|
From the President's Desk
by Jerry Wilhm
|
|
The Payne County Audubon Society (PCAS) has no paid permanent staff and would not exist without volunteers.
Volunteers work at Nature Day and Nature Camp, participate in national and state bird surveys, interact with
state and federal agencies, lead field trips, give presentations, conduct workshops, write articles for Feathers,
pick up litter, serve on the board of directors and on committees, and a variety of other functions. In preparing
the annual report to the National Audubon Society, I was asked to provide an estimate of volunteerism of PCAS.
I estimated that we had 292 volunteers (not the total number of individuals since many volunteered for two or
more functions) contributing 1,824 hours or 76 days.
Welcome to our three new 2007-2008 board members: Les Imboden, VP; and Crystal Cork and Elicia Ligon,
Directors.
Goodbye and thank you to the four who are retiring from the board. Pat Jaynes served on the board of directors
for many years, including five as president. She represented PCAS at Kaw Valley Eagle Watch, Teal Ridge, the
Oklahoma Audubon Council, and on PCAS fund-raising activities. Her interest in the Cornell University Great
Backyard Program is the main reason the PCAS had the greatest number of participants in the census in
Oklahoma. She has also lobbied House and Senate representatives and their staff on environmental issues. Pat
recently attended the National Audubon Society workshop in Washington D.C. She received instruction on
lobbying for the conservation portions of the Farm Bill.
Helen Jordan has also been on the board of directors for many years. She served as president in 1987-88. She
consistently assisted with Nature Day, participated in fund-raising for PCAS, and led field trips. Helen is always
available to assist on projects. She has a continued interest in the development of a Nature Center for the
citizens of Payne County.
Carolyn Hunger’s major contribution, was her eight years as chair of Birdathon, our major fund-raising activity.
Through her leadership, PCAS has several certificates of deposit that may eventually be used to help fund a
nature center in Stillwater.
Sarah Donelson an OSU graduate student served at VP and provided an interaction between PCAS and OSU
students. Sara has a keen interest in the environment. She presented one of the best workshops that I
attended on preparation of a wide variety of foods for wild birds.
We appreciate the dedication and service of these four individuals. Their services on the board will be missed,
but I feel certain that they will still be heavily involved with PCAS projects.
|
|
|
|
In My Yard
by Joyce Konigmacher
|
It is September 10th, and the deadline looms in the not-too-distant horizon. I have procrastinated again and
again, because I have not observed a single thing that is noteworthy … neither interesting enough to write
about, or interesting enough for a reader to spend any effort on.
It has taken some years for me to be able to learn to compose an article while staring at a blank computer
screen. For the first 10 years or so, I would stare at a blank piece of paper, then write the article by hand. I
would check my facts by consulting field guides, and books about bird-watching. After the article was hand-
written, I would then type it into the computer and edit the wording. Now, I stand in the computer room, stare
out of the window, and hope that an inspiration will suddenly spring forth from my mind. Late, one afternoon, I
was vacantly staring outside, and thinking that I should wash windows. That was not really the inspiration that I
was hoping would spring forth. I suddenly realized that I had been watching a spider, and not really paying
attention to what was three inches away from my face.
Each night, on the outside of this room’s window, a large spider has repeatedly spun her web, in anticipation of
capturing a meal. Nothing noteworthy there to write about, methinks. She is one of those large pinkish brown
spiders that one sees so frequently in late summer. You know the kind of spider I am referring to, you step
outside into the dark, to look at the meteor shower, and get a face full of web. You stumble around outdoors in
the wee hours to observe a lunar eclipse and then become fully awake when you feel something crawling
around in your hair. At that point, you are REALLY glad that it is so dark, and no one else can see, as you swing
both arms around wildly and swipe the poor spider’s web off of you.
Several of these same spiders have built webs across other windows, here at my house. I rejoiced when two of
them caught 17 year cicadas in their webs. I stood and watched as each big dumb noisy bug finally had to give
up the fight to a foe which was smaller than dumb-bug’s head.
Pinkish-brown spider: 1
Big dumb noisy cicada: 0
Well, this one particular spider is a little different; she is not your average arachnid. She has only seven legs, not
the full complement of eight. Both sets of the longish front legs are there. So her front four appear to be okay.
