Audubon Society

Watershed QualityBaltimore Municipal Golf Corp. will soon be presenting the findings of the KCI feasibility study to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke for approval. The 21 additional holes of golf it plans along the water's edge would result in loss of forest buffer and threaten water quality.Recent publications: the November National Geographic, and articles in Audubon, the New York Times, and U.S.A. Today, alert and alarm us concerning threats to and disintegration of our water bodies, particularly our drinking water sources.

CHESTERTOWN -- David Holmes can find a bird anywhere, even in midsentence."This is the West Fork of Langford Creek and -- ooh, there's an eagle," he said yesterday at the annual Christmas Bird Count in Kent County, as he looked across a glittering creek edged with snow and filled with geese.So it went for much of the day, as he counted ducks, geese, vultures, swamp sparrows, bluebirds, herons, pigeons and hundreds more.Holmes, a music teacher and part-time ornithologist who drove to Kent County from his home in Columbia, was one of 22 bird-watchers taking part in the annual survey.

The average golfer enjoys water about as much as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz . " Those teeing up at Eisenhower Golf Course, a tree-lined public layout in Crownsville, might have even worse nightmares than the norm. Thick, native grasses up to 3 feet high surround every creek and pond, reaching toward the sky as though part of a fiendish plot to snag wayward shots. "I tell the players we have great sales at the pro shop," says course superintendent Mike Papineau in joking reference to the fact that golf courses resell the balls they find in hazards.

Tomorrow morning, children will crawl out of bed to watch cartoons, and other people will sleep until noon. But for some, it will be a morning for the birds. Columbia resident Elaine Pardoe, the field trip chairwoman for the Audubon Society of Central Maryland, said she hopes to lure dozens of bird enthusiasts to Howard County's Centennial Park to participate in the National Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count. The count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society and its partner, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will take place nationally, starting today and ending Monday.

On a recent fall day, gardeners at Franz Burda's home were putting in 20,000 tulip bulbs. Once they've bloomed next spring, each bulb will be dug up and donated to charity.The German publisher's three full-time staff members clip and groom the impeccable gardens and emerald-green lawns, as well as tend the raised swimming pool on the $5.1 million estate.For formal dinners, Burda's starched damask cloths are ironed on the tables -- after they are sprinkled with Pellegrino, some say -- before the guests jet in.Palm Beach?

On Friday, July 7, 2006, SCOTTDOUGLASS "Kniff" KNIFFIN, at age 34, while in Las Vegas, NV; beloved son of James D. Kniffin and the late Diana F. Kniffin; devoted brother of Daryl A. Kniffin; cherished step-son of Patricia D. Kniffin; loving fiance of Cynthia A. Meyersburg. Also survived by other loving family members and friends. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, August 12, 11 A.M. at Sacred Heart Parish, 65 Sacred Heart Lane, Glyndon, MD. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the National Audubon Society, Deptartment W, 700 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Audubon Society of Central Maryland will hold its monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Airy branch library, 705 Ridge Ave. Wayne Hildebrand, Maryland Calling Amphibian coordinator, will discuss Maryland's frogs and toads. The Central Maryland Chapter serves Carroll, Frederick and Howard counties, with membership concentrated in Columbia and Mount Airy. The chapter alternates meetings between Mount Airy and Columbia. Meetings are open to the public. Information: 410-833-5155.

Richard Pough, 99, author of the National Audubon Society's popular bird guides and a tireless advocate for conservation, died Tuesday at his home on Martha's Vineyard of complications from brain cancer. Mr. Pough's training was in chemical engineering, but his lifelong passion was the outdoors. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926, he volunteered for the night shift at his job at a Texas sulfur processing plant so he could watch Gulf Coast bird migrations by day. One of his first battles came on Hawk Mountain, Pa., where hunters in the 1930s were slaughtering the hawk population as vermin.

Vinyl record clock $38 hipcycle.com A hip and green way to tell time. Made from a 12-inch upcycled vinyl vintage record, this clock can please tree-huggers and music lovers alike. Compost pail $39.99 crateandbarrel.com If the environmentalists on your list are serious about saving the earth, then they're also serious about composting. This odor-absorbing, dishwasher-safe countertop composter is a convenient — and stylish — way to help save the planet, one banana peel at a time.

Ted Turner's willingness to deal with the old Soviet Union when such ventures were not popular seems to be paying off.Turner Broadcasting System yesterday announced plans to build and program Moscow's first independent TV station, in cooperation with Russia's Moscow Independent Broadcasting Co. (MIBC). Programing would include CNN, classic films from the Turner library, National Geographic and Audubon Society programming, sports and children's shows, most dubbed into Russian.Revenues from advertising would be used to help develop Russian programming.