january-february 2005 delaware audubon society newsletter

8/9/2019 January-February 2005 Delaware Audubon Society Newsletter

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Vol. XXV1I No.2 January -February 2005

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPERc

DELAWARE AUDUBON SOCIETY, INC.

A State-wide Chapter of National Audubon

D e l a w a r e A u d u b o n Journal

YOUR BOARD IN ACTION

PR ES ER VING OU R

NAT U R AL STATE

DELAWARE

AU D U B O N

NA T I O N A L LE V E L

TAKE BACK AUDUBON

At National Audubon’s Annual Meeting of Members in December 2003,certain Take Back Audubon resolutions were proposed, and an Ad Hoc

Committee was formed to address concerns.The Ad Hoc Committee hassince met and reported back, and copies of a draft report have been sent tothe Chapters for comment.The Committee will be integrating the feedback into the final report and presenting the final recommendations to NationalAudubon for approval at the January 2005 Board of Directors meeting inNaples, Florida.

Representatives from the Ad Hoc Committee met with Delaware AudubonBoard members in October 2004 to address concerns. It is the position of Delaware Audubon that “the issues with the base document and itsconstruction continue to raise significant misgivings of a future relationshipbetween the Delaware Audubon and National Audubon Societies.We stillcommend the Committee for their hard work and effort in this regard and

hope that the commentary provided will help to inform the Committee andmake for better decisions. It is our desire that we can bridge the huge dividebetween us through this discourse.”

Among other proposals, National Audubon would be withdrawing the duesshare from Chapters. For a Chapter the size of ours,encompassing an entirestate, this would represent a major financial blow.

You can view the Ad Hoc Committee’s report, and Delaware Audubon’sseven-page response, on Delaware Audubon’s website,<www.delawareaudubon.org>.

LO C A L LE V E L

MARINE FARM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

The historic, predominantly African-American community of Jimtown, inSussex County, is facing the possibility of a new neighbor in the form of a651-unit residential area on what is now the Marine Farm property.Apart

Backyard Wildlife ....................6

Bird Tales ................................7

Books of Interest ......................8

Calendar ..................................4

Letter From the President ..........2

More than Just Birds..................3

News & Views....................5,6,7

Officers & Committees..............2

Site Seeing................................5

Thank You! ..............................7

What You Can Do ....................3

IN THIS ISSUE

ACTION, continued on page 7



Delaware Audubon Society

2004-2005 Officers & Committees

If there are any issues that you think Audubon should address that you feel strongly about, please writeIssues, P.O. Box 1713, Wilmington, DE 19899, or call the office at 302-428-3959. Chairpersons can alwaysbe reached through the office answering machine,302-428-3959.

Honorary Chairman of the Board

......................... ...............Russell W. Peterson

President ........................... .............Asha IyengarVice President ........................... ...Ann RydgrenSecretary ........................ ................Ellen WrightTreasurer...................... ..................Mark Martell

Conservation Committees:Environmental Advocate ......Nick DiPasqualeDredging ............................ ............Leslie SavageNest Box Projects .......................... ..Peggy JahnArmchair Activists .......................... ..........OpenAdopt-a-Wetland

........................... .....Peggy Jahn,Kathy TidballWhite Clay Creek Adopt-a-Highway

..................................................Dorothy MillerImportant Bird Area Program

....................................................Ann Rydgren

Programs Committee ......................... .....OpenPublicity CommitteeInternet:..................................Fred Breukelmandasmail@delawareaudubon.orgMembership................................................OpenRecords ............................ ............Dave BrannanEducation Committee ................Kathy TidballSocial CommitteeAnnual Dinner ......................Nancy FramptonField Trips Committee ....................Peggy JahnPublications Committee ............Ann Rydgren

Finance CommitteesFundraising:Grants ......................Mark MartellFundraising:Bird Seed Sale

.......................... ........Tom and Tabitha ShueyFundraising: Birdathon

..................Maud Dayton and Ruth HoldenFundraising: Silent Auction..............John Knox

