Its Time for Our Winter Ducks…

EASTERN LONG ISLAND AUDUBON SOCIETY – From the Barrens to the BaysFormerly Moriches Bay Audubon, established 1967

January/February, 2008 — Vol. XXXVIII No. 1

Nature ProgramsBrian O’Keeffe

Join us for nature programs and mem-bership meetings at the QuogueWildlife Refuge. Everyone is welcome.(Directions are on our website.)

7:15 pm – Nature Chat7:30 pm – Chapter News8:00 pm – Speaker or Main Event

January

No members meeting.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Shaibal Mitra, Assistant Professor ofBiology at the College of Staten Island,will give a program titled "AvianVagrancy to Fire Island: Insightsinto the Composition and Conserva-tion of Avian Communities." Shaibalhas studied birds in the northeasternUnited States and around the worldfor more than twenty-five years. From1996-2000 he operated a major bird-banding station at the Fire IslandLighthouse, on the South Shore ofLong Island.

The winter season is upon us and thewinter waterfowl are drifting in flockby flock. It's always a mystery how

many of the divers and dabblers will returneach year. The Natural Resources Depart-ment has been counting the non-breedingducks, geese, swans, grebes and loons once amonth for more than fifteen years. We startin October, sometimes not until Novemberand continue to March, at which time mostof the winter resident waterfowl are alreadyleaving. The waterfowl counts vary fromyear to year, which is a function of a lot ofevents: the success of the breeding season,the weather, the availability of winter food,and the like.

I grew up in Mattituck thinking that therewould always be tons of Scoters, hordes ofMergansers, lots of Butterballs and Old-squaws, ahem, excuse me, Long-tail Ducks.There weren't a lot of Mallards in the 1940sand 1950s on the North Fork, I don't re-member any Gadwalls, Pintails or Canvas-backs. Teals were quite scarce, Green-wings

outnumbered Blue-wings, there was hardlya Ruddy, Hoody, Wigeon or Wood Duck.There were very few Canada Geese andquite a few Mute Swans. Maybe, I saw oneBrant every ten years. Black Ducks were themost commonly hunted duck on the NorthFork at that time.

Then and nowadays on the South Fork itwas and is quite a different story. Canvas-back are regular. Otter Pond in Sag Harborhas had Canvasback every year since the mid1970s, never more than ten or twenty, butthey are perennial. I remember doing theOrient Christmas Bird Count with the lateRoy Wilcox one late December. We had theSag Harbor to Morton Wildlife Refuge terri-tory. One of our first stops was Otter Pondwhich is tidal but receives a lot of freshgroundwater feed and fresh water from astream to the south which enters the pondby way of culvert. There were quite a few“cans” in the pond on that chilly morning,both sexes and immatures. Then Roy calledout a Redhead. We looked and looked overeach bird carefully, but could see nothingbut Canvasback. However, Roy had a veryfine reputation and had been doing winterbird counts since the days of the GreatDepression. Counts were more informal inthose days. We were not going to disappointRoy or disagree with him.

The best place to see waterfowl in EastHampton in Hook Pond which sits behindthe ocean dunes in the Village. It is a freshpond with a rich bottom flora of water cel-ery, leafy pond weeds and other subaquatics.Fed mostly by groundwater, there is somerun off, but it doesn't generally freeze overuntil mid-January or February. The stream

Its Time for Our Winter Ducks…a look back, and the best places to look now

Larry Penny, Chief, East Hampton Natural Resources

Continued on page 11

Feeder Survey dates � Jan. 12-18 & Feb. 16-24 � see page 10 to participate

THE OSPREY - January/February, 2008 2

Field TripsSaturday, January 5, 2008

Lakes Around PatchogueTrip Leader: John McNeil

Meet at 9:00 am at the Swan Lake ClubHouse at Swan Lake in East Patchogue.

See our wintering waterfowl around theLakes in Patchogue. Your trip leader JohnMcNeil will guide you around the area foreither a half or full day excursion. TelephoneJohn if you need additional details at 631-281-2623 or e-mail [email protected] in the subject line, “Field Trip Patchogue”

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Montauk PointTrip Leader: John McNeil

Meet at 9:00 am at the parking lot by theLighthouse.

Montauk Point is our easternmost spot onLong Island to see large numbers of ourocean species of birds that fly from the outerocean backs. Colder is better, so bring warmcloths, long johns, mittens and a warm hat.Make sure you wear several pairs of socks sothat your feet do not get cold. Now, if onlythe concession stand sold Starbucks! Timepermitting we will check out other hot bird-ing places around the area. Bring a lunchand a hot drink to warm your insides.

Please telephone me at 631-281-2623 if youare going to attend or e-mail me at [email protected], stating in the subject line,“Field Trip Montauk.” This way I will have atally of participants and a call back tele-phone number if I have to cancel because ofweather.

Please note that this is a 1 ½ to 2 hour ridefrom Shirley, depending on traffic. I have topoint out that there is road constructionafter Sunrise Highway ends at Southamptonand before the road changes to MontaukHighway. Please leave enough time fortravel.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Orient Beach State ParkTrip Leader: MaryLaura LamontMeet at 8:00 am in the parking lot of theCounty Center in Riverhead, off CountyRoad 51.

