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The Chapter Networker
Volume III, No. 4
Fall 1998

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In This Issue:

bud bud

Shore Bird Festival: Grays Harbor Funds Refuge Projects

Annually on the last weekend of April, Grays Harbor Audubon (Montesano/Aberdeen, WA) sponsors a Shore Bird Festival. This year we offered two Shore Bird Identification lectures, one geared for beginners -- or at least, for those not familiar with shore birds. We also offered a class on bird migration, and a lecture that was more specific to the birds on the open coast (as opposed to the mud flats). The Festival features field trips to Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) (a Western Hemisphere Shore Bird Reserve Network site), and also to Ocean Shores, (a peninsula with many diverse habitats and up to 300 species of birds), Westport (another coastal town with good estuarine and rocky birding spots), and Lake Quinault in the Olympic Rainforest of northwest WA. All of our Festival field trips are led by Washington Ornithological Society members, most of whom bring their spotting scopes to share. They are extremely helpful in identifying all of the birds to be seen, and make sure that each person fully benefits from the experience. We provide handouts at our Festival exhibit booth. Topics include bird feeder care, wildlife-friendly yard ideas, bird nest-box plans, and local environmental issues. We also invite exhibitors from Grays Harbor NWR, and from Friends of Grays Harbor (a clean-water advocate group). There are 6-10 vendors of bird and wildlife-related wares and/or artwork as well. The proceeds ($1500) from our first Shore Bird Festival (1996) went to help fund joist hangers and benches for a beautiful boardwalk at the Grays Harbor NWR (built by U.S. Fish & Wildlife), and our 1997 ($2000) and 1998 ($3500) proceeds will also go to enhance the Refuge.

For more info, contact: Ginny Molenaar, Grays Harbor Audubon; P.O. Box 444; Montesano, WA 98563; ph: 360/533-2619; e-mail: djinmaru@techline.com.

nwr poster

Fund-Raiser: Breakfast with the Birds

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Experienced and inexperienced birders joined the Virginia Beach Audubon Society (VA) for a combination bird-watching walk and gourmet breakfast on Saturday, May 3, 1997, at the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach. Our advertising flyer for the event included some background on our chapter and its activities, and invited people to "Learn the secrets of bird-spotting and ... keys to identification, as the birds greet the day. After your walk, enjoy a gourmet breakfast... while you get to know our members...". Participants met at 6 a.m. at the Country Club parking lot. From there they walked the periphery of the Club's golf course, wandering "tidal marshes, lakes, tidal inlets, grassy fairways, and maritime woodlands," searching out and identifying birds until about 7:45 a.m. All then returned to the clubhouse for the buffet breakfast. Expert birders Betsy Nugent and Charles Allewelt each led one of the birding groups. Betsy's group identified 42 species; Charles' group, 26, since it "did a little more socializing on the way"! We charged $25 per participant, with $15 per participant going to our chapter.

For more info, contact: Maurice Jackson; 1125 Ditchley Rd.; Virginia Beach, VA 23451.

The Web and the Watchers

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Project FeederWatch, entering its 12th season of monitoring North American feeder birds, is fun, easy and makes a valuable contribution to bird study. This year you have the option of submitting data via the Internet through BirdSource, a revolutionary Web site for on-line reporting and mapping of bird population data. The NAS and Cornell Lab of Ornithology are partners in Project FeederWatch and BirdSource. Project FeederWatch charges an annual fee of $15.

For more info, or to sign up, call: 1/800-843-2473 (BIRD), OR WRITE: Project FeederWatch/AUN/Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 159 Sapsucker Woods Road; Ithaca, NY 14850.

National Wildlife Refuge Week, 1998 Was October 11 - 17, but refuges need us year-round!

For more info, on how your chapter can help, contact: Lora Wondolowski, NAS-DC.

Free Tips -- Fun & Facts on Field Trips

A by-product of a workshop at the NAS Convention in Estes Park is a series of free fact sheets on how to integrate conservation and campaign messages into chapter field trips. Included are tips for message integration, suggested questions for guiding discussion, facts on habitats, and fun trivia.

To order this free info, contact: Marci Mowery, NAS-PA; 1104 Fernwood Ave., #300; Camp Hill, PA 17011-6912; ph: 717/763-4985; FAX: 717/763-4981; e-mail: mmowery@audubon.org.

Montana Update

The Education Coordinator for Montana Audubon, Bob Petty, has moved; he will work from his home office. Please update your directories: 469 N Kootenai Creek Rd.; Stevensville, MT 59870; ph/FAX: 406/777-0780.

Looking for the Iowa Office?

Paul Zeph, executive director of the new Iowa State Office (see Networker, Vol. III, No. 3, Summer 1998) announces the temporary mailing address of the new state Audubon office in Iowa: P.O. Box 71174; Des Moines, IA 50325; ph (as of Oct. 15): 515/267-0701; e-mail: pzeph@audubon.org. Keep an eye on Networker for updates.

Marion Audubon

Photo Caption: Marion Audubon (St. Petersburg, FL) chapter Forest Campaign activists (from left) Margy Bielling, Laurie MacDonald, Guy Marwick, and Jeri Baldwin at the NAS Convention in July (Colorado). Convention attendees numbered about 750, and included more than 200 chapter leaders involved in leading workshops and plenary sessions, more than 100 Audubon staff, and 16 current and former NAS directors -- a big success!

Photo Credit: Kelly Meinhart


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