APRIL 1998
PLEASE NOTE DIFFERENT LOCATION
NEXT MEETING: Friday April 3, This is the biannual NOS Auction held at the Buchanan Center, the Mansfield Town Library, on Route 89 in Mansfield Center. There will be refreshments from 7 pm. Traditionally members bring cheese and crackers or wine for this event,………Hope you have been putting "goodies" aside to sell and are ready to buy someone else's treasures. This is really a lot of fun and sometimes there even are treasures!
At the May meeting George Clark will present a talk titled "Birding and the Lure of the List". George believes there may be information to report on the revision of "The Birds of Storrs" so there will be a meeting of the book committee at 6 o'clock before the May meeting.
FIELD TRIPS: April 18. A half day trip to eastern Connecticut to the Fish Hatchery in Central Village and some of the other ponds and swamps that belong to the Wyndham Land Trust in Putnam and nearby areas. Meet at 7 am at the Audrey Beck Building in Storrs. Leader to be announced.
There were 42 species seen on the March 15th trip to the Rhode Island shore and Sachuest NWR in Middletown, Rhode Island. There were both Red-necked and Horned Grebes, Common and Red-throated Loons, several Gannets, 14 species of ducks including Ruddys, hundreds of Eider, 2 Oldsquaw, Black and Surf Scoters, and 40-50 Harlequins at Sachuest. There were also Purple Sandpipers and Sanderlings at Charlestown Breachway. There were Common Loons in every location we looked, many in nearly complete breeding plumage.
MAY TRIPS: May 9 field trip sponsored by NOS and Joshua's Tract, to Pigeon Swamp, a new Joshua’s Tract property in Windham. Meet 6:30 am at the Audrey Beck Town Hall in Storrs or at 7 on the property. This new acquisition has a wonderful varied habitat of 131 acres of woods, a swamp, brook, pond, and fields . Co-leaders are Sam Higgins and Sam Dodd. About 1 mile slow easy walk Pouring rain cancels. Call Sam Dodd (423-6170) for more information.
Directions: Proceed south from Willimantic on Route 32. Go three miles from Thread Mill Square to the traffic light at Rt 302 intersection. Turn right on to So. Windham Main St. cross Babcock Hill Rd. and go up the hill. Take first left on to Pigeon Swamp Rd. , just beyond the blue fire house. Go one mile to end of paved road and park on gravel straight ahead - see Trust signs.
May 17. NOS will co-sponsor a walk in conjunction with the Willimantic River Alliance. There will be a whole series of events planned for the weekend of May 16 & 17, one of which will be a walk somewhere in the Willimantic River Corridor. There will be further details in the May newsletter concerning where and when to meet and who the leader will be.
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: The exhibit of original paintings by Rex Brasher has been hung at the Dodd Canter on the University campus. The names of the birds have been updated to "modern" names by Bob Pirrie - with the help of a 1960s book. He hopes they are correct…. The Dodd Center and the Museum of Natural History are planning a reception at the Dodd Center "sometime the end of April". Call either the museum or the center if you are interested in more specific information - this is all that they had available at the time this is being written.