Once again, the staff at Monroe Reservoir, the Fourwinds Resort and Marina and several members of the Sassafras Audubon Society are pleased to present Indiana’s premier eagle viewing event, Eagle Watch Weekend, to be held February 3-5, 2006, at the Fourwinds Resort and Marina on Lake Monroe.  Presenters from SAS will include Mike Clarke, Jim and Susan Hengeveld, Ross Brittain, and Jeff Hammond.  Numerous other members also will be sharing their viewing equipment and expertise for the weekend’s programs.

This year’s festivities will begin on Friday morning, February 3, with the 2nd Annual Eagle Watch Weekend Bird Count that will cover some of Lake Monroe’s top birdwatching locations including the Paynetown, Fairfax, and Cutright State Recreation Areas.  All SAS members, as well as the general public regardless of level of expertise, are invited to take part in the count that will start at 8 a.m. at the Fourwinds Resort and Marina.  This count can be compared to last year’s inaugural count as well as future counts to help determine trends in bird-viewing opportunities and general populations around the lake.  Jim and Susan Hengeveld will provide an in-depth look into the lives of Indiana raptors with “The Biology of Raptors” on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the Admiral Room of the Fourwinds.

During the weekend there will be five programs featuring live birds of prey.  Friday evening programs by Tammy Davis and Zach Walker from the Dwight Chamberlain Rehab Center at Hardy Lake will feature live owls followed by an owl prowl with Ross Brittain, Tammy, and Zach.  Laura Edmunds, owner of Return to the Wild, based in Nashville, Indiana, will present two programs on Saturday afternoon featuring a Rough-legged Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, European barn Owl, and, of course, a Bald Eagle.  Even more live birds will be featured in a bird-banding demonstration on Sunday morning by Wild Birds Unlimited’s Chief Naturalist, John Schaust.  No Eagle Watch Weekend would be complete without Maria Abel-Crecelius and the star of the weekend, Indiana’s most famous and most-photographed bald eagle, C-52, from Patoka Lake.

Youngsters have not been left out either.  Two programs just for the younger set are scheduled for Saturday morning and afternoon featuring Wendy Smith, Education Coordinator from the Great Lakes Research and Education Center at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  Both programs feature bird-craft ideas as does another program Friday afternoon led by Lake Monroe Interpretive Service volunteer, Brittany Davis.  This program is meant for a somewhat older audience that might want to try their hand at bird crafts.  Saturday afternoon will also feature bus caravans to view Bald Eagles in the wild, and a program from naturalists at O’Bannon Woods State Park on the snakes of Indiana.

Those new to birding won’t want to miss Jim Eagleman from Brown County State Park (after his folk music performance on Friday night) and Jeff Cummings from Spring Mill State Park as they team up to present “The Basics of Birdwatching” on Saturday morning.  Also on hand will be Rex Watters speaking on the Bald Eagle reintroduction program, and John Castrale, who will update us on the status of avian research in Indiana (Hint: We have a lot to celebrate!).  New for 2006 will be a program Sunday morning presented by Jeff Hammond of Hammond Photography on the challenges of photographing birds and other aspects of nature utilizing both slide film and digital photography.

A complete listing of programs and pre-registration information on Eagle Watch Weekend can be found by logging on to the Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs website at www.dnr.IN.gov/parklake/ or calling 812-837-9546.  For in-depth coverage of Indiana’s eagles as well as Eagle Watch Weekend 2006, log on to www.eaglesatlakemonroe.com. Information on overnight accommodations can be found on the Fourwinds Resort and Marina website at www.fourwindsresort.com, or the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.visitbloomington.com.

