Owashtanong Islands Audubon Society

04/14/2021

Please visit our new page at www.facebook.com/oias.org ?

04/14/2021

Please go to our new page at
www.facebook.com/oias

10/14/2020

Join us via Zoom at 7 pm on Tuesday, October 20th for our monthly program.

Chace Scholten will be presenting "Saltwater and Freshwater Pelagics"

From storm-petrels to shearwaters, and Sabine's gulls to shorebirds, don't get seasick as we join Chace on an exploration of birding by boat.
We will first take a trip to the deep blue waters of the Gulf Stream in North Carolina, where flyingfish and other marine life abound. Then we will depart from the dune-lined shores of Lake Michigan as we set out to find jaegers and other rare visitors to the Great Lakes.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 867 2022 6103
Passcode: 687759
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Meeting ID: 867 2022 6103
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10/06/2020

From the President’s Desk – September 2020
Well, it certainly has been an interesting six months! I hope that you and your family and friends have remained healthy. The OIAS Board of Directors has important information about the 2020-2021 program year. First, I would like to introduce Cindy Dobrez our new Board member. Cindy recently retired after a long career as a school librarian and has become obsessed with learning about birds after an eye-opening trip to Arizona. Cindy will be a welcome addition to our Board. Please welcome her when you see her at our meetings and field trips. The Board of Directors for 2020-2021 are President - Michael Lombardo, Vice-president - Bruce Ostrow, Treasurer – Carl Manning, Secretary – Lisa Casler, Board members – Cindy Dobrez, Jerry Hilger, Pam Key, and John McAree.
Despite the cessation of OIAS activities in March because of the pandemic, our members have remained active. We had our first online election of Board members in May and several members monitored Chimney Swift roosts in Grand Haven in early August. Dave Herdegen shepherded the Purple Martin colonies through another successful breeding season. A survey of eBird posting shows that a lot of you were out birding during the spring and summer months.
We have exciting plans for the remainder of 2020 including our first virtual programs, and two field trips.
Our first ever “virtual” programs will be held in October and November. At 7 pm on 20 October Chace Scholten, will present a program on pelagic birds via ZOOM videoconferencing software. Our second “virtual” program will be at 7 pm on 17 November. Dr. Paul Keenlance from the Biology Department and the Natural Resources Program at GVSU will tell us about his project reintroducing American martens to the Manistee National Forest.
Information about how to access these programs via Zoom will be emailed to members and posted on Facebook in the future. Audience members do not need to purchase the software.
We have two field trips planned for this fall.
1. 26 September, 8 am, Hofma Preserve to search for “confusing” fall warblers and other migrants.
2. 14 November, 8 am we’ll start searching for migrants on and near the shores of Lake Michigan at the North Pier then continue our searching at Ottawa Sands County Park.

Stay healthy, and good birding,
Michael P. Lombardo

10/06/2020

Weekly birding updates seek to help and encourage birders, especially during fall migration.

09/23/2020

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-86469-540234--,00.html

Department of Natural Resources -

09/20/2020

Check out the latest issue of our newsletter: http://www.oias.org/Documents/OIAS%20Sept_2020.pdf

09/20/2020

Warblers and Other Songbirds of North America: A Life-size Guide to Every Species by Paul Sterry. Harper Design, 2017. 978-0-06-244687-7. $29.99
More than 250 species from the Arctic to the Mexican border are featured in this recent gorgeous photographic guidebook. Each species gets a single or double page spread and features a life-size photograph of either the male or female, often perched on the flora where it is most often seen. Larger birds, like the Raven or the California Thrasher, are still presented life-size, but get something closer to a head shot in order to fit on the page. Smaller photos are also included in the spread to show the entire bird and plumage variations. A Fact File with length, food, habitat, status, and voice (song and call description) is included for each bird along with a range map. The narrative description for each species includes helpful identification tips concerning habits, postures, and physical descriptions to help the beginner or more expert birder. A bonus feature is that the flexible binding opens to lay flat so you can see all the details even into the gutter. This will be a treat to browse in those less colorful, cold winter months. You can never have too many guidebooks, right? –Cindy Dobrez

09/17/2020

Many globally important places for biodiversity and climate, including the boreal forest, are being conserved by Indigenous governments.

09/09/2020

Who is excited to count some Chimney Swifts this weekend?

Swift Night Out events may require modification due to Covid-19 this year, but that doesn’t mean you have to skip the excitement of seeing hundreds to thousands of Chimney Swifts exhibiting tornado-like aerobatics as they enter a roost for the evening! Birdwatching easily lends itself to social distancing and so can monitoring Chimney Swifts to gain valuable data during fall migration.

Chimney Swift roost surveys aim to gather information about where, when, and how many swifts are roosting across Michigan. By surveying these roosts, we hope to gather information to help support conservation of critical roosting structures in Michigan.

The annual national survey occurs on the second weekends in August and September (Friday – Sunday nights), but you can volunteer to survey at any time throughout August and September (mark your calendar for next year to get an earlier jump on this project!).

Learn more by reading our recent blog post at https://www.michiganaudubon.org/swift-night-out-how-to-conduct-a-chimney-swift-survey/.

If you have a Swift Night Out event you want to share, let us know in the comments.

📸 Chimney Swift © Zak Pohlen

09/09/2020

With the BirdCast webinar, we'll get you set up for a fantastic fall of birdwatching! In September and October, billions of birds will migrate from Canada to the tropics—and our BirdCast project can let you know when to expect them around your hometown. How? BirdCast uses weather radar to p ...