Plight of the Neotropical Migrants
Next Audubon meeting Oct. 21

Remember the warblers you saw when you were out on the Parkway in July? Or the orioles that nested in your tall trees?

They’re some of the 340 bird species known as neotropical migrants, birds that breed in North America but migrate in the winter to such places as Central and South America, the Caribbean or Mexico. And their very existence is threatened by habitat destruction and forest fragmentation in the southern hemisphere.

At the Oct. 21 High Country Audubon meeting, Curtis Smalling will talk about habitat problems and the cooperative efforts being made by North Carolina partners in a joint project with people in Nicaragua.

This important program, open and free to the public, will be held at the Watauga Public Library, located at 140 Queen St., starting at 6:30 p.m.

Smalling, Audubon North Carolina’s Important Bird Areas coordinator and mountain program manager, has visited Nicaraguan officials studying conservation efforts that could have significant impact for the birds as well as humans. His fieldwork in Central America documents the importance and the challenges of preserving the wintering grounds of favorite High Country songbirds.

Learn more about High Country Audubon at www.geocities.com/hcaudubon/index.html, where you will find out about the listserve, chapter news and links to other important bird sites. For more information, contact Jesse Pope at (828) 733-4326, or by e-mail at highcountrybirder@yahoo.com.