WHO WE ARE:
The Keweenaw Raptor Survey is a joint project between Copper Country Audubon Club and the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society. The KRS also is partnered with Michigan Audubon Society. KRS is managed by a four person volunteer committee including two individuals each as representatives of CCAC and LWAS. In addition the managing committee, KRS hires a field staffer as the spring raptor counter.
Contact email:
keweenawraptorsurvey@gmail.com
2011 Spring Counter – Arthur Green
Arthur Green hails from Mount Kisco, New York. A lifelong love of nature came full circle several years ago when Arthur realized he’d garnered greater satisfaction studying birds than composing music; he soon made the decision to retool his life accordingly.
For the past two years, Arthur has organized the count program at Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, a fall watchsite in Bedford, New York sponsored by the Bedford Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy. Arthur serves on the board of the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) and leads bird walks for several organizations in Westchester County, New York.
Arthur is honored to be selected by KRS in 2011 to help document the avian migration observed from Brockway Mountain.
KRS Managing Committee
Greg Cleary
Greg is the chairman of the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society in Marquette and coordinator of Christmas Bird Counts in Marquette and at Whitefish Point. He has worked for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II as a field surveyor and author. He has led field trips for the Tucson Audubon Society and Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society.
Zach Gayk
Zach is a biology student at Northern Michigan University, and a board member of Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society. Keenly interested in science, he is fascinated by the ecology and evolution of northern birds, particularly Great Lakes island populations. He has worked as a contract biologist for Copper County Audubon Club, and Hiawatha National Forest, and as an field biologist and author for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II.
Skye Christopher G. Haas
Skye is a naturalist and contract biologist living in Marquette, MI. He has worked for the last 8 years for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II as a field biologist, author and technical editor. He has also done work with The Nature Conservancy, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Michigan Audubon Society leading bird tours, and was a former waterbird counter at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. Skye is also the vice-chairman of the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society, founding member of the Keweenaw Raptor Survey management committee, and is a member of the Michigan Bird Record’s Committee.
Dana Richter
Dana Richter is president of Copper Country Audubon and editor of the newsletter, Brockway Lookout. Over the past 15 years he has grown the chapter from 50 to about 300 members from Michigan and as far away as Hawaii, making it one of the largest and most active chapters of Michigan Audubon; awarded the Chapter of the Year in 2003. He has been a founding member of the Keweenaw Land Trust, serving as first treasurer and past president. He has worked on land protection projects with the Michigan Nature Association, The Nature Conservancy and the Michigan Audubon Society where he spearheaded several fund raising projects to purchase land for nature preserves. By profession he is a forest pathologist at Michigan Technological University, teaching and conducting research on fungi, wood decay and tree diseases. He has a wide range of professional publications (list at www.forest.mtu.edu) involving mushrooms, wood preservatives, fungus cultures, plants, and birds. He also writes articles and poetry about gardening and nature. He enjoys casual birding, putting up nest boxes, and bringing birds and birding to young people through presentations, field trips and working with the schools and in the community.
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Former KRS Personnel
Many thanks to these individuals for their hard work and dedication that was integral to the success of this project!
Max Henschell (2010 Spring Counter)
Max Henschell grew up in northern lower Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast. Though always interested in the outdoors and nature, his interest in birding was sparked 6 years ago by a single Magnolia Warbler. While working on Isle Royale, Max came across the bird in the middle of the trail. With little knowledge and an entire field guide to look through, it took him nearly an hour to identify. Throughout the summer his interest in birds grew. But since that summer, Max’s interest in birds and birding has become a passion. Max has been an active birder in the Keweenaw and Upper Peninsula for the last 5 years. He has had the opportunity to bird in many birding “hotspots” across the country including the Rio Grande Valley and Southeast Arizona, with a life list of over 500 birds in just a few short years. Max has worked as the waterbird counter at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory and at Seney National Wildlife Refuge as a marsh-bird surveyor as well as volunteering at Patagonia Lake State Park in Arizona as a bird walk leader and with the Manitou Island Bird Survey. Max will be completing his master’s degree from Michigan Technological University in grassland bird ecology in March before joining the KRS.
Joseph Youngman (KRS Committee 2009-2010)
Joseph Youngman (murphnjATup.net) works in the Chassell Township Public Works near Houghton in the Keweenaw. He initiated the Manitou Island Bird Survey (http://www.manitouislandbirdsurvey.org/), documents breeding birds in the Keweenaw and currently is working to locate specific pathways of migrating waterbirds and raptors through the Lake Superior basin. Joe is also a board member of the Copper Country Audubon Club.
Five of us drove from Madison up to Brockway Mountain to observe the hawk migration. The day was fine and the hawks very graceful, BUT THE BEST THING WAS THE AMAZING INFORMATION PROVIDED BY ARTHUR GREEN WHO is THE OFFICIAL COUNTER.
Arthur is not only knowledgeable about every aspect of hawk life, (how they fly, how their metabolism compares to song birds, why flying over Lake Superior is so hazardous that many opt to fly around it) but even better he is an excellent teacher. I’m sure I asked some dumb questions, being a novice, but he was able to answer them is such a way that opened the eyes and minds of everyone around. All the time, he carefully kept track of each siting.
If you get a chance go up and take advantage of his expertise. He is one in a million.