The back four are a little different, and I could not really tell which one was missing.
It was just over a week ago, when I first noticed that she was an amputee.
I immediately decided to bestow her with the name of Frances.
One afternoon, I watched as she was constructing her web. She seemed somewhat slower than the other
spiders, and seemed a little awkward too. Spiders always seem to hold themselves in place on their webs, and
then use one of the back legs to ‘set’ the circles, as they spiral their way around and around. I counted
appendages and noticed there were only three legs on her right side. I counted again and again, and I
repeatedly came up one short! Hmmm….a seven legged spider. Was this a congenital defect, or did she
somehow loose a leg?
This always happens to me! I had to stop writing the column, and do some research. I read up on spiders and
their body parts, using Wikipedia, on the internet. I googled ‘spontaneous regeneration.’ The more I read, the
more I had to continue researching.
Did you know that the term ‘pinkish-brown spider’ will not produce any usable information?
Did you know that spiders usually eat their own silk? Talk about a portable residence, huh! If you don’t like your
house…..just eat it. Can’t catch a tasty bug? Eat your web and try again. The ultimate recycler. Weird Al Yankovic
could definitely create some lyrics for cool song …..(sung to Michael Jackson’s song ‘Beat It”)
So now I know, this particular spider is missing her right hind-most leg. It definitely appears to me that her third
leg is becoming longer…..and kinda taking over the job of the missing one. Also, as time passes, she seems to
have become more adept at using that shorter third leg. I guess that being an amputee, (when you have eight
legs to start with) is not quite as bad as losing 50% of your leg power. Of course, this spider does not have an
available prosthetic limb, nor the use of a set of crutches (how are you gonna hold crutches, when you have no
arms?).
Here is what made all of this come to my mind … my mother was an amputee, and her name was Frances. She
had a congenitally defective leg, which was finally removed by surgeons at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore,
MD. , when she was approximately eighteen years old. She spent several years, during WW2, working in the
prosthetic limb clinic in Walter Reed Hospital, in Washington DC. The guys got a kick out of the fact that she
would let them ‘feel her leg’ and then they found out it was made of aluminum.
Sometimes it’s the thing that we don’t see …. that makes us start thinking.
Looks like I had something to write about after all, doesn’t it.
|
Picnic in the Park
by Susan Walker
|
Well, the long awaited Birdathon Awards Picnic finally took place in tandem with our opening general meeting
this year.
Meeting in Couch Park on Thursday, September 6 were Kent Anderson whose wife, Jennifer Grindstaff, just
joined the OSU Zoology faculty; Les & Patty Imboden; Helen Jordan; Day & Elicia Ligon and baby girl Elseya;
Freddy Miller; Helen Miller & Pat Jaynes (with Avis Rambo, Team ABC—Ancient Birders’ Car); Thea Pratt; Tim
O'Connell, Vince Cavalieri, Jason Heinen, & Andy George (Team Timmy’s Tyrannid Targeters); Carolyn Simank;
Nikki Smith, a previous PCAS Scholarship recipient; Elaine Stebler (Team Purple-Faced Semi-solitary Slackard);
Marla Steele, an OSU sophomore interested in studying the birds of Japan; Dale Talkington, a new PCAS member
introduced by Ed Glover; Jeff & Susan Walker, and Jerry & Nona Wilhm.
After enjoying a great potluck spread, Jerry passed out the 2007-2008 brochure, held a quick election of new
officers, and introduced the new Board members who were present: Les Imboden, Vice President, and Elicia
Ligon, Director. (My sincere apologies for leaving Helen Jordan on the brochure’s list of Directors and for omitting
Elicia’s name from this same list.) Mea culpa!. See the masthead and “From the President’s Desk” to learn of the
working 2007-2008 Board.
Jerry also congratulated Elaine Stebler, who has taken on the duty of Education Coordinator, and thanked the
returning Directors and Committee Chairs.
After Jerry was finished with general meeting business, I presented the following Birdathon Awards:
- Team ABC, Sitting Duck Award for most species spotted at backyard feeders. (They birded the Ownby,
Jaynes, Wass, and Miller backyards.)
