March 2009 Gambel's Tales Newsletter Sonoran Audubon Society
March 2009 Gambel's Tales Newsletter Sonoran Audubon Society
March 2009 Gambel's Tales Newsletter Sonoran Audubon Society
Amy Leu will present a program on the work being done at her organization “Feathered Hearts” which is located in Cordes
Lakes, Arizona. Feathered Hearts is a 501 c 3 nonprofit wild bird sanctuary whose mission is to educate the public on the
importance of wildlife and the environment. The birds at Feathered Hearts are currently two ravens, two crows, white
dove, mourning dove and Gila Woodpecker although this may have changed before you read this. The organization attends
several different festivals to educate people on how they can help wild birds and what they can do once they find an in-
jured bird.
Amy Leu is an Arizona state and federal permitted wildlife rehabilitator and “Feathered Hearts” an Arizona state and fed-
eral permitted wildlife holding center for educational wild birds. She has been rehabilitating birds since 1996 and has also
been a vet technician for three years. Feathered Hearts webpage is http://featheredhearts.com/
Gambel’s Tales
Page 1
(Continued from Page 1) Thursday, March 26, 2009
What’s Happening in our Chapter? B&M/P.I.R. (where Tres Rios Festival was held)
Leader: Rich Schooler 623-930-8904
George Wall and Eleanor Campbell volunteered to con- [email protected]
tinue to organize the programs through Spring 2010.
This is a trip designed to look for rails, bitterns and
The nominating committee has a full slate. See pages 6-7. soras. We’ll be getting there just about daylight in
order to call these reed dwellers out into the open.
Bettina Bickel was praised for her articles so far on the
Focus Birds. Difficulty: 1 Morning trip only.
REQUIREMENT: On all trips, YOU MUST make res- Meet at the McDonald’s Restaurant in Green Valley at
ervations by calling the leader. The leader can then give the Continental Road exit off of I-19 at 7:00 a.m. Call
updated information as to the meeting place, times, etc. the leader to confirm participation and knowledge of
Also, some trips are limited in size. meeting place and time. This trip might be extended
into Sunday morning.
Saturday-Sunday, March 7-9, 2009
Tres Rios Nature Festival Wednesday, April 15, 2009
See Separate article on page 7. Page Springs
Leader: Rich Schooler 623-930-8904
Thursday, March 19, 2009 [email protected]
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
Leader: George Wall 623-875-7057 Page Springs is a fish hatchery where water also at-
[email protected] tracts many birds. There are also Arizona Sycamore
and cottonwoods surrounding the water. Bridled Tit-
This location near Superior is an excellent birding area mouse is a resident and Common Black Hawks nest
that has all types of trees and fauna. It also has permanent regularly. There is a birding trail that is a part of the
running water that is attracting more and more varieties of Page Springs Important Bird Area.
birds. Usually you’ll see 40-50 species.
Difficulty: 1 Bring a Lunch.
Difficulty: 1 Bring a lunch.
Meet at McDonald’s just off of I-17 in Carefree to
Meet at the Bell Recreation Center parking lot on Hutton leave at 6:00 a.m.
Drive near Boswell in Sun City to leave at 6 a.m. There is
an entrance fee of $7.50 per person. (Continued on Page 3)
Meet at Bell Recreation Center, corner of Hutton Dr. and While the walk was in progress, a seminar pertaining to
Boswell Blvd, in Sun City to leave at 6:30 a.m. OR at birds was being conducted by Cathy Wise of Audubon
Wickenburg Community Center at 7:30 a.m. (Take Rte. Arizona in the visitors center. The Adobe Mountain
60 northwest to Wickenburg. Cross the bridge over the Wildlife Center and the Sonoran Audubon Society were
Hassayampa River and immediately turn right onto the asked to participate.
street that takes you to the large white building and park-
ing lot.)
