2009 Birdathon Winds Down
By Sue Hagan
This year's Birdathon aactivities were a stormy affair--so many events were cancelled or poorly attended due to
bad weather. That includes the final event scheduled at my house which was cancelled because of rain.
A few of us made that up by participating in the International Migratory Bird Count at Mingo later in the month.
It's hardly any consoslation to think that bad weather has also been hard on the birds!
Yet, despite the weather difficulties, several members persisted and completed a Birdathon (let this be a reminder
to those who haven't turned in their results and/or donations sto get these to Bob Lewis. Each storoy I've heard from
our birders is a testimony to the rewards of hard work and the joys of birding. More details will be forthcoming in
the August Bird's Eye View.
So let me give one final plea for Birdathon donations from the rest of your: remember--this is our Chapter's biggest
fundraiser--and from it comes bird feed for our Sanctuary, Audubon Adventures for local school children, and support for other Chapter
expenses.
Remember--Birdathon is not just for the birders--it's for all the bird lovers.
Editor's Note--results to date
As of June 5th there had been $682.00 turned in from Birdathon participants. This amount was
from the efforts of "two bird chasers" pllus donations from three other members. This means there are quite a few dollars
still to be collected and turned in.
In stshe 2008 Birdathon we raised $1,443.75 from the efforts of nine "bird chasers" plus donations
from three other members. This means there are quite a few dollars still to be collected and turned in.
Our very best Birdathon was in 2007 when we collected $2,363.66 and recruited 31 new memberships at
the $20 level ($620 turned in sto Nastional Audubon and returned to us (later).
A Day of Environmental Education
By Gary Chastain
During the spring and fall seasons the children’s camp I work for is used as an Outdoor Education
facility by various schools from the St. Louis area. On May 8 of this year the sixth grade students that
were at the camp experienced a true outdoor education experience. As you may recall that was the day southern
Missouri was pummeled by a severe storm system the meteorologists call a “derecho”.
At camp that morning we were aware that storms were on their way and the hope was that they would not arrive
until after the children had boarded the bus and were safely on their way home. The storm of course was not following our
schedule and arrived at the same hour that the children were to depart.
We did our best to remain calm and keep the children entertained indoors. Outdoors, however,
things were anything but calm. The wind was making the surrounding hillsides a blender of organic debris. Trees
were falling on cabins, power lines, trails, roads, and camp vans. It sounded like the 4th of
July when the 70 foot pine trees started snapping and popping like fireworks.
At first it was pretty exciting, we figured the wind would come and then go and it would all be over, but
it did not just quit. It calmed down several times only to pick up again, and again, and that is when the
seriousness of the situation began to sink in. I started making phone calls and the land lines went dead,
shortly thereafter the cellular lines went down. The ¾ mile length of road out to the highway had one tree
after another down across it, some of them laying on high voltage transmission lines. This was not good.
In St. Louis the parents of the campers thought their kids were on their way home and had no way of knowing
that the kids were still at camp and would remain there for the next several hours as we worked to get the road opened and
passable.
The kids of course were unphased. They were a bit agitated that we wouldn’t let
them play outside after the storm. The dangling limbs and leaning trees did not seem at all threatening
to them. So it was a real relief when the bus was finally able to leave.
If you google “May 8, 2009 derecho” there is a link to the National Weather Service’s
report on the storm that day. Reading the data and looking at the maps and radar loops is an interesting
lesson in meteorology but does little to describe the reality of what actually happened. Reading about
80 mph wind gusts and seeing what they do to an Ozark hillside are two distinctly different courses in environmental education!
Conservation Matters
By Sue and Mick
The First One-Hundred Days--The
Environmental Perspective--During the first 100 days, the Obama administration put on hold or reversed Bush administration
plans for oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf; stopped changes to the Endangaered Species Act that would have
affected protection of the Pacific salmon or permit timber sales in the northern Spotted Owl's habitat; stopped the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers from building levees and dredging rivers without full reviews; halted environmentally destructive mountaintop
mining practices in the Appalachians. It has provided another $55 million to speed the largest dam removal in U.S. history
on Washington State's Elwha River. Obama signed a bill protecting 2 million acres of wildlerness, moved to bolster the
budgets of the major federal lands agencies, and appointed scientists to top policy posts.
