Lake Erie Bird Club
Thirty-three Lake Erie Bird Club members attended the October meeting conducted by Ray Budniewski. Members discussed the recent service project at Greystone Nature Preserve. Over twenty Fredonia College students helped build bluebird nest boxes for the newly established John and Beverly Ruska Bluebird Trail at the Preserve. Members shared recent sightings that included pine siskins, red-breasted nuthatches and bald eagles. Dick and Bonnie Lancaster reported on their recent trip to Hawk Mountain, Pa., where they saw many osprey.
John Ruska encouraged club members to think of what cavity nesting birds they could attract to their property and how they can do that. Ruska will present a program for the December meeting on cavity nesters. Besides the eastern bluebird, other cavity nesting birds include tree swallow, black-capped chickadee, house wren, great-crested flycatcher, American kestrel and others. It is a real struggle for cavity nesting birds to keep house sparrows and European starlings out of their nests.
Diane Clark and Bill Moran presented the program for the meeting on their "Up Close and Personal Trip to Alaska." They praised the BOCES staff for their help with the Power Point program. They began the program by encouraging club members to share stories of their trips to Alaska. Clark and Moran shared how they did their Alaska trip on a shoestring. This involved mostly tent camping and doing a lot of walking and meeting great people. Audrey Schafer, Irene Coon and Sue Besemer provided refreshments for the meeting.
The next meeting of the club is Monday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at BOCES, Fredonia-Stockton Road, Fredonia. Marilyn-Pecoraro-O'Connell of Silver Creek will present the program on winter backyard bird feeding. She will discuss types of seeds and feeders for birds and also what birds may appear at feeders in the fall through early spring. All who are interested in birds are welcome to attend. For more information, call 673-1627.
