For Christmas Bird Count Information Please Scroll Down.

VOLUME 33, NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 2001                      

WARIOTO AT A GLANCE
REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, December 6, 7:30 p.m., E-106B, Sundquist Science Building, APSU
PROGRAM: "Environmental Impacts of a Hydrocarbon-based Energy Policy" by Joe Schiller, APSU Assoc. Prof. of Biology
HOSPITALITY: Post-meeting refreshments will be provided by Bonnie Kruck
BOARD MEETING: Thursday, December 6, 7:00 p.m., D-125 (Biology Conf. Rm.), Sundquist Science Bldg., APSU.
CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT: December 15, meet at 6:00 a.m. in Shoneys, corner of 2nd and Kraft St. At about dusk (5-ish) post-count chili dinner and CBC count tally at the APSU Biology Conference Room, Sundquist Science Building, D-125.

2001 AUDUBON CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT ON DECEMBER 15^th

Last year was Warioto Audubon’s 30^th Annual Christmas Bird Count. I thought before I started with the details of the upcoming count on December 15, I would reprise a few facts for the previous CBCs. Of course, each year our friend and longtime member Joe Allen gives a summary of the count and compares the results to that of previous counts. My presentation will not be nearly as thorough. I just want to give you a few numbers, perhaps to motivate member participation. We have reported a total of 119 species over the 30 years of counts with a single year high of 82 in 1975 and a low of 62 in 1979. Interesting the number of field participants in 1979 was the highest ever with 26. The low number of field counters was 6 in 1972, the second year. In terms of feeder counters the high was 18 in 1981 and the low was zero in 1971, the first year. Let’s try to get folks out. I think it is loads of fun and we look forward to the CBC everyear.

With the 2001 CBC, our chapter begin the next 30 years of CBCs. The Audubon CBC in which we participate is a truly international event held throughout the Americas and the Pacific between December 14 and January 5. For some background, you can view the 2000 NAS press release at www.audubon.org/news/release00/birdcount.html. As for the past 30 years, our chapter contributes by identifying and counting birds in the Clarksville area between dawn to dusk. (you may also do owl counts in the wee hours if you are so motivated). Our count circle is a 15-mile radius centered near downtown, so your "owl prowl" records, count week records and the December 15 counts must all be within that area.

You are encouraged to participate whether you are an expert birder or not. Spotting and tallying birds in concert with a more experienced birder makes an important contribution to the success of the count, and it helps you learn more about the Clarksville-area winter bird fauna. Of course, if you are an experienced birder you should be out there! It appears there is some correlation between the number of birders participating and the number of species counted, i.e., the more eyes, the better the results.

FIELD COUNTERS should meet at Shoney’s (2nd and Kraft Streets) at 6:00 a.m. where we will organize into groups that will count in assigned areas of the official count circle. At the end of the day (dusk) we will meet at the Biology Conference Room (D-125) of the Sundquist Science Building to enjoy a chili dinner and tally the day’s results. You can enter the building at the double doors facing the Trahern Art Building. Parking is located behind Trahern and in a gravel lot along Eighth Street.

If you cannot join the outdoor group, you may still contribute by being a FEEDER COUNTER on December 15. Your site must be within the count circle to be a feeder counter. To be a feeder counter you need to do the following: (1) Record how much time you spend watching the feeder on December 15. (2) Record the largest number of individuals of a species seen at one time. For instance, if you see 12 juncos at the feeder all at once, record "12." If later you see 10 juncos at the feeder, your count remains "12.". However, if you look again and you count 15 juncos at the feeder at once, your total count is now "15." (3) Call Annie Heilman with your feeder results between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. on December 15 at 645-9338. Annie will also answer any feeder count questions before the count date.

Debbie Hamilton is CBC coordinator again this year. If you have any questions or wish to help in any way with this special chapter event, please call Debbie at 645-8092.

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I would like thank everyone who made the Annual Potluck Banquet in November such a great success. Most especially a huge Thank You to Suva Bastin and Gloria Milliken for decorations, beverages, set up, and clean up. Thanks to Randy Ellis for arranging the program. Thanks to David and Logan Snyder and friends for the always interesting presentation about snakes. Thanks to Evette Strickland for publicity. And thanks to all who came and brought food!!

Joe and I mentioned to some of you our recent and exciting sighting of a Bald Eagle near our farm (Montgomery Co.) on the Cumberland River. I wanted to make more wide mention of it through the newsletter as it might be of interest to other members we don’t often see. Lloyd Lundin (my father) spotted the eagle on a large tree overlooking the river as we had breakfast Sunday morning October 14th. Though we didn’t get pictures, there were several witnesses (my mother, Ruth; Joe, Erik, Ian and me)! After basking in the morning sun for thirty minutes or so the eagle flew off toward the south west away from the river. Another large bird, possibly a second eagle, joined the first, but it was too far away for us to identify.

The November banquet and program were quite successful. After a flavorful array of homemade foods, desserts, and interesting conversation, the program "Snakes of Tennessee" began. Dr. David Snyder started with a slide show of the natural history of various Tennessee species. I certainly saw that for the amateur, venomous and nonvenomous snakes can often be difficult to distinguish. After the slide show Logan Snyder and friends brought out the live snakes. Some of the snakes were native and others were from exotic parts of the world. Both adults and young budding herpetologists enjoyed the opportunity to actually hold and closely observe these beautiful and well-adapted creatures.

