Naturally. Newsletter of the Conococheague Audubon Society. November 2011 VOL. 36, NO. 2. Photograph by Rich Michalski

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1 Naturally Newsletter of the Conococheague Audubon Society November 2011 VOL. 36, NO. 2 Published: September, November, January, March, May Birding the Net (an edited press release from Audubon) New York (October 11, 2011) Birdwatching hit the Internet as Audubon launched its groundbreaking social media campaign, Birding the Net, on Oct. 10. Visitors to over 100 websites including AOL, Slate, Discovery Channel and more will encounter unexpected avian visitors - each inviting them to find more birds to add to their lists. Timed to build on the release of 20th Century Fox s The Big Year, the campaign, created by Goodby, Silverstein, & Partners, will bring the excitement of birds and birding to a broad new audience in a new and unexpected way. Birds are the best possible ambassadors for the environment, and this will help people see them in a whole new way, said David Yarnold, President & CEO of Audubon. This is about fun - but it s also about getting more people involved in taking action to protect birds and the planet we share with them. And with this unprecedented use of social media and the web, we re also making clear that this is not your grandmother s Audubon. In The Big Year (now playing in theatres), characters compete to see the most North American birds in one year. Birding the Net brings to the Internet the thrill of the chase found in real-world birding, challenging players to spot dozens of species that will be released from Oct. 10 through Nov. 7. Web surfers will observe virtual birds doing the same things that birds do outdoors: animations of birds will fly across homepages, perch on mastheads, and flock to birdhouses that can be installed on personal websites and blogs. Clicking on the animated birds on the participating websites takes players to an Audubon Facebook page to collect and trade bird cards which feature recordings of birdsongs, bird facts, and video. The first players to collect all the birds will win prizes, including a voyage to the Galapagos Islands. All that is required to play is to visit Audubon on

2 Faceboook at The game will go viral, since trading bird cards helps a player s chances of winning; the more Facebook friends that compete in Birding the Net, the more opportunities for trading birds. And for exclusive hints on where to find birds on the Internet, Audubon followers on Twitter (@AudubonSociety) can interact and follow campaign spokes In addition to the grand prize voyage for two to the Galapagos Islands courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions, prizes include Canon cameras, Nikon binoculars, gift cards to Woolrich and downloads of the Audubon Birds - A Field Guide to North American Birds mobile app from Green Mountain Digital. All 200 winners also receive one-year membership to Audubon. To use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) link to download the toolkit for Birding the Net, you must directly type the URL - ftp.audubon.org - into the address bar of Windows Explorer or your Web browser, then hit enter. When the login box pops up, enter the username "chpintftp" and password "chpintftp721" (without quotes). Once the FTP site opens, click on the two files to open or save to your computer. On the Record By Donna Hocker The Craig Farm Field Trip led by Mary Craig brought the total number of species for this trip to 89. Ten birders spotted 48 species in mid- September. New to the list are Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Nighthawk, Northern Parula, Blackpoll Warbler, and Black & White Warbler. Nashville Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Canada Warbler, and Eastern Towhee. Dale Gearhart reported that the Hawk Watch is breaking records. As of October 10, 5,500 birds have been seen including 59 Bald Eagles. Report from the Board Treasurer Henry Betz reported that our CD has been renewed. Thanks to Val Barnes who submitted our annual report to National Audubon, we received a baseline payment of $1, Letters protesting Sunday hunting have been sent to Phil Wallace of PA Audubon, State Senators and Representatives and to the PA Governor. The Board approved a $35.00 donation to Cumberland Valley Rails to Trails toward the completion of the trail from Shippensburg to Newville. Twenty-one kits of Audubon Adventure have been ordered for Franklin County teachers. We thank Joan Duffield for coordinating this effort. The book John James Audubon Journal of 1826 has been placed in the Grove Library in memory of Esther Pine. The Garden Committee is busy setting goals for the garden. It was noted that the kiosk and Purple Martin house are being repaired. Volunteer Needed We need a garden kiosk custodian to update information in the kiosk. If interested please Donna Hocker at dlhocker@yahoo.com (Newsletter continues on page 3) Bill Oyler led the Creekside Field Trip to Creekside, Heisey Orchard, and Michaux State Forest in September. Seven observers spotted 49 species. New to the list are Cooper s Hawk, Red-tail Hawk, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Carolina Chickadee, House Wren, Brown Thrasher,

3 Bus Trip to see Audubon Prints By Shirley Fenstermacher Congratulations to the 44 members and friends of Conococheague Audubon who journeyed to Pittsburgh Saturday October 8, by bus, to visit the University of Pittsburgh Library. At the library we enjoyed viewing about 30 original Audubon paintings that had been meticulously restored in vibrant color with lifelike details. They were displayed on large tables just for our visit. The library curator, his assistant, and our host, Dr. Sites, were also there to share their knowledge and make it a great day. The Pittsburgh field trip also included a lively and interesting visit to the National Aviary. The Aviary is divided into different habitats: rain forest, desertlike environment, water tank for penguins, sky deck for raptors - their freedom to fly among the trees and shrubs was delightful. Mr. S. Sarro escorted our group throughout the Aviary and made a presentation with his penguin friend. Bluebird Report By Shirley Fenstermacher Bluebirds in the 26 boxes monitored by Conococheague Audubon had a poor production of fledglings this season. Ike Isham monitored the Norlo park Garden with no bluebirds, even though Dennis McGinnis constructed a fine platform for mealy worms, however, the worms drowned in April. Ants infested several boxes, tree swallows won over two fence rows, hot dry summer months took their toll on the bluebird nestlings, and as a mouse jumped out onto the shoe of one Auduboner we knew the bluebirds lost that box also. We did account for six productive bluebird boxes, with special thanks to the Carmacks back yard, and a friend in North Guilford Hills who also added to the regular bluebird trail. Nevertheless, out teams will try again next year. 50th Anniversary Event: Citizen Science - Help with Christmas Bird Count December 17, 2011 By Valerie B. Barnes The Christmas Bird Count is our final event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Conococheague Audubon. Let s wrap up this milestone year with the best Christmas Bird Count ever. Can we top 84 species and 80 observers? The more people who participate, the more birds we ll find. You don t

