December 2024 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Cayuga Bird Club Monthly Meeting

December 9, 2024 

Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

Attendance: 55

Introduction to the Reading of the list by Stephanie Herrick. Tonight’s reader is a frequent bird walk leader and 34 year member of CBC, Gladys Birdsall. 

Call to Order and welcome to members and guests by Stephanie Herrick, president.

No first time attendees were present. 

November minutes were approved by Laura Stenzler and seconded by Marie Read. As a reminder, anyone can access the meeting minutes from the cayugabirdclub.org Home Page via the “See Meetings and Speakers Page” link.

Thanks to Ken Kemphues for providing tonight’s cookies.

Next Meeting: Monday, 1/13 in person at the CLO Visitor Center Auditorium. Kevin McGowan has agreed to again host the Share Your Photos Night.  

Christmas Bird Count 2024

Count Day: ​Wednesday, 01/01/2025

Reading Day: ​Friday, 01/03/2025

​​Foundation of Light

​​6:00 pm dish-to-pass

​​7:00 pm count reading

This year marks the National Audubon Society’s 125th Christmas Bird Count and the Cayuga Bird Club’s 63rd consecutive year, with our club’s count day on Wednesday, January 1st.

We will also hold an in-person dish-to-pass dinner prior to the reading of the counts,

but this year we will be holding the Reading two days later on Friday, January 3 at the Foundation of Light.  

Josh Snodgrass has stepped down as Area Coordinator and Jared Dawson has volunteered to be Area Coordinator for this year. Thank you Jared!
 

February speaker will be Matt Young, presenting Stokes Guide To Finches.  Expect there will be a book signing (details TBA).

Recent field trip was reported on by Meena Haribel who led with Pete Saracino. Conditions on Seneca Lake were so windy. They fared better on Johnson Rd in Geneva.

Upcoming Field Trips 12/14 to search for waterfowl and winter birds to be led by Diane Morton & Ken Kemphues.

All are welcome to attend Beginner Bird Walks (BBW) which are every Saturday & Sunday at Cornell Lab of Ornithology at 9:30am. 

December 15 our Youth Birders will be making birdhouses.

Spring Ornithology: please note: correct starting date is 3/18, not 3/25. Reason for this change is there will be no meeting on Tuesday, 4/29.

NYSOA 2025

Less than a year to go till the 2025 Cayuga-bird-club-hosted NYSOA annual business meeting and conference.  

Please contact Diane Morton for more information.

Membership survey results: 

Stephanie made a personal commitment when she became CBC president: to learn and to discover right & wrong ways and improve club through these discoveries. The survey results helped provide feedback, which she will begin sharing in our monthly newsletter. It will be called Feedback Of The Month. 

A big thank you to Jane Bain for her fine service writing our newsletter. Applause!

Birds of a Feather

Club member Anna Ho is now a NYS Certified Naturalist. 

Club member Ken Haas will be having a photo exhibit in January & Feb at the T-burg Library.

Opening Reception is on Saturday, January 18th from 10:30am-1:30pm.
Please contact Stephanie if you have an appropriate talent to share in our newsletter. 

Two project proposals to vote on tonight; both were unanimously supported by the Board. 

VP Kevin Murphy introduced the sponsor for the first, Bob McGuire. Evening Grosbeaks are down 92%. In 2017 ENGR Road To Recovery was started with monitoring by nanotag transmitters followed through MOTUS towers. CBC proposes providing $3355.00 for purchase of 11 nanotags (backpack tags.) As they are an irruptive species, a flock could appear in Central NY. CBC member Caleb Centinni will conduct bow net capture & will invite very few club members to observe, as it is a sensitive endeavor. Bow netting is a bear trap type of set up where netting is laid in a bow shape & remotely snapped shut when EVGR are inside. Nanotags are battery powered and last 1year. Since 2017 EVGR Road To Recovery has applied 100 nanotags. Questioner asked if any results are available from first 100 tags. Matt Young will present at the February meeting & answer all questions. Motion made by Laura Stenzler to fund this project. Marie Read seconded it. All present members were in favor. 

Kevin Murphy introduced the sponsor of the 2nd proposal, Jill Leichter. Jill works at Cornell Lab of Ornithology with Juan de Dios-Morales, a Panama Bird Cam team member. Juan spoke to us briefly last month at Jill’s invitation. He gave a mini-sneak-peek on a project that he is involved with, which has evolved into this month’s proposal. Given the club’s recent international trips to various South and Central American countries, it may be of interest to individuals who want to find a unique way to contribute to youth and to nature. His Book of Birds is a fundraiser to support Wild GYE Initiative, an educational project in his hometown of Guayaquil (GYE), Ecuador. 

For every $45 book purchased, another will be donated to the children in this program. Note: book is in Spanish. Support in the amount of $3,500 would provide 160 books for the children of Guayaquil, the fastest growing city in Ecuador. Aim is to support remote children of Guayaquil to become guardians of nature. Members Tom Shepard & Fran spoke fondly of their visit to this region & the richness of shorebirds in this coastal city. Fran asked if the birds featured in the book are known to the children. They will color through the book & discover new species. Proposal was written asking for between $2500 and $3500. Jane Leff recommended the high end, being generous & funding the purchase of 160 books for $3500. After further discussion & remarks by Jody Enck regarding CBC trips to Central & South America & the great need for education, a motion for $3500 funding was made by Paul Anderson & seconded by Laura Stenzler. Unanimous approval was given by the membership present.

Tonight’s Presentation began at 8:05pm

Alyssa Sargent, PhD candidate, University of Washington, Behavioral Ecophysics.

Topic: Hitchhiking on Hummingbirds Using Tiny Tech. 

A most excellent program! 

Alyssa provided her contact info saying if anyone has follow-up questions (we had to cut Q&A short to leave on time), contact her at:

• Email sargena@uw.edu

• Instagram @the.bird.girl 

Meeting was recorded & ended at 8:55 after Q&A