The Zen Birdfeeder

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: Join Today's Audubon National Day of Action for the Arctic Refuge

Join concerned citizens across the country and welcome back your elected officials from their July Fourth recess with a quick phone call. Urge your Representative NOT to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or our coastlines to drilling. Together, let's demand that Congress stand up to Big Oil and protect these areas for future generations.

For those of us in the Saratoga area:
You can reach our U.S. Representative — Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand — in Washington DC at (202) 225-5614 or by calling the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121.  Just urge her not to open the Arctic Refuge and other special places to drilling.  Follow this link for help on what to say and to report your call to Audubon.

It's easy, believe me - I just made my call!  A staff member will answer the phone.  Just give your name, tell them the city where you live, and tell them that you are calling to ask Representative (name) to not allow opening of the Arctic Refuge to drilling.  This was my first telephone call to Gillibrand's office, I was nervous, but I just read the suggested text.  It was easy to make sure my voice was heard!

For those outside of this area:
Follow this link for easy instructions to look up your US Representative and make your call.
 
And while we're doing our part with a phone call, Audubon staff and colleagues from sister organizations will be on Capitol Hill meeting with key members of Congress to reinforce our message.

Even the Bush Administration's energy experts at the Energy Information Administration admit that oil from places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could not be brought to market for ten years and even then would have no significant effect on gas prices at the pump. Conservation is our best tool for fighting high gas prices.

Big Oil and their friends in Congress aren't going to stop trying to force their "drill everywhere" agenda through the legislative process. It's up to us to keep reminding our elected officials in Washington that more drilling is good for Big Oil, not American families.

If you read this post after the National Day of Action or cannot make the call on Tuesday, July 8, please make your call as soon as possible — it is vital that members of Congress hear from their constituents on this issue.

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: Nature Programs to Listen To

I've added a new set of links down the right hand column of my blog: "Nature Programs on My iPod".

These are radio programs that are available to listen to online or to download to an iPod or MP3 player. Check 'em out - I think you'll find them interesting, informative, and timely.

Living on Earth
In our Backyard by our local public radio station, WAMC Northeast Public Radio
Eye on the Night Sky from Vermont Public Radio
Laura Erickson's For the Birds
Nature Watch
Birdwatch Radio
Natural Selections by North Country Public Radio in upstate New York

Care for the Birds - Care for the Environment: Global Warming

Take Action to Fight Global Warming

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate will cast one of the most important votes of this Congress. They will vote on critical legislation to combat the global warming crisis.

We need every bit of grassroots muscle to ensure that the Senate strengthens and passes the Climate Security Act. Your email now will help us pass a bill that:

• helps to avoid the worst impacts of global warming
• promotes greater investment in clean and renewable energy
• improves energy efficiency—the easiest, cheapest path to reducing global warming pollution
• bolsters our economy with new, clean energy jobs.

Audubon has make it easy to Take Action to ask your Senators to strengthen and pass the Climate Security Act.

I join Audubon in their belief that global warming is the most serious threat to the environment in human history. There is no greater threat to birds and wildlife—and to the future we all want to pass to our children and grandchildren. Right now, the most important thing Congress can do is to pass strong legislation that starts us on the path to cleaner, more secure energy future. The most important thing you can do to protect wildlife and the environment is contact your Senators.

Your action now will ensure that Congress does the right thing and takes bold steps to solve global warming.  Yesterday, I contacted NY Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer. I hope you'll join me by contacting your Senators too.

Sign up for AudubonAction to receive these action alerts direct from Audubon.

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: Protect New York's Wetlands

Please act now to protect New York's wetlands.

Go to http://actionnetwork.org/ct/s71LM-M1bRGs/ to ask your New York State Senator to reach out to Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno to schedule the Wetlands Protection Act for a vote.

Wetlands are a vital resource that maintain clean drinking water, prevent flooding, and provide critical habitat for many birds, fish, and other wildlife. Read what's at stake.

However, rollbacks in federal protection and the weakest state law in the Northeast have left many of New York's wetlands entirely unprotected. The Wetlands Protection Act would protect New York's wetlands by reducing the size threshold for state jurisdiction from 12.4 acres to one acre.

I have already contacted my State Senator, Hugh Farley. If you live in New York, please join me by visiting http://actionnetwork.org/ct/s71LM-M1bRGs/ and reach out to your State Senator to ask Senate Majority Leader Bruno to schedule S.3835 for a vote.

Photo Courtesy of Wild Birds Unlimited Inc.

Crown Point NY Bird Banding Station Opens May 10th

This spring, master bird banders Mike Peterson and Gordon Howard will again lead their team mist netting and banding migrating birds that pass through the Crown Point area on the shore of Lake Champlain.

Mike Peterson 

Bird banding is a well-established and indispensable technique for studying the movement, survival and behavior of birds.  The Crown Point banding station has been operated since 1976 and since its opening, a total of 14,625 birds of 98 species have been banded.

Lincoln's Sparrow

We made our first visit to the station last year.  Read about Crown Point bird banding and Crown Point Birding at The Zen Birdfeeder blog.

VISITOR HOURS AND INSTRUCTIONS

Master banders Mike Peterson & Gordon Howard and the banding team welcome visitors on any days between May 10-25.  The station is open from dawn until late afternoon when the gate closes (hours vary).  Banding is often best on still, cloudy, or even rainy days, and birds are most active in the early morning hours-- generally until about 9 am -- although birds are netted throughout the day. 

