Monday, January 22, 2007

Flying high in South America

If you can find a warm retreat in January, go! Last summer I was browsing a magazine and I came across a few lines about a roost of bobolinks that had been discovered in February in Bolivia. Eighty thousand, to be exact. Adjacent roosts totaled to over 130,000 of the birds -- about 6.5% of the global population.
Bobolink
Now when I see just 30 bobolinks in the field behind my house, I feel like I've uncovered the Mother Lode myself. But to see 130,000 of them...
Ever in search of worthy conservation efforts we can support, I decided to track down Roz Renfrew, the conservation biologist spearheading this research. Talk about one of those "it was just meant to be" moments -- this research is supported by the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and the biologist is, among other things, a cyclist. Vermont, bobolinks, cycling. Yeah, this felt absolutely right.
Roz's research will go a long way toward protecting bobolinks here in the States and in their winter home in South America. I firmly believe if cyclists want good places to ride, they need to preserve habitat. So, with direction from Roz and our art director, we've come up with some products whose sale will benefit VINS' bobolink studies. You'll see them in our catalog and on our website in February.


Moral of the story: a winter escape is a wonderful thing!
Tailwinds,
Georgena