January 2016 Newsletter is Online
Go to www.northcascadesaudubon.org to download the PDF. (Click "Newsletter" in the menu.)
January Events and Field Trips Are Online
Visit our website to see what's coming up this month. (Upcoming events are listed on the home page as well as on the Calendar.)
Happy New Year
Thank you, members, for your continued support of our Audubon chapter.
North Cascades Audubon Society would like to extend a warm thanks to each and every member for being a part of our organization in 2015. We recently held our annual holiday potluck at the Lairmont Manor in Fairhaven to provide an opportunity for members to socialize and share their experiences. We also participated in the Christmas Bird Count on December 20 for Whatcom County. The results will be coming in the next newsletter. If you didn’t catch us then, we hope to see you soon.
General Membership Meeting with Audubon Washington's Trina Bayard and Jennifer Syrowitz
This month's exciting membership meeting! Mark your calendar. See below for date, time, and location.
Safeguarding Birds of Washington in a Changing Climate. Can you imagine winter in the Skagit Valley without trumpeter swans, or summers in Minnesota without common loons? According to a first-of-its kind study by National Audubon Society, climate change threatens nearly half the bird species in the continental United States and Canada, including dozens of iconic birds like the common loon, Baltimore oriole and brown pelican. At a local level, the data pinpoint 113 “climate-endangered” bird species that occur in Washington State that may lose 50% or more of their existing range by 2050, according to the projections. Washington species such as the rufous hummingbird, bald eagle and even the currently abundant mallard could lose as much as 75% of their existing range, threatening their long-term survival.To understand the links between where birds live and the climatic conditions that support them, Audubon scientists analyzed 30 years of North American climate data and tens of thousands of historical bird observations from the Audubon Christmas Bird Count and U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey. Understanding those links allows scientists to project where birds are likely to be able to survive – and not survive – in the future. The study, which was funded in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has numerous implications for conservation, public policy and further research, and provides a call to action for all of us who care about birds.Come join Audubon Washington’s Director of Bird Conservation, Trina Bayard, and Chapter Conservation Manager, Jennifer Syrowitz, to learn more about what climate change projections mean for the bird life of our region and how you can take action to protect the places on the ground that we know birds will need today and in the future, and work together to reduce the severity of global warming. Together we can build a roadmap to a better future for birds and for ourselves.