3RBC Membership Meeting
March 3, 2003
"Let's Travel to New Zealand"

New Zealand, the Maori Land of the Long White Cloud, is truly the land of superlatives when it comes to a discussion of the avifauna. The world’s largest rail, smallest penguin, and albatross with the largest wingspan are among the exciting birds you’ll see when Pat and Sherron Lynch take you on a birding tour of this spectacular country at our next membership meeting on Monday, March 3.

Pat and Sherron visited New Zealand last year, where diverse habitats from white and black sand beaches to lush green forests to snow-capped mountains provide homes for 72 endemic species and many other birds found only in a few areas of the world. The Department of Conservation has saved several species from near extinction in recent years.

The Lynches are not ornithologists, but retired teachers who have combined their interests in travel, birding, and photography into their favorite time-consuming pastime. They first became interested in birding when they took Joyce Hoffmann’s Allegheny County Community College bird watching class. Since then, they have enjoyed participating in 3RBC’s outings, have written articles about their trips for The Peregrine, provided photos for the website, and currently serve as our club’s secretaries.

Note our new meeting night and place: Starting in March our meetings will be on the first Monday of the month at the Phipps Garden Center in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood. The time will not change. Doors will open at 7 PM for socializing, and the meeting will begin at 7:30.

The Garden Center is at 1059 Shady Avenue, directly behind the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts at Shady and 5th Avenues. Enter the cobblestone driveway from Shady Avenue at the sign for the Garden Center into the metered lot, where city parking is 25 cents per hour. Parking is also available on nearby streets. Detailed directions are on the Phipps web site:
http://www.phipps.conservatory.org/information/directions.html