April 2010 Volume XXXVI, Issue 4 ATLANTA AUDUBON SOCIETY AAS Goes to Colombia INSIDE By Ted Reissing GOS Guided Tour..................2 Now that the narco-terrorists have been brought under control, birders are flocking back to Colombia. First Time Birders ................2 With almost 10% of the world’s bird species (more than twice as many as can be found in the entire U.S.) and about 75 endemics, this country is a natural target for listers. In addition, the top bird Annual Report ......................3 conservation group in the country, ProAves, has developed a series of 15 preserves to protect specific birds and created lodging facilities to house visitors. Because of all these developments, AAS put Field Notes - January ..........4 together a trip to do some serious birding in Colombia and the results of this outing are highlighted Field Trips.............................5 here. Delta flies directly from Atlanta to Bogotá daily and the four-hour A Million Thanks..................6 flight arrives just after 9 PM (there is no time change when we are on standard time). If you do start in Colombia’s capital city, an Volunteer Opportunities.......6 early morning visit to a local park can reveal eight to 10 good lifers Conservation Days...............6 including the endemic Bogotá Rail. From there it is usually about an eight-hour motor trip to one of the major preserves. For this tour Merritt Island.......................7 we chose El Paujil, the prime site for the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow. Very few outsiders have seen this bird in the Bird Journal ........................7 wild, but after a couple of days of climbing steep trails in 95°F and Blue-billed Curassow Sculpting Birds....................8 Photographer: ProAves 90% humidity, we were fortunate to see two birds that flew directly over our heads. These had been flushed by one of our guides. This Great Workshops.................8 large bird (the size of a turkey) has been hunted extensively for food and as a result is super wary of humans. Other great birds we picked up in this area included Black-fronted Wood-Quail, White-tailed Trust for Public Land ...........9 Trogon, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Beautiful Woodpecker and Black-throated Mango. Another long drive through Medellín (the former drug cartel city) Classifieds..........................10 brought us to the Loro Orejiamarillo Preserve that was established to Membership........................11 save the Yellow-eared Parrot. This bird is also on the world’s critically endangered list because the fronds of its favorite nesting and feeding Book for Georgia Birders ...12 trees are used for Palm Sunday celebrations. A campaign begun a few years ago to save these trees (by substituting other types of fronds) has been totally successful and the birds are now readily seen in the preserve. The nearby city of El Jardin actually holds a festival in honor of this parrot. A few of the other species seen here included ATLANTA Cock-of-the-Rock Tourmaline Sunangel, Black-billed Mountain-Toucan, Spillman’s Photographer: ProAves Tapaculo, White-capped Tanager and Gold-fronted Whitestart. And AUDUBON SOCIETY just five minutes outside the city is one of the best leks (male display areas, sort of like the basketball court at your local YMCA) in the world for spotting the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. We saw six males 4055 Roswell Road displaying. Atlanta, GA 30342 We then went back to Medellín to fly to Santa Marta on the north Caribbean coast. Air travel within Colombia on Avianca is very good and the airports are quite modern. One lifer, the Bicolored Wren, was actually gained at lunch in the Santa Marta airport. From the city we traveled up the “worst road” in Colombia to the El Dorado Preserve. There is an excellent lodge at this site with a view of the highest mountains in the country, some of which are part of the preserve. There are about 20 endemics in the 678.973.2437 area and in a couple of days of birding we picked up 14 of them including Santa Marta Screech Owl, White-lored Warbler and Rusty-headed Spinetail. In addition Band-tailed Guan, White-tipped Quetzal, www.atlantaaudubon.org Masked Trogon and Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush were added to our sighting list. We flew back to Bogotá from Santa Marta and then home to Atlanta. During our eight days of birding we saw over 200 species. The greater part of three days was spent targeting the endangered birds GOS RARE BIRD ALERT mentioned, and we were not attempting to build numbers during these times. However, there are still many sites in Colombia waiting for Atlanta birders, and we will be returning. If you have an interest in another group going to this special birding country, please let the AAS office know. 770.493.8862 Board of Directors SPEAKER SERIES 2010 THE FLIGHT PATH OF THE GEORGIA OFFICERS