A few days ago Laura Dornan asked a great question: "Does anyone know of a good grass roots habitat conservation project in Ohio?" The 2011 Carbon Offset Birding Project supported by Midwest Birding Symposium and Ohio Ornithological Society was a huge success. We started raising funds to acquire additional land at Meadowbrook Marsh, and that purchase has been completed. You can reap the rewards of our efforts when you visit Meadowbrook Marsh during this year’s MBS. Well done, birders! This year's official Carbon Offset Birding Project is a habitat restoration at the Boss Unit at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. There will be a booth at the Midwest Birding Symposium, and volunteers will be on hand to receive your donation for this project. If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me, or go to the MBS website's "Special Activities" page for all the details. https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/mwb2013/events.php#cobp It is an honor to be a bird watcher in this great state, amongst so many who are willing to give back to their community and provide protected habitat for the future. Every little bit helps and it goes to a worthy cause. Consider donating to offset your carbon, or just pitch in $10. for conservation. Down-load a carbon offset form now, and you'll see just how easy "being green" can be. Cheryl Harner Richland Co. -----Original Message----- From: Laura Dornan Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2013 11:29 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] Funk Bottoms and a plea for help Tim & I went to Funk yesterday looking for the avocet. No luck there but we did see a white swallow from the observation tower. It was flying among a flock of feeding tree and bank swallows. It looked pure white but as it was at a good distance and flying all about, it was impossible to tell for sure. There was a single sandhill crane on RT 95. And loads of green herons everywhere, especially on RT 95. One was even sitting on a telephone wire! Never seen that before. A good day, even without the avocet. Now a request. Does anyone know of a good grass roots habitat conservation project in Ohio? Every year we keep track of the miles we drive while birding for the Carbon Offset Bird Project and we would like to make a COPB donation to a different project each time. In the past, we have made donations to Meadowbrook Marsh (the OOS "official" COBP project), Tri-Moraine Audubon, Friends of Metzger Marsh, and The Nature Conservancy, Northeast Ohio. While I would willingly give to all of them again, I would like to "spread the wealth" if I can find another project that is also deserving. Perhaps another Audubon Society that has a local habitat conservation project that can use some help or a school that wants to build an outdoor learning lab? If anyone knows of a worthwhile conservation project, please let me know of it, off-list. Thanks for the help!! Laura Dornan Stark County ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]