Nine of our AuSable Valley Audubon members attended the Mackinaw Raptor Fest in Mackinaw City on April 8. The programs were varied and interesting, the dinner excellent. Even though the airline had cancelled the flight of the keynote speaker, he was able to “attend” and deliver the presentation on Golden Eagles through modern technology! Visits were made to Headlands Dark Sky Park to see Owl Banding and visit the beautiful new observatory which won the Pure Michigan award for this year. (The observatory telescope is expected to arrive soon.) On the return to Oscoda, some of us stopped at several of “Hotspots” on the Sunrise Coast Birding Trail. The weather smiled on the events as it was warm and sunny!
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“Front yard”?? I thought it was a “Great Backyard Bird Count!!!”
Michigan Audubon
Here's a short clip from a front yard feeding station in Marquette, Michigan, where the temperature is currently -3F. Those are all American Goldfinches!Weather Alert & Cancelled AVA mtg tonight - 2/12!
Urgent msg from AVA President Ruth Golm:
“Due to severe weather conditions predicted for Mon -Wed I have decided to cancel Tuesday’s AVA meeting. Safety for everyone is first. Please pass this onto your friends & I’ll see u at our March 12 meeting where we will be discussing the May, 2019 Tawas Point Bird Fest.
I hope the winter storm is not so bad as to hinder u from participating in the 22nd GBBC starting this weekend - 2/15-17. For further details go to gbbc.birdcount.org/about/“ (See below link)
Also, on Thurs., 2/14, Peggy Ridgway will host a “warm-up” to birds and this weekend GBBC great tips and Q & A. Check our Facebook “Event”, indicate “Going or Interested” and share with your friends.gbbc.birdcount.org
Common Redpoll by Kathleen Payne, N. 2018 GBBC. Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time. Now, more than 160,000 p...Bio-diversity gave us these amazingly beautiful species of swallowtail butterflies.
And humans developed because of bio-diversity and the experiments of Mother Nature over a Billion years. That’s one more reason why we need to protect endangered species throughout the world.
EcoWatch
These are 100% real, actual butterflies. Try not to lose your sh*t.
The green dragontail butterfly (Lamproptera meges) is one of the smallest species of swallowtail butterfly and one of the very few species with wing transparency.
This footage is by Kazuo Unno, insect aficionado extraordinaire and wildlife photographer.
Center for Biological Diversity