Audubon
Members Make a Difference
FOUND: A
black, fleece, hooded jacket. The brand is Carolyn Taylor. It was left on a chair at the Presbyterian
church after the meeting Monday,
April 18. Call Janet Callen at 664-1085..
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY
May 14, 2005
Our chapter celebrates International Migratory Bird Day with a
multitude of events in the heart of Coeur d'Alene. Visit our display from
10-2 on Saturday in City Park. There will be activities for kids, art projects,
handouts, posters, and a spotting scope to view an eagle nest across the lake.
A guided bird walk on Tubbs Hill will start at noon from the 3rd Street
entrance. Join us to celebrate the return of our summer songbirds. Call Janet
Callen (664-1085) if you would like to help out.
ADOPT - a - HIGHWAY PROJECT
Saturday,
May 21
Judy Waring
Spring has sprung and it's time to get out to our stretch of Highway
95 and see what the winter months have brought our way in terms of trash.
I was talking with Larry Mundt, who formerly cleaned this two miles on the back
side of Mica Grade, and he said that he had found $30 along the roadside over
the years. And one clean-up day a car stopped ahead of the crew and threw $1
and $5 bills along the road for them to retrieve. Oh, hope springs
eternal!
We will meet at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the
inter-section of Highway 95 and Fairmont Loop Rd. where, in a dramatic
departure from our usual fare, we will have DONUTS and juice. And if I get up
early enough (unlikely), Krispy Kremes. Participants should wear long
pants and sleeves. Plan on about two hours of work. For more info call
Judy Waring at 765-5378. There will be a sign-up sheet at the May general meeting.
5TH ANNUAL CHAPTER GARAGE SALE
DATE: June 4,
Saturday
TIME: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
PLACE: Theresa
Potts' hous
4103 W. Arrowhead Road, CDA
We NEED DONATED ITEMS: Doing spring house cleaning? Please consider donating those items that you no longer use to
our garage sale. We want to
limit the number of clothing items this year - please donate only clothing
items that are in good condition - something that you would consider buying
yourself.
We need help in organizing/pricing on Friday and selling/clean
up on Saturday. A sign-up sheet will
be at the May meeting. Call Jan
Severtson at 667-6209 if you have items
to donate and/or need help in delivering them on Friday. Also, let Jan know if
you have any items that would be good to put in the newspaper garage sale ad.
THANK YOU!
GOLF COURSES
Lynn Sheridan
On March 1st, our team of Roland
Craft, Dick Cripe and Bill Gundlach
joined me to do the annual cleanup of nest boxes at Avondale Golf Course. Of 25 boxes, 17
seemed to have been used by swallows and chickadees. One Wood Duck box
was stuffed full of pine needles, and
the other big box had only a few needles, with one blue egg (likely a European
Starling's ) Thank you fellows, Lynn
On April 12th, the Resort Golf Course manager, Luke
Stavros, invited us to check out the nest boxes that had been put up by Susan
Weller in 1999. Of the original 20, only three were evident, and
one had no roof. They have a few boxes in a shed, so we'll go back later,
repair them and add some new ones.
Our group consisted of Laura
Bayless, Roland Craft, Dick Cripe, Stephen Johnson
and moi.
EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Kris Buchler
Our Audubon chapter gave two programs in the community in April.
"Backyard Birding" was presented to 35 members of the Coeur d'Alene
Garden Club on April 13. These gardeners were especially interested in
creating gardens that would attract birds and the proper way to feed and
provide water and plants preferred by desired species. We discussed
responsible feeding techniques, types of food and feeders, plants that attract
birds and healthy gardening for wildlife. Many handouts were supplied on
these topics. Wild Birds Unlimited supplied a variety of feeders for
display. A slide presentation introduced local summer and winter feeder
and yard birds. The members learned about types of bird houses and the
features that make a "good" bird house that will be used by desired
species, as well as proper placement.
Friends of the
Hayden Library hosted a program about bluebirds on April 16. They viewed
the slide presentation, "The Gertrude Hanson Memorial Bluebird trail"
as well as a video, "Bluebirds in the Nest Box." About 22
people enjoyed seeing real bluebird nests with eggs and learning about properly
made and mounted nest boxes. There was much discussion about birds and
attracting them to one's home.
Our Audubon chapter is available to give a
variety of presentations about birds to civic groups and schools.
For more information
or to schedule a program call:
Kris Buchler (664-4739) or
Janet Callen (664-1085)
"If I were to make a
study of the tracks of animals and represent them by plates, I should conclude
with the tracks of man"
Henry David Thoreau
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MICA FLATS
KEEPING THE
U.S. 95 CORRIDOR OPEN
Martha
Cook
The 
larger
community of Mica Flats, Kidd Island Bay, and nearby neighborhoods consider
this area as “rural” in nature, said 84 neighbors at a local rally on April
5. Three hundred and forty people have
opposed commercial sprawl on Mica Flats by signing petitions. “We moved to this area because of the
distance from, not proximity to, urban services,” say many. They agree that seeing farms, open spaces,
frequent wildlife and no sprawl makes the trip from town wonderful. However, complex issues face a quiet
community that has a major highway corridor cutting through it.
