The first real snow of the season fell this evening. Now I have no excuse not to get out on the cross-country skis. The lack of snow has spoiled us all, but I must admit it has been nice not to shovel it. We sure do need the moisture though, so let it snow! I as I was thinking about a topic to write for this message the following thoughts went through my head.

Need a ride to a meeting? Contact any board member to make arrangements.

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The Goal of Audubon's Grassroots Department is to create a premiere program in the environmental community. This program will enhance and expand Audubon's base of support and grassroots capabilities in each congressional district across the country, in order to further impact the legislative process. Desiree Sorenson-Groves, based out of Audubon's Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C., is a native Midwesterner from Iowa and is one of five Regional Coordinators that have been actively engaging the Audubon membership for over two years now. Desiree covers ten states including Wisconsin and her native Iowa; others are: ND, SD, NE, KS, MO, MN, VA and WV.

The U.S. Congress is now engaged in the first session of the 108th Congress. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling was the biggest conservation issue facing Congress in 2002, and likely will be again this year. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is truly America's last pristine wilderness and oil and gas drilling could do irreparable damage to this fragile ecosystem.

More than 180 species of birds use the refuge every year, traveling to every state in the United States and 6 continents. The Central and Mississippi flyways allow you to see some of these spectacular birds during their migrations while others spend their winters here in the Midwest.

Learn why this fragile ecosystem must be preserved, not only for the birds and wildlife that call it home, but for our own future generations. Also learn about what other conservation issues you can expect the US Congress to take action upon in the coming year.

Bill owns Magic Wand Car Wash Systems, a company that manufactures and installs car wash systems, including the money changer and money taking machines. Bill's company installed a car wash system in Frederick, MD.

The problem started when the new business owner complained to Bill that he was losing significant amounts of money from his coin machines each week. He went as far as to accuse Bill's employees of having a key to the boxes and stealing from him. Bill just couldn't believe that his people would do that, so he set up a trap for the thief.

Bill set up a video camera, aimed at the money box. Well, he caught the thief in the act. A European starling flew into the coin return bin, flew up into the machine and emerged with three quarters in his beak. It was not one bird, but several working together. Once they identified the thief, they found over $4,000 in quarters on the roof of the car wash and more under a nearby tree!
Submitted by Leo Feller

The Chappee Webber Learning Center presented its fall educational program to area 4th graders again this past fall. Once again the program was very well received. The open house presentation on the last Sunday of September brought in nearly three times the number of visitors than in 2001!

In October of this year the Learning Center received a gift from the estate of Elmer Hornick. This money along with funds raised through Chappee Rapids will be used to erect a covered shelter on the site. Such a structure will allow the presenters to give the program on days with slightly inclement weather.

The CWLC program is becoming an important part of local school curriculums. Teaching children at this age the importance of our past and present use of natural resources is a wonderful way to care for our future.

The committee really needs more people to keep this project going! Our next meeting will be in early April ( exact date to be announced). If you can help or just desire to be involved in some small way, please contact me ( Denise at 863-7397) or any other member of the committee. We will be happy to have you on board!

The Hayward Lakes, Michigan Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 28, with 14 people counting. Count coordinator was Joan Campbell. The Peshtigo Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 14, with 5 people counting. Count coordinator was Jerry Smith.

Birders of every age and skill level are encouraged to participate in the 6th annual count. The count will focus on the effects of loss of habitat and introduced predators like the West Nile Virus. Results will add vital new information to the understanding of our birds and their environment. The Count asks families, individuals, classrooms, and community groups to count the numbers and kinds of birds that visit their feeders, local parks, schoolyards and other areas during any or all of the four count days. Instructions can be found on the web at www.birdsource.org

Since 1995 the Secretary of the DNR has been appointed by the Governor. Prior to this the seven-member citizen board appointed him. The appointment of the secretary by the citizen board helped keep the politics out of the DNR. This past week Representative Spencer Black reintroduced his proposal to restore the secretary's appointment to the seven-member board. A growing list of both Republican and Democratic supporters are backing Black's proposal. Black thinks passage of this legislation has a good chance at this time. Black says, "The momentum is building to get partisan politics out of the DNR and return to the Aldo Leopold system of conservation that served our state so well for almost 70 years."

Representative Black has also introduced legislation that would restore the Office of the Public Intervener. The Intervener's office existed from 1969 until Tommy Thompson abolished it in 1995. The Intervener's job was to protect the public interest in Wisconsin's water resources. They were basically the average person's lawyers when it came to complaints against environmental degradation.

Both of these issues are important for the protection of Wisconsin's environment. Contact your local representatives and let them know you care about our natural resources and to help protect them they should support representative Black's Legislation.

Candlemas Day be bright and clear, there will be two winters in the year" Ooookay! As of this moment it appears February 2nd stands a good chance of being overcast and snowy...... and that coincides nicely with the fact that winter ( the first one that is) is just getting under way around here. I have certainly enjoyed the convenience of filling the feeder and continuing garden cleanup all the while wearing my tennis shoes. But, it just wasn't right- the foliage was weathered and dull far before its time. The evergreens looked flat without their white trim. No traces in the snow of the night creatures, no expanse of glistening canvas for shadowy blue figures in the late evening sun. To put it another way, for this I could live in Kansas!

Now back to our Menominee River basin. As late fall lingered so too did our late migratory birds. Robins were frequent well into early December. Juncoes arrived in good numbers in late September and are still abundant. I wonder if they will stay straight through till spring? Eagles, crows and ravens are present in below average numbers, probably due to West Nile this past summer although there could be other factors. Honestly I am glad to see them period! Accipitors are in strong numbers as yet, great horned owls have been calling since mid December here. I saw my first barred owl of 2003 on January 27th. Rough legs have been slow to move into the area but I expect them to pick up now that we have snow. On a January 20th drive southward, the northern most kestrel was one mile south of Peshtigo, large numbers of red tails started at Oconto. I have had no recent reports of snowy owls.

So what avian and other life might we expect now that winter has arrived? Up till now we have had virtually no winter finches including tree sparrows and snow buntings, certainly some things to watch for. Northern shrikes have also been absent, maybe not for too much longer. Many birds that have been able to meet their needs out in the woodlands may now come into the feeders and gardens for easier pickings. We can watch for more chickadees, woodpeckers, etc. Just today as the snow covered the ground I had half a dozen morning doves visit for the first time in over a year. Also today, January 31st, a first of the season sighting for Bohemian waxwings in the orchard, always exciting for as a child I always thought they would be too rare for me to ever observe. In other miscellaneous sightings Joan Campbell had two Carolina wrens well into December, I spotted an E. meadowlark on January 27th and have a resident red-bellied woodpecker at the feeders. A scissor-tailed flycatcher ( wha!) was at Escanaba in early December for several days.

I have felt so relieved this week as the snow finally started to filter in and transform the landscape. Usually by now I am pining for spring, but I couldn't, I would feel guilty as if something was undone or I was undeserving. I also know that the snow is spring's moisture being stored in its conveniently located reservoir. All the buds and blooms, insects and amphibians would be so deprived without it. But there is more, somehow the world must disappear before me under this magical cloak, to have the past season purged and reappear new and pristine. In six to eight weeks all that spring stuff will happen, but for now, I have a new set of skis- and the first great snow of the season, hope I don't break a leg! If!