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Upcoming Programs and Events
Announcements/Legislative Updates
Sulfide Mining Activities and Updates
Cats and Birds: Spring Reminder
New to Birding?
Urban Birding
Birds in the Media
About Duluth Audubon Society
About Our Logo
Bird-Friendly Coffee
Upcoming DAS events you won't want to miss ... And bring your friends and family!
Gull Watching At Canal Park In Winter With Erik Bruhnke
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Meet at the Park Point Recreation Center parking lot near the soccer fields.
7:45 am
Free and open to all.
Erik Bruhnke will be hosting free gull workshops at Canal Park this winter. Whether you're an avid gull nerd, or one who is regularly familiar with the term "seagull," Erik is thrilled to share his passion of gull identification with you. Winter hosts a very special time for gull watching in the Twin Ports area, as many gulls migrate to this area from the northern arctic regions. From seeing the silvery-winged Iceland Gull, to the largest gull in the world, the Great Black-backed Gull... Erik's workshops are sure to impress! Be sure to bundle up!
Gull Watching At Canal Park In Winter With Erik Bruhnke
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Meet across from the Dewitt-Seitz Building in the Canal Park main parking lot.
7:45 am
Free and open to all.
Duluth Audubon Society Birding Field Trip To
Sax-Zim Bog Important Bird Area, near Meadowlands, MN
Saturday, February 2, 2013 (Bad weather day - Sunday, February 3)
Trip leader is Laura Erickson. Laura is an experienced and knowledgeable
birder, and she's so much fun!
Click here for details
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth
835 West College Street, Duluth
7:00 pm
Free and open to all.
On November 8, Carrol Henderson will be presenting a program for the Duluth Audubon Society on “Birds of Kuwait.” The Henderson’s son Craig met a young woman from Kuwait, Reem Hadeed, while they were attending MIT in the 1990s. They were married in 2003. In the fall of 2009 Carrol, his wife Ethelle, Craig, and Reem, and grandson Mazen traveled to Kuwait where the sister of their daughter-in-law was being married. They had the opportunity to visit with the Hadeed family, attend the wedding reception, explore Kuwait City and surrounding desert lands, visit their national biodiversity research and restoration center, and bird in an area that rarely sees foreign birders. Learn more about this fascinating country (about the size of St. Louis County) and its people and wildlife at Carrol’s presentation.
Carrol Henderson has been supervisor of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Nongame Wildlife Program since 1977. He has a B.S. in zoology from Iowa State University (1968) and a Master of Forest Resources degree in ecology from the University of Georgia (1970). In 1977 he was hired to create and develop Minnesota’s new Nongame Wildlife Program for the Department of Natural Resources.
He has continued in that role to the present and has developed a comprehensive program for the development and protection of Minnesota’s nongame and endangered wildlife species. During the past 39 years Henderson has developed a statewide program for the conservation of nongame wildlife that has received both national and international recognition. He has helped plan and carry out restoration of peregrine falcons, bald eagles, eastern bluebirds, river otters and trumpeter swans in Minnesota.
Henderson is the author of eleven books including Woodworking for Wildlife, Landscaping for Wildlife, Wild About Birds: the DNR Bird Feeding Guide, and the Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica. He is co-author of The Traveler's Guide to Wildlife in Minnesota and Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality. Recent books include Oology and Ralph's Talking Eggs, Birds in Flight: The Art and Science of How Birds Fly, a complete revision of Woodworking for Wildlife, and three new field guides on the wildlife of Costa Rica.
Note: There is no program scheduled in December.
Upcoming program ... January 10, 2013
"Winter Bird Life in the North Woods"
Presented by Erik Bruhnke
(Birding tour guide and birding photographer)
Check out Erik at www.naturallyavian.blogspot.com
and on facebook.com/Naturally Avian
More to follow about Erik.
Continuing through November, 2012 ...
"Autumn Birding Strolls with Erik Bruhnke"
Erik Bruhnke will not be able to lead this Tuesday's, October 30, "Autumn Birding Strolls". Erik apologizes for cancelling, and he hopes to continue the strolls. Please check our website, plus, I will email you with updates on the stroll times and places for November.
Upcoming Winter Field Trip ... February 2, 2012
"Sax-Zim Bog Inportant Bird Area Trip with Laura Erickson"
Details to follow.
Now on Display -- the original bound volumes of John James Audubon's Bird of America:
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN has officially opened an exhibition of the original, complete bound volumes of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. The exhibition will be on display until August 12th. These extraordinary books are on loan to the MMAM from the Minneapolis Athenaeum and Hennepin County Library, Special Collections, and the exhibition is sponsored by Merchants Bank and Wisconsin Public Radio.
For a map to the museum, please click here.
Audubon painting of Ruffed Grouse provided courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Photo of Blackburnian Warbler provided courtesy of Wikipedia.
Announcements/Legislative Updates
Controversy Over Cormorants
From Audubon Minnesota: Rebound of historically depleted populations of Double-Crested Cormorants across Minnesota and other states has inspired concern by many fishing and recreational communities that these birds are depleting walleye and northern pike stocks. There is scientific evidence that Cormorants do not have a negative impact on most fisheries. They often nest in mixed colonies with other colonial water birds, such as Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, providing exciting birding.
Audubon Minnesota is working with members to defeat Congressman John Kline’s bill HR 3074, which removes Cormorants from direct federal management under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, leaving their management to the 50 states.
The Audubon movement was started more than 135 years ago to establish federal control over migratory birds to prevent their local exploitation: the opposite of this legislation! Cormorants continue to be singled out unfairly as problem species and need the same protections that all migratory birds receive as they move across our nation. |
Photo of Double-Crested Cormorant provided courtesy of Wikipedia. |
What You Can Do:
Learn more about this issue at the Audubon Minnesota website and help defend Double-Crested Cormorants by calling your Congressional representative today. Five of Minnesota’s Congresspersons are supporters of Congressman Kline’s reckless bill: Representatives Kline, Paulson, Bachman, Cravaack, and Peterson. These representatives need their constituents to remind them that all native migratory birds are important to us and deserve full federal protection. Ask them to oppose HR 3074 and fight any other measure that endanger our birds!
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Sulfide Mining Activities and Updates
Currently no events. Please check back!
Sulfide Mining Videos from Friends of the Boundary Waters:
These short videos explain the potential problems posed by the current plans for sulfide mining in Minnesota:
- The Sulfide Mining Snowplow - an overview of mine proposals near the BWCAW and Lake Superior.
- Fool Us Twice - the history of pollution associated with the kind of new mining which is being proposed in northern Minnesota.
- Our Most Precious Resource - information about the risks to clean water posed by sulfide mining proposals.
- Clean Water, Healthy Communities - sulfide mining threatens northern Minnesota's economy
- When the People Lead - what Minnesotans can do about sulfide mining.
Also, visit our introduction to sulfide mining.
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Cats and Birds: Spring Reminder
Our friends at Wildwoods Rehabilitation would like to remind us that cats are non-native predators, and every year, free-roaming cats kill and orphan millions of birds and small mammals. Cat predation hurts many species of native birds, as well as the native predators that depend on them for food. Keeping pet cats indoors is clearly the right thing to do for wildlife.
Photo provided courtesy of Pat Thomas.
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Indoor cats live far longer, healthier lives than cats who are allowed to roam (17 years vs. less than 5 years, on average). Indoor cats are sheltered from the many dangers that shorten the lives of outdoor cats--cars, getting lost, parasites and diseases, as well as human and wildlife predators. |
Many people are learning about ways to keep confined cats contented. For tips on how to make your cat into an indoor cat, click here. Many people are constructing or purchasing "catios," that is, outdoor areas for cats that keep them and their would-be prey safe. For more information on outdoor cat enclosures, click here.
If your cat has caught an animal, bring the animal to a wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible. Even if you do not see an injury, there are likely tiny puncture wounds from your cat’s teeth, and bacteria from your cat’s mouth will kill the animal in a day or so if it does not receive treatment.
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New to Birding?
We're in the process of building a birding page, but in the meantime, here are some links to help you get going if you're a "newbie."
For starters, visit Audubon's Get Started Birding page, for tips on learning the arts of observation and listening. For a slightly more in-depth presentation, visit their How to Bird page.
For help with learning to identify bird species, visit National Audubon's Online Guide to North American Birds, which covers all of North America's regular breeding birds-approximately 580 species - as well as an additional 180 or so non-breeding species that regularly or occasionally visit North America north of Mexico.
To see photographs (and hear calls of) bird species to which National Audubon is devoting special care in protecting, visit their Bird Profiles page. Species on this list include those on Audubon’s WatchList, the top 20 Common Birds in Decline, birds under threat from climate change, birds affected by the Gulf Oil Spill, the top 30 Birds to Help in your neighborhood and the Waterbird Conservation program.
And finally, for the basic courtesies observed by birders, visit National Audubon's Birding Etiquette page.
Birding is good for mind, body, and soul, which is why it is a hobby for nearly 50 million Americans. The idea of learning about the hundreds of North American birds may seem daunting, but if you only learn to recognize one new bird per month, in five years you'll know sixty new birds!
