Voice of the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society
July/August 1998 Vol. 8 No. 7-8
Upcoming Meetings
< July 2nd: Josh Marks, conservation organizer for the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club will present a slide-show and discussion entitled ACan the Okefenokee Survive Dupont?@ See article p. 1
< No meeting scheduled for August
<September 3rd, Laurie Fowler of the Broad River Community Watershed Association will present information on the Broad River Community Watershed Project, a community awareness and action campaign. The primary goal of the project is to avoid future environmental problems by involving all the communities in the watershed in open discussions of water resource issues.
< We meet at the Princeton
United Methodist Church at 7:00 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.
The church is located at 2390 S. Lumpkin St., where Lumpkin meets the Macon
Hwy (US441/GA15).
A Note of Thanks to...
< Gordon Gridley for his volunteer participation in ORAS over the past several years. We will miss him as he moves on to his next great adventure in life.
< David Galewski for his
informative description of various bird calls.
Bird Walks, Field Trips, and Events
< June 27th,
Brasstown Bald, meet at the Allen House, Sandy Creek Nature Center. Meet
at 6:30 am sharp. (One group may leave at 6 am. Call David Galewski, 543-1988,
for information.)
Audubon Adventures
We are looking for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers
interested in using Audubon Adventures classroom teaching kits with their
students. We also need sponsors for an Audubon Adventures classroom. Audubon
Adventures teaches young people about environmental and natural history
topics. A child's participation is one way to take that vital first step
out of the classroom or away from the television, and out the front door
... to the nearest creek, marsh or shoreline. For more information contact
Maggie Nettles at 543-8823.
Josh Marks Talks about the Okefenokee at the July Meeting Marta Daniell
Josh Marks, Conservation Organizer for the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club, will be the guest speaker at our July meeting (Thursday, July 2 at 7 p.m.). Josh is spearheading the Sierra Club=s effort to protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from DuPont=s proposed titanium mine.
Josh is well-suited for the task. He has a Bachelor=s Degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College and has been organizing environmental campaigns since his graduation in 1992. Specifically, he has worked to save endangered salmon in Idaho and ancient forests in the Pacific northwest, coordinated efforts in the Midwest to maintain a strong Endangered Species Act and helped educate the public about toxins in the Great Lakes.
Josh=s presentation will be interesting and informative. He will talk about DuPont=s proposal to mine for titanium, the environmental and economic impact and the efforts underway to prevent the mining. Petitions and bumper stickers supporting the effort will be available.
Bring a friend and learn more about the Okefenokee and
the threat to its existence. WE can help protect this fragile and unique
refuge!
Breeding Bird Count Branch Howe
There were 30 participants in 12 parties for the eleventh Athens breeding bird count on June 6. Ninety species and 5183 individuals were reported.
(Continued on page 2)
Breeding Bird Count (continued from p. 1)
Only single individuals were reported for seven species: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk,
Wild Turkey, King Rail, Great Horned Owl, American Redstart,
and Scarlet Tanager. Among the most numerous birds were: Mourning Dove
(230), Purple Martin (204), American Crow (298), Eastern Bluebird (218),
American Robin (237), Northern Mockingbird (235), European Starling (311),
and Northern Cardinal (264).
Sightings
Reported at 4 June Meeting:
< Maggie Nettles--Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Green Herons, Little Blue Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons at Paynes' Praire in Gainesville, FL
< David Galewski--Swainson's Warblers, Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Great-crested Flycatcher, and Yellow-breasted Chat at the Botanical Gardens
< Gordon Gridley--Common Loons (in breeding plumage) on Lake Hartwell
< Sarah Cliett, John Willis--Wood Thrushes
< Garnett Stokes--Black-and-white Warblers
Other Sightings:
< 12 June: While Tim Homan was trying out his new canoe on a lake next to Brush Creek subdivision in Madison County, he spotted a pair of mature bald eagles circling overhead. (For those who are counting, this is Tim=s 3rd new canoe!)
< 16 June: Gary Crider saw 4 Nighthawks in downtown Athens.
< 17 June: Gary Crider
saw a Louisiana Waterthrush on a rock on the North Oconee River.
Belize Bird-fest '98", October 2 - 8, 1998
The Belize Audubon Society (BAS) will be holding "Belize Bird-fest '98" (BBI-98) October 2 - 8, 1998 to highlight Belize=s extremely diverse natural history, specifically the avi-fauna. October is the time of the north to south bird migrations of the Americas and BBI'98 participants can expect to see an even greater variety of birds than at other times. BAS is a non-profit, non-governmental, membership organization dedicated to the promotion of the sustainable use and preservation of Belize=s natural resources. All profits from BBI-98 will be utilized for programs of the BAS. Visit the BAS Web-site at http://www.belizeaudubon.org for more detailed information of the society and on BBI-98.
Costa Rica: Managing Paradise (Part Two) Mary Case
In last month=s newsletter, part one of this report described Costa Rica and the Elderhostel program AManaging Paradise.@ Mary=s trip included traveling 607 miles round trip from San Jose. This is part two of her trip report.
From Monteverde we continued to the Palo Verde dry forest region along the Tampisque River near the Pacific coast. This area is quite dry at 200 feet in contrast to Monteverde. We visited Palo Verde Park and had lectures by a representative of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS). A variety of research projects sponsored by OTS are underway in this park, and one of the botany professors from UGA was there doing plant research. In Palo Verde Park, there is a marshy area near the river which is home to 300 species of birds, including motmots, many of our familiar migratory shore birds, roseate spoon bills, and black bellied whistling ducks. The river is tidal, and many crocodiles lived along the banks. We also saw spider and howler monkeys in the trees along the river, and white faced monkeys in the Palo Verde Park.
