Shoot an eagle and save the birds!

For the first time in history, a benefit golf tournament is being held to raise money to help endangered birds. Called BIRDIES 4 BIRDIES and sanctioned by the Quebec Golf Association and the Quebec Turf Research Foundation, the tournament is being held at the Hillsdale Golf & Country Club on September 22, 1997. Numerous prizes are up for grabs, including artistic works by Robert Bateman, John Seery-Lester and famed bird-watcher, the late Roger Tory Peterson. The $175 entry fee per golfer is partially tax-deductible and includes a continental breakfast, lunch and a banquet dinner. Each foursome will be photographed with a live eagle to commemorate the first of what is hoped to become an annual event.

All proceeds will go to the Avian Science and Conservation Centre (ASCC) of McGill University, a centre dedicated to research and conservation of all bird species. Current research projects include the impact of electromagnetic fields from hydro lines on birds of prey and effects of low-level military jet flights on Ospreys nesting in Labrador. Having played a significant role in bringing back the endangered Peregrine Falcon, the ASCC is turning its attention on the highly endangered Loggerhead Shrike, a small songbird that impales its prey, e.g. insects, mice and songbirds, on thorns and barbed wire.

This shrike is rapidly disappearing from its native agricultural habitat. Once numbering in thousands of pairs, it is virtually gone in Quebec and down to 25 to 50 pairs in Ontario, its last stronghold in eastern North America. The ASCC is part of an effort by the National Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Team composed of members from federal and provincial governments and non-governmental organizations to breed shrikes in captivity for experimental releases into the wild.

David M. Bird, Ph.D.
Avian Science and Conservation Centre
McGill University
21,111 Lakeshore Road
Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec
H9X 3V9

Tel.: 514-398-7760
Fax: 514-398-7990