PROGRAMS

September 2003 through May 2004 

Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month, September-April, at the Phoenix Zoo Auditorium.  Meetings start at 7:30, and feature a speaker, book sales, refreshments, and a chance to socialize with fellow MAS members.  Visitors welcome!

Join us for a pre-meeting dinner at Pete’s 19^th Tee, 1405 N Mill Avenue, Tempe (at the Rolling Hills Golf Course) starting at 6:00 p.m.  Meals average about $5.00 with a variety of choices on the menu.  Join us!  Except at the September meeting we will have our annual potluck starting at 6:30.  Each attendee is invited to bring a platter of his or her favorite h’ors de oeuvres, sufficiently large enough to serve at least six people.  We will provide the eating utensils, the plates, and the drinks.  The regular meeting will begin at 7:30.

Join us for a season of dynamic speakers and captivating topics!  Visit Iceland, Alaska, Peru, Mexico and Arizona to see our favorite creatures and their associated environments.  Learn to identify birds in the field by their sounds, get close-up and personal with digital photography, view habitat restoration along the Santa Cruz River, experience Arizona’s sky island ecosystems and discover major conservation efforts throughout the state.  Wow!  And if that isn’t enough to whet your interest, our banquet speaker for May 2004 is Kenn Kaufman!

To conserve space, only a short list of our speakers and topics is included in this edition of the newsletter.  A summary of each speaker’s topic will be available on our web site (www.maricopaaudubon.org).

September 2, 2003  
David Reesor 
"Birds of Iceland"

October 7, 2003  
David and Jen MacKay  
"Birds and Natural History of Northwestern Mexico"

November 4, 2003
 Kathy Groschupf
"Identifying Bird Sounds in the Field"

December 2, 2003
Gary Rosenberg
"Digital Photography Through a Telescope:  A Tour Leader's Travels from Alaska to Peru"

January  6, 2004
Ann Phillips and Kendall Kroesen
Along the Santa Cruz River:  Its Birds and Reconstruction Efforts"

February 3 ,2004
 Peter Friederici
"Those Exotic, Thick-billed Parrots of the Sierra Madre"

March 2, 2004
 Bob Witzeman
"Sky Islands of Arizona:  Their Life Zones and Birds"

April 6, 2004
  Pat Graham
"The Nature Conservancy in Arizona:  Past Present and Future"

May 4, 2004
Kenn Kaufman 
??????? (stay tuned!)

  By Deva Burns

COMMITTEES/SUPPORT

Activist Alert: 
Shawn Bauer 
602-828-3607
shawnbaur@hotmail.com

Arizona Audubon 
Council Rep:
Herb Fibel 
408-966-5246
herbertsfibel@aol.com

Audubon Phone
408-829-8209 

Book Store

Field Observations
Janet Witzeman
602-840-6089 
jlwitzeman@aol.com 

Hospitality

Web Page
Michell Fulton
480-968-5141 
webmaster@maricopaaudubon.org 

Maricopa Audubon Web Site
www.maricopaaudubon.org 

AN INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE 

Bequests are an important source of support for the Maricopa Audubon Society.  Your chapter has dedicated itself to the protection of natural world through public education and advocacy for the wiser use and preservation of our land, water, air and other irreplaceable natural resources.

You can invest in the future of our natural world by making a bequest in your will to the Maricopa Audubon Society .  Talk to your attorney for more information on how this can be accomplished.

Water, national forests, public land, private land—all current and paramount issues brought to our attention in this edition.  Yes, Kino Springs is private, not public, property but Jim Burns’s evocative remembrance of how delightful birding used to be at the ponds there is an eloquent reminder that working to preserve private lands should not be outside the realm of conservation.  Roxanne George requests that we write our Senators in order to stop the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003.  Please take the time to do it.  Bob Witzeman provides a thoughtful dissertation on the “water shortage” and the federally protected Southwestern Bald Eagle at the bottom of Verde River’s Horseshoe Reservoir.  Finally, Mike Rupp brings us up to date on the 91^st Avenue “Cobble Ponds” which have been frequented by Phoenix birders for decades.

This is the final issue for 2003 and, traditionally, it is now my turn to thank all of you who take time out of your busy schedules to provide me with ideas and articles for the Wrendition.  What I try not to forget while gathering articles and laying them out, is that this is your newsletter, not mine.  I appreciate the time it takes to put thoughts to paper.  I know that the interests of our readers, although ultimately bird based, are many and varied.  It is always a pleasure for me to receive something altogether different, be it in style or content.  So, for those of you who haven’t yet submitted anything, give it a try!

Finally, don’t forget to check the Christmas Bird Count list that Walter Thurber has put together for us.  If you have never participated in a Count, make this the year that you do.

Be sure to check out our website at www.maricopaaudubon.org!

Needed—Book Store Volunteers!—If you are interested, contact any Board Member.

Tucson Audubon to donate $25 to MAS for everyone who signs up for their Copper Canyon or Beliz trips:  How exciting! A fabulous bird tour and a donation to MAS!  Copper Canyon is scheduled for October 7-16, 2003 and January 24-February 1, 2004. On their past trips they have seen Eared Trogons and Russet-Crowned Motmots.  The Belize trip is scheduled for February 14-24, 2004.  For detailed itineraries and a list of past birds seen on these trips, please see www.tucsonaudubon.org  or www.naturetreks.net .  Rochelle Gerratt can be reached at (520) 696-2002 or at rochelle@naturetreks.net .

Festival of the Cranes, November 18 - 23 — Socorro, NM: There are four major components to the Festival: tours, lectures, exhibits and the Refuge.  For more information check out their web site--www.friendsofthe
bosque.org/crane/. 

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, January 16-19, 2004:  Migrate to one of the country's pre-eminent birding spots and join the Morro Coast Audubon Society (MCAS) for the 8th Annual  Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival.  For more information about the Festival, check out our website at www.morro-bay.net/birds , where you can request that your name be added to the mailing list for our 2004 brochure, due out in October. Registration deadline is December 31, 2003 and early signups are encouraged as the most popular events fill up quickly.

ABA Convention ~ 2004, April 26 – May 2—McAllen, TX.  Field Trips, Seminars, Workshops.  For more information, visit ABA’s web site at www.americanbirding.org.

The Birdseye Guide to 101 Birding Sites, Phoenix:  A guide published by Rupp Aerial Photography.  The maps are excellent, it is all in color and is $23.95.  For more information check www.ruppaerialphoto.com.

The Dovetail Directory  ( www.dovetailbirding.com ):  The Directory is an online catalogue of world birding tours, and our goal is to help  birders locate that special birding tour, to any of 85 countries around the world.  This is a free service. There are no hidden costs or surcharges. Tours are offered at the operators price. In addition to tours, the Directory also carries a comprehensive inventory of birding-related books.  For your further convenience we maintain a North American, toll-free number (877) 881-1145, and someone will always happy to take your call. 

Shade-grown coffee:  If you are searching for a source to purchase shade-grown coffee and haven’t been successful, try ABA Sales.  They carry seven kinds of Song Bird Coffee.  For information call 800-634-7736.

More birding and nature festivals.  www.americanbirding.org . and www.birdinghotspot.com .

Audubon Adventures:  Give the gift of discovery and share your love of the environment.  The program is designated for students in grades 4-6.  Introduce an entire classroom (up to 32 students) to the wonders of nature for just $35 (plus shipping charges).  You can select your favorite school or let Audubon do it for you.  For orders:  call 800/813-5037.

Maricopa Audubon T-Shirts
For information, contact Laurie Nessel at (480) 968-5614 or laurienessel@hotmail.com

Do you have an interesting story to tell about birding?  Please forward your submissions to the Editor—Deva Burns.  Check the back page for address/e-mail.  Actually, attaching an article to an e-mail is the absolute easiest way to submit an article.  If you have pictures or slides, you do need to send those to me directly.  Remember, all articles may not be published the first month after receipt.

Ancient cottonwoods
Galleries of summers past
Ring the dying ponds

Horizontal now
Piles of burnt and bleaching bones
Scabs upon the land

Where herons hunted
Water transformed to wasteland
Sap of life withdrawn

Habitat defiled
For an arrogant species
Fouling its own nest

 JP will not hear
Screamsongs of the wilderness
As the Gray Hawk soars

 JP will not see
Feathered rainbows vault the sky
As the buntings flush

 JP will not sense
Shadows silent on the grass
As the bobcat stalks

They say cockroaches
Await their inheritance
As we blade and burn

I say time has come
Today the springs at Kino
Hasten down the wind