We will carpool through the North Fork tovisit various spots along the way to OrientPoint. We will spend most of our time atOrient State Park and Orient County Park.Some of the birds we sighted last year in-clude: Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal,Greater Yellowlegs, Harrier, Kestrel and Os-prey. For more information MaryLaura maybe reached at 631-722-5542

Please join us for these exciting field trips!

All levels of naturalist — including begin-ners — are most welcome on Eastern LongIsland Audubon field trips.

All trips are free to attend.

Winter WaterfowlWorkshop

On Saturday January 19th, 2008, from9:00 am to noon, Fire Island NationalSeashore is sponsoring a Winter WaterfowlWorkshop at Smith Point Wilderness. It willbe lead by MaryLaura Lamont, an ELIASBoard member. It is open to the public.Meet at the Smith Point Visitor Center at9:00 am.

Participants should dress warmly and bringbinoculars to see the various kinds of water-fowl that spend the winter here in the baysand along the ocean. Observers will learnabout the three species of Scoters, Mer-gansers, Loons, Bufflehead and other ducksin the area. Call trip leader MaryLaura Lam-ont at 631-722-5542 for more info.

Campers Needed!Each year ELIAS sponsors up to four stu-dents in grades 7 to 12 who wish to spendone week in a Department of EnvironmentalConservation Summer Camp. Camperschoose between two camps in the Adiron-dacks, one in the Catskills or one in westernNew York. Time is running short. Applica-tions are due by January 25. An applicationform appeared in the Nov/Dec. Osprey. It isalso available online. Call Evelyn at 631-727-0417 for more information.

In this IssueNature Programs 1

Time for Our Winter Ducks 1

Field Trips 2

Campers Needed 2

Waterfowl Workshop 2

Reports from the Field 3

NYSOA Meeting 4

Luncheon atIndian Island Golf Club 5

Big Sky 6

White-winged Crossbillin Shirley 7

Kaler Pond Events 8

Conservation Column 8

Seed Sale Report 8

Feeder SurveyReport Forms 10

Membership Application 12

November 3:JONES BEACH STATE PARK& POINT LOOKOUT

John McNeil

The rain did not dampen fourintrepid birders for making therounds of Jones Beach StatePark and Point Lookout hotbirding areas. Sally Newbert,Tom Moran, Diana Rohan andmyself explored the variousparts of Jones Beach and PointLookout for later fall and earlywinter migrants. Some notablespecies observed were: Gannet,Northern Harrier, White-winged and Surf Scoter, White-throated Sparrow.

At Point Lookout: RuddyTurnstone, Sanderling, Semi-palmated Sandpiper and raftsof Scoters off the jetties.

At Robert Moses State Park,the rain was coming down fastand hard so we abandoned ourfield trip at noon. Before leav-ing, I took a drive over to thewestern parking lot of RobertMoses and sitting on the pave-ment was a Peregrine falcon,and several Black-belliedPlover. In all, there are no badbirding days just some that area wash out.

November 17:SMITH POINT PARK

Quite a crowd gathered inSmith Point Park to enjoy abeautiful crisp day. And what aday it was. We started in theparking lot with Horned Larks,and a female Ring-neckedPheasant. Proceeded to thetower that overlooks the ocean,where there was an array ofactivity, Gannets flying anddiving, rafts of Black Scoters,(some spotted White-wingedScoters,) a small group of SnowGeese flew by and a Red-throated Loon was also spottedflying by.

Proceeding to the Bay we en-countered a flock of Bufflehead,a lone female Hooded Mer-ganser and several Swans.

The brush was alive with Myr-tle Warblers (ok, ok, just YellowRumps). Carl Starace, theleader, pointed out the abun-dant bayberries that the birdseat. So, next time you go for awalk in the dunes and see thosewaxy bayberries, keep your eyespeeled for those Myrtle War-blers. He also told us it is themost abundant warbler winter-ing all along the east coast.

The highlight came on the wayback, a White-winged Crossbillhad been reported in a back-yard along William Floyd Park-way. Bob Adamo and JohnMcNeil had been contacted toverify the species (see John’s ar-ticle on page 5). The Crossbillgave us a good show. He wasnot shy, hung around andchased the smaller birds awayfrom the feeder. The homeowner was amazed at how tamethis bird was. She was able tostroke its back. Now, that’ssome rare bird. Wish they allwere so cooperative.


Reports from the Field

Continued on next page

The 60th Annual Meeting of the NewYork State Ornithological Association(NYSOA) was held October 5-7,

2007 in Batavia, which is located near Buf-falo. The meeting was hosted by the BuffaloOrnithological Society (BOS), which did asplendid job of putting together a weekendfull of association business, research paperpresentations, great speakers, good fellow-ship and, of course, exciting field trips.