Fundraising:Wildlife Sanctuary ..............OpenFundraising:Piping Plover Suite ....Ann Rydgren

Legal ............................Michael J. Scali, Esquire

Directors for service until 2005:Peggy Jahn Leslie SavageDirectors for service until 2006:Dorothy MillerDirectors for service until 2007

John Knox Tom ShueyFred Breukelman

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w WEB SITE

http://www.delawareaudubon.org

w MAILING ADDRESS:


P.O. Box 1713

Wilmington, DE 19899

w TELEPHONE:

302-428-3959

w DELAWARE AUDUBON SOCIETY E-MAIL:

[email protected]

We can receive contributions

through your United Way payroll

deduction designation. Our

United Way designation number

is 9017.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

2004 has been a turbulent year for all the affiliates of theNational Audubon Society. Please read “Your Board inAction:Take Back Audubon” in this issue of the Delaware

Audubon Journal and visit our website,<www.delawareaudubon.org>, for more details.The points

of contention have long-term ramifications for localChapters and the national organization alike.

Thank you for your contributions during our end-of-the-year fundraising drive.Now more than ever, your generositytakes on added importance.Without your support, many of our most popular and visible programs would be cut back or cease to exist:Audubon Adventures, the Delaware

Audubon Journal, bluebird nestboxes, Purple Martinapartments, the “Piping Plover Suite,” and our ability tomonitor issues you feel are important.

Finally, on behalf of our Board of Directors, I hope 2005 will

be a year of citizen power in Delaware:Continued vigilanceof Premcor, staying the course in protecting our fragilecoastal areas, protecting our waterways from oil spills, andforcing the polluters to accept responsibility for theiractions.

Thank you for your past and future support!

Asha Iyengar

VISIT DELAWARE AUDUBON'S WEBSITE

http://www.delawareaudubon.org.

Sample educational, informative articles and features. Order books and other goodiesfrom the Marketplace. Search the archive of past articles. Visit our photo gallery.

Survey legislative updates and Action Alerts. Email policy makers.

The Audubon Journal is

published bi-monthly by the

Delaware Audubon Society.

Original articles may be

reprinted without permission.

Please give credit to the Delaware Audubon

Journal and the author.

Co-editor: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ann Rydgren

Co-editor and Contributing Writer:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Leah Christmas

Assistant Editor: . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Roewe

Design & Layout : . . . . . . . . . .Maryellen F. Birk

Printing: . . . . . . . . .Sprint Quality Printing, Inc.

Delaware Audubon Society, incorporated in

1977, is a state- wide chapter of the National

Audubon Society.



“Preserve Our Natural State”

W H A T Y O U C A N D O . . .

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WE N E E D Y O U !

VOLUNTEER

OPPORTUNITIES

Join the fun!

Meet new people!

Do a great thing!

✶ NEEDED NOW!

Nick DiPasquale needs a few

more people to work on theConservation Committee.Please help!

✶ WILDFLOWERS

Wildflower enthusiast for specialarea in Dover.

✶ WELCOME WAGONFun loving,creative person neededto recruit and integrate newmembers.

✶ MARKETING/RECRUITMENTNeed someone with a “Type A”personality and marketingexperience willing to help theenvironment in Delaware throughmember recruitment, targetedmarketing and advertising for ourannual birdseed sale, generalmember solicitation, and expandingour annual appeal.

✶ ADOPT-A-HIGHWAYTeam of two people with 146 yearsof combined life experience wishesto hand off Adopt-a-Highwayactivity to team of four with 146years or less life experience. Inother words,we’re getting too oldto do this!

Please call 302-428-3959and leave a message if youare interested in helping.

MORE THAN JUST BIRDS... W. Barksdale Maynard

A DELAWARE NATIONAL PARK

Few outsiders know much about Delaware, except for having driven through on I-95or visited one of its racetracks or beaches. Its obscurity is tied to its extremely smallsize. Only one American in 362 is a Delawarean, and the state comprises just onepart in 1,800 of the nation’s land area. It has the fewest counties of any state: justthree (compared to 254 in Texas). Even if Delaware were a city rather than a state, itwould rank only twelfth in the country, behind San Jose and Detroit.

