Springfield Audubon Society –November 2009
www.springfieldaudubon.org
Vern Kleen, President Susan Dees, Editor
1825 Clearview Drive 7100 Garden View Lane
Springfield, Illinois 62704 Springfield, Illinois 62712
Home Phone: 217/787-3515 Home Phone: 217/529-1826
Email: vkleen@comcast.net Email: susanedees@yahoo.com
Other Officers & Committee Chairs:
Vice-President – Kathi Davis Kathi.Davis@illinois.gov
Treasurer – Susan Shaw 546-6176 susanjshaw@juno.com
Secretary – Tracy Evans 782-7940 Tracy.Evans@illinois.gov
Alternate IAS Representative – Mike Bowers
Membership Committee – Susan Shaw 546-6176 susanjshaw@juno.com
Trips – Mike Bowers 698-8103 motab1949@yahoo.com
Fall is a time of transition, of warm sunny days followed by bone-chilling rainy ones.
Hot winesap cider and buttery persimmon bread warm the spirit as the oven warms the
house. The vibrant oranges, reds, golds, and purples are now faded, blown off the trees
and shrubs to nestle on the ground below, providing slow-release nutrients for next year’s
growth. Now that the leaves are mostly gone, those same colors in sunrises and sunsets
are easily visible gifts. A frost-dodging Chinese mantid has yet to lay her egg mass,
fueled by the last cricket of the season. Harlan’s hawks ride the thermals that rush up the
bluffs. Migrating pintails congregate in the flooded backwaters’ calm, their elegant necks
punctuating the darkening dusk. The early dark eagles and the late white pelicans share
the river corridor. Hooded mergansers, Bonaparte’s gulls, and horned grebes glint their
respective flashes of white in the rare glimpse of sunlight. Flocks of white and blue snow
geese undulate in color and resonate in sound before settling on the river.
President’s Message 12 November 2009
November/December 2009
Well, here we are approaching the Holiday Season already! It’s hard to believe
how much has happened between newsletters and that it’s time to think in terms of winter
activities. So, please note the schedule of events, mark them on your calendars and join
us for all of them.
Annual Meeting! The Chapter’s annual meeting (including a special program and
potluck) is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, January 31st. It’s the only membership
meeting all year where the Chapter conducts business and it concludes with the election
of officers and directors (would any of you like to be on the Board?). The meeting itself
takes less than an hour; the program usually runs for an hour, and the potluck (SAS
provides the meat and drinks) is usually completed by 5:00 pm. This is a “must be there”
event.
Award & Reception! Susan Shaw (our Chapter’s treasurer) was recently
recognized by Chris Young and the State Journal-Register as the “People and the Prairie
environmental educator” of the year. (I hope you saw her picture and read the article!)
She was also recently recognized at a special reception in her honor at the Adams
Sanctuary for her many years of dedicated service to the Illinois Audubon Society and
Springfield community. Even though she’s now “retired”, she still continues as a
volunteer with the Sanctuary’s educational programs and scouting events.
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Website! Joel Horwedel is responsible for creating and maintaining the Chapter’s
website: www.springfieldaudubon.org. Please view it periodically and if you can think
of items that should be included on the website—let us know.
Sanctuary Developments! When was the last time you took a drive along the
Adams Sanctuary’s eastern boundary (Forrest Avenue)? I think you’ll be impressed with
the changes that have been made—especially the ponds that are full to capacity and the
projected wetland/prairie area that will be formalized next spring. We thank Vern
LaGesse, president of Friends of the Sangamon Valley, for these accomplishments; he
spent last week seeding the prairie area (winter wheat) so it will be ready for next
spring’s prairie development.
MABBS! This is the acronym for the Margery Adams Bird Banding Station that
has been established at the Sanctuary. The purpose of MABBS is to monitor and assess
(for many years) the birds that utilize the sanctuary during the spring and fall migrations.
Approximately 1600 birds of 72 species were banded this fall compared to 1500 birds of
69 species in 2008. Highlights of the season’s activities will be printed in the “Friends of
the Adams Wildlife Sanctuary” Newsletter. With the establishment of MABBS, several
volunteer opportunities are available to those interested in learning more about birds and
banding or willing to assist in other ways such as: checking the nets, banding the birds,
mending nets, talking with students and other guests, and assist financially (replacement
nets run about $100 each, and more banding tools, net poles, bird holding bags, etc.,
would be extremely useful). Perhaps a schedule for volunteers can be ready for the
spring banding season (to begin about March 20th).
Christmas Bird Count! Springfield’s count is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 20th.