Yes, we just knew we were in for some goodbirding, when both the early Saturdaymorning delegates trip and first non-dele-gate trip later in the morning went to thelocal waste water treatment plant! This largecomplex of water impoundments, which we

traversed by car, is particularly good for wa-terfowl, with Ruddy Ducks and NorthernShovelers being the most numerous speciesseen over the weekend. The highlight forme, as well as many others were the two,and possibly as many as five Eared Grebesthat were so close to the impoundment roadwe were able to get some exceptional viewsfrom our car windows. This outing broughtto mind the very successful birding stops wetook to the old Montauk dump before itwas closed to the “Honey Bucket” trade.The odors generated by both were memo-rable, although some what different, but theresults were the same… garbage in, goodbirds out!

Friday night’s program was given by theMessinger Woods Wildlife Care and Educa-tion Center. Four volunteers from this not-for-profit corporation, with the aid of sevenowls, helped broaden our knowledge ofthese nocturnal raptors. It is always excitingto see live birds up close and the two BarnOwls, two Eastern Screech Owls along witha Northern Saw-whet, a Great Horned andBarred Owl, also provided wonderful photo-graphic opportunities.

Saturday morning’s Business Meeting, calledto order by outgoing President Andy Mason,was full, and actually lasted longer thanplanned.

NYSOA has experienced an overall loss ofthree member clubs since the 2006 meeting,bringing the new total to 46. Individualmemberships, over the last few years, hasalso gone down, with a drop from 740 in2003 to 615 in 2007.

The Atlas 2000 project has been submittedto the publisher and is expected to be avail-able in the fall of 2008. The updated,pocket-sized, NYS Birding List, which nownumbers 467 species, can be purchasedfrom NYSOA for $2.00.

At present NYSOA has a $10,000 balancein its Member Clubs Award Fund. Thismoney is designated to assist a member clubwith a small grant for a project that needsfunding. To apply just submit a complete,detailed, written proposal and it will be seri-ously considered.

Two resolutions were discussed and votedon. The shortened versions of the resolu-tions appear in the side bar. They are avail-able in their entirety on the NYSOA website.

Andy’s position as President is being filledby Bill Ostrander of Elmira, who hasstepped up from his former duties as Vice-President.

Rochester will be the site of our next AnnualMeeting. It will take place Sept. 19-21,2008 and be hosted by two clubs, TheRochester Birding Association and the Bur-roughs Audubon Nature Club.


The 60th Annual Meeting of theNew York State Ornithological Association (NYSOA)

A special report by Bob Adamo

Two resolutions were discussed and voted on.The following information was supplied by Andy Mason.

Wind Power Development

An ad hoc wind power committee, led by John Confer, had over the past year prepareda resolution on siting of wind projects. Among other provisions, the resolution calls fora full environmental review of projects, including an analysis of the cumulative effectsof multiple projects in an area; surveys of breeding birds, wintering birds and migrants;and an open, reviewable process for post-construction studies.

The wind resolution also states that projects along known migratory routes such asridges and shorelines pose higher risks to birds and that a minimum of 3 years of avianstudies should be required locations within 2 miles of the Great Lakes and Lake Cham-plain, Long Island Sound, the Atlantic Ocean. Also, areas including the lower HudsonValley, the Susquehanna River Valley, the St. Lawrence River Valley, the Finger Lakesand the Shawangunk Ridge also should require a 3 year minimum for these studies.

The resolution also includes an addendum on the current status of regulatory review ofwind projects in the state, and a bibliography of wind power and its environmental ef-fects.

An amendment to the resolution to increase the distance from these waterbodies to 5miles was defeated. However, an amendment to add Chautauqua Lake to the list of wa-terbodies was approved.

Spruce Grouse Management

A resolution calling for increased management for Spruce Grouse in the Adirondackswas put forth by Onondaga Audubon Society. This resolution calls on the NY StateDepartment of Environmental Conservation to allocate sufficient funds to “ . . . final-ize and implement the recovery plan for Spruce Grouse in NYS, and to provide fundsfor monitoring of recovery efforts.” The resolution further urges The Nature Conser-vancy to consider active management techniques to ensure that the Spruce Grouse per-sists on their lands with Spruce Grouse habit.

To read the full text of the resolutions on the NYSOA website.

The banquet speaker will be Peter Harrison,noted author, artist, birder and screen writerwho is considered to be the world’s author-ity on seabirds. His book, Seabirds: An Iden-tification Guide is regarded as “the bible” onseabirds. On a personal note, I have ownedand used this book for many years, and con-tinue to refer to it for help. It is kind of beatup now, but I’m sure he will sign it for mewith a knowing smile.

The last order of business dealt with a pro-posal by Hope Batcheller, age 15, of Peters-burgh, NY. Hope has asked NYSOA tosponsor a Young Birders Club of NYS. Shegot this idea from the Ohio Young BirdersClub which was started in May, 2006. Di-rected towards 12-18 year-olds, it schedulesfield trips, produces a newsletter, has an an-nual conference, offers scholarships forcamps and events, and is based primarily onthe ideas of its young members. Hope hasalready started an online Yahoo! Group forthe young birders of NYS, in order to en-courage and connect them. Now, by askingNYSOA to provide financial assistance, in-surance coverage, web-server space, publicityand much needed adult support, Hope envi-sions more and more young birders meet-ing, learning and birding together, in anenvironment that could help produce ourfuture naturalists.

After lunch, the following research paperswere presented:

� David Junkin - Banding of NorthernSaw-whet Owls

� Dr. Robert DeJean - BOS April, Mayand October Counts: Seventy Years,Twenty-million Birds and Still Counting

� Dr. Mark Deutschlander - Orientationand Navigation Mechanisms in Migra-tory Birds: Research at the BraddockBay Bird Observatory

� Terry Yonker - Bird Migration andStructure Interaction Along the BuffaloWaterfront

� Dr. Steven Eaton - Birding with ElonEaton

� William Watson - Post-Breeding Disper-sal and Migration of Great Egrets fromMotor Island.

While all of the above presentations were ex-cellent, I especially enjoyed hearing SteveEaton talk about his famous father Elon


Sixty folks enjoyed a beautiful after-noon celebrating the 40th Anniver-sary of ELIAS at the Benefit Buffet

Luncheon held at the Indian Island CountryClub on October 21.

The Osprey Award – given to someone whohas been a member at least five years andwho has made a significant contribution toAudubon – was awarded to Bob Adamo.Presenting the award, Al Scherzer noted thatBob has been a Board member, avid birder,and responsible for our programs for manyyears.

A representative from Senator Kenneth P.LaValle’s office presented a citation toELIAS, which read in part: “congratulationsto Eastern Long Island Audubon Society, 40years of protecting and promoting Long Is-land’s rich natural world. Your commitment,and hard work are deeply appreciated.”

Michael Mackey, Manager of WildbirdCrossing, Bridgehampton, and Local Hostof LI Morning Edition, WLIU 88.3 FMRadio was the luncheon speaker. He sharedmany tips to attract birds to your backyard,and described several celebrity encounters. Itwas generally agreed that the highlight of histalk was when he put on this interviewer-host hat and interviewed our President,Eileen Schwinn. Eileen, exhibiting her natu-ral charm, held up splendidly under pressure

and explained why we all love birding.

Raffles and donations were given by Hamp-ton Jitney, Suffolk County National Bank,Bob Stevens Appliances, Rosemary McAllis-ter, and the family of the late Dennis Pule-ston. Thank you all.

Michael Mackey, host of LI Morning Edition, in-terviews Eileen Schwinn, ELIAS President

Senator LaVallesent a citationcongratulating

ELIAS on40 years

of good work

Bob Adamo, the winner of this year’s Osprey Award receives congratulationsfrom Al Scherzer and Eileen Schwinn.

Luncheon atIndian Island Golf Club

Continued on page 7


It was quite difficult to leave Craters of theMoon after a somewhat cursory look atits incredibly strange, blackened land-

scape. How could we predict that this giantmoonscape would provide such lastingmemories? We have seen deserts of all types,and mountain ranges large and varied; how-ever, never have we experienced a recentlyactive volcanic wasteland such as this one.But we had promised ourselves to arrive at areasonable hour at our night’s lodging nearIdaho Falls. Thus, we bustled east passing bythe eerie Department of Energy’s Idaho Na-tional Engineering Lab, stuck out in the

middle of nowhere. Passing a town calledAtomic City, we pressed the accelerator toflee more quickly.

The vista of our new lodging was of thewestward flowing Snake River, a long water-way originating in Yellowstone Park, WY,twisting south, west, north across the breadthof Idaho to end up somewhere in Washing-ton state. The lodge is a fishing haven, butfor us it was a peaceful sojourn to rest andeat great meals while watching the worlddrift by. There were people in wonderful,large-prowed wooden river boats, zipping thelong lines of their fly fishing poles back andforth as the guide took oars to the fast-flow-ing Snake. Competing with the sports werefishing birds: Barrow’s Goldeneye, riding inthe center of the Snake’s current; CommonMergansers, one hen with a brood of seven

young, feeding along the quiet edges; GreatBlue Herons stalking the marshy backwatersand the now commonWhite Pelicans sailingin from the far river cliffs to land and extractfishy meals from the eddy of the river’scurves: no catch and release from this group!

One day we explored up river along a moun-tain trail to find a side stream spilling andfalling, young people climbing down the wa-terfall’s sides, older folks—us—peeking war-ily over the edge. We waded a channel of theSnake, frigid and clear, as it braided throughsome little river islands. The waters werealive with fish and us, the fish being betterable to tolerate the cold water. We darted inand just as quickly retreated to shore, notunlike a pair of Yellowlegs!

We continued east to Idaho’s 31 and 33–these some of the most remote two-lanersimaginable–to go up and over the SnakeRange crossing into Wyoming. Everywhere

were warnings that the winter would shutdown these passages. Smart of us to be doingthis in July. What a grand view we had fromthe top of Teton Pass at 8431 feet down intoa huge valley with mountains beyond andbig sky all around again. We could see thatwe had left the rural behind; behold JacksonHole, hello Starbucks!