Delaware has long been the only state without a national park, but now plans areunderway to change this.The creation of Delaware National Coastal Heritage Park will unfortunately not involve the purchasing of any new lands for preservation, but

at least it will draw greater attention to Delaware’s threatened Coastal Zone.That270,000-acre region is the state’s greatest ecological asset, as indicated by its havingbeen named a Globally Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society.

In a past era, the Federal government might have bought vast areas along theDelaware Bay for inclusion in this new park—including uplands that have long beenlegally protected against heavy industry but not against that 21st-century threat,housing developments,which are spreading ever closer to Port Penn and BombayHook.

A national park in Delaware will help educate Americans about the obscure FirstState and its natural resources.As plans for the park are formulated, one hopesagainst hope for the grandest possible vision of protecting the Coastal Zone.

What You Can DoEveryone seems to agree that Delaware should have a national park, but everyonedoes not agree where it should be.What do you think? Give us your suggestions.Address your comments to [email protected] with “Delaware NationalPark” in the Subject line, or to “Delaware National Park,” Delaware AudubonSociety, P.O. Box 1713,Wilmington, DE 19899.

SILENT AUCTION ALERT

It’s not too soon to start looking around for Silent Auction items.All Delaware

Audubon members are on the auction committee.We need your help! In past years,many of you have made this important and entertaining Audubon fundraiser asuccess.

Please help by making a donation of merchandise or services for the auction.Merchants are usually happy to donate a gift certificate or an item to our auction.Restaurants, theaters, concerts, movies, food, art, crafts,and plants are all popular.

What You Can DoBe creative and donate your particular skills or a special, guided field trip. Please call John Knox, 302-428-3959,by February 15 and leave a message to makearrangements for your donations.



NOMINATING

COMMITTEE

To maintain the mission of theDelaware Audubon Society, dedicatedpeople must make it happen.Thisstarts with a strong Board. Now is thetime for Board nominations for thecoming year.

Please contact any member of theNominating Committee, FredBreukelman,Leslie Savage, or DaveBrannan before February 15, 2005

By telephone:302-428-3959

By mail:NominationsDelaware Audubon SocietyP.O.Box 1713Wilmington, DE 19899

By e-mail:<[email protected]>

Include the following information:Nominee’s Name, Nominee’s Daytimeand Evening Telephone Numbers, andthe Name of the Person Making TheNomination.

4

C

a l e

n d a

rFEBRUARY 2005

18-21 Great Backyard Bird Count

Enter your sightings online through BirdSource at

<www.birdsource.org/gbbc>, a joint NationalAudubon/Cornell Lab of Ornithology project.

I want Audubon to sponsor a program on [topic]

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

in my area.

Name ________________________________________

Address ______________________________________

______________________________ZIP: ____________

Daytime Phone: ________________________________

Send to:Programs

Delaware Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 1713


or e-mail with Subject line “Programs” to<[email protected]>.

INTRODUCTORY MEMBERSHIP OFFERFor $20.00 Receive Membership to

National Audubon Society and Delaware Audubon SocietyJoin NOW and receive a FREE navy blue backpack!

Name ________________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________________

City _________________________________ State ___________ Zip ___________

Phone ( ) __________________________________________________

Referred By__________________________Date ____________________________

Please make a l l checks payable to : National Audubon SocietySend this application and your check to:


P.O. Box 1713, Wilmington, DE 198997XCH

D90

✃ JOIN DELAWARE AUDUBON NOW!

BLUEBIRD

BOXES

Downstate Pick-upAvailable

To help you appreciate and understandnature, Delaware Audubon hasavailable by order well-constructedpine nest-boxes with a shingle roof, awire mesh insert for insect protectionand an easy front opening. Designedby Warren Lauder, this box has provento be one of the best. Nest boxesshould go up in February before

Bluebirds return to nest.

