SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
January 2003 - Volume 10, No. 10
will be the program for SIAS's annual meeting on Friday, January 24th, at 8 p.m. Free Again, a.k.a. Bev and Jim Shofstall, will present "Birds of Prey of Southern Illinois". For 14 years, Free Again has provided the Southern Illinois region with wildlife rehabilitation and environmental educational programs. This program will feature several live birds of prey such as a red-tailed hawk, a vulture, and various owls. The audience will learn about the natural history of each bird, their place in our (their) environment, and each bird's personal story. Come join Free Again for an up-close and personal evening with some of these beautiful birds. Bring your cameras for a few shots after the program, if you'd like! Our programs (and potluck dinners) are always open to the general public. (Bring a friend or two.)
The meeting will be held in in the Fellowship Hall of First United Methodist Church, 214 W. Main St., Carbondale, starting with a potluck dinner at 6:30 p.m. If possible, please come at 6 p.m. to help set up. Bring an entree to share as well as your own dinnerware and utensils. The main course and beverages will be provided.
A short business meeting follow the potluck and will include an election of officers. The positions up for reelection and the slate of proposed candidates are:
*Anyone interested in filling the Treasurer position should please contact President Richard LaSalle. Finance Chair Laraine Wright has agreed to cover the duties of Treasurer until the position is filled.
SIAS will again hold a silent auction during the annual meeting. Members are asked to bring items to be put up for auction as well as items to be used as door prizes. Auction and door prize items can be hand made, store bought or used in good condition (as in books).
February 28- Speaker to be John Utgaard on The Flying Reptiles (title correction).
March 28 - Speaker to be Stan Harris on Spring Wildflowers.
A large audience of SIAS members and friends came out to enjoy Barb and Greg Kupiec's video footage, recorded during their 1998 trip to Africa. Their hired guides were amazingly attentive to sounds and movements and even located a hidden litter of lion cubs. Greg and Barb were able to photograph and video tape dozens of animals throughout Botswana, Zimbabwe and Kenya including Cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, zebras, giraffes, water buck, and lions. Some of the bird species seen included African fish eagles, hornbills, bustards, lilac-breasted rollers, saddle-billed storks, black widow birds, go-a-way birds, and bee-eaters. Viewing all these animals in action was quite a treat. SIAS thanks Barb and Greg for sharing their adventure. A "thank you" also goes out to Esther Edelman for providing refreshments.
Our great appreciation goes to Nelda and Conrad Hinckley who have
donated $100 to SIAS in memory of their
neighbor and friend, Carlys Belmont, who died this summer. Carlys had
been an active member of SIAS in its earlier years. The Hinckleys'
donation will be used to pay for our organization's affiliation with
the Illinois Audubon Society in 2003.
Replenish your stock of seed and suet cakes during the SIAS annual winter seed sale on Saturday, January 25th. The order form is included in this newsletter, and the deadline to mail or call in your order, to Laraine Wright, is Sunday, January 19th.
Alysa Gullett, owner of Dillinger's Feed Store, will be our supplier. She once again is offering us seed at her regular retail rates, but with no sales tax. She is giving our society a generous discount, which will be our profit, a portion of which will be given to Free Again.
Pick up your seed order at Nelda and Conrad Hinckley's house, 907 S. Valley Rd., Carbondale, *between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 25.* Nelda will have a pot of her famous bean soup bubbling on the stove, and we will watch as Cathie Hutcheson bands birds in the Hinckleys' back yard.
Volunteers are needed to help unload seed before 9 a.m. and fill orders during the day. Please call Laraine Wright at 457.8769 if you can help.
Thanks in advance for your Winter Seed Sale order, your support of SIAS and Free Again, and especially your caring for the birds this winter. And be sure to keep Dillinger's as your seed supplier during the rest of the year. We're very grateful for our partnership with Alysa and her Dillinger's staff. -- Laraine Wright, Finance Chair
On Thursdays from 12 noon till l p.m., birders meet informally to eat lunch, watch birds, and chat at Carbondale water treatment plant off McLafferty Road.
The National Wildlife Federation/Illinois Endangered Species Board Mid-winter Eagle Survey will be held Saturday, 01/11. The local survey is broken into two routes covering the Mississippi River Levy from the north end of Union County to the southern tip of Alexander County and includes both Union Co. Refuge and Horseshoe Lake.
Meet under the Murdale True Value sign, W. Main St., Carbondale, at 8 a.m. for carpooling. This can turn into an all day affair (depending on the route) but it is a good outing for novice birders. Bring binocs and lunch. Call Rhonda Rothrock at 684.6605 for more details.
Here's an opportunity to tour through the closed parts of Crab Orchard NW Refuge (CONWR) and view the eagles that use the refuge as their winter home. There are two tours each day, one at 9:00 a.m. and one at 1:00 p.m.
Seating is limited so reservations are required. Phone the CONWR Visitor's Center at 997.3344 ext. 334 to reserve your spot.
The Shawnee National Forest has announced two more public meetings to develop alternatives to changes proposed by the Forest for its Land and Resource Management Plan. The meeting on 01/22 from 6-9 p.m. at the Executive Inn, 2600 W. De Young, Marion will be a Recreation, Wilderness, Wild and Scenic River Workshop. The meeting on 01/28 from 6-9 p.m. at Davis McCann Township Hall, 15 N. 14th St., Murphysboro will be a Review of Plan Revision Alternatives Resulting From Workshops. For more details phone 618.253.7114.
Learn more about these mysterious nocturnal raptors and how they are equipped for survival in the darkness during an evening program and hike. Meet at the Cache River Wetlands Center, on U.S. Rt. 37 near Perks Rd. and Rt. 169. For more details phone 634.9678.
Come along on a trip to this interesting refuge (a former channel of the Mississippi River). In past winters, this site has hosted both tundra and trumpeter swans as well as thousands of ducks and geese. Mingo features a lengthy boardwalk to a wetland observation platform.
This outing is tentative. Please contact Laraine Wright at 457.8769 for more details.
The National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology invite every bird enthusiast in North America to count for the birds! All you need is basic knowledge of bird identification and access to the Internet at home, a friend's house, local library, school, or anywhere you can get access. Count the birds in your backyard, local park, or as many different locations as you wish. At the end of the day submit your bird list(s) "online" to the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). For more details on the count and how to participate visit the GBBC website: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/how.html
Sign up now for the 15th Annual Tropical Adventure to Trinidad and
Tobago! This is the trip for persons interested in seeing a
breathtaking tropical evergreen rain forest, coral reefs, mangroves and
exquisite tropical birds. The $1894 cost per
person includes airfare, lodging, all meals, and field trips lead by
expert local guides. For more details contact Nelda Hinckley, Assistant
Professor of Biology, John A. Logan College, 700 Logan College Road,
Carterville, IL 62988 or phone Nelda at 549.5588 or 457.7676 ext. 8323.
A brief year-end report from the Illinois Audubon Society (IAS) shows that the organization's new emphases are helping to improve wildlife habitat and land conservation in the state.
Recently, IAS was able to purchase an additional 40-acre tract in Jasper County near the Robert Ridgway Grasslands Nature Preserve. These holdings benefit prairie-chickens and other threatened and endangered grassland species. Through donations and grants, IAS is able to purchase land from willing sellers or at auctions and then resell the land to the state, conserving principal for future purchases.
More than 8,000 people attended the annual Bald Eagle Weekend at Starved Rock State Park last winter. The Adams Wildlife Sanctuary in Springfield was host to more than 2,200 children, as well as numerous other visitors.
Among the IAS committees are the Friends of Plum Island, working toward permanent preservation of the island in the Illinois River that is home to wintering bald eagles, and the Illinois Bluebird Project, which encourages new bluebird trails and promotes bluebird workshops.
SIAS is an affiliate of IAS. Our $100 annual
dues are underwritten by one of our member families. Please consider
becoming a member of the Illinois Audubon Society. Among the benefits
of your $25 basic dues are a wonderful,
quarterly nature magazine and an interesting, quarterly newsletter.
(The magazine is also found at the Carbondale Public Library, thanks to
the SIAS donation of yearly membership.)
Send your check to IAS,
P.O. Box 2418
Danville, IL
Phone: 618.834.2418
IAS Home Page
Thank you for supporting the work of IAS!
Laraine Wright
Those of us interested in birds rarely if ever use the scientific names of birds since the common names are more familiar and serve our purposes well. Scientists have other purposes, and since they also belong to an international community of scholars, they find the scientific names much more precise and useful.
