Wow! Before we begin celebrating our great April Work Day, let’s lift accolades to Local Life Magazine for the April “Birdie Issue,” featuring several of our favorite people.
Turn to page 50 for an introductory “Faces of Birding” collage with Sean Ryan of Wild Birds Unlimited, Patty Kappmeyer, Lynn Hodgson, and a photo of our Newhall Pond Pollinator Garden sign! But that’s just the “teaser!”
Sean Ryan’s promo for birding and Wild Birds Unlimited begins on page 52. Then on Page 56 Patty Kappmeyer is featured with her camera and wading gear! Now we know how Patty gets those great photos we see on Facebook!
Turn to page 60 for an article about our favorite Newhall Vice-Chair and Tour Guide, Lynn Hodgson. Another photo was taken near the cypress knees on the west side of the Audubon Pond at Newhall.
But wait! There’s more! Flip ahead to page 130 for the “Fashion & Feathers” article, with fashion photos of Coastal Discovery Museum’s Carlos Chacon and Newhall volunteer Jim Reynolds, as well as Audubon tech whiz, Shannon Wilkinson. Then on the next two pages, we have the four Rios siblings, Thaddaeus, Charlotte, Ava Elizabeth, and Nathanael, all of whom are regulars at Newhall Work days. Finally, turn the page for photos of Pollinator Gardener Mary Ellen Blankenship, Backup Newhall Tour Guide Rosemary Staples, and Newhall Deck Carpenter Steve Fishman. Wow! (Hope I didn’t miss anyone!)
Now, we can celebrate a great April Work Day with our own photos! The group photo below shows Work Day Volunteers: David and Julia Buzzard, Co-Chair Jack Coleman, Sal Gioia, Kathy Kettel, Carrie Jones, Mary Ellen Blankenship, Vice-Chair Lynn Hodgson, Rios siblings Elizabeth and Nathanael, John Grobe, Tony Facenda, Karen Lucey, and Stephen Freniere. (As usual, your camera-shy Fearless Leader, Bob Clemens, is behind the lens!) Fifteen workers is the highest turnout in recent memory! More “candids” were provided by Karen Lucey, and are captioned below.
David and Julia Buzzard captained a crew with Jack Coleman, Karen Lucey, and Steve Freniere to repaint the Pocosin Boardwalk. We pause to thank John Grobe for literally months of work day pressure-washing to prep the Boardwalk surface. We also thank Steve Fishman who arranged for Lowe’s of Bluffton to donate paint supplies and two gallons of deck paint.
Lynn Hodgson, Carrie Jones, and Mary Ellen Blankenship, assisted by Kathy Kettel, Tony Facenda, and Elizabeth and Nathanael Rios, planted native plants and shrubs in the two pollinator gardens and in front of the pond aeration station.
Sal Gioia, John Grobe, and Bob Clemens completed the work started last month in culling vegetation from around the Audubon Pond. We now have eight good-sized piles of debris, and will ask Sea Pines CSA to come and haul them away.
Our next work day will be Saturday May 13th, and we’ll add a second coat of paint to the Pocosin Boardwalk, reline the Parking Lot pollinator garden walkways with small logs, and trim our trails. RSVPs are not necessary, but helpful to rclemens318@gmail.com.
Finally (If you’ve read this far, we are very proud of you), we thank Lynn Hodgson and our Audubon “techies” who revised and updated the Newhall trail guides with for reprinting with funds from an ATAX grant facilitated by Treasurer Sarah Gustafson. Lynn corrected some errors and revised content, and we added QR codes for links to the digital trail guide, to donate with Venmo and to our Audubon membership form. A big thank you to our many, many Newhall Volunteers!!!