summer 2008 field notes newsletter, friends of creamer's field

8/8/2019 Summer 2008 Field Notes Newsletter, Friends of Creamer's Field

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Friends of Creamers Field Summer 2008 Newsletter

Field NotesP.O. Box 81065 Fairbanks, AK 99708 907-452-5162 [email protected] www.creamerseld.org

Our MissionFriends of Creamers Fieldis a community based, non-

profit organization dedicatedto providing educational,

historical, and interpretiveprograms throughout the yearat Creamers Field Migratory

Waterfowl Refuge.

Inside this issueBoreal Forest Trail Update .. 5

Farmhouse Visitor Center ... 4

Garden Volunteers .............. 4

Growing our Membership ... 2

Kids Nutty Chatter .............. 7

New Operations Manager ... 4

Online Membership ............ 9

Quilt Rafe .......................... 5

Refuge Hosts ...................... 4

Review of Spring Events .... 6

Status of Barns ................... 3

Thank You ........................... 8

Upcoming Events ............... 5

Friends of Creamers Field presents the third annual

Design Alaska Wild Arts Walk!

Imagine a perfect spring day. Swallows dipdown to snatch the few early mosquitoes outof the air, wildowers bloom in the swales, andbird songs waft out over a winding row of festivecanopies bedecked with ribbons and balloons.

On June 7th

, from Noon5 pm we will holdthe third annual Design Alaska Wild ArtsWalk. This event is a fundraiser for Friends ofCreamers Field. The proceeds make it possible

for us to offer free family-oriented programsthroughout the year. Design Alaska has gra-ciously agreed to be our event sponsor againthis year.

Artists will be stationed along a loop trailthat begins and ends near the Farmhouse Visitor Center. There will be many stationsrepresenting a wide array of arts. For those of you who enjoy making crafts, paint onrainy Saturdays, or just want to see a range of talents, this is a chance to meet artist guild

members and see them at work. This event will take place rain or shine, hopefully shineIn the event of rain therewill be large tents set

up near the FarmhouseVisitor Center for thoseartists who need shelter.

Admission to this event

is $10 (kids 17 and underare admitted free). In-cluded in the admission

price is a locally made

pastry and a cup of bird-friendly coffee, cocoa, ortea.

We are still looking forvolunteers to help withthis event. For more infor-mation, contact Friends

of Creamers Field at452-5162 or [email protected]. See you

there!

Dragony Day June 21st

Do you happen to know what the Alaska state insectis? No it is not a mosquito, it is in fact the Four Spot-ted Skimmer (adopted in 1995 and voted in by countlesselementary students). Are you interested in learning more

about our state insect and its Alaskan kin? Join Friends ofCreamers Field and the US Fish and Wildlife Service onJune 21st, 10 am5 pm for the rst annual Dragony Day

at Creamers Field. Knowledge of Alaskas 32 species of

dragonies was recently made more accessible through theguide book, Dragonies of Alaska, written and compiled byJohn Hudson and Robert H. Armstrong. These two spe-

cialists will be on hand at Dragony Day, along with otherentomological experts, to educate visitors on identicationand proper collection techniques. Scheduled nature walks,crafts and information tables from local organizations will

be on hand to make the day fun for all ages. This is a freeevent, however donations are greatly appreciated. If

you want to help, participate, or get more infor-

mation on this exciting new event, please contactMelissa Sikes at 452-5162.


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Friends of Creamers Field

Board Members

Bob Craig

Roxie Creamer, Vice President

Pat DeRuyter

Ray Hadley

Kris Hundertmark

Donna Krier

Sherry Lewis, Secretary

Gail Mayo, Treasurer

Herb Melchior

Joy Morrison, President

Jon RunstadlerE. Tom Robinson

Non-Voting MembersAlexis Runstadler,

Development Director

Melissa Sikes,

Program Director

Cathie Harms (ADFG)

Mark D. Ross (ADFG)

This issue of Field Notes wasproduced by Mary Zalar.

For a while there, we thoughtspring would never come. A fewgeese and swans arrived on the snowyelds and it seemed as if most of Fair-

banks migrated to Creamers Field to

see them, consoling themselves that ifthere were birds, warmer weather andgreener colors were sure to follow.

Creamers Field Migratory Water-fowl Refuge is our local wildlife Ref-uge tucked within the community ofFairbanks but it is also many other

things. It is a sense of open space, apastoral view, and a cluster of lovelyhistoric buildings reminding us of the

Interiors agricultural past. It is aplace to be alone, or a place to enjoythe company of others, including theanimals that visit and live on the Ref-

uge. It is a place to bring our childrenand our visitors. So many Interiorresidents come to Creamers Field, afew on a daily basis and others just

on a whim as they drive by on CollegeRoad. Last year, we recorded over60,000 people on the Refuge trails and

that number does not account for all ofthe Refuge users who watch the birds

from the front viewing area, stop byfor a picnic lunch, or access the Refuge

trails from Joy Elementary School orthe Alaska Bird Observatory.

Even without accurate Refuge user

counts, we all know how importantCreamers Field is to our community.We know that the community ralliedto raise $6,000 right after the devas-

tating ood of 1967 to preserve theintegrity of the site. We know thecommunity has worked hard to keep

the Refuge and its elds and woodsfree from development throughoutthe years (including strong oppositionto the Alaska Department of Fish

& Games building expansions). Wesee widespread community interestand support in the Fairbanks DailyNews-Miner on a weekly basis with

positive Letters to the Editor and aplethora of beautiful photographs ofwildlife, people, and the winter view

of the moon or aurora framed above

the rooftops of the barns.I know that the Refuge, our pro

grams and events, and the historicbuildings are important to youour

Friends of Creamers Field membersBy nancially supporting the community-based nonprot Friends of Creamers Field, you are helping to ensure

that the Refuge remains accessible tothe community, that family and educational programs are offered free on the

Refuge, that the beauty and open spaceof the Refuge will endure, and that oneday the historic farm buildings will beopen for the community to explore.

Right now we need more people inthe community to make that connection between enjoying Creamers Fieldand becoming a member of Friends of

Creamers Field. Our membership totacurrently stands at about 400, whichis a far cry from the number of people

who use the Refuge and participate inFriends of Creamers Field sponsoredevents and programs. Increasing ourmembership is the very best way to

concretely demonstrate how much the

community supports the CreamersField Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.

Our goal is to increase membership

this year by 30%. To achieve this goalwe are going to reach out to local businesses with a new business membership

And we are reaching out to you, ourcurrent members, for you to ask at leasta couple of your friends, co-workers, orneighbors if they can support the Ref

uge by becoming a member of Friendof Creamers Field. It is very easy to

join Friends of Creamers Field via ourweb page at www.creamerseld.org (see

page 9) and we always accept papermembership forms at the Farmhouseby fax, or by mail. Our memberships

are reasonably priced, and you receivemany benets with your annual membership.

Please join me in bringing more Ref

uge users and community supporters toFriends of Creamers Field this year.

Growing Our MembershipBy Alexis Runstadler, Development Director

Alexis RunstadlerDevelopment Director


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To all of you who tooktime to contact yourlegislators supporting theAlaska Department of

Fish and Games (ADFG)

two million dollar fund-ing request to build a newstorage facility THANK

YOU! We received feedbackfrom legislative staffersand the Governors liaisonfor ADFG that your voices

were heard loud and clear!As a result of your efforts,the funding request made it

back into the capital bud-get after being removed bythe Senate Finance Com-mittee. Governor Palin

has now signed the capitalbudget, and the two milliondollars for the ADFG stor-age facility has remained

fully funded. We have nowcleared the rst hurdle to-wards opening the historic

dairy barns to the public!We now have a new hur-

dle to be negotiated, andwe will be asking for your

help again soon. Duringthe last year, the Friends ofCreamers Field (FCF) His-toric Buildings Committee

(made up of FCF Boardmembers, FCF staff, andcommunity members) has

been meeting with ADFGto discuss the location ofthis new storage facility.The Historic Buildings

Committee has a two-partgoal regarding the newstorage facility, which is as

follows:1. All storage and equip-

ment will be moved outof the creamery and

barns as well as thefenced yard behind thebuildings, except for

equipment necessaryfor the farming of the

elds.2. A new ADFG storage

facility will not be con-

structed in any part ofthe Refuge elds.

After these two goals aremet, Friends of Creamers

Field can work to ensurethe buildings are madesafe and accessible for thepublic

Goal #1 has consis-tently been agreed upon byADFG given their inabil-ity to secure their stored

equipment against theft,their concern for visitorsafety around the Farm-

house and picnic area whenequipment is being movedout of storage, and theirmandate that the public

cannot gain access to thebarns until all ADFG stor-age has been removed.

Unfortunately, the sec-

ond goal does not holdthe same importance withADFG in Juneau that

it does with Friends ofCreamers Field and mostassuredly the communitythat we represent. As part

of their internal process,ADFG reactivated theCreamers Refuge Com-

munity Advisory Groupand held one meeting onMay 19th to discuss the is-sue of the storage facility

location. This CommunityAdvisory Group last metin the early 1990s and iscomprised of representa-

tives from some of thecommunity groups thatuse the Refuge, including

Friends of Creamers Field,the University of Alaska

Fairbanks, the Alaska Ski-

joring and Pulk Associa-tion, and the Alaska BirdObservatory.

The Community Advi-

sory Group members pres-ent at the May 19th meetingunanimously supportedGoal #2 and rejected any

plans to locate the newstorage facility within thepresent Refuge boundaries.

At this time, the Com-munity Advisory Groupsrecommendation is to pur-

sue the purchase of privateacreage adjacent to Refugeboundaries for the locationof the new storage facility.The Community Advisory

Group also unanimouslyrecommended to ADFGthat Friends of Creamers

Field take on the leadershiprole of bringing togetherall of the various Refugegroups, our membership,

local legislators, and thecommunity in an effort toacquire a parcel of land

adjacent to the Refuge.We dont currently know

if ADFG is planning an-other Community Advisory

Group meeting or if theyintend to gather additionalcommunity input on thisproject, but we feel strongly

Status of Opening the Barns to the PublicBy Alexis Runstadler, Development Director

that a thorough public

review process is necessarygiven the communitysstrong attachment to theundeveloped space and

open views across Creamers Field.

Friends of CreamersField and the Historic

Buildings Committee wilcontinue to work withADFG to achieve Goa

#2 and follow the recommendations made by theCreamers Refuge Commu

nity Advisory Group. Youwill assuredly be hearingmore about this in the locamedia in the near futureand we will keep you up to

date in this newsletter andvia e-mail.

If you have any ques

tions, or would like to helpduring this important phaseof our effort to open thehistoric barns to the public

please call us at 452-5162 orstop by the Farmhouse. Ifyou would like to start re

ceiving timely informationand announcements fromus via e-mail, please sendus an e-mail at creamers@

ptialaska.net and let usknow that you want to beadded to our e-mail list.


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Farmhouse Visitor Center

The Creamers Field Farmhouse Visitor Center and Gift Shopis now open every day from 10 am to 5 pm. In previous yearsthe Visitor Center was open daily only in the months of June, Julyand August. However, based on our observations that more and

more visitors arrive in Fairbanks before June 1st and leave later inSeptember, this year we extended our summer season and beganour daily hours May 17th and will end them on September 15th

The Farmhouse Visitor Center and Gift Shop is staffed solely byvolunteers, and we always welcome new volunteers to our teamShifts are 3-1/2 hours long from 10 am 1:30 pm or 1:30 pm 5pm Tuesdays through Fridays. Training is provided, and you dont

need a background in biology or history just a desire to volunteersome of your time, learn something new, and meet and talk withvisitors about Creamers Field and Fairbanks!

We also have some new items in the Gift Shop this summer

including a new Sandhill Crane T-shirt for kids and adults. We wilalso be carrying some dragony related gift items and books tocoincide with this years Dragony Day on June 21st.

Anna Creamer Garden Volunteers

Come work in Anna Creamers Vegetable Garden this summerThe garden volunteer group is gearing up to plant this yearsFarmhouse vegetable garden. More volunteers of all ages are need-ed for planting, weeding, watering, and just enjoying the warm

earth in the front yard of the Farmhouse. For those volunteerswith young children, the garden is a child-friendly space. Gardenduties are a combination of scheduled work days and just stoppingby to do some weeding and watering! All produce harvested from

the Farmhouse garden is donated to the Stone Soup Caf, whichhelps to feed some of the homeless in Fairbanks.

The rst scheduled garden work days for planting are on Tues-day, June 3rd and Wednesday, June 4th. For more information, call

Carrie Dershin at 488-6753 or e-mail her at [email protected].

Summer Refuge Hosts

Our rst Refuge hosts have arrived and arealready working in the Farmhouse VisitorCenter. Dan and Becky Mikles both retired lastyear and moved from Sacramento, California toLivingston, Texas. This is their rst visit to Alaska

and they are already enjoying the communityof Fairbanks. They will be stafng the Farm-house Visitor Center and Gift Shop on Saturdays,Sundays, and Mondays as well as caretaking the

grounds around the Farmhouse and helping outwith the Design Alaska Wild Arts Walk. They arelooking forward to exploring more of Alaska afterthey leave Fairbanks at the end of June.

Ralph and Nancy Weston of Austin, Texas willbe our Refuge hosts starting on June 28th, and Nor-man and Jalone Schaefer of Sioux Falls, South

Dakota will be our Refuge hosts starting August9th. Our Refuge hosts only neighbors are thewoodchucks and birds, so stop by the Farmhousefor a neighborly visit and help us welcome them to

Fairbanks.

New Creamers Refuge

Operations Manager

Please join us in welcoming Laurie Boeck to theCreamers team! She is the Alaska Depart-ment of Fish and Games (ADFG) new Refuge

Operations/Facilities Manager. Laurie has workedfor ADFG for seven years at both the front desk andin the Commercial Fish Division. Laurie brings alot of energy and enthusiasm to this position, and

she is committed to fostering better communica-tion between ADFG, the community, and Refugecooperators like Friends of Creamers Field.

Volunteer at the Farmhouse Visitor Center or Garden this summer!

The farm house woodchuck

asks, How does your garden grow?

Please may I suggest.

A row of carrots,

and near by some nice lettuce,

Beets would top it off.

by Ray Hadley


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Upcoming Eventsat Creamers FieldAll events are located at Creamers Field MigratoryWaterfowl Refuge unless otherwise noted. Call 452-

5162 for more information.

Design Alaska Wild Arts WalkSaturday, June 7th, Noon5 pmStroll among a colorful variety of art-

ists as they demonstrate their skillsand display their work in this festivefundraising event. Admission is $10 (kids 17 and underfree) and will include a locally made pastry and a cup of

gourmet bird-friendly coffee, cocoa, or tea.

Dragonfy Day

SaturdayJune 21st, 10 am5 pm

Local scientists will gather to educate the public about

dragonies and their kin and train folks on how to prop -erly collect and record data on these amazing insects. Free

event.

Guided Nature Walks

Weekdays throughout June, July, and August

Join Friends of Creamers Field naturalists on a GuidedNature Walk to learn more about the wonders of InteriorAlaska. Walks begin at the Creamers Field FarmhouseVisitor Center, 1011 am Monday through Friday and 78

pm Wednesdays.

Saturday Mornings with an Artist

Every Saturday, JuneAugust, 10 am2 pmEach week, a different artist will set up their art for view-ing and for sale at the Farmhouse Visitor Center.

11th Annual Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival

FridaySunday, August 2224th

This years keynote speaker will be John Acorn, an in-credibly entertaining naturalist and TV personality fromEdmonton, Alberta. The weekend will include a Crane Fes-

tival Reception on Friday evening; tickets are $25/personor $35/couple ($20/person or $30/couple for members ofFriends of Creamers Field). Saturday and Sundays events

include bird and nature walks, crafts, a crane calling con-test, and many more activities. Daytime events are free ofcharge, except for the Brunch with the Cranes on Saturdaywhich will cost $8 per person ($6 for members of Friends

of Creamers Field). On Saturday night, John Acorn willgive a presentation at UAFs Schaible Auditorium. Thereis a suggested donation of $5/person. Sundays events willconclude with the annual Tex-Mex Dinner where you can

enjoy delicious food donated by local Mexican restaurants.Minimum donation is $10 per person. Proceeds from theTex-Mex dinner will benet Camp Habitat.

2008 Friends of Creamers

Field Quilt Rafe

Karin Franzen has generously donated another gor-geous quilt for our 2008 rafe. The quilt can nowbe seen at the Farmhouse Visitor Center, and tickets

are available for purchase there. You can also see thequilt and buy tickets at all upcoming programs suchas the Design Alaska Wild Arts Walk, the Tanana Val-

ley State Fair, and the Tanana Valley Crane Festival.Tickets are one for $5 or ve for $20. The winning ticket

will be drawn on August 24th at the Crane Festival heldat Creamers Field, and the winner does not need to be

present at the drawing.

Boreal Forest Trail Update

During the month of June, we will be putting thenishing touches on the Boreal Forest Trail. Thegravel for the wheelchair accessible extension will beput down to link the extension boardwalk with theFarm Road Trail, new benches will be installed, andthe new interpretive signage will be put in place.

We plan on holding a grand reopening ceremonyfor the Boreal Forest Trail in late July, and we will

contact you witha postcard when

we have the dateset.

Boreal forest trailboardwalk.

Photo by Jess Ryan

Artist Dan Kennedy

Karin Franzens quilt, titled Pirouette 1.


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Snowy Spring at Creamers FieldBy Melissa Sikes, Program Director

It was a very snowy spring which seemed to interruptthe normal ow of migration to the Interior and nestingareas up north. The rst birds on the eld this spring werefour Canada Geese that arrived on schedule April 13th. Thenext day, April 14th, four swans ew over the Farmhouse,but did not stick around. The geese were spotted again onMonday, but then almost a week passed before any birds

were on the eld again. The following Sunday, April 20th,a large number of geese showed up all at once. One countput it at around 600 birds.

These birds stayed around all week for the Fifth GradeBird Watch participants to observe. During that week, weoften saw many swans on the eld. One day I counted 16swans at once on the eld. We also had a lone Snow Goose

that came in with the geese on April 20th.An unusual pair of hybrid snow geese perplexed many

of the birders with discussions of exactly which speciesthey were hybridized from. The rst Sandhill Crane was

heard on the back elds on April 29th. With a huge latesnowfall came a high water level on the seasonal pond dur-ing the week of May 5th. This heralded the rst sounds of

the wood frog chorus in the ooded seasonal pond.As of the writing of this article, cranes ll the elds,

shorebird migration is in full swing, the tree swallows aresettling into the bird boxes in the eld, and the rst cliff

swallows have been sighted. Spring sure is an exciting timehere at Creamers Field!

Spring Events at Creamers Field

Spring was very unusual this year with snow as late as themiddle of April which kept us guessing as to whethesome of our spring events might have to be rescheduledHowever, all the events and programs went on as plannedand were well attended despite weather.

The rst event was the return of the Owl Program, heldat the Noel Wien Library on March 20th. Nancy DeWitand Ted Swem gave a wonderful presentation about locaowls. The presentation was the rst session for the Natural

ist Training Program which continued with sessions everyThursday evening until May 8th. Many folks came to thetraining sessions, and we have a whole new crop of walk

leaders and volunteers ready to help out with the naturewalks and Farmhouse Visitor Center this summer. We wilrun the training program again next year for those whomight be interested in attending. We still welcome volun

teers at any time. Just stop by the Farmhouse and introduc

yourself.Shortly after the Owl program, we had a Spring Equi

nox Walk on March 22 th. Seven people come out for a brisk

nature walk. The weather was just starting to break fromthe icy grip of winters chill, and signs of spring were stila few weeks from really getting started, but we did see lot

of late winter activity.The next big event was the annual Fifth Grade Bird

Watch that took place from April 21st to April 25th. Hundreds of fth graders participated in the 42nd annual pro

gram. The elds were full of geese and ducks that arrivedjust in time for this annual education event.

Saturday, April 26th was the annual Spring MigrationCelebration. Despite the cold and snowy weather, over 300

folks stopped by Creamers Field and the Alaska PublicLands Information Center to participate in many activitiesuch as bird watching, puppet shows, games, crafts and

more. A big thank you goes to all our incredible volunteerswe couldnt have done it without you.

Sandhill Cranes courting,

Pintails swimming in pairs.

Spring is in the air.

by Ray Hadley

An unusual pair of hybrid snow geese stopped at Creamers

Field this spring. Photo by Ron Teel

Trumpeter Swans at Creamers Field. Photo by Ken Whitten


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Summer is a hopping time for birds at Creamers Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. Birds areon the elds, birds are in the woods, and birds are on the seasonal pond. Many birds choose touse the variety of habitats at Creamers Field to nest and raise their young. Come out and see ourfabulous birds, take a walk on the trails, and visit the Alaska Bird Observatory banding station to

learn more about our migrant visitors.

An easy craft to make:

Toilet Paper Tube Binoculars

Materials needed: toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes cut in half, paper hole-

punch, yarn, tape, scissors, markers, stickers.

Tape tubes together. Have children decorate the binoculars. Punch one hole in theend of each tube. Tie string to tubes. This will be the strap of the binoculars so

they can be worn around the neck. This can be a strangle hazard. Do not connect

tubes or do not add strap to prevent this hazard.

Summer Birds at Creamers Field

F L I C K E R C H S L R F S

G N G N I W X A W A P E V S

R W I D G E O N C N G K C E

L E R T S E K H N D N C B HY E G X E E S E E P I E L R

J M R P T U S D N I T P A E

A A I D R I T N A P N D C L

Y N F H S H I R R E U O K B

S J T K P L G T C R B O B R

C A N A D A G O O S E W I A

H N B M E W G U L L O P R W

U N A W O R R A P S N S D M

O E E D A K C I H C S H L F

B T T J S W A L L O W K N M

CANADA GOOSE WARBLER MEW GULL SANDPIPER

CHICKADEE WOODPECKER WAXWING SNIPE

FLICKER THRUSH CRANE SPARROW

SWALLOW KESTREL BLACKBIRD WIDGEON

Kids Nutty Chatter

W.D.Berr

y


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Become a member of Friends of Creamers Field, make a donation, or renew your membership.

(Please check the renewal date in the corner of your mailing label.)

New Member Renewal Donation $______

$15 Students & Seniors $20 Individual $40 Family $75 Supporter

$100 Contributor $250 Steward $500 Patron* $1000 Lifetime*

Patron and Lifetime: please check here if you would like to receive a historic Randall Compton print of Creamers

Dairy signed by the Creamer family with your membership (valued at $150).

