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10 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Birds of a Feather Birding by Markus Lise K.P.R. offers free International languages classes Community members can take advantage of free international languages classes being offered in four locations across the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. The classes, which are fully funded by federal grants, are scheduled after school and on Saturdays. The classes are offered for elementary students as interest courses, and for secondary students as credit courses. Secondary students can earn up to four international languages credits towards their graduation diploma, as long as they are currently enrolled in high school. Pre-registration is required for all classes, which are scheduled to begin the second week in October. Pre-registration is available on-line now at www.kprschools.ca Alternatively, pre-registration nights will be held as follows, for those who prefer to register in person: · Monday, September 28, from 5-7 p.m. at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School in Peterborough · Wednesday, September 30, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Clarington Central Secondary School in Bowmanville. There must be enough registrants for a class to run. If there are not enough students pre-registered before the start date, the class will not proceed and those who have registered will be notified of possible alternatives. The following classes are being made available at this time. Peterborough County Thomas A. Stewart SS is the location for all international languages classes. Classes available for elementary students include Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Polish and Spanish. Secondary credit courses are available in Italian, Korean, Mandarin and Polish. Municipality of Clarington (Bowmanville and Courtice) Clarington Central SS, Bowmanville, is the location for elementary Mandarin and Spanish classes, and for secondary credit courses in Italian, Mandarin and Spanish. An elementary class in Spanish is planned for Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Dr. G.J. MacGillivray Public School in Courtice as well. Northumberland County An elementary Mandarin class is planned for Cobourg, with the location to be confirmed. Oh really? An American Avocet? In our back yard? It was approximately 10 years ago that I sighted my first wading shore-bird, the American Avocet. I was just getting into birding at the time when I had no idea how rare of a bird it was that I was looking at. The property just west of Graham Creek and Mill St. on which I live was being measured up for a whole complex of new houses. There were several mud flats and shallow pools of water where several birds would be attracted to. It had black and white striped wings, bright eyes, and long up-curved bill characterizing it as a female. There seems to be some differences among the birders as whether one is a female or male. The American Avocet is among the most beautiful and graceful of North America's shorebirds. Though its range east of the Mississippi River is limited, each spring birders throughout the west look forward to this summer visitor's arrival. The avocet's bill is truly one of nature's masterpieces, both in its elegant design and in its utility as a hunting and fishing tool. The bird can use it with great speed and precision to catch insects on the wing or to nip them from the surface of a pond or marsh. Underwater another option is available. Dipping its head downward, the avocet sweeps the bill from side to side along the bottom, much like an old time farmer scything a field. As the bill stirs up mud and sand, dislodging food and anything else that happens to be there, the water becomes so cloudy that it is impossible to see anything. But that poses no problem for the avocet. Its versatile bill is so sensitive to differences between the edible and the inedible that an avocet can make the right choice even though the food cannot always be clearly seen before it is consumed If you have any bird stories or questions to share, please call me at 905-987-9889 or email at lise.markus@gmail.com Markus Lise lives in Newcastle. He is a retired minister who now spends his time as a "minister of Nature." Jean Iron