Help Delaware Audubon and help theBluebirds come back! Priced at $25,we are sure you will be pleased withthis box.Order now for yourself andyour friends.

Downstate members can pick up theirboxes from Dennis Foley near Milton,DE. Please arrange for pick-up whenyou call Fred Jahn, 302-378-6474.



PH O T O S : FR ED BR E U K E L M A N

“PIPING PLOVER SUITE” MAKES WORLD DEBUT

About 200 listeners were in the audience when the “Piping Plover Suite” had itsworld premiere performance on October 3 at Coast Day in Lewes.Commissionedby Delaware Audubon and composed by Scott Roewe, the four-minute symphonicwork is intended to help raise awareness of the plight of the Piping Plover.

Dr. Carolyn Thoroughgood,Dean of the University of Delaware Graduate College of Marine Studies and Director of the Delaware Sea Grant College Program,introduced composer Scott Roewe. Dr.Thoroughgood then read a narrative aboutthe plight of the Piping Plover and described each of the movements in the Suite,

while the band illustrated her narration with appropriate samples of the music.Following this introduction, the band played the complete Suite.

Composer Scott Roewe came to Coast Day from his home in California to hear thepremiere performance of his work. He was honored at a reception hosted byDelaware Coastal Programs and Delaware Natural Heritage Program.

Since the debut,demand for the CD has been brisk,with 50 downloads in just thetwo days following the performance at Coast Day.The Suite has even beendownloaded by individuals in Alaska and Greece. Band directors have also showntheir enthusiasm for the project. Pam Letts of H.B. du Pont Middle School isincluding the “Piping Plover Suite” in their Spring Concert.

The Piping Plover, which makes its home along the Atlantic coastline, is a “threatenedand endangered” species. It is hoped that the “Piping Plover Suite,” based on the callof this shy and gentle bird, will continue to be a rallying cry to action.

An audio version of the “Piping Plover Suite” and the accompanying TeacherResource Packet can be downloaded from the Delaware Audubon website<www.delawareaudubon.org> free of charge.

5

S ITE SEEING

This column suggests Internetwebsites that may be of interest toreaders. Call us at 302-428-3959 orsend the address to us at<[email protected]>if you have a favorite site that youthink will interest others.

It is interesting to read how otherAudubon Chapters have respondedto the Draft Recommendations of the National Audubon Ad HocCommittee.Go to<http://www.audubon.org/local/cso/adhoccom/> and read Item #10.

Cape Henlopen Community Band, directed

by Barry Eli, performs the “Piping Plover

Suite” on Coast Day, October 3, 2004.

“Piping Plover Suite” composer Scott

Roewe, at reception, with Ann Rydgren,

Delaware Audubon Society.

Dr. Carolyn Thoroughgood explains the

plight of the Piping Plover before the

“Piping Plover Suite” makes its debut.

News & Views



News & Views

NE W S F R O M NA T I O N A L

STATE OF THE B IRDS

On Tuesday, October 19, the NationalAudubon Society released “The Stateof the Birds,” a report documentingthe health and abundance of NorthAmerica’s birds.Appearing in theOctober issue of Audubon magazine,“The State of the Birds” paints adisturbing picture.Almost 30% of America’s bird species are in“significant decline,” a situation thatsignals seriously degradedenvironmental conditions in the

habitats these birds callhome.

The bottom line:Thestate of the birds in2004 is not sound. Inparticular, a disturbing70% of grasslandspecies; 36% of

shrubland bird species;25% of forest birdspecies; 13% of wetlandspecies; and 23% of birdspecies in urban areasare showing “statisticallysignificant declines.”

According to “The Stateof the Birds,” these declines areabnormal. Not part of the natural,cyclical rise and fall of bird populations,

“statistically significant declines” aredue to outside factors such as loss of native grasslands, overgrazing,development of wetlands, bad forestmanagement, invasive species, pollution,and poor land use decisions.

