The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

Newsletter of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society Volume 43 No. 2 Fall 2018

The Mountain Chat

Are America’s Birds Incidental Take? Larry Schwab, Mountaineer Audubon Conservation Chair

The US Department of the Interior, aided by sup-port from the fossil fuel industry, believe they are. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, one of the earliest American conservation laws, has stood in-tact protecting American migratory birds. Now, as we celebrate its 100th anniversary, it is under attack by polluting industries and our government. “Incidental take,” a borrowed hunting term, in this recently released Fish and Wildlife position, refers to birds damaged or killed by industry. A well-example is the enormous damage to bird, fish, and other aquatic life from the Alaskan Valdez oil tanker spill in 1989, an environmental catastrophe that not just destroyed an ecosystem but killed an untold number of seabirds. Exxon was held responsible and paid for cleanup and restitution. With this new rule, oil, gas, coal and wind energy companies would not be required to be responsible financially for damage to migratory birds killed or injured by their industries. The law has been rein-terpreted by the Trump administration to remove “unnecessary” regulatory “burdens” on the energy industry. The change in wording of the regulation will allow energy companies to avoid legal incentive to reduce and/or eliminate bird deaths secondary to their op-erations. The National Audubon Society and other environ-mental organizations have filed lawsuit to prevent the regulation, one that would gut the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, from being fully imple-mented. Stay tuned.

119th Annual Christmas Bird Count LeJay Graffious

The 119th annual Christmas Bird Count or CBC be-gins Dec. 14, and scientists are relying on more than 70,000 volunteers to help them gather data about birds across the Western Hemisphere. Mountaineer Audubon’s count will be on December 15, 2018. Mark your calendars!

Annually, Mountaineer Audubon marshals local experienced bird-watchers and amateurs alike to par-ticipate in the world's long-est-running citizen science survey.

This count helps ornithologists study the variability, range and movement of bird populations across North America, enabling them to better understand how bird populations are doing.

Audubon scientists have examined 30 years of cli-mate data and tens of thousands of CBC bird obser-vations to study how climate change affects bird populations.

Their recent report found that 314 of 588 bird spe-cies are at risk of being climate threatened, and some species could lose more than 50 percent of their range by 2080.

Information gathered from the CBC will help scien-tists pinpoint priority areas for conservation efforts.

“It’s never been easier to be a citizen scientist and it’s never been more important to be one,” said Da-vid Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, in a news release. “Birds and the

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

President’s Message

I’ve loved birds for as long as I can remember. My first word was “bird,” and I’ve been raising, training, watching, or rehabilitating birds for at least twenty years, since my days as an undergraduate student at Penn State. And I think, for the first time in my life, I’m truly worried about the future of birds in the Unit-ed States. As you’ve read in Larry Schwab’s conservation re-port, the current administration recently “reinterpreted” an important part of the federal Mi-gratory Bird Treaty Act. According to National Audu-bon, “the Department of the Interior stated that it would no longer enforce incidental takes, thereby blocking [the law’s] application to all industrial haz-ards, including oil pits, transmission lines, and oil spills.” National Audubon has responded by filing a federal lawsuit (Audubon vs. Dept. of the Interior). From Audubon.org: “The coalition joining Audubon in the lawsuit, which includes the American Bird Conserv-ancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, and the Natu-ral Resources Defense Council, seeks to block the Trump Administration's efforts to eliminate longstanding protections for raptors, waterfowl, and songbirds.” National Audubon’s website has a “Take Action” button that allows you to email your elected officials about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (as well as a host of other important issues). I’ve used it to email my US senators and representative. The En-dangered Species Act also seems to be at risk; with-out it, we might not have bald eagles, peregrine fal-cons, or California condors in the US. Losing or wa-tering down the ESA could be devastating. Speaking of rare birds, recently birders have report-ed several species rare for our region – roseate spoonbills in Terra Alta, a wood stork near Parkersburg (and another in Fayette County, PA), a painted bunting at a feeder in Westover, and of course several snowy owls this past winter. Fall mi-gration is bittersweet; while I’m looking forward to checking Cheat Lake for transient waterfowl, I will miss our migratory warblers, thrushes, and flycatch-ers as they depart for the tropics. I look forward to seeing you at our fall field trips and at the Christmas Bird Count. Note that we’ve added a Young Birders CBC group; see LeJay’s article for

more information about it—kids of all ages (and their parents) are welcome to join. Also, don’t forget to order your seeds for the winter – part of each pur-chase goes to support local bird conservation ef-forts. We’ve added 40-pound bags of black oil sun-flower seeds this year at the request of some of our members. Thank you for everything you do for the birds! Hap-py fall!

Katie Fallon

Allegheny Front Migration Observatory

The 2018 banding season on Dolly Sods begins on August 19 and ends on October 5. AFMO wel-comes visitors to observe the operation. Our VP, LeJay Graffious, will be working at the station from August 19 until August 21 and again from Septem-ber 25 to October 5. Mountaineer members are welcome anytime, but LeJay will be glad to give you special attention. Banding begins at sunrise until noon unless the weather conditions are not safe for the birds such as excess heat, rain, strong winds… The migration of passerines is a wonder of nature. Visit the station and see it up close and personal.

All bird photos in our newsletter were taken by Joey Herron

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

FALL 2018 BIRD WALKS

All walks are free and will be on Saturdays. They will

only be canceled for extremely inclement weather.

Bring binoculars and dress appropriately for the

weather. Included are some sponsored by other area

organizations. For more information, contact David

Daniels at Cotinga747@yahoo.com or (304) 276-

7127.

Sep. 15— Little Indian Creek Wildlife Management

Area, Monongalia County. 8:00 am at Mountaineer

Mall near the water tower. Leader: David Daniels.

Sep. 29— Fall Bird Day, West Virginia Botanic Gar-

den, Tyrone Road. 8:00 am. Join local birder David

Daniels on an early morning bird walk. We will be

birding by eye and ear to search in the bushes and

boughs for our feathered friends. Bring binoculars if

you have them. All ages. At 10:00 am join us for an

informative program presented by the Avian Conser-

vation Center of Appalachia. Sponsored by the West

Virginia Botanic Garden. Free for WVBG and Moun-

taineer Audubon Members, $15 for non-members.

Please pre-register online at www.wvbg.org. For

questions related to the WVBG, please call (304)

322-2093.

Oct. 6 and Oct 7—Tygart Lake Birding and Banding

Weekend. Join Joey Herron at 8:00 am each morn-

ing at the lodge where he will hold a demonstration

on bird banding. Banding ends at about 11:00 am.

For questions, contact Joey at wvsaw-

whet@yahoo.com or (304) 203-5251.

Oct. 13--Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area,

Taylor and Barbour Counties. 8:00 am at the south-

ern boat ramp parking lot at Tygart Lake Marina. For

those coming from Morgantown, meet at 7:00 am at

Mountaineer Mall near the water tower. Leader: Da-

vid Daniels.

Oct. 20—Fairfax Pond-Rehe Wildlife Management Area, Reedsville area, Preston County. 8:00 am where Decker’s Creek Trail crosses Route 92 just south of Reedsville. Leader: David Daniels.

Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, and Nov. 9 and Nov. 10—Saw-whet Owl banding demonstration. 8:30 pm behind the ranger’s house near the park office at Valley Fall State Park, Marion County. Leader: Joey Herron. Joey will be holding pub-lic demonstrations on banding Northern Saw-whet Owls. Dress warmly and bring a folding chair, flashlight, and camera. Please pre-register with Joey at wvsawwhet@yahoo.com or (304) 203-5251, letting him know which day you plan to attend and the number in your par-ty. Nov. 17—Waterfowl trip, Cheat Lake. 8:00 am at Ruby and Ketchy’s Restaurant on Route 857 east of Cheat Lake. 7:00 am if you’d like breakfast first. Leader: Derek Courtney. Nov. 17—Owl Walk, West Virginia Botanic Garden, Tyrone Road. 6:30 pm. Join local birder David Daniels on an early evening search for owls and other nocturnal wildlife. Possible targets include Eastern Screech-Owl, Barred Owl, and Great Horned Owl. Bring flashlights and binoculars if you have them and dress appropriately for cool to cold weather. All ages. Sponsored by the West Virginia Botanic Garden. Free for WVBG and Mountaineer Audubon Members, $15 for non-members. Please pre-register online at www.wvbg.org. For questions related to the WVBG, please call (304) 322-2093. Dec. 15—Morgantown Christmas Bird Count. Various locations. People who want to get in-volved may register on-line at mountain-eeraudubon.org or contact compiler LeJay Graffious at lejay@oldhemlock.org or (304) 379-7505 to volunteer

Great news! Thanks to the work of Morgantown Area Paddlers (MAP) lead by Marry Wimmer and with donations from many organizations including Mountaineer Audubon a new dock and kayak/canoe launch were installed last week at the Star City boat ramp. Try birding on the Mon River.

