JANUARY 2000

NEXT MEETING: January 7, 2000. Rebecca is away this week and neither Bruce nor I can remember what she said the program is that she has planned. There will be a program beginning at 7:30 with refreshments at 7:00.

The long awaited Birds of Storrs, edition 3 has been published and was available for purchase at the meeting in December. Any one who would like to buy a copy or two … it will be for sale at all upcoming meetings and is at Bruce's store in Willimantic: With a Wink and a Smile and is at the Uconn Co-op. It will eventually be at other to be determined locations. The cost will be $10. per copy.

BOOK COMMITTEE: There will be a book committee meeting at 6:30 to plan a marketing strategy for the book. We have to decide who and where to sell the book.

FIELD TRIPS:

There were no field trips in December due to the holidays and two Christmas Bird Counts. The tallies for both counts will be included in the February newsletter. The NOS Count was December 18 and was a beautiful warm day. The Trailwood Count will be January 2 and there are still two areas that are uncovered

From Steve Morytko: I'll volunteer to lead a trip to Marshfield MA area Sunday, January 23, 2000. Destinations will include Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, Brant Rock (seashore), Plymouth Harbor, and Cumberland Farms in Middleboro. Many raptors should be seen and Long-eared and Short-eared Owls will be target birds. (Seven Long-eareds are being regularly reported from DWWS this winter) .The South Shore coast should also yield a wide variety of seabirds, ducks and geese. Please contact Steve Morytko 860-429-9600 for travel arrangements (last minute additions welcome). Expected departure time 6:15am from Storrs area(Audrey Beck Mansfield Town Hall at the intersection of Routes 195 and 275) returning at approximately 6:30pm. Be sure to dress warmly and we will plan to stop for lunch.

Eagles have made a dramatic recovery since 1963, when there were only 417 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states and the use of DDT was banned. In 1999, there were over 5,800 nesting pairs in North America. While the Bald Eagle was removed from the national Endangered Species list, it is still protected through the International Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Eagles are still on the state Endangered Species list - there are only two nesting pairs in Connecticut - in Barkhamsted and Suffield. As many as 100 eagles can be seen wintering here along the Housatonic and lower Connecticut Rivers. They come down from the north to fish where the rivers remain unfrozen.

OTHER AREA EVENTS Connecticut Audubon has scheduled a Connecticut River Eagle Festival in Essex for February 19-20, 2000. They will have river and land based eagle watching, lectures, live birds of prey, Native American demonstrations, and many other events. There is a $40 fee for the eagle-viewing boat. For reservations or more information, call 1-800-714-7201.

Friday January 21, 7 pm There is a full moon owl walk at the Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret to search for various owls, including Great-Horned and Barred. Meet at the barn at 220 Day Road. Call 860/4041 for directions and information.

Saturday February 5, there will be a noon-time walk at the Trail Wood Sanctuary in Hampton. Resident naturalist, Jeff Weiler, will lead a hike to look for what animals and plants do to survive the cold; to identify trees in the winter; and if the pond is frozen to explore a beaver's den up close and personal. Call 860/455-0759 for directions and more information.

There is a $3 fee for members of Connecticut Audubon and a $5 fee for non-members for each of these walks.

No year is complete. Even the seasons into which we divide the years overlap the arbitrary markers. Winter ends one year and begins the next, and the growth of each Spring is from the root and seed of the past. It is the continuity that matters, the inevitability of tomorrow, which gives meaning to the numbers themselves. Ten or a hundred has no meaning without the continuity of numbers behind it, other numbers beyond. Tomorrow implies a now and a yesterday. And year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.