Audubon Society announces February meeting; bird count underway

The Susquehanna Valley Audubon Society invites the public to their Feb. 20 meeting at the Page Manor Community Room, located at 502 Church St. in Athens.

At 7:30 p.m., Dan Rhodes, education coordinator of the Bradford County Conservation District, will present his program on Fungi, “The Good, the Bad and the Delicious.” 

This program had to be canceled in January due to the winter storm. In the event that schools close early due to the weather, this evening program will be canceled. It is always prudent to call Inga if there is a winter weather event to check if the program is still on.

Rhodes will explain the basic facts of the kingdom of fungi. Life on earth would not exist in its present form without it. He will cover the different uses for fungi, both past and present, uses in medicine, food, as a fire starter, and even clothing made from it. 

He has many great photos and interesting facts about this topic. One of the important roles of fungi has to do with the recycling of nutrients and symbiotic relationship between fungi and woody plants that have existed for at least 400 million years.

The meeting will start with a dish to pass supper at 6 p.m. Bring a dish to pass and your own table service if you wish to join the group for this meal. 

The hosts for the meeting, Duane and Inga Wells, will provide coffee, tea, water and desserts.

At 7 p.m., a short business meeting with announcements of upcoming events and wildlife sightings will precede the 7:30 program. All meetings are free and open to the public.

From Feb. 16 through Feb. 19, birders around the world will count birds in their back yard, local parks and other special places and report them to the National Audubon Society or the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. This 21st Annual Great Backyard Bird Count is a free fun and easy event that engages bird watchers of all ages and creates a real-time snapshot of bird populations. Participants are asked to count birds for as little as 15 minutes or as long as they wish on any or all of the four day event. 

For more information about this, contact gbbc.birdcount.org. 

Birders reporting their sightings regularly submit their observations via eBird. Some birders report every day or once a week and when they discover rarely seen birds in their area or while traveling. 

Last year, more than 160,000 bird observations were reported for the Great Backyard Bird Count. They hope many birds will be counted to represent a better snapshot of birds in our area.

For more information about the local Susquehanna Valley Audubon group, contact Inga Wells at (607) 425-7426.