Central Westchester Audubon Society
	Elmsford, Greenburgh, Harrison, Purchase, Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester and White Plains
	P.O. Box 359, White Plains, NY 10602 email: cwas@centralwestchesteraudubon.org

Programs

Raptor Rapture
Our Annual Live Raptor Program
Thursday, November 18, 2004
7:00 PM in the Gym
Church Street School
295 Church St., White Plains

Speaker: Jim Eyring

Once again Jim will thrill us with his presentation of live owls, hawks and falcons. Jim, who is the assistant director of Pace University Environmental Center in Pleasantville and a master falconer, will capture the attention of children and adults alike as he relates his experiences with these beautiful birds and demonstrates their astounding capabilities. Be sure to bring the kids - this will be an evening they'll remember for a long time.

Schedule of Field Trips

Unless otherwise indicated, all trips will start at Education House, 5 Homeside Lane in White Plains. Car pooling will be available. If you have questions call Jeanne Alpert at 914-946-1780 or Victor Ramos at 1-646-644-6025.
Although appreciation of nature transcends all languages, if requested, our trip leader, Victor, can provide Spanish translations. We strongly encourage beginning birders to take advantage of our field trips which are free and open to all. A few loaner binoculars will be available.

On all of our field trips, which are bilingual in English and Spanish, you should bring a snack, even for a half day trip. It is most important to bring water, especially in the warm weather. Always wear sturdy shoes and dress in layers. If you need loaner binoculars, please call us before the trip to reserve one of the few pairs we have. We encourage beginners to join in the fun of birding..

Directions to Education House. Homeside Lane is located off North St. in White Plains. Going south on Mamaroneck Avenue from downtown White Plains, make a left turn on Ridgeway. Go down Ridgeway to the traffic light (firehouse on the left) and turn right on to North Street. Homeside Lane is the third right and Education House is the first building on the left. Parking is available in the circular driveway.

Sunday, November 14th, 9AM, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Meet at Education House at 9AM for car pooling and bring lunch. Join us for an easy, level walk along the dikes and in the gardens of this urban oasis. Among the highlights of this trip will be snow geese, and a variety of wintering ducks. Bring binoculars if you have them.

Sunday, December 5, 1PM, Sheldrake Environmental Center. Victor Ramos, CWAS trip leader, will join with a naturalist from Sheldrake to lead us in a winter nature walk, which will include some of the resident birds and migrant waterfowl. Bring binoculars if you have them; we will have a few extras to lend. This is an easy walk, great for beginner birders and nature lovers and good for families with school-age children. Meet at Education House at 1PM for carpooling.

On Sunday, September 19, a small but fortunate group from CWAS spent the morning on a field trip to the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye.

As always it was a pleasure simply walking in this oasis of nature within Westchester County. And this time the birding was better than usual. There were, of course, the usual suspects: crows and chickadees, great and snowy egrets, great blue heron, four kinds of gull, cormorants, black ducks, mute swans and mallards. A little more unusual were a late yellow warbler and a ruby-throated hummingbird. In all, twenty-nine species were seen.

Bur the fortunate part of the trip was the weather on that day. The previous day had been a rainy one, which brought in a cold front and the first north wind of several days. This combination in the fall is a natural lead-in to hawk migration, and it didn't fail this time. We saw about forty raptors of six species. Most were broad-winged hawks. There were also multiple sharp-shinned, Cooper's and red-tailed hawks and ospreys. The highlight of the morning was an adult bald eagle, white head and tail bright in the sunlight, which wheeled and soared in plain sight for several minutes.

It was a good trip.

- Joe Ferrari

Chestnut Ridge at Butler Sanctuary

The sky was clear, the sun was shining and the north wind was blowing - ideal conditions, as noted above, for an exciting day of hawk migration. It was too bad that the hawks didn't know it was a travel day. While large numbers of blue jays seemed to be on the express route to their winter hangouts, the few migrating hawks we spotted were in the single digits - that is, about 1 or 2 each. We spotted a red-shouldered, a Cooper's and a broad-winged hawk, a couple of sharp-shinned hawks and a kestrel. In addition there were 4 cormorants who seemed to be on the migration route. As for residents, there were about 4 red-tailed hawks, soaring and banking in the sunlight, several turkey vultures, a northern flicker and a chickadee.

In spite of the poor showing of raptors, we did enjoy sitting with the warm sun in our faces, watching the few species that came our way. After all, not every field trip can be a blockbuster! There will be another trip on another day with a better showing.

- JSA

Cleanliness is important in maintaining your bird-feeding station. Seed left in a feeder too long may breed bacteria that will harm the birds. Also be sure that the area under the feeders is kept raked and clean. Regular cleaning of feeders about every two weeks will keep birds attracted to your yard. Scrub your feeders with soap and water, then dip them into a solution of one part bleach and nine parts water. Rinse them well and allow to dry thoroughly before refilling with birdseed

And don't forget water. A heated bird bath provides fresh drinking water for birds in winter when natural sources are frozen and will draw many grateful birds to your yard. Birds also need the water to bathe in as clean feathers provide the best insulation. A dependable supply of fresh water will attract birds to your yard that wouldn't ordinarily come to your feeders. As with the feeders, clean your bird bath often.

If you have unusual sightings or observe interesting bird behavior in your yard, please report them to me by e-mail (jefralpert@optonline.net) or telephone (946-1780) for inclusion in the next newsletter.

- JSA

If you find an injured animal and don't know what you should do, call the state Department of Environmental Conservation at 845-256-3000 and ask for a wildlife animal rehabilitator.

Dear Mr. Canfield,
Thank you for the scholarship to my nature camp. I loved it! Some things that I really liked were: hiking the all-day hike was great and arts and crafts and making my worm. My counselors were very nice and knew a lot about trees. The other campers [were] cool. They were from other schools besides mine. It was fun making friends from all over. I hope I can go back to this camp next year. I put a picture in the envelope of me and my counselors. I hope you like it.
Sincerely,
Abbi Wilson
7 years old

A single brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in just one hour.

In the wild, important agricultural plants, from bananas, breadfruit, and mangoes to cashews, dates, and figs, rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.

An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human heart patients.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, bats are not blind, do not become entangled in human hair, and seldom transmit disease to other animals or humans.

The world's smallest bat is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny. From Bat Conservation International - www.batcon.org

Just in time for holiday gift giving and baking, these delicious pecans will be on sale for $9.00 per pound at our meeting on November 18th, or you can order in advance for local delivery by filling out and mailing this coupon.

NAME ____________________________________________TEL#______________________________

ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________________

NO.LBS _____________ x $9.00=AM'T DUE _______________________

Please mail your check, payable to CWAS, to P.O. Box 359, White Plains, NY 10602, Attn: Pecans

If you have any questions, please call Beth DaSilva at 949-5249

James Coe, renowned local landscape and wildlife artist will have an exhibition, reception and silent auction on Saturday, November 20th from 3 to 5pm at the Sheldrake Environmental Center. Cole, who has contributed to a dozen books and bird guides is the sole author and illustrator of the Golden Field Guide, "Eastern Birds." The show will feature landscape paintings in the impressionistic style and select bird paintings. One of his landscape paintings will be offered at the silent auction.

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