Photo of American Woodcock; courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Urban Birding
Most of us think of birding as an activity we do in forests, fields, marshes, and other natural areas. However, there is plenty of bird life right in front of us in the middle of the city. Urban birding is important, not just because it gets city dwellers connected with wild things, but also because it can motivate people to make their cities more bird- and nature-friendly.
To learn more about urban birding, visit the website of David Lindo, an expert photographer, bird watcher, and communicator on the urban birding experience. Also, some of the projects on our Citizen Science page are geared specifically for urban birders, like Cornell's Project Pigeonwatch, Project Feederwatch, and Celebrate Urban Birds.
Photo by Franklin Vera Pacheco; courtesy of Wikipedia
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Birds in the Media
Watch streaming views of a Red-tailed Hawk nest high above a Cornell University athletic field. The female, Big Red, who is banded on her right leg, is currently incubating a clutch of eggs, and hatching is imminent. She is almost nine year old. The male, Ezra, is at least seven years old and is banded on his left leg.
Watch a short clip on the beauty of hummingbirds and other pollinators, from Wings of Life, a film not yet released in the U.S.
Pat Thomas
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About Duluth Audubon Society
Duluth Audubon Society is celebrating its 39th year of promoting the enjoyment of birds, educating the public, and protecting habitat for our region’s diverse plant and animal species. Established as the Duluth Bird Club in the early 1940s, we became a chapter of the National Audubon Society in 1972. Our mission is to promote education, conservation, and research focused on birds, and to preserve and enhance the ecological diversity of the greater Duluth area.
As members of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, we believe in the power of collaborative grassroots efforts to protect and restore Minnesota’s natural environment. Please browse our website to learn how you can make a difference in the lives of birds and other species native to our unique urban wilderness.
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About Our Logo
We chose the birds in our logo to highlight the important role water and marshlands play in our region. Ecosystems at the boundary between water and land are vital to so many of our birds, as well as other important wildlife species, but unfortunately many of these areas are also considered by humans as “prime real estate.” In addition to development, many of our rivers, lakes, and marshes are being degraded by runoff from industry, households, and mines.
Despite these challenges, the Great Blue Heron has a conservation status of “Least Concern,”* partly because it was never over-hunted for its plumage, and also due to its greater tolerance for pesticides compared to other bird species. The Heron prefers to nest in trees near water, and reminds us to keep our shore areas well-planted, preferably with trees and other plants native to our region.
photo of Yellow Rail by Dominic Sherony
Unfortunately, the Yellow Rail--a small, secretive, wetlands bird--has not fared as well as the Heron. It is now a Minnesota Species of Greatest Conservation Need bird, as well as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Priority Species for this region. The Yellow Rail breeds in shallow marshes and wet meadows, and its numbers have declined mainly due to habitat loss. We hope that the establishment of the St. Louis River Estuary/Minnesota Point Important Bird Area will help expand this bird’s habitat. Click here for more information on the Yellow Rail.
*According to the International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN).
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Bird-Friendly Coffee.
Traditionally coffee plants were grown in the shade as an understory plant. In order to increase yields, growers started raising coffee in large plantations under the sun. This change caused habitat loss for birds as plantations replaced forests.To protect birds, many producers are switching back to growing coffee in the shade, thus preserving precious forest habitat.
Although some brands of coffee are labeled as shade grown, they do not necessarily grow under biodiverse conditions that qualify as prime bird habitat. For that reason, different certification labels have arisen to help consumers figure out what sort of habitat their purchase supports. The Rainforest Alliance provides an excellent certification label. Caribou Coffee has committed to sourcing 100% of their coffees from Alliance certified farms, and is on track to achieve this goal by the end of 2011. You can also purchase Rainforest Alliance certified coffees from Mt. Royal Fine Foods and Whole Foods Co-op.
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center offers another label carrying stringent standards for certification. Coffee and Tea Ltd. of Minneapolis sells the Smithsonian certified brands Peru 'La Florida,' Guatemala 'Guaya'b,' and Colombia 'Mesa de los Santos.' They will ship to the Arrowhead region. We will post other purveyors of high-quality shade-grown coffee as we discover them.
Photo courtesy of nps.gov.
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A shade-grown coffee farm loving bird: The Baltimore Oriole nests in the eastern and central regions of North America, and winters in southern Mexico and Central America. One of its favorite winter habitats is biodiverse shaded coffee plantations. Next time you enjoy a cup of your favorite coffee, think of the oriole, and consider buying bird-friendly coffee. |
The Rainforest Alliance also certifies shade-grown chocolate -- look for the logo with the little green frog!
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