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The Altacal Audubon Society has begun a “sister society” relationship with the Cape Cod Bird Club (CCBC) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. We’ll be sharing bird sightings, conservation and environmental concerns and information with each other in our newsletters. The CCBC’s web site is at: http://massbird.org/ccbc/. We match up well in various ways. The CCBC has 500+ members and we have 700+; the CCBC has 100-120 folks attending monthly meetings; we have about 20 (we’ll work on changing that); and we both have been in existence about the same number of years (around 30). We both sponsor local birding field trips as well as out-of-town (“off-peninsula” in the case of the CCBC) ones. The CCBC birds on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Islands as well as Cape Cod. For a current example of an Altacal out-of-town trip, see the particulars on the Point Reyes trip in “Upcoming Field Trips” (below). It should be an interesting experience for both of us because of the different biotic zones we inhabit resulting in different conservation and environmental problems and efforts, and also because of the differences in bird sightings between the Pacific and Atlantic Flyways. Consider, for example, that the local Acorn Woodpeckers and Yellow-billed Magpies we are used to seeing probably would be special sightings for most CCBC members. We have provided the CCBC with a lot of material on our Society, the birds and natural history of our area, and many cultural, historical, economic and educational facts about our city and county. They have sent us materials also, including a copy of their publication, “Birding Cape Cod”. We have also sent them some interesting local sightings from September. Here’s hoping we all enjoy the new relationship!
Following is a welcome message sent to us by Diane Silverstein, President of the Cape Cod Bird Club:
Greetings from the Cape Cod Bird Club, in MA! Thanks to Tim Ruckle, it looks like we’ve ‘adopted’ one another as ‘sister societies’! We look forward to exchanging information with you from the east coast and hearing of your west coast bird sightings and conservation efforts. As September winds down, so does southbound shorebird migration. The Cape Cod hotspot for this phenomenon is South Beach, in the town of Chatham. Upward of 25,000 shorebirds gather there as a staging area for their long migration to Central and South America. Special sightings this summer included a Curlew Sandpiper (the third year for one individual to be seen on South Beach; is it the same individual?), and a Wilson’s Plover (rarely seen north of New Jersey). Other expected species seen in good numbers: Black-bellied Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Hudsonian and Marbled Godwits, Short-billed Dowitchers, Whimbrels, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers, and even a couple of Black Skimmers in July! Now we are seeing warblers come through in their ‘confusing fall plumage’. A recent visit to Morris Island in Chatham resulted in sightings of 13 warblers including Yellow-breasted Chat, Wilson’s, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Western Palm, Pine, Blackpoll, Black and White, and American Redstart to name some. With autumn here we will start to see wintering waterfowl and sea ducks arrive. Good birding to you from your friends at the Cape Cod Bird Club!