Birds occurring in the count circle (a 15-mile diameter circle centered on the Capitol
Building) can be counted. Please let me know if you are willing to participate (in the
field, in your neighborhoods, or at your feeders).
Swap & Shop! Please remember the “swap & shop table” to be available at all
SAS programs and meetings at the sanctuary. Anyone can bring in “nature-related” items
(including books and magazines) they no longer wish to keep and to lay them out on the
table. Anyone then wishing to take the donated items would be welcome to do so. And,
if you’d be willing to make a donation for those items, a donation jar will also be on the
table. This may provide a small source of income for the Chapter since we no longer
have bird seed. (Note: periodicals left over from meetings will be placed in the recycle
bin).
Calendars! If you’ve not already obtained your 2010 Audubon calendar, you’d
better do so quickly. Lisa (Beam) notes that the vast majority (100 ordered) have already
been sold.
Inventory Reduction! Please note elsewhere in this newsletter the “deal” being
offered for the inventory left over from the days we had bird seed sales. Take advantage
of the bargains.
Bird Seed and Feeders Arrangement! Please remember our “arrangement” with
Wild Birds Unlimited! Be sure to do your shopping for bird seed and nature-related
items at Wild Birds Unlimited and to tell Wade (or the cashier) that you are a member of
Springfield Audubon so that Audubon benefits from your purchases (50-cents for each
bag of seed and a 10% discount on other items).
Costa Rica! There are a couple of spaces left for the special Costa Rica trip (Feb.
6-20th). Why not join me for two, non-strenuous, weeks of great birding and fun
adventures.
And, finally, be sure to take some time every day during the rest of the fall season
and throughout the winter to enjoy nature (even if just a little bit).
Vernon Kleen
Upcoming SAS Events – November/December 2009 and January/February 2010
(All programs begin at 7:00 pm in Jochens Hall at the Adams Wildlife Sanctuary)
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Nov. 19th: Program – Pat Ward (Birding Adventures in Panama)
Dec. 17th: Program – Member Slide Show (w/ supplement)
Dec. 20th: Springfield Christmas Bird Count
Jan. 31st: Annual Meeting, Program and Potluck (Springfield Audubon provides the meat
and drinks).
Feb. 18th: Program (to be arranged)
SPECIAL -- SPECIAL
BIRD SEED
and
S.A.S. MEMBER BENEFIT PROGRAM
(THANKS TO WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED)
Wade Kammin, owner of Springfield’s Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU) and
member of Springfield Audubon, is making two special deals available to members of
Springfield Audubon Society (SAS).
Deal #1—$.50 DONATION. Wade has volunteered to donate fifty cents to
Springfield Audubon for every 20-lb. bag of bird seed purchased by SAS members at his
Springfield store. (Note: for the convenience of most customers, the store does not carry
bags larger than 20 lb.).
Deal #2—10% DISCOUNT. Wade has offered an every-day, year-round
discount of 10% on regularly-priced, non-food merchandise purchased by SAS members.
With this discount, SAS members have two options, either accept the 10% discount for
themselves, or, request that the 10% saved be donated to SAS.
For several reasons, including the fact that SAS has not had any recent fund-
raising or income- producing events, SAS’s Board agreed to accept Wade’s offer with the
option to modify it at any time if mutually agreed and to either extend or discontinue the
arrangement in the spring of 2010.
In order for this program to benefit SAS, YOU NEED TO:
Purchase your bird seed and paraphernalia at Wild Birds Unlimited (1930 S.
MacArthur Blvd.)(789-6468);
Once in the store, let the WBU staff know that you are a member of SAS;
Be sure the WBU cashier gives SAS proper credit for your purchases (they will
record the donation value of your purchases on the membership list we provided);
and
Encourage others to become SAS members and do their shopping at WBU (SAS
membership applications are available in the store).
PLEASE: DO YOUR SHOPPING AT WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED.
SAS Annual Meeting
You and your guests are invited to the SAS annual meeting, to be held at 2 pm at Adams
Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday, January 31, 2010. Please bring a dish to pass and table
service. Please consider carpooling, as parking spaces are limited. For our program we
will be treated to John Muir as portrayed by John Wallace of the Shawnee Audubon
Chapter. Besides being an accomplished environmental educator, John gives wonderful
dramatic readings along with his wife Karen at the annual Insect Appreciation Day at
War Bluff Sanctuary. (As an aside, Karen is also an expert at propagating the beautiful
native red honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) still in bloom at the IAS headquarters.)
We will also be electing SAS board members and officers. Please consider donating your
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time and talents. We are also looking for a few good volunteers.