After months in limbo, the state has completed the purchase of Goose Pond/Beehunter Marsh and has named it the Goose Pond State Fish and Wildlife Area. The state purchased the land from Maurice Wilder of Wilder Farms for $8 million.  The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be managing the 8000 acre wetland for wildlife viewing, hunting, and fishing as it does the Jasper-Pulaski and some 15 other SFWAs.  This is good news for local birders, who have already flocked to this newly designated Important Bird Area (see the article in the September/October 2005 Leaflet). An SAS group took a field trip to this area in early December and saw the first indications of the changed ownership: signs announcing hunting by permit only and designated parking areas.  Eventually DNR plans to build trails and wildlife viewing platforms, allowing access to parts of the area that have previously been off limits.

The announcement of the sale was made with considerable fanfare at a meeting on November 10 at the Triple H Gun Club in Linton attended by Governor Mitch Daniels and DNR Director Kyle Hupfer as well as representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and several conservation groups.  It was a time for celebration with all parties praising the acquisition.  The hope is that the site will “first bring feathered tourists” and they will be followed by the two-legged variety as the governor put it.  This will be a boon for the local economy that should offset removal of the land from the tax rolls.  Funds for purchase of the property came from several sources including the Heritage Trust Fund from the sale of environmental license plates, duck stamp receipts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, private sources including the Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, and “private conservation partners” including SAS.  Several of our members attended the ceremonies including our president, John Lawrence, Lee Sterrenburg, Jess Gwinn, Maureen Forrest, and Bob Kissel.  Our chapter can be pleased that we helped make this acquisition possible.  As with other State Fish and Wildlife Areas, funds for managing the property will come from sale of hunting and fishing licenses and associated sporting equipment.

The person writing an article about a certain activity should experience that activity in order to describe it with better insight.  That was the philosophy that the editor used this past fall in participating in the Big Sit and the Saw-whet Owl banding program.

The Big Sit is an annual event held in the fall and is the ultimate in relaxed birding.  The object is to identify as many bird species as possible without leaving a 17-foot diameter circle.  The Big Sit lasts for 24 hours, but few people have the endurance to go from midnight to midnight.  In addition to birding it is a time for socializing and eating within that 17-foot circle.  For many years Jim and Sue Hengeveld have had a Big Sit from the back deck of their home on Lake Lemon.  This is an especially good place for a Big Sit because of the variety of habitats visible from the deck.  This year Jeff Riegel organized the Paynetown Pintails for a Big Sit outside the Nature Center at Paynetown on Lake Monroe, also an area with several habitats visible.  I joined Jeff for the start of the day on October 8 – well, not quite the start of the day.  Jeff had already been on site before dawn to listen for owls.  The sun was up by the time I arrived as the first participant for the day.  We managed to find 20 or so species while I was there including two or three not-your-everyday warblers.  Of course Jeff did most of the identifying, but I helped a bit and felt I had made a useful contribution to the final total of 48. 

In the afternoon Joann and I went to the Hengevelds and joined the Sitting Ducks and Deck Setters team to see how they were doing.  At that point they had already identified over 70 species (the final total was 76) and new ones were becoming increasingly difficult to find.  In addition to Jim and Sue, several other of our more proficient birders were on hand so we were not able to add much in terms of identification.  We did enjoy sharing briefly in the camaraderie (and snacks) and being a part of the Big Sit at this legendary locality.  We especially enjoyed seeing an aerial display of an Osprey making repeated dives into the lake, sometimes successfully retrieving a fish.

How did the local results compare with the other 170 or so teams worldwide?  The Sitting Ducks and Deck Sitters are the Indiana champions with 76 species and the Paynetown Pintails were number two with 48 species.  The other Indiana team, from Fort Wayne, had 39 species.  The Hengeveld team competed very well nationally, but they were not close to the 113 species identified by a group from Los Osos, California.  Only eight other teams had more species than the SDDS team. We hope you will join us next year for the annual Big Sit.  Jeff and I could especially use some help at Paynetown at dawn’s early light.

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All outings and programs are free and open to non-members.

Watch our Website (http://www.bloomington.in.us/~audubon/) and the Bloomington Birds e-mail list for announcements about other upcoming outings and activities.

