www.hobaudubon.org 1 November – December 2012 Volume 1, No. 2 Huntington–Oyster Bay Audubon Society A chapter of the National Audubon Society Serving Huntington and Northern Oyster Bay Townships Book Drive: Children’s Nature Books Wanted Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society is collecting new or gently used children’s nature books for The Early Years Institute (EYI). EYI is creating small libraries for underserved children in communities across Long Island in order to address the growing literacy crisis. As a nature-based organization, HOBAS is slanting our collection towards nature-based books, but we will accept all books, as long as they are for children. Please make sure that the books are in good shape, no moldy or musty books can be accepted. In addition to English, Spanish and Creole language books are needed. For more information on EYI, visit the website: www.eyi.org. Deadline for book donations is November 16 th . Book drop offs will be accepted at our November 14 th monthly program, or you can e-mail [email protected]to arrange a separate drop off. Thank you so much for your help! Birdseed Sale 2012 Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon will hold its annual birdseed sale on: Saturday, December 8 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at Huntington High School The deadline for orders is November 13, but we will have a limited amount of extra seed for purchase on a first- come, first-served basis. The prices for birdseed have risen tremendously in the past several years due to worldwide supply and demand issues and drought in the Midwest. We did our best to keep our prices down and appreciate your continued support. Proceeds from this important fundraiser will benefit Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society’s conservation, environmental education, and youth programs. Thank you for your support and we wish you a safe and comfortable winter, with many enjoyable hours of bird watching at your feeders! The 2012 Long Island Natural History Conference will be held at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Friday, November 16, with field trips scheduled at various locations throughout Long Island on Saturday, November 17. The aim of the conference is to increase communication among the community of local naturalists and environmentalists. The two-day event will include a number of presentations by leading naturalists on various aspects of Long Island natural history on Friday, and a series of field trips on Saturday. The steering committee has put together an exciting program for this year’s conference including recent research and conservation issues related to river otters, Atlantic white cedars, diamondback terrapins, horseshoe crabs, alewives, seals, leopard frogs, trends among Long Island’s avifauna, and the flora and fauna of Plum Island. Peter Alden, author of the Audubon Society’s Regional Field Guide series, will be our keynote speaker. For more information and to register, please visit http://longislandnature.org/conference.html. This is the first of what is hoped will be an annual event. Killdeer Inside This Issue Guatemala Scholarships .....................................2 From the President...........................................3 Green Fire and Highway Cleanups .........................4 A Teenager on Appledore Island, CBC, Birders’ Box .....5 Meetings and Events .........................................6 Field Trips and Activities ....................................7 Children’s Programs..........................................8
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www.hobaudubon.org 1
November – December 2012 Volume 1, No. 2
Huntington–Oyster Bay Audubon Society A chapter of the National Audubon Society
Serving Huntington and Northern Oyster Bay Townships
Book Drive: Children’s Nature
Books Wanted
Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon
Society is collecting new or gently
used children’s nature books for
The Early Years Institute (EYI).
EYI is creating small libraries for
underserved children in
communities across Long Island in order to address the
growing literacy crisis. As a nature-based organization,
HOBAS is slanting our collection towards nature-based
books, but we will accept all books, as long as they are for
children. Please make sure that the books are in good
shape, no moldy or musty books can be accepted. In
addition to English, Spanish and Creole language books
are needed. For more information on EYI, visit the
website: www.eyi.org. Deadline for book donations is
Teenager on Appledore Island Brendan Fogarty, Youth Outreach Committee Co-chair
Gulls are fun.
Why? Because
gulls challenge the
integrity of every
peaceful beachside
picnic. Because
gulls can turn a
landfill into a bird-
identification
carnival. Because
gulls scream out
the dreamy marine
essence on their
briny breath. And
they do have briny
breath – but more
on that later. The
following is a brief
description of the work I serendipitously found on
Appledore Island.
In early June, six miles off of the Maine coast (but a
stone’s skip from the New Hampshire border), my position
as a gull intern officially began. I had been graciously
offered the position by Professor David Bonter while
studying at Cornell University. Since one of the job
requirements was to take his field ornithology class at the
Shoals Marine Lab on the island, I had already been on
Appledore for two weeks. But Dr. Bonter had left with the
rest of his students, leaving me and co-intern Shailee to
fend for ourselves out in Appledore’s gull colony.
In the mornings, we woke up early to survey about 60
Herring Gull nests, recording the contents of each nest for
a long-term study. Our untidy notebooks were brimming
with information about each individual nest, from the
distance between neighboring nests to the weight of each
chick contained within. Our laboratory space was filled
with blood samples from day-old chicks, bicycle helmets
sporting punctures from angry, dive-bombing parent gulls,
and a never-ending lineup of clothing and gear that needed
scrubbing. Between the airborne poop onslaught from the
parents and the vomited fish assault from the chicks, not a
day went by without some piece of equipment begging for
a though cleansing. And see – briny breath!
Afternoons were dedicated to individual projects. I
worked with the island’s Barn Swallows, monitoring their
breeding using a process similar to what was employed for
the gulls. I was aided by radio frequency identification
technology. I banded adult swallows and tagged them
with a tiny transponder that gave off identifying radio
signals in close proximity of certain simple antennae,
which I installed around their nests. In this way, I
recorded the activity of male versus female birds at their
nests. Despite a small study sample, I was pleased to find
one optimistic male was tending to broods at two nests!
