CHARLIE WRIGHT will do a Gull workshop for ABC in November!!

ACTION REQUIRED: NEED RSVP ASAP to set up field trip dates!! See choices below.

The Gull workshop will be Monday November 24th at the University Place Library at 6:45, the MONDAY before Thanksgiving. If this date is a problem, let us know.

FEES: This workshop will be a fee item. There will also be a field trip associated with it, and the workshop and field trip will each be $15 unless you do both, in which case your discounted price will be $25. You can pay Charlie when you see him or pass your fees to Diane Y-Q, Kay Pullen, or Ken Brown in the meantime. If you need to write a check, make it out to Charlie Wright. However, DO NOT WAIT TO RSVP so field trip dates can be determined.

As many of you know, Charlie Wright is a rising star in Birddom. He is the regional reviewer for eBird in Washington and a member of the Washington Bird Records Committee. He says, “I have been doing research on bird occurrence and migration on Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska for the last 4 fall seasons, and I work out of the University of Washington for the COASST program the rest of the year. COASST is a citizen science project monitoring beached birds from northern CA up to Alaska.”

POSSIBLE FIELD TRIP DATES (could be more than one field trip if we have more than 4 carloads):

December 13 or 14; December 27 or 28; November 29 or 30; or December 6 or 7. Please indicate your first and second choices of dates.

Notify Kay Pullen (kay@pullenadvertising.com) or Diane Y-Q (Avosetta@hotmail.com) ASAP that you want to participate and what dates work for you.

October 23, 2014 — Meeting Report:

ABC was happy to welcome Professor Peter Hodum from UPS as our guest speaker, and we had to be forcibly kicked out of the library due to a constant stream of questions at the end! We’ll definitely be having Prof Hodum back again!

Professor Hodum had lots of information on his studies of Rhinoceros Auklets and Tufted Puffins in Washington waters, although he did let on that his true love is Tubenoses, and that is what his research on Chilean islands is all about, which he will tell us more about next year. Two surprising things were the lack of past reliable work done on our Alcids as well as the factoid that Rhinos are really homely Puffins rather than Auklets! His research on the Alcids covered in particular Destruction Island off the coast, Tatoosh Island at the intersection of the Pacific and the Strait, and Protection Island at the intersection of the Strait and Puget Sound, as well as Smith Island in that same area, and there were notable differences in many factors such as the presence or absence of European Rabbits. Bottom line is that Rhinos are doing fairly well, and Puffins are not. Puffins may soon be declared Endangered in the state, although they are doing well in Alaska.

He closed his presentation with a sobering overview of plastics in the ocean waters and in the species studied as well as their prey. Even filtering mussels had tiny pieces of plastic that made it through their filters. So the biggest problem for these birds and for the earth is us.

Click to enlarge photo.

We are excited to have Professor Peter Hodum from UPS at ABC on October 23!

Birding Lecture: Seabirds of the USA & Chile, UPS Professor Peter Hodum

Thursday, October 23, 7:15pm to 8:30pm

University Place Library Meeting Room

3609 Market Place W, Suite 100

University Place, WA 98466

Join the ABC Club and Biology Professor Peter Hodum at University of Puget Sound who will share his riveting field research on burrowing seabirds, principally the rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins in Washington Islands. He will also discuss the ecology and conservation of native seabird communities in the Juan Fernandez Islands in Chile. Learn how these birds are becoming indicators of our oceanographic conditions and productivity.

We look forward to seeing you and your friends next week for this presentation. Open to all.