Dr. Michael Conroy will discuss the "Population dynamics of finches in suburban and montane habitats of northeastern Spain."  Dr. Conroy is an Assistant Unit Leader for Wildlife at the Georgia Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Adjunct Professor of Forest Resources and Ecology at UGA.  These finch studies are part a of a scientific collaboration, funded by a grant from NATO, between Dr. Conroy and Dr. Juan Carlos Senar at the Museum of Zoology in Barcelona. The purpose of this study was to investigate the demography of these finches and develop statistical models for estimating important variables such as survival and movement rates.  Dr. Senar has been capturing and marking finches in northeastern Spain for over 15 years, and part of his expertise is in statistical modeling.  Both collaborators have been involved in EURING (the European Union for Bird Ringing), an international group concerned with fostering the ringing (banding) of birds for science and conservation (see http://www.euring.org).

[Note— The October newsletter listed November 8th as the date of the next meeting. It IS November 1st …!]

Greenway Programs
Please pre-register for all programs. Call 613-3615, ext. 0, at the Sandy Creek Nature Center to register and for more information. All programs are free. 

November 3rd:  1-4 p.m. North Oconee River Canoe and Cleanup -- After a short talk on canoe safety, we will spend the morning out on the water. All experience levels welcome. Meet at the parking lot at the intersection of College Ave. and MLK Blvd. next to the Greenway pylon. 

State Botanical Garden Event
November 15th: 7:30-9:00 p.m. Amazon Adventure, Callaway Building.  Free and open to the public. Join Hugh and Carol Nourse and Jeff Lewis as they share their photography and exciting tales of the Amazon in Peru.
 

Future ORAS Event:
MLK-weekend January 18th-21st, 2002. St. Simmons area Birding: Please contact Mary Case, David Galewski, or Maggie Nettles if you would like to join a group who go "birding" this long weekend. We need to make arrangements to rent a place, perhaps more than one depending on the interest.  We will need a firm commitment with a $10.00 deposit by the December meeting.

Notes from the President:
Remember to order bird seed from Sandy Creek Nature Center before October 27. Please plan to purchase Audubon calendars (including the Sibley calendar) at the November meeting. The raffle prize for the November 1 meeting is a framed shorebird print donated by Liz Conroy

Christmas Bird Count:
The Christmas Bird Count will be December 15th.  If you wish to participate please contact Mary Case 548-3848 or Eugenia Thompson 549-7318 by December meeting.  This count is for all persons regardless of experience who would like to help. The cost for participants is $5:00, which is used to help publish the results of counts as summarized by National  Audubon in American Birds.  There will be a potluck dinner for all participants in the “countdown” at the ENSAT building.
 

Cabretta Island— March 8-10th, 2002:  Cabretta Island Campground on Sapelo Island off the Georgia coast. The reservations requires a two-night minimum of 15-25 people at $10 a night per person (plus $10 for round trip ferry. The ferry leaves the mainland at 5:30 Friday afternoon and leaves Sapelo at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. A bus will transport us and our gear to the campground. The group campground is five miles from the ferry and other civilization (so we have to pack everything we need). It is surrounded by creek, marsh, live oaks, dunes, beach and ocean. A comfort station with hot showers is available. If you are interested in this trip, Maggie Nettles needs a $10 deposit per person by the November meeting. The first 25 to give her $10 will be the 25 who go.

Sightings
David Galewski reported hearing a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on the way to class on campus the week of Oct.1st. On Sept. 29th on the Sandy Creek Nature Center walk there was a flock of mixed warblers including Golden-winged, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided and Black and White. Judy Willis reported seeing a White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-and-white Warblers at Tugaloo State Park. Sarah Cliett had two immature Rose-breasted Grossbeaks at her home. Earl Hunter reported the following sightings at the Botanical Garden: a Worm-eating Warbler on Sept. 28, and a Golden-winged Warbler on Oct. 3. 
 

President                                 Maggie Nettles                        543-8823
Vice-President                        Mary Case                               548-3848
Treasurer                                Eugenia Thompson                549-7318
Secretary                                 Page Luttrell                            788-2973
Field Trips                               David Galewski                        543-1988
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.

