A Message from the President — Valerie B. Barnes By the time you read this, fall migration will be underway. Early migrants typically in-clude shorebirds such as egrets and sandpipers, raptors, and some varieties of warblers. If you see something unusual, please spread the word so others can enjoy the birds, too.

Thanks to our new Naturally editor, Jane Bussard, for taking on the task of assembling and producing the newsletter. As you see, she’s doing an excellent job. Thanks again to Jennifer Wright for the many issues she generated. We are also grateful that our new Treasurer, Emmie White, is on the job. Keep her busy by sending in your donations to keep us afloat! Thanks again to Doug Powless for his many years of service.

We are still looking for one additional Director. What does a Director do? He or she votes on all policy changes related to Conococheague Audubon and approves the budget. The Directors also appoint an audit committee to function upon change of Treasurer or any other time deemed necessary.

Annually, the Board of Directors and Executive Committee (aka the officers) hold five joint meetings. See the Activities List for scheduled meeting dates. It’s interesting to see the organization from the leadership perspective, and the job isn’t too difficult. Please contact me if you are interested in serving. We need your help!

Last year the Board and Executive Committee updated the Conococheague Audubon “plan.” At our summer joint meeting, we decided to take on these new tasks to strengthen the organization and our presence in the community:

• Add one or more field trips especially for beginning birders. We held the first one, looking for summer resident birds, two weeks after the Beginning Birder Workshop and had good participation. We’ll try to schedule a trip to the Pulpit for hawks this fall.

• Connect with school-aged students more. Try to reach them through clubs, existing nature activities in and out of the classroom, and homeschooling activities.

• See if any local scouts are looking for an Eagle Scout project.

• Contact local retirement communities about attending our events and showing information about birds to residents.

If you are interested in helping or have other ideas, please contact a leader.

Last, but not least, if you haven’t already done so, please mail in your tax-deductible do-nation so that we can continue to show nature films for free, put Audubon Adventures in classrooms, publish this newsletter, offer scholarships, participate in citizen science pro-jects like the Christmas Bird Count and Pennsylvania Migration Count, host a Beginning Birder’s Workshop, make presentations to other local organizations, and maintain the Norlo Park Native Plants Garden.

Please make your check payable to CAS and mail to Conococheague Audubon Soci-ety, PO Box 20, Fayetteville, PA 17222. Thank you!

Naturally NEWSLETTER OF THE CONOCOCHEAGUE AUDUBON SOCIETY Sept. 2017 Published: September, November, January, March, May Vol. 42, No. 1

In this Issue:

Page 2 On the Rec-ord, Upland Sandpiper sighting, Wolf film _________________________________________

Page 3 Meeting: Rat-tlesnakes!, Protecting Birds of Prey _________________________________________

Page 4 Goldfinches aren’t lazy, Sponsor a Classroom, PMAC _________________________________________

Page 5 Birding Work-shop, AmazonSmile, Email account _________________________________________

Page 6 Club Activities

Christmas Bird Counts – Save the Dates! — Valerie B. Barnes Mark your calendars with these dates for local Christmas Bird Counts: Chambersburg Area: Satur-

day, December 16, 2017. Dinner and tally at 6 PM Monday, Dec. 18, in Fleck Center, Luther Ridge, 2998 Luther Drive, Cham-bersburg, PA. Contact Valerie Barnes, 717-352-4397 or BarnesVa4@comcast.net

York Springs Area: Wednesday, December 27, 2017. Contact Vern Gauthier, 717-385-9526 or pabirder@gmail.com

Newville Area: Saturday, December 30, 2017. Con-tact Vern Gauthier, 717-385-9526 or pabirder@gmail.com

On The Record — Donna Hocker Listed below are the results of the Spring Field Trips.

Trips in April

Dave Cooney led a trip to Letterkenny Army Depot for Spring Migrants. Eight observers saw a total of 57 spe-cies. The trip list remains at 135 species.

An Eastern Screech Owl was added to the Little Cove trip list. Val Barnes and Donna Hocker led the eight bird-ers who saw 73 species. The trip list is now 150 species.