A digest of the report was published inthe October 2004 issue of Audubon

magazine, and a further analysis isavailable on the Audubon website,<www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds>

6

ELLEN WRIGHT ’S BACKYARD WILDLIFE

THEY ’RE EVERYWHERE!

Early in the spring, it is fun to see the tiny Praying Mantises that appear from theiregg cases left by the females in late summer.They are a lot easier to spot when theyare full size. Using the push lawnmower presents quite a challenge to avoid thePraying Mantises that are everywhere.

They seem to love my wildlife gardens. I see them everywhere.They end up in myhouse on laundry baskets, laundry,anything that is left outside for a few minutes.One day, I was in the house and saw something on my shoulder out of the cornerof my eye. It was a Praying Mantis.

Several times during the summer, a Praying Mantis was hanging out on theHummingbird feeder.The Hummingbirds were not happy.They would fly to thefeeder and taunt the Praying Mantis by flying up to it and flying away.This would goon for a while until the Hummingbird would land on the other side of the feederfrom the Praying Mantis to feed on the sugar water.

In late summer, the Praying Mantises can be seen everywhere mating.They are onthe window screens, screen doors, and all around the gardens. I am careful not todisturb their egg cases while working in the garden.

In the spring, the tiny Praying Mantises emerge from their egg cases and the cyclebegins again.

Editor’s Note:

There are several species of Praying Mantises (Mantids) in Delaware, but only one of them

comes with this historic footnote. Tenodera angustipennis, or Narrow-winged Mantid, was

first discovered in the U.S. in 1930 near Vandyke, Delaware, northwest of Smyrna. This

species of the Far East was first identified in 1871 by H. L. F. de Saussure. The oldest

example of T. angustipennis in the entomology collection of the University of Delaware was

collected on September 4, 1939, in Newark, Delaware. The Narrow-winged Mantid is

thought less common in Delaware than the Chinese or European Mantid.

Special thanks to Dr. Charles Bartlett, Curator of the Insect Reference Collection at the

University of Delaware, for his assistance in providing some further details for this Editor’s

Note. MLC

JOKES & ANECDOTES ...

An otherwise happily married man had only one complaint:His wife was alwaysnursing sick birds. One evening he came home to find a Raven with a splint on itswing sitting in his favorite chair; on the dining room table was a feverish Eaglepecking at some food;while in the kitchen his wife was comforting a shivering littleWren she had found in the snow.The furious spouse strode over to where his wifewas toweling down the cold, little bird.“I can’t take it anymore!” he fumed.“We’vegot to get rid of all these...” His wife held up her hand to cut him off in mid-sentence.“Please, dear,” she said, “not in front of the chilled Wren.”



7

Bird Tales . . .Mary Leah Christmas

GULLS A-GO-GO

Snow on the ground brings gulls to our yard. Not seagulls, as there is nosuch thing (look it up), but Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis). I have cometo suspect that’s Latin for “Delaware Larder-Thief.” Take last winter.Theyeyed me as I filled the feeders, so I went in the house and fetched someTriscuits.They had recently swiped from a group of bickering Starlings acheese-encrusted Triscuit—fallout from a holiday dinner—so I knew theyliked the brand.Thus, I became known in gull circles as a soft touch.Andcircle they do.

Well, here we go again.There is snow on the ground and more falling.As Irefilled the feeders this morning,a gull landed at the corner of the patio, andwhile fixing me with one eye he took a chomp out of the snow to give me ahint. Meanwhile, his buddies buzzed the lawn,waiting for me to do theirleader’s bidding.On emerging with the booty, I could almost hear thesimultaneous clicks of the gulls locking-in the coordinates of our yard ontheir personal GPS systems.

Doing some research, I learned these gulls were first identified byPhiladelphia-based ornithologist George Ord in 1815.The “delawarensis” partis not explained, so we are left to conjecture: Ord, passing throughDelaware,was standing in the parking lot of a stagecoach stop (known today

as Burger King) and got shaken down for the historically correct equivalentof a large order of fries. Hence, his immortalization of these indefatigablesnack-stealers.Their credo? Hand it over, or have it taken from your hand.

