The North Shore Audubon Society will hold its monthly program on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, from 7pm to 9pm, at the Manhasset Public Library, 30 Onderdonk Avenue, Manhasset NY 11030. All are invited, free of charge.
Public transit users: This location is a half-mile walk from the Manhasset LIRR station. Don Riepe will present “Barn Owls of Jamaica Bay." Don Riepe says: “For its size, Jamaica Bay has the largest number of nesting barn owls in New York State. In the early 1980’s, as a park ranger, I helped build and put up the many owl boxes in remote areas of the Jamaica Bay Refuge. With help from American Littoral Society, volunteers, and raptor bander Chris Nadareski, we have placed about 20 of these boxes. Each year, we band roughly 18-30 owlets. Although rather odd in appearance, the owlets will grow up to be strikingly beautiful barn owls. A study of pellets undertaken by the National Park Service showed their major prey as Norway rats and meadow voles (Cook 1986). Since Jamaica Bay has ample shoreline, upland and three closed landfills, these mammals are abundant. Providing nesting habitat for the bay’s barn owls helps to assure their future as a top predator in New York City.” Don retired in 2003 from the National Park Service where he worked as a naturalist ranger and manager of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in NYC. Currently employed as Jamaica Bay Guardian and Director of the Northeast Chapter for the American Littoral Society, Don has written many articles on natural history and his photographs have been published in journals including Scientific American, National Wildlife, Audubon, and The New York Times. He has an M.S. in Natural Resources Management from the University of New Hampshire and has taught a course in Wildlife Management at St. John’s University. A long- time member of the Port Authority’s Bird Hazard Task Force, he also serves on the advisory board of NYC Audubon and is co-chair of the Brooklyn/Queens Jamaica Bay Task Force. For more information on NSAS programs and weekly walks, see www.northshoreaudubon.org Nancy Tognan Publicity volunteer, North Shore Audubon Society nancy.tog...@gmail.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --