Cold Spring Harbor, NY - March 6, 2014 - Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society (HOBAS) will host a poster workshop for kids ages 8 to 18 as part of the “Be a Good Egg Campaign” at the Cold Spring Harbor Library on March 30 at 2pm. This campaign is aimed at helping beach goers learn more about beach nesting birds such as least terns, piping plovers, oystercatchers and black skimmers, birds that nest and rest on the shores and beaches of Long Island each year.
The workshop will consist of an interactive program to educate the participants on just how interesting, imperiled and important these birds are. The program will be followed by a brief art lesson from a renowned local nature before the actual posters are created. Ten of these posters will then be chosen to be made into signs to be posted at protected nesting grounds at Hobart Beach in Northport. The artists of the winning posters will be invited to join HOBAS at a Be a Good Egg Campaign Awareness Day at Hobart Beach.
Stella Miller, President of HOBAS stated, “Every year from April through August, thousands of birds nest on the open sand on many of New York’s beaches and inlets, after traveling sometimes thousands of miles between their winter and summer homes.”
She continued with, “These hardy little birds are threatened by predators, extreme weather conditions, and humans. When a person or dog walks through a nesting area, the adult birds run or fly off in fear. This exposes the eggs or chicks to fatally high temperatures and drastically increases the risk of predation from raccoons, foxes and crows.”
Ms. Miller concluded with, “Piping plovers are a federally threatened species and are especially vulnerable, not only because of wildlife, but because of antagonistic humans, who feel the birds are taking up space on “their” beaches. Loose dogs are of particular concern, but there have been numerous cases of humans vandalizing nesting sites. We hope that by posting signs obviously made by children that care about these birds, perhaps we can help soften public perception and bring about a more poignant awareness of what remarkable creatures these birds really are”.
The workshop is for young artists, ages 8 –18. Registration is a must as space is limited, please visit the HOBAS website at for information on how to register. Registration must be done by March 26.