Lectures focus on birds

Sassafras Audubon Society Lecture Series continues tonight with a presentation on the restoration and management of endangered birds at 7 p.m., in Room 1C of the Monroe County Public Library.\nThe three birds to be discussed are peregrine falcons, bald eagles and ospreys.\nSusan Hengevald, assistant professor of ornithology, said she believes the two most significant threats to these specific birds have been "the loss of habitat due to urbanization and a loss of reproductive success due to DDT contamination."\nThe speaker is John Castrale from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. This is a free event and refreshments will be provided. \n"The lecture will specifically focus on an overview of Indiana's current non-game fish and wildlife reintroduction programs -- how it was started, how it's going, and where it is going to go in the future," said PJ Pulliam, an SAS member who helped to organize the lecture series.\nIndiana taxpayer donations and private donors contribute to the Non-Game Fish and Wildlife Fund. However, current funding only employs a few state officers and is largely dependent upon volunteers. This fund is in sharp contrast with aggressively state-funded Fish and Wildlife Fund, which ensures the maintenance of recreation sites and gaming preserves.\nThe SAS promotes a "culture of conversation" through environmental education and advocacy," according to the organization's Web site, www.bloomington.in.us/~audubon. \nThe group's Web site features a monthly newsletter, "The Leaflet," as well as noting birding hot spots in Monroe County, displaying pictures of common birds sighted throughout Indiana and informing the public on an array of conversation issues ranging from public environmental policy to local bird-related issues.\nHengeveld said she believes the Indiana restoration projects of endangered non-game birds has been a success story considering the difference in habitat and reproduction needs of the birds involved. Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin have united with Indiana to ensure the survival of birds such as the bald eagle -- a national symbol of freedom. Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana all have healthy populations of bald eagles.\nA significant problem with bird preservation is DDT -- an extremely harmful pesticide and insecticide, as it interferes with the waterway food chains. The pesticide/insecticide was banned in 1972.\n"The pesticide is actually magnified through the food chain," Hengeveld said. "Birds eat fish, big fish eat small fish, small fish consume small plankton or algae, and DDT is initially absorbed through water by small plankton or algae." \nBald eagles produce unusually thin eggs as a result of DDT poisoning, Hengevald said, which are accidentally crushed. The SAS claims 45 bald eagle nests were observed in 2003. According to the SAS Web site, the last-known native bald eagle in Indiana produced young in 1897. \nFor more information on the SAS, visit www.bloomington.in.us/~audubon.\n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.