In Flight
In Flight
In Flight
In Flight
In Flight
Newsletter of McHenry County Audubon " Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society
Newsletter of McHenry County Audubon " Chapter of
Illinois Audubon Society
Newsletter
of McHenry County Audubon " Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society
Newsletter of McHenry County Audubon " Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society
Newsletter of McHenry County Audubon " Chapter of
Illinois Audubon Society
McHenry County
Audubon " Celebrating Environmental Awareness Through Birding
McHenry County Audubon " Celebrating Environmental Awareness Through Birding
McHenry County Audubon " Celebrating Environmental
Awareness Through Birding
McHenry County
Audubon " Celebrating Environmental Awareness Through Birding
McHenry County Audubon " Celebrating Environmental Awareness Through Birding
February 2010
·
Join the Dream: Creating the Hack-ma-tack National Wildlife Refuge
Thursday, February 11, 2010 7:00pm Crystal Lake
Nature Center
(N. Schietzelt)
Members Meeting
Members Meeting
Members Meeting
Members
Meeting
Members Meeting
·
·
Feeder Watch
Feeder Watch
Feeder Watch
Feeder Watch
Feeder Watch
·
·
Coffee and Feeder Watch at Susan Tauck's Home
Saturday, February
28, 2010 8:00am 1304 Deerpass Road, Marengo, IL
At the February 11
th
McHenry County Audubon meeting, members will have the
opportunity to learn about a dream
that
is moving ever closer to reality. This is the dream of having a national wildlife refuge located right here
in our county!
The proposed Hack-ma-tack National Wildlife Refuge is a bi-state effort to protect a regional
landscape rich in key biological
resources in northern McHenry County and southern Walworth County, Wisconsin.
Combining already protected lands with
strategic purchases and trail connections will create a reserve of almost 6,000 acres in
Illinois and a potential 5,000
acres in Wisconsin, to protect an extraordinary collection of diverse natural communities, grassland
bird habitat and
a dramatic glacial landscape while also enhancing regional recreational opportunities. The working name "Hack-
ma-tack"
is derived from the Algonquin Indian word for the American Tamarack tree, which is found in the high quality wetlands on
both sides of the Wisconsin/Illinois border. The refuge will provide extensive recreation and education opportunities within
a 90
minute drive for residents of the large metropolitan areas of Chicago, Rockford, Milwaukee, and Madison. The refuge
concept
already has widespread support of state and local government officials and agencies, national, regional and local
conservation
organizations and local citizens in both states. In fact, our club is one of the Organizational Friends
of Hack-ma-tack.
Giving the presentation,
Lenore Beyer-Clow and Cindy Skrukrud, members of the Friends of Hack-ma-tack
Steering Committee, are two former Executive Directors of the Environmental Defenders
of McHenry County who
have now joined forces to work on a really big project for the county. Cindy earned her Ph.D. in
Comparative
Biochemistry at the University
of California in Berkeley. She has served as the Clean Water Advocate for the Illinois
Chapter of the Sierra Club for the past 8 1/2 years where she works to protect
the water quality and habitat of rivers,
streams,
and wetlands throughout Illinois. Lenore earned a Masters in Business Administration from the
University of Illinois.
She joined Openlands as Director of Policy in May 2005. There she promotes protection of
lands of regional significance as well as farmland preservation and
she manages projects to protect water quantity
and quality.
The meeting
will be held at the Crystal Lake Nature Center. Refreshments will be served at 7:00 p.m. with the program following
at 7:30 p.m.
McHenry Audubon member Susan Tauck welcomes fellow feeder watchers to her home
to check out her winter
visitors! She promises to provide plenty of coffee (bird friendly, of course!) and something
to munch on and,
hopefully, two resident tufted titmice (mouses?) and a stray flicker! Her regular visitors have been
"chickadees,
juncos, goldfinches, house finches, blue jays, cardinals, 2 starlings (how did they find me?!), white
breasted
nuthatches (no sign of a red-breasted one here this winter), downy, hairy and red-breasted woodpeckers, an
occasional tree sparrow (haven't had a white-throated one this winter) and an occasional cooper's hawk."
Although her half mile single lane driveway may look intimidating from the entry on Deerpass Road, there is
plenty
of room to park and turn around at the end up by the house. If the weather is really bad or otherwise
questionable, please
check with Susan before coming out. She can be contacted at 815-568-6755 and by
email at zoozan@mc.net. See you there!!