Highlights of Past Meetings

Bird Profiles: In September Templeton Hill characterized the Chestnut-sided Warbler, a migrating species, in both spring and fall plumage. In October Victoria Smith talked about the Eastern Towhee, a year-round resident, describing differences in color pattern between the male and females, habitat, and their distinctive feeding characteristics.

In September we had two very informative speakers.  Our main speaker, E. J. Williams, discussed the three-year studies by the Department of Natural Resources of the Swallow-tailed Kites in Georgia. She described how the team documents their nesting sites, numbers, and conservation efforts.  Cori Westbrook from The National Audubon Society presented information on the various bills pending in Congress relevant to the Alaska  National  Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the roadless Bill and the poisoning of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Our October speakers were David and Dorinda Dallmeyer. Theirs was an informative an engrossing program on penguins.  Dr.  David Dallmeyer  described the 6 different  genera  of penguins and representative species from each, illustrating these with numerous striking photographs taken during the Dallmeyers’ excursions “south.” Penguins inhabit a wide range of climates and locations from icy Antarctica to equatorial Galapagos. The colder the habitat the taller the penquin. Larger penguins nest on ice or rocky places; smaller penguins living in warmer climates nest in burrows and one species nests in trees. The body shape, bone structure, feathers, and metabolism all aid in their ability to live and adapt to their varied habitats. The main predators of penguins in the Antarctic are leopard seals and orcas. Since the 1800's human commercial exploitation of the birds themselves and their food base has played a major role in destroying and disrupting penguin populations.
 

President Nettles’ Bird Banding Experience
What would you trade to look into the gray iris of an immature White-eyed Vireo that was attacking your finger with hawk-like ferocity? To see a dozen variations on the
Yellow-throated Warbler coloration? To glimpse the rusty undersides of a complaining Catbird, the legendary purple pooper? How would you like a chance to witness up close the beauty of the Black-throated Blue warbler, the Painted Bunting, the Northern Waterthrush? Would you let a  Yellow-bellied Sapsucker clutch you with its strong feet in exchange for a look at its yellow belly? Would you trade a nip from a Cardinal for a close-up view? Do you have the patience to untangle a cocoon-spinning wren from a fine mesh net?
The Jekyll Island Banding Station (JIBS) has offered these opportunities, and many additional miraculous close encounters with birds, for the past 25 years.  This fall, I got a chance to volunteer there for ten days, and yes, I may have donated blood to a hundred mosquitoes, but the experience was so exhilarating that I am already planning to volunteer again next fall. During those ten days, JIBS banded over a thousand birds, mostly first-year warblers (and Catbirds!).  The most common bird in the mist nets, the Western Palm Warbler, was also the calmest, so it gave us good opportunities for learning to untangle a bird gently and quickly. ORAS member Charles Ratliff showed immense patience as the trainer and also served as assistant bander (as well as gourmet chef in the evenings). Master bander Chris Pitman and assistant bander Jan Pitman run the station, and both handled the novice “band-aides” with unflappable calm, even when they had to warn us about unthinking actions that might have endangered a bird.  One bird that I had untangled and delivered to the banding table with a casual thought of  “that one looks a little different” ended up with  everyone clustered around it with bird guides open, even the one with the life-size outlines of beaks, to determine that the bird was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.  My favorite lessons, though, involved learning to recognize the personalities of individual species—from the feisty White-eyed Vireo to the wax-myrtle-pooping Catbirds to the gently pecking Painted Bunting.

Parental Nurture: The Chicks Don’t Always Come First!
Last month we reported in this column the findings of two Montanan ecologist-ornithologists, Cameron Ghalambhor and Thomas Martin, who found that the longer-lived birds of South America produce smaller clutch sizes than their northern, matched counterparts. A further – and surprising - outcome of this study is that the response of adults of  southern, longer-lived species to the threat of a predator is different from that of the their northern counterparts. To quote the authors, “Parental feeding visits to the nest can increase the risk of predation to both parents and young by attracting the attention of predators. When faced with an immediate risk of predation, parents temporarily decrease visitation rates to reduce risk to themselves or their young.” The authors found, however, that when a model hawk (a predator of adults) was displayed, southern birds decreased their visits significantly more than northern birds, whereas there was no difference between the two groups when the model was a tanager (not a predator) or a jay (predator of chicks).  So,  adults with greater probability of survival subject themselves to less risk of predation, even at the expense of neglecting their chicks, than do adults with shorter life expectancy.