A Welcome from Our President

As current President of Chemung Valley Audubon Society, I would like to welcome all of you to our online home. Since 1950, we have offered many opportunities and programs for people of all ages to experience, enjoy, and learn about birding in our local area. Our monthly member meetings offer bird identification workshops to help all birders learn how to better identify birds in the field. We also continue to invite a wide variety of speakers that educate the public on the many issues concerning birds and other wildlife.

Our local Saturday morning bird walks, that are lead by our statistician Bill Ostrander, are for beginners and advanced birders. All of these walks are extremely enjoyable and educational. We also fund the Nature Strollers program, started and directed by the Horseheads Family Resource Center. We work in conjunction with Tanglewood Nature Center and Museum and Friends of the Chemung River Watershed. These walks are for families with young children and help the children learn skills that prepare them for school. Nature Strollers also helps foster an appreciation for nature in the children and their families. We also take several day trips during the year such as watching songbird and raptor banding at Braddock Bay in the spring and our late summer day trip to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, where we look for a variety of gorgeous birds.

On behalf of Chemung Valley Audubon Society, I want to invite you, the nature loving public, to join us and enjoy the many educational and recreational opportunities that we offer.

Thank you and good birding!

Linda Slobodnyak
President | Chemung Valley Audubon Society

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The Solar Eclipse is August 21!

The partial solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, will be a spectacular and rare sight for most of us, and our local birds are no exception. If you're wondering how our feathered friends will fare, Wild Birds Unlimited has you covered (excerpt from WBU):

Confused Crooners | Songbirds have been noted to decrease their singing as an eclipse progresses, often to a point of total silence during the maximum darkness of totality. Speculations is that the darkening sky triggers the birds' night-time behaviors.

Out of Sync Singers | Observations show that some birds may also be confused by the re-emergence of the sun and a "dawn chorus" of bird song might be heard just as it would be during a morning sunrise.

Day or Night? | Numerous bird species have been reported to return to their night-time roosting locations as the total eclipse progresses. Starlings have been noted to return in large flocks to their roosts and display agitated behavior until the light returns to normal.

Night or Day? | Nocturnal birds such as owls, whip-poor-wills and nighthawks have been reported to either become active, take flight or call during total eclipses.

Fowl Rowel | Domestic fowl and pigeons have been observed to quickly return to their roosts or coops as the eclipse darkens the sky.

Savvy Shorebirds | Anecdotal observations seem to imply that in general, shorebirds seem to display very limited reactions to total solar eclipses.

Check out more of this article at WBU!

We suggest that you view the eclipse from one of our recommended birding sites. You'll find some great observation spots over at our Northrup Hill Sanctuary. Remember to have your viewing glasses handy!

More information:

• How Weird Will Wildlife Get During the 2017 Solar Eclipse?
• How Will Birds and Other Wildlife React to the Solar Eclipse?
• The Solar Eclipse is Going to Confuse Animals a Lot
• Solar Eclipse 2017: Get Your Viewing Glasses Now - And Make Sure They're Safe
• Solar Eclipse Map - Enter Your Zip Code!