Event Calendar

Penny Briscoe will provide an educational and entertaining presentation about Eastern Bluebirds with lots of photos of Michigan bluebirds, as well as Mountain and Western Bluebirds that we do not get to see in Michigan. The presentation will include details about nest boxes, nest predators, and about bluebirds themselves and includes some fun video clips. Earlier this year, the Michigan Songbird Coalition awarded ASK eight complete bluebird house systems in recognition of the positive work we have done in promoting and protecting birds. We knew that Penny was the right person to contact to get those boxes put together, erected, and monitored! (A big thank you to Penny’s husband, Rick, for the help to put the boxes together.) Penny will update us on the installation of the bluebird houses. Penny will also bring along a couple of bluebird houses of different styles and talk about predator guards and why they are important.

Penny Briscoe has been interested in nestbox songbirds for many years and is the Michigan Bluebird Society county coordinator for St. Joseph and Branch counties. While best known as an active and passionate Purple Martin landlord, Penny has hosted Eastern Bluebirds on her property for many years and views caring for them as a serious and important part of her contribution to nature. Never does a year go by without having the joy of several successful bluebird nests in her boxes.

In order to participate in and learn from a formal environmental education setting, Penny has, for several years been a part of the Michigan Master Naturalist program offered through the Michigan State University Extension service. However, most of her knowledge about birds has been through self-study and years of experience, experimentation, and travel. Her birding trips have taken her to the Amazon region (Manaus, Brazil), Costa Rica, Arizona, Colorado, and the western United States, the East Coast, and South Africa. Other more local locations include interesting and valuable experiences in the Midwest, such as along the Mississippi Backwaters south of Minneapolis, Magee Marsh in Ohio, and many locations in Michigan. In her travels, however, Penny has not found a bird that she loves more than the Eastern Bluebird or the Purple Martin.

Among Penny’s varied career history, she is most proud of her experiences as a high school English and business teacher for 31 years at Lawton Community Schools and Gull Lake Community Schools. It is these teaching experiences that have prepared her for a retirement that focuses on teaching others about the importance of our winged friends and their contributions to the greater good of the world.

We hope you'll join us on Monday, November 24th, at People's Church, 1758 North 10th Street, Kalamazoo. This program is geared to all audiences, and we enthusiastically invite families and nature lovers of any age to join us!  Come at 6:30 PM (new time – half an hour earlier this year) for some refreshments and socializing. Snacks and beverages will be provided. It's helpful if you bring your own coffee cup. The one-hour program will start at 7:00 PM. Handicap parking and access is at either the front or the rear entrance of the building.

We will have a simultaneous Zoom link to the meeting for those who can’t make it or feel uncomfortable as yet to attend in person. This link will be available shortly before the meeting in the November newsletter that is emailed to you. We will also be recording the meeting for later viewing.