SAS Board Meeting
You are invited to the next SAS board meeting, to be held at the IAS new headquarters at
5:15 pm on February 2, 2010. All are welcome!
Save Trees and Stamps – Electronic Newsletter
Are you interested in saving money for SAS, as well as saving trees, as well as the
convenience of an electronic newsletter? We have dropped the $160-$170 per year bulk
mail permit, are saving on printing, and also saving on postage. To receive an electronic
newsletter, reply to Susan Dees at susanedees@yahoo.com. Thanks to those of you who
have signed up for the electronic newsletter. If your email address changes, please be
sure to notify us. To you others with computer access, please consider it! The newsletter
will be also posted on the SAS web site.
Congrats to People and the Prairie award-winners!
An observation on the People and the Prairie awards from Susan Shaw: Guy & Edie
Sternberg and I are longtime IAS/SAS members. Vern LaGesse is a relatively new
member and is a major force in the work at Adams Sanctuary. Ken Sibley has been a
member of SAS for many years and of IAS the past year or two. He was a friend of Vern
Greening. That's 4 out of 5 with an IAS/SAS connection.
HELP US CLEAN OUT THE FEEDER SHED
At the next few Springfield Audubon meetings, bird feeders and
accessories will be available for a donation to the chapter. Look for
suet baskets, sunflower feeders, window feeders, and a variety of book
titles. Suggestion donation amounts range from $1 for a Niger sack to
$25 for an electric bird bath heater. Shop for stocking stuffers! There
is a selection of seed catchers -- if you need a seed catcher for your
feeder, bring it along to see if one will fit. Contact Susan Shaw at 546-6176 or
susanjshaw@juno.com if you are interested.
Winter Bird and Tree Workshop…
This will be hosted by IAS & AWS on January 10, 2010 from 1-3pm and will include a
backyard bird feeding seminar by Wild Birds Unlimited and a Winter Tree ID walk by
Vern LaGesse. All are welcome.
Corps of Discovery
Registration has begun for the new Sangamon Corridor Corps of Discovery -
Communicating Nature, a project sponsored by the Illinois Natural History Survey,
Illinois Audubon Society and Decatur Audubon Society. This new course will be held at
Illinois Audubon Society's Adams Wildlife Sanctuary, Springfield, and at Rock Springs
Nature Center, Decatur.
Members of the Sangamon Corridor Corps of Discovery will be trained in the skills of
nature photography, descriptive writing, and sketching/drawing. The changing landscape
of the Sangamon River Corridor provides a perfect opportunity for interested citizens to
participate in the documentation of the biological and habitat diversity of this area. No
previously demonstrated artistic skills are required. The Sangamon Corridor Corps of
Discovery seeks only dedicated, committed individuals of high school age and above for
this unique opportunity. Attendance at all four classes is strongly encouraged.
Each class meeting will involve a variety of skill-building activities in the areas of
photography, drawing and description writing with a focus on the creative integration of
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these disciplines. The unique activities of physical journaling and photo journaling will
be explored.
Classes will be held from 9am to 4pm at alternating locations on January 9 (Springfield),
January 30 (Decatur), February 20 (Springfield) and March 6 (Decatur). A final field
trip will be held in late March.
The fee for the course if $75 and includes selected materials, activity packet, individual
and group instruction and snacks during breaks. Deadline for registration is December
20. Class size is limited.
Instructors for the class are Dr. Michael R. Jeffords, Senior Professional Scientist at the
Illinois Natural History Survey, Susan L. Post, Research Scientist at the Illinois Natural
History Survey, and Carolyn Peet Nixon, Technical Scientist at the Illinois Natural
History Survey.
For more information about Sangamon Corridor Corps of Discovery contact Michael
Jeffords (jeffords@illinois.edu) 217.333.5986.
Websites for Birders
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/10/advertising_goes_live.html &
www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html
Wind Turbine Article
Thanks very much to Keith Shank for authoring the article below for those of you who
were unable to catch his SAS program on October 15, 2009. He is a biologist for IDNR
dealing with impacts to sensitive species. The opinions below are his own and not
necessarily those of IDNR.
Industrial wind turbines are rapidly becoming a common feature of the Illinois landscape.
Already, Illinois has wind energy capacity of over 1,100 Megawatts, with 700 more
Megawatts scheduled to become operational by the end of 2009. That represents about
1,200 operating turbines. And wind developers are just getting started!
A common fear is that wind turbines will kill high numbers of birds. Many opponents of
wind energy cite the infamous Altamont Pass wind farm in California which, despite
recent upgrades and new configurations, still kills thousands of birds every year.