·
·
Annual Meeting Report
Annual Meeting Report
Annual
Meeting Report
Annual Meeting Report
Annual Meeting Report
·
Landscaping Seminar
Landscaping Seminar
Landscaping
Seminar
Landscaping Seminar
Landscaping Seminar
2010 Membership Dues
2010 Membership Dues
2010 Membership Dues
2010
Membership Dues
2010 Membership Dues
·
· A Message From MCA Treasurer: 2010 Dues are Due
If you have not paid, send your ten dollar dues to:
Dwight Dalton, Membership, 573 Tamarisk Lane, Crystal Lake, IL 60014
This year's raffle held during the Annual Meeting netted $601 for our organization. That
was higher
than the $550 last year but not a record . The 2007 raffle earned $746. Raffle money and generous
donations
sent in with dues each year allow us to offer regular, quality newsletters, host a web site
(
www.McHenryAudubon.org
) and hold programs thoughout the year.
Questions? Contact Dwight Dalton at dalton@joltmail.net or at 815-459-6069
· 18th Annual Natural Landscaping Seminar
February 27, 2010 McHenry County College Crystal
Lake, IL (Nancy Gonsiorek)
Lorraine
Johnson, referred to as "the punk rock earth mother" is not your typical garden writer. In the more than fifteen
years that
Lorraine has been writing books and articles, she has become known for her unconventional outlook on the world
of gardening.
Advocating for organics in the days when synthetic chemicals ruled, writing about native plants before
most people had heard the
term, promoting community gardening when politicians were wary of involving people in parks,
Lorraine has always written about
marginal subjects on their way to becoming mainstream.
Lorraine will be presenting her program, "Tending the Earth,"
at McHenry County College on Saturday, February 27
th
, 2010, for the
18th
Annual Natural Landscaping Seminar. Also speaking will be Kelsay Shaw, Possibility Place Nursery, on native understory
trees and shrubs; IDNR District Heritage Biologist Brad Semel, on fen restoration; and McHenry County Water Resources
Manager Cassandra McKinney with The WPPC Rain Garden Task Force on Water, Gardening, and how homeowners can make a
difference.
Plus a special bonus event: Realizing a Dream: The Hack-ma-tack National Wildlife Refuge.
The seminar is all day at the MCC Conference Center.
Admission: $30 in advance, $35 at the
door includes a delicious lunch. Vendors will purvey books, objects d'art,
and products and
information to fulfill all your natural landscaping needs during breaks.
Sponsored by The Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee
of McHenry County,
A non-profit organization dedicated to promoting native species through preservation,
propagation, and education.
For registration
or more information, contact Nancy at 815.455-9462 or visit
www.TheWPPC.org
On
Saturday, January 16th, McHenry Audubon members gathered for the Annual Meeting and Potluck Dinner. Held at the Ridgefield-
Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church in Ridgefield, members enjoyed a potluck dinner and a presentation by featured speaker
Jeff
Hoover
, Avian Ecologist
at the Illinois Natural History Survey. His presentation, entitled "What Birds Can Tell Us: Conservation
Successes in Illinois and New Insights Into Remarkable
Bird Behavior" was followed by the annual raffle. This fundraiser generated
$601 according to treasurer Dwight Dalton.
Many thanks to all who purchased raffle tickets and donated items for the auction!
Also, we wish to thank the following
businesses for their generous contributions to our fundraising raffle:
Countryside Flower Shop - Crystal Lake - bird feeder and seed
Farm and Fleet - Woodstock - bird
feeder
Farm and Lawn
- Woodstock - bird feeder and seed
Wild
Bird Center - Fox River Grove - $50 in Birdy Bucks
Wild Bird Supplies - Crystal Lake - bag of seed
When you have the opportunity, please patronize these stores and let
them know that as a McHenry County Audubon member you
appreciate their help with our fundraising
And lastly, a special thank you to Nancy Schietzelt and Darlene Fiske for soliciting these donations!
· An evening of fun, food and great raffle
prizes!
Bird Count Report
Bird Count Report
Bird Count Report
Bird Count Report
Bird Count
Report
·
Bird Walk Report
Bird Walk Report
Bird Walk Report
Bird
Walk Report
Bird Walk Report
·
·
With the temperature a chilling -5°, not surprisingly no one showed up and
only the leader Karen Lund was present. After 45
minutes, the following listed birds were seen. The payoff was an adult
bald eagle that flew in as she was leaving. He swooped
back and forth over the river for a couple minutes and finally
perched on the west side. (Photo by Karen Lund)
1 bald eagle
2 common
goldeneye (fly-by)
25+ mallards
3 chickadees
1 cardinal
4 crows
1 red-bellied
woodpecker
· McHenry
Dam Saturday, January 2, 2010
(Karen
Lund)
· Annual Christmas
Bird Count Held in McHenry County
Another
year of good fellowship, fresh air, and great birds!
On Saturday, December 19th, 2009, volunteer observers participated in one of our most important yearly
traditions -
the 110th Christmas Bird Count.
