Palouse Audubon Society The Prairie Owl. Chelan Ridge Hawk migration fest

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1 Palouse Audubon Society The Prairie Owl Volume 39 Issue 1 EVENT CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 14: Board meeting 15: Program meeting, 7:30 p.m., Fiske Room, 1912 Center. Check website for details. OCTOBER 5: Board meeting 20: Program meeting, 7:30 p.m., Fiske Room, 1912 Center PALOUSE AUDUBON President: Terry Gray, , clgtlg@moscow.com Treasurer: Lavon Frazier, , lavon_frazier@roadrunner. com Board Member: Laura Bloomfield, , laurabloomfield22@ yahoo.com Board Member: Becky Phillips, , beccapzz@gmail.com Field Trips: Terry Gray, , clgtlg@moscow.com Membership: Ron Force, ronforce@ gmail.com Newsletter: Tina Deines, tinadeines@ gmail.com Programs/Website: Tom Weber, , tweber@roadrunner,com Publicity: Diane Weber, , catbirdz@roadrunner.com Chelan Ridge Hawk migration fest Join the Methow Valley Ranger District, North Central Washington Audubon Society, and HawkWatch International for a free family event to learn about and celebrate raptors as they journey to winter territories. This amazing, interactive raptor event will take place 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 25 at Memorial Park in Pateros, Washington. The festival will have art projects for kids, hands-on activities, and raptor exhibits. Attendees can also go on birding field trips with experts to identify waterfowl and migrating songbirds while exploring along the Columbia River. During the day, shuttles will run from Pateros to Chelan Ridge where learners of all ages will be able to see raptors like Sharpshinned Hawks up close before they are banded and released. This is an amazing experience with environmental education and interpretation conducted by an on-site educator, Forest Service personnel, and other volunteers. On Sunday, continuing the celebration of Hawk Migration, the North Cascades Basecamp, a festival sponsor, will be hosting a pancake breakfast with an expert speaker and then providing a guide for a field trip to Harts Pass, another excellent place to view migrating raptors. Call or see their website for more information or see their booth at the festival in Pateros. To pre-register for the field trips leaving from Pateros and to reserve a space in the shuttle to Chelan Ridge, please call For more information about this free festival, please visit or festival@ncwaudubon.org Note from the president Summer has gone by way too fast this year. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer. We have lost a great friend this summer. Henry Willmes was our treasurer for many years, and we will miss his gracious smile and willingness to serve our group. Again, I am making a request to our members to get involved as officers and board members of Palouse Audubon Society. I will step down as president of this group effective December 31, On another note, I gave notice that last year was going to be my last as compiler for the Lewiston-Clarkston Christmas Bird Count. I would be willing to help anyone interested in doing this job (if not, in late December or early January the LC CBC will no longer take place). If anyone is interested in stepping up to the plate with new ideas to help this group continue to provide a serviceto this area, please let us know. Terry Gray