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

Mountaineer Audubon’s Fall Programs will take place on the second Tuesday of September 11 and November 13, at 7pm. Programs will be held at the Spruce Street United Methodist Church, on 386

Spruce Street in downtown Morgantown, near the Farm-ers’ Market pavilion. Every-one is welcome at these free programs, even if you are not a member of Mountaineer Audubon. We think we have a great lineup this Fall—please invite your friends!

Fall Programs October Program Public Lecture and Book-signing October 9 at 7:00pm at 316 Percival Hall, WVU Bruce M. Beehler, PhD Research Associate, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution

North on the Wing—Travels with the Song-bird Migration of Spring

In this illustrated lecture, naturalist and ornithologist, Bruce Beehler, will recount his hundred-day-long 2015 field trip following the spring migration of song-birds from the coast of southeastern Texas up the Mississippi and thence into the boreal forests of north-ern Ontario— breeding ground of many of the beautiful and vocal North American wood warblers. Along the way, Beehler visited various migratory bird field projects as well as scores of local, state, and national parks and refuges critical for the preserva-tion of the migration phenomenon. He also spent time in an array of eclectic and beautiful rural com-munities from southern Louisiana and Mississippi through the Heartland and to the northern limit of roads in Ontario, land of the Cree and Ojibwe First Nations peoples. Beehler’s informal goal was to spend time with all thirty-seven eastern wood war-blers on their prime breeding habitat. In pursuing this objective, he saw a lot of deeply rural North America. His presentation touches on wildlife, nature conser-vation, migration research, American history, and rural culture. Beehler will be signing his popular book, North on the Wing (Smithsonian: 2018), after the lecture. November 13 at 7 PM At the November meeting Allstar Ecology LLC per-sonnel will speak on how companies who impact wetlands and endangered species can mitigate these impacts through the option of off-site conser-vation measures. Specifically, how wetland mitiga-tion credits work and Allstar's ground breaking work on off-site bat conservation sites for Indiana and Northern long-eared bats.

September 11 at 7 PM Catherine “Katie” Loucks was brought on as shared biologist with the USDA Natural Re-sources Conservation Service (NRCS) and WVDNR in 2017 to promote the Working Lands for Wildlife Golden-winged Warbler Initiative in WV. Funding that funnels through the 2014 Farm Bill allows the NRCS to offer technical and financial

assistance to help agricultural producers voluntarily conserve and create Golden-winged Warbler habitat on private lands. This assistance helps producers plan and implement a variety of conservation activi-ties, or practices, that benefit the Golden-winged

Warbler and other priority wildlife species. Katie is currently stationed at the Gassaway Field Office in Braxton County, where she works with produc-ers who are interested in forest and pasture man-agement and implements practices that creates the young forest habitat that Golden-winged War-blers need during their breeding season.

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

Mountaineer Audubon Bird Seed Sale Again this year we will be working with Morgantown’s Wild Birds Unlimited store for our annual bird seed sale fundraiser. The store is located in the Suncrest Towne Center near the intersection of route 705 and Stewartstown Road. Seed orders will be due by October 13 to the address listed below. Checks can be made payable to Mountaineer Audubon. Bird seed pickup will be Saturday, November 17, from 12-4pm, at the former Sleep Outfitters store (now vacant), two doors down from Wild Birds Unlimited. Wild Birds Unlimited has provided detailed descriptions of the products available for Mountaineer Audubon members to or-der. The regular prices have been discounted, and Moun-taineer Audubon will receive a portion of the proceeds. NOTE – due to suggestions from our members, we’ve added 40-pound bags of black oil sunflower seed this year. Bird Seed Details from Wild Birds Unlimited: No Shells: No-Mess (sunflower chips, peanuts, low millet), No-Mess Plus Blend (added fruit, calcium, and Bark Butter Bits), and No-Mess NMCD (sunflower chips, chopped & diced peanuts, no millet) are 100% edible to attract ALL birds with NO MESS. Our unique No-Mess Blends feature seeds that have had their shells removed so only the meat of the seed is left. No hulls on the seeds make for tidier feeding, since there’s no debris on the ground to clean up. Pound for pound, our No-Mess Blends offer the best value, because you do not pay for uneaten seed waste. The birds eat everything. Great for use near flowerbeds, patios and decks. Includes Millet: Deluxe Blend LM (Low Millet) feeds birds at the feeder and on the ground. Our Deluxe Blends attract a wide variety of birds. These blends are full of black oil sunflower seeds, white millet, striped sunflower and safflower and are bound to satis-fy a bevy of birds in your backyard. Birds that love oil sunflow-er and safflower will enjoy this blend at the feeder, while jun-cos, doves and towhees will feast on the white millet on the ground. Includes Peanuts: Choice Blend is a great all-around blend with peanuts. Our Choice Blends are a fantastic combination of high-oil content seeds. The black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, shelled pea-nuts, safflower and striped sunflower do a great job of attracting a variety of birds, including chickadees, woodpeck-ers, titmice, nuthatches and jays. Excellent for Your Local Birds: Supreme Blend is a versatile blend for virtually every feeder