Gambel’s Tales
Page 3
Lake Pleasant Birding Trip
Saturday, February 7, 2009, By Dan Bohlmann
It was a cold and cloudy morning when we headed out for the lake hope-
ful that the threat of rain would hold off until later in the day. When we
started our hike down the Pipeline Trail on the west side of the lake we
began to think that all the birds had slept in due to the stormy looking
solid cloud cover. We hadn’t gone too far up the canyon when we felt
that we were being watched and sure enough there were 10 sets of beady
eyes looking at us from the bottom of the canyon, each set of eyes had
two long ears above them listening to us talking. At first they appeared to
be jackrabbits, but considering how far away they were we realized they
were a herd of wild burros. They obviously were not afraid of us, because
they didn’t move. We then started pointing and hollering at each other
look, look, can you believe it, burros, burros, wild burros!! They were as
fascinated with us as we were with them. They had never seen a herd of
human beings before with binocular eyes.
Those that came on the trip were Joe Ford, John and Judi Heath, Bruce Melanson, Liz Morris, George Wall and Leader Dan
Bohlmann.
See the article in the February 24, 2009, edition of the Arizona Republic where 11 of the 280 burros at Lake Pleasant were
slaughtered by unknown persons. A $5,000 reward has been offered for finding the culprits.
Photo contest
The Sonoran Audubon Society in conjunction with our new focus on Arizona’s Common Birds in Decline has started a photo
contest. Winners’ photos will be used in the brochures, postcards, and bookmarks that we will be producing over the next few
months. All photos submitted will be used in power-point presentations before our general meetings.
The birds: Phainopepla, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Yuma Clapper Rail, Gilded Flicker, Elf Owl, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Costa’s
Hummingbird, Burrowing Owl and Black-throated Sparrow.
Rules are simple: Please try to limit the photo size to 1 Meg. Photos that have to be scanned may have a reduction in image
quality. Please respect all local, state, and federal laws in obtaining your photos.
The board will select all winning photos. There is a potential of three winners for each bird. If you desire your photo to be left
as is, please let us know, otherwise, we reserve the right to crop the photo to fit the media selected.
Submit photos with your name to [email protected] (or mail to Bob McCormick P.O. Box 674 Laveen AZ 85339) with the
words Photo Contest in the heading. Deadline is April 31st 2009.
Yuma clapper rails are mysterious birds of the marsh that are more often heard than seen. Their secretive nature, cryptic
coloration, and dense habitat make them difficult to study, and scientific surveys usually rely on their calls. The kek call is
made by unpaired males early in the breeding season, while the clapper call is made by mated pairs.
The Yuma clapper rail is a subspecies of clapper rail that inhabits freshwater marshes of the Lower Colorado and Gila
Rivers. They have laterally compressed bodies which enable them to move deftly through their dense marsh habitat,
where they probe the shallows and mud with their long bills for crustaceans, beetles, and small fish.
Nesting season begins with the establishment of pair bonds in March/April and nesting occurs in May/June. The nest is a
platform of grass and reeds on the ground with a canopy of vegetation. The semi-precocial chicks leave the nest after one
to three days. They are fed by their parents bill to bill for a few days, but soon begin to forage under parental supervision.
Yuma clapper rails are listed as federally endangered. Loss of marsh habitat to large scale dams, water diversion, and
channelization on the Lower Colorado and Gila Rivers has been the primary cause of population decline. Habitat restora-
tion projects, such as the B & M Wildlife Area, have enabled Yuma clapper rails to re-colonize some of their historical
range.
Water management regimes also affect habitat quality. Yuma clapper rails prefer regenerating marsh for foraging and
mature cattail and bulrush stands for nesting. Marshes become less suitable as the build up of plant matter converts marsh
to dry land, and rail populations decline when marshes become too dense. Prescribed fire may help to mimic the distur-
bance previously caused by spring floods, and the Fish and Wildlife Service and others are studying the use of fire to cre-
ate early-successional marsh and regenerate habitat.
