Berkshire Green Drinks presents Northeastern Cliff Swallows

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Linda Merry, a conservation biologist and operational meteorologist, will present at the May Berkshire Green Drinks on Wednesday, May 8. 
 
This free hybrid event will take place online via Zoom and in person at The Barn of the Williams Inn, 103 Spring Street in Williamstown. The in-person social gathering will begin around 5:15 PM; the presentation and Zoom meeting will start at 6:00 PM. If the weather permits, the in-person gathering will take place outdoors.
 
Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) welcomes back Linda Merry—who initially presented at Green Drinks in August 2022—for an update on her ongoing research on cliff swallows. Some may remember when Linda discussed her first conservation adventure: artificial nesting and habitat remediation. 
 
For the May Berkshire Green Drinks presentation, Linda will discuss the natural history of northeastern cliff swallows, their current conservation status, efforts to conserve populations, and her current conservation adventure: the investigation of correlation in the abundance of local insect prey and nesting density, as well as Ferren's hypothesis (applied to the BCC main campus) which simply states that "the amount of available source mud is correlated to the potential nesting density of the colony."
 
 
Linda Merry is a conservation biologist and operational meteorologist who thoroughly enjoys photography and ornithology. Her work exists at that junction where the sciences and the arts collide. She is currently employed as an Assistant and Adjunct Instructor in the Environmental and Life Sciences Department at Berkshire Community College.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Flag Meant to Represent Inclusion Sparks Debate in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — One of the authors of a proposed bylaw amendment to allow the display of the Progress Pride on town flag poles said he welcomes more dialogue about the proposal.
 
"It's been a good learning experience through all of this," Mount Greylock Regional School sophomore Jack Uhas said last week.
 
"Any attempt to hinder a conversation in our community would be disappointing to me. I'm excited to hear what people have to say."
 
Uhas is the vice president of the middle-high school's Gender Sexuality Alliance, which developed the bylaw proposal that will be before Thursday's annual town meeting at Mount Greylock.
 
The advocacy group has been talking for some time about how to foster a public display of support for the LGBTQ-plus community.
 
"Last [school] year, we started thinking of ways we could make an impact in the wider community beyond Mount Greylock," Uhas said. "We talked about doing something like painting a crosswalk like they do in other communities.
 
"[Select Board member Randal Fippinger], who was the father of the GSA president last year, came in and talked to us. And, apparently, there were some Department of Transportation regulations that meant it wasn't feasible [to paint a crosswalk]. We pivoted to other strategies."
 
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