12/30/2014
Schuy-Rush Audubon Meeting Minutes
Saturday Nov 8, 2014
Our fall luncheon was held at Deb & Di’s last Saturday afternoon. Members present were Carolynn Benninghoff, Christa Hall, Bob & Becky Jones, Lynda McLaughlin, Mary McMahon, Don & Janis Wade, and Glen Wuestenfeld. Joyce Williams joined us for our meeting and lunch.
After we ate we shared bird and nature stories and pictures. Becky Jones brought pictures she had taken at Schuy-Rush Lake. Her pictures included an eagle, green heron, pelican, paper wasp and a flying squirrel.
Christa Hall brought pictures of her nature adventures at Mt. Sterling Lake. Besides birds, Christa had turtles, fox, and otters.
Don Wade shared with us his college paper on house wrens. He noted how interesting it was to see the population increases on the part of the wrens. We are very thankful to him for digging up a college document to share with us.
President’s Report
Christmas Bird Count
Carolynn suggested the dates of Saturday Dec 20 or Saturday Jan 3 for the Christmas Bird Count. We decided on Dec 20 and will compile a list of all members who will participate so we can make calls in case bad weather requires us to move the date to January. Please let Lynda (322-2145) know if you are going to count.
2015 Annual Meeting
Saturday Jan 10 we will have our annual meeting which will include a pot luck and election of officers at Benninghoffs. Our meeting will start at 10:00 and lunch will be served at noon.
Illinois Audubon Society (IAS)
We discussed the IAS’ new position that all members of a chapter must also belong to the IAS. We are not sure when it will become effective and will discuss the ramifications, if any, to our chapter as the time approaches. Most of our members already are members of the IAS.
Treasurer's Report
We have $1,092.28 in our checking account.
Expenses:
-We spent $38.53 for books for the 3rd grade reading program.
-Prizes for the children in the reading program were the Natures Yucky books which cost 53.52.
-The taxidermy of the woodcock was $165
-We spent $100 on the Mildred Croxton memorial for the local library.
Dues and donations
Dues brought in last year were $192 and donations were $258. An additional donation was made by Rosemary Unger - $100 for birdseed at the feeding station at Washington School. We also had several donations for the woodcock.
We received a gift of $50 from Judy Robbins in honor of Virginia Benninghoff and Joel Wiseman’s wedding last Sept.
Technologies
Mary talked about January North which is part of www.learner.org. January North is a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. This month they are focusing on the monarch butterfly, reporting the first monarchs of the season have reached Mexico. Get into the site and you can track the migration of birds and animals and report observations.
Carolynn talked about www.ebird.org which is a site where you can record the birds you see, explore maps and share you sightings with the eBird community. The data is gathered and shared with educators and conservation biologists for a better understanding of bird locations across the western hemisphere.
Carolynn also talked about Larkwire, a game-based learning tool for mastering bird sounds. You can get it as an app on your cell phone or log on to www.larkwire.com. This tool is for both beginners and advanced birders. Knowing bird sounds will help you identify birds even when you can’t see them.
Our next meeting will be Saturday, Jan 10 at 10:00 at Benninghoffs, with a potluck at noon.
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