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Boletin Audubon
April 2008
Newsletter Archives
The Newsletter of Sociedad Audubon de México, A.C.
April Events
Sunday in the Parque with
Audubon April 20, 2008
SECRETS OF EL CHARCO ILLUMINATED IN AUDUBON
TALK April 22, 2008
Calling All Birders!
AUDUBON'S NEW BOARD
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Sunday in the Parque with Audubon
On Sunday, April 20, Audubon Mexico will offer one of its renowned day hikes in the local countryside. This one will be in the Monja Reserve, a vast, sprawling parque ecologia in the state of Queretaro, just outside San Miguel, off the Salida a Queretaro. Participants are limited to twenty and reservations are necessary. The deadline to sign up is April 16th. You may call Al Lerner at 152-8159, through the 14th; after that, Saul Whynman at 152-2139 will have information.
There is a 10-peso entrance fee at the park, which boasts rolling hills, a little forest area, a ridge to walk along and various levels of hiking ease or difficulty. Estimated time of the event: one and a half to two hours in; lunch; the same time to get back to the cars. There are certain essentials to bring along (besides lunch, which really will be essential after your long walk): good shoes, a hat, and that always crucial bottle of water.
Participants will meet at 9 am that Sunday at the parking lot on Sterling Dickinson, in front of the gym. Cars that can manage cobblestones will be needed--car-pooling can be arranged for those without transportation. Audubon members come along for free; non-members pay 100 pesos to join in. (But if you join up and pay your yearly dues of 300 pesos that morning, the hike will be free for you, too.)
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SECRETS OF EL CHARCO ILLUMINATED IN AUDUBON TALK
In this month’s Audubon Mexico presentation, Walter Meagher and Wayne Colony will take the audience on a visit, via words and pictures, to each of the three habitats that make up El Charco del Ingenio, our town’s botanical garden. The event is set for 4 pm on Tuesday, April 22, at the Villa Jacaranda on Calle Aldama.
The three Charco habitats, as described by Meagher, include 1) scrubland with tree-like cacti and low thorny trees, but also wild orchids; 2) seasonal wetland with its “immodest display of vivid floral colors” from late August to mid-October, and “aerobatic swallows skimming over the presa;” and 3) “the canyon deep with its perennial pool, deciduous trees and Peregrine Falcon ledge.” |
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Photo by: Wayne Colony
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Photo by: Wayne Colony |
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Meagher and Colony know each of these habitats intimately, having studied and photographed them extensively. In fact, Meagher is the author of a brand-new book, illustrated by Colony, called “Wild & Wonderful: Nature Up Close in the Botanical Garden ‘El Charco del Ingenio.” The book, with a foreword by Edward O. Wilson, world-renowned ecologist from Harvard, will be on sale at the event for 300 pesos. |
While Mexico is the fifteenth largest nation in the world (Russia is first, Canada second, China third and the USA fourth), Mexico ranks near the very top--third--in biodiversity.
The reason for the great diversity in Mexico--sometimes called megadiversity--is the variety of habitats it hosts, says Meagher. It has lowland tropical forests, cloud forests, pine and oak forests, and semi-arid scrubland, as well as grassland, thorn forest and desert.
| Species richness is great in El Charco for the same reason, namely, the variety in habitats. As a result, says Meagher, El Charco’s biodiversity can be enumerated: Within its approximately 100 hectares, there are 110 species of butterflies, 156 species of birds and 498 species of flowering plants. |
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Photo by: Wayne Colony
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As Meagher points out, species are visible--the ducks on the presa, for example, but the web of life--how one species depends on another --is invisible. Meagher and Colony promise to try to make the web of life at El Charco more accessible to those attending their presentation at the Jacaranda on Tuesday. Admission is free for Audubon members as usual; others pay 50 pesos at the door.
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Calling All Birders!
Are you fascinated by our fine feathered friends? Have you ransacked bookstores for bird books, stopped people wearing binoculars in the jardin to find out what they just saw, worn out hiking boots on the birding trail? Have pored over field guides, leapt out of bed at dawn to follow Fen Taylor on the trail, felt the thrill of a new sighting for your life list? Any or all of these might qualify you to lead an Audubon bird walk. And since Fen Taylor retired from her leadership of Audubon's regular monthly walk, we're desperate to find a replacement. Please let us know if you'd like to lead a bird walk some Sunday soon. The birding community of San Miguel needs you!
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AUDUBON'S NEW BOARD
The Annual Members Meeting for the election of officers and board members of Audubon Mexico took place on Wednesday, March 5th, at the Villa Jacaranda. After a presentation by PEASMA, the group that educates schoolchildren on the environment (and which Audubon supports), Bob Haas, who headed the nominating committee, gave a short talk on the organization's history.
Bruce Carruth thanked retiring board members, including Fen Taylor, Robin Luxmoore,
Ross MacDonald, Cynthia Sterling and Jean Goodrich. All five agreed when Carruth expressed the hope and conviction that they would continue to consult with the current board and help make things happen for the organization.
The slate proposed by the nominating committee was voted in unanimously.
New Officers and Directors
President: Bruce Carruth
Exec. VP: Linda Whynman
VP: Carol Wheeler
Treasurer: Leigh Gersnoviez
Secretary: Debe Moscowitz
Directors:
Mario Hernandez
Al Lerner
Augustin Madrigal
Debe Moskowitz
Ricardo Vidargas
Walter Meagher
Will Smith
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AT LAST! A BIRD BOOK WILL SOON TAKE FLIGHT
As a bird watcher, an environmentalist or just an appreciator of nature, you wouldn’t be the first person to wish there were a field guide to the birds of San Miguel—and to be disappointed when you found it didn’t exist. Your time is coming! Audubon is at work right now on a field guide to our abundant,
beautiful local birds. The guide will follow the style of
Flores Silvestres de San Miguel de Allende, the wonderfully successful and useful field guide to our local wildflowers that appeared in 2006—sized to fit in a pocket, with full-color pictures and brief descriptions of each bird (and a ruler on the back). We’re hoping to have it available some time this year.
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