f 3 - 
     
    
   
   
    
     There will be ample opportunity for others to become 
     
     involved. If you want to get in on some of the action, contact 
     
     one of the Chairmen or committee members and they will find an 
     
     activity suitable to the time and talents you have to offer. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Action at a Birdfeeder in Lewis Point 
     
    
   
   
    
     Our feeder has not had as many Juncos or Black-Capped 
     
     Chickadees as other years, about 6 or 7 of each at one time. 
     
     We have had 7 Bluejays at one time and this past month a pair 
     
     of Brown-capped Chickadees and a pair of Tree Sparrows visit every 
     
     day. Three squirrels also come but are certainly not on good 
     
     terms with each other and do not want the birds to have 
     
     anything. I put out ham scraps and the squirrels vigorously 
     
     tug and pull as they try to carry away pieces as large as they 
     
     are. The only way to have pieces of fat remain for all to eat 
     
     is to put a large nail through them and affix it to the feeding 
     
     platform. 
     
    
   
   
    
     When we lived in Parkdale the only birds we had were 
     
     Starlings by the dozen, English Sparrows and some gulls. We 
     
     are quite happy that the Starlings and Sparrows have not yet 
     
     found us here. We had one Starling once in 1975. We have 
     
     had Evening Grosbeaks in other years, but none so far this 
     
     winter. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Miriam West 
     
     West Haven Crescent 
     
     Lewis Point ' 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Seabird Surrender 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Are the seabird colonies of the 
     
     Lower north shore of the St. Lawrence 
     
     River and Gulf about to go the way of 
     
     the Passenger Pigeon and the Great Auk? 
     
     Judging from "Seabird Surrender", an 
     
     illustrated lecture delivered at the 
     
     January Natural History Society meeting 
     
     by David Cairns of Charlottetown, a 
     
     biology student at Laval University, 
     
     the outlook is grim. Laws to protect 
     
     these birds are on the books, but 
     
     enforcement is lax. In an area where 
     
     there used to be 14 wardens there are 
     
     now only two. Even in this modern age 
     
     peopletstill go to the nesting areas 
     
     and collect seabird eggs by the 5- 
     
     gallon canful, for eating purposes. 
     
     During the fall molt when ducks lose 
     
     all their long wing-feathers and are 
     
     temporarily unable to fly, men are 
     
     known to shoot as many as 200 eiders a 
     
     day, from a boat. Until concerned 
     
     people become vocal enough to make 
     
     government enforce better protection 
     
     for these bird colonies from Seven 
     
     Islands to the Strait of Belle Isle, 
     
     their existance is indeed precarious. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     These relatives of the auks — murres, razorbills, puffins, 
     
     and Guillemots - have problems aplenty from natural predators. 
     
     Gulls, which may nest in the same colony, are ever alert for 
     
     opportunity to make off with eggs or young chicks. A parent 
     
     puffin returning with a beakful of little fish may be hijacked 
     
     on its way home and drop the fish, which the robber promptly 
     
     snaps up. Back at the nest, a hungry puffin chick may venture 
     
     too close to the entrance of the burrow and provide an easy 
     
     meal for a watchful gull. 
     
    

    
     Margaret Mallett 
     
     Charlottetown, P.E.I.