South Mountain Airs
The Newsletter of the South Mountain Audubon Society
October – December 2015, Volume XXXVIX #4 – The E-mail Edition

Please note the CHANGE IN SMAS PUBLIC MEETING NIGHTS beginning in 2016

After conversations with Audubon members from neighboring chapters, our Board discussed the possibility of moving our regular monthly meetings to the THIRD Monday night of meeting months. Our usual schedule of meeting on the second Monday night conflicts with York and Conococheague Audubon chapters. Because there are times when we want to share resources or attend a meeting of another chapter, South Mountain is going to try a new schedule. We anticipate this change to happen in March of 2016. (Our first meeting in 2016 will follow the old schedule and we will meet on the second Monday, January 11, 2016 at 7:30 PM.) If you have any input or feedback regarding this change, please contact one of the officers listed at the end of this newsletter. Please watch the quarterly newsletters in 2016 for the dates of upcoming meetings.

UPCOMING BIRD RELATED / OTHER EVENTS

Saturday December 19th - SMAS Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) - Gettysburg Areas

All are invited and welcome to join South Mountain Audubon Society (SMAS) for the 2015 CBC. The SMAS 2015 CBC will be held Saturday December 19. 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 area. 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 & returning individuals and team participants. Call, 717.642.6676, or Click, maddogobrien@gmail.co m This will be the 116th consecutive 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. The CBC is in lieu of a December field trip. http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.

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 7:30 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 12th - TBA - Presentation - Doug Gross

Doug is a Wildlife Biologist with the Pennsylvania Wildlife Commission Endangered and Non-gamebird Section.

Monday November 9th - Native Plants: How They Attract Birds and Other Wildlife - Alice Simmons
Alice has been a gardener since she was a child, working in her family vegetable garden and having her own flower bed. Alice became a Lancaster County Master Gardener in 1996 and began her interest in Native plants in 2000 by attending her first Native Plant Conference at Millersville University. Alice married her husband, Tom, and moved to York County where they share their interest in native plants, wildlife and birds. Tom is a past president of the York Audubon Society. Her volunteer work as a Master Gardener includes working with elementary-age children in environmental education, helping with native plant sales by the York County Master Gardeners, volunteering at the York Fair at the Master Gardener native bees display and monitoring native plants and pollinators at the Penn State Research Farm in Landisville. Her talk on native plants and how they attract birds and other wildlife will feature photographs of native plants at various times of the year and some of the wildlife that depend on them.

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.

Wednesday October 14th - Codorus State Park / Lake Marburg

Pennsylvania's 3,490-acre Codorus State Park is in the rolling hills of southern York County about 3 miles southeast of Hanover, PA. The 1,275-acre Lake Marburg, is centered in the park with 26 miles of shoreline and is a rest stop for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. There is no entry fee for PA State Parks. 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. Bring binoculars, a scope if you have one, snacks, drinks, lunch per personal choice and apparel as dictated by the forecast weather. Meeting time is 8:30 AM with return in midafternoon. For those wishing to drive direct, we will rally at the Park Headquarters probably a bit past 9 AM. If you pan to go direct please still notify the trip leader so we know you plan to attend in case the trip is canceled or moved to another date and or time.

Saturday November 21st - “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 HQ bldg to use the facilities.

Feathery Factoid (The Quiz Version) ;

Which bird is credited with being the dumbest?

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 Betsy Griffiths 334-3824 Elizabeth.Griffiths@stockton.edu
Director At Large Cy Deitz 253-0297 sdeitz1630@comcast.net

Committee Chairs

Conservation Carole Simon 337-1662 carolesimon@embarqmail.com
Education Carole Simon 337-1662 carolesimon@embarqmail.com
Field Trips Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com
Hospitality Vacant
Membership Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com
Programs Bob Brandt (703) 615-8002 brantownb@aol.com
Publicity Cynthia Chambers 624-4397 cynthiachambers@embarqmail.com
Newsletter Mike O'Brien 642-6676 maddogobrien@gmail.com

Feathery Factoid Quiz Answer:

The domestic turkey.

The dim-witted birds sometimes appear reluctant to come in out of a driving rain, and may freeze to death on
cold nights, even if warm shelter is only several meters away.

They are also prone to panic, and on one known occasion over 13,000 turkeys trampled themselves to death on a
California ranch when a low-flying jet roared over.