We had only one day to spend in GrandTeton National Park, and well-spent it was,seeing Trumpeter Swans right where a guidebook said they would be! We also learnedthat Trumpeters and other waterfowl takeadvantage of thermal springs here to be ableto overwinter at this altitude. At a parkingarea we pulled in to hike to lovely TaggartLake at the foot of the Tetons, their grandeurtowering in the background. The trail therewas not unusually difficult, nor steep, rather

the heat of the day with a beating sun pro-vided the challenge. To counteract the heatwe dipped our hats in the crashing mountainstream that crossed the trail at several places,and put the caps back on our heads, waterand all. Wow, what refreshment! Then, as-cending to the lake we treated the other endof us to a barefooted wade into the coldmountain waters while gazing at the highmountains with cascading waterfalls fromthe glacier melt.

After an overnight at the northern end ofTeton at the busy Flagg Ranch Resort, ad-ministered by the Park Service, we proceededto adjacent Yellowstone National Park via itssouth entrance. Ten or so miles along theforested parkway we pulled over to enjoy the29 ft. Lewis Falls and to wade again–yes, thisis a favorite pastime. We began in a mean-dering side stream of typically cold moun-tain water; then reached the junction with

the Lewis River, thewaters of which arethermal: the mixing ofthe waters was just theright excuse for totalimmersion. Down theroad we spotted ourfirst bison, a darkform, a burly maleshaded by trees andunconcerned bytourists.

Next we walkedthrough a huge geyserbasin. West Thumb, an

old volcanic crater, now a bay, part of themuch larger Yellowstone Lake, the largestlake at high elevation, 7,733 ft., in NorthAmerica. This geyser basin, a large area ofvaried hot springs and mud pots, lies next toand flows into Yellowstone Lake, the bottomof which has its own hot springs and hy-drothermal vents. What a treat to see thateach thermal feature in the loop trail is dif-ferent in shape, depth, and colors that arecreated partly by heat-loving microorgan-isms. As luck would have it a young elk wan-dered from upland down and around the hotpools, somewhat unnerved by the many visi-tors, but comfortable enough to remind ushuman beings that this was its home. Then,on the scene came a snowshoe hare, movinghelter-skelter like the Mad Hatter, brown

Big SkyThe next installmentGigi and Don Spates

Continued on page 11


What I believe is the rarest of thetwo crossbill, a White-wingedCrossbill found a good home in

the birdbath feeder of Kathy Spano ofShirley. Kathy lives near Smith Point Bridgeon a canal; with several bird feeders in herbackyard, she observes the coming andgoing of some of the locals in the area. On aMonday morning, Kathy spotted a differentspecies feeding at her outside diner. Aftersearching the bird books and telephoningher birder son in Boston, they came to theconclusion that this new patron was aWhite-winged Crossbill. Kathy telephonedme on Monday afternoon, November 11th..With this telephone call, I asked my wifeRoberta to drive me over to Kathy’s home sothat I could confirm this sighting. Goinginto her backyard, there was Kathy sittingnext to the birdbath feeder, talking to thebird while stoking the birds back. I couldnot believe my eyes when I saw this. Thiswas a young male, a White-winged Crossedbeing petted like a cat, enjoying everyminute of the stoking. In “The Birder’sHandbook” by Ehrilich, Bobkin, andWheye, it states that this bird can be tamewhile feeding and this might explain howKathy was able to stoke the birds back withher finger. It was also indicated that a birdmay supplement its diet with salt on the sideof the road, they become loopy and aresometime hit by passing cars.

It has been many years since I have seen thisspecies and most often they are on the top ofpine trees, making it difficult to clarify thefield marks. However, to be given the oppor-tunity to see this bird so close was unbeliev-able. I asked Kathy if I could havepermission to telephone some other birdingfriends, and by the next day, Bob Adamoand Carl Starace joined me to observe thebird again. We all could not believe howclose we could get to the bird without it fly-ing away, while we were clicking away withour cameras.

Over the next few days several other birdersfrom Eastern Long Island Audubon had thechance to observe the bird. Bob Adamo re-ported to me that a female joined the maleat the feeder on Wednesday November 17thand on Saturday morning; members ofELIAS were treated to the male feeding atthe birdbath feeder.

Just before Thanksgiving, I received a tele-phone call from Kathy informing me thatthe birds were no longer at the feeder.Where they went I do not know. However, Iwill be checking the pines at Smith PointPark a little more closely.

I personally would like to take this momentto thank Kathy for letting me and membersof ELIAS have the chance to observe her un-usual visitor to her backyard feeder.

Thank you again Kathy for your generosity.John.

A Pair of White-winged CrossbillFind a Feeder in Shirley

John McNeil Howard Eaton, noted NYS author and edu-cator of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Notably absent was the presence of MaxWheat, who normally brings the paper ses-sion to a close with his insightful and inspir-ing poetry. Upon returning home, I spokewith Max who reassured me that he andVirginia are fine and would certainly be at-tending next year’s meeting in Rochester.

