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/ Programs 2000 > April 6, 2000 Minutes
Minutes of the DVOC Meeting held April 6, 2000
The
meeting was called to order by President Ron French.
42 members and 5 guests were present
The minutes of the previous meeting held 3/17/00 were read and approved with corrections.
NOMINATIONS:
Al Bilheimer was elected to membership in club.
Jim Lyman and Mike Lyman were both nominated for membership by Chuck Lyman and
Ron French.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
There were no reports from: Cassinia or Archives
Larus:
Jane Henderson announced that she had with her copies of the newest issue
of Larus. Members were invited to pick it up; otherwise they will be
mailed.
Conservation:
Although Jan Gordon is in China, she sent word that the Purple
Martin House Project is moving forward; in fact she now expects that 6 boxes
(not the originally planned 5) will eventually be erected. 2 boxes are already
in place at Bartrams Gardens. The "dawn song equipment", however,
is not yet in place although Doris McGovern has the tapes.
Pledge Sheets are also being passed around tonight for the upcoming Bird-a-thon. Members are encouraged to show their support. No decision has been made yet as to who will receive the funds collected.
Field trips:
Tom Bailey announced that club member and former President Brian Moscatello
will be leading a trip to the Pickatinny Arsenal. (date??)
Cost: $6
Colin Campbell has fliers for his annual Pocomoke Swamp Weekend trip; this year to be held May 5th - 7th
Don Jones announced that his May 21st trip to Hawkins Road and Brightview Farms will be meeting at Hawkins Road instead of the usual Vicenttown diner. He will have more details at the next meeting.
Ornithological Studies:
Chuck Hetzel recommended BIRDSOURCE at Cornell as an excellent resource for
ornithological studies. He is currently participating in BIRDCAST, a project
that involves recording the night sounds of migratory birds with a microphone
positioned on his roof and transmitting the recordings, via computer, to Cornell.
Programs:
Colin Campbell announced the following upcoming programs:
4/20 - Larry Niles and "the Ecology of Shorebirds in Delaware Bay"
5/4 - Paul Lehman on "Weather and Bird Migration"
5/18- Sheri Williamson on "Everything you ever wanted to know about
hummingbirds but were afraid to ask"
6/1- Bob Thornton on "Chasing Warblers"
Books:
Irene announced that she will no longer be bringing books to the meetings but
will still handle any special requests people may have. Colin announced that
he finally had a copy of the new "Birds of DE".
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Ward Dasey is looking for volunteers to help him with a Pinelands Summer Bird
Census he'd like to hold sometime in late May/early June including evening
sweeps for Whip-poor-wills. Sandy sensed a great Cassinia article.
Sandy Sherman received a request from Dennis Haig, a Sussex Co., NJ birder,
who is
looking for a 4th person to join their Bird-a-thon team, preferably someone
familiar with the So. Jersey area.
Phil Street informed members of the death on 3/26 of club member Edward "Ned"
Altemus
Ron French announced that Albert Conway is still looking for buyers for his
collection of back issues of Cassinia.
LOCAL
NOTES:
Bill Murphy had a flight of Broad-winged Hawks at Fort Washington State Park
on
3/28
Alan Brady was onboard the "Doris Mae" out of Barnegate Light on 4/2
where he
had 11 Razorbills and 2 murres. He also announced that a group of birders
was interested in setting up a pelagic trip in NJ waters on 7/29 if anyone was
interested.
Joe Majdan had a Chipping Sparrow on 4/1 and the first Purple Martin scouts
Returning to his house on 4/3. This marks the 9th year for Joe's colony and
he offered the following advice to the planners of the DVOC Martin house project:
instead of dawn song tapes, try holy water and prayer. Joe was also curious
to know if other club members were seeing large numbers of dead Canada Geese
along the roadsides.
Chris Walters was excited to see a male Pileated Woodpecker coming to a nest
in
Gladwyne on 4/2
Jane Henderson is still reporting Pine Siskins at her feeders in Flourtown.
She also
had a Chipping Sparrow on 4/2
Mike O'Brien had a Brown Thrasher on 4/5 and 14 Turkeys on Rt 536 between Rt
30 & Rt 206) He also announced that the first Purple Martins arrived in
Batsto on the same day that they took the houses down.
Ron French has an even better place for Wild Turkeys. One is currently roosting
on
the roof of his house in Bucks Co. Ron found him peering in the window one day…giving
new meaning to the term "peeping tom".
Doris McGovern had White Eyed Vireo in DE County on 4/3
Don Jones reports that Tuckerton still has 1 Marbled Godwit. He also just got
back
from a great trip to Belize where he announced, for the benefit of Bill
Murphy, he had 2 Agami Herons
Anita Guris watched a Sharp-shinned Hawk take a Titmouse outside her window.
Sandy Sherman had her 89th yard bird in Collingswood; a flock of 1600+ Snow
Geese flew over on 3/23. She also reported on a field trip she led on 4/2 to
NJ where they had 2 young Great Horned Owls in a nest, White-crowned Sparrows,
Field and Chipping Sparrows.
Joe Majden requested information on the location of any Ruffed Grouse. He's
getting desperate.
Al Bilheimer thanked club members for electing him to membership. He also
reported that while helping boy scouts plant trees in Bucks Co., they had a
Bald Eagle.
Colin Campbell reported on a recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley where they
had
thousands of Broad-winged Hawks, 600 Anhinga, a singing Gray-crowned
Yellowthroat at Santa Ana Refuge and Ferruginous Pymgy-Owl.
Don McClintock started a discussion on conjunctivitus among feeder birds,
especially House Finches. Others reported seeing the condition in Goldfinches
and Tuft Titmouse.
This lead to further death and morphology tales:
Jane Henderson mentioned the thousands of dead Starlings or Cedar Waxwings found
in Maryland. Erica Brendel described in loving detail a Sharpie devouring a
No Mockingbird at her feeder and Armas Hill mentioned a "talk radio show"
he heard warning South Philadelphians that the Canada Geese along the Schuylkil
were depositing 40 tons of poop into their drinking water.
On
that note we moved on to our evening's program:
Nate Rice, Collections Manager at the Academy, presented a program on "The
Evolutionary History of the Ground Antbrds", which grew out of his PhD
dissertation at the University of Kansas. He was also kind enough to bring with
him a number of specimens from the Academy's collection for closer examination.
Respectfully submitted
Lynn Jackson
(for Adrian Binns)
DVOC Main Page > Meetings / Programs > April 6, 2000 Minutes