Environmentalists are unhappy with the decision to
remove federal protections for wolves in the northern Rockies. Not are we pleased with continuing Bush administration
policy of barring the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change while developing a plan to protect endangered
Polar Bears. But the general concensus is that the Obama administration has moved decisively to put science back as
the major criterion for guiding environmental policy.
The Answer May Be Blowing in the Wind: U.S.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says East Coast ocean winds could generate 1 million megawatts of power, the equivalent of
3,000 medium-sized coal-fired power plants--that's nearly five times the number of coal fired plants now in the U.S....or
Radiating from the sun: a combination of federal and state incentives is putting solar technology within reach of
the average person. The passage in Missouri of Prooposition C requires investor-owned utilities to offer rebates of
$2-a-watt on solar-electric systems, and the federal stimulus bill extends a 30% federal aid tax credit. The payback
for solar will increase if electricity prices rise, which is likely with passage of climate change legislation. Three-fourths
of Missouri electricity is generated from coal, which is also the Number One source of carbon dioxide. Carbon regulation
could cause electricity prices to double over the next twenty years, which would help level the costs for solar and wind power.
Nuclear Power is Not Renewable Power: The
House Energy and and Commerce Committee rejected a Republican plan to let states claim nuclear power plants as a form of renewable
energy, a maneuver that would have allowed many states to claim they have already met renewable energy targets and avoid investment
in green technologies.
Economic Recession Reduces Emissions: 2008
saw a 2.8 percent decline in carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere compared to 2007, the largest annual drop since the
government began reporting on greenhouse gas pollution. The decline is attributed to the drop in energy consumption
following the year's record price increases and to the general decline in the economy. But promoting economic recession
is not on any environmentallist's list of The Way Things Ought to Be.
The Greening of Missouri's Economy:
A new wind farm in northwest Missouri will create 150 megawatts of pollution-free energy and will add more than 2,500
jobs here and around the country. And Federal stimulus dollars are being used to convert sewage into electricity at
a treatment plant in Overland Park, in the process-creating 270 new jobs. And that could be just the beginning: according
to a recent study by the Centor for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute, 43,000 new jobs could
be created in Missosuri by a responsible, comprehensive approach to clean energy.
California Condors Still Sccumbing to Lead:
Two fatal lead poisonings of the endangered California Condors in six months shows that lead poisoning --principally
from ammunition--is still a problem. Efforts to ban lead shot in Condor territory is meeting some resistance from gun
lobbyists and private property groups who object to any government interference as infringong on their rights.
Plastic Bottles Bad for the Trash and
Bad for the Body: Throw-away plastic bottles are not only filling our trashpiles, they are leaching
a chemical into our bodies according to a Harvard study. People who drink for a week from clear plastic polycarbonate
bottles had 69% higher concentrations of bisphenol in their urine. Switching BPA-free or metal reusable bottles is the
way to go!
Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect positions of EOAS.
|
May Storms Caused Problems To Birds As Well As |
By Greg Boes
(Lynne Winston’s son-in law)
Well,
it's not news to residents of the Parkland area that the storms that rolled through on May 8 caused a tremendous amount of
damage. What might not be as apparent is the damage caused to our winged friends. The
following is a story how the entire Boes family helped out a pair of baby hawks whose home was destroyed by the storms.
The story starts almost immediately after the storms cleared our area. My
son Jason and I went for a walk around the homestead accessing the damage. I must admit, we were very lucky
with little damage to our property. We walked the quarter mile or so up the drive to the neighbor's house.
They were outside watching the rushing water running across Loughboro Rd. Reports from the stranded
travelers on the road were that exits in all directions were under water at the present time.
As we swapped storm stories with the neighbors, we noticed the water was receding from
the road at a pretty rapid pace. Within the hour, the first brave soul (in the company van) forded the
water on the road. The success of their departure led to a mass exodus of the balance of the stranded travelers.
