April 2023
Meeting Minutes

10 April 2023 Meeting

Lab of Ornithology

7:25pm-9:00pm

https://cayugabirdclub.org

NOTE: It appeared that we broke the technology in the auditorium.  The business meeting was all verbal, no slides/visuals.  OLab Custodian Cindy Sims saved the day when she wheeled in a monitor cart and we were able to set it up for Meena’s presentation.  Apologies to all for a less than stellar experience and thanks for everyone’s patience!

Reading of the List

While we are doing our final settling in, I would like to call past president, Suan Yong, to the lectern to lead tonight’s reading of the list!

Call to Order

Are there any corrections offered for last month’s meeting minutes?

Hearing none, last month’s meeting minutes are approved as written.

Cookies!

Many thanks to Jill for tonight’s delicious cookies!

We will be shifting our meeting next month to Kendal where they will provide the cookies for us, so thank you to everyone who has contributed to this enjoyable aspect of our monthly in-person meetings this season.

Next Meeting

This is our last meeting in this incarnation of the Lab of O auditorium! 

Next month, we will be meeting in the Kendal Auditorium; see details in the next newsletter.

It will be our last in-person meeting of the season followed by our annual summer picnic in June at Myer’s Park.

Our speaker for May will be club member Cliff Hodge who went on a photo safari to Kenya in December and took the opportunity to add a solo birding safari to his trip, stretching his visit to more than 15 days. Visiting 8 game preserves, conservancies and protected wildlife areas, Cliff spotted almost 300 species of birds, including more than 200 Lifers.He’ll share some incredible images of these beautiful creatures, as well as some pretty cool photos of African big game and other wildlife.

Something to look forward to to cap off our last meeting before our summer break!

04/08 SSW BBW Leader Appreciation Event

Many thanks to Suan for coordinating our first

Sapsucker Woods Beginner Bird Walk Leader appreciation event!  

The event was attended by both brand new BBW leaders and veteran leaders alike.

Mark Devokaitis set up a binocular station with an informative review checklist

to start the morning’s activities off.

This was followed by a walk in glorious weather around the Wilson Trail,

where we learned & shared tips and tidbits on birds, plants, wildlife and history of SSW.

Finally, we were treated by the Lab folks to lunch, and an update

on the Lab's renovation plans for this coming year.

As you can safely surmise by the many smiling faces, a good time was had by all!

Upcoming Field Trips 

We’ve got a handful of spring field trips scheduled

April walks:

The first one in April was sadly cancelled, but we have two others coming up

A note on the Stewart Park Beginner Bird Walks –

these are held on 3rd Saturday of the month in April, May and June.

So if you are looking for a quick, local birding fix, dress for the weather, bring your binoculars,

and meet at the Cascadilla Boathouse at 9:00 am.

And if you’re looking for something more substantial, there is an upcoming around the lake and

Montezuma trip with Steve Kress and Ann Mitchell.  Steve or Ann, is there a sign up for that? (not that Ann is aware of)

May walks:

Then there is more to look forward to in May:

The May trip will be Birding in the Danby Area including Jennings Pond,

the heron rookery @ the West Danby fire station & other birdy spots.

Details are still being worked out for the Schuyler County trip –

keep watch on the club calendar for emerging details.

And finally, a special note on the Greensprings & Arnot Forest trip –

This trip is limited to 30 participants, so if you are interested, please pre-register very soon!

There have been a lot of people who get the Greensprings newsletter 

signing up for this field trip and we don't want CBC members to miss out!

MOTUS Update

We have a new MOTUS update for the spring and I would like to call on
MOTUS Coordinator, Diane Morton, to tell us a little bit about it…

A Horned Lark was detected by our Motus receiver at Myers Park on March 20. This bird was next detected north of us at Murcrest Farms near Watertown, NY, on March 29.  

The Horned Lark was originally radio-tagged in Quebec on October 3, 2022, north of Quebec City on the Saint Lawrence River. It was then detected during its fall migration by Motus receivers in Vermont and Pennsylvania in November. It was not detected during the winter months, but then flew by our station on March 20 as it was heading north. It will be interesting to see if there are further detections on its way North this spring.

Conservation Action Committee

Next up - I’d like to call on Jody Enck to give a brief overview of upcoming

Conservation Action Committee Earth Day activities… Jody?

•When? Earth day is coming (4/22/23)!

•What? Habitat improvement work & birding

•Who? CBC, New Roots Charter School, others?

•How?  Need volunteers for:

oCommunications

oLocating & pricing out materials

oTransporting materials

oLabor

oGuiding bird walks

oCoordinating work crews

•“Walk thru” Sat 4/15 @ Lighthouse Point

•Contact Jody @ jodyenck@gmail.com

2023 Spring Ornithologywith Steve Kress

Quick update on the CBC’s fourth yearly offering of our 8-week long Spring Ornithology with Steve Kress

·This year is our 1st hybrid in-person+Zoom class, held on Wed evenings @ Kendal @ Ithaca, with about half the students are attending by Zoom and half in person.  

·Registration is now closed with the first class having been held on March 29th

·80 class participants, including 2 Educator Scholarship awardees

and 2 Youth scholarship recipients.

·CBC has made a gift of $400 from the Spring Ornithology course revenue

to the Kendal Staff Appreciation Fund, in recognition for their assistance for this course

·Sincere thanks go out to Alene Wyatt for Kendal AV tech advice, and to Kendal staff,

as well as to the LARGE Team of CBC Volunteers for the course:

Laura Stenzler, Rachel Lodder, Matt Del Buono, Muhammad Arif, Suan Yong, Anthony Arce,Jerry Skinner, Sandy Podulka, Carol Felton-Schmitt, Susan Suarez, Ken Kemphues, Donna Scott, their fearless leader, Diane Morton

2023 NYSOA Conference

A plug for the upcoming New York State Ornithological Association conference,
hosted by Saw Mill River Audubon on September 22-24, 2023

This fall, the conference will be held at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel and Conference Center

in Tarrytown NY, next to the Cuomo/Tappan Zee Bridge.

Registration and all details are at www.nybirders.org.

David Allen Sibley will be the keynote speaker for the conference on Saturday night and Tom Stephenson, co-author of “The Warbler Book” will be the Saturday afternoon workshop keynote with a focused workshop about learning bird sounds.

There will be other workshops, field trips, paper and poster sessions and more. 

I know I am looking forward to it and encourage other folks to check it out!

•Register as soon as possible at www.nybirders.org

•Field trips & workshops space limited and only available by online registration

•Send questions and inquiries to info@nybirders.org

Misc. goings-on 

Before we get into voting on the new club proposal, I have several misc goings-on to share:

1st, a reminder – the Lab Visitor Center is closing, so keep an eye on their FAQ for details

Next, if you are looking to learn more about your fellow club members, there are some new talks and exhibits coming up

If you’re planning to be in Lansing later this month, check out a talk by Tracey McLellan,

who will be speaking about how she fell in love with birds on a trip to Costa Rica,

which naturally led to bird photography, which in turn led to transforming her photos into quilts like this one you see here. 

Please register for this talk, which is needed to plan for appropriate event space. Registration required  by 4/25

• Call 607-533-4939

• Email info@lansinglibrary.org 

• Online @ lansinglibrary.org  

And if you find yourself out in T-burg on a weekend afternoon, Club members Jared, Rachel & Jill are participating in the “Four Friends” exhibit at the Second Story Gallery.

Gallery Hrs 1-5 Sat & Sun, Apr8-30, 15 E. Main St, Trumansburg

Or, if you are out birding anywhere in Tompkins County, keep in mind that John Confer

is heading up his 13th year of attempting to find all Merlin pairs and nests in Tompkins County.  

• In 2014 he found 1 nest and 2 pairs.

• By 2021 he found 6 nests and 11 pairs.

• By 2022 there were 12 pairs in Tompkins County

The research report on this study is now in review in a journal with Anne Clark and Connor Loomis.  This report depends greatly on reports from the local birding community.  Merlins are now back in the area and pairs are forming with egg laying starting about mid-April, so eyes to the sky and report your observations to John!

<from the floor> - John also reminded us to let him know if you are interested in helping out with the Louisiana Waterthrush survey

Okay!  Just one last thing before tonight’s presentation…

Project Proposal - Initial printing: 2nd Edition of the Cayuga Basin Birding Guide 

I call our VP, Ken Haas, to please lead us through tonight’s project proposal process.

• Overview: 1st Edition 11 yrs ago; revised, updated 2nd edition ready for Cornell University Press to print 250 copies ASAP pending approval

• Proposed by: Bob McGuire & Ken Kemphues

• Benefits: Supports club’s purpose (furthering the study of birds, by disseminating that knowledge, by encouraging the establishment and maintenance of protected areas and by educating the public in the need of conserving natural areas.)

• Cost ($4550)

  • $4400 – CU Press (1-time printing; future runs need new proposal)

  • $150 – Anne Marie Johnson (ISBN number)

• Follow-up: #books sold/remaining as part of annual budget proposal

Questions

• did we put it out to bid?
  We did not… we did the 1st time around – CUPress was lowest cost, we did reprints,they are local, they have been good to work with

• Is Ithaca in the title?

No – Science center said it would sell more with Ithaca in the title

Cover is the same as before… could make sure the sellers know it is centered on Ithaca

• What about putting a sticker on it?

We didn’t think about it, but the science center could if they want to

Sciencenter doesn't sell any at all!

• One time run?

Future runs need a new proposal

Current run size was based on carrying us for up to 4 years

• Can we pre-order?

No; there is no mechanism for that and the club itself doesn’t sell it (MAC, Wildbirds, Agway do)

Once we have them printed we will post in newsletter

• When will we sell them?

We still have some 1st editions so we are still working on that

• Museum of the Earth, PRI – have we talked to Andy?

Not yet, good idea! 

FingerLakes Land Trust

Motion & Vote

• Donna Scott motioned to to approve

• Kathy Strickland approved

• Kevin Murphy seconded

• Vote

  • Unanimous vote - approved

Tonight’s presentation.

Following Alfred Russel Wallace in Search of Birds-of-Paradise and Birdwings in West Papua and Indonesia

Meena Haribal

Tonight’s speaker has been a Cayuga Bird Club member for almost 30 years.  She is a past president, the current field trip chair, and has led many field trips herself.  An ardent naturalist and world traveler, tonight she will tell us about her trip to Indonesia in search of endemic birds, exotic insects and orangutans.

A recording of Meena's presentation on Alfred Russel Wallace and the Birds of Paradise in Indonesian Papua province, is now available at:

  https://youtu.be/7vuSh797Hhc

For those in attendance who may not have had a great view of the small screen, you may want to view the video portion starting at 32:56, also accessible via this link:

  https://youtu.be/7vuSh797Hhc&t=1976s

Thanks, Meena, for the great talk, and for everyone who helped overcome the technical difficulties.