November 17, 2006 Charter Dinner
The dinner was festive as always.
Former president Barbara Marsala, right, received a gift from the Board in appreciation of her outstanding leadership.
November 17, 2006 Charter Dinner
The dinner was festive as always. |
Former president Barbara Marsala, right, received a gift from the Board in appreciation of her outstanding leadership. |
October 14, 2006 Hawk Watch Open House
For a change the weather was perfect. 
The wind was wrong but a few hawks cruised by to test everyone's skills. |
Visitors attended the hawk ID workshop ... 
... sampled the hot and cold refreshments ... 
... and walked the trails. |
(Photos by Gerianne Carillo.)
Sunday was the annual work day at the Franklin Mountain Hawk Watch to prepare for and officially open the fall migration season. The work included repositioning some of the numbered observation-helper signs, installing the owl decoy on top of the kiosk, bolting the telescope mounts to the wooden posts, correcting the compass orientation on the weather station and removing quite a few trees that each year tend to obscure more of the critical view to the north. After the morning mists cleared it was a gorgeous day. And, oh yes, the first raptor of the season, a Broad-winged Hawk, was spotted and duly recorded as the official first migrator of fall 2006.
Please plan to visit the Hawk Watch any day for the rest of the year. And we could certainly use a few more dedicated volunteer hawk watchers!(Photos by John Davis.)
Steve Hall and Ron Milliken work on the weather
station. |
Hawk Watch weather station |
John Davis and Steve Hall install the owl pole
on the kiosk station. |
The Hawk Watch shelter... |
... and those responsible |
The work crew: L to R Ron Milliken, John Davis,
Fred Reckner, Tom Salo, Steve Hall |
Steve Hall and Ron Milliken scan the skies for the
first migrating raptor of the season. |
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AN AFTERNOON OF IDENTIFYING DRAGONFLIES IN THE WILD Eight adults and four children were enthralled when Dragonfly expert Larry Federman led a hands-on workshop at the DOAS Franklin-Mountain Sanctuary to capture and identify odonates, aka dragonflies and damselflies. These fascinating but under-appreciated insects have been around for over 300 million years, playing a key role in the ecological fabric particularly of wetlands. Now, with rising concerns about their ability to survive in the modern world of fragmented habitats and other human interference, the activity was part of a statewide "citizen science" project for the ongoing NYS Dragonfly and Damselfly Survey, similar to the recently completed NYS bird census. (Photos by John Davis.) |
Group with nets at the Sanctuary marsh
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Larry, with a real knack for getting children as well as adults involved in and excited about the project, showed how to capture, carefully hold and identify these beautiful creatures, then releasing them to fly back to their world. The children proved to be adept at capture and learning how to hold the insects without harming them. The afternoon was clearly fun and science combined, a perfect example of how Audubon can enhance and promote its mission to educate the public about our natural environment. Larry Federman is President of the Northern Catskills Audubon Society and Assistant Warden/Educator for Audubon New York.
Holding a dragonfly carefully by his wings
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Larry Federman identifying dragonflies
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Just-released dragonfly; it quickly flew away
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Three dragonfly chasers
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A cloudy, slightly windy and bug-free morning was perfect for about 18 birders in canoes and kayaks to tour Weaver Lake and adjoining Maumee Swamp in the town of Warren in southern Herkimer County; trip leader Bob Donnelly. There were plenty of species of hear and/or see, including Willow Flycatchers, Marsh Wrens, Swamp Sparrows, Wood Ducks, Virginia Rails, Common Moorhens, Least Bitterns, Great Blue and Green Herons and an immature Bald Eagle. Perhaps it was the myriad of Tree Swallows that kept down those expected black flies! The Lake and Swamp is a DEC-managed wetland, directly accessible from Route US 20. (Photos by John Davis.) |
Leader Bob Donnelly and canoe partner
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Tom Salo playing marsh bird tape
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Two kayak participants
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Earth Day, April 22, 2006 brought a group of 6 DOAS Auduboners to Milford State Forest, where a chilling rain didn't prevent the picking up of a dozen or so trash bags full of the refuse of those who thoughtlessly despoil a part of our public natural heritage. The participants in the cleanup also brought several quotes, signifying the state of, if not the hope for, our world at large. "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by
his fathers, but borrowed from his children."
"Land, then, is not merely soil; it is the foundation of energy flowing
through a circuit of soils, plants and animals. Food chains are the living
channels which conduct energy upward; death and decay return it to the soil.
The circuit is not closed; some energy is dissipated in decay, some is added by
absorption from the air, some is stored in soils, peats and long-lived
forests."
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent
less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness
and respecting her seniority."
"It is as though human kind's ultimate purpose in life is to exploit
every natural resouce until nothing remains of it. Having decimated one
species, the object is to line up the next victim for slaughter. Isn't it
ironic that, throughout the course of history, the very resources that
humankind has extinguished have been renewable? One wonders whether we are
driven by some kind of death wish that challenges us to test the outer limits
of our capacity to destroy everything we touch, including ourselves."
"It requires a special kind of arrogance, I think, to assume that we Homo
sapiens are the lords of creation and that it is there to serve only us. That
kind of pride is not just one of the seven deadly sins, it borders on
pathological stupidity."
"Earth, our only home, is in a desperate struggle against the onslaught
of the worst exotic species: 'Homo unsapiens'. We continue to foul our nest."
"The bells which toll for mankind are - most of them anyway - like the
bells on Alpine cattle; they are attached to our own necks, and it must be OUR
fault if they do not make a cheerful and harmonious sound."
"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of
animals.... In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished
and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never
attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they
are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net
of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."
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DOAS cleanup crew: L to R Tom Salo,
Ann Greenemeier, Lisa Gorn, Joe Richardson, Gerianne Carillo.
Taking the picture: John Davis.
Chilly and damp trash pickers.
Gerianne and bags of collected trash.
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This year's Otsego Lake Waterfowl Trip was another success. On April 15th cool, perfect weather spurred on over thirty birders and friends in the annual waterfowl trip in the environs of Lake Otsego and parts of its northern watershed. The "best" bird was actually a female Northern Harrier floating over the fields north of US 20 near Weaver Lake. Other land birds identified included Eastern Meadowlarks, an early Yellow-rumped warbler, a nesting Eastern Phoebe and several Killdeer. Waterfowl particularly noted were a Bufflehead and Ring-necked Ducks on Clarke Pond (along with the lone Mute Swan that has been there for several years), Common Loon, Green-winged Teal, Common Mergansers, American Coots, nesting Great-blue Herons and of course Mallards and plenty of Canada Geese. A Swamp Sparrow was singing at Weaver Lake. Impossible to see by scope if the Bald Eagles were on their deep nest north of Lake Otsego, but they were noted there a couple of weeks earlier. (Photos by John Davis.) |
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Some of the participants in the birding trip to the Mohawk Valley. Read an account of this trip here. |
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photo by Tom Salo |
photo by Tom Salo |
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Eagle enthusiasts scan Cannonsville Reservoir in Delaware County a few years ago. This year, the annual eagle trip turned up 17 eagles around Cannonsville Reservoir and the East and West Branches of the Delaware River in Delaware County. Forty-five participants enjoyed the view of 7 eagles circling together near Hancock, as well as perched adult eagles at two nest sites. |