South Mountain Airs
The Newsletter of the South Mountain Audubon Society
January – March 2016 Volume XXXVII #1 – The E-mail Edition

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Welcome to a New Year and a few changes our Board is proposing for South Mountain Audubon Society! We will be electing officers at the January 11 meeting. Many officers are returning to the Board, and, hopefully, we will be welcoming a few new faces to our Board as well. The Board has reviewed the SMAS Constitution during the past year and we hope to ratify some amendments at the January meeting that will bring the document up to date in terms of technology and procedures. The proposed amendments will be published separately.

In addition, we are going to try some differences in schedules in 2016. We will have refreshments at 7:00 P.M. - prior to the start of the meeting, so you may socialize at that time and then enjoy refreshments while listening to the program. Our meeting dates are also going to be changing. Beginning in May, our meetings will be held on the 3rd Monday of the month. Also, our educational program geared toward children, May 16, will begin earlier this year at 7:00 (with no prior refreshments) to provide an appropriate schedule for students on a school night.

Because of these changes to times and dates, we encourage you to visit our website to keep informed of the schedule. The website url is www.southmountainaudubon.org

Finally, our organization will be participating in the Green Gathering to be held this spring in Gettysburg. This will be a new opportunity for us to interact with the community. Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

SMAS Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) – Gettysburg Areas

Results of the 2015 South Mountain Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count - #116:

Our Annual Christmas Bird Count for Gettysburg and Surrounding Areas took place on Saturday, 19 December, 2015.

SMAS had 22 members and volunteers comprising 12 parties counting the number of bird species and the total individual number of birds in the field throughout most of the day in the Gettysburg count area, a 15 mile diameter circle centered on Knoxlyn, PA. A number of people also participated by observing at their bird feeders and in their yard and on property areas.

A total of 81 species were seen with 10,756 individual birds tallied for the overall count. The species and individual totals this year compare with 71/4,073 in 2013 and 78/7,868 in 2014 respectively. For 2013 the total count of individual birds was down by approximately 50% of our normal average of about 8,000. 2014 was close to the 8,000 level and thus, an average year. This year however, 2015, exceeded our normal average by a wide margin with almost 11,000 individual birds counted.

The complete count is summarized by species and total numbers in an Attachment at the end of the Newsletter for USPS hard copy mail recipients, and as a file attachment for recipients of the e-mail edition.

UPCOMING BIRD RELATED EVENTS

The 19th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.com. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world.

Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, and how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, more than 140,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.

The 19th annual GBBC will be held Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2016. Please visit the official website at birdcount.org for more information and be sure to check out the latest educational and promotional resources.

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 have historically had a short social period with light refreshments afterward at the end of our program presentation or event. However, beginning with the January 2016 meeting we will have Refreshments available BEFORE our meetings. Please feel free to come and socialize 30 minutes before the 7:30 PM start of our regular monthly meetings.

We’ve posted the information on our total activities’ schedule throughout the year at the end of this edition to include those months for which we regularly hold a public club meeting. Please note that we normally do not have a February meeting; however, this year, we will have a February meeting in lieu of the March one which will not be held.

UPCOMING MONTHLY PROGRAMS

Monday January 11th - ”American Woodcock” - Kristopher Goetz

The South Mountain Audubon Society program will feature Kristopher Goetz, a graduate student at
Shippensburg University, who has done research on the American Woodcock, habitat management techniques
for expanding its territory, and data collection on the timing of its displays in the spring

Monday February 8th - “Native Bees” - Laurie Collins

Franklin County Master Gardener, Laurie Collins, will present a program on the types of native bees and other pollinators found in our area. She will also explain their importance to our environment and provide suggestions for attracting them.

March - No public South Mountain Audubon Society meeting will be held in March.

UPCOMING SMAS EVENTS

April 23rd - SMAS Annual Luncheon – Luncheon presentation “Magee Marsh” with Carolyn Mathur

Save the Date for our annual SMAS Luncheon. Carolyn Mathur will present a program on the York Audubon sponsored trip to Magee Marsh last year and attended by a number of SMAS members.

The annual SMAS Luncheon will be held as usual at the Hickory Bridge Restaurant, Orrtanna, PA on Saturday
April 23. Social time begins at 11:30 AM; meal service begins at 12:00 PM (Noon).

We will publish pricing and more information later in an email and in the next newsletter edition.

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.
>br? 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 February 25th - Pine Grove Furnace State Park

We’ll meet in the parking lot at the Camp Store and Visitors Center on route 233 (Pine Grove Road) at 8:30 A.M.

We hope to see both resident and wintering land birds. We have had good luck in the past here with winter species such as Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren and Red-breasted nuthatch.

If you arrive later than 8:30, the group will be in the area somewhere nearby. It can be quite cold there, so dress according to the weather forecast. Bring binoculars and a snack and drink as desired. If interested in carpooling to the site, contact the field trip leader in this regard. Facilities available at the park.

Thursday March 12th - Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

The Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, located on the Lebanon-Lancaster County line about one mile south of Kleinfeltersville, is a tract owned by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for the protection, propagation management, preservation and controlled harvest of wildlife. Per the PA Game Commission, this area of more than 5,000 acres provides habitat for waterfowl, forest and farmland wildlife species, and includes a 40 acre shallow lake and 70 acres of impoundments.

Bring binoculars, appropriate clothing per the weather including windy conditions, and snacks / drinks as per personal needs. Scopes are desirable if available. Mixed birding from vehicles on wildlife drive loop roads and some walking to include, if desired, about a quarter mile to viewing point on the lake area (and return). Facilities available. We will have a lunch break in the HQ Building Visitors Center. Contact the leader as needed / for additional information.

Meet at the parking lot area between CVS and Burger King (across the road opposite Walmart) on US #30 near its intersection with US #15 at 8 AM (this is on the West side of the US #30 and #15 interchange).

Editors note: These above two field trips are among our favorites and both weathered out in 2015 and one or the
other were canceled in 2013 and 2014. Hopefully, we will make the trip to both sites this year.

Checkout our South Mountain Audubon Society Website!!!

SMAS has a growing Website up and running. The home page has some general information and synopses of
Chapter activities as well as a number of links to other informational aspects. These include the Calendar, Board
members and officers, Chapter meeting minutes, current and archival newsletter editions and links to a number
of other Adams County organizations as well as other county, state and national groups and organizations.
We are also working to put up some location specific area checklists, and there is usually an addition or two of
some kind every few months. So look for these in the future. All are encouraged to offer suggestions on what
you would like to see on the website. Contact information is listed on the site.

Accessing the SMAS Newsletter

A great feature of having the Newsletter on-line and receiving it via e-mail, is that you can always access a misplaced or discarded issue at a future date. You can access the Newsletter in several ways.

First, if you do not routinely discard your emails or you retain selected items in your in-box or transfer them to a saved information folder or similar, you can always access them at a future date on your own system / devices.

Second, we post the electronic edition on the internet at the following url: perch.es - Simply copy the url and paste it into your browser search box or just type it in (Clicking often may not work). The first header that appears is for the current (most recent) issue. In addition, there is a heading, by year, for past quarter issues which we archive on the site. We have put the past issues here since we started the electronic edition.

Third, you can access it on the internet at the Yahoo.com Chat Group site, Adams County Nature Chat (AdCoNaChat). Presence of the information on this site may lag the Newsletter somewhat.

We post our SMAS field trips, meeting dates and topics, special events like an annual picnic, annual luncheon, and other club news on the calendar. There are directions uploaded to the files section for some areas we have trips to, and also, we often upload the species list from completed field trips and Christmas Bird Counts on the Files area.

You can access the AdCoNaChat web-site at the link provided below. This is the link to the home page and from there you can access posts and messages by members, the Calendar and Files section, and much more. Copy and paste the following url into your browser search box: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AdCoNaChat/

And, of course, per information above re the SMAS Website, you can reference current & past issues there.

OTHER SMAS RELATED INFORMATION

Board Members Point of Contact Telephone Email address
President Linette Mansberger 495-8137 Lmcopperhead@aol.com
Vice-President Deb Siefken 677-4830 siefkend@embarqmail.com
Secretary Kathy Gelner (202) 471-0300 klgelner@hotmail.com
Treasurer Mike Bertram 352-7936 the2nomads@centurylink.net
Director At Large Nancy Locher 334-4768 nclocher@embarqmail.com
Director At Large Elizabeth.Griffiths 334-3824 Elizabeth.Griffiths@stockton.edu
Director At Large Cy Deitz 253-0297 sdeitz1630@comcast.net

Committee Chairs

Conservation Vacant
Education Vacant
Field Trips Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com
Hospitality Vacant
Membership Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com
Programs Vacant
Publicity Cynthia Chambers 624-4397 cynthiachambers@embarqmail.com
Newsletter Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com

Please note, our board members and officers are nominated near year-end each year and elections are held at the first regular public meeting each year which takes place in January on the second Monday of the month (see info elsewhere in this newsletter re meetings moving to third Monday of the month). All are invited. The chart above represents what we believe the composition of this year's positions will be, post election.

