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December
21, 2008: Winter Vacation at Powdermill
Bring the kids to Powdermill to celebrate the
official start of the winter season! Discover how animals
make it through the cold winter, create a holiday decoration
or two, listen to stories and make some edible ornaments
for the birds. Stop by anytime from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
on Sunday December 21st. Parents are encouraged to stay
but have the option to drop off the kids and attend to
last minute shopping and gift wrapping. Activities will
take place indoors and there is no registration required
and no fee to participate. For more information contact
the Powdermill Education department at 724-593-6105.
Photo: Bob Mulvihill |
January
3, 2009: Local Citizens Join Audubon’s
109th Christmas Bird Count
Local
birders and nature enthusiasts will join Citizen Scientists
across
the western hemisphere to participate in the 109th
annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). All counts take place
in locations
throughout North America between December 14 and January
5. In the 15-mile diameter circle around the Rector area,
Powdermill
Avian Research Center has been sponsoring the Christmas
Bird Count since 1974. This year’s Rector count
will be on January 3, 2009. In the past, there have been
approximately
25 participants doing field observations and another 25
who do feeder watches. People of all levels of birding
skills
are
involved; beginners who want to participate are teamed
with experts.
Results
go into Audubon’s State of the Birds Reports,
which not only shape conservation initiatives but have made
news around the world. In September of this year, a BirdLife
International report revealed precipitous declines in populations
of many of the world’s most familiar birds, broadening
the alarm first sounded by Audubon’s 2007 Common Birds
in Decline analysis. Twenty common birds in the US more than
halved in number in the last four decades. The Northern Bobwhite
quail fell most dramatically, by 82%. The holiday bird count
also contributed to Audubon’s WatchList, which identified
176 species in the continental U.S. and 38 in Hawaii in
dire need of conservation help. The counts also reveal
good news,
for example the return of the Bald Eagle.
“Audubon compiles these reports because we care about
birds and the quality of the environment they share with us,” said
Tom Bancroft, head of science for the National Audubon Society. ”These
birds are sending us a clear message that their fate is determined
by human activity more than anything else. As we’ve
seen with the Bald Eagle, when we help them through conservation,
their chances improve. But when we damage their habitat,
convert
wetlands and forests, then they are more likely to become
rare and extinct.”
The
CBC began over a century ago when scientist Frank Chapman
changed
the course of ornithological history. In 1900, Chapman
led a small group on an alternative to the “side hunt,” when
teams competed to see who could shoot the most game. Instead,
Chapman proposed they identify, count and record all the birds
they saw, founding what is now considered to be the world’s
most significant citizen-based conservation effort.
“Each CBC volunteer observer is an important contributor,
helping to shape the overall direction of bird conservation,” says
Geoff LeBaron, Audubon’s CBC Director.
For
more information, visit Audubon’s website at www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.
Compilers for the Rector count are Len and Linda Hess, who
can be contacted by phone at 724-422-0644 and 724-771-5133
or by email at lhlhess@lhtot.com.
Click
here for a printable version of this article (Word
.doc)
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