Hardwick, Petersham, New Braintree, The Brookfields, Barre, Ware, and
the eastern Quabbin
Hardwick,
Petersham, New Braintree, The Brookfields, Barre, Ware, and Quabbin.
______
The mission of the East Quabbin Bird Club is to foster a greater local
understanding of the area's ecological resources through
The
mission of the East Quabbin Bird Club is to foster a greater local
understanding of the area's ecological resources through the active
participation of the community's citizens.The intention of this club is to create a central base where
people can come together to learn about the region's ecology, share ideas, and
work together to support mutual goals of conservation.An environment of learning and
conservation will be pursued through such avenues as monthly birding trips,
educational workshops, lectures, club-coordinated bird surveys, the compilation
of member's field records, and volunteer workdays on habitat improvement
projects.
A
main focus of this group will revolve around birds for two reasons: one; birds
are often the taxa that first brings curious naturalists into the fold of
conservation, and two; through the identification of important avian habitats,
the secondary ecological benefits of conservation will often be achieved for
peripheral taxa.
A Red-eyed Vireo on nest in the Muddy Brook Valley
Events
Events
All events are open to the general public and
everyone is welcomed to attend
April 11, 2008 – Woodcock Watch, Wheelers Pastures, Hardwick
The courtship display of American Woodcock is a true rite of
spring, and by mid-April the aerial dance of the Woodcock should be in full
swing.Meet at Wheeler’s Pastures,
at the bridge on Brook Road, Hardwick at 6:00PM for a tour of this important
habitat, and settle in at sunset (6:28PM) for the crepuscular show.Bring a blanket as evenings in April
can still be cool.
June 14, 2008 – Brookline Bird Club Trip to the Moose Brook
Valley
Join the Brookline Bird Club’s fifth annual trip through the Moose
Brook Valley led by Chris Buelow.It’s no surprise that this amazing landscape has become a destination by
Boston birders, and the June 09 date should put us at the peak of bird
activity.Though this is a BBC
sponsored trip, the public is welcomed to attend.Meet at the Old Town Hall on Hardwick Common at 7:00AM.
Membership
Membership
All
events of the East Quabbin Bird Club are free and open to the public unless
otherwise noted.However, a
donation of $25 is requested to support the operation of the Club and its
programs. In addition to supporting the Club, members will receive
advanced announcement of all Club activities, along with a periodic newsletter
summarizing club activities, regional conservation issues, and seasonally
relevant information about the local natural world.
Checks
can be made out the East Quabbin Land Trust:
attn: East Quabbin Bird Club
P.O. Box 5
Hardwick, MA 01037
And while
you're at it, please consider supporting the East Quabbin Land Trust's efforts
directly.
The Quabbin Reservoir beginning to freeze
Natural History Library
Natural History Library
The
East Quabbin Bird Club is in the early stages of building a Natural History
Library for its members, supporters and the general interested public to be
housed at EQLT headquarters at 120 Ridge Road in Hardwick.If you have any under-used books on
subjects such as birds, ecology, geology, botany, zoology or even general
prose, a donation to the club would be greatly appreciated.Additionally, if you’d be interested in
donating funds to enable the club to purchase books (likely used), that too
would be appreciated.And finally,
if you’d like to donate specific titles of our core wish list, please follow
the link below to view not only what titles we are especially hoping for, but
also what titles we already have.But just because a book isn’t on our wish list, it doen’t mean that
title wouldn’t be welcomed in donation.
The Road into EQLT's Mandel Hill property, Hardwick
Cape Wind and Birds
Cape Wind and Birds
“Nantucket
Sound is one of the most important nesting, feeding, and migration staging
areas on the east coast. The project is situated in the middle of the Atlantic
Flyway, one of the main migratory bird paths for millions of song birds in
spring and fall. The area also provides habitat for federally and state
endangered species including roseate terns, piping plovers, and peregrine
falcons. 500,000 sea ducks winter in Nantucket Sound, the highest concentration
of wintering ducks in North America. Although it is unknown how many birds may
be killed by the Cape Wind project, it is certain that habitat disruption and
disturbance will occur. There may also be negative effects on fish and other
marine life both during the construction and operational phases."
-From the Alliance to
Protect Nantucket Sound
To
view the Environmental Impact Statement for this Project visit:
Bird Box Program: Beginning this year the East Quabbin Bird Club would
like to launch a bird box program; focusing on building,
Bird Box Program:
Beginning this year the East Quabbin Bird
Club would like to launch a bird box program; focusing on building, placing and
monitoring nest boxes in appropriate landscapes throughout our area.Recent history has shown two major
conservation success stories due to nest box programs that helped bolster
numbers of declining Eastern Bluebirds and Wood Ducks.These species still need assistance as
suitable natural cavities can be tough to come by, and in the meantime a third
species, the American Kestrel, has begun experiencing a sharp population
decline due in part to a lack of suitable breeding habitat.For anyone interested in constructing
bird boxes, the East Quabbin Bird may be able to supply some rough cut lumber
to get you started.Plans and
other information can be found by following this link to Cornell’s website: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/resources/.Build as many as you’d like – we can use them all. Roughly, for
every Wood Duck box built it would be great to get four Kestrel boxes and ten
Bluebird boxes.Once built we’ll
place the boxes on East Quabbin Land Trust properties and with interested
private landowners who have suitable habitat.Contact info@eastquabbinbirdclub.com with any questions, requests for lumber,
or ideas where additional lumber may be secured through donation.
Breeding Bird Atlas: (from Mass Audubon)
“Mass Audubon announces the launch of the
Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas web site http://www.massaudubon.org/birdatlas and the initiation of the second MBBA project.Between 1974 and 1979 hundreds of
birders from throughout the state conducted the first Massachusetts Breeding
Bird Atlas (Atlas 1), during which they searched for all the species of breeding
birds that called Massachusetts home. Atlas 1 represented the first effort in
North America to systematically map the distribution of all the breeding birds
in a state or province.Since 1979
profound changes have taken place in the Commonwealth’s landscape. Changes in
the landscape drive changes in our wildlife communities- including our breeding
birds. To understand the relationship between landscape alteration and changes
in our breeding bird communities, we can measure the distribution and abundance
of our breeding birds and compare that information to historic information. A
Breeding Bird Atlas is one of the best tools for measuring the changes in bird
distribution over time. It is time to repeat the Massachusetts Breeding Bird
Atlas, and we will begin that effort when we start fieldwork for the second
Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas (Atlas 2) in April 2007. At our Atlas web
site you will find the results from Atlas 1, including species accounts and
distribution maps, and our ongoing preparations for Atlas 2.The Atlas 2 pages include detailed
information on atlasing methods, links to the online data-entry site and
mapping tool, and how you can participate in this important project.”East Quabbin Bird Club will be adopting
several areas for monitoring during the Breeding Bird Atlas, and through our
membership, we should be able to contribute important information about our
local avifauna and the landscapes that support them.You don’t have to be an expert birder to participate.Please contact info@eastquabbinbirdclub.com for information about getting involved.
