DVOC
Main Page > Meetings / Programs
> January 6, 2005 Minutes
Minutes of the DVOC
January 6, 2005
Rick Mellon, acting as guest president for the ailing Adrian Binns, called DVOC's 2005 Annual Meeting to order at 7:45. 48 members and 2 guests attended. The minutes for December 16 were approved as read by everybody but Rick, who remained silent and took his abuse like a manly man.
Committee Reports
Nominating Committee: Colin Campbell announced the proposed slate for the upcoming
election, and called for a vote. The officers and new Councilors were elected
unanimously, debate obviously being cut off by the desire of the membership
to get out to the free booze as soon as humanly possible. You are stuck with
the following people, whether you like it or not:
Adrian Binns - President
Chris Walters - Vice President
Paul Guris - Secretary
Naomi Murphy - Treasurer
Jeff Holt & Mike Lyman - Councilors
The outgoing Councilors, Anita Guris and Lynn Jackson, were thanked for serving their terms.
Art McMorris was elected as a Fellow.
Membership Committee: Anita Guris announced our 2 newest members;
Lucy Siegfreid and Andrew Curtis. While Anita will remain Chair-chick of the
committee, Connie Goldman is taking over the processing of applications and
sending of welcome packets, so see Connie for application forms. Anita reported
that 2004 saw 34 new members. Naomi mentioned that she though it might be 36.
We split the difference and said it was 35, which means either we have a non-existent
but dues paying member, or we dumped somebody after processing their check.
Conservation: No report.
Publications: No report.
Field Trips: With help from the leaders, Martin announced the
following field trips:
- The January 8 Philadelphia Mid-winter Bird Census can use volunteers.
- January 9 trip to Dix WMA in Cumberland County, NJ led by Paul Guris. Paul
mentioned some of the birds seen in this area on the CBC, including 2 Clay-colored
Sparrows and multiple Bald Eagles.
- January 15-17 trip to Montauk with Erica Brendell and Chris Walters now has
one opening
- January 15 gull trip with Matt Sharp is to Florence, NJ or Cherry Island Landfill,
DE, depending upon where the best gulling appears to be available.
- Sun, January 23 trip to Barnegat with Adrian Binns
- Sat, January 29 trip to the north shore of New Jersey with Martin Selzer
Archives: No report.
Treasurer's Report: Naomi Murphy reported on the state of the club's finances for 2004. A comment by Rick Mellon as she approached the stage was grounds for a thrashing with said report. If Naomi had been carrying a baseball bat rather than a stack of papers, Rick's status as an "ex-president" would have been elevated (or more appropriately buried) to a whole new level. The Secretary was unable to hear the remark, and hence it could not be recorded in the minutes. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
New Bins for New Birders: A new program, along with a new committee to oversee it, has been created. It is called New Bins for New Birders, and was created to distribute new Nikon binoculars to organizations involved with young birders. Paul Guris will head the new committee. The initial funds will come from the sale of the scopes and tripods won by DVOC's Lagerhead Shrike World Series of Birding team and the proceeds of the book auction. Nikon will sell us the binoculars at cost. Be sure to see DVOC's web site for further details.
Announcements
• Paul Guris: Paul read Tri-State Bird Rescue's nice thank you for the
donation of $500 by the club as an organization, and the further donation of
over $400 collected by the members, to aid with the birds impacted by the Delaware
River oil spill.
• Bert Filemyr: DVOC directories were completed and available up front.
Through the magic of time bending, 11-dimension theory, partical physics, and
extensive personal discussions with Steven Hawking, Bert was able to have the
officers and Councilors that we elected just 10 minutes prior already printed
up in the directory. He's a marvel.
• Paul Guris: Announced a 6-hour pelagic for inshore alcids on January
29 still had space.
Local Notes
• JoAnn Raine: A Red-shouldered Hawk was in New Holland.
• Linda Rowan: A Grasshopper Sparrow was at the Pennypack Environmental
Restoration Trust.
• Sandra Keller: A Snowy Owl was again at Shark River Inlet, NJ.
• Al Bilheimer: Over 50 Black Vultures were in Kendall, NJ.
• Frank Windfelder: He's doing a Palmyra Nature Cove Park big year, and
asked for any information concerning sightings to be sent to him. He is already
at 46 species so far for the year including Eastern Towhee, American Tree Sparrow,
and Saw-whet Owl.
• Nikolas Haass: Discussed the current Bohemian Waxwing and NE race of
the Bullfinch invasion in Europe where he was recently visiting.
• Paul Guris: The hotlines are reporting growing numbers of Great Gray
Owls in Ontario, and the Algonquin Provincial Park CBC had over 1600 White-winged
Crossbills.
Ornithological Studies
Anita Guris presented Newly Discovered Bird Species, an overview of some of
the species recently discovered around the globe. Her last slide was either
a picture of a Moa, an extinct bird that is one of the largest ever known to
have existed, or was an illustration of the size of the Thanksgiving turkey
that Adrian dreams of. He may be British, but Adrian is up for celebrating any
holiday that involves food.
Program
Chris Walters presided over the Christmas Bird Count reports from around the
Delaware Valley.
The meeting adjourned for refreshments and goodies at 9:25.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul A. Guris, Secretary