The following forwarded message came from the Upper Valley Conservation Network. Offers of assistance in this nighthawk project in the Upper Valley should go directly to Lou-Anne Conroy (e-mail address and phone number below). --- Edited Message from kurt.gott --- >Date: 22 May 2008 00:29:06 -0400 >From: kurt.gott >Subject: nighthawk conservation project Hello all, message from the Upper Valley Conservation Network. Kurt UVCN -------------------------------------------------------------- --- Forwarded message from "Lou-Anne Conroy" --- >Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> >From: "Lou-Anne Conroy" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: nighthawk conservation project >Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 15:49:48 -0400 Hello Kurt, Molly at the Hanover Conservation Council and Vicki Smith recommended that I contact you about Project Nighthawk. She mentioned that you would be able to send this message out to others. I would greatly appreciate the help in getting the word out about Project Nighthawk! I am a new volunteer for this NH Audubon project and am interested in finding people here in the Upper Valley who would also like to be involved with this experiment. As you may know, this project is based on Ken Klapper's masters thesis project out of Antioch and includes constructing 9' X 9' peastone gravel nest patches on flat roofed businesses in downtown areas. There may be a correlation between the disappearance of this once abundant bird in the Upper Valley downtown areas and the change from peastone gravel and tar roofs to rubber membrane roofs and large gravel ballast roofs 10 or so years ago. Last year many nest patches were constructed in downtown Keene and Concord and just today I was notified that volunteers there have sighted returning nighthawks to these downtowns. They are back in the state! Needless to say, the volunteers in Concord and Keene are eager to see if these nighthawks are enticed by the nest patches this year! A couple of weeks ago, I coordinated and assisted Lyme Timber in the construction of Hanover's first nest patches on 23 and 63 S. Main St. (Bank of America and Canoe Club roofs) with Roy Von Vleck, Robbie Harlow and Andy Badger, all very generous, enthusiastic and supportive of this project. Although I have approached Dartmouth Real Estate and Investment Properties, individuals there were very interested but the nest construction was thwarted by the fear of liability issues on there part. They own many good buildings in Centerra as well as several in downtown Hanover. I have approached Jim Rubens (Hanover Park-Clay's Store,etc.) who was interested but again NH Audubon could not agree to the conditions he wanted which involved getting an attorney involved to draw up a liability document. There have been a few other businesses I have contacted but they have not shown much interest this year. (Gilberte's roof would be a great one but no one there has shown much initiative) I did send a press release and other information to a contact at the Valley News and I am hoping they run some publicity for this project. I have also emailed Douglas Bolger, a conservation biologist, at Dartmouth a couple of weeks ago but have not heard back. (I realize it is a very hectic time for Dartmouth folks. I don't expect to hear from him for awhile.) At this point, I would greatly appreciate any help with the following: 1) coordinated monitoring of the downtown area, at least Hanover but also Lebanon for returning nighthawks in the area from now until late July in the evenings or early mornings 2) general notification of local birders to be on the look out for nighthawks migrating through and recording any sightings with date and location and birds seen 3) coordinating monitoring of any nesting birds on 23 and/or 63 S. Main St. and any chicks that may appear (!) if any do decide to nest in Hanover this year 4) providing me with a list of potential contacts who would be interested in allowing nest patches to be constructed on their roof or perhaps you would be interested in contacting people The following is a good link to information regarding Project Nighthawk. Project Nighthawk page http://nhbirdrecords.org/Nighthawk/Nighthawk-main.html Here is a Press Release and NH Audubon contact information: http://www.nhaudubon.org/pdf/04-08-ProjectNighthawk.pdf Feel free to email me or call me at 603-236-9264 (I live in Lyme). I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you! Sincerely, Lou-Anne Conroy --- End of forwarded text --- Thank You, Kurt Gotthardt [log in to unmask] "In Nature, everything is connected to something else, nothing is ever wasted, and every natural act has a purpose." [This message was forwarded by George Clark of Norwich, VT] **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. 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