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| Don't forget to submit your local sightings to eBird and share them with MeckAudubon (username). It helps us keep track of what is being seen when in the county. Thanks. |
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| Carolina Waterfowl Rescue |
| www.cwrescue.org |
| waterfowlrescue@aol.com |
| P.O. Box 1484 |
| Indian Trail, NC 28079 |
| 704.668.9486 |
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Welcome to another exciting season of Birding
with Mecklenburg Audubon! |
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| Graphics by Will Stuart |
| Birds are not the only winged creatures that are on the move in the fall. Butterflies are attractive to both birds and birders but for different reasons. The birds need them for nourishment for their long journey south. Birders are just fascinated by anything that has wings. It might also have something to do with the fact that birds aren’t as active during the middle part of the day and butterflies are, so they help fill the time until the birds become active. |
| However, if you have ever tried to identify these gossamer beauties you quickly found out they can be as challenging as birds. So to help to help us out with the basics, Taylor Piephoff will guide us through the identification intricacies of the order Lepidoptera. He’ll focus on local species that we are most likely to encounter. Then on Sunday, September 12th you can join him at Mallard Creek Greenway to see how much you have learned. |
| So flit on over to the Seventh Day Adventist Church (920 N Sharon Amity) for the first fall meeting of our birding season, on Thursday, September 9th. Socializing will begin around 7:15 PM. Meeting will start around 7:35 PM. See you all there. |
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| Last fall, Taylor Piephoff developed and coordinated an organized hawk watch at Cowan’s Ford Wildlife Refuge. The Catawba River Hawk Watch ran from mid September to mid October and involved 18 people that spent over 175 hours at the refuge counting migrating raptors. This effort resulted in 816 individuals of 11 species being recorded over a 31-day period, including 36 bald eagles, 150 ospreys and 429 broad-winged hawks. While this baseline data is important, more years of consistent data collection are needed to help us understand how this section of the Catawba River functions as a corridor for migrating raptors. |
| We are now seeking volunteers to help with the 2nd year of data collection. All birders are welcome, from folks with strong skills in raptor ID to beginning & intermediate hawk watchers looking to develop their skills over this one-month period. The more eyes the better. |
| There will be two shifts a day; from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Volunteers may sign up for as many or as few shifts a week as they like. Our goal is to have every shift covered during the hawk watch period, which runs from Saturday, September 11 to Sunday, October 10. |
| For those interested in training, there will be several upcoming opportunities. Reedy Creek Nature Center will host an indoor hawk watch ID training session on Sunday, August 29, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., with a follow up field session at Cowan’s Ford Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, September 18 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There will also be on site training with Taylor Piephoff on Saturday, September 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or on Sunday, September 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Beginners may have opportunities to be paired up with experienced hawk watchers at other times during the hawk watch period as well. |
| Tom Sanders will be coordinating the volunteers and organizing the schedule. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact him. |
| The data generated through the hawk watch will be used both locally and nationally. Daily reports will be compiled through Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation’s Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources and will also be entered into HawkCount, an on-line database of the Hawk Migration Association of North America. |
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| Beginner Bird Walks |
Saturday, September 25th |
| Contact: Sally Miller |
| Are you considering picking up one of the most popular hobbies in the world? Bird watching can be relaxing and challenging all at the same time. Join Audubon members as they lead small groups in the beginning basics of this sport. We will teach you birdcalls, songs and identification techniques. Some birds we expect to see and hear are cardinals, wrens, chickadees, titmice, and mockingbirds. We’ll be using binoculars to look closely at their beak, wing bars, shape and size. These walks will be limited to 10 people. Everyone is welcome. We encourage families and children to “bird” together. |
| This month's walk will be at McAlpine Creek Greenway. We will meet at 8:30 AM in the Monroe Rd. entrance parking lot. |
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Current Issue
Aubudon News |
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