The December program will be "The Environmental Impacts of a Hydrocarbon-based Energy Policy" presented by Dr. Joe Schiller (SEE JOE’S CONSERVATION LETTER BELOW). As far as I know Joe and Sally Schiller have the only house in Montgomery County that is "off the grid" (not connected to any power lines). Joe will certainly be able to present a well rounded program with his extensive knowledge of energy technologies and his daily practical experience. It is important to remember that at the turn of the last century, oil was an "alternative energy".

Dear Fellow NRDC Member,

It is understandable that we Americans feel an almost reflexive need for unanimity in trying times like these. As a nation, we are rightly consumed with responding to the terrorist attacks on September 11^th. But, at some point -- and I think we're beginning to get there -- we need to take a long-term view even as we are reacting to the current crisis. Really important domestic issues facing us before all of this happened -- education, energy and the environment, health care – still have the same dimension and consequence. But we have to recognize that it's much more difficult to discuss and debate them in the aftermath of Sept. 11th. Unfortunately, disagreement is sometimes characterized as unpatriotic during times such as these and open, thoughtful discourse is somewhat muted. The gravity of the current situation is not lost on any of us and we all want to do what's right to insure our national security. It is with this in mind that I felt compelled to write you today. A handful of determined U.S. senators, encouraged by the White House, are arguing that national security requires the Senate to rush a pro-oil energy bill into law. They have vowed to hold up normal Senate business and attach the bill to every piece of legislation that comes to the Senate floor. So far they have failed in what The Boston Globe is calling "oil opportunism." But with President Bush, himself, now calling for rushed passage of this disastrous bill, intense pressure is building on Senate leaders to succumb to the emotions of the moment. Using our national tragedy as an opportunity to advance the narrow interests of the oil lobby would not be in the best interest of the public. This bill, already passed by the House, would not only open the Arctic Refuge to oil rigs, it would also pave the way for energy companies to exploit and destroy pristine areas of Greater Yellowstone and other gems of our natural heritage. As important, it would do nothing to address energy security.

I'm asking for your immediate help in stopping this legislation. After reading my letter I hope you'll take action at http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic/index.asp?src=aa0110a and then forward this letter to your friends and colleagues.

Last spring, the Bush administration and some members of Congress said we had to pass the president's oil-friendly energy bill because we were facing the most serious energy crisis since 1973. But here we are, a mere six months later, and the energy crisis has vanished. Due to a slowing economy and falling demand, the prices for gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil have plunged. Meanwhile, the much-feared "summer of blackouts" in California never happened, largely because consumers and businesses made dramatic cuts in energy use by launching the most successful statewide conservation campaign in history.

With no energy crisis to scare us with, the administration and pro-oil senators are now promoting their "Drill the Arctic" plan under the guise of national security and energy independence. Don't buy it. It would take ten years to bring Arctic oil to market, and when it arrives it would never equal more than two percent -- a mere drop in the bucket -- of all the oil we consume each year. Our nation simply doesn't have enough oil to drill our way to energy independence or even to affect world oil prices.

We possess a mere 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, but we consume fully 25 percent of the world's oil supply. We could drill the Arctic Refuge, Greater Yellowstone, and every other wildland in America and we'd still be importing oil, still be paying worldwide prices for domestic oil, and still be vulnerable to wild gyrations in price and supply. As The Atlanta Constitution put it: "Burning through our tiny oil supply faster will not make our country more secure." I'd go further: increasing our dependence on oil, whether that oil comes from the Persian Gulf or the Arctic Refuge, practically guarantees national *insecurity*. And we know that it will bring more habitat destruction, more oil spills, more air pollution, and more global warming. The public health implications will be devastating.

If our nation wants to declare energy independence, then we have no choice but to reduce our appetite for oil. There's no other way. We need to rely on smarter and cleaner ways to power our economy. We have the technology right now to increase fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon. If we phased in that standard by 2012 we'd save 15 times more oil than the Arctic Refuge is likely to produce over 50 years. We could also give tax rebates for existing hybrid gas-electric vehicles that get as much as 60 mpg. We could invest in public transit. We could launch an "Apollo Project" to bring fuel cells and hydrogen fuel down to earth, allowing us to begin the mass production of vehicles that emit only water as a by-product. The list goes on and on.

In this climate of national trauma and war, it is up to us -- the people -- to ensure that reason prevails and our natural heritage survives intact. The preservation of irreplaceable wildlands like the Arctic Refuge and Greater Yellowstone is a core American value. I have never been more appreciative of the wisdom of that value than during these past few weeks. When we are filled with grief and unanswerable questions it is often nature that we turn to for refuge and comfort. In the sanctuary of a forest or the vastness of the desert or the silence of a grassland, we can touch a timeless force larger than ourselves and our all-too-human problems. This is where the healing begins. Those who would sell out this natural heritage -- this spiritual heritage -- would destroy a wellspring of American strength. What's worse, their rush to exploit the wildness that feeds our souls won't do a thing to solve our energy problems.

There are plenty of sensible and patriotic ways to guarantee our nation's energy security, but destroying the Arctic Refuge is not one of them. Please tell that to your senators. They urgently need to hear it because the pressure is on to move this pro-oil bill to a vote in the next few weeks. It will take you only a minute to send them an electronic message from NRDC's SaveBioGems website.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic/index.asp?src=aa0110a

And please forward this message to your family and friends. Millions of Americans need to know about this cynical attempt to promote the interests of energy companies at the expense of everyone else.

Sincerely yours,

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