Tuesday, April 22, 2014 is Earth Day and the April Columbus Audubon monthly program. What better way to celebrate a 'Happy Earth Day' than listening to Jim McCormac enlighten us about our natural world. We hope to see you at our last monthly meeting of the season. Come see your friends, talk about migration and Birdathon strategy. Be sure to take the bird quiz and get a ticket for a door prize. Members expected and guests quite welcomed! Best, Darlene Sillick and Nadya Bennett Columbus Audubon, co-program chairs Ohio is a treasure trove of biodiversity. Over 1,800 native plants green the state, providing habitat for nearly 200 breeding bird species. Countless insects fuel our birds and other predators, and some of these "bugs" are truly extraordinary. Our lakes and rivers spawn fabulous food chains, and we're bookended by two of North America's most significant aquatic ecosystems: the Ohio River, and Lake Erie. Please join us as Jim McCormac helps us to explore Ohio's greatest natural areas, look at what we've lost, and delve into our most interesting flora and fauna via images and words. Jim McCormac has spent his entire adult life exploring Ohio and seeking out the rarest of the rare. His 2009 book Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage, is a celebration of the best remaining habitats in the Buckeye State. Jim is a longtime employee of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, writes a column, Nature, for the Columbus Dispatch, and has authored two other books: Birds of Ohio, and the Great Lakes Nature Guide. He is at work on a book on the wood-warblers of eastern North America. 7:00 - 7:15 pm: Short Program: Amanda Duren, Program Coordinator for the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative and Columbus Audubon Board member, will share Unconventional Conservation: Highways as Habitat for the American Kestrel. 7:15 - 7:30 pm: social time, light refreshments 7:30 pm: Main program Post program book signing by Jim. Bring your own copy or visit the GIAC store to purchase one of his books. Be sure to visit Jim's blog Ohio Birds and Diversity www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com/ Columbus Audubon programs are free and open to the public. All programs are held at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center 505 West Whittier St in the Scioto-Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula. www.columbusaudubon.org ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]