Tuesday, February 14, 2012

MEETING AND PROGRAM

Lex Alfred Hedley - Birds, Art, and Writing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saw-whet Owl Painting 
by Lex Hedley

 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
7:00 Social; 7:30 Program
Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
10441 Bayview-Edison Road
Mount Vernon, Washington

Lex Hedley is completing a manuscript for a book relating his experiences as an artist following the annual migration of birds on the Pacific northwest coast. In this program he presents a brief reading from this manuscript and some slide and video
examples of his work.

Lex writes, “Birds are an important part of my life, offering me a contemplative, restorative and easily accessible link to the natural world. For me, they create interludes in the rush of life, opportunities to think about the spaces in which they live and to cultivate an awareness of other, wider symmetries of nature, the fall of light on the sea, the sweep of the sky, the stillness of an estuary. In such moments, I feel at the heart of something and I am drawn to reflect upon the profound emotional and spiritual attachment we have to these creatures and spaces that so define and enrich our lives.”

Lex has painted North American birds since 1989. He says that he came here from New Zealand to experience the northern landscape and to paint its bird life. His wife Sandra came to complete her post-graduate education, and their daughter Rachel, at five years of age, came because she simply didn’t have any choice in the matter.

 

SNOW GOOSE AND BIRDING FESTIVAL
Feb. 25 and 26, 2012 ~ Stanwood, Washington

One last February bird festival just south of the Skagit will take place
in Stanwood. There are lots of good speakers and field trips for your
participation. Please go to the website,
http: //www.snowgoosefest.org/Home.html
to learn more about the celebration of White Birds, as well as to
attend or volunteer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Geese in the Skagit Valley
Photo by J. B. Smith

 

 

!!! CONGRATULATIONS JOSH PARROTT !!!
From 8,000 bird photos submitted by 1,300 professional, amateur, and young photographers, two of Josh Parrott’s photos were winners in the 2010 Audubon Magazine Photography Awards. Those of you who take part in Skagit Audubon Society’s birding field trips have met this avid truck-driving birder. We envy Joshes opportunities to combine his frantic trucking occupation with birding around the U.S.A. Despite Joshes far flung birding habits, his two photo Song Sparrow winners are Washington state birds.

The first is a Red- Red-eyed Vireo Photo by Josh Parrott eyed Vireo photographed 20 miles west of Winthrop, Photo by Josh Parrott while the second is a Song Sparrow from our Whidbey Island’s Dugualla Bay. The Red-eyed Vireo photo appears in the National Audubon Society 16-month Calendar, “Conserving and Restoring Birds 2012.” To read more about this photo contest link to: http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/features1101/photoawards-top100.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=

Don’t Help Cats Hurt Wildlife

From: Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife “Crossing Paths” email news notes August 2010

Wild birds and free-ranging cats are not a good mix. As a backyard wildlife enthusiast, you control your own cat and talk to cat-owning neighbors about doing the same.

But feral cats – those untamed strays that now total up to an estimated 10 million throughout the United States – can, and have, seriously damaged wild bird and other wildlife populations.

While domestic cats are solitary animals, colonies of feral cats often form around food sources like bird feeding stations, garbage dumps, or places where people deliberately leave food for them. In fact, many colonies of feral cats are supported by well-meaning but misinformed advocates of what’s become known as “TNR” management: Trap, Neuter, Release.

The theory behind TNR programs is eventual reduction of feral cat colonies. But sadly, such claims are not substantiated and research shows continuing negative impacts to wildlife (as most recently documented by Darcee Guttilla and Paul Statt from California State University  in the Journal of Mammalogy http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-111.1 .)

Cat colonies often serve as dumping grounds for other unwanted cats. The food provided usually attracts more cats. Contrary to TNR proponent beliefs, colony cats do not keep other cats from joining the colony. As time goes on, some colony cats become too wary to be caught, so rarely are all spayed or neutered. With females capable of producing up to three litters of four to six kittens each every year, it doesn’t take long to grow a feral cat colony.

Well-fed cats, either feral or domestic, become “super-predators” of birds and other wildlife. The need to eat and the instinct to hunt can and do function separately. Any cat owner can attest to this fact with stories of “gift birds” laid at their feet by feline companions.

Almost one-fifth of all injured wildlife brought to Washington’s wildlife rehabilitators across the state was harmed by cats. In addition to their threats to wildlife, feral cat colonies pose human health risks. Even TNR-managed colonies can spread disease such as ringworm, toxoplasmosis, cat scratch fever, and rabies, since every cat is not captured regularly for health care.

Free-roaming cats usually have short, miserable lives, due to collisions with motor vehicles, attacks by other domestic and wild animals, accidental poisoning or trapping, and parasites and diseases. The Humane Society of the United States reports that the expected life span of an indoor cat is at least triple that of cats that spend their lives outdoors.

TNR management of feral cats is clearly not in the best interests of anyone, and it often overwhelms the ability of well-meaning people who genuinely want to help animals. It also undermines efforts of responsible pet owners who keep their cats indoors. For more information, see the American Bird Conservancy’s “Cats Indoors!” campaign at http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy

!!! HELP SKAGIT AUDUBON SOCIETY GO GREEN !!!
EACH PRINTED NEWSLETTER COSTS 70 CENTS TO PRINT & 44 CENTS TO MAIL.
TOTAL = $1.14 @ NEWSLETTER X 10 = $11.40 @ YEAR

WITH ANNUAL LOCAL DUES AMOUNTING TO $20 THAT LEAVES JUST $9.60 @ YEAR TO GO TOWARD CHAPTER EXPENSES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS.
HELP US SPEND YOUR DUES $$ ON SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT!

RECEIVE YOUR NEWSLETTER VIA THE INTERNET!
MAKE YOUR “GREEN DECISION” AND LET US KNOW AT skagitmembers@gmail.com

*
* WDFW NEWS RELEASE
* Hotline to report dead or ill swans available
* Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/ November 9, 2011
* Contact: Paul DeBruyn, (360) 466-4345 ext. 281
* OLYMPIA - In a continuing effort to monitor trumpeter swans that have succumbed to lead poisoning, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has re-established a hotline to report dead or ill swans in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.
* People can call (360) 466-4345, ext. 266, to report dead or sick swans. Callers should be prepared to leave a message including their name and phone number, and the location and condition of the swans. The hotline is available 24 hours a day through the end of March.
* Some trumpeter swans in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties, and in southwestern British Columbia, die each winter from lead poisoning after ingesting lead shot in areas where they feed.
* Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting in Washington and British Columbia for more than a decade, but biologists believe swans are likely reaching shallow underwater areas in fields and roosts where spent lead shot is still present.
* People who see sick or dead swans are advised not to handle or attempt to move the birds, said Paul DeBruyn, WDFW wildlife biologist. WDFW and Puget Sound Energy employees, as well as volunteers from the Washington Waterfowl Association and the Trumpeter Swan Society, will pick up the birds, he said.
* WDFW and other agencies and organizations have been working since 2001 to locate sources of toxic lead.
* Since 2006, hazing crews have worked to discourage swans from using Judson Lake, a significant source of lead poisoning on the U.S.-Canada border in Whatcom County. As a result of that effort, the number of lead-related swan mortalities in northern Puget Sound dropped to about 75 per year, about 65 percent less than the previous five-year average, said DeBruyn.
* For the third straight year, biologists will place bamboo poles in portions of the lake to keep birds from landing or swimming in areas with concentrations of lead shot, DeBruyn said. Swans that do access those areas will be hazed from the lake.