Due to impending inclement weather (rain, SE winds) the bird walk scheduled for
May 22 is cancelled.
Our next 'happening'.....
June 5, 2017 - Meeting, Lancaster Community Library at 3:15pm with Patti Reum,
VSO Kestrel Nesting Box Program
Patti Reum is a a wildlife biologist who has worked in Canada, Maryland and
Virginia as well as teaching math and science for 18 years. She has been
involved in many bird projects in Virginia, including the Golden Chase Project
(working with biologists at the Center for Conservation Biology) where a Golden
Eagle was trapped and fitted with a telemetry device. Many Virginians donated
to this project and followed the migration of “Virgil Caine” for four
consecutive years. She has also assisted the Golden-winged Warbler research
project done by Virginia Commonwealth University. Now “retired”, she spends
much of her time working on the American Kestrel Nesting Box Project. She is
Vice President of the Bath-Highland Bird Club and a board member of the
Virginia Society of Ornithology where she serves as the Conservation Committee
Chair.
She will present a program on the American Kestrel Nesting Box Project, at the
NNAS program Monday, June 5. The kestrel has shown population decreases because
of loss of grassland habitat, loss of nesting cavities and use of insecticides
and pesticides on agricultural fields. The Project’s goal is to provide nesting
boxes in suitable habitats where kestrels are found throughout Virginia. She
will show photos of the project and present information on the habitat and
biology of this fascinating and valuable species. She will also describe a
monitoring program just started in fall of 2016 to keep track of the nesting
success of kestrels using the Highland County boxes.
