The Whitlock Golf and Country Club’s logo, a Pileated Woodpecker, is certainly symbolic for Le Nichoir. Whitlock is also an Audubon International Certified Cooperative Bird Sanctuary. And, what’s more, Whitlock has generously hosted our Taste of Hudson event for several years. It’s a club that cares about migratory birds, making it an ideal, like-minded host for Le Nichoir’s most important fundraiser.

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest of the woodpeckers found in North America, and a rare guest at Le Nichoir. Even so, one recently won the hearts of our team of staff and volunteers. It had experienced some sort of collision and was in shock when it was brought to Le Nichoir. Once admitted, the bird was given oxygen therapy and painkillers. It slowly regained its strength by aggressively pecking at logs and voraciously consuming hundreds of mealworms a day. The bird is now recovering in the aviary designed and built specifically for woodpeckers.

This Pileated Woodpecker is just one of the thousands of birds saved every year by Le Nichoir’s bird care program. Our program exists because of the support individuals like yourself who have shown their commitment to helping wild birds in need through donations and by attending Le Nichoir events like the Le Birdie golf tournament, which is coming up on Monday, September 27^th.

Le Birdie differs in many important ways from traditional fundraising golf tournaments. We want the tournament to be a gathering of friends, affordable to members of our community. Often, fundraising tournaments feature elaborate brunches and dinners, which add significantly to the cost for participants without contributing additional funds for the sponsoring charity. These meals can extend the time commitment for participants, with events sometimes lasting up to 12 hours – starting with a brunch at 10:00 a.m. and leaving for home at 10:00 p.m. after the dinner and awards ceremony. Cutting out the meals allowed us to charge less for green fees and commercial sponsorship opportunities without affecting the amount raised for Le Nichoir’s bird care and educational activities.

Fear not, we will provide great nourishment for our golfers on tournament day. Thanks to generous support from Hudson-area businesses, food and drink stations will be in place around the course. We will start the day with Le Nichoir bird-friendly coffee from Totem Roasters and home-made biscotti prepared by volunteers. Some of our other supporters include:

Hudson à Table restaurants: Le Cozy Café, Le Verger Hudson, Le Wendigo, and Que De Bonnes Choses
Meat and More donating hormone- and antibiotic-free sausages
Restaurant Sahib
Masala Dhabba
Cardinal microbrewery offering beer samples

The day will close with a reception and bird trivia contest on the Whitlock terrace moderated by Tom Whelan, co-host of the morning show on Hudson’s own Lite 106.7.

The tournament should be a lot of fun, and there are still some spots available so please join us. For more information contact susan@lenichoir.org or call 450 458 2809, ext. 5.