What’s inside

Audubon NewsVolume 14, Issue 4 December 2008

Monthly Meeting: Thursday, December 4, 2008

Monthly Meeting 1

Christmas Bird Counts 1

Field Trips 2

Member’s Survey 3

Backyard Habitat 4

By-Laws & Silent Auction 4

NC Heritage Publications 5

Conservation Corner 5

Backyard Habitat 6

Tips for New Birders 7

P.O. Box 221093 Charlotte, NC 28222

Upcoming Events

12/4 - Winter Hummingbirds (Mtg.)12/6 – Wintering Waterfowl (FT)12/13 - Evergreen Preserve (FT)12/20 - Gaston CBC12/21 - Lake Norman CBC12/28 - Charlotte CBC1/3 - Pee Dee NWR CBC1/8 - Food, Fun & Fotos (Mtg.)1/17 - Huntington Beach (FT)

Most of us associate hummingbirds to warm spring and summer days. We await the appearance of the first Ruby-throat with great anticipation. The babies entertain us through most of the sum-mer. When they leave there is a definite emptiness to the yard. But for some folks October is not necessarily the end of the hummer season. If you have planted flowers like pineapple sage that bloom well into the fall and/or leave your feeder up with fresh sugar, you may be one of the fortunate few that will host a hum-mingbird through the winter! Most of these birds will be Ruby-throats but many will be Rufous Hummingbirds who breed in the Northwest U.S. and Canada. If the birding gods are really smiling on you it might be a Black-chinned or even an Anna’s Hummingbird.

To fill us in on the status of winter hummingbirds in the Carolinas Dwayne Martin, a Riverbend Park Ranger, will join

Greetings to All,

I am writing to extend heartfelt thanks for your dedicated work on the Christmas Bird Count. Whether this past season was your first experience as a CBC observer, or you’ve been compiling multiple counts for decades, your efforts are vital to our understanding of how birds are doing and to developing the conserva-tion efforts needed to protect them.

When Frank Chapman started the “Christmas Bird Census” in December of 1900 as an alternative to the traditional Christmas side hunt, it was a visionary act. But even the greatest foresight could not have predicted how important the CBC

Wintering Hummingbirds

us at our December meeting. Dwayne is one of just a few lucky folks who get to band these wandering feathered jewels. You may have seen him at the Reedy Creek Hummingbird festival and/or read some of his posts on MAS-L. He will regale us with some very fascinating stories, explain how he goes about banding these tiny creates and give us some tips on how we might attract a winter hummer.

Don’t miss this fascinating program on Thursday, December 4th at 7:30 PM in the fellowship hall of the Sharon Seventh Adventist Church (920 Sharon Amity).

Christmas Bird Counts

Continued on page 8

Audubon News Page 2

Field TripsAll Mecklenburg Audubon Field Trips are free and open to the public. Directions for all trips can be found on the Mecklenburg Audubon website - meckbirds.org. Click on Field Trips. Please remember to contact the trip leaders several days before the trip. If you don’t, you may not receive information about last minute changes or cancellations. Also, if they don’t know you are coming, they might leave without you!!

KEY TO PHYSICAL DIFFICULTY

Easy - Trails are level to slight grades usually paved. .5-1.5 miles of walking

Moderate - Trails can be uneven with some hills. 1-2.5 miles of walking.

Strenuous - Trails vary greatly. 2.5+ miles of walking.* - Trails are handicapped accessible.

Continued on page 3

Saturday, December 6, 2008: Waterfowl½ Day - Easy Leader: Judy Walker [birdwalker@mac.com]

Coddle Creek is the place to see large numbers and variety of ducks in the Charlotte area. We’ll first check out the wetlands behind the H. H. Gregg store at Concord Mills and then head up to the reservoir.

We will meet at Panera’s Bread across from Concord Mills Mall off I-85 at 9 AM and will return about 1 PM.

Saturday, December 13, 2008: Evergreen Nature Preserve½ Day – Easy Leader: Martha & Robert Bustle [turnstone@bellsouth.net]

Spend the morning exploring one of our favorite urban birding hot spots with leaders that spend a lot of time in the preserve. Winter migrants should be settled in and easy to find. Fox sparrows should be abundant this year and hopefully some purple finches will be hiding in the bushes.

Meet in the parking lot of Winterfield Elementary School at 8:30 PM.

Saturday, December 20, 2008: Gaston County Christmas CountFull Day Contact: Steve Tracy [stevepath1@aol.com]

For many animals the Catawba River can act as a barrier. Only the heartiest mammal will attempt to swim across the river. Birds, however, are not as easily intimated. And the river shouldn’t be a deterrent birders either. That’s why we team up with birders from the Gastonia area to conduct the Gaston County Christmas Count. This will be a great oppor-tunity to get to know our neighbors and explore new birding hot spots.

Sunday, December 21, 2008: Lake Norman Christmas CountFull Day Contact: Taylor Piephoff [PiephoffT@aol.com]

This is hands down the best count circle in the Piedmont. Because of the wide variety of habitat — open fields, large lake, small ponds, wetlands, mixed hardwood forest, old farms — the potential for unusual birds is great. In some ways this count is like a tour through Peterson’s guide with a smattering of species from loons all the way through to the sparrows with representatives of almost everything in between.

Some groups will start before dawn to catch the owls and woodcocks. Others will meet at 7:00 AM. There are fast food places in the count circle but you may want to bring food to munch on for energy and warmth. Although you might spend a fair amount of time in the car, warm clothes and sturdy shoes are a must. A tally up dinner will be held at 5:30 PM.

Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008: Charlotte Christmas CountFull Day Contact: Ken Kneidel [kendel2@earthlink.net]

The granddaddy of the counts, going all the back to 1941, this circle still encompasses a surprising variety of habitat considering suburban sprawl which has taken over much of the area. There are still patches of woods, ponds, lakes, streams and open fields which turn up a interesting variety of resident and wintering species.

In the last 5 years we have averaged around 85-90 species. A remarkable number considering the wholesale lost of habitat over the past 20 years, which just proves the tenacity of the birds.

Gadwall

Fox Sparrow

Common Loon - Winter Plumage

Audubon NewsPage 3

Field Trips

Although this is an all day event if you can only participate in the morning or afternoon you are more than welcome to join a group. If you can’t get away to join a team and you live within the circle, you can count birds in your yard. Contact Ken for details on how to do this.

Since fast food establishments (and warmth) will be just around the corner pack-ing a lunch is optional although a thermos of coffee never hurt. There will be a tally up dinner at Wing Haven 5:30 PM. Just bring your appetites and good birding stories. Too ensure even and complete coverage of the area those who wish to participate should contact Ken Kneidel.

Saturday, January 3, 2009: Pee Dee NWR Christmas Bird CountFull Day Contact: Judy Walker [birdwalker@mac.com]

The Pee Dee Christmas Count is a great way to start a of year birding. It produces surprises almost every year. One year it was turkey tracks in the snow and lots of sparrows. Another sight to behold is seeing the ducks take off in the morning or watching them come back in at dusk. Because of the wide variety of habitat and its central location we usually have a pretty good list of birds including Bald Eagles, Tundra Swans, and lots and lots of sparrows and ducks

If you want to carpool, meet at the McDonalds at Windsor Square Shopping Center at 5:45 AM [on Independence]. Otherwise meet at the Pee Dee Maintenance Building [main entrance off Rt. 52] at 7 AM. Lunch will be provided but you will want to wear lots of layers and bring snack foods and something hot to drink while you are out in the field.

Saturday, January 17, 2009: Huntington Beach State Park, SCFull Day Leader: Judy Walker [birdwalker@mac.com]

Our winter excursion to Huntington Beach State Park is an annual favorite offer-ing some different bird species than our fall trip. Waterfowl - both freshwater and saltwater- have arrived in good numbers including loons, grebes, and ducks. Gannets are numerous offshore along with shorebirds along the quiet beaches.