McHenry County birders joined with efforts of birders nationwide to provide a
"snapshot" of the status and health of birdlife throughout
our country.
This year, the McHenry County census was conducted by 34 observers divided into 15 teams over a 15 mile
diameter circle, centered in Bull Valley. The groups walked a total of 36.75 miles and drove 587.5 miles in their
efforts. This year 61 species were seen up from last
year's results of 56. The count was assisted by
the report of an amazing number of duck species by the Crystal Lake
team. "Good" birds included two bald
eagles, a screech owl, a Northern shrike, 2 snow geese, a golden crowned kinglet, 2 pine siskin, and one lost
Eastern
meadowlark.
At the end
of a long day counting birds, members met at the home of Walt Dembos for food and refreshments while
they combined their results and shared their experiences of the day.
Dwight Dalton compiles the data and then Rob
Gough
sends it on to National Audubon. This information is then combined with other data from similar counts all over
the world.
This data has provided a valuable catalyst for conservation efforts of many types.
Dont Forget!
Dont Forget!
Dont Forget!
Dont Forget!
Dont Forget!
·
·
Illinois Ornithological Society's 9th Annual Gull Frolic
Saturday, February 20, 2010 8:00am
Winthrop Harbor Yacht Club, Chicago
Go to
www.illinoisbirds.org
for more information.
·
Take a Mid-Winter Nature Break With the Great Backyard Bird Count!
February 12-15, 2010
National Audubon Society & Cornell Lab of Ornithology
For information visit the website www.birdsource.org.
· Second Annual Rusty Blackbird Blitz
February 12 - 15, 2010
Information and instructions available on Cornell Laboratory
of Ornithology's e-Bird site: ebird.org.
·
Project FeederWatch Ends April 9, 2010
Vi
isit the Project FeederWatch
website at www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw.
See
last month's In Flight for more details on these upcoming bird events!
150+ canada geese (still roosting on the shore & covered with frost)
1 cooper's hawk
house sparrows (heard only)
1 white-breasted nuthatch
1 song sparrow
1 downy woodpecker
·
Sightings....
Sightings....
Sightings....
Sightings....
Sightings....
December 29th, 2009
I saw 4 large white birds flying overhead. They were coming from the
northeast over the Black Crown Marsh and heading south west toward
Moraine Hills Park, McHenry. In checking my book
I ID'd them as tundra
swans. They were all white with Black bills. At first I thought snow geese
but then I see that snow geese have yellow bills.
Lori Valus
Sunday,
January 10, 2010 - McHenry, IL.
While we were driving northbound on Riverside
Drive near Washington Street,
around 12:00 noon,
we saw a large black bird come up over the house
tops from the river. It turned slightly and
came right
toward us. Sure enough that's when we saw it's
white head, it was a bald eagle!!
It landed in a tree
on the west side of Riverside Drive just north of the
intersection at Washington. This
intersection
is a three way stop, so we
were able to sit for a short time and
watch the Eagle.
Bruce and Barb Harmel
Monday, January 18, 2010 - Martin Luther King Day
On the Fox River
in East Dundee by the gazebo at Tim McNamee
Park on Washington Street (just past Otto
Engineering) I saw a mute
swan and 100
goldeneyes!!! My friend, Sally Rocuskie, was
with me and we spotted them on the river. We
stopped
the car and we counted and recounted.
They were Barrow's goldeneyes with the white
crescent
shaped marking , the purplish/blue hue to
their heads and some with the brownish-red heads and some
darker. What
a surprise!! We waited and scanned with binoculars
and all of a sudden they took flight right in front of us and headed
south down the river. We checked every book we had and figured
they were definitely barrow's goldeneyes!!! My question--Where
did they come from and where were they going??
Kay Preshlock
January
2, 2010, Milwaukee, WI
I was in Milwaukee at the art museum and on the lake as we looked out from
the museum
were many buffleheads! We counted about 20. We spotted
several pairs, some of them diving. I have never
seen this many in one place! Again, my question
- Was the bitter cold weather driving them in
near that shore??
Or is this a common occurrence
this time of year?
Kay Preshlock
I still
see my redtailed hawks on the
watertower near Bard Road Fire
station.. sometimes one sometimes
two together.
Kay Preshlock
A brown thrasher was in my yard January
16th & 17th. The Carolina
wren is spending the 5th consecutive winter here. He usually arrives in
October and departs in February. Maybe this will be the year he finds a
mate and nests here. (Photos by Karen Lund)
Karen Lund, Genoa, DeKalb County
Thank you to
all contributors!