Trips in May

Helen and Larry Lehman again opened their property to eight birders who saw 33 species. New to Conoco-cheague’s list are Wild Turkey, Belted Kingfisher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mockingbird, Yellow Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager. Although the Lehmans have seen 147 species on their property, the field trip list stands at 58.

Eric and Rhetta Martin led an evening trip to Edenville with 11 observers. They saw 51 species including Cliff Swallows. The trip list totals 84 species.

A new trip this year was “Out of the Ore: Birds and Blooms Walking Trail” near Mont Alto. Conway Bushey led six birders and observed 32 species.

Trips in June

The Martins also led a trip to South Mountain/Caledonia/Michaux IBA. New to the list is the Rough-legged Hawk, bringing the trip list total to 96. Forty-eight species were seen.

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The first of our 2017-2018 free film nights begins with the November 9, 2017, showing of the National Geographic nature film, “The Rise of Black Wolf.” Filmed in the stun-ning Yellowstone National Park, the videographers studied at great length the rather rare and compelling story of a resil-ient lone black wolf and his various attempts to “fit in” with the rest of the pack.

When forced out of the initial pack, he strikes out on his own, challenging other wolf leaders to find his place in this world. Will he succeed? Or, will he succumb to the pres-sures of the hierarchies within the wolf world?

Join us on Thursday, November 9, 2017, to discover Black Wolf’s destiny. Our film begins at 7:30 PM. Plan now to attend the live music entertainment provided by Jeff Diller playing the classical guitar at 7 PM.

Remember, though our films are free to the public, at the door we do accept donations which will be used towards the maintenance of our various CAS projects.

As per usual, we will have a few door prizes to offer as well. Come on out to enjoy a quality free film, live enter-tainment, and good fellowship.

CAS Nature Film Nights Report — Terri Kochert

Rounding out the 2016-2017 season was a new trip to Creekside for young birders who attended the Beginner Birding Workshop held in Caledonia State Park in June. The group of 16 saw 33 species.

New Season

The 2017-2018 season begins with a field trip to Heisey Orchard and Michaux State Forest for Fall Migrants on Saturday, September 9. Led by Bill Oyler (717-360-5191), the group will meet at 7:30 AM in the parking lot at Scotland Exit 20, I-81 northbound.

On August 1, Dave Cooney found this Upland Sandpiper feeding in a freshly cut hay field on Portico Road in Franklin County.

Photo credit: Dave Cooney Jr.

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RATTLESNAKES — Terri Kochert

If you’re fearful of rattlesnakes, or if you’re fascinated by rattlesnakes, please make it a priority to attend our September 11, 2017, meeting at 7 PM. There you will hear a very compelling story of why we should do all we can to protect these wild natural creatures. Our speaker, Andy Wolfe, now chief operating of-ficer of an equipment dealer buying group, Buyers Advantage, Inc., worked for-merly as a lab partner and naturalist at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, locat-ed near Burns, Oregon. He did this after graduating with a degree in zoology from Miami University and follow-up graduate studies at Oregon State and Pa-cific University. At Malheur NWR, he worked and studied herpetology under Robert Storm, Ph. D.

Andy has participated in “snake hunts” and has had hunting permits from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, or PFBC. He is one of 72 rattlesnake liaisons to the PFBC reporting field observations and numbers. He is knowledge-able of the location of local dens, but don’t expect him to reveal this sensitive information to us. He says the DNCR and the PFBC “pit tag” Timber Rattle-snakes and collect den site information annually. He eagerly contributes to their annual report.

Andy’s goal is to allay people’s fear of rattlesnakes and to promote awareness of the benefits of preserving them. He claims that the media has perpetuated a misplaced and unfounded fear of these wild and amazing creatures. He claims that there are more humans killed on the Appalachian Trail between Route 30 and Route 15 by other humans than those who have been killed by rattlesnakes in the past 100 years. Please come with your rattlesnake questions that evening. Though Andy will have some photos of rattlers, he is hoping to engage the audience in dialog.

Report from Conservation Chairperson — Marguerite L. Fries

INTERNATIONAL United Airlines and Audubon International have teamed up to protect birds of prey. Wildlife poses challenges to com-mercial pilots. A United Airlines spokesperson says, “The Raptor Relocation Program will help minimize risk to wild-life, reduce damage to aircraft and enable us to operate more efficiently within some of the world’s busiest airspace.” 1

This program will protect at-risk and threatened birds by relocating the captured birds to golf courses that are certified within The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program.

1Angela Foster-Rice, United’s managing director of environmental affairs and sustainability. New York, July 24,2017/PRNewswire

REGIONAL

New research from Penn State’s News and Media Relations, writer/ Editor, Joslyn Neiderer.

Ms. Neiderer talks about recent Penn State research on the Tree-of-Heaven ( Ailanthus). Tree-of-Heaven is a threat to not only Pennsylvania‘s forests but to many forests located

all over the country. Ailanthus is an invasive tree that was brought to the Philadelphia area as an ornamental tree in the 1780’s. It eventually took off and began spreading.

It is a very viable tree that can produce over 10 million seeds in a 40-year period. Chemicals produced by the Tree-of-Heaven inhibit growth of native species in the same area of the forests. It tops the list of invasive species.

Researchers are investigating the use of a native soil-borne fungus to kill and control the spreading of Ailanthus. It seems that just cutting the Ailanthus is not effective due to spreading of offshoots from the tree.

LOCAL The Franklin County Conservation District feels that it is vital to have a technician available to offer education and technical assistance to county farmers. Implementation of best management practices will improve local water quality, thereby improving the Chesapeake Bay water quality.

In 2016, the Franklin County Conservation District with-drew from The Chesapeake Bay Programs.

I want to know … Q: Which bird species is the last to begin breeding each year? A: In eastern North America, the American Goldfinch is slow on the draw when it comes to building nests. These birds finally get around to it come summer. It isn’t because goldfinches are lazy; it’s simply that they’re as particular about nesting material as they are about food. The answer to both their needs is thistles.

According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website www.allaboutbirds.org, goldfinches wait until late June to July to begin construction. That’s when the silky, fly-away seeds of thistle, milkweed, and other such plants are abun-dant. These soft fibers are woven into the inner layer of goldfinch nests, often so tightly that the nests can hold wa-ter.

Taking advantage of the seeds of thistle, grasses, sunflowers and a few trees, goldfinches begin feeding their young. No crunchy bugs; no squirmy worms -- goldfinch babies are raised as strict vegetarians, which they remain throughout their lives.

Perhaps the second-runner-up of late breeders is the chimney swift. Although a swift pair may begin nest-building in mid-

May, it could take up to a full month to finish, according to Bird Behavior Volume 1 by Donald and Lillian Stokes. That’s because their cup-shaped nests are built deep inside vertical structures, glued to the interior with the birds’ own saliva.

Then, once the young are hatched, it may be as long as 20 days before they begin to leave the nest, and about 30 days before they are fully fledged. Just in time, too. Chimney swifts begin their southern migration in August – among the first to leave.

Bird Behavior — Debby Hook

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Annual Pennsylvania Migration Count (PAMC) — Conway Bushey

I want to thank all who participated in the Pennsylvania Annual Migration Count (PAMC) which was held on May 13, 2017, and coincided with the Global Big Day spon-sored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Each participant was asked to spend time in the field counting all birds in a spec-ified area and keeping track of miles travelled and time spent counting. The count is an important project that con-tributes valuable information used to track trends of bird populations and distribution.

For the first time, the results of the individual counts were submitted to eBird. Some of our observers sent their results directly to eBird while others sent checklists to me and I submitted them to eBird for summarization there. It has been difficult getting tabulation results for Franklin Coun-ty, but thanks to our President, Valerie Barnes, we are mak-ing some progress. She has concluded that 49 observers tallied 137 different species for PAMC for 2017. In 2016, 59 observers saw a total of 141 species. We will continue to refine the data and hopefully provide a more complete picture at a future date. Again, thank you and we look for-ward to this event in 2018.

Sponsor a Classroom with Audubon Ad-ventures Newsletters — Terri Kochert

You can help local students and teachers by sponsoring a classroom with the colorful and informative Audubon Ad-ventures (AA) nature newsletters. These newsletters may cover one of 35 different topics from birds, bees, and but-terflies to flowers, trees, ecosystems, Alaska wildlife, riv-ers, world of the forest, habitat, caring for planet Earth, and energy, just to name a few. Teachers can pick and choose the topics which best suit their curriculum.

