Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 11:21:06 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Les Eastman Organization: Harford Bird Club Subject: [Fwd: An Important Message from Scott Weidensaul] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This seems to have a Maryland interest and also provides some more info on CCRT. Les Eastman -------- Original Message -------- Subject: An Important Message from Scott Weidensaul Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 11:01:00 -0400 From: "Carmen T. Santasania" <71634.41@COMPUSERVE.COM> Reply-To: "Carmen T. Santasania" <71634.41@COMPUSERVE.COM> To: PABIRDS@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG To PABIRDS and PA-Audubon list members, As most of you are aware, the northern goshawk is listed as a "candidate rare" species of special concern in Pennsylvania, despite some increases in breeding populations over the past several decades. Unfortunately, it's a species about which we still know very little, particularly about where our goshawks go and how they live during the non-breeding season. The past two years, many Pennsylvania birders assisted Dave Brinker of Maryland's Natural Heritage program with an expansion of an independent, on-going goshawk study he's been conducting in Maryland and West Virginia. Dave has been planning to affix two prototype solar-powered satellite transmitters to a pair of Pennsylvania goshawks, which would allow us to monitor their movements for several years --a tremendous boost to our knowledge of this species, especially during winter. Last year we failed to find an active nest, but this year we have several active sites, and Dave planned on catching a pair and placing the transmitters this coming weekend. (Dave focuses on nesting birds because then he knows the home range as a point of reference, plus they are much easier to catch when defending chicks.) But there's an unforeseen problem. Originally, the $6,000 transmitters and the $3,00-4,000 in satellite time were being donated in full by the Center for Conservation & Research Technology (CCRT), a group from the University of Maryland that is famous for sat-trans work with peregrine falcons and other raptors, and which developed this new style of transmitter. However, due to funding cutbacks, CCRT has just informed Dave that while they can still donate the units, they can't pay for the satellite time. So with just days to go, we're scrambling to find three or four thousand dollars, possibly from a variety of sources. State agency funds do not appear to be available, but at the suggestion of Carmen Santasania and Cindy Adams Dunn, I'm asking the bird clubs, Audubon chapters and other organizations or individuals in the state if they would be willing to help out. All I need at this point is a commitment -- a pledge for part (or all) of the money; feel free to email me at sweidnsl@pottsville.infi.net with questions or a pledge. If we reach the minimum threshold, I'll ask the donors to send checks to Audubon Pa., which has agreed to act as a conduit. If we don't make it, I'll thank everyone for their time and trouble, the checkbooks stay closed, and we can all go back to birding. I know, this sounds like a public television pledge drive, and for that I apologize. (We don't even offer cool tote bags or coffee mugs.) But I believe this is a valuable project with direct, important benefits to one of Pennsylvania's most stunning birds, and I'd hate to see the opportunity slip away. Thanks in advance, Scott Weidensaul ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================