4 have to be an expert at identification to help; spotting birds and recording what the team sees are important to the effort. We need teams of volunteers to count every bird in our designated 15-mile diameter circle. Our count will be on Saturday, December 17, This long-running citizen science project helps Audubon to assess the health of bird populations and guide conservation action. The one-day annual event is an opportunity to meet other local birders, hone your birding skills, take part in a seasonal tradition, and contribute to conservation. You can start counting just after midnight on the 17th; owls sometimes sound off in the wee hours of the morning. Our count area center is at a point just off Spring Road near the headwaters of the Falling Spring. These zone captains organize volunteers in different sections of the circle: Zone 1 Joan Bowen Zone 2 Earl Nollenberger Zone 3 Russ Martz Zone 4 Dan and Barb Higgins Zone 5 Dale Gearhart address, or don t remember who your captain is, please contact Val Barnes ( ). If watching your feeders is more to your liking, call Joan Applegate ( ) so she can send you a record form. You don t need to be an experienced birder to participate and the length of time you wish to count is up to you. The Christmas Bird Count is fun and you never know what you might see. Make it a family affair! National Audubon assesses a fee of $5.00 for each participant in the field to promote the count and provide a publication of the analysis of the count to each participant. Our chapter has been paying this from the treasury. If you would like to donate toward the expense of the count, donations may be given to any zone captain or the treasurer and would be greatly appreciated. We ll gather to tally results at the Arbor Room at Menno Haven Village Square on Monday December 19th at 6:00 PM. Come and enjoy rotisserie chicken, a tossed salad, steamed broccoli, rissole potatoes, whole grain roll, and cherry pie. The cost is $14.15 per person, payable to Menno Haven, Inc. Martha Buckey ( ; 1206 Arbor Ridge, Chambersburg, PA 17201) has graciously agreed to collect the checks; she ll collect at the November and December meetings. Please sign up and pay no later than December 12th if you plan to join the tally dinner. You are welcome to come to the tally dinner even if you aren t able to participate in the count itself. Let s count lots of birds! Norlo Park Garden By Jean Morton If you participated before, your zone captain should contact you, but if he/she doesn t call you, please contact him/her to sign up again. If you are new to the count this year, have a new phone number or Now that we are well into fall and the heat of summer is behind us, our focus now is getting our volunteers out to do our fall clean-up and prepare the garden for winter. This past hot and dry summer took its toll on some of the plants while others seemed to thrive. The much needed rain has helped many of those plants to bounce back.

5 This coming Spring we will be looking for new volunteers to replace those who have retired for various reasons. Springtime is the best time to weed the garden as this will help keep down the amount of weeding for the rest of the season. We have goals set for our garden but we need your help in reaching them and we all take much pride in how our garden looks. If you are interested in volunteering in the garden, please contact Jean Morton at Mill Grove Trip By Linda Kaiser Audubon, came to America as a teenager and lived in the house on the property from In 1951 Montgomery County purchased the house and land and turned the house into a museum. In the museum we watched a short video and toured the first and second floors where we saw one volume of John James Audubon's rare masterpiece, "The Birds of America", which contained 435 lifesize images of birds and one volume of 150 images of North American mammals. There were also many prints, paintings, and wall murals. The grounds are nicely landscaped. For the trip we saw a total of 31 birds. On September 24, a group of ten people traveled to Audubon, PA. to visit the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove. The property was the first home in America of John James Audubon, artist and naturalist. The property was sold to J. J. Audubon's father (a native of France, and a sea captain) in Mr. Audubon's son, John James *** DEADLINE FOR ARTICLES FOR JANUARY 2012 NATURALLY NEWSLETTER IS 15 DECEMBER *** Conococheague Audubon Website The URL for our website is: Or goggle - Conococheague + Audubon Newsletter Editor - Doris Burdick 58 Homestead Drive Greencastle, PA Rcbdcb@comcast.net Assistant Editor - Joyce Schaff 3205 Warm Springs Road Chambersburg, PA Pjschaff@comcast.net Send all newsletter articles to the editor, and all mailing changes to the assistant editor. Visit often to keep up to date on all activities. OFFICERS * President: Donna Hocker dlhocker@yahoo.com (717) * Vice President: Conway Bushey wcbushey@embarqmail.com (717) * Recording Secretary: Rhetta Martin rhettaanderic@embarqmail.com (717) * Corresponding Secretary: Valerie Barnes vbarhen@pa.net (717) * Treasurer: Henry Betz Hvbetz@embarqmail.com (717) * Immediate Past President: Dale Gearhart Dgearhart01@comcast.net (717) (H) (717) (Cell)