Saturday night’s Keynote Speaker was Dr.Hector Galbraith, who spoke on the impactof global climate change on avian popula-tions. Born and educated in Scotland, Dr.Galbraith, an Avian Ecologist, came to theUS in 1990, and now lives in Vermont. Heoperates Galbraith Environmental Services,a scientific consulting company that re-searches the likely effects of climate changeon ecosystems as well as the risks posed bycontaminants in the environment. Whilehis sense of humor seemed to be muchmore robust than Al Gore’s, his message un-fortunately was not. As in An InconvenientTruth, “We are in the fight of our lives.”

The trip home was delightful. In additionto the changing fall colors, we made a stopat Letchworth State Park and the new GlassMuseum in Corning. Prior to the majorflood that devested this part of NY State inthe early 1970’s, we had camped at Letch-worth and had visited the old Glass Mu-seum in Corning. Letchworth, also know asThe Grand Canyon of the East, is still asgrand, but could sure use some rain. Atpresent, the river bed at the base of the damis almost completely dry, with a narrow flowof water running along only one side of thegorge. Grand, is also the right word to de-scribe the relocated glass museum. We wereonly able to cover about half of what themuseum has to offer in our allotted time offour hours, but we look forward to seeingthe reminder of the exhibits, at a moreleisurely pace, in the near future…possiblyafter the Rochester meeting…will I see youthere?

NYSOA ConferenceContinued from page 5


Kaler’s PondNature Center

The Kaler's Pond Audubon Center willsponsor four programs at the CenterMoriches Library.

The first is Sunday, January 20th, 1:30-3:30pm. The Roof of Africa will be a visualjourney to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaroby Pam Musk. She is the director of Centersand Education for Audubon New York. Sheretells the most recent of her climb to thesummit through photographs and anec-dotes. Learn about the climactic changesthrough forest scrubland and alpine desert.You will hear about the plants and animalsthat change along the way to the snowcapped peak of the tallest mountain inAfrica.

On Sunday, February 10th, 1:30-3:30 pm atthe Center Moriches Library, John McNeilwill present Sights and Sounds of YourBackyard Birds, a multimedia approach tolearn the sounds, habitats and visual charac-teristics of the most common birds in thisarea’s backyards. This is an audience partici-pation presentation in preparation for thosewho would like to participate in the citizenscience project The Great Backyard birdCount. This will be held the followingweekend sponsored by Cornell andAudubon. There are door prizes for thosewho attend.

March 2 same time and place will be Shore-birds of Long Island given by CarolynSpillman, Audubon New York's L. I. BirdConservation Coordinator. She will discussbreeding behaviors to look for in the springand the habitat requirements and protec-tion. As well as learning about these birdsyou can get involved, and help beach nest-ing birds.

Look for more information on the finalwinter program on April 13, Gardening forThe Environment, in next newsletter.

“Nobody can do everything, but everybodycan do something.”

Plastic bags are unfriendly to the envi-ronment in several ways. First, thebags are produced from petroleum

and natural gas, which adds to our con-sumption of these resources and createsharmful emissions in the manufacturingprocess. Second, the bags take up hugeamounts of space in landfills across thecountry, many of which are reaching theircapacities. Third, the bags that don’t make itto the landfills often end up as roadsidegarbage, stuck in trees, or polluting our wa-terways, causing harm to marine life. Ameri-cans use approximately 84 billion plasticbags each year, the production of whichconsumes an estimated 12 million barrels ofoil annually.

There are ways in which we can reduce thenumber of bags that we use and throw away.Bring a reusable tote bag to the grocerystore. Some stores sell inexpensive reusablesacks and give customers money back each

time they use the bag. How about buying acanvas tote bag from your favorite non-profit organization or requesting a tote bagas a thank you gift from those organizationsthat offer one with membership renewal?This helps the environment and the non-profit! I recently bought two tote bags fromthe Quogue Wildlife Refuge to give as gifts(and one for myself of course).

If you receive in the mail or in your drive-way a pack of store advertisements packagedin a plastic bag, call the phone number onthe bag and request that delivery to yourhome be stopped. No more bags of junkmail littering our communities!

These suggestions take just a small amountof effort but can mean a big reduction in thebillions of plastic bags that we use andthrow away each year. The Suffolk Countylegislature recently passed a law requiringlarge retail stores to provide recycling binsfor plastic bags, so if you do use the bags,recycle them!

Conservation Column

Seed Sale Report

The annual Seed Sale fundraiser to benefit ELIAS and theQuogue Wildlife Refuge was held the weekend beforeThanksgiving and was a big success! The Refuge was filled

with bags of seed on Saturday morning and was empty by Sun-day afternoon.We thank everyone who purchased seed, feeders,bat houses, hats, shirts, and holiday items. The volunteers en-joyed talking to everyone who stopped by the Refuge over theweekend. Huge thanks go out to all of the volunteers who hauledthe seed into the building early Saturday morning (Brian O’Ke-effe, Gigi Spates, Bob Murray), everyone who helped with sales(Peg Caraher, Evelyn Voulgarelis, Lloyd Booth, DanWilson, andAllyson Dyer), and the last of us who packed up the few re-maining items late on Sunday (Sally Newbert), and Mike andMarisa Nelson who did a lot of everything all weekend. Thanksalso to Samantha Dettmer, who organized all of the seed orders.Last but not least, a very big thanks to Michael and Bruce atWild Bird Crossing in Bridgehampton for supplying the seedand other sale item and for being so pleasant to work with! Weappreciate their support and encourage our members to supportthem.


