wcaudubon. org Nov 2016-Jan 2017
CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT 2016!
By Nancy Howell, compiler for the Lakewood Christmas Bird Count
" Lakewood " count circle includes western areas of Cuyahoga County, from Lake Erie south into Berea and Olmsted Falls, and Lakewood and Cleveland Zoo too.
Do you like birding? How about watching birds at your feeder? Would you like to be a“ citizen scientist” and add to data about the birds you have seen? If any or all of these are something you like to do or would like to know more about, then consider helping with the Lakewood Christmas Bird Count- 2016. The Lakewood Christmas Bird Count, with its center point of the count circle located in Lakewood, OH, will take place on Friday, December 30, 2016. For those unfamiliar with the Christmas Bird Counts, they are the longest running“ citizen science” projects with over 100 years of collected data. Information from the count goes to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’ s database. The Lakewood count circle covers a large portion of the Lake Erie shoreline west of the city, south to the northern Strongsville border, east to the Tri-C West campus in Parma / Parma Hts and western Cleveland neighborhoods, west into Lorain County just beyond the Cuyahoga County line( North Ridgeville, Avon and Avon Lake). For a map, video and details, click the“ Christmas Bird Count” button on our website Homepage( scroll down) here.
Participants tally all bird species and numbers of birds, yes Rock Pigeons, European Starlings and House Sparrows are included. Birders may go out in groups or individually as long as the tallies are in the count circle. We’ d love to have as much of the count circle covered as possible which means neighborhoods, parks, cemeteries and any green space are fair game. Weather is not a deterrent so participants go out in whatever the weather condition is at the time. Some people spend time early in morning, or late in the evening doing some owling as long as it takes place on that December 30th date. For those not wishing to be outdoors, feeder watching is another part of the count as long as the feeder being observed is in the count circle.
One of the nice aspects of the day is the“ thank you” dinner held at the Rocky River Nature Center on Friday, December 30 at 6:00 p. m. Participants dine and gather with their list of species sighted. Species are tallied with everyone anticipating what has been found that day. Recruit new friends, families and young folks, the more eyes, the better! Contact me if you’ d like to add areas in the count circle that have not been covered, or if you know of areas needing coverage, or would like to join a group planning to go out. This is a terrific way to get out during the holiday season and enjoy the birds around us. For questions and information, send your email to nhowell @ wcaudubon. org or you can reach me at 440-891-1710. Thanks in advance for your participation! Read Online
Thank You Western Cuyahoga Audubon Members and Volunteers
Thanks to volunteers Madison Thomas, National Audubon Society, Ohio Outreach Coordinator and Megan Taylor for greeting visitors, collecting signatures for the Audubon Clean Energy Petition for Ohio, and hosting a bird identification game for youth at the Backyard Biodiversity Bash, August 27, Watershed Stewardship Center, West Creek Reservation, 2277 West Ridgewood Dr in Parma, Ohio. Read Online
The documentary, The Messenger, shown at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History on September 28 attracted a nice crowd who viewed the film and had the opportunity to speak with 22 organization representatives sharing action steps to protect migratory songbirds. Thanks to members Terry and Joanne Gorges and volunteer Megan Taylor for staffing the Western Cuyahoga Audubon display, connecting with exhibiting organizations, and getting the word out about Chapter programs to film audiences! Read Online
> wcaudubon. org The Feathered Flyer 4 <