TAKING A REAL GANDER.Byline: Eric Leach Daily News Staff Writer Ed and Jane Stauss grabbed their binoculars and turned on their computer this weekend as they joined thousands of others across the U.S. and Canada in the Great '98 Backyard Bird Count. ``We have two bird feeders and two birdbaths, and we try to plant a lot of flowers and bushes around so the birds get what they like,'' said Jane Stauss, who keeps a bird list in her Woodland Hills kitchen, where she and her husband have been recording sightings since 1977. ``We have binoculars on the kitchen table. We're always looking out there,'' she added. This weekend the two members of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. Chapter of the Audubon Society had a special opportunity to put their knowledge to use in the Backyard Bird Count, a new, computerized bird census developed at Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. . The count, which started Friday and ends today, asked Americans to count the birds in their yards and put the findings on Cornell's World Wide Web site to help scientists define bird ranges, populations, migration pathways and habitat needs. Alison Wells, a spokeswoman for the Cornell Ornithology ornithology Branch of zoology dealing with the study of birds. Early writings on birds were largely anecdotal (including folklore) or practical (e.g., treatises on falconry and game-bird management). Laboratory, said the Great '98 Backyard Bird Count was made possible by BirdSource, a system that uses of state-of-the-art computer technology under management of the National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservancy. Incorporated in 1905, it is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world. and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a laboratory dedicated to research in the field of ornithology at Cornell University. The lab is focused on the understanding and conservation of birds, but also does research, more generally, on biological diversity; specific programs include . ``We're interested in seeing which birds are where in light of El Nino,'' Wells said. ``We will be taking into consideration what's happening with the weather. We're really trying to create a census bureau Noun 1. Census Bureau - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Bureau of the Census of what birds are in back yards across the country and how they fluctuate over time.'' Results of the Cornell survey are posted on BirdSource's Web site as they come in, and maps are generated by the computer showing each species and where it is reported. Tom Fredericks, database manager for BirdSource, said there had been thousands of reports filed by Saturday from every state in the nation and all the provinces of Canada. ``We're happy we've got a widespread response here, Fredericks said. ``People are really excited about doing it. They're very positive.'' Ed and Jane Stauss said the birds they saw Friday and Saturday in their yard included scrub jays, house sparrows, house finches, Anna's hummingbirds, mourning doves, lesser goldfinches, California towhees and dark-eyed juncos. Judy and Roger McClure from the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. , also Audubon Society members, went to Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon on Saturday to count birds for the census. They found many of the same species as did the Stausses, plus bluebirds, Oregon juncos, white-crowned sparrows, chipping sparrows, golden-crowned sparrows, black phoebes and Say's phoebes, Nuttall's woodpeckers, red-tailed hawks, ruby-crowned kinglets, a phainopepla, California thrashers, titmice, red-shafted flickers, a turkey vulture turkey vulture or turkey buzzard Species (Cathartes aura) of long-winged, long-tailed vulture (family Cathartidae), about 30 in. (75 cm) long, with dark plumage, whitish beak and legs, bare red head covered with whitish bumps, and a 6-ft (1.8-m) wingspread. and others. CAPTION(S): 4 Photos PHOTO (1) A scrub jay perches on a lawn chair Saturday at the Stauss home in Woodland Hills. (2) Ed and Jane Stauss have a bird's-eye view bird's-eye view Noun 1. a view seen from above 2. a general or overall impression of something bird's-eye view n → vista de pájaro from their kitchen table as they take part in the Great '98 Backyard Bird Count. (3 -- 4) Its tiny wings a blur, a hummingbird hummingbird, common name for members of the family Trochilidae, small, strictly New World birds, related to the swifts, and found chiefly in the mountains of South America. Hummingbirds vary in size from a 2 1-4-in. , left, approaches a feeder on the Stausses' backyard patio for a taste of nectar. Above, Ed Stauss logs onto the World Wide Web site where he will enter the information on the birds he and Jane have counted. Evan Yee/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion