January: A Hawk workshop and field trip will be held Saturday, 14th of January. Place: Southern Homes and Gardens, 8820 Vaughn Road, Montgomery, Alabama. Time: 12:30pm followed by a field trip to Elmore County.
Leader: Lee McElvaine.
February: The
River Region Bird Club, in cooperation with The Hummer/Bird Study
Group and The Alabama WildBird Conservation Association, is
sponsoring a "Bird Banding Workshop". These are the
details:
Location: The Conservation Lake
Hunting Camp near Greenville, Alabama.
Schedule:
9:00 AM - 12 Noon -
Bird Banding Workshop.
12 Noon - 1:00 PM - Lunch (bring your own).
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Bird Walks led by experienced field trip
leaders.
Directions: Exit I65
at exit 128 (Highway 10) and proceed west toward Pineapple. Travel
app. 2.3 miles to County Road 183 (AKA: High Road) and turn right.
Continue a short distance to Conservation Road and turn right.
Travel to the end of the pavement on Conservation Road and turn
right on to the gated pasture road. The gate will be opened at 8:45
AM. Follow the pasture road to the hunting camp house and lake. As
you approach the old wooden barn keep to the right and go down the
hill. This is a one lane road. Proceed slowly and carefully.
If it is raining or
threatening rain on the 18th the workshop will be
cancelled. If the weather conditions are such that you are uncertain
about cancellation you can call (334) 437-2900 for information. You
can also call this number if you have any problems finding
Conservation Lake. This is a cell phone number and the person
carrying the phone will be at Conservation Lake. Please do not call
the number before 7 AM.
There are restrooms and kitchen
facilities available at the Conservation Lake Camp House.
Birders often call sparrows
"little brown jobs". This name is actually not a fitting
description for many members of the sparrow family. A few species of
sparrows are regular visitors at bird feeders but most are secretive
and spend the better part of their lives in thickets, grassy fields
and other places that make them difficult to observe. The fleeting
glimpses they afford us are indeed quite often a flash of brown but
when they surprise us with a close look it is quickly apparent that
they are not "little brown jobs". In fact they wear coats
of many colors including rich browns, shades of tan, black, white
and yellow. Many are even outstanding singers, changing their winter
squeaks and peeps to spring songs that rival those of the
"thrushes" the champion singers of the bird world.
On February 18th
you will have the opportunity to see sparrows (and other species)
closer than you ever imagined. You may even get to hold a sparrow in
your hand.
The Bird Banding Workshop will be
conducted by Master Bird Bander Fred Bassett. Fred will be assisted
by Jayne Rushin.
Fred Bassett lives in Montgomery, is
a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, and a retired fighter pilot.
He is a member of the Hummer/Bird Study Group, the organization that
operates the Fort Morgan Bird Banding Station in April and October
each year. HBSG also conducts banding research projects and presents
workshops across the country. Fred will be presenting a
"Hummingbird Program" at Auburn University in Montgomery
on February 25 at 10:30 AM. The program will be presented in room
112 in Goodwyn Hall on the AUM campus.
During the winter Fred travels
throughout the Southeast banding and collecting research data on
wintering hummingbirds. His dedication to this task has added a
wealth of information to our knowledge of the occurrence and
distribution of winter hummingbirds in Alabama. Until about 1985 it
was assumed that there were only two species of hummers that
occurred in Alabama in the winter. We now know there are nine. The
most recent addition to the list was a Costa’s Hummingbird which
Fred identified and banded in Montgomery this winter. This was the
first documented occurrence of this species in Alabama and probably
the first east of the Mississippi River.
Jayne Rushin lives in Auburn and is
an attorney. Jayne has traveled widely in the study and pursuit of
birds and is an active member of several birding and bird research
organizations in Alabama. She is experienced in the procedures and
practices of bird banding and a member of the HBSG team of trained
volunteers who assist in operating the Fort Morgan Banding Station
and other HBSG banding projects. Jayne is also a talented artist.
Her specialty is artworks created from various metals.
Hope to see you at Conservation Lake
on February 18.
RIVER REGION BIRD
CLUB