EXCITING YOUTH BIRDING & LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Doug Tarry Awards for the summer 2002 Young Omithologists Workshop are now open for 
     
     application. The workshop will be held at Long Point Bird Observatory on Lake Erie from August 2 to August 9. 
     
     This week of learning activities and fun will include bird banding, censusing, field identificatiOn, birding trips, bird 
     
     skinning, guest lectures, warbler model making, and much more. Six lucky applicants aged 13 to 17 will be 
     
     selected for the Doug Tarry Study Awards. These recipients will have all expenses (except travel costs) paid. 
     
    

    
     Applications are open until April 30th, 2002. For additional information and an application form, contact: 
     
     Jody Allair at Bird Studies Canada email: lpbo@bsc-eoc.org), or visit the BSC web site (www.bsc- 
     
     eog.org/lpbo/yow.html)[adapted from LPBO 33:3, Fall 2001] 
     
    
   
   
    
     NEWS FROM ABOUT: Compiled by J. Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     A male Piping Plover banded While tending a nest at Cabot Provincial Park on June 25, 2001 was seen twice 
     
     at Little Talbot Island by Patrick Leary first on Nov. 7 and then on Dec. 19 (from E-maii forwarded by Diane 
     
     Amirault of CWS Sackville) 
     
    

    
     The causeway to Robinson's Island in the PEI National Park was blocked off on Nov. 25 because of the 
     
     damage from the nor'wester (LM). 
     
    

    
     Congratulations to Bird Studies Canada which is in the process of completing its new headquarters, a 
     
    
   
   
    
     permanent home for its programs on the conservation of wild birds and their habitats. The grand opening is planned 
     
     for June Ist, 2002. 
     
    
   
   
    
     AUTHOR’S AMONGST US: By J. Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     How do you mix vivid descriptions of the colours, sounds, and behaviour of Columbia’s diversity of birds 
     
     with the intrigue of mystery? How do you add in a discussion of mysticism and the psychological impact of helping 
     
     to create atomic bombs with lessons in natural history, evolution, continental drift, and religious interpretation? 
     
     James Munves, a Society member who splits his time between Morell and New York, has done just that in his book 
     
     Andes Rising. 
     
    

    
     Mr. Munves takes the reader on an historical journey through bird evolution, museum development, and 
     
     jealousies between scientists during the quest for what happened to Dr. Thomas Cooper, a nuclear physicist turned 
     
     Peace Core volunteer, who re-discovers the Turquoise Dacnis-Tanager (Pseudodacnis harlaubx). As only partially 
     
     documented records and study skins remain of this species, the competition to prove its existence through the 
     
     collection of a specimen leads to political competition. The vehicles chosen by the author include: a Mother’s 
     
     request for her Rabbi’s assistance in finding her son thought to have been lost in a landslide in Columbia; the 
     
     discovery of her son’s (Dr. Cooper) notebooks; the exploration through these notes of Dr. Cooper’s personal 
     
     journey and his internal discourse with the noted American omithologist Frank M. Chapman who collected 
     
     thousands of bird skins and, among other books, wrote the Distribution of Bird Life in Columbia in 1917 . 
     
    

    
     The path on this journey is convoluted. There are wonderful details on bird behaviour and their selection of 
     
     habitats as well as tidbits on evolutionary theory and many facets of natural history. The book draws the reader into 
     
     the web of competition between scientists and Dr. Cooper’s need to ensure he does not contribute to the loss of this 
     
     specres. 
     
    

    
     Andes Rising is published by New Directions. 
     
    
   
   
    
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