbluebirds places to perch, such assnags and posts, far from ourwindows. Bluebirds love a perch inthe middle of a lawn or field. Thishas worked to distract the birdsfrom our windows. For answers tothe most commonly asked bird

questions, get a copy ofThe BackyardBird Watchers Answer Guide.

3. We have a female cardinal that hasdeclared war on our house. She starts whacking herself into our windowsat 6 a.m. and will not quit until the

sun goes down. How long can Iexpect this behavior to last?

A: The behavior will last through thebreeding season. In some individualsit may go on year-round, for years!Its a territorial reason to seeing anintruder on her turf. Covering thewindows with screens will help, butwhen we had the same problem afew years ago, the bird just moved toanother window. A sharp-shinned

hawk put our bird out of itsmisery. You may try screening, orplastic wrap on the outside surfacesof the window. Remove anyperches from which the bird cansee itself in the windows. Andcontinue to harass the bird to try

to shock it out of its pattern ofterritoriality. (Spraying the birdwith the garden hose may work,and rubber snakes hung by thewindows sometimes do the trick.)If all else fails, call you local wildlifeofficials and ask them to come outand remove the bird for you. Itsdrastic, but it will end the problemfor good.http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/faq/

strikes_answers.html

Seasons Tweetings


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MARCH9 Board Meeting 6:30pm

General Meeting 7:30pm. The Alabama Breeding Bird Atlasfun, science and Conservationpresented byRick West. Faulkner State Community College Fairhope Campus, Centennial Hall.7:30 p.m. To learn more about the breeding bird atlas project log on to www.bham.net/aos/bba.

APRIL3-17 Hummer Bird Study Group spring banding at Fort Morgan. A flood of

neotropical migrants in their finest breeding plumage! For moreinformation, call Bob Sargent at 204-681-2888.

13 Board Meeting 6:30pmGeneral Meeting 7:30pm. Watersheds and Water Quality presented byJody Scanlan,environmental extension assistant. Auburn Marine Extension and Research Center. GovernmentStreet Baptist Church in Mobile. 7:30 p.m.

15-18 The Great Louisiana BirdFest, an event of the Northlake Nature Center,Mandeville, Louisiana. For more information log on towww.northlakenature.org/BirdFest2004.

16-18 Alabama Ornithological Society spring meeting at Dauphin Island, 6:00 a.m. Friday until noonSunday. For more information, callJohn Porter at 251-861-2120.

MAY

11 General Meeting 7:30pmRegular Meeting 7:30pm. All You Ever Wanted to Know About Hummingbirds but DidntKnow Who to Ask, presented by Fred Bassett, a Master Bird bander withthe Hummer Bird StudyGroup. Faulkner State Community College Fairhope Campus, Centennial Hall. 7:30 p.m.

14 Field trip to Gaillard Island in Mobile Bay to observe nesting Brown Pelicans as well as gullsand terns. Meet at Beachcomber Dry Dock and Marine Supply at Dog River in Mobile County.Going south take the first left at Dog River Bridge. There will be a $15 per person free. Limit 20

people. 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. For reservations call John Borom at 251-990-0423.

JANUARY13 Board Meeting 6:30 p.m.

General Meeting. The Challenges of Bird Migration presented byEric Soehren, terrestrialzoologist, Natural Heritage Section, State Lands Division, ADCNR. 7:30 p.m. Faulkner State

Community College Fairhope Campus, Centennial Hall. Bring a friend.24 Field trip to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Meet under the live oaks at the Pine Beach

trail head which is located on the south side of the Fort Morgan Road (Hwy 180) at the 11-milemarker. 8:30 a.m.-noon. Bring a friend.

27 Free Natural History Film. In Search of the Albino presented by wildlife photographer/narratorTom Sterling. 7:30 p.m. Faulkner State Community College Fairhope Campus, Centennial Hall.Bring a friend.

FEBRUARY10 Board Meeting 6:30 p.m.

General Meeting Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Southeast Jackson CountyMississippi presented by Dave Ruple, Reserve Manger, Mississippi Department of MarineResources. 7:30 p.m. Government Street Baptist Church in Mobile. Bring a friend.

21 Field trip to the 18,400-acre Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. If you are comingfrom Baldwin County, meet at the ADCNR Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries office parking lot onthe causeway at 8:00 a.m. If you are coming from Mobile County, meet at the Chevron Station atExit 4 off I-10 at 8:30 a.m. Bring a friend.

Calendar


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NationalAudubonSociety

MobileBayAudubonSociety

POBox483

Fairhope,AL36532

www.mobilebayaudubon.org

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PAIDFairhope,AL

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Any society which does not insist upon respect for all life must necessarily decay, Albert Einstein

Mobile Bay Audubon Wants You!

Join Us Today!Every membership supports Audubons vital efforts to protect birds, wildlife and natural habitats.

As a member, youll become an important part of our dynamic chapter and receive a host of benefits including:

A 1-year subscription (6 bi-monthly issues) of our chapter newsletter.

Automatic membership in National Audubon Society, and a 1-year subscription (4 issues, one per quarter) of

Audubon, its award-winning magazine;

Admission to Audubon Centers across the country

A 10% discount on products at select Audubon Nature Stores, and more!

Yes! I want to join Mobile Bay Audubon and National Audubon Society!

$20 1 year Introductory Rate

$15 1 year Studen t/Senior Rate $1,000 Individual Life Membership

$30 2 year Special Rate $1,500 Dual Life Membership

My check is enclosed. Please bill me.

Name:

Address:

City/ST/Zip:

Telephone:

Make check payaable to National Audubon Society and Mail to:National Audubon Society, Membership DataCenter, P.O.Box 52529, Boulder, CO 80322-2529

ChapterCode: A01

7XCH

January-February 2004 Mobile Bay Audubon Society Newsletters

Documents