January 2009

TOPIC:  Red-Shouldered Hawks and Cerulean Warblers along the Mississippi

SPEAKER:  Jon Stravers

WHEN:  Tuesday, January 20

TIME:  7:00 pm Refreshments
TIME:  7:30 pm Program

WHERE:  Auditorium
UW Arboretum

PARKING:  Free parking at the Arboretum

PRE-MEETING DINNER:  You are invited to join Madison Audubon board members and friends at the pre-program dinner with our speaker beginning at 5:15.

Paisan's 131 West Wilson Street

QUESTIONS?:  Please call the MAS office at (608)255-2473.

So how are Red-Shouldered Hawks and Cerulean Warblers doing along the Mississippi River? “New Age River Rat” Jon Stravers has been working on the river for 30 years. Since 1982 he has been inventorying and monitoring Red-shouldered Hawks and other birds along the Upper Mississippi River in cooperation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois and Iowa DNRs, and other conservation organizations along the river.

Jon will share what he has learned about Red-shouldered Hawks. He will also discuss recent surveys in upland forests within the Effigy Mounds/Yellow River Important Bird Area where he found some interesting pockets of Cerulean Warblers, Northern Parulas, and Veerys. Jon will discuss some successes in changing the forest management plans in specific areas to accommodate some of the birds that are on the Species of Greatest Conservation Concern list.

Jon currently serves as the Research and Field Trip Coordinator for Audubon’s Mississippi River Initiative. He has also operated an autumn raptor banding station along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa. Jon has captured migrating raptors that were previously banded in Alaska, Greenland, and Mexico, and birds that he has banded have been recovered in Costa Rica and in areas around the Southern and Midwestern United States. He is co-author of the recently published book “Sylvan T. Runkel, Citizen of the Natural World” a biography of one of Iowa’s most influential conservationists. Jon mixes in music from the river, which includes stories of birds along the river and of the spiritual and emotional influence of the river. With his son, Jon Jr, and various other musicians Jon has recorded five CDs of original music.