Wednesday, January 25, 7:00 p.m. in room 1-B at the Monroe County Library

Bob and Joann Dodd will describe a recent trip to the Serengeti Plain, Ngorongoro Crater, and other locations in Tanzania in Africa.  The emphasis in their slide show will be on four-legged wildlife, but they also saw some 175 different species of birds on the expedition.  The event is free for all to attend; light refreshments will be served.

Saturday, January 28, 8:00 a.m.: Wintering Bald Eagles On Lake Monroe   

We will venture out into the brisk winter weather to look for wintering Bald Eagles on Lake Monroe.  The reservoir is usually the best and most consistent site to find large numbers of Bald Eagles during the winter in Indiana.  On last year's annual mid-winter eagle survey, state bird biologist John Castrale found 22 Bald Eagles at Monroe Reservoir during one short helicopter ride from one end of the lake to the other.  We'll meet at 8:00 a.m. in the northeast corner of the K-Mart parking lot on East Third Street in Bloomington.  From there we will caravan to the best eagle viewing spots on Lake Monroe and then return to town before noon.  For more information, e-mail Mike Clarke. at miclarke@bloomington.in.us or call 606-2025

Friday and Saturday, February 3 and 4: Eagle Watch Weekend

Join the fun at the Fourwinds Resort and Marina on Lake Monroe.  See the event’s web site at www.eaglesatlakemonroe.com and the article in this Leaflet for details.

Friday through Monday, February 17 through 20:  Great Backyard Birdcount

See the article elsewhere in this Leaflet describing this annual event sponsored by the national Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Wednesday, February 22, 7:00 p.m. LOCATION CHANGED to JACKSON CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

John Schaust, Chief Naturalist, Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc. will speak on The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Re-discovered!  On February 27th, 2004, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was re-discovered in the bayous of eastern Arkansas, having gone unseen for over 60 years. John will share the details of this amazing re-discovery while also providing a thorough look at the life history of this magnificent bird.  John will share the latest information he has gained during visits to the Cache and White River National Wildlife Refuges, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and conversations with Bobby Harrison, one of the Ivory-billed's initial spotters.  The program will include a look at what the future may hold for this "ghost" bird and the role visitor management will play in developing its recovery plan. The event is free for all to attend; light refreshments will be served.

Saturday, February 25:  Local Owling Trip

Late winter can be a great time to look and listen for owls in our area as they prepare for their breeding season.  On this evening outing, we'll venture to some good spots in the area for finding owls and chances are reasonably good of hearing and possibly even seeing some of our local owl species.  To minimize our group size and thus maximize our chances of seeing and hearing owls up close, this outing will be by reservation.  For more information or to make a reservation, contact Mike Clarke at miclarke@bloomington.in.us or call 606-2025.

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The Fall Bird Feeder Cleaning held October 15 was a great success!  Thank you to the people who brought 158 feeders for us to clean for donations of $893.  We especially extend our thanks to Vickie Temple Davison and her helpful staff at Bloomington Hardwarefor hosting this event.  Thank you to the volunteers who tagged, scraped, dunked, pressure washed, steamed and organized all these feeders.  We had help from John Lawrence, Mike Clarke, P. J. Pulliam, Greg Hess, Susan Hengeveld, David and John Daniels, Tom Platt, Sandy Bacci, Kris Lindborg, Kris D'Atri, Bob and Joann Dodd, Dawn Hewitt, James Mitchell, Cathy Meyer, John Byers, and Nancy Martin.  Thanks also to Judy and Al Burckle who loaned a pressure washer and Nancy Martin who loaned a steamer and tent.  Please excuse us if we missed someone.  The proceeds will go to SAS conservation and educational activities.  Watch for announcements of the Spring Feeder Cleaning when we will clean all this winter's gunk from your feeders.

For years the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge (PRNWR) has suffered from an embarrassing lack of meaningful administrative and congressional support and funding. Also, political interference from unelected bureaucrats in the Fish and Wildlife Service, Dept. of Interior and the administration has prohibited the Patoka from being placed on the administration's priority list.  The result is that the refuge has not gotten on a consistent solid financial footing. Furthermore, and more importantly, Indiana politicians have never consistently pushed for meaningful funding. Congressman John Hostettler, within whose district PRNWR lies, is almost totally devoid of environmental concern and seems adamantly opposed  to federal environmental use of land that benefits the public. By so doing, he scorns many of his constituents who want to sell their land for the refuge or who find value in federal recreation lands.

Senator Evan Bayh, who was for refuge establishment from the start, has apparently lost interest or doesn't truly understand how many willing sellers are being ignored.  Senator Richard Lugar at one time supported the PRNWR.  Recently however, Lugar has not seemingly considered the refuge a priority.

So, Indiana is represented by a trio of politicians who obviously don't care enough to go to bat for adequately funding one of the best environmental areas in the Midwest. Politicians from other parts of the country routinely assure funding for refuges in their districts and states while the Patoka suffers. Thus only about 5,000 acres of the roughly 22,000-acre purchase area have been protected.

Our elected officials need to be inundated with telephone calls and letters of outrage.   A few handwritten letters on a single issue speak volumes to an elected official.  A hundred letters represents a rebellion.

The following is some of the latest information concerning the acquisition program for the PRNWR:

--ZERO funding for the PRNWR for FY2006 which started in October 2005. Only a meager total of $1,000,000 in funding over the last 4 fiscal years has been appropriated.

--An offer of more than $1,000,000 has been made for a tract of over 1,000 acres but no funding is available. The willing seller has not indicated a willingness to take an option to temporarily tie-up the land if PRNWR doesn't get the money in the near future. This property is a critical acquisition based on size, habitat diversity, and threat of being subdivided. Subdivision is ongoing within the refuge boundary.

--There are 23 other property owners within PRNWR boundary who have listed their property with realtors or contacted the refuge to express their interest in selling. This includes approximately 1,700 acres at an estimated cost of $3,000,000.

Adding the approximate costs of $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 obviously means that more than $4,000,000 are immediately needed for the potential acquisition of more than 2,700 acres from 24 willing sellers.   

PLEASE contact:  Senator Evan Bayh,  Senator Richard Lugar, and Representative John Hostettler.  Please email me at jagmo@bluemarble.net if you contact any of these legislators.  Knowing how  many people have contacted them on a single issue is very important when dealing  wtih them later.

At the October 26 SAS meeting, Ross Brittain and Jess Gwinn described the Northern Saw- whet Owl as the smallest bird of prey in Indiana – and one of the most reclusive.  Before the start of the Saw-whet banding program birders had found few of these miniature raptors in the state.  Since Ross and Jess established the first two Indiana stations in 2002 and 2003, they have banded 284 Saw-whet Owls, indicating that they are not as rare as once thought.  The Indiana stations in Yellowwood State Forest in Brown County and Newark in Green County are part of Project Owlnet, a network of about 75 stations in the U.S. and Canada.  (Note: to learn more about the international Project Owlnet, go to www.projectowlnet.com.)

The favorite prey of Saw-whet Owls are small mammals, especially voles.  They breed in northern U.S. and southern Canada and spend their winters further south in the U.S. Details of their migration and winter homes are still uncertain.  Among the questions that these studies hope to answer are 1. What is the migration route?  2. What is the owl’s age distribution?  3. What is the relative abundance of male and female owls trapped?  4. What is the timing of migration?   5. How long do they stay in the area?  6.  How does weather affect migration pattern?  7. What is the most favorable habitat for the migrating owls?