- Team Timmy’s Tyrannid Targeters, two awards: The Rara avis Award for the most unusual sighting
(Sedge Wren and Marbled Godwits) and the Hawkeye Award for the most species seen in 24 hours—131!
- Team Purple-faced Semi- solitary Slackard won the Sapsucker Award for the best team name.
- Team Glover won three awards: the Pterodyactyl for oldest birdathon participant, the Golden Eagle for
most money raised ($2500), and the Green-backed Heron for the most money contributed by a single
sponsor ($500 by Ed himself!)
Each Birdathoner who had raised $200 or over also received a Birdathon tee; and all ‘Thoners chose small prizes
as a thank you for their fundraising efforts.
|
China Tour
by Helen Jordan and Freddy Miller
|
Our 14-day spring 2007 China tour began with a nonstop flight from Chicago to Beijing, via Alaska over the Arctic
Ocean and Siberia — all in daylight hours. Looking down over the snow covered mountains and deep valleys was
very impressive and the closest we probably will ever get to Mongolia.
On the way from the airport to the hotel we noticed large nests of big sticks in a number of the trees. We
wondered what made them because we had read that all the birds had been exterminated a number of years
ago. Later we found that the nests were made by magpies that had returned to Beijing.
Everyday was packed with sightseeing and lectures on regional history by local guides. Our first day set the
pace for the entire tour. We left the hotel at 8 AM to tour the Forbidden City in the morning. We ate lunch at a
local resident’s home in Hutongs followed by a ride in a bicycle rickshaw through the narrow streets of Old City.
Then we visited Tiananmen Square before returning to the hotel for a short rest before dinner and a
performance by the Beijing Opera.
While in Beijing we went to the Great Wall of China, visited The Summer Palace, saw panda bears in the Beijing
Zoo, visited a silk carpet factory, a cloisonne factory and the Ming Tombs. The silk carpet factory was especially
interesting because of a silk worm exhibit that showed how silk was made. Cherry trees were in full bloom, as
were many other trees and flowers.
Lunch and dinners were always at a different restaurant featuring many varieties of Chinese food. We were
advised to refrain from purchasing food from the street vendors although much of it smelled and looked very
tasty.
In Xi’an we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum. The sight of hundreds of larger than life size terra cotta
warriors standing in rows, with their terra cotta horses and chariots, was one of the special highlights for us.
While in Xi’an we went to the wall around Inner City and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We also enjoyed a Tang
Dynasty Dinner and Theater Performance. The next day, after 16 varieties of dumpling lunch, we flew to
Chongqing a fast-grow-ing city that now has a population of over 33 million—an increase in the past 10 years
from only a few million.
Before boarding the cruise ship, we visited a Nationalist Art School and Museum located in a beautiful garden
along the Yangtze River. In the garden were many songbirds but we could never get a good view of the birds.
The Yangtze Cruise included the Lesser Three Gorges, and a stop at the Three Gorges Dam hydro-electric power
project. At Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, we visited the Hubei Provincial Museum that housed the huge
chimes that been dug up at the dam site. The chimes have a complete chromatic scale, and we were treated to a
concert from a replica of these chimes. Other stops included a full day at Huangshan, and a day in Nanjing to
visit Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, a bazaar, and Confucian Temple. We were saddened by the scarcity of ducks and
other water birds as we cruised the Yangtze.
We disembarked at Shan-ghai. While in Shanghai, we went to see the Shanghai acrobats, visited the Pearl TV
Tower (supposedly the tallest in the world), and visited the new museum inside the tower that featured much of
old Shanghai during colonial days.
In a nearby canal town, we watched fishermen use diving cormorants to catch the fish out of the canal for them.
The cormorants had strings tied around their necks making it impossible for them to swallow the fish they
caught. The last evening we had a fabulous farewell dinner.
|
Birding in Malaysia and Borneo
by Iris McPherson
|
I spent five weeks (all of May and the first week of June) in peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian part of
Borneo, the state of Sabah. My traveling companions were Dave and Roma Bell, longtime friends from Perth,
Western Australia.
