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Birmingham Audubon Society
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February Monthly Meeting
City of Hoover Green Initiatives
Presented by: David Lindon, Fleet Management Director for the City of Hoover
Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:00 P.M.
Birmingham Zoo Auditorium
Over the last 2-3 years the City of Hoover has converted most of their vehicles from gasoline and diesel to "flex-fuel", a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent conventional gasoline. The ethanol for this fuel is produced from the city's wood scraps which are processed at a demonstration plant in Livingston. "We wanted to show everybody we can do this," said Mark Warner, the chief executive of Gulf Coast Energy, the plant operator. Mr. Warner said he believes this is the first time municipal wood waste has been transformed into liquid fuel. Wood has the potential to be one of the principal "cellulosic" sources of ethanol in the future, and may one day supplant corn, currently the principal source of the ethanol produced in the U.S. Mr. Lindon will bring us up to date with regards to this and some of the other "green" initiatives the City of Hoover has taken.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 January 2010 12:23 )
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Read more: Monthly Meetings
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The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is just a few weeks away.
It's your chance to count for fun and count for the future from Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15. You can participate once or several times over the four days. By submitting a list of the birds you see in your backyard, schoolyard, local park, or nature center at http://www.birdcount.org/, you will help scientists learn more about how birds are faring in your neighborhood. Consider watching birds with your students or family. To help, there's a special page for kids.
Win Great Prizes
Everyone who submits a bird checklist during the GBBC is automatically entered in our drawing for bird-related items donated by Wild Birds Unlimited, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, Woodlink, Droll Yankees, and DK Publishing.
Brush Up on Your Birds
Thank you for all you do for the birds!
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 February 2010 20:07 )
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Activities -
Activity Information
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Purple Martin House Cleaning Project
Alabama Wildlife Center, Oak Mountain State Park
Saturday, February 13th, 8:00 a.m.
Join us as we prepare to welcome back Alabama's version of the San Juan Capistrano swallows. Purple Martins are among the earliest migrants to return to Alabama's shores each spring (winter, really). Scouts (adult birds) appear first and by the end of February they can be found around martin houses in the Birmingham area as they seek suitable housing for nesting.
Eagle Scout Harrison Wiygul refurbished the martin houses at Oak Mountain State Park and, as the continuation of his project, he and his parent's would like some help cleaning and preparing the martin houses in time for the return of the scouts.
Plan to join us at 8:00 a.m. in the Alabama Wildlife Center at the park and we'll strategize there as to the best way to tend to all the martin houses, which are located in a few separate places within the park. Bring rubber gloves to protect your hands and scrub/utility brushes if you have one; we'll be scrubbing the houses with a 10% bleach solution to disinfect them.
Once we are done with this project, and if participants are interested, we can take a bird walk within the park.
For more information contact Greg Harber, 251-2133 (home) or
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 February 2010 19:38 )
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Read more: Field Trips
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Activities -
News
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2,000-acre buffer for Little River Canyon; conservancy buys land in Cherokee
By Thomas Spencer -- The Birmingham News
December 28, 2009, 6:10AM
The Nature Conservancy has bought 2,186 acres adjacent to the Little River Canyon National Preserve, providing a buffer to development on the canyon rim and permanently securing land the state has been leasing for public hunting.
"This project is a significant milestone in our decades-long pursuit to protect one of the South's most distinctive natural areas -- Little River Canyon," said Chris Oberholster, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Alabama.
The conservancy bought the Cherokee County acreage from Hancock Timber Resource Group for $3.6 million.
It plans to sell 1,536 acres to Forever Wild, the state's land preservation program, and expects to transfer other portions to the National Park System for inclusion in the 14,000-acre national preserve. The Forever Wild Board voted earlier this month to appraise the property, the first step toward acquisition.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 05 February 2010 18:16 )
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Read more: Breaking News
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Activities -
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Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
November 21, 2009
The annual BAS trip to Wheeler produced all the usual suspects so early into the winter season, and the threat of rain never did materialize for us.
Our first stop at the Beaverdam Tower offered some really great looks at Horned Larks, several of which were performing their dainty aerial ballet before plummeting head-long back to earth. What a treat! Water pipets were also roving about the fields while harriers coursed above the soybean fields.
Down at Limestone Bay about 30-35 Sandhill Cranes plied the mudflats, and several Great Blue Herons loafing in the shallows offered the commoners version of what constitutes a "crane." Further around the bend we had distant views of a flock of Snow Geese. Dwight Cooley mentioned that Ross's Goose had been reported but we were too distant to discern that level of detail. In fact, the 4-5 Horned Grebes that were even further in the distance, became Clark's, Western, Red-necked and Eared, because hey, at this distance who's going to prove you wrong? In fact, however, they were Horned Grebes.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 January 2010 18:32 )
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Read more: Trip Reports
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