And so it goes.

A B IG BIRD-SEED

“THANK YOU”

Thanks to everyone who purchasedbird seed! Our annual bird seed salewas a great success thanks to thehard work of Bird Seed SaleCommittee Chairs:

Tom ShueyTabitha Shuey

and their crew of bag handlers andpaper shufflers:

Asha IyengarAnn RydgrenMark MartellErik MartellBret MartellMike WarnerDave WarnerMark Kawalski

from concerns about the human residents’ ablility to preserve their rural quality of

life are concerns about the proposed development’s wildlife impact.

Gerrit van Burk of the Citizens Coalition read a letter on behalf of the DelawareAudubon Board to the Sussex County Council.The letter cited the sevenendangered species present on the 374-acre property, as well as “an historical andcurrently used Eagle’s nest.” Therefore, the letter continued, it is the position of Delaware Audubon that the property be designated a wildlife preserve.The letteralso enumerated a number of concerns about the project as it now stands, andwhether the plans comply with certain State and Federal regulations.

Further information about this action regarding the Marine Farm Development isavailable on Delaware Audubon’s website, <www.delawareaudubon.org>.

ACTION, continued from page 1

News & Views



8

Delaware Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 1713


BOOKS OF INTEREST

In Delaware...: Nature’s Rhythms in

Poetry with Photography

Mary Berns Lewis.Hardcover, 9-1/2” x 12”, 144 pages.2000. NorthStar Studio Press,Wilmington, DE.

This “coffee-table book,” of 146 colorphotographs, visits such Delawarelocales as: Lums Pond,Cape HenlopenState Park,Trap Pond,BrandywineCreek State Park,Woodland Beach,Abbott’s Mill, Blackbird State Forest,Woodlawn Wildlife Area,Winterthur,Bombay Hook NWR,Harvey MillArea, Bellevue State Park, and

Naamans Creek. Against thesebackdrops are seen Horseshoe Crabs,Red-winged Blackbirds, thistles,butterflies, and even a passinghurricane.

Some of the photos are evocative of works by famous painters. Forinstance, the cover art,“Sunrise withEgret Overlay, Bombay Hook” remindsthis reviewer of Maxfield Parrish’s“Daybreak.” Several images of waterlilies could as easily have beencaptured at Monet’s beloved Giverny

as in Delaware’s Blackbird StateForest.

The dustjacket describes the contentsas drawing “on universal themes of nature’s rhythms: tides, seasons, diurnalcycles, migration, regeneration” andthe moods expressed from“whimsical” to “soul-searching.” Of the33 original poems, some are aboutnature, and others about humannature, but all address the vicissitudesof life.

According to her bio,“Mary BernsLewis is a poet, an artisticphotographer, and a scientist. Shestudied art at the PennsylvaniaAcademy of the Fine Arts and has herPh.D. in Oceanography from theUniversity of Delaware.An award-winning artist, her work has beenexhibited internationally and she islisted in Who’s Who in America.” Dr.Lewis may also be one of Delaware’sbest kept secrets...but not for long.

MLC

“PASS THE

(LOCALLY GROWN)CHESTNUTS, PLEASE!”

Journal readers may recall from ourMarch/April 2004 issue that there is amovement under way to help restorethe American Chestnut tree inDelaware.The American Chestnut waswiped out during the nationwide blightof 1904.Since then, a hybrid has beendeveloped, resulting in a Chestnutwhich retains the sweetness of theAmerican trees while having the blight-resistance and peelability of theChinese variety.

For further

informationabout localChestnuts,contact:DelmarvelousFarms inTownsend<www.buychestnuts.com>.See also the American ChestnutCooperators Foundation<www.angelfire.com/tn/americanchestnut> and the Northern Nut Growers

Association <http://icserv.com/nnga/>.

january-february 2005 delaware audubon society newsletter

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