Monday, June 2, 2008
America’s National Parks
Scott Stoner and Denise
Hackert-Stoner
7:00 PM at the William
K. Sanford (Colonie) Town Library
From
Maine’s rocky coast to Florida’s Everglades, across great
plains, badlands, mountains and deserts, to the Pacific coast
and on to Hawaii and Alaska, we'll highlight the scenic
wonders and diverse habitats and wildlife preserved through our
National Park System. From the depths of Death Valley to the
heights of the Rockies, delicate flowers to giant sequoias, and a
wide variety of birds, the park system preserves much of the best of
the American outdoors. In our photographic journey,
we'll visit both popular and lesser-known park sites, and discuss
both park history and current issues. Come join us to learn
about our national parks!
Scott
Stoner is past president of both the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club and the
Audubon Society of the Capital Region. His work has been
published in Birder’s World Magazine and he addresses many bird-related
letters to the NYS Conservationist. Denise is a past officer
and director of the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club. Scott and Denise
write a monthly nature column in the Chatham Courier, and recently
co-authored a feature article on Christmas Bird Counts in the December
2007 NYS Conservationist. Together they have birded, explored,
and photographed America from Maine to Hawaii.
Monday, September 8, 2008 - Joint
Program with Audubon Society of the Capital Region
Birding at Tropical Lodges
Gregg Recer
7:00 PM at the
William K. Sanford (Colonie) Town Library
Tropical birding holds a
fascination for many birders from temperate regions, if for no other
reason than the remarkably high species diversity compared to higher
latitudes. For North American birders, birding the
nearby neotropics is also a way to begin gaining
familiarity with entire new bird families. Self-contained lodges
located in the heart of even the most remote tropical forests are
making exploring these complex habitats easier. Many combine
spectacular natural history observation with
unexpected creature comforts. Gregg Recer will share slides
and stories of recent birding adventures at lodges in Belize,
Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago and consider ideas for touring
tropical lodges as a way to see representatives of all (or,
at least, most) of the world's bird families. Gregg is
past president of the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club and a frequent speaker at
the Club's meetings.
Monday, October 6,
2008
(rescheduled
from December 2007)
Bicknell's Thrush
Julie Hart
7:00 PM at the William K.
Sanford (Colonie) Town Library
New
York's Montane Specialist: Bicknell's Thrush - New York's
montane forests are home to a unique, high-elevation bird community
that includes the elusive Bicknell’s Thrush, the only bird endemic to
the northeast region. Bicknell's Thrush have adapted to this extreme
environment in a number of ways, most notably with a unique breeding
system and unusual food habits. There are a number of management and
conservation issues facing Bicknell's Thrush and other high-elevation
birds, including acid rain, climate change, wind power development,
recreational development, and timber management. A high-elevation
songbird monitoring program, Mountain Birdwatch, was initiated in 2000
to provide baseline information for making sound stewardship decisions
about these montane issues. This annual point-count survey pays special
attention to Bicknell’s Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler,
White-throated Sparrow, and Winter Wren. Approximately 120 routes are
surveyed annually throughout New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and
Maine. The results have been used to monitor population levels, create
a habitat map, provide site-specific information to guide development
decisions, and identify priorities for land conservation. Specific
information for New York will be presented, including the distribution
of Bicknell’s Thrush, Mountain Birdwatch route locations, survey
results, and volunteer opportunities.
Bio for Julie Hart
Julie Hart is the coordinator of
Mountain Birdwatch with the Institute of Conservation Ecology. She has
spent the last two summers surveying Bicknell's Thrush throughout their
range, including Mountain Birdwatch surveys and demographic studies of
this rare species. She also assists many other ecology programs at ICE
involving both birds and butterflies. Prior to working with mountain
songbirds, Julie spent five years traveling around the world studying
birds. She spent time monitoring Common Loons in New Hampshire,
surveying Golden-winged Warblers in the Catskills of New York,
protecting Common and Roseate Terns in Maine, researching Kokako in New
Zealand, searching for Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas, and
recording breeding birds throughout New York and Vermont. She worked in
the bird conservation departments at Audubon and the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology where she was involved with national bird conservation
initiatives such as the Important Bird Areas
Program,
the Audubon
WatchList,
and Partners in Flight.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Condor Tales: What I Learned in
Twelve Years with the Big Birds
7:00 PM at the William K. Sanford (Colonie) Town Library
Joint program of the Audubon Society of the Capital Region and the
Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club
Sanford R. "Sandy" Wilbur was leader
of the California Condor research and recovery effort from 1969 to
1981, the period during which the current captive breeding and release
program was developed. Using color slides and readings from his recent
book, "Condor Tales: What I Learned in Twelve Years with the Big
Birds," he describes how the condors became endangered (reaching a low
point of only about fifteen birds in the early 1980s) and how the
condors came to be taken from the wild for a captive breeding program.
The "Tales" are a blend of biology, sociology and politics, and the
presentation sheds light on what it really takes to save an endangered
species.
[A quote about the presentation:
"Thanks so much for the fascinating insights of your contributions to
the condor saga... Good reading, and an important point of view... I’ve
reread it all and congratulate you on a very good tale. Your frank
assessments were refreshing and produced several good laughs.” - Roland
C. Clement, Vice-president, National Audubon Society (retired)]
Sandy was born in Oakland,
California, in 1940 and graduated from Humboldt State College in
Wildlife Management. After a short period with the California
Department of Fish and Game, he spent the next 34 years with the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, about half that time managing national
wildlife refuges in the West and Southeast, and the other half with the
Endangered Species Program. In addition to the California Condor, his
endangered species work has included rails, terns, vireos, spotted
owls, and Hawaiian birds. He has written many scientific papers and
magazine articles and several books, including "Condor Tales," "Birds
of Baja California, Mexico," and "Vulture Biology and
Management." Currently, he and his wife Sally live in Oregon in
the winter, and New Hampshire in the summer.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Alaska Bernie Grossman
7:00 PM at the William
K. Sanford (Colonie) Town Library
Monday, December 1, 2008
- Holiday Party and program. Topic and location TBA