South Mountain Airs

The Newsletter of the South Mountain Audubon Society

April – June 2014 Volume XXXIX #2 – The E-mail Edition

SMAS Annual Luncheon

It’s Not Too Late to sign up for the SMAS Luncheon.

Those receiving this Newsletter should have received earlier emails regarding the SMAS Annual Luncheon with a sign up / info Flyer attachment.

The luncheon will be held at our traditional site, the Hickory Bridge Farm Restaurant located in Orrtanna, PA, on Saturday 12 April; meal at 12 Noon; social time at 11:30.

Upon receipt of this, you should have time to return the sign-up form and make your payment. If it gets too close to the luncheon date to depend on the regular mail and you want to attend, you can also call the phone number on the flyer for the Point of Contact, Deb Siefken, to sign up and let us know you want to attend and are sending the form and payment to us. You may be able to make arrangements to pay at the door. We have to provide the restaurant a head count to allow the correct number of meals to be prepared and we are then on the hook to pay.

We will have a program presentation with speakers at the luncheon. Speakers – Karen Lippy and Deb Kline: “Views from our Kayaks”.

Karen and Deb will dazzle us with photos and stories of their close encounters of the wild kind from Codorus State Park and elsewhere.

All are cordially invited to attend.

International Migratory Bird Day

What is International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD)?
IMBD celebrates and brings attention to one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas - bird migration. IMBD is a Western Hemisphere-wide event and is celebrated in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Held each year on the second Saturday in May, it will be on Saturday May 10, 2014 this year.

This IMBD date is also used for the Pennsylvania Migration Count (the PAMC), Pennsylvania’s way of celebrating IMBD. People all over the state count birds and the totals are collected to form a “Snapshot” of the great spectacle of migration across our portion of the Americas. Virtually every county and province in every country carry out some type of celebratory event, festival, or other undertaking on this day. No matter where you are on this day you can find an IMBD event taking place. Just go to your internet browser and type in International Bird Day (optionally add 2014 to limit the search) and you can find myriad goings-on across the country and beyond. For more information on IMBD, the url for the IMBD Home Page is: http://www.birdday.org/

BUT, you can join us right here in the Gettysburg area. The South Mountain Audubon Society (SMAS) counts our local birds right here adjacent to downtown Gettysburg on the Spangler Spring portion of the Gettysburg National Battlefield and elsewhere across the region. See details below under field trips.

Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22, 2014 this year. Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth
Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events
focused on green awareness. The brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson and inspired by the antiwar protests of
the late 1960s, Earth Day was originally aimed at creating a mass environmental movement. It began as a
"national teach-in on the environment" and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students that could
be reached on university campuses. By raising public awareness of air and water pollution, Nelson hoped to
bring environmental causes into the national spotlight. Earth day has continued to grow and is now recognized and participated in around the planet.

Please become more attuned to this area and its related issues. Just go to your internet browser and type in Earth
Day and surf some of the wealth of available information.

UPCOMING SMAS PROGRAMS & PRESENTATIONS

Unless indicated otherwise, all SMAS Programs are held at the Adams County Agricultural Resource Center, 670 Old Harrisburg Road, Gettysburg, PA at 7:30 PM. A room number for the SMAS meeting will be posted on the front lobby entry inner door. We usually have a short social period with light refreshments afterward. We’ve posted the information on our total activities’ schedule throughout the year at the end of this edition.

UPCOMING MONTHLY PROGRAMS

Saturday April 12th - SMAS Annual Luncheon

Monday May 12th - “Planting for Birds and Wildlife&RD - Mary Ann Ryan

Attracting birds and wildlife to your yard can be easy with a few simple steps and good plant selections. Ms. Ryan will talk about what you need to provide and some plants that will keep them coming to your yard. Mary Ann is a consumer horticulture educator working for Penn State Extension, Adams County.

Monday June 9th - Details To Be Announced

UPCOMING SMAS FIELD TRIPS

Contact Mike O'Brien, Field Trip Chair, as necessary for more information on all Field Trips, the annual Christmas Bird Count and the Spring Migration Count: 717.642.6676 Res / maddogobrien@gmail.com E-mail. Please let the Leader know in advance if you plan to attend any field trip, especially if you plan to go direct. Trips are subject to weathering out, especially in the colder months, or otherwise being changed. In addition, if we have only one or two known attendees, we may cancel or reschedule a given field trip. We cannot alert you unless we hear from you.

Thursday April 10th - Lily Pons Water Gardens, Frederick County, MD

Meet at 8:00 AM at the trip leader’s house at #231 Carroll’s Tract Road just off PA Route #116 near the Fairfield, PA Post Office. #231 is about ½ mile past the post office on the right, the 2nd house after crossing Bullfrog and Mt. Hope Roads; the house sets back several hundred feet from the road.

We will carpool per attendee preferences and available vehicles. Bring a chair if desired, food snacks/drinks and any personal comfort items. Do not forget binoculars and apparel per weather forecast. Scopes a plus if you have one. There is an observation platform at the site. We will walk the area at times and you may walk as you wish or hang out at the platform area. Call the leader for additional information, clarification, or with any questions.

We’ll look for spring land and water related migrants as well as resident and local seasonal species. There's a Great Blue Heron rookery along the river here, the Monocacy. Facilities available.

Saturday May 10th - Spangler Spring Area At Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP)

Meet at 7 AM at the Spangler Spring area, GNMP. Turn right off Middle Street at its intersection with Liberty
Street in Gettysburg and go one short block to a left at the park entry. Follow the one-way road to the Spangler
Spring parking area. This outing is a SMAS tradition coinciding with International Migratory Bird Day (See
above). Easy walking on mostly paved areas. We'll be there into the afternoon, so depending on your schedule,
you can always join us anytime beyond the stated start time. Bring a chair if you wish and hang out.

Do not forget personal items including food, drink and appropriate apparel. This is prime spring migration time
and we should see a good selection of passerines and near-passerines as well as a mix of other species. Call the
leader for additional information, clarification, or with any questions. Facilities should be open.

Wednesday June 11th - Pennsylvania State Game Lands #249

Meeting time is 7:30 AM at the Gameland’s entrance located on Game Lands Road (aka State Game Land Road depending on your map) off PA #234 about midway between Biglerville and US #15. Meet at the rustic sign for the Gamelands just down the entry lane from Rte #234. Depending on the current management configuration of the various areas at the time, we should be able to bird from our vehicles stopping at various vantage points.
Some may chose to walk. The area is mostly flat with easy walking.

The area includes woods and fields, and there is a stream along part of the road we will drive / walk along. We
will look for passage migrants and local resident and nesting species. Bring your optics, weather appropriate
clothing and any food or drink you may need. No facilities.

Feathery Factoid; What are the only birds that have occurred naturally on all continents? Think it over and pick a couple of species. There are at least two.

Answer: The Cattle Egret and the wide-ranging Arctic Tern. The egret has been sighted on a number of occasions in the
Antarctic, but it has never become established.