The owls are trapped in fine “mist nets”, which are strung between upright poles from ground level to a height of some nine feet.  The “magical time” for owl capture is between 9-11 p.m.  A CD recording of the Saw-whet Owl mating call plays near the net.  An additional “inducement” is a puppet crudely resembling a Saw-whet Owl that is placed near the speakers. The owl attracted by this subterfuge is captured in the net mesh and must be carefully extracted by a state and federal licensed bird bander.  This can be a tricky operation, sometime resulting in puncture wounds to the bander. The bander then places the owl in a plastic container for weighing.  The next step is attaching the pre-numbered band to the bird’s leg.  This is followed by a number of measurements including wing-cord length, tail length, feather color and florescence in ultraviolet light, eye color, and bill length.  These observations allow the bander to determine the sex and age of the owl, important information for the project.  Now comes the fun part: returning the bird to the wild.  Volunteers are often given the opportunity to perform this task.  Occasionally Eastern Screech Owls are captured in the nets.  Although they are not the target species, they also earn the honor of being banded.  The banders hope that they will never trap a larger owl, as extraction from the net would be a hazardous task indeed.

Occasionally the trapped birds already have bands.  Sometimes the band came from the local station, either a day or two before or as Jeff Riegle recently reported on the Bloomington Bird-list from that same night.  Perhaps more exciting is to find an owl that was banded at another station.  This helps to determine the direction and speed of migration.  Ross described one owl captured in Maryland that had been banded the night before at a station in Pennsylvania that was 200 miles away!  Preliminary data suggest that many of the owls captured at the local stations have migrated from the northwest, especially Wisconsin.  A few have come from Ontario to the northeast.

Ross and Jess especially thanked SAS members and non-members who have participated in the “Adopt an Owl” program, which was started last year and is still in effect this year.  Funds raised in this program help to pay for supplies and equipment used in the banding project.  You might also like to help man the banding station at Yellowwood next year.  As the time for opening the station approaches next October, contact Ross about being assigned to a team.  If you are lucky you may have the opportunity to help collect data and even release one of the owls.

The Great Backyard Bird Count for 2006, sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, will be on President’s Weekend (February 17-20).  This year’s event will have two themes: "Go to a special place" and "Take someone with you".  This continues the trend started last year of not just looking out your own window into your back yard.  By going to a special place, the organizers mean to go to a location where you especially enjoy birding, but don’t go alone.  Take someone with you who will hopefully be infected by the birding bug just like you. We at SAS think that is a good idea and a way to help our organization grow.

During the four-day event, birders count birds for as little as 15 minutes, or for as long as they like, keeping track of the highest number of each bird species they see together at one time. Participants report what they see online at www.birdsource.org/gbbc where the Cornell computers convert their sightings to maps, lists, and charts that anyone can explore by continent, region, state, or locality. Within minutes of filing a checklist, participants can see their sightings register on the maps. Schoolteachers have created whole curricula around the materials that are available on the BirdSource website.  Our own SAS Board member Nancy Martin can tell you about using the GBBC as a teaching tool.  Thirty students in her Jackson Creek Middle School eighth grade science class received extra credit for participating in last year’s GBBC.  Nancy encourages other teachers to check out this program as a way of instilling enthusiasm for birds and wildlife in the younger generation.  To learn more about GBBC check www.audubon.org/gbbc/index.shtml.

Some of the results of the 2005 GBBC were summarized in the May/June issue of the Leaflet, but a few items of interest slipped past the editor.  Bloomington birders submitted 104 checklists, second in Indiana only to the 132 from Indianapolis.  Let’s beat those guys this year!  There was only one checklist from Nashville.  Let’s do better this year, Nashville.  Little Unionville has 5 submissions and 67 species compared to the 56 from Bloomington.  It was second only to Indianapolis in number of species.  Can anyone figure that one out?  Who lives in Unionville who would be able to identify so many species?  (Hint:  Check the Editor’s Note and the Big Sit results.)

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SAS Group Takes Memorable Trip Through Northern Indiana by Jim Hengeveld