Birdnotes: [BIRD NOTES] October 11, 2007

Bird Notes

Marlboro Loons (10/6-7)

A solitary Common Loon visited South Pond in Marlboro this weekend. I first heard it give its laughing call on 7:30 a.m. Saturday; it repeated that call again - just once - around 7:00 on Sunday morning. It spent both weekend days on the pond, but was gone, at least to my eyes, on Monday.

---Anne Wheelock, W. Brattleboro

Allen Brothers Marsh (10/7)

Great Blue Heron (5)

American Pipits (6)

Sunset Lake

Common Loon

Chipmunk Crossing Birds (10/1-10/10)

In addition to our regulars:

Scarlet Tanager (F)

Purple Finch (13, including 5 males)

White-throated Sparrow (several)

White-crowned Sparrow (3 imm)

Red-winged Blackbird

Dark-eyed Junco (several)

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Raven (2)

Baltimore Oriole (F)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Yellow-rumped Warbler (2)

P R O G R A M

Tales of the California Condor

On Tuesday, October 16^th there will be a program on the California Condor. The program will be at 7pm at Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library conference room. The presenter will be Sanford R. "Sandy" Wilbur. Wilbur was the leader of the California Condor research and recovery effort from 1969 to 1981, the period during which the current captive breeding and release program was developed. Using color slides and readings from his recent book, "Condor Tales: What I Learned in Twelve Years with the Big Birds," he describes how the condors became endangered (reaching a low point of only about fifteen birds in the early 1980s) and how the condors came to be taken from the wild for a captive breeding program. The "Tales" are a fascinating blend of biology, sociology and politics, and the presentation sheds light on what it really takes to save an endangered species.

Wilbur worked in Wildlife Management for the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 34 years. He managed wildlife refuges and the Endangered Species Program, and has supervised species work on many endangered birds. He has written many scientific papers, articles, and several books.

This is a FREE program sponsored by

Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.