A tour company arranged the accommodations and travel between locations for the birding portion of the trip—
the first 3½ weeks. They did not provide a guide for the peninsular part of the trip, but Dave had hired one for
the first week. We met in Kuala Lumpur and took a car and boat to reach Taman Negara, a national park on the
Temberling River. We met Won, our guide for this part of the trip, the first evening to lay out the plans for our
stay there.
We soon discovered that in the Malaysian rain forest the birds are very difficult to see. Not only are there many
very tall trees, but there are many layers of growth below them. The birding seemed a bit easier the day we
spent in a boat on the river. Won could recognize and mimic the calls of many of the birds, so he could
sometimes lure the birds closer to us. We did suffer from a bad case of “birder’s neck” for most of the trip. We
knew it would be hot and humid, but it was really bad. Many of the trails were quite steep, so we were exerting
a lot of energy.
Won wanted to show us the Great Argus (left), a member of the peacock family. We got a close look at it, but we
were exhausted from the effort. We quickly learned that the three sets of clothes that each of us had brought
would only get us through one day, so we did a lot of hand laundry every day. Fortunately in most of the places
it dried quickly. Our daily routine quickly developed: spend the morning birding, come back to camp, shower,
wash the clothes worn all morning, put on fresh clothes for lunch, rest after lunch until 4:00, go birding again
until 6:30, come back to camp, shower, wash the clothes worn in the afternoon, eat dinner, go to bed.
Many of the birds we saw were bulbuls(11) and babblers(13). It’s hard to identify individual species of each
group. Bulbuls tended to be olive, yellow and/or brown, while babblers were various shades of brown. Needless
to say we saw many of these that even the guide wasn’t sure about. The bird that seemed to follow us the
entire trip was the Oriental magpie robin (right). It is a striking black and white bird with a nice song. It became
like an old friend welcoming us to each new location.
Our next location was Fraser’s Hill which is located in the mountains, so the cooler weather was much
appreciated. Fraser’s Hill claim to fame is the International Bird Race they hold there every year. Teams from all
over the world come to see how many birds they can count in a day. We encountered an avian phenomenon
that we had been told to expect, waves (mixed flocks) of birds. These flocks are usually down in the lower
vegetation where you can see them, though sometimes even there the foliage is so dense that it’s still not easy
viewing. There were birds everywhere, and it was difficult to zero in on one and keep up with it enough to
identify it. We didn’t have a guide here, so we were doing all the identifying ourselves, which was much slower,
but more satisfying.
The waves we experienced were composed of such species as Bronzed drongo, White-throated fantail, Greater
and Lesser yellow-naped woodpeckers, Streaked spiderhunter, Mountain fulvetta, Mountain bulbul, and Large
niltava. We added two new best friends to the Oriental magpie robin while we were in Fraser’s Hill—Long-tailed
sibia and Chestnut-capped laughingthrush. One of my favorite birds that we saw here was the Firetufted barbet
(above). Its call was one that we quickly learned to recognize. It sounds like a motorcycle starting.
From Fraser’s Hill we went to Kuala Selangor Nature Park. The birding in the park was mainly water birds. After 2
days there, we were driven back to Kuala Lumpur where we flew to Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian state of
Sabah on the island of Borneo. We were met there by our guide, Hamat, who though young—mid-20’s—was
fairly knowledgeable about the birds. We took a tour of the City Bird Park were we saw several new birds with
the Yellow bittern being the best.
The next morning we drove up to Mt. Kinabalu Park. A fuzzy, baby Mountain Scops-owl that Dave located in a
tree by the road was a good find. There are several endemic species of birds on Mt. Kinabalu which is over
13,000 ft. The endemics we saw were Bornean whistler, Borneo treepie, Chestnut-crested yuhina, and Mountain
leaf warbler.
The last stop on our birding tour was Sukau, which is located on the Kinabatangan River. We hit the jackpot here
with hornbills. We got to see five species: Rhinoceros, Black, Wrinkled, Oriental pied-bill, and Brushy-crested. The
Rhinoceros hornbill is the most outrageous looking. It has a large, bright, red and yellow, upward-curved casque.
Early one morning we went out in a boat equipped with a quiet, electric motor for better wildlife viewing. We
really hit the jackpot. Some of our prize sightings were Hooded pitta, Diard’s, Scarlet-rum-ped and Red-naped
trogons and the endangered Storm’s stork.
We noticed several times that the colors of a bird would almost glow in the dim light of the rain forest. The best
examples were the fluorescent orange spot on the head of the Yellow-breasted flowerpecker, (right) the blue in
the wings of the Hooded pitta, and the rufous and lilac of the Black-backed kingfisher.
Our last official birding expedition was to the Gomantong Caves to see the bats and the swiftlets that build the
nests used in eatable nest soup. Unfortunately, it was not the season for the nests to be gathered, but we did
see some of the very long, flimsy, bamboo ladders that are used for the collection The white nests are the most
prized, since they are made totally from saliva, the black nests have feathers mixed in with the saliva.
The next day we flew back to Kota Kinabalu. We now switched gears to snorkeling, but we still watched birds on
the two islands we visited. One of the islands, Layang-Layang, had once been a nesting ground for Great-
crested and Sooty terns and Brown noddys. The birds had moved to a small island nearby after their nesting
ground became overrun with cats. We did go over to Bird Island one day, and it was amazing how many birds
were nesting in that small space.
Our overall impression of birding in the places that we went was that at one time very nice trails, boardwalks
and hides were built to encourage birdwatching. However, this infrastructure had not been maintained, so it was
in poor condition. In four of the places we stayed, we were asked to fill out government surveys to find out what
would encourage birders to come to their country. At Mt. Kinabalu we were met and interviewed by members of
the Malaysian Nature Society who were helping with the survey. We saw only one other birder the whole 5
weeks we were in the country.
Our bird count for the trip was 210 species. We had started out with a goal of 300 after checking out the bird list
we had. When we mentioned that to our first guide, Won, he told us it would be very unusual for us to see that
many, since they are so difficult to see in many places. He suggested 200 species as a more reachable goal, so
we were pleased with our list.
|
A Little Birdie Told Me . . .
by Susan Walker
|
Where is Spitzbergen?
Freddy Miller, and daughter, Erica, planned a mid-August trip to Oslo, where they were to take a ship to see the
polar bears on Spitzbergen Island in the Arctic Circle above Norway, then go south to Greenland and Iceland
before flying home. But, the trip was cancelled at the last moment. Phooey! Erica traveled to Greenland and
Iceland anyway; Freddy stayed home. But, I think Freddy still plans on working with Erica at Tri-State, and also
plans on calling or even stopping in to visit Florence Wass in Warrington, PA.
Modern Day Reunion
Hear tell that Joyce Konigmacher’s 40th high school reunion took place in September. Joyce headed the planning
committee and they did all of the planning over the Internet. She and the committee rented a house in Columbia,
MD, for the three-day event, planned the menus, and even “googled” the local grocery stores, storing the
recipes on the Internet, so they could be accessed on arrival. They knew what they were going to serve, how
they were going to decorate, and where to go to buy everything. All without ever having been there. Joyce plans
on doing some birding with some ‘locals’ in the Wilde Lake area of Columbia, and also on the Eastern Shore of
Virginia, with her best friend of 30+ years.
A Kettle of Kites?
On Thursday, 8/30/07, Iris McPherson was driving east on 12th street on her way to the fairgrounds. Just as she
crossed Main Street, she saw a Mississippi Kite circling. It landed on the power line. At that point Iris realized
that she was looking at more kites sitting, shoulder-to-shoulder, all down the line. She counted 45 on the wire
and another 12 in the air—57 Mississippi kites, all in adult plumage. She didn’t know if they were just gathering
to migrate, or if this group was migrating and had stopped there for the night. Also, she doesn’t know whether
or not the juveniles migrate separately from the adults. She reports: “It wasn’t what I was expecting at 12th &
Main!”
At the Library
A little birdie tells me that Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury, a book on how we are losing the world’
s songbirds and what we can do to save them, is now available at the SPL.
How Low Can You Go?
Got a brief e-mail from Florence Wass at the end of August. She reported that “Some Vulture trespassed onto
my property, dug up and stole some Zoysia grass. Who would stoop so low?” Some snake in the grass low
enough to strip grass off someone’s lawn. No wonder gated
communities are thriving.
|
| |
COPYRIGHT 2007 BY PAYNE COUNTY AUDUBON SOCIETY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
|
|