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Huntington Audubon Society - Newsletter/Local News
NEWS AND NOTES
Have you seen the latest issue of our newsletter, Killdeer?  Download it now in Adobe PDF format:
Killdeer_May-July-2008.pdf (312 Kb - 8 pages)
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Previous issues are available here:
  Killdeer_Mar-Apr-2008.pdf (295 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Jan-Feb-2008.pdf (237 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Nov-Dec-2007.pdf (217 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Aug-Oct-2007.pdf (230 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_May-June-2007.pdf (358 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Mar-Apr-2007.pdf (221 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Jan-Feb-2007.pdf (308 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Nov-Dec-2006.pdf (169 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Aug-Oct-2006.pdf (362 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_May-July-2006.pdf (1,327 Kb - 9 pages)
Killdeer_Mar-Apr-2006.pdf (396 Kb - 8 pages)
Killdeer_Jan-Feb-2006.pdf (308 Kb - 8 pages)
   
Smithers Estate Saved!
  The Nassau County Legislature voted unanimously on Monday, February 25th, 2008 to buy most of the 31-acre Smithers Estate in Mill Neck for $7.8 million and preserve it as open space. This important acquisition creates a continuous preserve all the way to the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge, helping to protect water quality so critical to the health of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary system. The Smithers estate is within a state-designated Special Groundwater Protection Area and contains two ponds, as well as many of the fresh-water springs that supply Shu Swamp, Beaver Dam, Mill Neck Creek and on into Oyster Bay. The NY State Department of Environmental Protection has documented 74 species of birds breeding in the area, and as all local birders know, this area is a safe haven for migrating birds. It also provides critical habitat for numerous fish species, such as Brook Trout and the American Brook Lamprey.

The successful preservation of this property was truly a collaborative effort by a group of local environmental organizations (such as Friends of the Bay, North Shore Land Alliance, Huntington Audubon Society, North Shore Audubon Society, TR Sanctuary, Citizen Campaign for the Environment and Trout Unlimited) who all worked to get the word out that the public needed to let their legislators know how strongly they felt that this property, ranked as the #1 priority for acquisition by the Bond Act Advisory Committee, be preserved.

The real message of this story is that by working together, local environmental groups made it easy for the politicians to say "yes". By providing them with the scientific justification for the purchase, as well as an emotional and heartfelt appeal, we helped them carry out the wishes of the 77% of Nassau County voters who supported the Bond Act and the preservation of important open spaces for the Long Island environment.
   
Oyster Festival 2007
  Once again we had wonderful weather for the Oyster Festival held in downtown Oyster Bay.  This year HAS shared a booth with Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation, Inc. (WINORR).   A terrific time was had by all.  Volunteers were Blair Broughton, Simone DaRos, Cathy Fitts, Alice DelBosco, Stella Miller, Richard Ingordo, Bobby Horvath and Vinnie Schiappa.   Attracted by the birds of prey we had on display, hordes of people stopped by.  We had on hand a Barred, Screech, and Barn Owl, Red Tailed Hawk and American Kestrel, all handled by Stella Miller.  The birds were the main attraction and as Stella displayed each bird, the crowd was sometimes ten people deep!

 

We kicked off our membership drive at the festival and were very successful in signing up new members.  These new members received either a free HAS tee shirt or tote as a thank you.  Once again we sold Marcia Polling’s gorgeous hand painted Christmas ornaments.  We also raised a substantial amount of money for the wildlife of WINORR. 

 

We handed out literature, talked about what we do as an organization and answered many questions. The days were long, but the volunteers never wavered in their commitment to providing community awareness of what both groups do.   We look forward to seeing new faces at our meetings and field trips, and attracting even more new members!

 

We would like to thank the festival goers who stopped by our booth on both days and especially the volunteers who worked the booth.  We would especially like to thank Bobby Horvath, of WINORR, for loaning us his birds of prey for the two days.  This was the first festival for these birds, and as hard as the volunteers worked, the birds were the real troupers!  One could include Micah, Sabrina, Kiki, Cosmo and Diana in the list of volunteers!!!  We look forward to Oyster Festival 2008!

   
News from the Board
  Some changes have taken place on the Board of Directors. Elections resulted in the following: President, Stella Miller; First Vice President, Blair Broughton; Second Vice President, Ginger Mahoney; Treasurer, Petie Szabo; and Recording Secretary, Simone DaRos. They serve one-year terms. Elected for a three-year term ending in 2010 were Sharon Brody, Simone DaRos, Catherine Fitts, Stella Miller, and Vinnie Schiappa. We welcome Charlotte Miska who joined the Board of Directors to fill a vacancy for a term ending in 2009 and Pat Aitken our new field trip co-coordinator. Thanks to all for sharing their time and talents on behalf of Huntington Audubon.

The board continues to work hard on local and national conservation issues.
   
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Huntington Audubon Society | PO Box 735 | Huntington, NY 11743 | has@huntingtonaudubon.org