September Meeting Minutes
Cayuga Bird Club, September 11, 2017
President Jody Enck called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm
Two new members introduced themselves, Monica Weimer and Sandra Babcock.
Members were reminded that annual dues are due in September. Dues are $15 per family or
$10 for students. Payment may be made via PayPal on the Cayuga Bird Club website.
Jody asked for volunteers for the Cayuga Bird Club table at Migration Celebration on Saturday,
September 16, at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He passed around a sheet for people to sign
up to help.
Jody also passed around a sign up sheet for volunteers to bring cookies for the next meeting.
Bob McGuire spoke about the Montezuma Muckrace, a fundraiser organized by the Friends of
the Montezuma Wetlands Complex. The Cayuga Bird Club will be sponsoring the Arrogant
Bustards recreational team, made up of Susan Danskin, Ann Mitchell, Dave Nutter, Gary
Kohlenberg, Deirdre Anderson, Diane Morton, Ken Kemphues, and Bob McGuire. They will try
to find as many species as they can within the Montezuma Wetlands complex the day of the
race. People were encouraged to make a donation for this fundraiser by going to the Friends of
Montezuma website (http://friendsofmontezuma.org/projects-programs/muckrace/).
Diane Morton listed upcoming field trips through October. The next field trip will be led by Meena
Haribal, September 23 from 7:30 am to noon to look for Fall migrants. Mark Chao will lead two
sparrow identification walks, October 7 and 8, at the Cornell Community Garden, starting at 8:30
am. Gladys Birdsall will lead a full day trip to Montezuma on October 21, and Gary Kohlenberg
will lead a trip to Franklin Mountain Hawkwatch in Oneonta on October 28, 2017. Details about
the field trips are in the Cayuga Bird Club online calendar.
Susan Danskin presented the proposed budget for 2017-2018. She showed a slide with
previous years’ income and expenses to explain how amounts for each budget line item was
determined. Ton Schat moved to accept the budget, Carl Steckler seconded, and the 2017-2018
budget was passed unanimously by a show of hands. The proposed budget is available to view
in the September 2017 Cayuga Bird Club newsletter.
Jody listed this year’s nominated officers for the Cayuga Bird Club, who will up for election at
the October 9, 2017 meeting. Nominated officers are President: Wes Blauvelt, Vice President:
Diane Morton, Treasurer: Susan Danskin, Recording Secretary: Becky Hansen, Corresponding
Secretary: Colleen Richards, Board Member: Jody Enck.
John Confer spoke about his HHOWLS Saw-whet banding station on Hammond Hill, requesting
volunteers to help with banding from October 1 - November 20. Last year about 120 birds were
banded on 15 nights. He asked that volunteers sign up to come at least three times. For more
information or to sign up, contact John at confer@ithaca.edu.
Donna Scott announced a program by Bill McQuay that will be held Tuesday, October 3, at 7:00
pm at the Lansing Town Hall: Sound Meets Science: Radio Production in the Natural World.
Diane Traina spoke about the new Cayuga Lake Birding Trail initiative. She requested that if
people know of good birding trails from other regions, please share promotional materials,
maps, or websites that they like by email to Jody Enck at president@cayugabirdclub.org.
Jody spoke about the Sister Bird Club network, engaging in bird conservation by working
collaboratively with other bird clubs in the US and Central America. There is a website,
sisterbirdclubnetwork.com, and a Facebook page, for news and to help people connect through
the network.
Jody will be participating in the Partners in Flight International Conference in Costa Rica,
October 30- November 3. Jody has organized a symposium, Sister Bird Club Network - Linking
Birders through Neotropical Migratory Birds as part of the conference. Jody will lead off this part
of the meeting by giving a talk on the Vision and Purpose of the Sister Bird Club Network.
Jody also talked about two trips to Central America that Cayuga Bird Club members are
encouraged to join. One is to Honduras in January with Beaks and Peaks, and the other is a trip
to Costa Rica in April, with Holbrook Travel. Please email Jody at
president@cayugabirdclub.org for more information. There will also be information about these
two trips in the October 2017 newsletter.
At the October 9 Cayuga Bird Club meeting, club member Suan Yong will give a talk on using
Infrared Thermography for birding.
Jody made a decision not to read the list of Birds of the Cayuga Lake Basin this month because
the meeting was running late after the many announcements. A clipboard with the list of basin
birds was passed around instead for people to checkmark birds they had seen or heard in the
last week.
Jody then introduced the speaker for the evening, Dr. Amanda Rodewald, Professor of
Ornithology and Director of Conservation Science at Cornell University. Dr. Rodewald gave a
presentation entitled: In the Thick of It: How Invasive Plants Affect Breeding Birds. She focused
on Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), a common non-native invasive shrub of eastern
forests, and how it can increase predation and lower the fitness of birds, such as Northern
Cardinals, that use the shrubs for nesting and food.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Morton
Acting Recording Secretary