SMAS Annual Schedule Information

Regular SMAS Monthly Program Meetings are held Jan / Mar / May / June / Sept / Oct and Nov. Unless indicated otherwise, are all meetings are held on Mondays at 7:30 PM at the Adams County Agricultural Center. Please see complete information at the beginning of this and every Newsletter in case there is any variation by quarter. Please check individual programs in each Newsletter issue in the event of a change in times and / or venue.

Field Trips are normally held monthly in Jan / Feb / Mar / April / May / Jun / Sept / Oct and Nov. In December we substitute the annual Christmas Bird Count for the monthly field trip.

Some of these monthly field trips traditionally repeat each year, such as the Christmas Bird Count and the PA Migration Count in May. We usually go to a nearby hawk watch site in late September or early October.

The Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is held by design between 14 December and 5 January. For SMAS, this is in lieu of a regular field trip. We schedule our SMAS CBC on the first available Saturday after 13 Dec. In the event of really bad weather, we may cancel and reschedule.

The Annual Luncheon is traditionally held in April, in lieu of, the regular monthly meeting.

Our SMAS Annual Picnic and get together is held in August on the second Monday. This is “Bring A Dish” to share and the kickoff is 5 PM with dinner at 6 PM. In addition to bringing a dish to share, attendees should bring their own place setting materials. Drinks and some type of main dish(es) will be provided. See the summer Newsletter edition for details on times and directions.

All meetings, field trips and other activities are subject to weathering out or other cancellation reasons. If you are on our email list (receiving our Newsletters and other information) you will get an email notification as soon as the decision is made. Otherwise, if there is some question based on the weather or some other issue, please contact the field trip leader or someone from the list of Board Members / Committee Chairpersons applicable to your question(s).

Public Forum Information

The public is invited to a free forum on January 30, 2016 from 1:30 - 4:30pm at the Brooks Science Center Auditorium at Wilson College. The Robyn Van En Center, which is part of the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College, will have a forum addressing issues associated with confined animal feeding operations known as CAFOs.

The Factory Farm Forum – Concerns about Industrial Animal Production in Our Communities

The family farm with animals grazing in sunlit pastures is giving way to food factories where animals spend their short lives in cramped cages tended by workers in bio-hazard garb. Massive amounts of antibiotic laden manure piles up in pits, threatening our water supplies. Air emissions from high density livestock facilities may imperil human health. Come hear about the environmental, health and property value concerns of local residents faced with nearby confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Learn how you can support another way forward, “back to the future” of wholesome sustainable agriculture.

Saturday, January 30, 1:30 – 4:30 PM, Wilson College Science Center Auditorium

Program:
Moderator: Christine Mayer, Director, Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College

Introduction: What is a CAFO? Why are we concerned? Where are CAFOs located in our area? (present GIS CAFO map);
from Family Farms to Factory Farms – How did we get here?
Short video? http://pigs.mercyforanimals.org/ - Fannettsburg, Franklin County, PA
Panel: Community members share their experience with industrial agriculture:
Marjorie Hudson: swine CAFOs in Fulton County
Connie Slye: Chicken CAFO in Franklin County
Topics include: ACRE Law (right to farm); animal manure in hazardous waste plans; regulations; and dangers of chicken CAFOs near swine CAFOs.
The Impact of CAFOs on the Environment, Workers and Animals
Maria Payens – Overview of communities struggling with CAFO issues, spokesperson for Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (confirmed speaker) Marjorie will contact Johns Hopkins school of public health as well as Bryan Kaltreide (sp?) from Codorus Township. Someone from Adams County? Penn Future? Humane Society?
CAFOs, Democracy and Local Government Power
Food Democracy – Sustainable Agriculture Alternatives to CAFOs (or Food Democracy and Sustainable Agriculture)
Harnessing Tax and Other Policy Incentives to Encourage Sustainable Agriculture
Small Group Discussions and/or Open Microphone Session with Forum Participants