2 Henry Wilmes Henry Wilmes, former treasurer for Palouse Audubon Society, died Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at his home. He was 70. He was born Aug. 30, 1939, in Bocholt, Germany, to Albert and Anna Mumken Wilmes. As a young child, he and his mother and sister, along with many other civilians, were evacuated from the city. From 1943 to 1946 they lived in Wels, Austria. After the war, the family moved to Neuss, Germany. Henry became the first in his family to attend high school and college. Henry and his family immigrated to the United States in 1954 and settled in Los Angeles, where Henry graduated from Los Angeles High School About Palouse Audubon Palouse Audubon Society, PO Box 3606, Moscow ID , is a chapter of the National Audubon Society. Our mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth s biological diversity. General membership meetings are held at the 1912 Building, FISKE ROOM, 3rd and Adams St, Moscow ID, at 7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, September through May. The board of directors meet at the 1912 Center at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. in He attended the University of California at Los Angeles where he earned bachelor s and master s degrees and a doctorate in physics. After college he served in the Air Force from In 1968 Henry was hired as a professor of physics at the University of Idaho. He retired in Henry was an active member of the the Palouse Land Trust and was a volunteer for Meals on Wheels. He is survived by his wife, Cathryn Wilmes, sons Charles and Matthew Wilmes, daughter Julie Zommers, grandchildren Henry, Laila, Clare, Anna and Aleks, sister Katharina Benyei and many nieces and nephews. Treasurer s Report 8/3/2010 Checking Balance $7, Certificate of Deposit $ Monies reserved (grants) $ Checking total less grants $2, Membership Report 3/4/2010 National and Palouse Audubon 297 Palouse Audubon (only) 34 National Audubon (only) 112 Total Membership 444 *Newest membership report coming soon. The Prairie Owl is published every other month, August through April. Material for the Owl should be sent to the editor, Tina Deines at tinadeines@gmail.com by the 20th of the month. Subscription problems should be addressed to the membership chair, Ron Force at ronforce@ gmail.com. Visit the Palouse Audubon Society website at

3 Field trips September 11, 18 and 25 October 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 Mann Lake Field Trips (every Saturday during the month) with Terry Gray. The trips are sponsored by Palouse Audubon and Canyon Birders, and will focus on the fall migration of waterfowl and shorebirds through our region. Field trip leaders and participants should meet at the Mann Lake boat ramp at 8:30 am. This is a great time of year to observe migrants at the lake. Observations at the lake are generally two hours in length perfect for those who can t spare a whole day! To get to Mann Lake: THE SCENIC ROUTE (Lindsay Creek Road): From the north end of Lewiston, follow US-12 south into town, cross the Clearwater River on Memorial Bridge and immediately take the first left (east) toward East Lewiston. Turn left (east) onto East Main Street and go about a half mile to the flashing yellow lights. Turn right (south) onto Lapwai (a.k.a. Lindsay Creek) Road. When the road forks stay right on Lindsay Creek Road (Nez Perce County Road 460) and follow it about 5 miles to its terminus at Grelle Avenue. Turn left (east) onto Grelle Avenue and just past the sharp right curve, turn left (east) onto East Powers Avenue (a.k.a. Lapwai Road). Continue straight (east) past the grain towers to the main parking lot of the lake. THE URBAN ROUTE (Powers Avenue): From the north end of Lewiston, follow US-12 south into town, stay left at the first light and cross the Clearwater River on Memorial Bridge. The left lane directs you up 21st Street at the next light. Follow it up the hill, through the Lewiston Orchards until it turns into a two-lane road. Turn left on Powers Avenue and follow it all the way to the grain towers and the main parking lot at the lake. ID DeLorme 54, A-1. Join us on Facebook Visit the new Palouse Audubon Society Facebook page! You can check it out without having to join Facebook just go to this site and take a look around: For those unfamiliar with Facebook, it is a social networking site for individuals, groups, events and more. At the PAS site, you can connect with fellow birders as well as outdoor and conservation enthusiasts. You can share photos and read about the local birds and animals other people have seen. You can get updates on club activities and share links to interesting websites and videos. Share your favorite birding spots or trails. You can also join discussion groups and for those who have been in Audubon for many years provide seasoned insights to newcomers. By logging in, you can help protect the future of Palouse Audubon Society by reaching out to a new generation of nature lovers. Most of all, it s fun! Facebook allows you to control privacy settings and you can enter as much or as little personal information as desired. Hope to see you there soon!