President Carol Hassell 770.945.3111 ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY [email protected] President-elect Vacant April 15 7:30 PM to 9 PM Co-Treasurers Ellen Miller Location: AAS Education Center at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve 404.847.5260 [email protected] Tom Painter 4055 Roswell Road, Atlanta Across from Pike Nurseries 404.524.8833 [email protected] Join us for our Speaker Series on April 15 for a guided tour through the workings Recording Secy Mark Jernigan 404.298.8825 of the Georgia Ornithological Society (GOS). Dr. Bob Sargent, wildlife biologist, [email protected] biology teacher and current president of GOS, will speak about the mission, DIRECTORS Conservation Dave Butler operations, successes and evolution of the society. Bob notes that since the 75th 404.580.3917 anniversary of the founding of GOS is fast approaching, it seems only fitting that [email protected] Education Vacant we should take a moment to look back at the road the society has traveled, to Field Trips Stanley Chapman recall what the detours taught us and to hazard a hypothesis as to where this [email protected] current road will lead us. Communications Vacant Public Relations Beth Giddens It wasn’t so long ago when the verb “birding” didn’t exist, when bird study was the 770.792.3712 [email protected] domain of ornithologists and the professionally well-to-do. Little was known about JoAnn Jordan the natural history of common bird species in those days, the Breeding Bird Survey 678.488.8022 did not exist, and listing had not yet become all the rage. As past president of [email protected] Volunteers Vacant Oconee Rivers and Ocmulgee Audubon Societies, Bob has been afforded the Dr. Bob Sargent unique opportunity to study in depth how the function of birding and ornithological AT LARGE GOS President Joy Carter societies differs and yet can be quite similar and has spent considerable time 404.622.0605 thinking about how the two entities can come together to accomplish what are generally mutual goals. [email protected] Jay Davis His presentation will recall the founding of GOS, will describe how the society evolved under the 404.624.4973 influence of both ornithology and birding, and will explore how the mission of the organization remains [email protected] relevant and vital in rapidly-urbanizing modern Georgia. Pam Higginbotham 770.939.3592 [email protected] Harriette Hoyt 770.650.8501 First-time Birders [email protected] David Kuechenmeister 404.822.8089 By Cynthia Bohannon-Brown [email protected] On an unusually warm February morning, fourth-grade students at R. T. Smith Elementary School in Clayton Victor Williams Earthshare Representative County were introduced to the perils of migrating birds through Flute’s Journey by Lynne Cherry. This 770.423.1012 [email protected] enchanting book took the students through the struggles and triumphs of a little wood thrush named Flute as STAFF he traveled from his birthplace in Maryland to the rainforest of Costa Rica and back home again. Flute’s Executive Director Catharine Kuchar 678.973.2437 Journey inspired these students to don binoculars for the first time as they actively watched native birds near [email protected] their own schoolyard. As the students observed the birds up close, they needed little prompting to use their Education Coordinator Emily Toriani-Moura 678.973.2437 field guides to identify their high-flying neighbors. Though no migratory birds were seen that day, many [email protected] Administrative Coordinator Sally Davis Bluebirds and American Crows were counted and their every movement was carefully observed by these novice 678.973.2437 bird-watchers. [email protected] Website As the students eagerly shared their experiences, they were obviously thankful for the resources that made it Jim Flynn [email protected] all possible. A copy of Flute’s Journey, individual binoculars, field guides and numerous other items were Wingbars Manager assembled and made available to educators by the Friends of Feathered Flyers, the Department of Natural Diane Hawkins-Cox 404.909.9095 Resources (DNR) and Melvin L. Newman Wetlands Center. Carol Lambert of Newman Wetlands hopes that [email protected] Wingbars Editor more teachers learn about these kits and borrow them to use in their own classrooms. Similar Friends of Susan Milne 404.502.5496 Feathered Flyers Bird Activity Boxes are available throughout our state at various sites [email protected] (http://www.georgiawildlife.com/education/educator-resources). Proofreading Steven Phenicie As children become more caring of the Earth and its animals, eco-friendly educational resources can serve as 770.849.0391 [email protected] catalysts for introducing them to the diverse habitat of birds. Design & Layout Copy Preparation 770.939.2002 [email protected] Newsletter deadline is the first of the month for material to be published the following month.