Programs

Sunday, November 11, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Meet 8:30AM at Education House for carpooling to the refuge. Join us for an easy, level walk along the dikes and in the gardens of this urban oasis. Among the highlights of this trip might be snow geese, a variety of wintering ducks and perhaps some late migrants. Dress in layers and bring a lunch. Co-sponsored with Bronx River/Sound Shore Audubon and the Wild Bird Center.

Garden News
Ribbon Cutting for the Native Plant Garden In the Courtyard of the Church Street School

On Wednesday, October 10, 2007 the Church Street School and Central Westchester Audubon held a ribbon-cutting for the Native Plant Garden in the Courtyard. Attending the ceremony were: Timothy Connors, Sup't of Schools; Teresa Niss, head of Music and Art for the district; Mike DeChance, Principal of the Church Street School; art teacher Wendy Podell, Courtyard Artists advisor, who planned the program and served as mistress of ceremonies; Joan Conca, 4th grade teacher and bird club advisor; and Loretta Cannito, Enrichment teacher and Courtyard Scientists advisor. Also present were staff from Audubon New York, members of the State Board, and several board members of CWAS. All told, there were 34 attendees, including members of the PTA, the Resident Program Consultant, Bruce Riggs, and some student representatives.

The program was planned to take place in the garden, but a light drizzle made the music room, which overlooks the garden, a wiser choice. All of the speakers emphasized that the cooperation of many constituents - the school administration, the teachers, the PTA, Audubon and the students made the long dreamed-of garden a reality.

As a nice touch, each speaker called up by Wendy was presented with a golden key to the garden by Jacob Harelick, a student and author of a poem engraved on a plaque and placed in the garden. By the time the indoor ceremony had ended, the rain had let up and all of our guests were able to visit the garden. Weeded, freshly mulched and sparkling with drops of moisture on the leaves, the garden looked beautiful. Everyone was impressed.

The pilot programs - the Courtyard Artists and Scientists and the Bird Club-have been very successful. We are now in the second year for these programs and expect to initiate new projects to engage more students. In order to do this, we have applied for another Audubon mini-grant and a PTA parent is writing a grant proposal to submit to additional sources for funding.

The future for the garden looks very promising. Judging by their enthusiastic response in just one year, we feel encouraged that the students will continue to enjoy the garden for its beauty and the variety of wildlife it attracts, and express in many different ways how the garden affects them and influences their attitudes towards nature and the environment.

--jsa

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New Board Members Announced

I am pleased to announce the addition of 3 new members to our CWAS Board: Marie Lalli, Hospitality Chair; Catharine Raffaele, Conservation Chair; and Marisa Rosiello, Publicity Chair. We welcome their participation and the new ideas they will bring to the CWAS board.

--jsa

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Bird - Window Collisions

Peru Peregrinations
By Jean Coates

Peru is a country of diverse landscapes and habitats ranging from coast to mountains and desert to rainforest. It has over 1800 species of birds which is more than are found on the continents of North America and Europe combined. Birds can be watched virtually anywhere in this country and range from the tiniest humming bird to the reportedly largest flying bird, the Andean condor.

Our holiday to Peru was not meant to be a birdwatching holiday and we had been unable to get a field guide to cover the country so we held no great hopes of identifying any new birds we might see. However, things were not as expected because the guide for part of our tour was also a birder and another guide had a field guide we were able to borrow for some of the time so we were able to identify fifty new species for our lifetime list as well as seeing many others which we were unable to identify.

On leaving Lima, the starting point of our tour, we drove down the coast along the Pan-American Highway. Our first stop was to be the Paracas National Reserve where we were to take a boat trip round the Ballestas Islands sometimes known as the 'poor man's Galapagos'. As we were driving along the coast we were able to see lines of birds containing several hundred birds appearing about ten miles north of our destination but at that time were unable to identify them. On arriving at the start of the boat trip the water was full of Peruvian pelicans and Peruvian boobies as well as hundreds of others on the wing or diving into the water - an amazing sight. The islands themselves were also covered with birds. As well as the ever present pelicans and boobies we were able to identify three different cormorants, Inca terns, two species of gulls and sooty shearwaters. We were also lucky enough to see a fairly rare seaside cinclodes and Humbolt penguins. In all we managed to see eleven new birds here as well as several colonies of sea lions.

After we moved away from the coast and into the mountains the prevalence of hawks began to increase. We saw many American kestrels and with help we were able to identify seven other hawks and falcons either on the wing or perched near the road. The sheer number of hawks about seemed to catch the interest of everyone on the tour. Once in the mountains our first stop was in the Colca Canyon. However, on the way there we passed a fairly marshy area which was home to Andean gulls and geese and Puna teals and ibises as well as giant coots.

The main reason for going to the Colca Canyon, which at 3191m deep is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, was to allow a visit to Cruz del Condor or Condor Cross. We set off early in the morning to drive to Condor Cross, the observation point from which condors may be spotted. We were told that we would have to be lucky to see condors and we hoped just to see one. As we arrived two flew over and we thought that would be our sighting for the day and felt quite happy. However little did we know the spectacle we were going to be treated to. After a few minutes we saw several single condors on the wing which created a magnificent sight as they flew out over the Colca Canyon spread below but then we managed to count twelve all in the air at the same time which was apparently a really unusual sight. The size of the birds was brought home to us as the Andean swifts appeared absolutely miniscule beside them. We felt that few sightings of birds could compare to that morning.

The last part of our tour took us to the sacred Valley and Machu Picchu and yet another change of habitat. Here the mountain peaks are covered in tropical jungle and are home to over 400 species of birds. Unfortunately for us it was winter whilst we were there so we were not able to see as many birds as we hoped. Also by this time we had no way to identify many of the birds we did see. However, we did see a number of brightly coloured birds and a number of hummingbirds including a giant hummingbird - the largest hummingbird in the world.

It would be very difficult to visit any part of Peru without seeing some new species because even in the centre of Lima rufous-collared sparrows and Pacific doves are seen and neither of which are found on other continents. As stated at the start this was not a birding holiday but resulted in being very interesting for birders and non-birders alike.

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A Reminder: Keep your backyard birds healthy-clean your feeders often.

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Be an Activist - the Easy and Effective Way

By joining the Audubon Activist Network, you will receive alerts of urgent issues together with already-written letters, which you can edit if you wish, that you can send via e-mail to your legislators. Log on to Audubon.org and click on Issues and Actions. You will be prompted to give your name, zip code (which will identify your legislators) and your e-mail address. The rest is easy. You will receive the alerts by e-mail and with a touch of the "Send" button you can express your opinions on vital conservation issues to your legislators.

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Mammoth Pecan Halves from Georgia Due to Arrive in Early November 2007

Just in time for holiday gift giving and baking, these delicious pecans will be on sale for $10.00 per pound at our meeting on November 15th, or you can order in advance for local delivery by filling out and mailing this coupon.

Name: __________________________ Phone:_______________________

Address:______________________________________________________

No. Lbs: __________ x $10.00 = Amount 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.

All profits from our pecan sale help to fund our programs and other chapter activities.