www.jayhawkaudubon.

org

Volume 31, Issue 2 OCTOBER, 2006

MONDAY, OCTOBER 23RD THE COMMITTEE ON

IMAGINATION & PLACE
PRESENTS
AVIAN FLU
The WAKARUSA WETLANDS
Marvin Kraft, Waterfowl Program Coordinator
for KS Department of Wildlife and Parks, will speak
in WORD & IMAGE:
to JAS about H5N1 avian influenza Monday, 10/23. MAKING IT REAL
Saturday, Oct. 28, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.,
the Committee on Imagination & Place will celebrate
the Wakarusa Wetlands with a morning of painting
and photography demonstrations, writing and poetry
workshops, nature walks and history talks. The event
Kirsten Munson
is free and the public is invited.
This is an opportunity to experience the wetlands
anew with contributors to the book, The Wakarusa
HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) H5N1, Wetlands in Word & Image, published in 2005 by the
the type that has decimated poultry around the world Committee and the Lawrence Arts Center. Books will
and infected humans, has not yet been found in wild be available for purchase.
birds in North America. LPAI (Low Pathogenic Session leaders include
Avian Influenza) H5N1 has been found in wild birds book editor Denise Low,
in the US but poses little threat to humans and rarely writers Caryn Mirriam-
causes any illness in the birds carrying it. In 2006 Goldberg and Elizabeth
75-100,000 migratory water birds-ducks, shorebirds, Schultz, artists Lisa
cranes, swans, geese, gulls-will be tested for avian Grossman and Kyle
flu in all 50 states. KDWP is slated to test 750 of Gerstner, naturalist Ken
those. Visit www.kdwp.state.ks.us for info and Lassman, and historian
many links to other useful sites. Mike Caron.
Bring cameras, sketch
Join Marvin Kraft for dutch treat dinner at 6:00 pads/journals, water, snacks and a chair/blanket. Wear
p.m. at Zen Zero, 811 Mass. downtown Lawrence. warm clothes, sturdy shoes, hats & sunglasses. There
The meeting and talk will be at 7:30 p.m. at our new are no facilities available on site. The wetlands are on
meeting place: TRINITY LUTHERAN the south side of 31st St in Lawrence. The entrance is a
CHURCH, 1245 NEW HAMPSHIRE . gravel drive midway between Louisiana St. and Haskell
There is plenty of parking in the lot next to the Ave. Park on 31st St. For more info: 785-843-2787 or
church on the east side. Join us to learn about this lacgallery@ sunflower.com or www. imaginationand
critical topic. place.org.
- Lisa Grossman
 2 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
Stop that DRIP, DRIP, DRIP….
I recently noticed a small, dripping leak from my bath-
room faucet. Being a water conservation minded person
I was aware that this small leak was contributing to the
billions of gallons of water wasted in the US every year
due to leaking plumbing. I went online for resources to
estimate how much water I was losing due to this leak. I
first counted the drips per 10 seconds. My faucet dripped
at the rate of 3 drips per 10 seconds. I found a “Drip
Accumulator” calculator at the USGS website: http://
ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sc4.html & plugged my numbers
in. My small drip was wasting 2 gallons of precious
water a day-over 60 gallons per month. If I had
continued to ignore this drip for a full year I would have
wasted more than 720 gallons of water.
720 gallons a year might not sound outrageous and,
indeed, my faucet drip is relatively minor compared to the
real home water-wasting culprits: toilets. Many home
toilets have a constant, almost unnoticeable leak. Testing
a toilet for leaks is simple. Add 10 drops of food coloring
to the water tank. Wait 1-2 hours without flushing. If the
standing water in the bowl is colored, then you have a
leaking, water-wasting toilet. A moderately leaking toilet
will waste 20-30 gallons or more a day. 25 gallons a day
equals 9,000 gallons per year right down the drain. It is
not uncommon for a toilet to leak 200 gallons a day!
The fix for my faucet was a new water cartridge: less
than $10 and 2 hours to fix, including the trip to the hard-
ware store. (There are many faucet styles and some will
have more expensive parts.) Below I have listed links to
user-friendly websites that explain in detail how to repair
a faucet. Most moderately handy persons can repair a
leaking faucet. Toilets are a bit more involved to fix, but
again, any moderately handy person does not need to
shy away from this task. If you’re not comfortable
working on home repairs, consult handy person’s or
home repair services classified ads in the local paper.
From Hometime.com: “Repairing Faucets”: http://www.
hometime.com/Howtoprojects/plumbing/plum_8.htm
From Do It Yourself.com: “Repair a Leaky Faucet”:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/h2repairvalve
“How to Repair a Toilet”
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/h2repairtoilet
From the Home Depot: http://
www.homedepotmoving.com/proj_article_page.do?
action=GetProjArticlePage&projld=135
Questions, comments and requests for additional infor-
mation can be directed to michael.fraley@gmail.com.
- Mike Fraley, Conservation Chair
Black-footed Ferret. Defenders of Wild-
NEWS
FROM
AUDUBON OF KANSAS
Audubon of Kansas, under Executive Director
Ron Klataske, is actively pursuing many projects
benefiting wildlife as well as Kansans in all walks
of life. JAS member Joyce Wolf is a trustee of
AOK. Here are initiatives you should know about.
The Tallgrass “Prairie Parkway” Wildlife
and Natural Heritage Trail Guide. AOK has
created brochures to help visitors to the TPP get
the most enjoyment of the varied natural, cultural
and historical sites on the trail. Several towns
give out the guides at visitors centers or in new
resident packets. To whet your appetite to travel
the trail yourself visit www.kansas wildlife
trails.com. You may also get a guide by writing:
AOK 210 Southwind Pl. Manhattan, KS 66503.
(Send $3 for postage.)
AOK is asking volunteers to submit photographs
and descriptions of favorite sites for possible
inclusion in planned trails such as the Forest
Prairie Edge or Shortgrass & Sandsage Prairie.
Campaign to repeal KS statutes mandating
eradication of prairie dogs. With support from
the KS Farmers Union, KS Rifle Assoc., other
conservation groups and naturalists, AOK wrote
and continues to push for passage of HB 2783
which repeals a 100 year old statute mandating
extermination of prairie dogs. The repeal grants
landowners rights to stewardship of native wild-
life on their property. This effort ties in with a plan
AOK, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and five
ranch families are developing to reintroduce
black-footed ferrets to Kansas in hope of reviving
the ecosystem of prairie dog colonies including
swift foxes, ferruginous hawks, burrowing owls,
many insects and plants: the rich panoply of life
on the Kansas prairie. Use of the poison Rozol
. -cont. on page 5
 3 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY

OCTOBER <<CALENDAR>>NOVEMBER
Oct. 9: ECO2 Public Information Meeting. The ECO2 Commission will present the draft Industrial and Open
Space Plan and take public comment. 7:00 p.m. Baldwin City Public Library. Baldwin City.
12: ECO2 Public Information Meetings. 7:00 a.m. Bert Nash Center, Room A & B. 200 Maine, Lawrence.
& 7:00 p.m. Eudora Township Fire Dept. Eudora. For more info: 785-843-7058 or trice@oznet.ksu.edu.
Oct. 14: Rocky Point Glades, Swope Park, KCMO. KS Native Plant Society. View restoration work. Contact:
Dan Rice, drice95875@aol.com or President Dave Alburty, 816-619-3375, envirsci@aol.com.
Oct. 14: SPARROWS at Haskell-Baker Wetlands. Burroughs Audubon. Looking for Sharp-Tailed Sparrow and
birding other sites in the afternoon. Contact Nancy Leo, 913-205-8847 or njleo@earthlink.net.

OCT. 21, SAT: JAS SEED AND PLANT SALE: New Location-The Merc.
901 Iowa St. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Use the form in this newsletter to preorder your seed by mail or phone.
Seed will also be available for walk-in customers. Plants for sale will include columbine, anise hyssop,
blackberry lily, echinacea, comfrey, cranesbill geranium, caryopteris, Clara Curtis daisy and surprises on
Sale Day! We’ll have feeders and wonderful books to browse and resource folks with expert advice on
attracting birds. One stop shopping for great Merc food and birding supplies-it doesn’t get better than that!
Oct. 21: Bird Felker Park. Topeka Audubon. Dan Gish, 785-232-3731. gishbear@cox.net.

OCT. 23, MONDAY: JAS MEETING 7:30 p.m. Marvin Kraft, Waterfowl
Program Coordinator for KDWP, will speak on “Avian Influenza”. BYO Dinner at Zen Zero, 811 Mass.
Lawrence at 6p.m. REMEMBER: MEETINGS ARE NOW AT TRINITY LUTHERAN
CHURCH 1245 New Hampshire, Lawrence. Parking east of the church. Refreshments.
Oct. 25: Slithering Snakes. Prairie Park Nature Center. 3-4:30p. Ages 7-12. $5.00. Call 832-7980 to enroll.
Oct. 28: Rolling Prairie Learning Lab at the Merc. 901 Iowa. 10a-1p. Art Projects. Grassland Heritage Foundation.

OCT 28: COMMITTEE ON IMAGINATION & PLACE: WAKARUSA

WETLANDS IN WORD AND IMAGE. 8:30a-1:30p. Photography, painting, poetry, nature
walks and history talks. See p.1 for more info or call 785-843-2787 or www.imaginationandplace.org.
Nov. 4: Bird Lake Shawnee. Topeka Audubon. Heated fishing dock. 7:30a. Dan Gish, see contact info above.
Nov. 5: Owls of Kansas. Prairie Park. 2-3p. For all ages but 5-13 must register with adult. $2. Enroll at 832-7980.
Nov. 11: Trail maintenance at beautiful Perry Lake. Steve Hassler, 913-707-3296.
steve.hassler@kansas.sierraclub.org.
Nov. 11: Bird Lyon Cty Fishing Lake, Wolf Creek Lake, Melvern Lake. Burroughs
All day trip. Matt Gearhart at 913-568-4678 or mgearheart@gwhm.com.
Nov. 14: Friends of the Kaw Annual Dinner, Silent Auction & meeting. 6:00 p.m.
Lawrence Visitors Center. For details check the FOTK website which
now seems to be: www.buildasitefactory.com/index.php?id=102.
Nov. 14-19: FESTIVAL OF THE CRANES. Bosque del Apache NWR. New
Mexico. Over 100 events. Call 505-835-2077 or check
www.friendsofthebosque.org/crane.
Dancing cranes. Cornell Lab of Ornithology
 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY 5

. BIG BROTHERS
BIG SISTERS NEEDS YOU!
Mentor a child and give them a greater sense of worth
and responsibility.

If you can include a child in your regular activities and

would enjoy spending one-on-one time with a child once a
week for at least a year, then you could be a Big Brother, Big
Sister, Big Couple or Family Match! You can mentor as a
man or woman, or also as a couple or family.

We have over 200 children, two-thirds of whom are

boys, waiting to be matched….with you?

Call Big Brothers Big Sisters at 785-843-7359 or visit

www.mentoringmagic.org. Orientations are held Tuesday at
5:15 and Wednesday at noon.
- Sarah with Big Brothers Big Sisters

JAS is contemplating sponsoring a ‘Big for a Day”

field trip for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We would need
volunteers to plan a trip of about an hour and a half, organize
it, go on the trip and provide snacks. The trip would take
place on a weekend or after school. Hopefully enough of you
will be interested that the tasks can be spread among a number
of people. Contact Chuck Herman at hermansnuthouse@
earthlink.net or 913-301-3921 if this sounds like fun to you.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
AOK UPDATE continued from page 2
which kills prairie dogs by internal bleeding and persists to kill
the raptors and other predators that eat the carcasses would be
greatly reduced if county governments were not actively seek-
ing to exterminate prairie dogs.

JAS members can help by writing to members of the KS

House Agriculture Committee in support of the bill. The full
roster is on the AOK website at www.audubonofkansas.org or
call Committee Chair Dan Johnson at 785-625-6476.

Next month we’ll tell about AOK’s new legacy, the Hutton
Ranch, and its advocacy of better USDA prairie management.
 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY 4

HOW MUCH WATER IS THAT ANYWAY????

Hey kids---while your mom or dad is fixing that leaking faucet that Mike’s article
on page 2 got them excited about, you can do an experiment to see how much water it
takes to fill your bathtub. Here’s what you do:
1. Get an empty gallon or 1/2 gallon container, a watch and a bathtub.
2. Now, make a prediction: There are _____ gallons of water in my bathtub.
3. Open the bathtub drain and turn on the water to the normal speed.
4. Time how long it takes to fill your container.
5. Record the time: A_______minutes. (You can use this water for plants or pets.)
6. Leave the water running so that the speed remains the same.
7. Close the drain and time how long it takes to fill the bathtub.
8. Record the time: B_______minutes.
9. Take a bath….you don’t want to waste all that water do you?
Now figure our how much water you used. Use a calculator if you like.
Divide B ______ by A _______ = ____________
Total time to fill tub Time to fill one gallon Number of gallons in tub
(If you used a 1/2 gallon container, divide your answer by 2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
NOW MATCH THE ITEMS ON THE LEFT WITH THE AMOUNT OF WATER ON THE RIGHT
1. TAKING A SHOWER A. 1 gallon

2. WATERING THE LAWN B. 9-20 gallons

3. WASHING THE DISHES C. 4-7 gallons

4. FLUSHING THE TOILET D. 1/2 gallon

5. BRUSHING YOUR TEETH E. 39,090 gallons

6. PROCESSING ONE CAN OF FRUIT F. 15-30 gallons

7. MAKING A NEW CAR AND ITS 4 TIRES G. 9.3 gallons

8. DRINKING H. 180 gallons

 Jayhawk Audubon Society Nonprofit Organization
P.O. Box 3741 U.S. Postage
PAID
Lawrence, KS 66046 Lawrence, KS
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Application for New Membership in both: National Audubon Society and Jayhawk Chapter
___$15 Student; ___$20 Introductory for NEW members; ____$15 Senior Citizen.
(Make check payable to National Audubon Society.)

Application for Chapter-only Membership (Jayhawk Audubon Society). No Audubon magazine.

___$7.50 Chapter-only (Make check payable to Jayhawk Audubon Society.) Those with National Audubon
memberships are encouraged to support the chapter by voluntarily paying these dues. Chapter membership
expires annually in July.

National Audubon Society members receive four issues per year of the Audubon magazine and are also
members of the Jayhawk Chapter. All members also receive 10 issues of this newsletter per year and are
entitled to discounts on books and feeders that are sold to raise funds to support education and conservation
projects. Please send this completed form and check to Membership Chairs at the following address:
Ruth & Chuck Herman; 20761 Loring Road, Linwood, KS 66052; e-mail contact:
hermansnuthouse@earthlink.net . {National Members Renewing: please use the billing form received
from National and send it with payment to National Audubon Society in Boulder, CO}.

Name __________________________; Address ___________________________________________;

City ___________________________; State ______; ZIP Code (9) digit _______________;

Telephone (with Area Code) ___________________

J02: 7XCH