As spring migration season reached symphony status here in recent weeks, the sounds of Baltimore orioles, wood thrushes and an array of warblers have filled the East End’s air.
If you haven’t given much thought to what happens when that symphony goes silent here, take heart. North Fork Audubon knows.
Pictured Above: Photographer Mary Bertschi with her photographs and stained glass sculpture of a Baltimore Oriole — a bird she’s photographed both here and in Honduras — at the June 2 opening.
This active chapter of the Audubon Society has built a bridge this winter between its headquarters in Greenport and a preservation group in the mountainous Central American nation of Honduras, which is preserving the winter habitat of many birds you are hearing here today.
About a dozen North Fork Audubon board members visited nine wildlife sanctuaries that are part of a network known as Aves Honduras this winter, along with photographer Mary Bertschi, a wildlife biologist in Rhode Island and a Southold High School graduate.
They were looking for ways to connect their fundraising efforts and birdwatching travelers here with conservation in a country that has been destabilized for centuries by global economic forces beyond its control.
Ms. Bertschi’s photographs are now in display at the Roy Latham Nature Center at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport, North Fork Audubon’s headquarters. They were unveiled at the birding group’s annual meeting June 2.
The project, now known as Birds Without Borders began with a bequest and a request to North Fork Audubon from longtime board member Rick Kedenburg, who had asked the organization to build ties with conservationists in Central America. Its mascot is the Baltimore oriole, a stunning, easily identified bird that migrates from the North Fork to Central America.
“We wanted to work with an NGO somewhere, in a country in need that doesn’t have a developed ecotourism industry,” said North Fork Audubon President Peggy Lauber at the opening. “Aves Honduras seemed very solid and off to a good start.”
North Fork Audubon has since signed a “Sistership Agreement” with Aves Honduras, agreeing to promote ecotourism there and to encourage land stewardship there.
Ms. Lauber said she felt the urgency of this work after reading a recent ornithological study that showed migratory birds are suffering a severe population decline due to rapid deforestation in Central America.
“People who own these pieces of land ensure that it will not be clear cut. They’re trying to create an experience for people to come and visit this extraordinary place,” said North Fork Audubon board member Robin Simmen of the Aves Honduras network.
On the trip, she said, Audubon members “saw the devastation, historically, from the United Fruit Company, which was there for 100 years,” she said. “It’s also very challenged now by technocrats who want to create international free economic zones — free of any oversight, environmentally and politically. It had also been badly hit by one of the recent hurricanes.”
Audubon knew they wanted to bring along someone to document their visit, and Ms. Simmen recommended Ms. Bertschi, who had been involved with North Fork Audubon’s summer camps in the past.
“It’s an incredibly small country, and I didn’t know much about it — it’s right in the center of Central America, in the furthermost northern range of a lot of South American species and the southernmost range of North American species,” said Ms. Bertschi. “There was an incredible mix of diversity.”
Ms. Bertschi and Ms. Simmen recalled at one point, while walking through a cloud forest, they were searching for a tropical bird — a trogon — when they were startled by the sound of a wood thrush, which they’d become accustomed to hearing at home.
“We said ‘forget the trogon. Let’s look for the wood thrush,'” said Ms. Simmen.
Ms. Bertschi went all-out with her selection of equipment for the “once in a lifetime trip,” bringing her own Nikon but also renting a mirrorless camera with an extended zoom lens, and a tripod with a gimbled head for extra-stabilized shots, which enabled her to shoot stunning portraits of birds from quite some distance.
“I do think it paid off,” she said as she looked over the 16 photographs in the show (there are many more that she’s not yet released tot he public). “I personally spend a lot of time photographing shorebirds while sitting or lying on the ground. Everything was higher up and a lot more mobile than my usual subjects, so I really benefited from having a tripod.”
North Fork Audubon is selling fine art prints of the photographs made by Baboo Digital of Hauppauge as a fundraiser for the project — you can contact them at info@northforkaudubon.org for more details.
While the show is hanging in the Roy Latham Nature Center, the building is not often open to the public — it is currently next slated to be open on July 18 as part of the opening of North Fork Audubon’s sculpture collaboration with East End Arts: “Bird Song Project: A Sculpture Trail,” on view July 18 through Oct. 11. The park is at 64795 County Road 48 in Greenport.
North Fork Audubon is currently working with volunteers to set up more weekend open dates for the photography show in the upcoming weeks. They’re also planning to bring the exhibition to local libraries.
The ultimate goal, say Audubon board members, is to get more people to visit Honduras and learn about Aves Honduras’s conservation efforts.
According to North Fork Audubon’s Birds Without Borders informational poster, “Honduras offers an extraordinary mosaic of ecosystems that make it a great destination for birdwatching. From coastal mangroves and tropical rainforests to cloud forests and pine-oak highlands, the country harbors nearly 800 bird species, including residents, regional endemics and migratory marvels. Honduras is the most mountainous country in Central America. Approximately 75 percent of its territory is mountainous, shaping biodiversity patterns and transportation challenges. Its compact geography allows birders to experience dramatic ecological transitions within a single itinerary.”
“We really want to be an active partner in helping the people who own this land protect it,” said Ms. Simmen. “We want to really encourage people to go to Honduras, so that we’re not just a donor to Aves Honduras.”
Ms. Lauber agreed.
“Thie idea is you have to go down there to see it,” she said.
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