April 2013 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Cayuga Bird Club Meeting, April 8, 2013

President Linda Orkin called the meeting to order at 7:25 tonight to accommodate two presentations. First, she attended to regular club business:

• The next meeting will be on May 13 when Cyndy and Richard Tkachuck will speak about volunteering.

• Check the online calendar for information on Monday Night Seminars.

• Anne Marie Johnson made a large poster to be used for the tabling which she and Linda will be doing in the fall. Any people interested in joining them should speak to them.

• Jon Young will present a lecture titled ”What the Robin Knows” at the lab on Friday night at 7 p.m.

• People shared interesting bird sightings of the last week, including noting the return of the female Great Blue Heron to the Sapsucker pond and the Bohemian Waxwings.

• Linda Orkin and Loretta Heimbuch provided cookies for the meeting.

Vice President Paul Anderson reported on field trips. Since the last meeting there have been two:

• 3/23 Gladys Birdsall led a trip beginning at Stewart Park and going up to Myers Point.

• 4/7 Paul Anderson led a trip going from Stewart Park up to Drake Rd., Myers, and back to the Lab of O. 

Three upcoming trips are:

• 4/21 Full day around the lake led by John Confer starting at 7:30 p.m.

• 4/27 South Hill led by Stuart Krasnoff beginning at 7:30 p.m 

• 5/4 Hammond Hill led by Suan Yong from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m

Susan Danskin read the checklist of the Cayuga Basin. 

The first speaker was Andy Zepp, Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust. He spoke about the current projects of the trust, the way they try to go about acquiring land for the trust over the long term, and the desire to connect parcels of land so as to have continuous green areas. He encouraged people to participate in the Land Trust.

The main speaker of the night was David Nicosia whose speech was entitled “Highways in the Sky— Wind and Weather Patterns for Bird Migration.” He showed how birds can be picked up by radar and told us how the tools used by meteorologists in looking at the weather can also help to predict migrations. David mentioned the website Birdcast.info as a place to look for some of these predictions.

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Hansen