Please sign the Visitor Log on arrival at the station-- a shelter, tables, and tents west of the British fort.  Feel free to bring food & drink, as well as cameras, but the banders ask that cell phones be turned off.  Waterproof footwear is recommended, since trails and net lanes are often muddy.  Even when banding is slow, the birding is generally good on the grounds of the Historic Site during May.

DIRECTIONS

From Rte 22 south of Port Henry, take the road to the Crown Point Bridge (County Rte 903) and look for the Crown Point State Historic Site sign and entrance on the left just before the bridge.  If the gate is locked, park across the highway and walk in the access road; otherwise, drive in.  Stop and consult the interpretive birding panels on the left for a map that shows the location of the banding station.  Vehicles should then be parked in the main lot in front of the museum.

CROWN POINT BIRD CONSERVATION AREA

The Bird Conservation Area is located on the grounds of the Crown Point State Historic Site, at the tip of Crown Point peninsula, just south of the bridge to Vermont.  Jutting northward into Lake Champlain, the peninsula serves as a migrant trap in spring, concentrating waves of northbound birds in thickets west of the British fort. The State Historic Site has also been designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the National Audubon Society.

Over 200 bird species have been observed at the Crown Point BCA, with as many as 27 different species of colorful warblers possible during May. Stop at the BCA interpretive panels on the left side of the entry road to view a map showing the location of the bird banding station, proceed to the main parking lot, then continue on foot.

This is a great activity for the family and for school or youth groups.  You may even get a chance to release a banded bird!

Nashville Warbler about to be released

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: An Inconvenient Truth Slideshow in Saratoga Springs

The Climate Project will present a live, updated presentation of the "An Inconvenient Truth" slideshow next Monday in Saratoga Springs NY.

WHEN: Monday April 28th 2008, 7:00pm
WHERE: Community Room, Saratoga Springs Public Library
WHO: Steven A. Leibo, PhD; Professor of International History & Politics, The Sage Colleges

I'll be there - I hope you can attend to.  The message is still being spread; search The Climate Project for a presentation near you.

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: Shopping to Save our Birds

More and more migratory birds are in danger and our shopping choices could be part of the problem.

Maine Public Broadcasting's "Maine Watch" program features author and national bird conservation expert, Jeffrey Wells, as he talks about the everyday choices we make that can impact the birds we look forward to each spring.

Also included in the broadcast is an interview with Wing Goodale of the BioDiversity Research Institute and how he found over 100 contaminants in Maine birds.

Though produced in Maine, these are not only Maine issues.  The broadcast is informative and helps us with some changes we can make next time we grocery shop.  It is also entertaining, featuring some great photographs and videos.  View to the end to see some cool bird carvings.  About 27 minutes long.

Jeff Wells is Senior Scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative.  He maintains the Boreal Bird Blog.

An estimated 35% of the Northern Flicker's North American population breeds in the boreal forest.

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: Save Our Boreal Birds

It's spring, and billions of birds are winging their way north to the Boreal Forest from southern Canada, the United States, and even Central and South America. Let's make sure they have a summer home to return to.

The Save Our Boreal Birds campaign is a joint effort by like-minded conservation groups to let Canada's government know that we must protect the Boreal Forest to keep the continent's bird populations healthy.

Care for Birds - Care for the Environment: NY State's Bottle Bill

Feeding the birds carries with it the responsibility to also care for the environment in which birds live.  An expanded Bottle Bill for New York state is my #1 hot button environmental issue for this (and past) NY legislative sessions.

I'm tired of seeing used water, juice, and tea bottles filling trash cans around our communities.  It troubles me even more when I see them littering our sidewalks, gutters, and parks.  I don't notice it occuring much at all with soft drink cans and bottles that carry a deposit.  That's because New York's existing Bottle Bill WORKS! 

Our current Bottle Bill became law in 1982, long before bottled water and iced tea became so popular. Now tea, juice and water containers are showing up everywhere. It's time to update the NY Bottle Bill to match our drinking habits.  Read what's at stake.

Bigger Better Bottle Bill (A. 8044/S. 5856 & S. 3434): This bill would amend New York’s Environmental Conservation Law § 27-1003(1) and the State Finance Law to expand and update the definition of "beverage" in the State Returnable Container Act (the bottle bill) to include non-carbonated drinks other than milk and liquor, and to direct the unclaimed deposit money derived from that program to the Environmental Protection Fund.

Year after year, as state lawmakers fail to update our bottle deposit law and close New York's litter loophole, more than TWO BILLION bottles and cans end up in the trash or polluting our rivers, streams and neighborhoods.

It is time to update our successful recycling program with an expansion of the state's bottle deposit law. Now is the time to call on state lawmakers to include the Bottle Bill in New York's budget.

Governor Spitzer has been a vocal advocate for updating New York's bottle deposit law. He included it in his Executive Budget Proposal this year. Now it's time for our state lawmakers in the Senate and the Assembly to act.

Ask your lawmakers in Albany to support updating New York's bottle deposit law in this year's budget. Visit http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/BBBB_2008 to act now.

I've already responded to this Call to Action - I hope you'll consider joining me by contacting your legislators today with this easy-to-use form powered by Environmental Advocates of New York.

Don't live in New York state?  Check out the Container Recyling Institute's site to read find out about Bottle Bills across the US. 

Number of beverage cans and bottles that have been landfilled, littered and incinerated in the US so far this year: