This month in our Audubon display case is the Sharp - tailed Grouse

The Sharp-tailed Grouse is one of four species of North American Grousethat inhabit a broad range of plant communities dominated by grasses and shrubs where males engage in communal breeding displays. Historically, this species was found in steppe, grassland, and mixed shrub habitats throughout much of central and northern North America. Although it still ranges from the Great Lakes states west to Alaska and south to Colorado,its numbers have declined greatly in the southern and eastern portions of its historical range and many populations now depend on cropland to varying degrees.

This month in our Audubon display case

This month we are featuring the Trumpeter Swan. The Trumpeter swan is the largest species of native North American waterfowl. It is a long-lived, social species, conspicuous by its large size, all white plumage, and trumpet-like call.

Internship

Applications are currently being accepted for the University Libraries Bednar Internship in partnership with the Inter-institutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge. Applicants must be a student in Agricultural Sciences, Anthropology, Education, English, Rural Sociology, or Sociology of junior or senior standing for the 2011-2012 academic year. Salary is $8.50/hour for (up to 100) hours per semester. Deadline to apply is 2 May 2011.

This Month in our Audubon Display Case

This Month in our Audubon Display case we are featuring the Common Redpoll. Redpolls are busy, acrobatic finches, spending much of their time flitting about, feeding, and calling with their incessant che,che,che contact calls or their plaintive dsooee. Their bouncy flight and rolling feeding flocks in winter fields add to the feeling of constant and exuberant activity.

Cookie Recipes

We had an open house for other library staff this past Tuesday and pretty much stayed on a "cookie" theme for our munchies.  Although there was quite a selection of store brought varieties (Wegmans and Keebler being predominant) we also had a nice selection of "made from scratch" cookies.  Which resulted in a bunch of "do you have the recipe?" questions.

Since what we do is answer questions.... here you go:

• Mushroom Cookies (made by Amy). 
• Peanut Butter Blossoms -with the Hershey Kiss. (made by Ann)
• Laura Bush's Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (made by Sarah)
• Oatmeal Scotchies (made by Helen)
• Soft Snickerdoodles (made by Helen)
• Coffee Crisps (made by Janet:  variation of a recipe from the book "Cookies at the Academy', from the series California Culinary Academy, 1987, ISBN 1-56426-035-6)
• 1 ¾ cups flour 
• ¼ teaspoon each salt, baking soda, and baking powder 
• 1 tablespoon powdered or granulated instant coffee 
• ½ cup butter or margarine 
• ¼ cup vegetable shortening 
• ½ cup each sugar & packed brown sugar 
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 egg yolk  
• 3 tablespoons (approximately) granulated sugar
1. In a bowl stir together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and instant coffee to blend thoroughly, set aside. Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
2. In mixer bowl combine butter and shortening; beat until fluffy. Add sugars and beat until well blended. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just well combined. 
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Dip a flat-bottomed glass in granulated sugar, and use it to flatten each cookie to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. 
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until cookies are golden brown and feel firm when touched lightly. Let stand on baking sheets for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool. 
5. Yield about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies
   
• Lemon Sugar Crisps (made by Barbara)
• ½ cup butter 
• ½ cup shortening 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 2 tsp lemon juice 
• ¼ tsp lemon extract 
• 1 1/8 cup flour 
• ¾ tsp baking powder 
1. Cream together butter, shortening and sugar. 
2. Add egg, lemon juice and lemon extract 
3. Stir in flour and baking powder 
4. Shape into ball 
5. Flatten with glass dipped in sugar (can add some yellow food coloring to sugar) Bake at 400F for approximately 8 minutes
6. yield 24-36 cookies
   

This month in our Audubon display case

This month in our Audubon display case we are featuring the Evening Grosbeak. The Evening Grosbeak is a stocky, heavy-billed finch of northern coniferous forests. An irruptive migrant across much of its range, it makes roughly biannual appearances at winter feeding stations throughout much of the coterminous United States. Often moving in large flocks, this boldly colored bird with the massive bill is difficult for observers to miss.

This month in our Audubon display case

This month in our Audubon display case we are featuring the Swainson's Hawk. Each Autumn, nearly the entire breeding population of the Swainson's Hawk migrates from the temperate zone of North America to "wintering" areas in South America. From Prairie Canada, this migration is more than 10,000 km each way, a distance second among raptors only to that of the Arctic Peregrine Falcon. Swainson's Hawks forage and migrate in flocks often numbering in the thousands.