This is an interesting, but not unprecedented behavior for
this species.
The two projects made each day on Appledore long and
exhausting, but filled with interesting observation and
experiences. I loved my time out in the Gulf of Maine and
would highly recommend a visit for anyone with an
interest in marine biology or looking to help out with any
of a variety of fascinating projects.
You Can be a Part of the CBC!
Take a break from the hectic holiday rush, have lot of fun,
and participate in the biggest citizen science project in the
world! Join us for the 113th
Annual Christmas Bird
Count (CBC) on Saturday, December 15th
. HOBAS
along with North Shore Audubon (NSAS) covers northern
Nassau County. To join the count, call Bill Reeves (631-
266-4309). If you can’t spend the whole day, come for
part of it. After a day in the field, a compilation supper
(location TBA) will be held where each group’s numbers
are recorded. Come enjoy some good food provided this
year by NSAS, the camaraderie of your fellow birders, and
hear the results of each group’s count. There are always
some interesting surprises.
Birders’ Box
September 9, Jamaica Bay. Sharon Brody led 4 participants on a lovely fall day at the National Wildlife Refuge. Besides the many species of ducks and warblers seen many waders and other birds were spotted. These included an American White Pelican, Little Blue Heron, Peregrine Falcon, Lesser Yellowlegs, Scarlet Tanager, and the bird of the day – a Sora.
September 23, Jones Beach. Blair Broughton and a group of 10 birders witnessed lots of fall migration bird activity. Despite the wind, hundreds of tree swallows were seen in large, swirling flocks. Large numbers of Black Skimmers and American Oyster Catchers were seen at the Coast Guard Station. Multiple sightings of Northern Harriers, Osprey, Kestrels, and Merlins kept everybody “raptured.” Pine Warbler, Eastern Peewee, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Northern Flickers were also seen.
September 30, Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch, Greenwich Audubon. Led by Blair Broughton a lovely fall day watching the hawk migration was enjoyed. Cooper’s Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harriers, Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, and many kettles of Broad-winged Hawks were observed. Also seen were Eastern Bluebirds, Phoebe, White-eyed Vireo, and numerous Cedar Waxwings.
Species seen on 2012 HOBAS trips: 161
Killdeer Nov – Dec 2012
6 www.hobaudubon.org
MEETINGS AND EVENTS
Membership meetings and most activities of the Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society are free to members and nonmembers.
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month at the Cold Spring Harbor Library except for the months of July and August.
Our refreshments will be set up and ready for you at 6:45 PM so that you will have ample time for socializing, meeting Board members,
and perusing the printed materials available. The program starts promptly at 7:30. For full program descriptions as well as speaker
biography, please go to www.hobaudubon.org.
Wednesday, November 14, 7:00 PM – Membership
meeting at the Cold Spring Harbor Library. A Bird’s Eye
View: How Birds See the World. Have you ever wondered
what it’s like to be a bird or how birds see the world? Rob
Fergus, Ph.D. will review the latest research on bird vision
and how birds use their senses to perceive and interact with
their world. Obtaining a real "bird's eye view" of the world
will help you better understand bird behavior and can
enhance your appreciation for their unique ways of life. Dr.
Fergus is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Geography and the Environment at Rowan University,
where he teaches cultural geography and environmental
science. He also teaches urban ecology and biodiversity
courses at Rosemont College in Philadelphia, and provides
bird pest control consulting for BirdBGone, Inc.
Monday, December 3 – Deadline for the January-February
Killdeer.
Wednesday, December 12, 7:00 PM – Membership
meeting at the Cold Spring Harbor Library. The Great
Sperm Whale: The Most Mysterious and Magnificent
Creature on Earth with Richard Ellis. Although it is
probably the most familiar of all the great whales (Moby
Dick was a sperm whale), it is still one of the least-known
of all large animals. Their history is deeply entwined with
humans; the sperm whale was the primary target of the
Yankee whale fishery, providing oil to light the lamps of
19th-century America. Although they were heavily hunted
during the 18th
, 19th
, and 20th centuries, sperm whales are
now protected throughout the world, and the population is
believed to number around 300,000 down from 2 million
before whaling began. Richard Ellis is one of America's
leading marine conservationists and is the author of 18
critically acclaimed books and more than 80 magazine
articles, which have appeared in such journals as Geo,
Smithsonian, Science Digest, and National Geographic.
Wednesday, December 19, 7:15 PM – Meeting of the
Board of Directors at the Cold Spring Harbor Library.
Saturday, January 12, 2:00 PM – Motmots for Breakfast:
Birding in Costa Rica. Program at the Cold Spring Harbor
Library. If you’ve been to Costa Rica, come relive the fun.
If you haven’t, this is an opportunity to do some armchair
travelling (or folding-chair travelling), and get the
inspiration you need to start planning your own trip.
Dr. Bill Schutt, author of the critically acclaimed book Dark Banquet and an authority on vampire bats, will be our January speaker. However, due to his schedule, the January membership meeting may not occur on our usual
second Wednesday. Please see the January Killdeer for details. When available, the details will be on our website.
For $20 a year you can be a member of Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society. Your membership will help support
conservation efforts, and educational and youth programs. As a member you will receive our newsletter, an open invitation
to our monthly guest lectures, field trips, and events, along with special member’s only discounts and events.
Please fill out this form and mail with your
check payable to:
Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society P.O. Box 735 Huntington, NY 11743-0735
HOBAS never sells or shares your personal information.