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Survey Dates: January 12-18, 2008

Name ______________________________________

Address ____________________________________

Town ________________Phone ________________

_______Mourning Dove_______Northern Cardinal_______Blue Jay_______House Finch_______Black-capped Chickadee_______Tufted Titmouse_______Downy Woodpecker_______White-throated Sparrow_______Dark-eyed Junco_______House Sparrow_______White-breasted Nuthatch_______Song Sparrow_______Red-bellied Woodpecker_______American Crow_______European Starling_______Common Grackle_______Carolina Wren_______Northern Mockingbird_______American Goldfinch_______Red-winged Blackbird_______Hairy Woodpecker_______Common Flicker_______Rufous-sided Towhee_______American Robin_______Brown-headed Cowbird_______Sharp-shinned Hawk_______Rock Dove (pigeon)_______Gray Catbird_______Yellow-rumped Warbler_______Red-breasted Nuthatch_______Other __________________________

Survey Dates: January 12-18, 2008

Name ______________________________________

Address ____________________________________

Town ________________Phone ________________

_______Mourning Dove_______Northern Cardinal_______Blue Jay_______House Finch_______Black-capped Chickadee_______Tufted Titmouse_______Downy Woodpecker_______White-throated Sparrow_______Dark-eyed Junco_______House Sparrow_______White-breasted Nuthatch_______Song Sparrow_______Red-bellied Woodpecker_______American Crow_______European Starling_______Common Grackle_______Carolina Wren_______Northern Mockingbird_______American Goldfinch_______Red-winged Blackbird_______Hairy Woodpecker_______Common Flicker_______Rufous-sided Towhee_______American Robin_______Brown-headed Cowbird_______Sharp-shinned Hawk_______Rock Dove (pigeon)_______Gray Catbird_______Yellow-rumped Warbler_______Red-breasted Nuthatch_______Other __________________________

Please mail immediately after each survey period toBrian O’Keeffe, 12 Union Ave., Center Moriches, NY 11934.

Or to send via the internet, go to:easternlongisland audubon.homestead.comand 1) Click on Chapter Projects; 2) Click on Feeder Statistics;3) Click on To submit via the internet, etc.

� Record the highest number of species you see in your count area at anyone time.

� Don’t include birds seen off premises or just flying through your area.� Don’t add counts from previous sightings together.� Estimate the number of birds if there are a large number. Everyone hasa different idea of the size of a “flock.”

� Be specific with the species, e.g. don’t use sparrow, blackbird or gull,etc. We need to know what kind.

� Send in surveys even if you only saw common birds. It is just as impor-tant to record the usual species as it is the unusual birds.

� Don’t worry if you miss a survey because of other commitments, or ifyou can only watch before work, on weekends, etc. Your participationwill still enlarge our database.

PLEASE JOIN US.We would welcome your help monitoring the birds in our area.

Feeder Survey Report Forms

Directors & Officers

President Eileen Schwinn631-728-8342

Past President Alfred Scherzer631-728-2898

Vice President Beth Gustin631-874-9424

Recording Secretary Open

Correspondence Secretary John McNeil631-281-2623

Treasurer Evelyn VoulgarelisDirector 9/07 MaryLaura LamontDirector 9/08 Brian O’KeeffeDirector 9/08 Bob AdamoDirector 9/09 Robert MurrayDirector 9/08 Dan WilsonDirector 9/08 Ridgie Barnett

Committees/ProjectsMembership and Mailing John McNeil

Conservation Gigi Spates

Programs Brian O'Keeffe

KP Nature Ctr. Liaison Alfred Scherzer

Education Evelyn Voulgarelis

Nature Chats Steve Biasetti

Hospitality Ridgie Barnett

Feeder Stats Brian O'Keeffe

Field Trips John McNeil

Publicity Peggy Caraher

Webmaster Annette DeGiovine-Oliveira

Bluebird Restoration Gigi Spates

Newsletter Layout & Editing Sally [email protected]

2 E. Moriches Blvd., E. Moriches, NY 11940631-281-6008


to the north feeding it runs through a birdsanctuary and the land around it is half fair-ways and roughs, part of the MaidstoneClub course which been around for morethan three-quarters of a century. This pondnever goes dry.

Here in December one is apt to find ducksrarely seen in other parts of East Hampton,and rare to some other parts of Long Island.Common Mergansers and a Hooded Mer-ganser or two are invariably found here.They are primarily small fish eaters and thepond has a lot of baitfish that remain activethroughout the winter. American Wigeon,Gadwall, Green-winged and Blue-wingedTeal, are among the more unusual ducks tooverwinter in this pond. Canada Geese,Mallards and Black Ducks, also make gooduse of the pond; it is shallow and the geesecan reach to the bottom in most places bytipping up.

