Upcoming Events

Meet at Appleridge (Map), for a lively discussion about birding and a presentation from one of our knowledgeable hosts. A bird identification workshop precedes the program at 7:00 p.m.; the program begins at 7:30p.m. All are welcome to these free events. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

Wildlife biologist Greg Flood will speak about “Grassland Use and Management on the Finger Lakes National Forest.”

According the the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, grasslands are one of the state’s most important and imperiled habitats. Grassland birds depend on large, undisturbed expanses to breed, forage, and raise their young. The state’s grasslands are disappearing due to many factors, including development and natural vegetative succession, putting many bird species in peril.

The 16,212-acre Finger Lakes National Forest lies on a ridge between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York. Flood will will describe the grasslands that lie within the forest, and he will highlight recent work, including grassland bird counts.

CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures. With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide to the insect world, we'll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine, and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.

Meet at Appleridge (Map), for a lively discussion about birding and a presentation from one of our knowledgeable hosts. A bird identification workshop precedes the program at 7:00 p.m.; the program begins at 7:30p.m. All are welcome to these free events. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

Victor S. Lamoureux, PhD, will speak on “Tropical Ecology and Costa Rica.”

Dr. Lamoureux is Professor of Biology at SUNY Broome in Binghamton. He is Steward of the Campus Natural Areas and recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has made several trips to Costa Rica, accompanying students as part of his tropical ecology course.

The small Central American nation packs a stunning array of tropical ecosystems and biodiversity into an area smaller than the state of West Virginia. Its coastlines meet the Caribbean Sea on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west, and a high-elevation mountain chain defines its interior.

Costa Rica is considered to be a model for tropical conservation and has developed ecotourism as a primary revenue source. Hear how this stable and friendly country, rich in biological diversity, is ideal for a college course in tropical ecology.

CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. Carson's writing teems with stunning, memorable images—the newly formed Earth cooling beneath an endlessly overcast sky; the centuries of nonstop rain that created the oceans; incredibly powerful tides moving 100 billion tons of water daily in the Bay of Fundy. This 1952 classic won the National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal.

Meet at Appleridge (Map), for a lively discussion about birding and a presentation from one of our knowledgeable hosts. A bird identification workshop precedes the program at 7:00 p.m.; the program begins at 7:30p.m. All are welcome to these free events. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

Meg Richardson and Carl Steckler will present “Birding the Caldera of a Supervolcano in Arizona.”

Richardson and Steckler traveled to Tucson in September 2018 to find birds, and birds they found. The trip added 43 bird species to Steckler’s life list and provided an exceptional look at life in the desert. Southeast Arizona is truly a birder’s and photographer’s paradise, a vast terrain of bold color, piercing beauty, and unusual landforms. Isolated mountain ranges called Sky Islands, the remnants of a supervolcano, rise abruptly from arid desert highlands and harbor a tremendous variety of plant and animal life. Included will be a brief geologic history of the Tucson area along with its flora and fauna.

CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss Walking Seasonal Roads by Mary A. Hood. Mary Hood has traveled nearly every seasonal road in Steuben County, New York. As a literary naturalist, Hood reflects on endangered species and invasive species, as well as on issues of conservation and sustainability. From state forests to potato fields, from development along Keuka Lake to vineyards, from old family cemeteries to logging sites, her book is a celebration and an honoring of place, illustrating the ways we connect to our home and to each other.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss Station Eleven: A Novel by Emily St. John Mandel. Mandel’s 2014 novel opens in Toronto as a flu pandemic quickly brings civilization to a collapse worldwide. Among the survivors is a small troupe of actors and musicians who roam from town to town along the shores of the Great Lakes without electricity, running water, gas, pharmaceuticals, or the Internet. Spanning 20 years, the twists and turns in this postapocalyptic page-turner will draw you into an altered existence you haven’t yet imagined.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss Summer World: A Season of Bounty by Bernd Heinrich. How can cicadas survive—and thrive—at temperatures pushing 115°F? Do hummingbirds know what they're up against before they migrate over the Gulf of Mexico? Why do some trees stop growing taller, even when three months of warm weather remain? Chase away winter’s chill as you explore the complexity of life during the summer months.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candace Millard. At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on Earth. Candace Millard relates extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will celebrate National Poetry Month. Bring a favorite nature poem to share. We will also explore haiku, which are short poems that refer to nature or seasons.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will discuss The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams. From forest paths in Korea to islands in Finland to eucalyptus groves in California, Florence Williams investigates the science at the confluence of environment, mood, health, and creativity. Delving into new research, she uncovers the powers of the natural world to improve health, promote reflection and innovation, and strengthen our relationships. As our lives shift indoors, these ideas—and the answers they yield—are more urgent than ever.

CVAS Book Club
Meet at Appleridge (Map) to discuss our latest book. You can find our current book list here. CVAS will follow CDC and local COVID-19 safety precautions that are recommended at the time of our meetings. Please bring a face mask and be prepared to maintain social distance.

We will meet to discuss our next book list.

Montezuma Audubon Society
The Montezuma Audubon Society has birding and boating events all season long! Visit the Montezuma Audubon website for more information and to register.

Virtual Event: Remarkable Raptors and Their Highways in the Sky
Learn about the incredible migratory journeys that remarkable raptors take each year, and how people across North America count them for research. Following this presentation you can head out to a hawk watch near you to use these newfound skills!

Ryan MacLean is the Bird Education Specialist of the Greenwich Audubon Center where he conducts in-person school programs, bird tours and private adventures as well as virtual webinars on a variety of natural history subjects. He was also the official hawk counter for Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch for six seasons and has counted hawks professionally at the Braddock Bay Spring Hawk Watch in Rochester, NY.

Mark your calendar! The 74th annual meeting of the New York State Ornithological Association (NYSOA) will be hosted online by the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society Friday evening, October 1 and Saturday morning, October 2, 2021. There is no registration fee.

Join us via Zoom on Friday, October 1 at 7:00 pm, when our keynote speaker will be Dr. Jason Hill, Conservation Biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Among other projects, Dr. Hill oversees the annual Mountain Birdwatch citizen science effort. His program will be "The Effects of Climate Change on Montane Birds of the Northeast." You will hear the very latest on his montane bird research!

Continuing our online event on Saturday, October 2, at 9:00 am, we'll take you on a virtual tour through the former home of Paul Schaefer, a noted Adirondack conservationist who was named one of the top 100 conservationists of all time by the National Audubon Society. His legacy and former home will be brought to you through a virtual tour and presentation by the coordinators of the Kelly Adirondack Center. A new historic photo exhibit will be on display within the home, and you'll also see a fascinating 14-foot-tall relief map of the Adirondacks. We'll walk the connecting corridor to the modern Adirondack Research Library and gaze out the windows at the center's bird feeding station. The Kelly Center is fortunate to be the trailhead for the 111-acre H. G. Reist Wildlife Sanctuary, owned and managed by the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club. This session will take about 40 minutes, followed by a 15-minute break before the Delegates' business meeting.

Gather with us again via Zoom on Saturday, October 2 at 10:00 am for NYSOA’s official annual meeting – also known as the Delegates' Meeting. In addition to the delegates of NYSOA's member clubs/organizations, all individual members of NYSOA are welcome to attend. The meeting will conclude around lunchtime.

All attendees must register in advance and will receive log-in information and meeting documents via email. To register, visit www.nybirds.org/annual2021.
We hope to see all of you and your friends at this special event, and we encourage you to share this information with others who may not know about NYSOA – they can get to know us virtually!

John Loz
President, Southern Adirondack Audubon Society