[BCNnet] BCN-ebird, bird reports, conservation and Re: The future for birds at Northerly Island

[Alan Anderson]

I would suggest that it might be helpful if all birders who go birding at
Northerly Island  submit their species list to the BCN's e-bird website (
http://www.ebird.org/BCN/ ).

It might be helpful, as we prepare for some of the upcoming hearings on the
Northerly Island Planning Process Public Hearings that Randi has been
mentioning, if all (or as many as possible) sightings at the Island are all
in one spot and readily available for all those who might speak at the
hearings, to review beforehand.

What birds are being seen at Northerly Island just might help those who are
interested in future plans for the island either come up with some ideas for
what species could be affected, and also show others what an important
location it is for birds (migrants and others).    The BCN e-bird website
can be useful in this (and other locations) site planning, management and
more.

I would encourage any birder with sightings from Northerly Island to make
their records available to all others via this website.   I enter all my
local NE Illinois bird sightings to this site (and out of area sightings to
the national e-bird site - http://www.ebird.org/ ), and would suggest that
other birders enter their records also.

One never knows what sightings at a location might mean something in the
future (research, conservation, bird abundance and distribution etc.).   Few
birders have had a chance to make their sightings available to others in a
permanent format, and now that there is this local and national site, we
should take advantage of it.

If you need help signing up at the BCN e-bird site, contact either Judy
Pollock at
jpollock@audubon.org  or Lee Ramsey at leeramsey@comcast.net .

Once you are signed up to enter data, go to "Submit Your Observations",
"Choose from birding Hot Spots", type in "Cook" for County and "IL" for
State, and then "Select a Birding Hot Spot from the List Below".    Scroll
down and select "Northerly Island", and then continue to enter "Date and
Effort Info" and then your species data for the site.

Please help us to make bird abundance and distribution data available to all
birders, scientists, public habitat managers, and others in the future.

Doug Stotz, of the Field Museum, who helped BCN set up the precursor for the
e-bird site, is speaking on "Chicago Bird Migration: Opportunities for
Conservation" on Friday evening, 7:30pm, at North Park Village Nature Center
(5801 N. Pulaski, Chicago).   See what he has to say about this type of
monitoring for birders, and other opportunities for birders to become
involved in bird conservation.   (See Joe Lill's announcement earlier this
week for more info, or check out www.chicagoaudubon.org  for more info).

And one more reminder - both the Forest Preserve District of Cook County,
and the Chicago Park District, would also like to have copies of your bird
species reports (species and numbers and date info etc.).   Please send
FPDCC reports to Jim Phillips, FPD Biologist, at jphillips61@comcast.net and
send CPD reports to Angela Sturdevant at sturdevant-angela@aramark.com .
The easiest thing to do is enter your data into the BCN e-bird website and
just before confirming it, copy and paste the info into an e-mail and send
it to Jim or Angela, then submit the data to BCN.

Sorry for the length of this e-mail, but I still feel it important to at
least attempt to make our bird sightings possibly relavent to conservation,
historical perspectives, and general bird related education.   One never
knows what information might be useful in the future.   Give it a try ...

Thanks,

Alan Anderson
casresearch@comcast.net
Des Plaines, Cook Co.




----- 
From: Randi Doeker - Chicago
To: BCNnet@ece.iit.edu
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 2:18 PM
Subject: [BCNnet] FYI: The future for birds at Northerly Island


Chicago Park District - Northerly Island Planning Process Public
Hearings

Dec. 2 - Thursday - 6:30pm - Portage Park, 4100 N. Long Avenue
Jan. 8 - Sat. - 10am - Warren Park, 6601 N. Western Avenue
Jan. 26 - Wed. - 6:30pm - Garfield Park, 300 N. Central Park Avenue
Feb. 19 - Sat - 10am - Humboldt Park, 1440 N. Sacramento Avenue
Mar. 2 - Wed. - 6:30pm - Marquette Park, 6734 S. Kedzie Avenue
Mar. 15 - Tues. - 10am - South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. Shore
Drive


This is a follow-up to my earlier posting about the official planning
process for Northerly Island.

The format the meetings will take is different than I suggested earlier:
The CPD's plan is to break the attendees at each gathering into small
discussion groups to create wish lists, which are then presented to the
total group.  Attendees also get stickers to use as votes to place on a
wide range of photos representing the types of activities and habitat
that are possible within a Chicago park.

Only a few birders were attendees at the kickoff meeting held today
(Sat.) although there many nature-oriented suggestions from others in
the group.  The Friends of Meigs Field continue to be vocal and active
about their plan to build an "airport in a park".

Please plan to attend one or more of the future meetings to ensure that
birds and nature continue to be mentioned at every meeting.  We need
lots of ideas of ways to design a birding area.

Randi Doeker
Chicago Ornithological Society
Cook County