The effect of climate change on the Colorado River has implications for the sustainability of human habitat as well as
Yuma clapper rail habitat. Control and diversion of this great river has enabled humanity to establish huge population
centers in the arid southwest, but in January 2008 a paper by scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography predicted
a 50% chance that Lakes Powell and Mead will be dry by 2021. Over-allocation of water and reduced run-off due to cli-
mate change are issues that need to be addressed for the long-term viability of the Lower Colorado River and those who
depend on it, from Yuma Clapper Rails to humans.
Gambel’s Tales
Page 5
Biographies of the Nominees for Officers and Directors of the Sonoran Audubon Society
● George Wall (for President): This will be George’s first time taking on the job of president after several years of be-
ing on the Board of Directors. George has been an Audubon member for 12 years and "got into birding" after he retired.
He’s currently the editor of the Sonoran Audubon Newsletter and loves to write. He is also on the Membership Commit-
tee, the Trip Committee, Program Committee and Education Committee. He has worked on several IBAs and leads bird-
ing trips. Before retiring 15 years ago, he served 30 years in the Air Force and then 12 years as a manager in a computer
company.
● Richard Schooler (for Director-at-Large): This will be Rich’s second term as a Board Member. Rich retired from
the engineering consulting business after a 35 year career. He has lived in Arizona for the past 27 years and has been an
active birder for about 22 years. Rich had his first introduction to ornithology while an undergraduate some 37 years
ago, but didn’t get serious about birding until moving to Arizona. He joined the Maricopa Audubon Society in the mid-
1980s and transferred his membership to Sonoran Audubon Society when the group was formed in the early-2000s.
Rich is involved in the IBAs and is co-chair of the Education Committee and is on the Field Trip Committee.
● Tim Cullison (for Director-at-Large): This will be Tim’s first term as a Board Member. He is a retired CPA, resi-
dent of Phoenix since 1974, member of Audubon for more than twenty years, became active in the chapter after retire-
ment, will get more active after joining the Board, currently spending retirement doing community service involving
kids: mentoring, tutoring, working on dropout prevention issues, with a special interest in educating kids about birds. He
IS the Publicity Committee and is on the Education Committee.
● Dr. Jerry Theis (for Director-at-Large): This will be Jerry’s first term as a Board Member. He is a native Minneso-
tan, moving here after receiving his B.A. Degree in Biology at St. Cloud State College. He attended graduate school at
A.S.U., receiving his M.S. Degree in Microbiology. After a few years at Phoenix General Hospital, he transferred to
Boswell Hospital in Sun City, directing the Microbiology labs for both Sun Cities hospitals for 27 yrs. He then pursued
and received a Ph.D. in Health & Human Services from Columbia Commonwealth University. He is now employed at
Banner Boswell Hospital as an Oncology Data Specialist, as well as a contract Research Assistant for the Sun Health
Research institute in the Center for Healthy Aging. He also has served as a national science fair judge and laboratory
inspector. His interests have allowed him to travel to nine foreign countries as a medical consultant for People to People
International. He has been birding since childhood. After birding Arizona, then the U.S., he now concentrates mostly on
South America, having birded parts of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, (and Venezuela in a few weeks). he also
has birded Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. His favorite bird groups are Hummingbirds and
Owls.
• Richard Fogle (for Director at Large): Richard has served on the board previously and after a break he has decided to
run again. He is a relative old-timer with Audubon: 16 years total – about half of that with Maricopa Audubon Society
before transferring to Sonoran Audubon. Since being a member of our chapter, he has led birding trips, done IBA work,
and volunteered for numerous things like the Tres Rios Nature Festival. He says he seriously got into birding after retire-
ment. He was a District Manager for the Ford Motor Company, and as such traveled all over the world, but extensively
in Latin America. Richard went the extra mile on his international travels – taking the time to learn of the people and
places where Ford sent him. With all the places he has been, the one thing he regrets is that he wasn’t a bird-watcher at
the time.
