KCA Newsletter Winter 2020 Email Version
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KANE COUNTY AUDUBON NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2020 From the Presidential Bird Feeder n June 1999, I spent a few days hiking in Arches National Park in Utah. The park is famous for its stunning I geological formations: red rock cliffs, balancing rocks, and more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches. (Alas, I was not a birder then. Some 200 species have been reported in the park.) A lesser known, but no less important, aspect of the park is its cryptobiotic soil. The knobby, black crust is an amalgam of lichen, mosses, green algae, microfungi, bacteria and cyanobacteria. These organisms play a vital role in forming and stabilizing the soil in the park’s arid landscape. What might look like mere dirt and sand is surprisingly delicate. Cryptobiotic soil is more like a soufflé than the infield at Wrigley Field. The crust can take years to develop. Hiking or biking on cryptobiotic soil crushes it. Since crustal organisms need light to photosynthesize, compressing the soil can kill them and upset the whole ecosystem. Once the soil is no longer held in place by a web of microorganisms, it’s easily carried away by wind and water. That’s why signs everywhere implore hikers to stay on marked trails or durable surfaces such as rocks or sandy washes. And yet, incredibly, I saw many people wandering off trail. In one case, a family of four stomped across a tract of cryptobiotic soil just to get a photo in front of a blooming cactus. To get there, they literally walked around a sign telling them to stay on the trail. I was reminded of that incident recently in the wake of the appalling confrontation May 25 between a white woman and a black birder in New York City’s Central Park. That morning, a white woman named Amy Cooper was walking her dog in an area of Central Park known as the Ramble. Christian Cooper (no relation to her), a black birder, noticed that Amy’s dog was unleashed and running free, even though the Ramble is not classified as an off - leash area and signs state that dogs must be leashed. Christian politely asked Amy to leash her dog, she refused, and as the interaction proceeded, Christian began recording on his cellphone. Christian’s video begins with Amy approaching him and asking him to stop recording. He repeatedly asks her to not come near him. She then calls the police, telling the 9 - 1 - 1 operator that an African - American man is threatening her. Amy’s actions have been widely criticized. She has been accused of falsely presenting herself as being in immediate physical danger. Worse, prior to placing the call, she repeatedly tells Christian that she is about to tell the police an African - American man is threatening her. Many see that as evidence that she was “weaponizing” the widely perceived prejudice of the police against people of color. Sadly, the confrontation was just the latest in a string of racial incidents that have sparked nearly a month of protests and civil unrest. What bothers me as much as Amy Cooper’s blatant racism is the fact that she — like that family in Arches National Park — believes rules don’t apply to her. The confrontation never happens — and Amy would still have her lucrative job at an investment firm — if she simply followed the rules and leashed her dog. Was that so difficult? Unfortunately, too many of us don’t like to follow rules, even when they are in- tended to protect wildlife or other people. Leash your dog. Stay on the trail. Wear a mask. You can’t tell me what to do! As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, let’s all strive to be a little kinder, a little more understanding, and a little more respectful. — John Sprovieri KCA to Host Online Meeting July 8 s you know, the COVID - 19 pandemic forced us to cancel our April and May meetings, as well as our A walks and rambles. And that’s too bad, because we missed some good speakers, not the least of which were our very own Pam Otto and Valerie Blaine. Well, I’m pleased to announce that KCA is boldly entering the 21st century, and we are going to bring you Pam and Valerie’s presentation, “Women in Conservation,” as our first ever live webinar on Wednesday, July 8, at 7 p.m. If we can’t meet in person, we might as well meet on - line, right? Here’s more about the presentation: “Women in Conservation,” featuring Pam Otto and Valerie Blaine The history of environmentalism is replete with men like Aldo Leopold, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and Henry David Thoreau. However, women have made significant contributions, as well. In this presentation, Valerie Blaine, nature programs manager for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County, and Pam Otto, the out- reach ambassador for the St. Charles Park District, will discuss the impact of women in conservation. The meeting will be conducted through Zoom. Our virtual seating is limited, so you’ll have to register to at- tend. It’s free, and, hopefully, painless. To register in advance for this meeting, click, or copy and paste, this link into your browser: https://tinyurl.com/y9gz4pss. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Don’t miss it! — John Sprovieri Spring Bird Count Logs 165 Species ome 39 birders turned out May 9 for KCA’s 49th annual Spring Bird Count. S Birders identified 158 bird species and tallied 13,533 individual birds. The total number of species recorded in 2020 was above the historic average of 144, but it was the second lowest total in the past 10 years. Twenty - one birding parties spent a total of 125 hours in the field and logged 120 total miles (on foot and by car) in search of Kane County’s birds. The latter figure is the lowest total number of miles in count history. New high counts were reported for multiple species: Ruddy Duck, Caspian Tern, Forster’s Tern, Barred Owl, Brewer’s Blackbird and Summer Tanager. Below - average counts were logged for numerous species — most notably for American Crow, American Coot, American Redstart, Chipping Sparrow, Savan- nah Sparrow and Brown Thrasher. — Joy Duerr Barred Owl Photo by John Sprovieri Thank You, Theresa and Tim n the first Saturday of each month, KCA has traditionally held a bird walk around Nelson Lake at Dick O Young Forest Preserve in Batavia. The late Terry Murray led those walks for eight years. Theresa LeCompte then took over for the past 37 months. Now, Theresa has passed the baton to Tim Klimowski. “When Terry passed this on to me, he told me to keep a written journal of the walks, including details such as attendance and weather. He kept journals, as well,” says Theresa. “When I asked Tim to take over the walks, I passed my journal onto him. And did you know that even though the Nelson Lake walks are not being held be- cause of COVID - 19, Tim still goes around the lake on the first Saturday of the month just to keep that journal up to date?” Now that’s the KCA spirit! Thanks for all your efforts, Theresa, and thank you, Tim, for stepping up! Hope to see you all at the lake very soon! — John Sprovieri Kirtland’s Warbler Sighted in Kane County for First Time he COVID - 19 pandemic sure put a damper on our planned birding trips this year. Since we could not do our T usual trip to Magee Marsh in Ohio, we birded our local area pretty much every day (rain or shine). There are 35 species of warblers that pass through Illinois and Kane County during migration. We hoped to see them all. Our son, Tony, was furloughed just at the start of migration, so he joined us on our walks. His young eyes and ears were a definite plus. Several mornings, we walked from Quarry Park in Batavia to Les Ar- ends Forest Preserve and got an amazing number of warblers. On one walk, we saw 66 species of birds, of which 24 were warblers. So far, we have seen 31 of those 35 warblers and are still looking for the missing ones. The ones we missed (Cerulean, Kentucky and Hooded) are usually hard to find. (We might still go looking for them in their usual haunts after migration is over.) Some birds we have missed in past years (Canada, Golden - Winged and Mourning) were found this year. One of the biggest surprises was Kirtland’s Warbler the Kirtland’s Warbler that we found May 18 at Bennett Park in Geneva. Photo by Scott Cohrs Tony and I were wandering through the park when we saw an unusual warbler. The bird was very cooperative and perched in the open on a branch near us so we could observe its field marks: split eye - ring; yellow throat, chest and belly; gray head. It was a Kirtland’s Warbler! I sent out an alert, and several birders came and refound the bird. To my knowledge, the Kirtland’s Warbler had never been seen in Kane County, so this was a county first! With all the time we spent birding this year, we were rewarded with some very good birds. Despite all the clouds that COVID - 19 brought us, we did find a silver lining. — Bob Andrini More Than 6,500 Species Recorded on Global Big Day Despite the pandemic (or maybe because of it), the spring Global Big Day on May 9 brought together 50,957 bird- ers from around the world.