Sports Outdoors

The New York State Department of  Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) new computerized sporting licensing system is operational, allowing sportsmen and sportswomen to conduct license transactions, Commissioner Joe Martens announced.

The transition of hunter, angler and trapper data required a temporary shutdown for sales of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, recreational marine fishing registrations and harvest game reporting.  The data transfer has been completed and individuals can resume normal transactions and reporting on the new system.

Individuals who were unable to report harvest data during the temporary shutdown were given a grace period for reporting of this data.  With the system now operational, all harvest data that has not been reported must be submitted by January 20, 2014.

Hunters, anglers and trappers are able to purchase sporting licenses, stamps and permits at one of the nearly 1,500 locations across New York State, via telephone at (1-866-933-2257) or via the internet at https://aca.dec.accela.com/dec/

“I encourage New Yorkers to utilize the new license system to purchase their sporting licenses, report any deer harvested during the system blackout period and enjoy the many outstanding outdoor activities available in New York State,” added Martens.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has released a free iPhone app to help people identify 285 birds in North America. Created with support from the National Science Foundation, the app asks just five questions, then displays photos of birds that match your description – customized to your location and time of year.

“We named the app Merlin because of its uncanny, almost magical, way of guessing which bird you saw,” said the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Jessie Barry, whose team created the app with partner Birds in the Hand. Barry said that, far from magic, Merlin uses data from citizen science participants and bird watchers to understand how people see and describe birds and to narrow the list to the birds found nearby. The app is the first to use data from the eBird citizen science project to dynamically select the birds found within about a 30 mile radius of your location at the time when you saw the bird.

“This type of precision is only possible because bird watchers report their sightings to eBird from locations across North America every day of the year,” Barry said. Merlin draws upon 70 million eBird sightings to calculate which species you’re most likely to encounter.

Additionally, bird watchers “trained” Merlin to understand how people see and describe birds. By participating in online activities to describe birds based on photos, they contributed more than three million data points that Merlin uses to deduce which birds are viewed based on people’s description of color, size and behavior. The app records your response when you confirm the bird you saw, enabling researchers to identify successful interactions and improve Merlin’s performance over time. It also displays photos, ID tips, sounds and range maps for each species.

The Merlin Bird ID app can now be downloaded from the App Store. The Cornell Lab plans to release Merlin for Android and online use in the spring of 2014 and to continue adding more species. Merlin is made possible with support from the National Science Foundation, Pennington™ Wild Bird Food and friends and members of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Cornell Lab is a nonprofit organization with the mission to improve the understanding and protection of birds.

The Rensselaer Plateau Alliance is celebrating the fifth year of its incorporation with a major accomplishment. Namely, the completion and publication of the Rensselaer Plateau Regional Conservation Plan and three related User Guides (for municipal officials, landowners and organizations). The Conservation Plan includes detailed information about the region’s significant ecological communities, economy and community values, as well as historical and demographic research. The Guides are intended to assist municipalities, landowners and organizations with using the Conservation Plan to learn more about the Plateau and support local land use decisions, regional economic development initiatives and conservation efforts.

Please consider joining us for a grand celebration of this and other RPA accomplishments at 6 pm on Saturday, February 15, at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts.  The celebration will include dinner, catered by The Arlington House, music, good conversation and cheer and a brief program featuring comments by U.S. Congressman Chris Gibson, Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino, NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program Coordinator Fran Dunwell and RPA President Jim Bonesteel.  The cost is $40 per person with RSVP required. Please visit our website at http://rensselaerplateau.org for RSVP information and links to the Regional Plan and Guides.

The celebration will also feature a silent auction featuring goods and services from the region with all proceeds supporting the educational and outreach programs of the RPA.  Of particular interest is an original work of fine art donated by noted local artist Stephen Pentak (http://stephenpentak.com).

Keep informed of the many activities going on with RPA or the more than 30 Alliance organizations by checking out our new database driven calendar of events at http://renpa.azurewebsites.net/.