Payment:Cash Check Credit card Visa or MasterCard (circle one)

Card Number _________________________________ Expiration Date ______

Signature ____________________________________ VCode*: ____________*3 digit code on card back

Name __________________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________________

City ___________________________ State _________ Zip __________

Phone __________________ Email________________________________

This is a gift membership for the above name from _________________________________

I have a new mailing address, phone, or email.

I would like to receive my newsletter via email.

I would like to volunteer. Please contact me with information about upcoming volunteer orientation sessions.

Friends of Creamers Field is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your donation is fully tax deductible to the extent allowable by law.

Membership Response Form

Friends of Creamers FieldPO Box 81065

Fairbanks, Alaska 99708

907-452-5162 (ofce)907-459-7309 (Visitors Center)

email: [email protected]

website: www.creamerseld.org

We continue to make updates andenhancements to our web page,www.creamerseld.org and invite youto go online and see what we have

done! The newest enhancement is

the ability to renew your Friends ofCreamers Field membership online

with a credit card. This is a securetransaction handled for us by thenonprot organization Groundspring.org and you can access this feature by

clicking on the Donate Now buttonnear the bottom of our home page orthe Become A Member link at thetop of our home page. The online

membership form also allows you tospecify how you would like to receiveyour Field Notes newsletter and event

notications.Besides just renewing your mem-

bership, this service allows you to setyour membership to automatically re-

new annually. You can also purchase agift membership, make an additionaldonation, or make a recurring dona-

tion every month, three months, oryear. If you set up a recurring trans-

action, Groundspring.org will sendyou a username and password for their

web site so that you can change orcancel your recurring transactions atany time. The benets of this serviceto you are convenience, a secure credit

card transaction, and an immediatee-mail receipt after your transactionis completed. Using this online service

also allows you to pay with an Ameri-can Express card, which we arent ableto accept here in the ofce.

If you dont know when your

Friends of Creamers Field member-ship expires, check the date on yournewsletter mailing label or you canalways call us at 452-5162. You can

Online Membership Renewal Now Available!www.creamerseld.org

still renew your membership with

the membership form below or byprinting out a membership form fromour web site (click on the Become AMember link at the top of our home

page). These forms can be droppedoff at the ofce, mailed, or faxed tous at 452-5300. Friends of Creamer

Field is a 501(c)(3) organization. Yourmemberships and donations are fullytax deductible to the extent allowableby law.


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FriendsofCreamersFieldP.O.Box81065

Fairbanks,Alaska99708www.creamersfield.org

Isittimetorenewyourmembership?

Mark D. Ross, Creamers Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge

The Season of SongutdoorAlmanac:c

yellow warbler

on willow

voice:

sweet, sweet,

Im so sweet

orange-crowned warbler

on tamarack

voice:

afast,hightrill,rising

orfallingattheend

MeetattheFarmhousebackbythebarns.

Nature Walks

Thesnipessongisnotitsvoice.Thehootingsoundis

generatedbywindrushing

throughspreadtailfeathersas

thebirddivesduringflight.

whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo

voice:

You will re-mem-ber me

white-crowned sparrowWilsons snipe

tailsound:

whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo

Monday - Friday, 10 a.m.

Birdsong will be at its height soon.

Sparrows,thrushes,warblersandmany

morewillalljointhespringchorusofsing-

ingbirds.Birdssingforavarietyofrea-

sonsmostimportantlytodefendterritory

andattractamate.Everyspecieshasa

distinctivesound,butnotallsinglovelysongs.Somedontsingatallandnotall

birdsoundisvocal.Afewgrousespe-

ciesdrumwithwingsorfeet;and

woodpeckerssingbyhammeringon

trees.Oneofourlocalbirdssingswith

itstail.Seethedescriptionbelow.

information:459-7307

at Creamers field

Starting June 1:

Wednesday, 7 p.m.

June 2nd

summer 2008 field notes newsletter, friends of creamer's field

Documents