President’s Message Fall 2022

I love the seasons and don’t think I could live where we didn’t have them. I loved the snow because we always had a snow day and a day off from school or work. (I was an Art Teacher!) At least we hoped for one!! Summers we had off from school and boating and the beach was great. Spring brought all the beautiful flowers and bushes.
The fall colors of the trees are so beautiful. I was speaking to someone about trees one day, and she said their neighbor cut down so many trees in his yard. Now she has no shade on her patio. Other people have told me the same thing. It’s probably because they don’t want to rake the leaves! Hire a person to rake your leaves and leave the trees alone!
Trees serve so many purposes. They provide shade, homes for birds and other animals, beautiful landscapes and are nice to look at. Trees inhale carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Cutting down trees reverses this process and makes the planet heat up faster. Climate change! One hardwood tree stores one ton of carbon by the time it’s 40 years old. That’s 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. The roots from trees filter water so that polluted runoff, like fertilizers, pet waste and insect repellant doesn’t harm large bodies of water, affecting more animals.
So leave your trees alone.
We will also start our monthly meetings in September at Seatuck.
We have acquired several good speakers and hope you can join us. It’s been nice to finally get out since covid. We’ve had some good bird walks and it will be nice to start again. Hope to see you soon. Have a safe Halloween and a Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Birding!!
Jody!

A Closer Walk
I am a backyard birder. When I joined Audubon, I envisioned that I would soon be running through bushes all over the place, my little safari hat in place, identifying birds and their calls. I thought that ornithology would become as second nature as horticulture is to me.

Feeder Survey Fall/Winter 2022-2023
Writing this in the beginning of October, I was going to comment on the dry summer we just experienced, but Mother Nature did a turn around and we are now experiencing the dregs of Hurricane Ian, the final consequences of which are yet to be seen.

Montauk Nature Walk Recap
It was a cold, overcast, blustery day out in Montauk for the chapter’s field trip on January 7th. But there was a good turnout of participants willing to brave the elements and see some birds that are most easily seen at ‘The End’.