Jason and I took that as our cue to depart back to the homestead. On
the way back, we were accompanied by one of our three dogs we had left with. About half way down the from
the neighbor's house, Bella, the dog we had decided to adopt after catching her attacking one of our chickens -- oops, that's
another story -- was barking excitedly just off the drive.
Upon investigation, we discovered two baby hawks huddled in the leaves on the ground.
I decided that nature would take its course and the mother hawk would probably pick these young guys up and return
them to their nest. We walked on home and started cleaning up from the storm not giving much more thought
to the birds.
The next day, my wife Ann and I were on a walk. When we passed where
the birds were, I decided to take a peek to see if they had been moved by their mother. They had not, they
had moved a short distance from where they were, but they were still there all the same. Now it was time
to take some action and get some advice on what to do. I felt as though they were sitting ducks, just waiting
for a fox to come snatch them up.
Ann called the World Bird Sanctuary and talked with a raptor specialist there.
They had some suggestions, one of which was to create a nest box and place it as high in a tree as possible.
This advice had a caveat attached. You might do all this work for naught. We
threw caution to the wind and decided to do our best at giving these little guys a hand up.
Ann
thought that a laundry basket would make a good platform. Sounded like a grand idea to me.
We loaded the van with the basket, a ladder, and pair of loppers. On the way to the site, we stopped
and lopped some boughs from a Douglas fir we have on the drive. These made a nice looking (to me at least)
nest.
We continued on. Next was “site selection” for the new
nest. We picked a few candidates but were met with the difficulty of attaching the nest box to the tree.
We finally decided upon an oak tree that had grown with two sprouts from the ground making a nice "V" in which we figured
we could wedge the nest box. We gave it a try and it seemed to be a good decision. After
attaching both sides of the laundry basket to their respective tree trunks, we cut out some of the understory to provide a
fly way for the adults.
Then came the moment of truth, installing the chicks to their new home.
When I walked over to the two, there was clearly one in better shape than the other. It was sitting
upright and alert.
The other
chick was not so good. It was sitting with its beak in the leaves and seemed to be chilled.
A good look at both beaks up close had me asking Ann to go back to the house for a towel to protect us from any defensive
attacks. While she was gone, I placed a hand on chilled chick. It was quite cold so
I nestled it into my shirt to try and provide it some warmth. There it stayed until Ann returned.
By the time Ann did return, the whole family was involved. Our
boys, Jason, Neil and Aaron were there to help in any way they could. Neil retrieved the other chick with
the towel and we were ready to place them in their new home. The chicks seemed somewhat nonplussed by the
whole affair, but who could blame them? Being blown out of their nest less than 24 hours previously and
now to have these unknowns put them in a fir lined plastic vessel.
This
was the start of the waiting game. Since the new home was conveniently located on the driveway, every departure
and return became a chance to observe. It wasn't long before we could see at least one chick moving in
the nest. The rest of the story is chronicled in pictures shown on Page 5.
Both baby hawks were still alive June
1st. Lynne’s
Photos can be seen on your computer at:
http:leswins.smugmug.com/?preview=1
The experts at World Bird Sanctuary identified the birds as Broad-winged Hawks from Lynne’s photos.
Baby hawks thrived after being placed in "new nest." The Boes family is to be congratulated on their efforts to
save these baby hawks. The birds were identified as Broad-winged Hawks by the experts as World Bird Sanctuary.
When the lights went out
At Rattlesnake Holler
By Sue Hagan
May 26, 2009 RATTLESNAKE HOLLER
Two weeks ago this
past Friday our lights went out, and we remained out until this weekend. Mick and I had planned on caving that Friday, and
went to meet up with a geologist friend to help with his cave project (which is an interesting story in itself--he's studying
speleothem breakage to see if he can find a correlation with the 1811 New Madrid Earthquake). Any ways, he checked the weather
conditions and discussed with us the line of storms that seemed to be heading our way. Having once before come out of a cave
just after a tornado passed nearby, we decided to call it a day and headed home. Good decision.
After an hour or so back home, the wind and rains started picking up.