NO COMMERCIAL SPRAWL:
Many residents here are working to preserve the area’s rural and
historical character. When word went
out in early March that a large mini-storage/warehouse complex was proposed for
the NW corner of the Carnie Road/U.S. 95 intersection, Carnie Road residents
and Mica Flats Grangers united to blanket the area with “heads-up” flyers,
began petitions, and set up press coverage opposing the perceived beginning of
sprawl.
Although mini-storages and rental warehouses can be allowed by
“conditional use” permits within a rural zone, our prevailing use of land here
is residential and agricultural. This
project is not “compatible” in this
setting. (Read our letters and petitions in the case
file #1113-05 at Planning & Zoning.)
WHY A SCHOOL COMPLEX ON MICA FLATS? In February, School District 271 was eyeing 62 acres adjacent to
the Grange Hall for a middle school and a high school. As we talked to Superintendent Harry Amend,
we learned that the district needed land, that the nearby highway posed “no
problem”, and that our community had no part in the decision. We also learned that Planning and Zoning was
unaware of this school purchase.
The Grange mailed questions to the board and to the press; one
Granger attended the April 11 board meeting, bringing up concerns about
traffic, young drivers on Mica grade, inadequate water and sewer. Superintendent Amend notified
us two days later that the board
had decided against the purchase.
COMMUNITY REACTION:
Disturbed by this “land use planning” by the school district and equally
upset about the mini-storage project, many residents are planning a property-owners’
organization to provide more leverage against inappropriate developments and to
create a plan for the area’s future.
The Grange has supported the protective efforts, with reader-board
messages, bulk mailings, etc.
KEEP U.S. 95 CORRIDOR OPEN:
As we have moved
through these issues, we realize
that the U.S. 95 corridor in southern Kootenai County is very vulnerable to
congestion, created by just this type of “spot commercial” project, which could
result in any number of stoplights. We
have all struggled with this congestion north of Coeur d’Alene. In conversations with several county
agencies, we find that there may be no strategy in place to address this
problem.
WE ASK YOUR HELP in beginning dialogue with county officials and
the Idaho Transportation Department about possible solutions that may include
allowing commercial areas only where needed, commercial set-backs, frontage
roads, overpasses, etc. A “scenic
highway” designation for the Worley to Coeur d’Alene section of 95 could
preserve the beauty of this southern entrance to Coeur d’Alene.
For more information call Martha
Cook - 765-8230 or Vera Weniger -
667-2939
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AMERICAN
VETERINARY ASSOCIATION REVISES
FERAL CAT STANCE
Reprinted
from "Bird Calls" Vol.9 (1) March 2005, Newsletter of The American
Bird Conservancy
The American Veterinary Medical
Association ( AVMA ) is one of America's oldest and largest veterinary
associations. Its objective is the
advancement of veterinary medicine, including its relationship to public
health, biological science, and agriculture.
In November 2004, the AVMA issued a new position statement on stray and
feral cats that represented a significant strengthening of its stance in favor
of birds and other wildlife. No longer
can advocates of TNR (the practice of trapping feral cats, neutering them, and then
releasing them back into the wild into so-called "managed" colonies )
claim that the AVMA supports their actions.
The AVMA neither endorses nor opposes the practice.
The Association clearly states that
free-roaming cats represent a significant factor in wildlife mortality, and
pose a disease risk for the public.
They even go as far as to say,
"All free-roaming abandoned and feral cats that are not in managed
colonies should be removed from the environment and treated in the same manner
as other abandoned and stray animals in
accord with local and state ordinances."
State and local agencies are also encouraged to adopt ordinances that
prevent the establishment of "managed" cat colonies in wildlife-sensitive ecosystems.
Contrary to the continuing assertions of
TNR advocates, the AVMA now states, "An insignificant percentage of the
total number of unowned free-roaming and feral cats are being managed by humane
organ-izations. Consequently, the
reduction in the total number of free-roaming
cats these programs will affect is insignificant." The AMVA does, however, encourage the
establishment of properly designed and maintained enclosed feral cat
sanctuaries, which ABC has endorsed and encouraged for several years. For the full position statement, visit
AVMA's Website at: www.avma.org/policies/animalwelfare.asp#feralcats. Contact: Linda Winter,
lwinter@adcbirds.org.
