Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WINGBEAT
Cullman Audubon Society
PO Box 1444 WINTER
Cullman, AL 35056 WONDERLAND
Francene Van Sambeek, Editor Volume 9, Issue 2
Inside this issue:
Newsletter deadlines: 20th of the odd numbered months for publication in the next newsletter.
Send to Francene Van Sambeek at the address or email listed to the left. Please include
“Audubon” in the subject line.
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JANUARY 16, 2005 FIELD TRIP:
GUNTERSVILLE STATE PARK JANUARY 11, 2005: FIRE ANTS
For the January 11, 2005 meeting of the
With this great natural resource available to us, how Cullman Audubon Society, we are pleased
could we not schedule a field trip to Guntersville State Park. On to have Charles Pinkston with the Ala-
January 16th will depart St. Bernard parking lot at 5 AM if you bama Cooperative Extension Service, as our
want to carpool. Otherwise, meet at 6 AM (daylight) at Guntersville featured speaker. Charles will be discussing the fly
State Park on highway 227 where Town Creek crosses the road. The that was released on St. Bernard campus to con-
early start will allow us to watch the bald eagles come off the roost. trol fire ants. As this is something we all deal with,
For those wanting a later start, meet at 8:30 AM at the boat ramp don’t miss this important information!
The meeting starts at 7 PM and will be held in
on highway 69 on right side of road just before crossing causeway. the old Science Building on the campus of St. Ber-
From here we will bird the Guntersville waterfront. Plan on seeing nard Prep School. Birding doorprizes given away
eagles and many types of waterfowl on this trip. after the meeting.
Look for the postcard reminder next month if there are any
changes to this field trip. Dress warmly and remember all are wel-
come to these FREE birding field trips!
AUDUBON NEWSWIRE HAPPENINGS first year - as much as 70%. Likely born in 1999,
Volume 2, Number 19, November 1, 2004 this is a bird that has survived five migrations to
1. The National Audubon Society has released the first the tropics and back. This story has an interesting
national "The State of the Birds" report docu- personal note in that Ernesto Ruelas, director of
menting the health and abundance of North Amer- Pronatura, a conservation organization in eastern Mexico,
ica's birds. Appearing in the October issue of banded this particular Cooper's Hawk in 2000. Ruelas
Audubon Magazine, "The State of the Birds" first came to the U.S. in 1989 and worked with Jon
paints a disturbing picture. Almost 30 percent of North Stravers in the Goshute Mountains of Nevada at a raptor
America's birds are in "significant decline." The overall banding station operated by Hawk watch International.
state of the birds shows: 70% of grassland species are in For more information, contact Jon Stavers at
statistically significant declines, 36% of shrub-land birds hawk2@alpinecom.net.
are declining significantly, 25% of forest bird species are Volume 2, Number 18, October 8, 2004
declining significantly, 13% of wetland bird species are 1. Gateway Valley, a very wet 1000-acre valley in the
declining significantly, 23% of bird species in urban dry East Bay hills of San Francisco Bay, has been saved
areas are declining significantly. According to the from development through the conservation efforts of the
"State of the Birds," these declines are abnormal. Golden Gate Audubon Society, led by long-time environ-
Not part of the natural cyclical rise and fall in bird mentalist, Conservation and Education Director Arthur
populations, "statistically significant declines" are Feinstein.
due to outside factors such as loss of native grasslands, The Valley was designated an Aquatic Resource of
overgrazing, development of wetlands, bad forest manage- National Importance by the federal EPA and USFWS
ment, invasive species, pollution, and poor land use deci- several years ago, due not only to its wetland and peren-
sions." Like the canary in the coal mine warning the miner nial stream habitats, but also to the golden eagles and
of danger ahead, birds are an indicator of environmental over 100 other bird species that call the Valley home.
and human health," said Audubon President John Flicker. Golden Gate Audubon has fought hard to preserve this
"Birds signal that we are at risk next." Flicker went on land for 14 years through four different development pro-
to say, "People created these problems and people can posals, but when a multi-billion dollar hedge fund bought
solve them if we act now." For the full release on the State the land, the outlook for this land turned bleak. The
of the Birds Report, visit www.audubon.org/news/ Audubon Chapter hired a lawyer, and submitted com-
press_releases/index.html. ments in response to the Army Corps of Engineers public
2. On October 7, 2004, Jon Stravers and David Kester of notice of development.
Audubon's Upper Mississippi River Campaign captured an Hoping to find a compromise to benefit both parties,
adult female Cooper's Hawk at their raptor banding sta- Arthur Feinstein contacted the developer. "I called and
tion near Effigy Mounds National Monument on the Mis- said let's talk," said Feinstein. "We did so for two long
sissippi River. The hawk had been previously banded as a years and in July, signed a Settlement Agreement that
second year bird on October 14, 2000 near the town of provides for the developer to build on 215 acres of the
Jalapa in Vera Cruz, Mexico. The distance between these valley, while setting aside not only the remainder of
two banding stations is approximately 1750 Gateway Valley - 750 acres - but 600 acres of
miles. This is an amazing journey. Mortality
(Continued on page 4)
rates of most raptors are significant during the
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Cullman Audubon Society
PO Box 1444
Cullman, AL 35056