Burlington Bird Club Minutes for March 7th, 2012

The monthly meeting of the Burlington Bird Club was held on March 7 at May Memorial Library. The meeting was called to order by Charles Hawks, our club president. Charles welcomed our 2 visitors, Brenda Kelsey and Kathy Martin. He also welcomed our newest member, Pat Bailey, who joined last month. We had a total of 20 attending. The minutes of last months meeting was read by club secretary, Sue Harder. Minutes were approved. Treasurer, Doris Stadler reported a monthly balance starting at 552.58. We collected 85.00 in dues. We also received a donation of 250.00 as a memorial to member Sandy Otis, who passed away in January. Our ending balance was 887.58. Her report was approved. Charles announced that another donation of 250.00 in honor of Sandy had been received. Cindy Benson gave a report on our new Bluebird Trail at Willowbrook Park. She announced that she had made her first official check, and was pleased that chickadees had begun to build nests in 2 of the houses. Cindy explained that chickadees will not interfere with the bluebirds because they begin breeding earlier than bluebirds. She has 5 volunteers that want to help with the monitoring. Cindy was sad to tell us that she and Harry Carlson had discovered that one of the bird houses had been stolen. It has already been replaced by Harry. Charles announced that Cindy was going to present a program on the bluebird trail to the Burlington Civitan Club on April 3 or 17. . Charles awarded a Certificate of Appreciation to Harry for building the houses and being such a great help with the bluebird trail. Charles passed around a sign up sheet for refreshments and a 3 minute bird program. Ed and Renee Burgess were asked to discuss details of the Cape Lookout field trip, since they were instrumental in getting it arranged. The trip is scheduled for April 17 & 18. Ed provided us with helpful suggestions and interesting information about the coming trip. Ken Lady volunteered to arrange an additional birding trip in and around Morehead City and the Beaufort area for those who preferred doing that instead of going to the museum. A trip information sheet and a sign-up sheet was given out to those members going. We enjoyed refreshments provided by Barbara and Jerry Taylor as several members took turns talking about their interesting bird sightings during the month. Richard Jedel presented a very informative program; Using your Field Guide. He showed pictures of birds, and we had to try to find them in our guides. The meeting adjourned at 3:30. Sue Harder, secretary