Birdathon: Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Tree Project on Lookout Hill
May 11th is International Migratory Bird Day, and this year’s Brooklyn Bird Club Birdathon will be dedicated to raising money to plant trees on Lookout Hill—on the south end of Butterfly Meadow. We all remember the devastation Hurricane Sandy caused up there when a large number of mature trees were destroyed, including three of the beautiful Pin Oaks, hosts to migrating birds who feast on the bugs drawn to their blossoms each spring.
We would like to plant at least one mature Pin Oak tree and two smaller trees in that area in the name of the Brooklyn Bird Club as a way of expressing our gratitude to the great trees the park lost during Hurricane Sandy. This plan does await final approval of the PPAlliance and Parks Department, but the forest supervisor and administration have given their verbal support.
A donated mature tree is 15 – 20 feet tall. The $2000 cost of the tree includes 5 years care and fertilization, and the tree is guaranteed for one full year and would be replaced at no charge should it fail for any reason within that year. Additionally, we would like to sponsor a few smaller trees at $1000 each and maybe some shrubs and other plantings that are generally favored by migrating birds. Hopefully in the future the Brooklyn Bird Club would be able to “adopt” this area, keeping it clean and free of invasive species in an ongoing maintenance project.
Please come out in support of this cause! Anyone can participate, organize a team, join a team, or sign on to donate to a team. Team members solicit pledges from friends and family, usually an amount per bird, sometimes a flat amount, and the team spends the whole day (or as much as they want) birding in Brooklyn and seeking a high number of species during the busiest birding day of the year.
Bobbi Manian has graciously agreed to act as coordinator for the Birdathon and would be happy to hook you up with a team or help you organize a team. Please email her at roberta.manian@yahoo.com if you have any questions, to register or to pledge your support. If you have a car and would be willing to drive to such locations as Floyd Bennett Field or JBWR, let Bobbi know. If you'd like to be placed with a team, and assuming we have healthy signup, we'll try to match skills and endurance levels. Please indicate if you are a 'sun-up to sun-down' birder or if 6-8 hours is your limit. Feel free to also write Rob Bate robsbate@gmail.com if you have any questions or have any suggestions or comments.
The goal is $5000 for the Tree Project on Lookout Hill. Hurricane Sandy was an unusual event and we can make a significant contribution in response. The particulars of how to make the donation are yet to be determined and will be done through the Brooklyn Bird Club itself or through a special fund set up with the PPAlliance; either way your contribution will be fully tax deductible. We definitely will let you all know who to write your checks to and where to send them.
May 11th is a great day to make a special contribution to Prospect Park and, at the same time, enjoy our friends, the migratory songbirds and our fellow birders on a special day for all of us. Let’s hope for fall-out conditions on all fronts!
Rob Bate
President, Brooklyn Bird Club
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reference www.birdday.org
