Let's start this month's newsletter with an easy one-question quiz:

        When winter comes, birds...
            a.  Turn into other bird species and stay right here.
            b.  Fly to the moon.
            c.  Burrow into the mud around nearby lakes.
            d.  Migrate to warmer climates further south.

The answer wasn't always so obvious. People once whole-heartedly believed each of the first three answers. They knew some types of birds disappeared during winter; but lacking better science, philosophers and pseudo-scientists developed wild theories to explain where the birds actually went. It wasn't until Audubon's days when migration began to be understood correctly. Audubon, himself, did studies of migration, tying silk threads around the legs of birds he'd trapped on his property and releasing them; when the same birds returned the next year with silk threads tied around their legs, he surmised that many of the birds in his yard were some of the same birds he had seen there (and caught and tagged!) the previous year.

By now you have likely noticed birds beginning to gather nightly as they prepare to fly South for the winter. It's an exciting time of year for birdwatchers. The Crows are beginning to gather nightly on Lowry Lane, the Starlings have started their murmerations. Just a few weeks ago, CKAS gathered at dusk to watch an estimated 10,000 Purple Martins flock to the trees in Riney B. Park. This year's first CKAS Swift Night Out saw 100+ Chimney Swifts descend into the Michler's Greenhouse chimney; we'll meet again this Saturday to watch what we expect to be an even larger flock (our rough count Wednesday was well over 600 birds). We'll have dinner at Alfalfa's at 6pm, then watch Swifts about 7:30+ from the top of the Helix Garage by the Fayette Co. Clerk's Office. Please join us. Questions? Call Tony: 895-229-9421. (RSVP for dinner to president@ckas.org to ensure seating.)

 Fishermen pulling hibernating swallows from a lake (Archbishop Olaus Mangus, 1555)

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CKAS is in the process of working out some changes to our annual Seed Sale Fundraiser at Southern States and possibly even working out an arrangement with Wild Birds Unlimited to start a fundraising program there, too. We still have a number of details to work out, but both establishments would like to make arrangements for CKAS members to raise funds in exchange for our support. Quite frankly, we support any establishment that encourages people to feed the birds, but we do greatly appreciate these two local companies' willingness to work with us. Both will likely invovle donations to CKAS tied to some sort of card or discount card program, and we can already guarantee that neither will include stored seed since such a program requires in-stock seed on hand longer that tends to get very stale (and birds prefer fresh!). Watch for more details in our next newsletter...

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