Randy Smith, Facility Supervisor at Sandy Creek NatureCenter, will give a tour of our new meeting place—the ENSAT building. “ENSAT” stands for Environmental Natural Science and Appropriate Technology. The Building is a marriage of these concepts, with emphasis on low energy costs and use of recycled materials. “This building puts into practice what we preach, says Randy.
 
 

Note: Field trips are open to everyone and people at all levels of birding experience are encouraged to attend. The walks are generally at an easy pace although waterproof footwear and rain gear are advisable. 

Oconee Rivers Audubon/Sandy Creek Nature Center joint Spring 2000 Bird Walk Schedule:
(details in next newsletter)

March 25:     Botanical Garden
April 15 :      Cook’s Trail clean-up and bird walk
April 29:       Sandy Creek Nature Center
May 13:       Botanical Garden
May 20:       International Migratory Bird Day bird walk
                    at Memorial Park and Zoo Day

ORAS Millennium Shirts Available—

The millennium sweatshirt in a variety of colors is now available. Sweatshirts and T-Shirts (long- and short-sleeved) can be purchased at the meetings or by calling Gary Crider at 543-8823.

Nominating Committee Sought:
The nominating committee for the May elections is being formed and anyone who is interested in joining can call Elizabeth Little at 795-5017. 

ORAS Web Site— 
updated and now living on the National Audubon Society web server. Check it out (and update your bookmarks!) at— http://www.audubon.org/chapter/ga/oconee
 

President
          Elizabeth Little                                                                  795-5017
          E-mail: elittle@arches.uga.edu
Vice-President
          Mary Case                                                                        548-3848
Treasurer
          Tom Shelton                                                                    795-3959
Secretary
          Page Luttrell                                                                     788-2973

Conservation
          Marta Daniell                                                                   546-9808
          Carrie Straight
Education
          Maggie Nettles                                                               543-8823
Field Trips
          David Galewski                                                               543-1988
Hospitality
          Mary Case                                                                       548-3848
Membership
          Sarah Cliett                                                                      795-3927
Programs
          Gary Crider                                                                      543-8823
Publicity
          Deirdre Allen                                                                  769-4628
Yellowthroat Editor
          John Posey                                                                     769-1417

Articles, artwork, notices, and sighting reports welcomed.  The deadline for submissions is the 15th of each month.  All articles and artwork or copyrighted, and all rights are reserved by the authors. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the respective authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Oconee Rivers Audubon Society.

Lee Meinersman saw a Horned Lark at her backyard feeder in late December. On January 2, John Willis revisited the Christmas Count territory on Winterville Park/Cemetery Road and saw birds not seen on CBC including a Red-headed Woodpecker and covey of Northern Bobwhite. He also spotted a pair of Hooded Mergansers at the pond beside the university golf-course service road off of Whitehall Rd on January 12th. Dennis Rice saw a Loggerhead Shrike on Smithsonia Road in early January. Roy Major had a Killdeer in his garden in early January. Maggie Nettles and Gary Crider, over the Christmas holidays, visited Paynes Prairie, Myakka State Park, and Ding Darling NWR in Florida. Species observed included Sandhill Crane, Reddish Egret, White Pelican, White and Glossy Ibis, Limpkin, and Bald Eagle. Palm Warblers visited their picnic table in Myakka. In addition, they saw a Loggerhead Shrike capture and pin a grasshopper to a thorny branch for lunch and a merganser feeding underneath the wing shadow of a Reddish Egret. At Minnie Crider's house at Lake Hartwell on January 9, Gary and Maggie watched a Winter Wren investigate her front porch for about twenty minutes. It found something to eat in the mulch and in the gutter, climbed around in a hanging basket of ivy, and actually perched on the porch chair for a while. They also watched two loons fishing just off the dock. David Galewski, at the end of December, visited the Golf Course Road area across from the Botanical Gardens and saw White-crowned Sparrows, Water Pipits, and a Common Snipe. He also saw two pair of Buffleheads at Lake Chapman and had an Orange-crowned Warbler in his backyard. Sarah Cliett saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk take a blackbird on Highway 98 in Madison County in early January. John Posey and family observed over 100 Red-tailed Hawks circling the pastures and fields around their neighborhood in North High Shoals on January 16th. 

Audubon Adventures 1999-2000—
We have a number of local teachers who are interested in presenting the Audubon Adventures material to their 4th to 6th grade children. We are looking for people to sponsor a classroom for the school year for $35 or whatever portion you can spare. This is a great way to introduce young people to the natural world. Contact Maggie Nettles at 543-8823 if you wish to sponsor a classroom. Go to:  Audubon Adventures
 
 

On January 6th, Doug Haines, director of the Georgia Legal Watch in Athens, a watchdog agency for government accountability of environmental issues, spoke about the efforts of the Georgia Legal Watch and the Community Watershed Project to enforce the provisions of the Clean Water Act in Georgia. Georgia’s waters suffer from many types of pollution including both “point” (direct pollution) and “nonpoint” (run-off pollution) sources. A series of steps has been developed to address the problem of impaired or polluted waters in Georgia and to make all polluters accountable for the health of our waterways. The process starts with monitoring the waters within a particular watershed to determine which waters are impaired. The Georgia EPD then determines the Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML) of pollutants that a water body can handle before that waterway cannot support its designated use. A pollution reduction strategy is developed and, in the fifth year of the program, these strategies are implemented. Before the Georgia Legal Watch enforced the provisions of the Clean Water Act in 1997, the TMDLs were not being developed in Georgia. The Upper Oconee Watershed Network (UOWN) is the local organization which is organizing the monitoring and TDML process in the Athens area for the Oconee River watershed. The Oconee Watershed is now in the monitoring stage of the TDML process to determine which streams and rivers are polluted. Many of the waterways in the Athens area have been found to be highly impaired, particularly with sedimentation and other non-point source pollution, and Doug encouraged everyone to get involved by helping to monitor the status of streams and creeks in their neighborhoods. Only by calling attention to the deteriorating status of our streams can any action be taken to prevent and reverse further pollution. More information can be obtained by calling the Community Watershed Project at 546-9008. Web site:
http://www.negia.net/~cwp
 
 

The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology need the help of North Americans of all ages to count birds this winter in the Great Backyard Bird Count which will be held from February 18 to 21, 2000. By participating, bird watchers, regardless of skill level, will help scientists document the status and health of our winter bird populations at the start of spring migrations. Widespread citizen participation will assist scientists to understand the effects of changing weather and landscape on the health and movement patterns of birds. Last year 42,000 people participated in the count with over three million birds and 350 species tallied. Reports were received from every state and province. There is no official sign-up and no fee. Participants log on to the user-friendly, state-of-the-art Birdsource website at http://birdsource.org and click on the Great Backyard Bird Count button to report their sightings. The estimated 60 million North Americans who feed or watch birds can spend as little as 15 minutes on any or all days of the count recording the numbers and kinds of birds they see during their regular daily activities. Participants tally the highest number of species seen at one time and report the sightings to Birdsource. The site features many fascinating resources on birds and birdwatching. For more information, prospective counters can call toll-free 1-800-843-BIRD.

Some Facts About Cowbirds: (from www.audubon.org)
The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is North America’s most notorious brood parasite. Cowbird females lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and rely on these hosts to incubate and raise their chicks. Scientists have now recorded that Brown-headed Cowbirds have parasitized over 220 host species, ranging from the Black-capped Vireo and Wood Thrush to the Blue-winged Teal and Red-headed Woodpecker.
     Brown-headed Cowbirds occupy most of North America south of the Arctic, but this large range has occurred only recently and is the result of human-induced factors. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America, cowbirds were nomadic, following the large herds of bison that roamed across the Great Plains. Cowbirds foraged on the insects and prairie grass seed stirred up by bison as they made their seasonal migrations north and south. When bison were nearly extirpated from the North American landscape and replaced by cattle, sheep and goats, cowbirds adapted and began to associate with livestock. In the last century, Brown-headed Cowbirds have experienced massive range expansions and population explosions as forests have been opened to make way for agricultural and suburban landscapes.
     Some Recent Findings on the Impact of Cowbird Parasitism:

Cowbird populations are declining across the continent. Despite recent range extensions into Florida and some local areas of increase, the Breeding Bird Survey shows that cowbirds declined about 1% per year between 1966-1996.
Rates of nest parasitism vary locally: when rates are high, parasitism may harm local populations of some species. The extent of parasitism varies with local land-use practices, habitat, and with the abundance, breeding behavior and conservation status of different host species. Some of the variation in parasitism rates is due to unknown factors.
Host species often renest and are able to make-up reproductive success lost to parasitism. Contrary to previous notions, there is often little net loss in host reproductive success over an entire breeding season.
Cowbird parasitism probably is not responsible for the continent-wide declines of many North American songbird species. Conservationists and the public tend to overestimate significance of parasitism as a major cause of declining songbird populations.
Rates of parasitism depend on the proximity of cowbird feeding sites to host breeding sites. Cowbirds search for hosts near woodland edges and feed in agricultural/residential spots such as grazing yards, grain silos, pack stations and home bird feeders. The closer such cowbird foraging areas are to host breeding habitats, the more likely hosts will suffer cowbird parasitism.
Rates of parasitism sometimes correlate poorly with numbers of cowbirds counted in an area.