We will meet at 8 AM in the causeway parking lot. Be sure to dress warmly as the winds off the ocean can be chilling and bring a lunch for a midday break.

For those staying the weekend, Saturday evening we gather at a local restaurant for dinner to decide on where we will bird Sunday morning for half a day before heading home.

Local hotels with off-season rates include: Litchfield In [843-237-4211], Days Inn Surfside [843-238-4444], Brookwood Inn [843-651-2550].

Detailed directions to meeting spots can be found at meckbirds.org/trips

Rufous Hummingbird©Jeff Lemons

Red-winged Blackbird©Jeff Lemons

Willets©Jeff Lemons

In an effort to better serve the members of our chap-ter the MAS Board has put together a brief survey they would like you to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and can be completed in two ways. First and probably the easiest method is to complete it on the In-ternet. Go to http://meckbirds.org and click on Member Survey. Secondly we will also have a printed version of the survey at the December meeting for those who can’t do over the web. The Board would like to thank you in advance for your feedback.

Help Improve the Chapter

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves

of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

-- Rachel Carson

Audubon News Page 4

Helping Backyard Birds: Song SparrowThe Song Sparrow is a resident or win-

tering bird over most of the United States. It needs thick low vegetation for shelter and eats mostly small seeds. Birds can be attracted and sustained in urban or sub-urban areas if planted with low shrubs, native plants and grasses. Also attracted to water, including ornamental ponds and low bird baths. Will come to millet and other commercial seeds scattered on the ground, especially in winter.

What Song Sparrows Need

Food: Forages mostly on the ground in or near dense shrubs, especially near water. Eats mostly small seeds (roughly 50-95 percent, lowest in spring, highest in fall), fruit (mostly summer), and insects and other small animals (highest in spring and summer). In most areas rarely forag-es more than 30 feet from cover. In spring and summer, also eats many beetles, caterpillars, and other small insects.

Nesting: Usually builds its nest on the ground or low in shrubs, usually con-cealed from predators and sheltered from weather by grass or heavy overhead vegetation. Most important nest site criteria is apparently sturdy support and concealment. Males require song perches to establish territory boundaries—usu-

ally bare branches of trees or shrubs with overhead cover and a good view their territory.

Shelter: Roosts in thick vegetation, usually close to the ground. Spends much of its time hidden in low vegetation or brush, especially when molting (June- Sept.).

Other: May suffer from increased predation by house cats in urban and suburban settings, especially where attracted to seed scattered on ground or spilled from feeders. Most likely to be attracted to yards in neighbor-hoods with more shrubs and bushes, es-pecially if a stream or other water source is nearby.

How You Can Help• Scatter millet or other small commer-

cial seed on ground near bushes or other cover, especially in winter.

• Plant or maintain native forbes (in-cluding smartweed, ragweed, pigweed, and knotweed) or grasses under and around bushes and shrubs.

• Plant berry bushes for summer forage. • Avoid use of pesticides that will kill

or poison insects and other small animals eaten by sparrows.

• Plant or maintain patches of thick na-tive shrubs and ground covers.

• Some authors (starting with Gilbert Trafton in 1916) have recommended creating supplemental nest sites by mounting a 6 x 6 inch roofed platform (open on all four sides) on a 6 inch stake in thick vegetation, but the value of these platforms apparently requires more testing.

• Plant patches (preferably at least 15 x 15 feet) or strips (at least 6 feet wide along a fence or property boundary) of native shrubs and ground cover.

• Build a brush pile for cover. • Maintain small pond or birdbath,

preferably close to shrubs or shelter. • Encourage neighbors to plant ad-

ditional native shrubs and bushes. • Keep pet cats indoors and remove

feral cats from neighborhood.

Your MAS Board has appointed a committee to review and update our chapter by-laws. A few years ago National Audubon revised their guidelines for local chapter by-laws. They eliminated all requirements except two. The first requirement states that the local chapter shall not enter into any commitments binding upon National Audubon and visa-versa, and the second requirement states that the local chapter may terminate its status as a chapter of National Audubon and visa-versa.

We will obviously cover much more than these minimum requirements, such as our club mission, board positions, com-mittees, board and membership meeting requirements, etc. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to contact any one of the three by-laws committee members: Rob Bier-regaard, Lucy Quintilliano, or Carol Tomko.

Last year’s silent was such a success we decided to try bring it back for the January Potluck. We already have some pretty nice items but if you have any bird related items in good to excellent shape that you might be interested in donating to the cause bring it to the December meeting or contact Jill Shoemaker or Lucy Quintilliano. When you bring the item please include a suggested base price. We would like to start all items at least eight dollars. Remember the proceeds from this event are used for our Audubon Adventures classroom sponsorships.

WE ARE UPDATING OUR CHAPTER BY-LAWS

Silent Auction Returns

Audubon NewsPage 5

ConservationCorner

“Voters in this historic election cast their ballots not only for change, but for a new era of hope for our environ-ment, and the people, birds, and other wildlife that depend on it. Washington has been ignoring critical environmen-tal issues for too long. President-elect Barack Obama and a more environmen-tally aware Congress offer the promise of leadership and fundamental change that could usher in new protection for America’s great natural heritage, and a new lease on life for species in decline.

“Despite real reason for optimism, we cannot take conservation gains for granted. Audubon is committed to helping the new Administration and Congress to live up to their great prom-ise; and to make conservation, clean energy and green jobs part of America’s path to a brighter tomorrow.

“Through our local Chapters, state offices and national grass roots efforts, Audubon will join with others in the en-vironmental community to ensure that our newly elected leaders lead the way on issues vital to our environment, our economy and diversity of life on Earth.”

Issues demanding prompt attention include:

Presidential Appointments:

• President-elect Obama should start by appointing to key environmental positions within his Administration qualified leaders who will defend our clean air and water, protect habitat and endangered species, aggressively address global warm-ing, and steward our great natural heritage for future generations.

Scientific Integrity:

• The Department of the Interior should systematically review and reverse decisions made by the past Administration under the Endan-gered Species Act that were influ-enced by political considerations and not based on sound science.

Statement of Audubon President and CEO John Flicker following the election of President-elect Obama and the new Congress.

• President-elect Obama should send a clear signal to everyone in his administration to restore and respect scientific integrity in all environmen-tal decisions.

Global Warming and Renewable Energy:

• President-elect Obama has said that: "We cannot afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake." He's right. We welcome the opportunity to help him deliver his promised $150 billion plan for clean energy technologies that would protect our environment and stimulate the economy, creating up 5 million new green jobs.

• Congress should pass legislation providing significant incentives for development of renewable energy such as a strong Renewables Portfolio Standard and a long-term extension of the Production Tax Credit, and pass significant legislation to address global warming with a comprehen-sive cap-and-trade program.

• The new Administration and Con-gress must lead a transformation in American energy production and use through investments in energy efficiency and clean energy technolo-gies. This can minimize the fluctua-tion of gas prices while protecting our beaches, coastal ecosystems and the Alaskan landscape from the threats of oil and gas drilling.

Endangered Species Conservation:

• We'll work with the Administra-tion to secure reversal of the Bush administration's weakening of the Endangered Species Act, such as the controversial decision to allow agen-cies to self-consult regarding the im-pacts of federally-approved projects on endangered species.

• Congress should pass new tax incen-tives to encourage private landown-ers to work toward recovery of endangered species.

Bird and Habitat Conservation:

• The Administration and the Congress should reinvest in the Na-tional Wildlife Refuge System and address the unacceptable $3.5 bil-lion maintenance backlog crippling this critical tool for conservation.

• The Congress should pass legisla-tion to conserve neotropical migra-tory birds and address the steep declines in America's common birds that are disappearing from parks, farms, and backyards across the country.

Ecosystem Restoration:

• The Administration and the Con-gress should fund significant new restoration projects to improve the status of America's great natural ecosystems: The Mississippi River, the Everglades, Long Island Sound, and the Great Lakes.

North Carolina boasts a great diver-sity of animals and now you can learn more about the rarest of the rare on the N.C. Natural Heritage Program website. The “Natural Heritage Program List of the Rare Animal Species of North Carolina -- 2008” is now available for download from the NHP website (it is the fourth publication on the webpage) at http://www.ncnhp.org/Pages/pub-lications.html. Note that the listing of rare birds can be found on pages 21-27, and watch list species on pages 77-78.

Natural HeritagePublications

Audubon News Page 6

Backyard Habitat: Shrubs for BirdsAdding shrubs to your property this

time of the year is a great way to attract more birds. This is a good time purchase shrubs because many nurseries put them on sale. This will enable you to buy larger quantities of each species for less money, providing a greater mass of shrubbery for the birds.

Not only is this a good time to buy shrubs, it is also one of the best times to plant them. They are just about to go dormant for the winter so they transplant better; they have time to get acclimated to the soil through the winter; and in spring, they will put out vigorous new growth that will produce flowers and fruit.

Shrubs are superb plantings for your garden and property, since they do so many good things for the birds. For ex-ample, shrubs can produce food such as berries for Mockingbirds, Waxwings, and Grosbeaks, and their flowers can offer nectar for Hummingbirds and Orioles. When buying berry-producing shrubs, try to get a variety of species that produce berries in different seasons so that you will provide for the birds throughout the year. Here are some excellent shrubs for each time of year.

Shrubs also produce shelter for birds, and there are a variety of types of shelter that birds need. In hot climates, they need shelter from the sun. In other regions, they need protection from the wind, rain, and cold. In addition, shrubs can provide cover in which small birds can hide if a hawk is in the area. You can plant a few shrubs near your feeders for the birds to fly into when a hawk, such as a Cooper’s Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk, swoops in. Shrubs for shelter should have dense branching and lots of leaves. If they are evergreens, this is even better, for they can provide shelter all year.

Finally, shrubs can be good places for birds to nest. But not just any shrub will do. The shrubs need to have branches that can hold and support a nest. This requires a dense branching structure, not a loose open one. Good shrubs for nesting include alders, willows, hollies, and lilacs.

Keep adding shrubs every year; they are a wonderful way to enrich your property,

and you can never have enough of them for the birds.

Five important shrubs for birds—what they provide and birds they’ll attract.

Northern Bayberry (Myrica pensylvani-ca) is a semi-evergreen shrub that produc-es fragrant, waxy, silver-gray berries in the fall, which stay on the plant year-round. They are attractive to Tree Swallows (es-pecially in the winter), catbirds, bluebirds, and many others. It also provides nesting sites and good cover for the birds.

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) a large shrub/small tree that produces brilliant red foliage in the fall. Spikey clusters of hairy red fruits appear in the fall and persist through winter. It is an important food plant for many birds such as robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals, chickadees, starlings, Wild Turkey, and Pileated Woodpecker. It tends to be too open for nesting or cover though.

Dogwoods of the Cornus species (e.g. Red-osier Dogwood, Gray Dogwood) are hardy shrubs that produce fruit with a high fat content. It is an important food source for migrating songbirds in the fall as well as robins, bluebirds, thrushes, cat-birds, vireos, kingbirds, juncos, cardinals, warblers, Wild Turkey, grouse and many more. It can also provide cover for roost-ing and nesting.

Viburnum species such as Nannyberry and Arrowwood Viburnum are deciduous shrubs with white flowers in the spring and they produce red, yellow, blue or black berries in the fall, which can persist into the fall. Robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals, finches, waxwings, and other birds are attracted to its fruit and use it for nesting and cover.

