Bedford Audubon Society

Pete Salmansohn, left, with co-author, Steve Kress Photo by Jon Reis Photo + Design

On the evening of Jan. 11, Pete Salmansohn was the featured speaker for this month's lecture at the Katonah Library sponsored by the Bedford Audubon Society. Mr. Salmansohn, a noted ornithologist and educator, spoke to an audience of 30 or so devoted bird lovers on various efforts to save endangered birds throughout the world that are the subject of his recent book for children, "Saving Birds: Heroes Around the World," written with Steve Kress.

Among the birds that Mr. Salmansohn discussed is the hornbill of Sarawak, Malaysia. With their striking "double-story" beak and projecting upper casque, these large birds are considered sacred animals by local inhabitants, who hunt them for their distinctive black-and-white tail feathers to adorn clothing and objects used in religious rituals and festivals. This practice, Mr. Salmansohn said, would have resulted in their eventual extinction, but for the efforts of several American naturalists who hoped they could convince the Malaysians to use turkey feathers in place of the horn-bill's. And succeed they did! Today, American turkey feathers, appropriately shaped and painted to simulate the real thing, are exported to Malaysia, along with lost feathers from hornbills in zoos. According to Mr. Salmasnohn, the Malaysians have stopped hunting the hornbill and its numbers are increasing in the wild.

Mr. Salmansohn also discussed efforts to save five other birds — quetzals of Mexico, the lesser kestrel falcon of Israel, cranes in China, the black robin of New Zealand, and murres along the California coast — that he wrote about in his beautifully illustrated book. The continuing loss of habitat, uncontrolled hunting, and spoliation of the environment have led to the decline in the population of these and many other birds around the world, Mr. Salmansohn said. But local efforts to save endangered species, as Mr. Salmansohn reminded the audience over the course of the evening, can be highly successful.

One such success story that is not in his book is the ongoing project to reintroduce the Atlantic puffin off the coast of Maine, where they were exterminated by hunters in the late 19th century for their meat and feathers. Mr. Salmansohn is currently the education coordinator of this effort, known as the Puffin Project, on which he has worked since 1989. Beginning in 1973, almost 1,000 chicks from the Canadian Maritime Provinces were brought by Audubon scientists to artificial nests on Eastern Egg Rock Island off the Permaquid peninsula, near Boothbay Harbor. Since then, many of the 10-inch puffins have prospered and returned to the island to lay their eggs after a two- to three-year stint at sea. Last summer, a record 72 nesting pairs, including nine new pairs, were counted on the island. The birds also nest on several other islands on the Maine coast.

Mr. Salmansohn spends every summer leading public boat cruises to view Atlantic puffins from the Hog Island Audubon Camp, located on a 330-acre island in mid-coast Maine's beautiful Mucongus Bay. In the winter, he's at the Audubon Center at Constitution Marsh in Garrison, in Putnam County, where he serves as lead educator, visiting local schools and guiding students around the 270-acre sanctuary.

For more information about the Puffin Project or the Seabird Restoration Program of the National Audubon Society, go to wwwprojectpuffin.org. Hog Island offers a variety of programs in the summer months and in early autumn for children and adults, including boat trips to view the puffin breeding sites. The Maine Audubon Web site, www.maineaudubon.org  has information on the Hog Island schedule, accommodations, and other Audubon programs in the state.

The Audubon Society's next lecture will be held Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m., on the lower level of the Katonah Library. Carol Levine, the author of "A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter," published by Yale University Press in 1995, will be speaking on the subject of her book. Further information about this and other programs is available at www.bedfordaudubon.org.

This article first appeared in the January 27, 2006 Record Review and is used with their permission.