Fellow Bird Lovers, Many of you are aware that the DEC Region 8 has been studying short-eared owls over the past several years. We have spent numerous hours out in the field, surveying and tracking owls, to better understand how these birds are using our area, with the hope that we can provide the best habitat for their conservation, on public as well as private land. We are continuing this work yet again this winter, with a focus on surveying at foraging locations. Our main focal areas will be around the Avon, NY area at: Doran Rd/Clay St/Town Line Rd/Oneill Rd, Sand Rd/Taft Rd, Nations Rd/S Avon Rd/Hogmire Rd/Huston Rd. But we are looking to survey other areas, including several locations between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, from Waterloo to Hector. DEC staff at the Avon office are looking for volunteers to assist with these surveys. Surveys are conducted from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunset (with a meeting time 30 minutes prior to the survey start time). The goal is to have everyone meet at a central location, in which assignments are given for survey location, and maps and datasheets are provided to record information about SEOW (and other raptor) sightings. After surveys, we plan to all meet back up to turn in datasheets and exchange stories. Due to the spread out nature of sites in Seneca County, this might not be feasible for all individuals, so we would email maps and datasheets and would collect them from you at a later date. We hope to have everyone surveying on the same night though, to minimize the chance of double counting an owl that has moved from a location one night to another location the next night. But if a person would like to survey a site that is far from the other locations, then they may survey on whichever night they please. We are hoping to conduct surveys every two weeks, either on Mondays or Thursday. We are not requiring surveyors to participate in every survey, only on those nights they are available and willing to help. If interested, please contact me at: [email protected] . Please let me know what day (Monday or Thursday) works better for you and if you have a preference as to location (north end, middle, or south end of the lakes). If enough people are interested, we hope to conduct our first survey in Seneca County the week of February 3rd. If you would like to participate in the surveys near Avon, we will have our first survey on Tuesday, January 28th, meeting in the front lobby of our office located at 6274 East Avon-Lima Road in Avon, NY, at 4:00pm (cookies will be provided!). The next survey will be on February 11th, meeting at 4:30pm (future dates will be decided in the near future). Please contact me to sign up for either date. If you have questions about the surveys, or the project in general, do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. We would also like to hear about any SEOW sightings in Region 8, even if you only caught a glimpse of the bird as you drove by. We're hoping to plot these areas on a map to get a better picture of which areas they are using. Happy birding! -Kaytee Hojnacki
Kaytee Hojnacki Wildlife Technician Region 8 Bureau of Wildlife New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 6274 East Avon-Lima Road Avon, NY 14414-9519 585/705-3547 585/226-6323 fax [email protected] -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
