Birding with field guide author

Blooming Grove — There is still time to register for a walk with well-known birder James Coe, who authored and illustrated “Eastern Birds” of the Golden Field Guides. This benefit for the Stewart Park and Reserve Coaltion will be held Saturday, May 20, at Stewart State Forest. The walk will be rewarding for novices as well as seasoned birders. Since his last bird walk on the Stewart Lands in 1999, Coe has also become a highly regarded landscape painter, as part of the “plein air” school of artists. He has paintings permanently on exhibit at the Wyndham Fine Arts Gallery in Wyndham, N.Y., and locally at the Mark Gruber Gallery in New Paltz (through May 17). The walk starts at 8:30 a.m., and will be followed by wine, coffee, and light snacks at the Farmers Museum on Route 17K near the lands. The rain date is Sunday, May 21. As a fundraiser to help cancel the coalition’s legal debt, a tax-deductible donation of $50 per person is being requested. Space is limited and reservations are encouraged. For information e-mail SPARC at sparc@frontiernet.net or call 564-3018.