March Meeting Minutes

Cayuga Bird Club meeting March 11, 2019   

President Diane Morton opened the meeting and thanked Maureen Parsons and Monica Weimer for cookies. A sign up sheet for cookies for April and May was passed around.  

 New members and visitors were welcomed, then the February minutes were approved as posted.   

Highlights from the 4 field trips since our February meeting were given:   Matt Young, Feb 16 - (winter finches) Went to south ends of Skaneateles, Owasco, & Cayuga Lakes as well as the town of Scott and the Summerhill areas. Highlights included more than 100 Evening Grosbeaks at a private residence in the town of Scott, and a Cooper’s Hawk and more Evening Grosbeaks at Summerhill. Bob McGuire, Feb 24 - (around the lake) Myers Park had an early Killdeer, also Long-tailed Ducks and White-winged Scoters. Large flock of Snow Buntings on Davis Rd, and a variety of Ducks at Aurora and Union Springs. Suan Yong, Mar 3 - (around the lake) Waterfowl, many Snow Geese, trumpeter and tundra swans at Mud Lock, Harrier at Finger Lakes regional airport, 3 Greater White-fronted Geese at Sheldrake. Ken Haas, March 9 - (west side of the lake) Hundreds of Canvasbacks, 3 Greater White-fronted Geese, other waterfowl, especially at Sheldrake.   

Upcoming field trips were announced: Sat. March 23, Meena Haribal - full day trip around Cayuga Lake, Meet at east end of Stewart Park at 7:30am. More waterfowl on the move. Sun. April 7, Suan Yong - half day Dryden Lake trip, Meet at CLO parking lot at 7:30 am. Good for migrating waterfowl and songbirds.   Weekend bird walks at Sapsucker Woods will continue every Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 am. New beginner bird walks for the public at Stewart Park will be held on Saturdays at 9 am starting April 6. Jody Enck, Suan Yong and Gladys Birdsall will alternate leading these walks.   All were referred to check our web calendar at cayugabirdclub.org for up-to-date information about upcoming field trips and other club events.   

The next Cayuga Bird Club meeting will be on Monday, April 8, and our speaker will be Dr. David Toews, from Pennsylvania State University, who will give a presentation entitled: Mistakes Happen! Hybridization in Wood Warblers.   

It was also announced that Marie Read would be talking about her new book, Mastering Bird Photography: The Art, Craft and Technique of Photographing Birds and their Behavior on Tuesday, March 12 at Kendall.   

Conservation Action Committee Update: At our last meeting, Cayuga Bird Club members voted to direct $2500 of club funds to use on projects of the conservation action committee at the south end of the lake- Stewart Park and Jetty Woods. Jody Enck reported on one of our community outreach projects happening on March 30 - a birdhouse building workshop at Stewart Park along with a Stewart Park & Jetty Woods cleanup. He also spoke about other conservation action committee news, including a display of part of the assembled Purple Martin house and the plan for painting it during the March 30 meeting at Stewart Park. A sign up sheet to help with bird house build and painting was passed around as well as an invitation to pay $10 for making your own birdhouse to take home.   

Reading of the list of birds for the Cayuga Lake Basin was led by Colleen Richards. 95 bird species were recorded for the week prior to the meeting.   

The evening’s program. Borneo: A Birding Tour of Sabah, Malaysia, was given by Susan Danskin, Diane Morton, and Ken Kemphues. Speaking consecutively, Susan began by informing us of her process of looking for birding trips and how Diane and Ken graciously invited her to join them on this trip. With a gorgeous slideshow of the many birds they sighted as well as other plants and wildlife, we were led from Kota Belud to the Crocker Range to Mt. Kinabalu. Then Diane and Ken continued the recounting of their journey onto the Poring Hot Springs, Sepilok, the Gomantong Caves, motorboat travels along the Kinabatangan River, and the Borneo Rainforest Lodge on the Danum River before their return to the Shangri-La Resort hotel and ultimately their return home to Ithaca. One must ask them for their experiences wearing “leech socks” to round out this exciting adventure!   Their total bird species seen was 260, with an additional 20 that were only heard.  

Respectfully submitted,  Colleen Richards  Acting Recording Secretary