● Eleanor Campbell (for Director at Large): This will be Eleanor's second term on the Board. She has been an
Audubon member for 25 years starting with New Jersey Audubon. She joined Maricopa Audubon 15 years
ago and has been with Sonoran Audubon since its organizational meetings. She was Field Trip Committee chairperson
and has been a member of the Committee since day one. Besides leading field trips she is a member of
the Education Committee and has been instrumental in acquiring recent programs for the membership meetings. Her
interest in birds began as a child on her farm in upstate New York and took her to Cornell University
where she avidly studied ornithology and conservation education. She was a biology teacher and the Executive Director
of a New Jersey Girl Scout Council. She's a proud contributor to the new building that is the home of Cornell Lab of
Ornithology and is a longtime member of the Lab.
● Darnell Kirksey (for Director at Large): Darnell has been a member of Sonoran Audubon Society since it was
Continued on Page 7
The following members are nominated to fill a two year term for the respective officer position:
______ George Wall, President
The following members are nominated to fill a two year term as a board member for Director at Large:
______ Eleanor Campbell
______ Rich Schooler
______ Tim Cullison
______ Dr. Jerry Theis
______ Dick Fogle
______ Darnell Kirksey
Put a check mark in front of each officer and board member to indicate your approval. There is one opening for an officer
and 6 openings for Director at Large.
Non Sonoran Audubon members who receive this newsletter, please ignore this ballot.
____________________________________________________________________________________
This ballot is in accordance with the Bylaws of the Sonoran Audubon Society and should be made available to as many
members as possible.
Save Saturday-Sunday, March 7-8, 2009, for the Tres Rios Nature and Earth Festival. Everyone had a great time last year
and this year should be no exception. Read all about the festival by going to http:///www.tresriosnaturefestival.com on the
internet.
On the Nature Talks Stage, there will be programs running from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day.
There will also be hikes, bird watching tours, fishing clinics, canoe excursions, live birds and lots of entertainment including
the Back Porch Bandits, a band that is based here in Phoenix.
To make this all happen timely and without any hitches, volunteers are needed. The Sonoran Audubon Society still needs
volunteers to staff our booth and to lead short bird walks. Shifts are 9-12 and 12-4 both Saturday March 7th and Sunday
March 8th. The Festival also needs many volunteers to cover parking, signage, etc. Please contact Bob McCormick 602-
237-3951 or [email protected] if you would like to volunteer.
Gambel’s Tales
Page 7
EVENTS IN AND AROUND THE VALLEY Boyce Thompson Arboretum
Birders’ Anonymous There will be guided bird walks March 7, 8, 21 and 22
Birders’ Anonymous, a group of bird-watchers, has their from 8:30—11:00 a.m. led by Marceline Vandewater
next meeting on Friday, March 20, 2009, starting at 10 on the 7th; Cindy Marple on March 8th; Richard Ditch
a.m. at the Church of the Palms on the corner of Boswell on March 21st; Kathe Anderson on March 22nd.
and 103rd Ave. in Sun City. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is now in their winter
schedule from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. except during special
The program for this month will be presented by John
programs. Admission of $7.50 for adults, $3 ages 5-12.
Carr, President of the Hassayampa River Preserve. He
will speak about the organization and plans for the future. For driving directions or other details, call 520-689-
2811 or visit their internet website at http://
The next field trip of Birders’ Anonymous will be on arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009, to Granite Reef Dam and
area led by Dick Fogle. Festivals
For further information about Birders’ Anonymous con- Saturday-Sunday, March 7-8, 2009
tact Marshall Esty at 623-977-1637 or at [email protected] Tres Rios Nature Festival
There are no scheduled programs this month, but the 13th Annual San Diego Birding Festival—March 5-
area is always open for bird watching. 8, 2009, at the Marina Village.
Gambel’s Tales
Page 9
Calendar of Monthly Meetings…
Other Dates of Interest: March 4, 2009 7 p.m. Board Meeting at Glendale Library in small meeting room – all SAS mem-
bers welcome.