South Mountain Airs
The Newsletter of the South Mountain Audubon Society
October – December 2016, Volume XXXVII #3 – The E-mail Edition

UPCOMING BIRD RELATED / OTHER EVENTS

Saturday December 17th - SMAS Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) - Gettysburg Areas
All are invited and welcome to join South Mountain Audubon Society (SMAS) for the 2016 CBC. This is the
117th consecutive CBC.

The SMAS 2016 CBC will be held Saturday December 17. SMAS seeks volunteers to participate in counting
both species and individual numbers in the field, alone or on a team, as well as those wishing to count birds at
their feeders and home property areas.

Check out your calendar and mark us in. Contact Mike O'Brien, SMAS CBC Coordinator, to join us or for information for new participants or confirmation of areas/times for previous and returning individuals and team participants. Call, 717.642.6676 res, or Click, maddogobrien@gmail.com

This will be the 117th annual Christmas Bird Count and is an example of Citizen Science at its best. Click on the link below to learn more about the CBC at the Audubon CBC web-site. If you are receiving our hard copy newsletter in the mail or if clicking the link does not work, just cut and paste or type the link into your web browser and press enter.
http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count

BEGINNING BIRDING CLASS

South Mountain Audubon is in the process of organizing a Beginning Birding Class for the fall. It is still in the planning stages, but we anticipate 3 or 4 early evening one-hour classes with 2 weekend local field trips. If you or anyone you know would like more information, please send a note of interest to southmountainaudubon@gmail.com and someone will reply with details once they have been finalized. The fee will be $10 per family and proceeds will benefit our education fund.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS & PRESENTATIONS

Unless indicated otherwise, all SMAS Programs are held at the Adams County Agricultural Resource Center, 670 Old Harrisburg Road, Gettysburg, PA at 7:00 PM. We usually have light refreshments before the program presentation begins. The program presentation starts at 7:30 PM. A room number for the SMAS meeting will be posted on the front lobby entry inner door. We've posted the information on our total activities' schedule throughout the year at the end of this edition.

UPCOMING SMAS MONTHLY PROGRAMS

Monday October 17th - “Birding Bhutan” presented by Mike Bertram and Kathy King

Bhutan is a small Himalayan country squeezed between India and China and east of Nepal. It is a mountainous country with altitudes between 24,000 feet and less than 1,000 feet which gives rise to many different ecosystems.
The constitution there requires that over 60% of the land is to be forested. This range of environments attracts a wide range of birds. Over 620 species have been seen in the country. Mike Bertram & Kathy King will be describing their trip across the country and the sampling of the birds they saw on their journey.

Monday November 21st - “Hatter Planetarium Experience” presented by Ian Clarke

We will meet at Gettysburg College in Masters Hall to experience the newly renovated Hatter Planetarium with Ian Clarke. Ian is the director of the Hatter Planetarium at Gettysburg College and is the author of the "Looking Up" column in the Gettysburg Times. The program will begin at 7:30. There will be no refreshments.

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 October 13th - “Antietam National Battlefield”

We will visit the Antietam National Battlefield at Sharpsburg, MD. We hope to see resident birds and mid-fall passage migrants. Bring binoculars, appropriate clothing per the weather and snacks/drink as per personal needs.

Contact the leader, Mike O'Brien at 717.642.6676 / mike@maddogobrien.com as needed / for additional info. Meet at the leader's house, #231 Carroll's Tract Rd, Fairfield, PA at 8 AM. We plan to return by 2 to 3 PM.
Directions: To reach the leader's house: Coming from Gettysburg on PA Rte 116 (Fairfield Rd) turn right on Carroll's Tract Rd at the "Tee" intersection at the Fairfield Post Office immediately before entering the town.

Proceed about 1 half mile to #231 passing an intersection with Mt. Hope Road (on left) and Bullfrog Road (on right). #231 is the second right side driveway after this intersection. #231 is displayed on a fire sign (Standard
green version) on the first tree on the left side of the driveway entrance. There is no mailbox.

Saturday November 12th - “Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge”

We will travel to Blackwater NWR in Dorchester County, near Cambridge Maryland. There should be early resident winter birds and late passage migrants including shorebirds, raptors and waterfowl. The refuge is billed as the largest Bald Eagle gathering spot in the Eastern USA outside of Florida. Departure time is 6 AM.

The field trip will leave from the trip leaders home at #231 Carroll's Tract Road, a Tee intersection with PA Rte
#116, at the Fairfield Post Office. #231 is about a half mile down Carroll's Tract Road on the right, the second driveway on the right after crossing the intersection with Bullfrog Road and Mt. Hope Road; the house sets back several hundred feet from the driveway entrance. There is no mailbox. A standard green fire sign with #231 on it is attached to the lower trunk of a small tree where you turn in. Immediately beyond the driveway is a mail box displaying the name “Ball” and 75 Sugarloaf Lane for the next house, which also sets well back.

Please contact the trip leader if you plan on going on this trip so any questions may be answered and logistics such as carpooling can be arranged. We will try to carpool to the extent possible depending on how many people sign up for the trip. If you wish to drive separately, or arrange for an overnight stay on your own, please let the leader know so arrangements can be made for meeting up with the group, and so you can be contacted if trip is canceled, postponed or weathers out. Bring binoculars, a scope if you have one, and lunch, snacks and drinks per personal preference. Bring appropriate apparel as dictated by the forecast weather for the day of the trip. This is an all day field trip. Meeting time is 6:00 AM with return after dark. Travel time will be a bit over three hours – each way. We will likely stop on the return and eat dinner. If you drive separately, the eastbound toll at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is $4 per car. There is no toll returning westbound. If you want to drive direct we meet at 9 AM at the information center in Cambridge, MD upon entering town from the Choptank River bridge. From here we caravan to the refuge.

Call leader to make arrangements. There is an entry fee at the refuge per car ($3 our last visit) paid at the entry HQ. Depending on trip attendees with Senior Passes (America The Beautiful / Golden Age), all attendees may be covered. In any case, refuge personnel do not usually approach visitors in this regard, and it becomes up to all individually as to how to handle it. We will enter the HQ bldg to use the facilities.

Friday December 2nd - ”York County Parks”

We will visit William H. Kain County Park for an early morning visit to the small boardwalk overlooking the
lake and then will travel a few miles to Nixon County Park to explore the environmental center, observe the feeders, and walk a few trails, if possible. Pack a lunch to eat at Nixon Park. Bring apparel as dictated by the weather. Meet in parking area between Burger King and CVS on US Rte #30 (York Street) near its intersection with US #15 in the shopping area where Staples and CVS are located - across the street from Walmart. We will carpool to the extent possible. Meeting time is 8:00 AM with return in mid-afternoon.

Please contact Linette Mansberger at 717 495-8137 or at southmountainaudubon@gmail.com if you plan to attend.

Feathery Factoid (The Quiz Version) ; Four questions this edition.
1. Which is the smallest North American Accipiter?
2. How many warblers are named after states? Name the states.
3. What is a “calico” heron?
4. Ducks, geese and swans are known as “waterfowl” in America, but what are these birds more typically called
in Europe?

Feathery Factoid Quiz Answer:
1. The Sharp-shinned Hawk.
2. Four: Tennessee, Connecicut and Kentucky Warblers, and the Louisiana Waterthrush.
3. A molting, blotched blue-and-white year-old Little Blue Heron.
4. Wildfowl.