people who watch them are noticing changes. Using the data gathered by more than a century of Christ-mas Bird Counts, Audubon will keep protecting birds and the places they need. I’m incredibly proud of the volunteers that contribute to this tradition.”

In 2018 thirty-six birders recorded 6692 birds of 94 different species on Mountaineer Audubon's 2017 Christmas Bird Count on December 16. The 94 species surpassed 2016 high of 91 species on count day. Two new species were added to our his-torical list. The alert birders on Todd's Schnopp's Team 1 spied a Dunlin on the mud flats of Cheat Lake. Derek Courtney, MD, added a Short-eared Owl which was seen in the farmland near Mylan Park. Another rare bird was a White-eyed Vireo found by Terry Bronson. This is the second time in the history of our count that this bird has been found in December.

We were pleased to be joined by young birder and kindergarten student, Laurel Fallon. This year we will be adding another team – Team 5 – especially for Young Birders. Kids of any age (and their par-

ents) are invit-ed to partici-pate. Team 5 will meet in the large grav-el parking lot at Ridge Way Farm in the Cheat Lake area at 9am. The farm’s address is 217 Morgan Hill Road, but the gravel lot is a few hundred feet before that address,

on the left. We will walk the farm and woods and count the birds we find.

Help us to continue to break records by volunteering to participate in our CBC. Experience does not mat-ter. We have teams of birders and the more eyes the better. Join us on Saturday, December 15. More information and registration can be found on the mountaineeraudubon.org web page.

CBC continued from page 1

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

Our Supreme Blends feature black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, safflower and striped sunflower in a combination that

helps attract a wide variety of birds, such as chickadees, nut-hatches, titmice and wrens. Great Source of Energy: Premium Black Oil Sunflower is a great source of energy for the birds and 99% free of sticks, stems or other foreign matter so your feeders won’t

clog with debris. Black oil sunflower has a high calorie/ounce ratio due to its high fat and protein content and its relatively thin shell. Among seed ingredients, oil sunflower attracts the greatest variety of small and large seed-eating birds. Goldfinches’ Favorite Food: Nyjer is a high oil content seed, making it an excellent energy source for active birds such as goldfinches, house finches, pur-ple finches and pine siskins. It is important to keep the food fresh for these picky little eaters. Nyjer has a thin shell and is vulnerable to spoilage while in the tube. Once seed starts to dry out and become stale, finches will turn up their beaks for fresher forage. Safflower: Use Safflower as a problem solver. Safflower has a very hard outer shell that makes it difficult for Blackbirds and Starlings to crack open, so they usually avoid this type of seed. The bitter taste can also discourage some squirrels. But it won’t deter Chipmunks. Suet Cakes: Nut and Fruit Lovers’ Favorite Nuts & Berries Suet Loaded with peanuts, almonds, pecans and cranberries, Nuts & Berries is designed to attract, nut- and fruit-eating birds like woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, wrens and more. All of our suets are rendered and refined to remove impurities that cause spoilage. Loaded with Peanuts Naturally Nuts Suet Our Naturally Nuts® Suet is loaded with lots of yummy nuts that birds such as woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches love to eat. All of our suets are rendered and refined to re-move impurities that cause spoilage. Full of Peanuts and Fruit PB&J Suet Our PB&J Suet mimics the old childhood favorite, but without the sticky after-effects. The peanut butter appeals to birds that like insects and nuts, while the “jelly” (blueberries) attracts

