Birding News and Features
American Bird Conservancy petition to regulate the wind industry
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) was recently quoted in an article on wind power and Golden Eagles that has resulted in several responses. We wish to clarify our position, which we believe was misrepresented by quotes taken out of context.
eBirding your Christmas Bird Counts
December 14 will begin the 112th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season, and the first big weekend of counts will be 17-18 December. The Christmas Count is the largest and longest-running ornithological citizen science project. Its data are a great complement to what we are collecting in eBird, and indeed the CBC has paved the way for eBird in many respects. It is not a problem to enter data in eBird and then submit it for the CBC too, since the two projects are collecting data in similar ways, but at different scales. eBird can be a great way to store your sector-level data and compare it from year to year.
Good Whimbrel News Update (Mostly)
The report of the illegal shooting of two Whimbrels (Machi and Goshen) that were part of a migration study, and which had been tracked via satellite for 2 years was posted to the VA Bird List on September 13 and 14, 2011. The following is an update from Fletcher Smith (research biologist with The Center for Conservation Biology of The College of William & Mary / Virginia Commonwealth University).
"After arriving in Guadeloupe on Tuesday afternoon, a local conservation official and I went to the Port-Louis swamp where Goshen was shot. We made a brief tour of several of the primary hunting locations, noting roughly 10 hunters on a hot, sunny, windless Tuesday evening.
19th annual Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival
Its not too late to register for the 19th annual Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival. Spots are still open for many of the trips. There are few places where the true scope of fall migration is more apparent then the Eastern Shore of Virginia as raptors, shorebirds and songbirds pour down the Delmarva Peninsula The festival offers opportunities to check out some of the best birding locations on Eastern Shore - including private properties not typically open to the public. Register online at http://www.esvafestivals.com/.
Virginia Important Bird Areas Conservation News - Focus on Team Warbler, the Atlantic Flyway Initiative and Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Project (SHARP)
Audubon in Virginia has several conservation projects to highlight during this season: one of our most exciting is an international partnership between Richmond Audubon Society, Panama Audubon Society National Audubon Society and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) called: Team Warbler — From Chesapeake Bay to Panama Bay and Back — Cross Cultural Connections Supporting Sustainable Communities. Working under a Community Engagement grant from VCU, championed by Cathy Viverette, VCU Life Sciences Research Associate, this project seeks to connect students, researchers and Richmond Audubon in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to Panama Audubon in the Panama Bay watershed to raise awareness of and better understand the Prothonotary Warbler.