In addition to the AA newsletter, National Audubon has extra online resources available to the teachers too. The newsletters contain information, questions, possible pro-jects and/or challenges, puzzles and more. Many teachers have multiple classes of 3rd-5th graders, and order multiple sets. Indeed, these newsletters are a wonderful asset to any teacher teaching science. Won’t you agree to sponsor a classroom this year? The new 2017-2018 cost is $46/per classroom set of 32 copies, including shipping and han-dling. This not only helps out our local teachers, but it conforms to our CAS’ goals to educate and stimulate the younger generation to become responsible citizens caring for the environment. If interested, please write out your

American Goldfinches Photo credit: PIXNIO

check to “Conococheague Audubon” (CAS) with a note in the memo that your contribution goes towards the cost of providing Audubon Adventures for one classroom ($46) or more classrooms ($46 x #). Mail it to CAS, PO Box 20, Fayetteville, PA 17222. And, thank you in advance for your generosity! You’ll make some children very happy this year!

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2017 Beginning Birder’s Workshop — Dave Cooney Jr. This year marked the 9th Beginning Birders’ Workshop spon-sored by Conococheague Audubon and again, it was a won-derful event. Seventeen people came, all of whom were first time participants to the workshop, including eight very en-thusiastic children. They saw and/or heard 40 species of birds, thanks to their birding buddies and trail leaders. We added two new species to the list, Canada Goose and Red-winged Blackbird. Hard to believe these two common spe-cies were not already on our list.

One of the highlights for the day was a pair of nesting Wood Thrushes that were found by Rhetta & Eric's group. They got some real close views and all were very excited.

The Kids Corner was in a new location across the street on the porch of the Fire Museum and things worked out very well. Park Manager Phil Schmidt spoke to everyone during the break and told the group that we have a great event and they are very supportive and thankful for our participation at the park. Next year will mark our 10th anniversary and we already have the support from the park.

Another thing we added this year was a follow-up field trip for the beginning birders to try their new skills. On Saturday, June 17th, the group met at the Creekside Nature Trail at Menno Haven in Chambersburg. Nine beginning birders and seven Conococheague Audubon Society leaders enjoyed a muggy, buggy, leisurely walk on the trail. We saw and/or heard 33 species.

This was certainly worth the effort and was key to maintain-ing the enthusiasm of our participants. We hope they will return to the workshop and other group events sponsored by this great organization.

Lastly, we couldn’t make these events happen without the dedication and help of our volunteers. Thank you all again for your commitment. We look forward to seeing everyone again in 2018.

Be A Director! What’s Involved?

Directors vote on all policy changes related to Conoco-cheague Audubon and approve the budget. The Directors appoint an audit committee to function upon change of Treasurer or any other time deemed necessary. Directors serve a three-year term. In each year, they meet in five joint meetings with the officers. Directors help to ar-range programs for our general meetings. It’s not too hard a job, and your efforts will be greatly appreciated. Please contact Valerie Barnes (BarnesVa4@comcast.net; 717-352-4397) to volunteer.

Email Account for Conococheague Audubon — Valerie B. Barnes To make it easy for members and the public to contact us, we set up a new, free email account for CAS: conaudubon@outlook.com. We’ve posted the email address on our website and printed it in the Activities List. The account includes distribution lists for organiza-tional subgroups (e.g., directors, officers, committee chairs). Only a handful of chapter leaders can access the account.

We plan to send emails from this account to groups of members on behalf of CAS (e.g., newsletter, meeting announcements, monthly reminders), instead of from our personal accounts. This should simplify how we keep track of email addresses and make communications a little easier. If necessary for your email system, please add our new organizational email address to your list of acceptable email addresses. Please send an email to the account if you would like to be added to or removed from the list.

AmazonSmile for Conococheague Audubon — Valerie B. Barnes As you may know, Amazon offers a donation program called AmazonSmile for not-for-profit organizations. Our officers and Board of Directors decided to give it a whirl. It costs us and purchasers nothing. By registering our organization, we now have an active AmazonSmile page for Conococheague Audubon Society. The idea is that, if one orders from Amazon through this site, Ama-zon will donate to us a dollar amount equal to 0.5% of the order. Prices are not affected by using the site. So, if you place orders on Amazon, please consider using this site instead of the generic one: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/25-1485719.