fruit-eating birds. Woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, nuthatch-es, and others enjoy this high-energy food. Full of mealworms, various nuts and added calcium Super Suet Our newest suet, packed full of our highest level of protein and fat ingredients including mealworms, peanuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts and calcium. This suet contains added protein and fat to help keep your birds warm during the cold winter. Suet Cylinders High-energy, Pure Fat Nuts & Berries No-Melt Suet Cylinder No-Melt Suet is designed to withstand temperatures up to 130° F. Made of corn, roasted peanuts, rendered beef suet, oats, cran-berries, almonds, pecans, walnuts and soy oil, our Nuts & Ber-ries No-Melt Suet Cylinder is an easy, long-lasting way to offer a high-energy, high-fat food to clinging and perching birds. High-energy, Pure Fat Naturally Nuts No-Melt Suet Cylinder No-Melt Suet is designed to withstand temperatures up to 130° F. Long-lasting and easy to use, our Naturally Nuts® No-Melt Suet Cylinder contains peanuts, rendered beef suet, corn and oats. Peanut Butter & Fruit Treat PB&J No-Melt Suet Cylinder No-Melt Suet is designed to withstand temperatures up to 130° F. Made of peanut butter, peanuts, rendered beef suet, corn, oats, calcium carbonate, raisins and blueberries, our PB&J No-Melt Suet Cylinder is an easy, long-lasting way to offer a high-energy, high-fat food to clinging and perching birds. Suet Cylinder Feeder Capacity: 1 Suet Dough Cylinder Dimensions: 9″ x 5″ diameter Our Bird Food Cylinders are long-lasting and easy to use. But with our Suet Cylinder Feeder, now it’s even easier to attract suet-eating birds to your bird feeding station. Simply drop one of our exclusive Naturally Nuts® No-melt Dough Cylinders in-to the powder coated metal feeder, hang it, and watch your birds enjoy.

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

MOUNTAINEER AUDUBON CUSTOMER PURCHASE FORM NAME____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONE NUMBER__________________________________________________________________________________________________ EMAIL____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PICK UP LOCATION will be at the vacant store two doors down from Wild Birds Unlimited in the Suncrest Towne Center, from 12-4pm on Saturday, Nov. 17. Make check payable to Mountaineer Audubon and mail along with this form to Katie Fallon, 87 Morgan Hill Road, Morgantown, WV, 26508.

UNIT DESCRIPTION QTY AUDUBON PRICE TOTAL

20lb NO MESS PLUS BLEND (sunflower chips, shelled peanuts, tree nuts, cherries, cranberries, bark butter bits, calcium)

$32.00

20lb NO MESS BLEND LM (sunflower chips, shelled peanuts, hulled white millet)

$30.00

20lb NO MESS BLEND NM CD (sunflower chips, shelled peanuts, calcium)

$31.00

20lb CHOICE BLEND (oil sunflower, striped sunflower, safflower, sunflower chips, shelled peanuts)

$23.00

20lb DELUXE BLEND LM (oil sunflower, striped sunflower, safflower, white millet)

$20.00

20lb SUPREME BLEND (oil sunflower, striped sunflower, saf-flower, sunflower chips)

$21.00

20lb SAFFLOWER $23.00

20lb PREMIUM BLACK OIL SUNFLOWER $18.00

40lb PREMIUM BLACK OIL SUNFLOWER $30.00

20lb NYJER $30.00

12/CASE SUPERSUET (HIGH ENERGY) $27.00

12/CASE NATURALLY NUTS SUET $23.00

12/CASE NUTS & BERRIES SUET $26.00

12/CASE PB & J SUET $28.00

8/CASE NATURALLY NUTS NO MELT SUET CYLINDER $50.00

8/CASE NUTS & BERRIES NO MELT SUET CYLINDER $55.00

8/CASE PB & J NO MELT SUET CYLINDER $60.00

1 METAL SUET CYLINDER FEEDER $9.00

TOTAL:

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The Mountain Chat Fall 2018

Mountaineer Audubon Directory President Katie Fallon 685-5292 Katie@accawv.org Vice President LeJay Graffious 379-7505 Lejaygraffious@gmail.com Secretary Alan Clark 724/ 437-2524 eftwood@juno.com Treasurer Vicky Shears 296-7249 vshears@comcast.net Fundraising Sue Olcott 825-6787 solcott@frontiernet.net Education LeJay Graffious 379-7505 lejaygraffious@gmail.com Membership Mary Ann Tokarz 599-7683 maryloudeaner425@comcast.net Field Trips David Daniels 276-7127 cotinga747@yahoo.com Conservation Larry Schwab 598-0241 larryschwab@gmail.com Newsletter Sally Wilts 379-7567 sallywilts@yahoo.com

Mountaineer Chapter National Audubon Society PO Box 422 Morgantown, WV 26507-0422

www.mountaineeraudubon.org

JOIN MOUNTAINEER AUDUBON TODAY! Chapter Code: C2ZY510Z

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