We nervously decided to shelter by the concrete walls of our first floor, and the cats cowered under the sofa. We huddled
in the back of the room watching the slash of wind and rain such as we've never seen before. We still don't understand what
the storm was--it's called a "line wind", but some (apparently incorrectly) referred to it as an inland hurricaine.
Funnel-cloud spinoffs
were widespread. Throughout the area there was extensive damage, and inevitably a few deaths. We were fortunate: numerous
trees were ripped out of the ground, but none hit our house. All our old maples, the largest of our oak trees and many large
cedars went down. It seems the leafy branches of big trees acted like sails causing them to topple while simple
scags remained standing. Many thousands of utility poles snapped in two.
With such wide-spread damage, inevitably those of us in the more remote
parts were the last to get attention. On day two, we took our frozen items to our neighbors a few miles away; they are largely
energy self-sufficient thanks to a huge investment they made in home generated solar and wind power. Our refrigerator
became a real ice box. We cooked on our propane camping stove. Mick carried buckets of pond water in so we
could occasionally have flush toilets. Going to work meant an opportunity to shower at the Civic Center, and to
bring home ice and a five-gallon container of water. The animals didn't seem to mind the new routines, though the
cats seemed a bit suspicious of us walking around in the evening with little beams of light coming from our foreheads (our
caving head lamps).
We left on a campout cave trip Saturday morning, knowing the utility
crew were in our area. When we got home yesterday, the first thing we did was turn the main amp box back on, and what a pleasure
it was to hear the sound of flowing water and flick on lights. Today we retrieved our frozen items from our good friends' freezer.
We were horrified to hear that their nearby relatives almost had a disaster; it seems the utility crew didn’t
realize there was another house set back in the woods with a downed pole. The crew turned the lines back on, resulting in
a live wire down on the ground starting a fire which spread to the woods. Somehow the fire went behind the house. Maybe it
was good for reducing the bad tick population we are experiencing this year.
So that’s the news from Rattlesnake Holler. But for those of you
who pledged to support my Birdathon this year, I’ll soon be sending a report on how I did. Thanks ever so much for your
support—I made my goal (I think). Well you can read all about that.
Phoebe Snetsinger Remembered
In Book Released This Spring
By Bob Lewis
In March it was announced that a new book on the life
and adventures of Phoebe Snetsinger is now available in most book stores around the nation.
Written by Olivia Gentile
(who never met Phoebe), the book Life List chronicles the story of Phoebe’s passion for birdwatching
from a beginner to the acknowledged “best birdwatcher” in the world.
For
those East Ozarks members who are not aware of her, Phoebe was a St. Louis woman and was known by several of our Chapter members.
Bill Reeves, Steve Dilks and I first met Phoebe
in 1984 along the Mississippi River north of St. Louis where bird lovers from around the nation had gathered to see a Slaty-backed
Gull from Siberia, making its first appearance in the lower-48 area.
I
met Phoebe again in 1991 when we ran into each other at Eagle Point above Lake Wappapello. At 6:30 that
morning I was waiting for enough daylight to see a rare Brown Pelican that had wandered to Missouri from the Gulf of Mexico.
Bill Reeves had told me he heard that Phoebe might show up that morning.
Sure
enough! About the time I spotted the bird perched on a floating buoy, Phoebe drove up and consented to
see the bird through my spotting scope.
In
her travels around the world, Phoebe had many adventures. She was gang raped by natives in New Guinea and
later was in a shipwreck. All these things followed a bout with melanoma cancer that she outlived.
Phoebe
died in a bus accident in 1999 in Madagasgar in one of her birding trips. Fortunately she had shared her
life story in an autobiography. On Borrowed Time tells the story of her life as a
birder.
Out
of a possible 9,000 bird species in the world, Phoebe saw 8,500 of them. Unlike many of us, she wouldn’t
count a “heard bird” but only counted the ones she could actually see.
I
once tried to get Phoebe to give a program to the fall meeting of Audubon Society of Missouri but she declined on the basis
that she “didn’t do well” in front of an audience.
Those
of us who knew the lady are aware that we had rubbed shoulders with a true champion.
