Thank You All very, very much for your support and Happy Backyard Birding! - John

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1 Why donate to our bird seed sale fundraiser? Well, we did quite a bit of research on distributors locally and just outside the Capital Region. After quite a bit of investigation, we decided on: Aspen Song Wild Bird Food from the CFD Co-op to be that New York State-based company to provide a very high quality bird seed and suet for our first ever bird seed fundraiser. The seed mixes were created by the owner of Aspen Song in Conklin, NY (near Binghamton) and produced at a family-owned mill in Oneonta, NY. Their suet cakes are made with Aspen Song seed mixes sent to a mill in Interlaken, NY to be produced. I highly recommend you check out their website for more details on this company, their seed mixes, and very informative web pages! You can order on-line at our Store webpage and pay by credit card or use the hard copy order form on page 3 and mail it along with a check to ASCR, P.O. Box Albany, NY Payments and Orders must be received by Friday 11/1/13. You ll be purchasing quality seed that reduces our Carbon Footprint. The black oil sunflower seed is being harvested soon, then, cleaned and hand packed at a family farm outside of Oneonta. They air dry their seed using no heat that can change the natural properties of the seed that birds can notice. No extra commercially sprayed oil is added. Aspen Song Seed mixes are made from high quality seed from reliable seed producers, that is made in a mill over an hour from Albany. Not only is it important to our local chapter to reduce our carbon footprint in any way possible (newsletter is printed on recycled paper), we are also supporting NYS jobs and businesses close to home. You are getting a high quality product that supports our efforts of Conservation and Education. ASCR conducted education classes at the Town of Niskayuna Summer Day Camps this year as well as putting in Bird-Friendly Gardens at Troy School 2 in May. In April, our volunteers cleared four dump truck loads of invasive buckthorn from the Indian Ladder Trail at Thacher Park this past April to protect bird habitat that raptors are now using as they migrate through our area. Your donations will support these successful and ongoing programs by resupplying our educational materials & supplies and conservation equipment. In addition, you re supporting to keep our bird walks, field trips, fests and our engaging monthly presentations FREE to you and the public! We can t do it without you! Thank You All very, very much for your support and Happy Backyard Birding! - John

2 ASCR Programs Conservation of an Urban Oasis for Migrating Birds Monday, October 7th, 7:00 p.m. Speaker: Neil Gifford, from Albany Pine Bush Location: William K. Sanford Colonie Town Library Albany Pine Bush Conservation Director, Neil Gifford, will present and highlight recent avian research in the Preserve and discuss the conservation implications of managing a globally rare habitat in the heavily urban landscape of New York State s capital. Late Season Bird Walk Saturday, October 19th, 8:00a.m. Co-Leaders: John Hershey and Lindsey Duval Location: Vischer Ferry Nature & Historical Preserve, Clifton Park Join us as our bird experts lead us through the marshy and woodland edges of the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve. No experience necessary!! Come with us and find out what birding is all about. Don t forget your binoculars. If you re new to birding, we ll have some for you to borrow. Time frame: 8:00 am to 11:00 am. Meet at the main entrance to the preserve at the intersection of Riverview and Van Vranken Roads in the Town of Clifton Park. Hollow-een at Hollyhock Hollow Saturday, October 26th, p.m. Location: 46 Rarick Rd. Selkirk, NY Join ASCR at Audubon Int l Family Celebration of the Outdoors that can be enjoyed rain or shine! There will be bird talks, food treats, educational activities, scavenger hunts, hikes, geocaching, face-painting, and more All for FREE! Friday Nov. 8th to Monday Nov. 11th 2013 Super Science Weekend! at misci! Location: Museum of Innovation & Science 15 Nott Terrace, Schenectady, NY Your Capital Region Audubon chapter has been invited to participate in the Natural Sciences portion of this amazing weekend long event geared towards kids & adults alike. Audubon volunteers will be leading kids and big kids in owl pellet dissections, giving bird feeding tips and give tips on binocular use as we lead you around the misci grounds looking for urban and migrating birds! Explore and experiment with misci and experts from all over the Capital Region! Discover dry ice demos, the giant bubble hoist, Lego robotics and much more with Mr. Sly the Science Guy, SI Group, Five Rivers, Dudley Observatory. Free w misci Admission! The view of City Hall & the Mohawk Valley alone is amazing from this museum. For more info: Night Owls and Hot Dogs! Saturday, December 7th, to 7 p.m. Location: Visitors Center, Five Rivers Environmental Education Center Great Horned Owls are often heard calling around dusk at this time of year in the deep pine woods at Five Rivers. After meeting at the Visitors Center for a brief introduction, our group will walk out into the woods that have been productive with owls in the past. Along the way or on the way back, stop by our blazing campfire to enjoy a hot dog and hot chocolate. The owls are not guaranteed, but a good time is nearly a certainty at this popular event! His is a joint program with Hudson Mohawk Bird Club. Reservations are required as space is limited: Please contact Please see our website for full descriptions and lineup of our Presentations, Events, Field Trips and Fests ASCR attends and supports at:

3 ASCR 2013 Bird Seed Sale Fundraiser Order Form Page 3 Please visit our website at for product description & images. Quantity Description Size Price Total NYS Grown Sunflower Seed 30 lb. bag $22.00 $ Inclusive Mixes Ultimate Blend 20 lb. bag $25.99 $ Ultimate Blend 40 lb. bag $49.99 $ Premium Blend 20 lb. bag $22.99 $ Premium Blend 40 lb. bag $42.99 $ Choice Blend 20 lb. bag $21.99 $ Choice Blend 40 lb. bag $39.99 $ Just Desserts 20 lb. bag $32.99 $ Select Blend 17 lb. bag $16.99 $ Select Blend 35 lb. bag $31.99 $ Exclusive Mixes Value Blend 30 lb. bag $15.99 $ Nut & Fruit Woodpecker Blend 20 lb. bag $32.99 $ Chickadee 20 lb. bag $21.90 $ Simply Seeds Cracked Corn 20 lb. bag $9.99 $ Nyjer 25 lb. bag $33.99 $ Peanut Pieces 20 lb. bag $25.99 $ Suets Nut & Fruit Woodpecker Blend Suet 11 oz. $1.79 $ Chickadee Suet 11 oz. $1.59 $ Hi Energy Suet 11 oz. $1.99 $ Audubon Society of The Capital Region P.O. Box 14135, Albany, NY Additional Donation for Local Education & Conservation Donation is Tax Deductible $ TOTALS $ Please enclose payment for total amount & mail this form to: ASCR Bird Seed Sale, PO Box 14135, Albany, NY Payments and Orders must be received by 11/1/13. All orders must be picked up on Saturday November 9th between 9am and 1pm at the William K. Sanford (Colonie Town) Library Albany Shaker Road, Loudonville, NY Directions to library: From the North take Exit 4 off the Northway, take the Airport exit and take a left at the light. At the next light take a left onto Albany-Shaker Road. Go past the library around the traffic circle to enter the library parking lot. Customer Information Customer Name Mailing Address City State Zip Code Phone Number Cell Number Address Visit us online at capitalregionaudubon.org for complete details. To order by mail: Complete this form & send payment by check. Order online and pay via credit card through secure PayPal, please go to our website at If you have any questions, please contact John Loz at or president@capitalregionaudubon.org.

4 ASCR s Collaboration of Education with Town of Niskayuna Summer Day Camps by Heather Labore and ASCR News Editor Page 4 This is our first year working with the Town of Niskayuna to help preserve grassland habitat at the Town s old landfill, which is now a public park and disc golf course, next to Blatnick Park. When Roy Thornton, a Niskayuna resident and ASCR approached the Town concerning visiting Boblinks to their park, the Town was enthusiastic about helping grassland birds and in particular the Bobolinks that were seen displaying and calling in recent years. Starting with the preservation of 5+ acres this year, ASCR and the town are looking to continue our conservation & education collaboration by hopefully preserving 24+ more acres in the summer of In return for the Town producing and putting up Bobolink Warning signs around the ground nesting bird habitat, ASCR conducted education classes for the Town of Niskayuna Summer Day Camps this June and July, created and run by our Vice- President Heather Labore. Here is her report below: Week 1 of 6 weeks of camp started with the Niskayuna Science Camp on Saturday June 28th. In attendance were 25 kids and two counselors. We started off by discussing why birds are important and challenges migrating birds face on a daily basis. The children played a game where they became Bobolinks and had to get enough food to migrate and find nesting habitat and then fledge their chicks. Then we discussed how the children can help birds in their backyard, their school, and in their community. The group made two crafts: a bagel seed treat, and a small flower pot to decorate and grow a sunflower seed in. We finished with a bird walk around the perimeter of the park. I feel the message went over very well. They wanted to play the Bobolink game several more times! During the bird walk they were very eager to point out birds they saw and heard. Plus as an added bonus, the children initiated all on their own - picked up every bit of trash they saw to make the park a cleaner environment. All and all, I spent just about 2 hours with the kids and thankfully the rain held off the entire time! In the following regular weeks of the Day Camps, I taught at 3 of them and spoke to 211 campers. We spoke about the importance of birds in our environment and what we can do to help them. Each camper did a craft and either took home a peanut butter bagel seed treat or a decorated compostable flower pot with a sunflower seed to plant in their yard. (The science campers did both.) Heather goes on to say that for the funds ASCR spent on supplies for the summer camps, it went quite a long way in that the campers had something tangible to bring home with them. Please join ASCR and the Town of Niskayuna in Thanking Heather during those 6 weeks of camp.

5 OFFICERS & DIRECTORS President: Vice: President: Correspondence Secretary: Treasurer: Recording Secretary: DIRECTORS Mike Devoe Eric Latini Craig Thompson COMMITTEES Conservation: John Loz Fred Bockis René Facchetti Eric Latini Conservation Volunteers: Heather Labore Angelika Beckmann Education: Education Volunteers: Programs: Programs Volunteer: Heather Labore Robyn Keefe John Loz Hospitality Committee Volunteers: Open Positions! Field Trips: Publicity: Field Trip Volunteers: Craig Thompson Lindsey Duval Fred Bockis Editor of Wingbeats / Webmaster: René Facchetti Wingbeats Newsletter Contributors: Lindsey Duval Heather Labore John Loz Volunteer Coordinator: GIS Specialist Volunteer: Robyn Keefe ASCR Board Member Emeritus: Jerry Brown Volunteering Remotely by John Loz You ve heard of Working Remotely, right? I ve been with Capital Region Audubon for only 2-1/2 years now, and never expected to be president of a non-profit organization, but I was looking for something meaningful to do outside of my day engineering website job in front of a computer all day. A friend of mine told me about this Audubon volunteer opportunity and I thought, Why the heck not? I d get outdoors to enjoy nature, maybe help do something good in my hometown, maybe even help some people. All those things sure came true! I haven t regretted it one bit. Although I was educated in Biology and Environmental Science, I knew very little about birds, but I did know something about getting the word out about things! I never took a marketing course, but found I had a knack for being creative! Making posters and thinking up ideas for new ASCR events and to be part of a historic 100+ year old organization such as The National Audubon Society is I think Pretty darn cool! So I didn t know how I could help when I first joined, but I figured I d just do what I know and hopefully I ll be a help in some way, so that s what I did and found my niches in our group. Not only have I really enjoyed doing outdoor conservation work at Thacher Park and planting bird-friendly gardens for elementary school kids in Troy, but I ve found myself Volunteering Remotely from my desk at home. I ve enjoyed calling and ing speakers for our programs, ing contacts at libraries to book meeting space, writing up my exciting bird experiences for newsletter articles, and most of all...writing Thank You notes to our generous donors, especially to those who gave in memoriam to their departed bird-loving family members and friends. And surprising to me, through going on ASCR bird walks and just looking around on-line, I ve learned quite a bit about birds! I love those little guys! I now notice the differences in contrasting sharp calls as well as their many sweet songs. When I walk from my car to the office in the morning, I pause at the door listening & looking above me, I see a green heron flying over me & smile knowing that I m doing something good for the birds & the environment. Printed on Recycled Paper *** If you have any questions regarding how you could volunteer for a fun environmental organization, but don t know (yet!) or how you could contribute, John at: president@

