February Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2020 Minutes   

Cayuga Bird Club Membership Meeting Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Ithaca NY 
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Diane Morton  

Cookies: Thank you to Kay Burkett and Kristen Meehan for providing!
Welcome to visitors and new members.
January Minutes posted on website and accepted  

Spring Ornithology with Steve Kress 70 sign-ups; registration is now closed. If you missed it this year, you can be put on a list to be notified next fall when registration for the 2021 course opens.  

CBC Newsletters from 2012-2019 have been printed and donated to the Cornell Lab to be bound and added to the Cornell Library system. The bound newsletters will be kept in the Adelson Library.  

Motus Tracking Station at Myers Park is running. When you check the motus.org website you can see our receiver on the map. And we got a Hit!  An American Woodcock was detected by our station on November 8. This bird had been tagged on April 27, 2019 at Powder Mill Nature Reserve in Pittsburg. Bryant Dossman has been trying to help us with using WiFi at Myers Park to enable automatic upload of our data.  

Winter Field Trip reports:  Jan 19 - half day trip with Diane & Ken, southern end of Cayuga Lake. Tufted Duck at Stewart Park, great views of other ducks + 2 Great Horned Owls in Renwick Woods.  Feb 8 - all day trip led by Bob McGuire. Rare Black-headed Gull found! Glaucous, Iceland and other gulls also seen near East Shore Park. Horned Larks and Snow Buntings in the King Ferry area.  

Upcoming Field Trips: Saturday, Feb 15: Morning field trip at Lime Hollow Nature Center, Cortland, led by Matt Young. Meet at Lab of O for carpooling at 7:30 am, or at Lime Hollow Visitor Center at 8am.  Saturday, Feb 22: Suan Yong will lead a half-day trip to look for winter birds. Meet at the east end of Stewart Park at 8:00 am.  Also on Feb 22: Overnight field trip to Conowingo Dam, Maryland, to view Bald Eagles. If you are interested in joining that trip, contact Carl at cjs9@cornell.edu. Leaves at 9 am Saturday and returns 6 pm Sunday.  Saturday, Feb 29: All-day trip around the lake with Bob McGuire. Meet at 8:00 am at Stewart Park. Check the Cayuga Bird Club web calendar for cancellations or date changes for field trips, especially in winter.   Cayuga Bird Club leaders also guide beginner bird walks at Sapsucker Woods on Saturdays and Sundays year-round. Those walks start at 8:30 am. 

 February 14-17 is the weekend of the Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen science project to document winter birds. Watch for at least 15 minutes, counting all of the birds that you see in that time, and report them using eBird.  

The club trip to Costa Rica, organized by Jody Enck with Holbrook Travel, is Feb 14-23. That trip is full, with 10 participants in addition to Jody.  Jody has also organized a birding trip to Colombia with Holbrook travel for November 7-15. Check our website, cayugabirdclub.org for information.  

NYS Breeding Bird Atlas III is starting, a 5-year year effort to document breeding birds across New York state. We have invited our area’s Atlas Coordinator, Dave Nicosia to lead an Atlasing workshop on Tuesday, February 25, 7:00 pm at the Cornell Lab’s auditorium. Dave will discuss the use of breeding codes and a dedicated eBird portal for data submission. He will also discuss atlas block maps, the need to be aware of block boundaries while birding for the Atlas, and resources available for everyone who wants to participate. Participants may bring a laptop, tablet or mobile phone (with active eBird account) to practice data entry. (There will not be a beginner eBird lesson.)  

Conservation Action Committee: work at Lighthouse Point is continuing, with help from the Cornell Botanic Gardens. Larger invasive shrubs removed. Collaborations with other groups to plant native species. Contact Jody Enck to help with CAC projects.  

Welcome to Birdwatching Field Workshop Series by the Cornell Lab:  Series of six 5-hour bird walks on Saturdays, April 4 - May 9, at birding hotspots in the Ithaca area. Can take all six or just one or two.  

Fuertes Overlook Renovations: The stone overlook in Stewart Park, built in 1934 as a memorial to Cayuga Bird Club’s first President, Louis Agassiz Fuertes is in need of repair, and the lower level of the overlook is closed to the public. Some restoration of the overlook was done by Friends of Stewart Park (FSP) a few years ago, but now the part normally under water is in need of repair. FSP is trying to raise money for this repair work and they have asked for CBC’s help.  FSP has organized an event on March 12 with proceeds going to fund exterior repairs to the structure; ticket sales are open [$15.00 (sliding scale from $10 to $50)]. Cornell Landscape Architecture Professor Kathryn Gleason will present her archaeological research on Rome’s Public Parks in a multimedia presentation at Cinemapolis. There will also be a crowdsource fundraiser announced soon. Discussion of whether to provide a direct club gift for Fuertes overlook repair will occur at March meeting.  Next Cayuga Bird Club meeting: March 9. 

Meena Haribal will present a program about her recent travels in Africa: Seeking Adventure in Africa: An Overland Journey from Nairobi to the Cape of Good Hope  

The Cayuga Lake Basin Bird List was read by Muhammad Arif. 83 bird species were found in the past week.  

Program Speaker: Andrea Patterson, Director, Braddock Bay Bird Observatory: “A Bird in the Hand”.  Andrea spoke about banding birds at BBBO, and what bird banding and Motus tagging can tell us about bird migration.