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BIRDING WASHINGTON
APRIL 3, 2005 Reardon Pond
Roland Craft
The primary purpose of this field trip
was to investigate birding on Reardon
Pond west of Spokane. I believe the formal name of this pond is
"Reardon's
Audubon Lake". At the present time this is privately owned but an option
to purchase the land by the Inland Northwest Land Trust has been agreed upon by
the landowner. The Coeur d'Alene Audubon Chapter contributed money to the
Trust for future purchase of the lake and surrounding land. We were met in Reardon by Lyndell Haggin and
Gary Blevins, both members of the
Spokane Audubon, who were our guides at the lake.
This is a year-round pond of about 80 acres surrounded by
wetlands and channeled scablands with no trees in the vicinity. The day started
out quite windy and rainy but the Auduboners are tough and we stayed right in
there! A complete list of birds seen will be on our website.
We saw many species of ducks, Canada Goose, Ring-necked
Pheasant, Vesper and Savannah Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Killdeer and
more. Over 200 species of birds have
been observed at the pond. There are several ponds on the west side of
Highway 231 that may be purchased at a later date.
We then left Lyndell and Gary and
traveled west of Reardon, seeing many of the same birds we saw at the lake,
although these were on seasonal ponds. Some
other birds spotted were Northern Flicker, American Robin, Black-billed Magpie, Horned Lark, Brewer's and Red-winged
Blackbird, American Kestrel.
A little northwest of Reardon is Mondovi Pond where again we
saw many of the same birds as we saw on Reardon's Audubon Lake. In
addition there were Green-winged
Teal, Common Snipe, Rough-legged Hawk, and
Say's Phoebe.
We continued traveling to Davenport, along the way observing
Common Raven,
Rough-legged and Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Shrike, Mourning Dove plus many of
the more common species. This entire
tour passed through mostly farm or pastureland with very few trees, so it
seemed amazing that we saw so many species on limited variety of habitat.
Participants were Lisa Hardy, Kris Buchler, Marv and Karen
Williams and myself. Thanks go to our
guides, Gary Blevins and Lyndell
Haggin.
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BOOK REVIEW
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON
THE MAKING OF
AN AMERICAN
Author: Richard Rhodes.
438 pages, 2004
What did I really know about Audubon, our
society's namesake? I knew he was not
born in the United States, was a good artist and shot birds in order to draw
them. Being a responsible Audubon
member, I decided I should know more and was intrigued by this new biography. This book not only enlightened me about
Audubon's life, it illustrated in my
mind how people lived then, how our country's wildernesses looked and changed
and just where our knowledge was concerning the arts and science. I was amazed at how much the early
naturalists already knew about American birds and especially that John James
Audubon was a naturalist as well as an artist.
The young Frenchman was sent to America
to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Wars.
At eighteen, he already had a love of birds and well- developed art
talent. He was an illegitimate son of
Jean Audubon and born on his father's sugar plantation on Saint Dominique (now
Haiti). At Mill Grove in New York he
was a gentleman expected to develop his father's property, while delighting in
his true pursuits of hunting, fishing, drawing and music. He learned English there and met his future
wife, Lucy Bakewell.
Audubon began exploring the wilderness of
birds and his travels took him to the frontier of Kentucky and the Appalachians
where he started a new life. It was
here where he discovered his life's work - to collect and draw the birds of
America and have them engraved in the mutivolume work titled "The Birds of
America." He tried several
business ventures to support his family and most of these failed leaving him
bankrupt. His wife Lucy helped support
the family by teaching and they endured many long separations while Audubon
explored areas of the country in search of new species to be recorded. He eventually traveled with hundreds of
artworks to England in search of an engraver and subscriptions to fund
publication of his work.
As a birder, I particularly enjoyed
reading about various historical figures that Audubon encountered and who now
are remembered for names of birds. Some
of these are Wilson, Say, Bewick, Bachman, Harlan, Harris, Townsend and
Nuttal. Can you name the birds that
carry their names? Visions that are
hard to forget are his journal descriptions of the great flocks of Passenger
Pigeons and subsequent slaughter of those and other species once prevalent in
great numbers in our country.
The journals describe Audubon's keen
sense of changes in our country, especially in loss of wilderness and the
plight of our Native Americans. After
twenty years, while publishing his work in England, he returned to write:
"...when I reflect that all this
grand portion of our Union, instead of being in a state of nature, is now more
or less covered with villages, farms, and towns, where the din of hammers and
machinery is constantly heard; that the woods are fast disappearing under the axe by day, and fire by night;
that hundreds of steamboats are gliding to and fro over the whole length of the
majestic river, forcing commerce to take root and to prosper at every spot;
when I see the surplus population of Europe coming to assist in the destruction
of the forest and transplanting civilization into its darkest recesses;-when I
remember that these extraordinary changes have all taken place in the short
period of twenty years, I pause, wonder, and although I know all to be fact,
can scarcely believe its reality. I
feel with regret that there are on record no satisfactory accounts of the state
of that portion of the country, from the time when our people first settled in
it."
