WINTER 2017
Winter Schedule
Cut out this schedule and put it on your refrigerator to help you remember these important dates.
Jan. 23 (Fourth Monday) Cuba: The Land, the People, the Birds. Learn more about Cuba how the
people live, their government, their history as well as bird species encountered on this isolated and
enchanted island in late winter. Presenter: Jim Hewlett, CAAS Chapter Historian
Feb. 27 (Fourth Monday) The Vision for a Bird-Friendly Michigan, and How Our Chapters Can Help.
Heather Good, Executive Director of Michigan Audubon
March 20 To Be Announced
change would require all new communication towers to use makes it a living laboratory for the study of wildlife. The
endemic bird species include Bee Hummingbird, which the
flashing lights.
worlds smallest bird, Fernandinas Flicker, which is the
At the same time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Sergenetic parent of all of
vice is working to persuade the owners of existing towers
North Americas woodto turn off the continuously burning lights or switch to
pecker species, and Cuban
flashing lights to prevent bird deaths.
Tody, which is a charming
These changes are based on the work
little sprite.
of Joelle Gehring, who started this
research when she was a post doctorI know the Obama
ate researcher at Central Michigan
Administration has eased
travel restrictions between
University.
the United States and CuCuban Tody
The other development comes from
ba, but who knows what
a paper accepted for publication in
the new Trump Administration might do? It could tighten
Ibis, the journal of the British Ornithose restrictions again or, it might encourage populating
thological Union. The paper, written
the Bay of Pigs with high rise buildings. Either way, I urge
by four German researchers, chalyou to visit Cuba before we ruin it.
lenges the idea that birds that migrate at night are more
prone to being killed by the giant blades on rotors that generate electricity in wind farms. The researchers tracked
birds on radar during fall migration in a migration corridor
in northern Germany. Once they confirmed a good movement of birds through the wind farms, they search the area
underneath the rotors for dead birds. Based on their data,
they concluded that night migrating birds are no more or
less likely to be be killed by the blades than birds that migrate during the daytime hours.
Winter Programs
I asked Jim Hewlett to come down from Lansing to
give his presentation on Cuba later this month because I
was lucky enough to visit Cuba back in 2004 and have
been fascinated by that isolated and enchanting island ever
since. Vast areas of the island remain undeveloped, which
Bird Walks
PAGE 2
PAGE 3
JUST A CHIRP
WINTER 2017
Keep up with other Grosse Pointe birders (and like us) on Facebook!. Go to www.gpaudubon.
blogspot.com for an online copy of Just A Chirp newsletter, a membership form, rules for
the G.P. Birding Challenge in the spring, and more.
Grosse Pointe Audubon meets in the Annex of Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church at 17150
Maumee, between St. Clair and Neff in Grosse Pointe. Social hour starts at 7 p.m. and the
meeting starts at 7:30. Our meetings are free and open to all, so bring a friend!
Grosse Pointe Audubon is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.