6 Page 6 A Fine Day in The Brig Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (Brigantine) May Birding 2013 by Lindsey Duval Field Trip Chair Joe Delesantro generously and frequently offered me long views through his scope of every shorebird species, quizzing me on field markings and seeing whether I could identify the birds myself. Other members happily shared their field guides to assist me in trying my hand at answering, rather than just immediately giving away the correct ID. Deciding to partake in seasonal field work has brought me to places I never thought I'd go, including Mississippi, the tiny 51 miles of "coastline" in Pennsylvania, and recently, the Jersey Shore. I was ambivalent about my visit, but Capital Region birders regaled me with stories of visits to "Brig," the birder's name for Forsythe NWR, where I was headed to find Seaside and Saltmarsh Sparrows in the saltmarshes. I was fortunate enough to arrive just in time for a fantastic talk by the friendly and witty Sandy Komito (one-third of the inspiration for The Big Year), and then the grand re-opening on May 18th of Wildlife Drive, an 8-mile vehicular marsh road that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and rebuilt in only 3 months. Part of the festivities included brief walks and a drive led by members of Atlantic Audubon Society, who quickly gave me a warm welcome and invited me along. The month of May is, of course, well-known as a peak period of bird migration. Little did I know that peak migration at Forsythe NWR meant tens of thousands of shorebirds making a pit stop in the salt marshes. In comparison, I feel quite lucky to spot a dozen or so shorebirds at local spots such as Cohoes Flats in spring and fall. I hopped into an Atlantic Audubon member s car for the afternoon trip on Wildlife Drive, and The bonus of having thousands of the same species in one location is practice! For example, instead of seeing just one individual Short-billed Dowitcher or Dunlin, there were dozens in most stops available to practice my shorebird identification skills. At the same time, the migration period at Forsythe is quite short. I was told and later learned in June that the birds I was seeing that day would mostly be quick to move south. This particular day ended up being a 5-star birding day, not only for myself grabbing 20 life birds in one day, but for long-time Atlantic Audubon birders. I was satisfied with the large numbers of Great and Snowy Egrets, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, and Forster s Terns, but Forsythe s Saltmarshes also turned out a Northern Shoveler, fantastic views of a foraging Black-necked Stilt, a Sanderling, the return of American Oystercatchers that would later nest along the drive, a Greater Yellowlegs hanging out next to a Lesser Yellowlegs, and a few Gull-billed Terns that would have been missed had one not been looking for them. - Lindsey Duvall

7 Calling All Expert and Very Good Birders!...of any age! Long-time Veterans! Educators! Students! and of course, our Young budding Ornithologists! With our new partnership with the Museum of Innovation and Science (misci) in Schenectady, we re looking for experienced birders from our ASCR membership to help record what birds frequent the museum grounds starting in November to post on e-bird and eventually establish a bird list for the museum. We ll need help at the museum identifying birds during the Christmas Bird Count and The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) at the museum in February 2014 through the year as well! Contact John at (518) After seeing press in The Daily Gazette (March 25th, 2013) on the work ASCR and the Town of Niskayuna are doing to protect Bobolink and Grassland bird habitat at Blatnick Park, the GE Learning Center on Balltown Road contacted ASCR to help them identify & catalog bird species on their National Wildlife Federation Certified property. They are looking to ASCR to help create grassland habitat for ground nesting birds to breed on their grounds. In very early spring and summer, we ll be looking for birders to survey there. Light surveying this summer showed some pretty neat diversity there! ASCR is now helping Thacher Park to establish a new bird list and establish if the Golden Winged Warbler (GWW) has returned to the park. The GWW is a declining species threatened by forest habitat loss and volunteer birders can help us cover the different park areas in the Spring to collect a bird list find out if the Golden Winged Warbler has returned to this park and keep track of all bird species that are seen there. In Rensselaer County, Grafton Lakes State Park is looking to work with ASCR member birders to identify and count raptors that migrate through and reside in the park. There are some Rensselaer Land Trust tracts needing bird spotters as well. If you are interested in helping our partners with the Audubon Society of the Capital Region and help us cover a lot of ground, be a Citizen Scientist and help collect important data for our local bird habitats! president@capitalregionaudubon.org Printed on Recycled Paper

8 Audubon Society of the Capital Region P.O. Box Albany, NY NonProfit Org U.S. Postage PAID Albany, NY Permit No. 881 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED CAPITAL REGION AUDUBON BIRDSEED SALE FUNDRAISER! Your Generous Donations go to Capital Region Audubon Local Education Programs & Conservation Work! (See inside for what those things are!) Easy Ordering Online at: or Look inside for a mail-in order form! Stock Up for the Winter or Give as a Holiday Gift!