(From the December 2006—February
2007 High Peaks Audubon,
newsletter of the High Peaks Audubon Society, Inc.)
As a burgeoning birder and ecology student at Plattsburgh State
University, attending the NYSOA annual meeting in Oneonta this
year was a great experience. The presentations were of high
quality, the setting was nice, and the people were friendly. Here’s
a shakedown of two of the highlights:
The first evening’s presentation was a stunning, feathery
portfolio presented as a slideshow set to music by artist Jeff
Nadler (who must be a very quiet guy in the woods). Included
were photo after photo of crystal clear, close up shots of Adirondack
birds. The few images of a beautiful Snowy Owl, Jeff admitted
he captured just outside the park border, but no one, including
me, seemed to mind. From misty Common Loons to Bicknell’s
Thrushes to Black-backed Woodpeckers to various native neotropical
migrants, the presentation provided a very pleasant way to spend
an early evening, and a question and answer session at the end
proved very informative.
 |
After the second day’s fun-filled field
trips and papers session, we gathered for the cocktail reception
and banquet. I received the Lillian Stoner Award, which
was indeed exciting, but the highlight of the night was surely
the guest speaker, retired Cornell professor Donald Kroodsma,
who gave a charismatic presentation on Raven Lite software. This
is a software that enables the listener to view sonograms of
individual bird songs, slow them down, and compare them. Slowing
down a Winter Wren’s song many times, for example, enables
one to thoroughly analyze tonal differences between single
notes or phrases that would be undetectable to the human ear
at their normally bubbly speed. It enables us to understand
more fully how the birds themselves hear their and
their neighbors’ different songs, and it even |
| shows patterns and tonal differences
that can help us identify subspecies! |
In
addition to explaining the potential of this software for evolutionary
science, Kroodsma spoke enthusiastically about genuinely starting
to listen to individual birds. For example, he walked us
through some sonograms at high and then low speed, asking us to
decide, among eight sonograms on the screen, which one we had heard. Thinking
about the song and its individual parts really made me think about
what I was hearing, and Kroodsma’s demeanor really made me
feel that it will be just as worthwhile to “leave the checklist
at home” at times, and start to get to know individual birds,
and through them their species, more fully.
Just to be in a room as part of a group of birders who are as
avid and passionate as any, was a warming experience, and I and
my two fellow student companions, Justin King and Carrianne Pershyn,
all had an eye opening, good time. I thank Matt Medler and
Pat Thaxton of HPAS for nominating me for the Lillian Stoner Award,
and giving me the impetus to go to NYSOA ‘06, John Thaxton
who allowed me to write this piece and Dr. Kenneth Adams of PSU
for getting me started in a noble hobby and perhaps career.
The Lillian Stoner Award is provided by NYSOA to one or more
students nominated by members of our organization. There
were three Lillian Stoner Award winners at the 2006 Annual Meeting:
- Brian Glidden, nominated by High Peaks
Audubon.
- Jackson Mesick, nominated by the Audubon
Society of the Capital District.
- Matt Podolsky, nominated by the Cayuga
Bird Club.
Clubs
or individuals who know a student whose interest in birds can
be fostered through this award are encouraged to nominate that
student. Details can be obtained by contacting NYSOA Awards chair,
or any other NYSOA officer or director.
Published
in New York Birders, January 2007 |
