HANDLAN NEWSLETTER

                                                              

SEPTEMBER MEETING

The Handlan Chapter of the Brooks Bird Club will have an Ice Cream Social on
Monday, September 17th, at Coonskin Park, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  You don't
need to bring anything.  There will be tasty ice cream, socializing, tales
of bird observations and various nature adventures, and discussion of plans
for upcoming club activities.  The early forecast is for a beautiful fall
evening.

As you enter Coonskin Park, the road goes gradually downhill, and then
abruptly changes to a steep climb.  As you near the crest of that hill, take
a right turn, just in front of a gravel parking area.  You will immediately
pass through a pair of stone pillars and then climb even more steeply.  Keep
following that road, it will level off, and it will turn into a one-way
circle.  We'll be in a shelter on that circle, visible from the road, with a
good-sized gravel parking area.

See you there!

BIRD WALK

Russ Young will lead the next of his fall bird walks in the Spring Hill
Cemetery (on the hill above downtown Charleston) on Sunday, September 23rd. 
This will be near the peak of fall bird migration.  Meet at 8:00 a.m. at the
parking area near the cemetery office.  For more information, call Russ at
925-5668.

OCTOBER MEETING

I mentioned in the last email that we'll have a special program for the
October meeting, which will be Monday, October 15th, at 6:30 p.m. at the
South Charleston Public Library.  Bryan Watts will present the program. 
Bryan became interested in birds as a teenage member of our Handlan club. 
He has gone on to receive his doctorate in ornithology. Bryan is director of the Center
for Conservation Biology, which is connected with the College of William and
Mary, in Virginia.


He is actively involved in a number of research projects related to birds
and conservation.  His Center has provided the young Peregrine Falcons being
hacked in the New River Gorge.  Bryan's PowerPoint presentation will focus
on the recovery of Bald Eagles in the Chesapeake Bay region.  He'll discuss
their growing numbers, their ecology, and what is being learned by placing
tracking devices on the eagles, as well as their prospects for the future.


Jim Waggy
                                                                     
President, Handlan Chapter
                                                                     
925-6379