From Palo Verde we continued down the Pacific coast, by sugar cane fields being cut, bananas, and palm oil plantations. Near Dominical, we visited Haciende Baru, now a private, environmentally controlled area, which originally had been a cocoa plantation and cattle ranch. The cocoa trees are still there providing food for the birds and animals. From there we followed a river inland through the mountains to San Vito and Las Cruces Botanical Gardens, now owned and operated by OTS. The Gardens are in the southern part of Costa Rica about seven miles Aas the crow flies@ from Panama. The Gardens had originally been the Wilson Botanical Gardens owned and designed by Robert Wilson in 1963, and their collections of different banana species, palms species, coffee, sugar cane, bromeliliads, and orchids remain. Most of the area has reverted to rain forest, and the region is quite mountainous with an elevation of 4000 ft. More than 315 species of birds have been recorded in the garden. We saw nine different species of tanagers, euphonias, and honeycreepers coming to the bananas put out for the birds. Other birds of interest were different hummingbirds, firey-billed aracari, white crowned parrots, and a fantastic close view of two swallow-tailed kites flying high over the mountain valley.
From Las Cruces we returned to San Jose, stopping in San Isidro to visit Dr. Alexander Skutch, now 93, one of the authors of Birds of Costa Rica. Dr. Skutch came to Costa Rica in the 1930's as a botanist and fell in love with the wide variety of birds. He gave us a short talk on the four different species of ani in the new world and how he first became interested in studying them.
In these many habitats from the lowlands to the high mountain
pass at 11,000 feet going back into San Jose, from wet rain forests to
dry lowland forests, I managed to see 137 species of birds. Costa Rica
is a wonderful, varied place to visit.
ORAS Board Meeting Minutes Marcia A. Cone
The Oconee Rivers Audubon Society held a board meeting on June 4, 1998. Twenty-three members were in attendance. The upcoming annual June breeding bird count was briefly discussed. The members agreed to not hold a regular monthly meeting in August. Page Luttrell and Jim Hanna will be meeting this month to plan some fall bird walks to be advertised in the Sandy Creek Nature Center Newsletter. A couple of summer field trips were planned: Brasstown Bald on June 27th (meet at the Allen's House at Sandy Creek Nature Center @ 0630) and Kennesaw Mountain on August 22nd (meet at the BiLo on S. Milledge @ 0600).
It was agreed to include the frequency of birds seen throughout the year, designated as rare, common, etc., in the Athens Bird Check List. The list would cover the Athens Christmas Count area of Clarke and Oconee counties. The Education Chairperson, Maggie Nettles, expressed a desire to identify teachers from the 4, 5, and 6 grades who would be interested in having ORAS members participate in presenting the Audubon Adventures Packet to their classes. The Conservation Chairperson, Marta Daniels, reported 190 signatures have been obtained to stop the Dupont mining operation at Okefenokee Swamp. Deirdre Allen, the Publicity Chairperson, has been contacting local radio stations to broadcast ORAS meeting and event advertisements. Sarah Cliett, the Membership Chairperson, discussed membership promotion with the group. It was suggested to formerly invite newcomers to join the group by announcing how to become an ORAS member at each meeting.
The members decided to register our purple martin colony at Sandy
Creek Park with the Purple Martin Conservation Association @ $20/yr. Depending
on available funds, we may also join Bird Conservation @ $40/yr. A committee
is being formed to write the annual report, including chapter requirements,
by the end of July. There's an open invitation for any member wishing to
participate in the report.
Teaming with Wildlife Update
Marta Daniell, Conservation Co-Chair
The following is an update on the Teaming with Wildlife (TWW) initiative received from the TWW National Steering Committee:
Key House members (Congressmen Young, Dingell, John, and Tauzin) are proposing an alternative funding solution. As with the TWW proposal, it will be a dedicated permanent fund for wildlife conservation and may even exceed the $350 million level we have sought to achieve. Rather than from a user fee, this new approach proposes funding come from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) revenue from oil and gas leases beyond state waters. This new proposal is part of a larger funding proposal that includes funding for land-based conservation and coastal state impact assistance. This funding would be over and above the OCS revenue authorized for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Recent statement by House Budge leaders have opposed a tax-based approach; this new alternative should not receive the same resistance. This is an informal proposal that is in the drafting stage. Legislation is expected to be introduced as early as July. We are working to ensure that this new approach addresses TWW=s goals for wildlife conservation, education, and recreation.
This opportunity deserves consideration. We have not turned
away from our original proposal on which we all have worked so hard. Be
we strongly believe that exploration of this new proposal is the responsible
thing to do. WE are in the early stages of working with members of Congress
on the details for the proposal, and we will share new details with you
as they become available to us. In the meantime, we urge you to focus on
the NEED for nongame funding and we ask you for your continued support
and involvement as we explore this new funding proposal. A strong TWW coalition
will be essential at each stage of the legislative process and beyond.
If we are successful with the effort, the role of your state coalitions
will be important in helping to shape newly-funded programs and develop
the needed matching funds. Your dedication and hard work are responsible
for bringing us to the point where Congress has recognized the need for
nongame wildlife funding and has offered a funding proposal. Passing legislation
of this kind is never easy, but with your understanding and support we
will achieve our ultimate goal.
The Ovenbird (by Robert Frost)
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past,
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
Oconee Audubon Society
P.O. Box 48132
Athens, Georgia 30604-8132