Fortunately, Altamont Pass has proven to be atypical; few other wind farms around the
world kill more than a small fraction of the casualties there.
At four hundred feet high, with blades slicing more than an acre of air, turbines present a
daunting obstacle to flying creatures. However, most rotate at something less than 20
rpm, which means a blade tip passes a specific point once every second. That does not
seem fast compared to the speed of Grandpa’s old windmill out on the farm. But with
blades up to 40 meters long (over 130 feet) their tips are moving at well over 200 mph!
Nevertheless, the only published mortality study of a wind farm in Illinois, at the
Crescent Ridge Project in Bureau County, found that each turbine killed only one or two
birds in a whole year, about half of what the typical single-family home kills. Mortality
studies at other Illinois wind farms, though not yet completed or published, appear to be
producing similar results. Compared to other sources of human-caused avian mortality,
wind farms will stay far down the list for a long time to come.
Avian deaths seem spread over a large number of species in sustainable numbers. That
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may not be the case with bats. As odd as it seems, three bats die for every bird struck.
Because bats are not as reproductively prolific as birds, these losses may not be
sustainable in the long-term. A tremendous amount of research effort is underway to try
to better understand bat ecology and the reasons wind turbines seem to be so deadly to
them.
However, collision mortality is only one way that wind turbines interact with wildlife.
Other impacts may not be so spectacular in the short-term, but may prove more
important.
Visibility, motion, noise, shadow-flicker, and ground vibration are just a few of the
characteristics of wind turbines which may result in the displacement or exclusion of
wildlife from habitat. A number of studies have detected a negative effect on wildlife
abundance in proximity to wind turbines, without identifying which individual
characteristic (or combination) is causing these effects.
Too often people base concerns about wildlife on their own reactions, forgetting that
animals often see in spectra we cannot perceive, hear and use sounds above and below
the range of human hearing, and respond to vibrations far below our own sensory
capabilities. Just because we may not be bothered doesn’t mean wildlife is not. On the
other hand, many species seem to be affected not at all. It is risky to over-generalize
about wildlife responses to wind turbines.
It is also easy to overlook the environmental consequences associated with building a
wind farm. The nacelle containing the generator weighs 80,000 lbs., up to 120,000 lbs.
for larger turbines. Few highways, and far fewer country roads, were built for such
weights. And with blades more than 130 feet long, trucks need a radius of up to 150 feet
simply to turn a corner. So simply transporting the components is a major challenge.
Doing so often requires widening and re-surfacing roads, rebuilding their ditches,
replacing culverts and bridges with new structures, and removing road-side trees and
fencerows. Building 100 turbines may require 25 miles of new roadways, and more than
30 miles of interconnecting underground power lines. These activities extend the reach
of environmental consequences associated with wind power to aquatic and terrestrial
plants and animals.
One question I often hear pertains to environmental impact statements. Unless a wind
energy project receives federal funding or requires federal permits, there are no
requirements for environmental impact statements. There are no federal laws regulating
on-shore wind farms, and in Illinois there are not any state regulations, either. To the
extent there are any government requirements at all, they are typically part of or derived
from local government zoning laws. And in about one-third of Illinois Counties, there
are no zoning laws!
Zoning laws are intended to address land uses that may be a nuisance to other land
owners. In their essence, they are all about avoiding adverse effects to people, not
wildlife, nor are they usually structured to protect environmental values. There are no
protections for wildlife or wildlife habitat in these local ordinances. That said, some
Counties take such issues seriously and have imposed reasonable study requirements,
consistent with their authorities.
Local governments are required to “consult” the Department of Natural Resources prior
to authorizing actions which alter environmental conditions. But these consultations are
aimed at endangered or threatened species, and the protection of Nature Preserves.
Moreover, the recommendations from IDNR are simply advice which local governments
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must consider, but are not required to adopt.
Thus, if a wind farm is proposed near you, and you have wildlife concerns, you must take
those concerns to your County Board. Fortunately, most wind farm developers want to
be perceived as “green,” so they are sensitive to wildlife issues. But their responses vary.
Again, it is unwise to generalize.
In the debates around wind farms, extreme views are commonly expressed. But the
reality lies somewhere between. As wind turbines proliferate across the landscape, we
should be neither rabidly opposed nor passively complacent. But continued study of their
consequences to wildlife is appropriate.
*** Many thanks to Susan Shaw for printing newsletter labels, picking up the
newsletter from the printer, and mailing/emailing the newsletters. ***