Three Rivers Birding Club
Bi-monthly Membership Meeting
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
6:30 PM - 9:15 PM
Phipps Garden Center, Shady Avenue

About fifty-five 3RBC members and visitors began gathering at 6:30 PM for socializing, networking, snacking, and selecting free birding literature to take home. President Jack Solomon called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Jack recognized two visitors and/or members attending their first meeting.

Jim Valimont, 3RBC vice-president, led a discussion on whether 3RBC should volunteer to host the 2008 convention of the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology. Jim explained that hosting the PSO convention would involve 3RBC selecting a central meeting area and hotel, organizing field trips to find desirable birds, and having experienced field trip leaders available. Jack, Mike Fialkovich, and Jim provided additional details on interacting with hotel personnel, having a hospitality room with extras such as cookies, and having appropriate maps and directions to the birding sites. Between 80 to 100 PSO members attend a convention. The PSO does much of the work such as registration, organizing a sales area, etc. The audience expressed its enthusiasm for the proposal by giving its unanimous consent to hosting the PSO convention.

Jim thanked the hospitality committee and everyone else who had brought in the delicious snacks for the evening.

Steve Thomas, the new outing leader, mentioned that the next outing would be led by Eric Marchbein at the Carnegie Library in Oakland on January 17. Members will be able to examine rare prints and books. Eric provided additional details. Steve requested that anyone who would like to volunteer to be an outing leader or had suggestions for possible outing locations to get in touch with him.

Paul Hess, editor of The Peregrine, requested that the deadline for all future issues of the clubıs newsletter would be the tenth of the month preceding the publication of the next issue of The Peregrine. This would provide Paul and the rest of the staff more time to prepare the newsletter.

Jim, also the compiler of the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, reported that 67 species, about average, were found but some still need documentation. Despite the dreary weather the estimated 120 to 130 participants found above average numbers of birds. Some of the better finds were Northern Pintail, Pine Siskin, White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Canvasback. Jim was applauded for his 21 years of service as the compiler of the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count.

Mike reported some of the recent rarer finds in western Pennsylvania and across the state. These included a large flock of both lesser and greater Sandhill Cranes in Erie County, 2 Snowy Owls in Berks and Mifflin Counties, White-winged Crossbill in Clearfield County, a few Pine Siskins locally, Evening Grosbeaks in the east, a Bullock's Oriole in Northampton County, and a Rufous Hummingbird in Beaver County.

Jack provided a summary of Larry Helgerman's account of the CBC held in Washington County for the second year. There were 59 reported species. Highlights included a Rough-legged Hawk, a Red-headed Woodpecker, and 145 White-crowned Sparrows. Audubon requires 3 years of conducting counts before a new CBC area is certified.

Sue Solomon pointed out the eye-catching Peregrine tablecloth. Carole Borek came up with the idea and had it made for the use of 3RBC.

A large assortment of door prizes was provided by several club members. Sherron Lynch hosted the drawings. Sandy Yurko, Neil Nodelman, Phyllis Janis, Margie Kern, Carol McCullough, and Jack Solomon were lucky winners.

Gabi Hughes introduced the evening's speaker, David Liebmann. David is a board member of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and a teacher at Shadyside Academy where he has combined his interests in ornithology and literature.

David examined the vast collection of poetry books at Carnegie Library and collected about 500-600 poems about birds. Through this research and other sources David is using the poems to create a literary field guide to the birds. He explained to the audience how one could analyze a poem by Emily Dickinson or Robert Frost to capture the essence of the bird's appearance, behavior, and environment. Experienced bird watchers could become literary detectives by using the bird's described behavior to determine what the poet's landscape was like at the time of the writing of the poem. For instance, the Bobolink in a poem indicates that Dickinsonıs home was surrounded by fields during her lifetime rather than the large, old trees seen by visitors today. Frost's Ovenbird was threatened by human encroachment and habitat destruction. The audience appreciated the humor David inserted into his discussion and slide presentation. For his upcoming book, David currently has finished 38 entries and anticipates completing his book with about 30 more poems within the next six months.

At the end of the program, Jim Valimont observed that this was one presentation that ended too soon.

Submitted by Pat and Sherron Lynch
Co-secretaries of Three Rivers Birding Club