Scientific names consist of two Latin words, the first a capitalized noun naming the genus and the second an adjective indicating the species. The brown thrasher is named Taxostoma rufa, the first word placing it in a genus with other curve billed birds--thrashers--and the second specifying its reddish color. This system was created by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus, who first used it for plants in 1753 and extended its use to birds and animals five years later. It is a flexible system that allows for changes in names or the addition of newly discovered species.
The person who discovers a new species and publishes a notice of the find has the privilege of naming it, and that name stays with it unless later scientific findings place it in a different genus. This is apparently happening with the yellow-breasted chat, since DNA evidence now shows it to be closer to the bob-o-link than to warblers, with which it has been associated in the past. It will probably get a new scientific name.
Although the explorers Lewis and Clark discovered many new species of plants, animals, and birds, they got no credit for it in scientific circles because they failed to publish their findings. It was only in 1904, one hundred years after they started on their expedition from Wood River, Illinois, that their scientific journals were published. By that time the species they discovered had been rediscovered by others, the results published, and the plants and animals named.
Fortunately, two of the birds they discovered were named in their honor by the 19th-century ornithologist Alexander Wilson -- Lewis' woodpecker and Clark's nutcracker. The woodpecker bears the scientific name Melanerpes lewis, but the second named Nucifraga columbiana, doesn't use Clark's name but rather the name of the area where Clark first saw it, the Columbia River basin.
-- David Kvernes
Dennis Hale went on a birding outing with the
Carlyle Lake Audubon on 11/16 in search of
waterfowl but reports they found more duck hunters
than ducks. Birds seen included a flock of over 800
white pelicans, a group of at least 100 great blue herons,
the largest number Dennis has ever seen together,
and a loggerhead shrike that sat on a power line, giving
everyone good views.
* * * * * *
While bicycling on 11/16, Don Mullison located a loggerhead shrike
at the intersection of Etherton Rd. and Old Rocky Hollow Rd. west of
Etherton. The shrike was relocated on 01/01 for the Jackson County CBC.
* * * * * *
Brooke Thurau reported that for about three weeks she and her
husband observed a barred owl on a fence post just off of the road, on
Country Club Rd. near Carbondale. They saw the barred owl at least a
couple of times a week, usually on the fence post but sometimes in trees
near the fence of a horse pasture. The owl didn't seem to mind when they
stopped on the road to watch it.
* * * * *
On 12/02, Vicki Lang had a Cooper's hawk in her yard, checking out
the birds at her feeders.
* * * * * *
Frank Bennett passed along this sighting from a friend. On 12/15,
while in the Saline River Bottoms his friend saw a brown pelican at close
range.
Frank also shared a list of birds he saw at Mermet Lake on 12/19.
Frank's list included black-crowned night heron and sedge wren. Then on
12/20 he also located an eastern phoebe and a common yellowthroat at Mermet.
* * * * * *
Joe Merkelbach drove through Union County Refuge on 12/25 and
viewed an immature bald eagle. On a trip through the refuge a few days
earlier he had seen 50 white-fronted geese and a Ross' goose.
* * * * * *
In the latter part of December, Don Mullison saw a black vulture
soaring over his yard in SW Carbondale.
* * * * * *
On a 01/03 birding trip to Rend Lake, Frank Bennett located 11 surf
scoter, a glaucous gull, 3 common loons, a long-tailed duck (oldsquaw), as
well as nearly every other species of wintering duck and goose.
One of the most elegant backyard birds across much of North America in the Cedar Waxwing. Its overall appearance is so smooth that it may appear to be carved out of wax, but that's not the origin of its name. The red tips on the wing feathers, the secondaries, are wax exuded from the feather shafts. The amount of red on the wings is age-dependent, with older birds having more red on their feathers.
- -The National Audubon Society
An article in the Dec. 4 "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" described the damaging effects of West Nile Virus on resident bird populations in Missouri and Illinois. While the full extent of the damage may never be known, data from Christmas bird counts might show declines in some species.
Experts agree that feeding birds this winter could help those weakened by the disease to survive and reproduce this spring. The World Bird Sanctuary, located near St. Louis, is recommending that people put out more feeders. Offer sunflower seed, thistle, cracked corn, white proso millet, safflower seed, peanuts, peanut butter, and suet.