What I find most interesting about thispond, however, is that it is a regular stop-ping place for Tundra Swans, nee WhistlingSwans. In most years there are four to eightof them by the middle of December. I wasfirst introduced to them there by the lateChris McKeever in ca. 1976. Chris, likeRoy, did count after count, year after year,going way back to his membership in theNew York Bird Club in the 1930s. Like Roy,Gil Raynor and the other Long Island natu-ralists and birders of that era, Chris also didthe New York State Federation of BirdClub's January waterfowl count which I firstran into while a student in wildlife conserva-tion at Cornell University in the mid-1950s.Chris used to tell the story of a young manstopping by to attend one of the bird clubmeetings. He had a small squnched up port-folio of pages with watercolors of birds andmaps and wondered if the club would be in-terested in such a thing. It turned out to be,of course, Roger Tory Peterson, who wasabout to publish his very first bird guide.

The refuge north of the pond always has aWood Duck or two and Mallards of everysize and color. These birds are regularly fedand so are a bit lazy and complain a lot, butyou can get right up to them to get goodlooks at them. You will very often see aBlack Duck x Mallard hybrid among them,

as well, plus bizarre oversized Mallards andalbinos, forerunners of the famous PekingDucks first developed by the Chinese morethan a thousand years ago, then made fa-mous in the United States under the nameLong Island Duck in the 20th century. TheBig Duck in Flanders recently moved backto its original site on NY State Route 24,owes it origin to the Chinese. (You wonderif Roy Wilcox was inspired to become thegreat naturalist that he became by observingthe behavior of Peking Ducks while growingup on the family duck farm.)

The numbers of diving ducks that feed onsubaquatic vegetation such as Scaup, Can-vasback, and Goldeneye have dwindled inEast Hampton waters over the years. WhenI first started doing my waterfowl counts inEast Hampton in the 1970s, there were al-ways Scaup and Canvasback in NorthwestCreek east of Sag Harbor, Three Mile Har-bor and Accabonac Harbor, all tributary tothe Peconic Estuary. There was also a lot ofeelgrass growing on the bottom of those har-bors as well. The eelgrass has practically dis-appeared from those waters and so have theeelgrass eaters. Goldeneye can still be foundoffshore in Northwest Harbor and Gar-diners Bay where some eelgrass still survives,but there numbers are nothing like in theold days when Paul Stoutenburgh and I usedto hunt them over decoys in the bay off ofNassau Point.

I'm sure the waterfowl that come here knownothing about the so-called Hamptons mys-tique. If they get here at all it's usually be-cause they have been here before, or theirparents have. One wonders about thoseTundra Swans. Are they like the old richwho have been travelling to summer in EastHampton Village without fail each yearsince the Long Island train began to runthere from New York City before the turn ofthe 19th century and have now almost per-manently settled along the ocean south ofthe highway. These swans may have a similarheritage and enjoy wintering in the Hamp-tons as much as those who summer here.Who knows?

Winter DucksContinued from page 1

Big SkyContinued from page 6

now in summer coat but unmistakable withits ungainly broad feet. Now we’ve had sev-eral encounters with animals quite unique tous Easterners, yet, we have seen more, manymore, of the ubiquitous tourist than anywildlife; we are certainly walking the thinline between the wild and Disneyland in this,the first national park.

A quick look at our watches confirms thatwe are so far behind schedule. But what wasthat on the edge of the parking lot? A noisydisturbance gets Gigi’s attention and a lookthrough glasses confirms a Clark’s Nut-cracker: striking in appearance, grey withdark wings, its pesky, noisy personality hasearned it the nickname “mountain crow”.

In our next and, hopefully, last episode wewill drive north. And then there werethe bears!


THE OSPREYPublished by:Eastern Long Island Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 206East Quogue, NY 11942-0206

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ChapterMembership

For $15 a year, you will receive 6 copiesof this newsletter. You will also be sup-porting our local education and conser-vation activities.(Members of National Audubon who arenot chapter members receive one copy ofthis newsletter per year.)

Name________________________

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Make Check payable to:Eastern Long Island Audubonand mail to:

Membership OfficeELIASPO Box 206East Quogue, NY 11942-0206

Mark Your Calendars!January

Sat., Jan. 5 Field Trip to the Lakes around Patchogue - p 2

Sat. Jan. 12 to Fri., Jan.18 Feeder Survey - p 10

Sat., Jan. 19 FINS Waterfowl Workshop - p 2

Sun., Jan 20 Kaler’s Pond Program, The Roof of Africa - p 8

February

Sat., Feb 2 Field Trip to Montauk - p 2

Mon., Feb 4 Nature Program, FI Insights into Avian Vagrancy - p 1

Sun., Feb 10 Kaler’s Pond Program, Your Backyard Birds - p 8

Sat. Feb 16 to Fri. Feb. 24 Feeder Survey - p 10

March

Sat., March 1 Field Trip to Orient Point - p 2

Sun., March 2 Kaler’s Pond Program, Shorebirds of LI - p 8

Its Time for Our Winter Ducks…

Documents

Transcript of Its Time for Our Winter Ducks…