If the total donations for a quarter are above $5, the funds will be automatically transferred into our bank account. Donations will carry over to the next quarter until the amount reaches $5 or four quarters have passed, whichever comes first.

Let me know if you have any difficulties using the URL. This is an easy way to support CAS without costing you a penny. Please give it a try. Thanks!

Leading beginning birders: Eric and Rhetta Martin’s group on the trail.

MEETINGS – Free, held in the Community Center at Norlo Park, 3050 Lincoln Way East, Fayetteville. FIELD TRIPS – Free, most take place on Saturdays. Contact the leader in advance if you plan to go. Times listed are departure times; please arrive early. If you cannot go on a scheduled trip, con-tact leader for a potential mid-week option on his/her scouting trip. FILMS – Free, all begin at 7:30 PM in Chambersburg Area Middle School South, 1151 E. McKinley St., Chambersburg, PA. Pre-show musical entertainment begins at 7 PM.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

Sept. 9, Saturday FIELD TRIP 7:30 AM for FALL MIGRANTS. Meet in parking lot of Scotland Exit 20, I-81 northbound. Moderate walk of less than .5 mile in wet grass at Heisey Orchard, then bird by car in Michaux SF from Stillhouse Hollow to Fayetteville. Bring binoculars and snacks. Should end by noon. Bill Oyler, oylerbill@gmail.com or 717-360-5191. Sept. 11, 2017, Monday MEETING 7:00 PM. Rattlesnakes, by Andy Wolfe. Arranged by Terri Kochert.

Sept. 15-17 SPECIAL EVENT Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology Annual Meeting, Com-fort Suites, 10 S. Hanover St., Carlisle. Field trips, speakers, hawk watch, vendors. Area Audubon members invited to participate. Fees apply. Details, www.pabirds.org.

Sept. 23, Saturday FIELD TRIP 7:30 AM. Conococheague Institute near Welsh Run for LATE MIGRATING and RESIDENT BIRDS. Leave from Sunnyway Foods parking lot, 49 Warm Spring Road, Cham-bersburg. Bring binoculars, CBs and snack. Shirley Fenster-macher, 717-264-8344.

CORRECTION: Oct. 7, Saturday FIELD TRIP

7:30 AM. End of FALL MIGRATION along Big Spring in Cumberland County. Meet at parking lot about 300 yards north of old fish hatchery near 844 Big Spring Rd., Newville. Plan on a 3-mile walk. Bring water and snack. No restrooms. Linda and Bill Franz, 717-776-4463. Oct. 9, Monday MEETING 7:00 PM. Wildlife in Our Backyard: Birds, Bears, Bobcats, and Bunnies by Laura Jackson: Follow wild animal behavior through photos and stories. Arranged by Rhetta Martin. Nov. 9, Thursday FILM 7:30 PM. The Rise of Black Wolf. A “dark wolf” challenges the order, hierarchy and normal pack behavior in one of the wolf packs of Yellowstone National Park. (50 min.) Nov. 13, Monday MEETING 7:00 PM. Birds of Bhutan, by Mike Bertram, South Mountain Audubon. Arranged by Terri Kochert.

CAS WEBSITE: www.conococheagueaudubon.org

Newsletter Editor - Jane Bussard (401-3210) janenbussard47@gmail.com

Assistant Editor - Joyce Schaff ( 375-4632) Pjschaff@comcast.net

Send all newsletter articles and photos to the editor. Send all mailing changes to the assistant editor.

Copy Deadline October 15 for November 2017 newsletter.

CONOCOCHEAGUE AUDUBON OFFICERS:

President Valerie B. Barnes

Vice President Debby Hook

Recording Secretary Rhetta Martin

Corresponding Secretary Bobbie Stewart

Treasurer Emmie White

Immediate Past President Conway Bushey

DIRECTORS: Jim Hook, Janet Tice, Earl Nollenberger, Eric Martin, Linda Kaiser

Conococheague Audubon P.O. Box 20 Fayetteville, PA 17222 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED