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Weekend fun; birding camp hiring



HI c-birders,

Pasted at the bottom of this message is a post from the Virginia bird 
list looking for summer camp counselors for a nature camp based in the 
northern Blue Ridge. Anyone who knows a college-aged person who is savvy 
to birds or other wildlife and looking for a summer job might want to 
pass this along to them. The staff live at the camp, so they don't have 
to live in or near Virginia to apply.

Like Steve Schultz, I had a great time on the pelagic trip Saturday; many 
thanks to Brian for throwing it together on relatively short notice! I'm 
sure you'll all be glad that you'll no longer hear me whine about how the 
Little Gulls all vanish the day before I arrive anywhere... Two details 
Steve left off his summary were a Basking Shark and the reappearance of 
an albino Northern Gannett which Brian reported from his last trip. 
Nearly as much fun as all the birds was seeing many familiar faces on the 
boat: Mike Tove (who sold me a copy of his new field guide to N. Atlantic 
pelagic wildlife), John Fussell, John Wright, Hartsell Cash, Bill Suggs 
(actually a familiar name from e-mail whom I'd never met in person), and 
plenty more. 

Steve, Bill, and Hartsell joined Frank and I as we spent our little 
remaining daylight after the trip visiting the piers in Avon and Rodanthe 
again; still no sign of either Harlequin Duck or Western Grebe there.

After finally sleeping for a few hours Saturday night (I drove from 
Durham to Hatteras starting after midnight on Friday, having woken at 8 
AM that morning, then returned to Durham near midnight Saturday, about 40 
hours without sleep), I joined some friends from the Duke Natural History 
Society to begin our inventory of Irvin Farm near Carrboro. Our species 
list was actually dominated by mosses, not surprising given the weather! 
What was surprising was the total absence of White-throated Sparrows, a 
species that had been abundant at this same spot a few weeks ago. Could 
they be heading north already? The weather was damp, and our group a 
little more talkative than last time, but neither really enough so to 
explain such a dramatic change... Our bird species list was entirely 
pedestrian species, the only real winter species recorded being 
Golden-crowned Kinglet, and the most unusual bird sighting probably a 
pair of courting Northern Flickers.

Later that night a few of us re-assembled to visit our local salamander 
breeding pond. No owls heard, but did find lots of breeding Spotted 
Salamanders and Chorus Frogs (Patrick Coin and I were discussing whether 
they were Upland or Southern) and larval Marbled Salamanders, plus one 
adult Marbled under a rock nearby.

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: summer camp positions
From: Paul Cabe <CabeP@WLU.EDU>
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 11:42:35 -0500

Several messages earlier in the spring referred to Nature Camp, which
offers instruction in ornithology (among other subjects)  to children
grades 5-11.

We are in the process of hiring staff for the coming summer.  Most of
our staff are college-age, and live on site (with room and board) for
the summer.  Those students particularly interested in ornithology may
be interested to learn that a colleague and I also do field research on
Acadian Flycatchers at Nature Camp during the summers.  Interested staff
are encouraged to assist with this.

I am pasting below a standard job ad for those who may be interested.

Nature Camp, Inc. is accepting applications for instructors/counselors
for Summer 2001.  As an academic camp specializing in the natural
sciences and environmental concerns, we seek people who are passionate
about and knowledgeable in some aspect of natural history; courses
typically offered include ornithology, botany, entomology, geology,
herpetology, conservation biology, etc.  All courses emphasize
field-based experiential learning.  Nature Camp is located in the George
Washington National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and
has been offering summer educational programs since 1942.  Dates for
summer 2001 are 12 June - 15 Aug; strong preference given to those able
to work the entire season.  All staff live on site. For more
information, contact Dr. Paul Cabe, cabep@wlu.edu.



Paul R. Cabe
Biology Department
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
(540)463-8894
(540)463-8012 (fax)