·
McHenry Audubon Board of Directors
· President - Randy Schietzelt
815-356-1710 BurOak@owc.net
· Vice President - Walt Dembos 815-338-6831
·
Membership/Treasurer - Dwight Dalton 815-459-6069
· Recording Secretary - Myrna Nelson
847-639-3425
· Members - Darlene Fiske 815-338-0592
Dave Frey 815-338-4866
Dan Wilson 815-648-2389
Doug Crane 815-338-0046
Nancy Loomis
Other McHenry
County Audubon Contacts
·
Bird Count Coordinator - Rob Gough 815-385-2996
Alternate - Dwight Dalton 815-459-6069
·
Crane Count Coordinator - Danny Wilson 815-648-4184 danwill26@aol.com
· Field Trip Coordinator
- Doug Crane 815-338-0046
· Historian - Stacy Iwanicki 815-236-2423 boglady@wonderwave.net
· Hospitality Chairs - Vince & LuAnn LaSusa 815-356-8625
· Illinois Audubon
Representative * POSITION OPEN *
· Newsletter Editor - Tami Zuck 847-922-6746 tamizuck@comcast.net
· Program Coordinator - Nancy Schietzelt 815-356-1710 BurOak@owc.net
Audubon Contacts
· McHenry County www.McHenryAudubon.org
·
Illinois Audubon 217-544-BIRD www.illinoisaudubon.org
· National Audubon Society www.audubon.org
Public Lands
· McHenry County Conservation District 815-479-5779
815-338-6223 www.mccdistrict.org
· Moraine Hills State Park 815-385-1624
·
Volo Bog Sate Natural Area 815-344-1294 (To register for MHSP Bird Walks)
·
Contacts
Contacts
Contacts
Contacts
Contacts
McHenry
County Audubon
is a Member-Chapter of Illinois Audubon Society
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 67
Woodstock,
IL 60098
General Meetings
Crystal Lake Nature Center
330 North Main Street (at N. Main Street & Terra Cotta Ave. (Route 176)),
Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014
Second Thursday of October, November, February, March and April
Meeting starts at
7:30pm · Refreshments served starting at 7:00pm
McHenry County Audubon Website
www.McHenryAudubon.org
Please send submissions to In Flight editor Tami Zuck at tamizuck@comcast.net.
· Proper punctuation is appreciated! · Electronically sent original photos always welcome!
·
Submission deadline for each newsletter is the 20th of the month before
Annual Meeting
Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
8505
Church Street
Ridgefield (Crystal Lake), Illinois 60012
Third Saturday of January at 5:30pm
Local and Regional Field Trips
are held throughout
the year
Weekend Bird Walks
at Moraine Hills Sate Park in McHenry, Illinois &
Volo Bog State Natural Area in Ingleside, Illinois
We coordinate both the McHenry County Spring
Bird Count and Christmas Bird Count
Changes of address (postal and/or email)?
Please inform Membership Chair Dwight
Dalton - 815-459-6069
·
McHenry County Audubon
McHenry County Audubon
McHenry County Audubon
McHenry County Audubon
McHenry County Audubon
·
· Submission Deadline for the March
2010 Newsletter is Saturday, February 20 , 2010 ·
2010 McHenry County Audubon Calendar of Events
Watch your newsletter for details! This calendar is updated with
each issue of the MCA newsletter. Members'
meetings are held at the Crystal Lake Nature Center unless noted otherwise.
Reservations must be made with
the field trip leader so he/she can notify you of any last-minute changes, cancellations,
etc. See list of contacts
below. Field trips are co-sponsored by Illinois Audubon Society. * See inside this
issue for details
February 11
February 28
March 11
March 12-13
April 8
April 17
April 25
Members' Meeting - Crystal Lake Nature Center - 7:00pm*
Coffee and Feeder Watch at Susan Tauck's Home - 8:00am *
Members' Meeting - Crystal Lake Nature Center - 7:00pm
Illinois Audubon Society Prairie Chicken Tour - (Info.
217-787-3515)
Members' Meeting
- Crystal Lake Nature Center - 7:00pm
Crane
Count
Willowbrook Wildlife Rehab.
(behind the scenes) Tour/Bird Hike
N.
Schietzelt
Susan Tauck
N. Schietzelt
Vern Kleen
N. Schietzelt
Dan Wilson
LuAnn LaSusa
Date
Event
Contact **
McHenry
County
Audubon
McHenry County
Audubon
McHenry County
Audubon
McHenry County
Audubon
McHenry County
Audubon
P .O
. B
ox
67
Woodstock, IL
60098
www.McHenryAudubon.org
Address correction
requested
Return postage
guaranteed
Nex
t M
em
ber
s'
Meeting is
Thursday
February 1
1th!
Thursday
Sunday
Thursday
Fri./Sat.
Thursday
Saturday
Sunday
Day
* See inside this issue for details. ** Contact information also inside this issue on "Contacts"
page.