-- Laraine Wright
Recycle your unwanted electronics this holiday season at Southern Recycling Center at 300 W. Chestnut St., Carbondale. (Please note that Southern Recycling has moved from it's previous Washington St. address!)
This electronic recycling program is sponsored by the Jackson County Health Department. Should you have questions contact Bart Hagston the Jackson County Recycling Coordinator at 684.3143 or 687.4357.
Also the Jackson County Health Department is setting up the county's third recycling drop off site. The new site will be in Campbell Hill. The two other locations are at the Jackson County Health Department building and the University of Illinois Extension Office in Murphysboro. At these sites you can drop off news-papers, cardboard, aluminum cans, steel cans, glass bottles and glass jars, and both # 1 and #2 plastic bottles.
-Kathryn Jenkel
The voices of people who believe in conserving the resources of Shawnee National Forest (SNF) are being drowned out by people who want to use the forest in a manner that damages the resource. It is imperative that more people write to the Forest Service to make sure they hear the conservationist point of view loud and clear. The seven issues that SNF planners have identified as needing change from the current SNF Forest Plan are:
The Forest Service needs to hear from YOU on these topics. Please personalize your comments by telling the Forest Service how these issues affect you. Please send in your comments preferably as an individual, not as a Sierra Club member. Discussion topics of particular concern to most environmentalists would include:
You can call Steve Hupe, Anita Ahrends, or Richard Blume-Weaver at the Harrisburg Forest Service Office for the information that was handed out at the public meetings this fall on each of these topics, or call 1-800-MYWOODS. AND, IF POSSIBLE, please attend the Forest Service meetings on Jan. 22nd and/or Jan. 28th.
Please Send in your Comments by January 28th! --Barb McKasson
SIAS will again collect Christmas and holiday greeting cards for St. Jude's Ranch for Children. The Born Again Card(TM) recycling program at St. Jude's uses the card fronts to make greeting cards and ornaments. The children cut the card fronts and glue them on pre-printed card backs. Bring your Christmas and other greeting or birthday cards to SIAS's annual meeting. SIAS will forward them on to St. Jude's.
Dues are only $15/year for individual
member-ship with $10/year for each additional
family member. Students can join for only $5
/year. A renewal form follows. :-) Thanks for your continued support!
New Members: We welcome new members Mary McWhorter and Lucy Sloan and returning members Kathy and Jim Fralish and Gary and Phyllis Uhler.
To Join The Society:
Contact Vicki Devenport, Membership Chair.
* * * * * * * * * * *
| Officers | ||
|---|---|---|
| President | Richard LaSalle | 687.3023 |
| Vice-President | Rhonda Rothrock | 684.6605 |
| Secretary | Cathie Hutcheson | 529.2022 |
| Treasurer | Milt Edelman | 457.5163 |
| Committee Chairs | ||
| Education-Conservation | David Kvernes | 457.5570 |
| Finance | Laraine Wright | 457.8769 |
| Hospitality | Genevieve Houghton | 549.4517 |
| Membership | Vicki Devenport | 549.5625 |
| Outings | Stan Harris | 457.7078 |
| Newsletter Editor | Rhonda Rothrock | 684.6605 |
Contributions to the newsletter are always welcome! Contact Rhonda Rothrock, 7398 Hickory Ridge Road, Pomona, IL 62975 E-mail: woodthrusheola8@netscape.net or rsmonroe@siu.edu
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Copy and paste into your favorite text editor.
Please renew my/our membership in the SIAS.
Annual voting member, individual -$15 __________
Additional voting member in a family -$10 __________
Student voting member $5 __________
Voluntary contribution to support the Society __________
Total Enclosed: $ __________
Name(s) ________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________
City _______________________ State____________ Zip __________
Home Phone ____________________
Work Phone _____________________
E-mail Address ___________________
Return this form with your check to:
Southern Illinois Audubon Society
Attn.: Membership Chair
P.O. Box 222
Carbondale, IL 62903-0222
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* * * * * * * * *
Always leave 'em laughing... :-)
C M DUCKS?
M R NOT DUCKS.
O S A R.
C M WANGS?
L I B!
M R DUCKS!
* * * * * * * * *
Southern Illinois Audubon Society P.O. Box 222, Carbondale, IL 62903-0222
Affiliate of the Illinois Environmental Council and the Illinois Audubon Society
(Written on a contantly reused computer! Are you using recycled paper?)
:-)