Winterberry (Holly) (Ilex verticillata) is hardy, deciduous shrub tolerant of wet conditions. Its scarlet berries are impor-tant food for winter resident birds such as robins, bluebirds, mockingbirds, wax-wings and others. The berries are borne on female plants only so for best results group several female plants with at least one male plant. Your nursery should have them labeled. Hollies provide excellent cover and nesting sites.

Staghorn Sumac

Red Osier Dogwood

Nannyberry (Viburnum)

Winterberry Holly

Audubon NewsPage 7

Tips for New Birders

We commonly see birds in flight, and many plates in field guides are devoted to their critical features. So you’ll find it useful to become familiar with the flight of the most common birds in the area. Two things you should look for when watching a bird in flight are 1) its pattern of moment and 2) the details of shape and topography.

Birds fly with a variety of distinct pat-terns. Many species can be recognized by their flight pattern alone. Some birds fly with regular, steady beats. Others are very irregular and distinctive. Some glide with wings spread while other fold their wings for intervals as they glide looking like missiles shooting through space.

There is a relationship between a bird’s size and the speed of its move-ments. In general, larger birds flap their wings more slowly, although size and speed are not strictly correlated. For example the Great Blue Heron’s wings pump ponderously slowly because the bird has a ‘high wing-load’, the ratio of its mass to the surface area of its wings. Per gram of body mass, a heron requires more energy to move around than does a smaller bird. It can’t fly with the rapid wing beat of little birds.

When watching a bird fly notice the depth of its wingbeats. A bird’s wing may be beating so fast that they are just a blur, but that blur will show the move-ment of the bird’s wings. Are the wings moving deeply, over a wide arc, or shal-lowly, over a narrow arc? Hawks tend to

beat their wings deeply whereas gulls use shallower wings beats. Because crows are so common it might be helpful to become familiar with their steady, regular flight so you can use them as a baseline model of flight to compare other birds against.

The shape of a bird’s wings in flight is another of its distinctive and most easily seen features. A bird’s wings, especially its

wingtips, have one of two general shapes – pointed (ducks, gulls, sandpipers, swal-lows) and rounded (grouse, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, shrikes). Larger birds with rounded wingtips (hawks, herons, vul-tures, pelicans) also have well-separated primary feathers at their tips. The differ-ence between the two classes is often critical. For example buteos and accipiters have rounded wings but falcons have pointed ones. This wing shape should be one of the first characteristics to notice; especially if the bird is overhead against a bright sky.

Rounded and pointed wings have differ-ent aerodynamic and behavioral meaning. Birds with rounded wings can fly short distances quickly and maneuver with remarkable agility. This is especially true if they also have long tails. For example, accipiters (Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks) can negotiate the spaces between branches in a dense woodland forest at breakneck speed as they pursue their prey – small birds. Birds such as gulls and terns with pointed wings are better suited for gliding for long distances, with little or no flapping.

Here are couple of fairly common birds with distinct fight patterns that can be used to positively identify:

Turkey Vulture, a large, black bird, can be distinguished from an eagle (which they are often confused with) by the way the bird holds its wings in a dihedral (V-shape) as it soars on thermals and rocks gently in the breeze.

Jays have a distinctive pattern of flap-ping quickly a few times and then sails, flaps a few times and sails a little. The Cooper’s Hawk has a similar pattern of flap, flap, flap, glide but its wing beats are deeper, slower and more powerful.

European Starlings in flight are often described as being very triangular, and their short, triangular wings are distinc-tive. The wings also give the impression of being transparent because they flap so fast that it looks as though you can see through them.

Chimney Swift, better known as the flying cigar, flies on very stiff wings that appear to be out of sync with each other.

Woodpeckers as a group tend to have an undulating, roller-coaster flight with a lot of gliding, often with closed wings.

