JUNE MEETING AND PROGRAM
Indonesia
By Keith and Jan Wiggers
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
7:00 Social; 7:30 Program
Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
10433 Bayview-Edison Road
Mount Vernon, Washington
Komodo Dragon on Komodo Island
Keith and Jan Wiggers will present a video program highlighting their two-month trip to Indonesia. With a population of 222 million people in 2006, it is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim majority nation. It is the largest archipelago in the world with over 17,000 islands. It straddles the equator, and from east to west, spans about the same distance as from New York to Los Angeles. It has the highest mountain between the Himalayas and the Andes. It is one of only of three equatorial places in the world that has permanent snow and glaciers.
Indonesia has the highest rate of endemism in the world; with only 1.3 percent of the earth’s land surface it is home to about 20 percent of the world’s land species. The species in the western islands have a strong Asian connection (placental mammals and many Asian bird species). The eastern islands have a strong Australian and New Guinea connection (marsupial mammals and the spectacular Birds of Paradise), while the middle islands have been influenced by both sides, as well as having many of their own unique species.
Please join us for an evening with the incredible Birds of Paradise, Komodo Dragons, and Tree Kangaroos.
__________________________
JUNE MEETING AND PROGRAM
Indonesia
By Keith and Jan Wiggers
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
7:00 Social; 7:30 Program
Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
10433 Bayview-Edison Road
Mount Vernon, Washington
Keith and Jan Wiggers will present a video program highlighting their two-month trip to Indonesia. With a population of 222 million people in 2006, it is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim majority nation. It is the largest archipelago in the world with over 17,000 islands. It straddles the equator, and from east to west, spans about the same distance as from New York to Los Angeles. It has the highest mountain between the Himalayas and the Andes. It is one of only of three equatorial places in the world that has permanent snow and glaciers.
Indonesia has the highest rate of endemism in the world; with only 1.3 percent of the earth’s land surface it is home to about 20 percent of the world’s land species. The species in the western islands have a strong Asian connection (placental mammals and many Asian bird species). The eastern islands have a strong Australian and New Guinea connection (marsupial mammals and the spectacular Birds of Paradise), while the middle islands have been influenced by both sides, as well as having many of their own unique species.
Please join us for an evening with the incredible Birds of Paradise, Komodo Dragons, and Tree Kangaroos.
__________________________
Location of our meetings:
Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
10433 Bayview-Edison Road
Mount Vernon, Washington
Caspian Terns
By Tim Manns
You can find it nesting on remote Molly Island in Wyoming's Lake Yellowstone, along the Tasmanian shore, around Madagascar, on the coasts of Latvia, Japan and Venezuela; around the Caspian Sea where German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas first described it in 1770—and you can see it from the Tommy Thompson Trail across Fidalgo Bay right here at home!
Living along the coast or inland on every continent except Antarctica, without subspecies, gull-like in its size and strong, direct flight, the Caspian Tern is the largest, strongest, and fiercest of the terns and the only of the world's 44 tern species that we regularly see in Skagit County.
In summer watch these big, noisy birds from the trestle over Fidalgo Bay flying to and fro with beak and eyes down-pointed, hovering and suddenly plunging, submerging entirely, springing back into air with a small fish tight in the bill, maybe a herring, smelt, or sand lance or salmon rearing in the bay. In winter Skagit's terns are away, living along Mexico's west coast and around Guatemala.
Deformed Beak Syndrome
The Falcon Research Group, founded by Bud Anderson, has recently discovered serious beak abnormalities in 60 raptors (55 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 2 Peregrine Falcons and a Ferruginous Hawk). Most of these records are from the Pacific Coast, ranging from Richmond, British Columbia to San Jose, CA. The peregrines were fall migrants caught at South Padre Island, TX. and Duluth, MN. in 2004.
The long-billed syndrome is characterized by abnormal growth of the maxilla and mandible. As the condition develops, the maxilla extends (often grotesquely) and the overgrown beak becomes unmistakably prominent. The tip may break off and form a square or blunt end ("broken-bill" form) which apparently impedes feeding and leads to starvation. Affected birds often carry high densities of feather lice, probably as a combined result of impeded preening and low condition.
Raptors are not the only birds affected. In Alaska over the past several years, witnesses report a startling increase of beak deformities among local birds. Large numbers of Black-capped Chickadees and smaller numbers of many other species of birds have appeared with grossly overgrown and crossed beaks.
The USGS began research on this problem in Alaska in 1999, and has since identified nearly 1,500 deformed Black-capped Chickadees in south-central Alaska—the highest concentration of such abnormalities ever recorded in a wild bird population anywhere. More recently, rapidly increasing numbers of other species, including Downy Woodpeckers, Northwest Crows, Steller’s Jays, and Black-billed Magpies have also been reported with beak deformities.
The cause for this syndrome is currently unknown. Potential causes include environmental contaminants, nutritional deficiencies, and disease. Nearly all of the species affected in Alaska are year-round residents, and the USGS suspects that factors responsible for this cluster of deformities may be unique to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Reports from the public will help to determine where and how many birds are affected. If you see a bird with a deformed beak, please report your sighting. For more information and contact information, see The Falcon Research Group site http://www.frg.org/LB_synd.htm , and the USGS Alaska Science Center site http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/ landbirds/beak_deformity/
***MORE NEEDS***
We are in need of a program chairperson and a secretary. Our secretary, Karen Chamberlain, has had to retire due to personal responsibilities. Karen has been a board member for over five years, serving for several years as the Flyer Distributor and more recently as secretary.
Karen, thank you for your many years of service and we wish you well. If you can help Skagit Audubon with either of these positions, please contact me
President Pam Pritzl ppritzl@verizon.net or 360-387-7024.
Gardening For Life
Wildlife enriches the lives of urban gardeners. As valuable habitat for wildlife decreases due to the accelerating pace of growth in our urban region, and poor water quality threatens salmon species, backyard habitats are ever more important. You can adopt gardening practices that have a positive impact on endangered salmon and on the water quality in your community, and help slow the loss of habitat in our region for birds and other wildlife.
Most potential "urban habitat" for birds and other wildlife is located not in public parks and greenbelts, but in the yards around privately owned homes. The amount of diversity of life in the urban areas directly reflects the gardening practices and plant choices of urban gardeners.
Seattle Audubon offers a new free booklet titled Audubon at Home in Seattle: Gardening for Life. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave National Audubon a grant to develop a guide to healthy gardening practices.
The EPA hoped that the product would serve as locally relevant, yet also be a nationally replicable template. NAS already knew of Seattle Audubon's fine Gardening for Life program and invited them to collaborate. The result—subtitled "An Inspirational Guide to Creating Healthy Habitat"—offers information, inspiration, practical wisdom from Seattle Audubon members and others, references, and even tips for how to persuade your local government to reduce pesticide usage.
Take a look at the Seattle Audubon site http://seattleaudubon.org/conservation.cfm?id=69, or pick up one free at the Seattle Audubon Nature Shop!