Audubon did record many aspects of our
country as it once was. Just look at
his illustrations of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Passenger Pigeon. Some of the plates grace this book and I
turned to my volume of "The Birds of America" which complements the
stories and dramas behind many of illustrations.
I am in awe of the accomplishments of
this man and the commitment and drive he had in order to fulfill his
dream. Whether you are interested in
natural history, art or 17th century American history, there is something for
each of you in this book.
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BIRDING
WITH A BROWN BAG
Tubbs
Hill April 19th
Lynn Sheridan
Searching on our website, Wendy Wong and Michael Soren from
Spokane, found the info regarding today's walk, and joined Kris Buchler, Roland
Craft, Karen Linnane and myself to explore Tubbs Hill.
We enjoyed the profusion of wildflowers, advanced from our last visit, to
include Twinberry, Bedstraw, Mtn Bluebell, Shooting Star, Lomatia, and
Arrowleaf Balsam.
With the help of Kris and Stephen,
we tried to differentiate between Winter Wren and Nashville Warbler. Well seen
were Osprey, a No. Flicker pair, Canada Geese pair with 6 fluffy yellow
goslings. Ten other bird species were identified. Roland is always a help with the shrubs and
trees, but what is that bright red berry tree near the trailhead??
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Observaton Post
Shirley Sturts
2005 Kootenai County Big
Year - as of April 22 -- go to our website for a complete list
#107 Nothern Shoveler: 1+ Cataldo area, March 29, Lisa Hardy
#108 Osprey: 1 Fernan
Lake, March 31, Shirley Sturts
#109 Turkey Vulture:
1 Coeur d'Alene River south of Rose Lake, April 1, Stephen Johnson
#110 Cinnamon Teal: 1+ Coeur d'Alene River
south of Rose Lake, April 1, Stephen Johnson
#111 Brewer's Blackbird: 1+ Rathdrum Prairie,
April 3, Stephen Johnson
#112 Savannah Sparrow: 2 Rathdrum
Prairie, April 3, Stephen Johnson
#13
White-crowned Sparrow: Rathdrum
Prairie, April 7, Stephen Johnson
#114 Virginia Rail: 1 Cataldo area, April 8, Lisa Hardy
#115
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Rathdrum Prairie April 10,
Stephen Johnson and another 1 in
Post Falls, April 18, Steve Lindsay
#116
Chipping Sparrow:
Farragut State Park , April 10,
Michael Woodrurff
#117
Vesper Sparrow:
- Rathdrum Prairie, April 14, Stephen Johnson
#118 Calliope Hummingbird:
1 Armstrong Hill in Coeur d'Alene, April 15, Kris
Buchler
# 119 Sora: 1 Fernan Lake April 17, Kris
Buchler
#120 Black-chinned Hummingbird: 1 at her feeder
Armstrong Rd,
CDA, April 18, Kris Buchler
#121 Rough-winged Swallow: 1
Cataldo area, April 18, Lisa Hardy
#122 Wilson's Warbler: 1 Post Falls, April 17, Stephen Lindsay
#123 American Goldfinch: 1+ Post
Falls, April 19, Stephen Lindsay
#124 Nashville Warbler: 1 Tubbs Hill, April 19, Kris Buchler and
Stephen Johnson
# 125 Red-naped Sapsucker: 1 Blue
Creek Bay, CDA Lake, April 20, Lisa Hardy and Kris Buchler
# 126 Orange-crowned Warbler: Blue Creek Bay, CDA
Lake, April 20, Lisa Hardy and Kris Buchler
# 127 Long-billed Curlew 1 Rathdrum
Prairie, April 20, Doug Ward
# 128 House Wren
: 1 Armstrong Hill,
CDA , April 20, Kris Buchler
# 129 Rufous Hummingbird:
1 Fairmont Loop Road, CDA, April 21,
Jan Severtson
Other Birds
Common Loon 1 Fernan Lake,
April 10, Shirley Sturts, 2 April 17,
Kris Buchler
Virginia Rail 1 Fernan Lake,
April 17, Kris Buchler
Pileated Woodpecker 1pr home
of Laura Bayless on 11th
Steet -they flew toward Tubbs Hill, April 22, Nancy Mertz
Blue Jay X Steller Jay Hybrid: 1 still coming to the feeder of Nancy Mertz on Pine Ave., CDA as
of April 22
BIRD QUOTE CORNER
"There is nothing
in which the birds differ more from
man than the way they
build and yet leave the landscape as it was before"
-- Robert Lynd, American Sociologist
--
"Live in such a
way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town
gossip"
n Will Rogers --
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THE FISH HAWK 
In keeping
with the Board's decision to promote the Audubon At Home
program, our chapter is working to make all of our activities more
environmentally-friendly. One change has been to start printing our newsletter
on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. 