Goldfinches also exhibit this undulating flight pattern but they accentuate it with a flight call – per-chip-a-dee, per-chip-a-dee in rhythmic accompaniment to its flight, with a loud ‘chick’ at the peak of each wave.

Laughing Gulls

Chimney Swifts

European Starling

MAS Board

Judy Walker - Presidentbirdwalker@mac.com

Rob Bierregaard - Vice Presidentrbierreg@email.uncc.edu

Larry Barden - Secretarylarry@lbarden.com

Lucy Quintilliano - Treasurerlucyq@carolina.rr.com

Ron Clark - Field Tripswaxwing@bellsouth.net

Jack Meckler - Conservationjmmeck@aol.com

Carol Ann Tomko - Conservationctomko@ceenta.com

Jill Shoemaker - Membershipshoe4now@bellsouth.com

Louise Barden - Publicitylouise@lbarden.com

John Buckman - Member-at-largelinbuckman@aol.com

Jeff Lemons - Member-at-largejeff1son@hotmail.com

Audubon News is published monthly from September through May by the Mecklenburg Audubon Society, a chapter of National Audubon. Local members receive the newsletter via postal mail and/or electronic mail. It is also posted on the Mecklenburg Audubon web site - meckbirds.org.

If you are not aware of it, the Starbucks at Cotswold Shopping Center provides coffee for our monthly meetings. So the next time you in the neighborhood and need a cup of joe, stop in and thank them for us.

Join now and your membership will be effective until June 2009.

Return to: Lucy Quintilliano, Treasurer, Mecklenburg Audubon Society, P. O. Box 221093, Charlotte, NC 28222

q Individual Membership [$10] q Family Membership [$15]

q Please, save trees and send me [us] the newsletter electronically.

q Please, add me to Meckbirds, the local listserv about birds and the environment.

q I [we] would be willing to lead a field trip. q I [we] would be interested in participating in a work day.

q I [we] would be willing to do a program.

Mecklenburg Audubon SocietyBecause National Audubon has reduced the chapter share of the national membership, Mecklen-burg Audubon now must offer a Local Membership to cover the cost of the newsletter, web site & cost of meetings.

Name:

Address:

Phone: Email:

would become as a resource and tool for conservation. The combined efforts of tens of thousands of birders over the past 109 years have built a database of information on bird population trends unmatched by any other wildlife census.

This resource is essential to Audubon’s State of the Birds reports, which identify birds – both common and less so– that are suffering population declines. In 2007, Audubon scientists and our partners completed two large-scale analyses drawing from the CBC database. The “2007 WatchList” and the “Common Birds in Decline” analyses made headlines and galvanized support for conservation action. Christmas Bird Count data were also instrumental in development of a newly released report from Audubon’s partner, BirdLife International that echoed our North American findings and revealed alarming declines in common birds worldwide.

Audubon is now in the process of analyzing the data to examine how birds have been affected by global warming and how their habitats will shift in the future. Once again, information you helped to provide will expand public awareness and help to shape policies essential to the well being of birds and the habitats they share with every other living creature.

Of course, the CBC also occupies a very special place in all our lives. Each year, it brings the birding community together to share in a holiday tradition that has nothing do with shopping lists or malls. But it does have a lot to do with gifts. I’ve experienced them myself. I’ve had the great pleasure of joining the count in New York’s Central Park, and know that when people who care about nature gather outside for the simple act of observing and counting birds, something magical and inspiring happens. They share ca-maraderie, joy and moments of quiet reflection –and they celebrate and help to protect nature’s gifts.

Each year, as you take a break from the holiday hustle and bustle to join your fellow birders – whether in a city park, deep in the forest, on the beach, or on a snow-covered prairie, ever y one of you makes a significant contribution to bird conservation. You are a big par t of what gives Audubon the credibility and clout to make a difference. On behalf of Audubon, the birds and the future generations who will benefit from your efforts, I thank you.

Sincerely,

John Flicker

President & CEO, Audubon

Christmas Bird Count

Continued from page 1