4 Scholarship winners Kristy Bellinger (Washington State University) and Teresa Lorenz (University of Idaho) pose with PAS President Terry Gray. Each student will receive $500 from PAS to help them complete their graduate research. Bellinger is studying environmental impacts on salmonids and Lorenz is studying cavity nesting birds in post-fire communities. Five great ways to attract hummingbirds Taken from Top 10 Things You Can Do to Attract Hummingbirds by Bill Thompson, III, Bird Watcher s Digest. Replace old feeders. Don t want to waste good nail polish and elbow grease on rehabilitating your tired, old hummingbird feeders? Don t be a cheap skate. Go buy some new feeders. This time, get durable, heavy plastic feeders. Make sure they are designed for easy filling and that they come apart for easy cleaning. If you still insist on getting El Cheapo feeders, start saving now to buy a new batch of feeders next spring. Make snag perches for hummingbirds. Bluebirds, kestrels, and flycatchers all like to use snags for perching. Why do they perch? To rest, to preen, but most of all, to hunt. Hummingbirds are no different. After beating your wings at a rate of 80 beats per second, you d feel like taking a break, too. You can create a hummingbird snag by sticking a dead branch into the ground so that it stands vertically. Place it about 50 feet from your feeder, but still within view. You may find that a territorial male uses the perch as a watch tower from which to defend a lone feeder. Add a mister to your yard. A mister is a small-hosed attachment for your regular garden hose. With the hose turned on to just a trickle, the mister, with its pinhole openings, shoots a fine spray, or mist, into the air. Hummingbirds love to fly through the fine spray until they are thoroughly soaked, at which point they zip off to a handy preening perch. Don t remove those spider webs. Hummingbirds use spider web as a main ingredient in their nests. Strands of spider web hold the nest together and to the branch upon which it is built. But wait, there s more! Hummingbirds also love to steal insects from spider webs. Insects are an important source of protein for hummingbirds, and they ll get them any way they can. Got bullies? Add more feeders in a clump! If you have one male hummingbird that is dominating your feeder to the exclusion of all others, there are two ways to afford your other hummingbirds a drink. One is to put up other feeders on opposite sides of your house, or out of sight of Mr. Bully. Perhaps a better solution is to add two or three more feeders in the vicinity of the first feeder. This will attract multiple hummingbirds, which will quickly cure your bully of his territoriality.

5 Vaux s Swift night out September 10 All members and friends are invited to join Terry Gray September 10 to watch Vaux s Swifts, which fly in to roost in one or two different chimneys during their movement south. You should come at least a half an hour before sunset to the front of the old Martin Tire Store at 115 2nd Ave. in downtown Moscow. Terry will be there to answer questions. Terry has been watching these birds both spring (May) and fall (late August and September) during their migration since At the Moscow chimneys, the highest number of swifts observed in spring has been 55 birds and 550 birds in fall. Terry is also involved in a program called Vaux s Happenings, which is a project to learn more about the swifts during migration and to try and determine how many of these birds migrate along the western United States. A total of 54 chimneys have been identified as roost chimneys from California to British Columbia, but there are probably more. Moscow has the only known chimney in Idaho that is being used during both spring and fall migration. This was the furthest east chimney until last year when chimneys were discovered in western Montana. For more information about Vaux s Swift migration you can Google Vaux s Swift to find videos and information on these small birds. One of the better videos of these small birds entering chimneys is at: Storks in northern Spain, near Madrid. These pictures are from a trip taken by Tina Deines in May Storks in this region represent a conservation success story for Spain.

6 PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY Palouse Audubon Society P.O. Box 3606 Moscow ID The mission of the Palouse Audubon Society is to educate, conserve and restore natural ecosystems focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth s biological diversity. We re on the Web! MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY (New only) Includes National Audubon Society and Palouse Audubon Society membership and subscriptions to Audubon Magazine and The Prairie Owl newsletter. Send check payable to National Audubon Society Introductory Membership $20.00 Student & Senior Citizen (62+) $15.00 PALOUSE AUDUBON SOCIETY Financially supports the programs and activities of the Palouse Audubon Society and includes an annual subscription to The Prairie Owl newsletter. Send your check payable to Palouse Audubon Society. Annual Membership $15.00 For additional information call: (509) Name Address City State Zip Phone Return this form with your check to: Palouse Audubon Society, PO Box 3606, Moscow, ID