September 9, 2024 Minutes, Covenant Presbyterian Church

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 by President Rich Wood.
New members were introduced.
Newsletter: The newsletter will now be published quarterly instead of monthly. For additional and updated information everyone is encouraged to go to our website, www.augustabirdclub.org, Each month a brief email will be sent to members reminding them of activities of the month and other important information.
Nature Camp: Sarah Foster reported that our Nature Campers had a successful camp this year. Applications are now being accepted for scholarships for the summer 2025 camp in Vesuvius. Applicants should be rising 5th-12th grade. All information is on our website. Our annual seed sale profits go to fund these scholarships. Please advertise the camp far and wide, and buy lots of bird seed!
Bird Seed Sale: Our annual bird seed sale is fast approaching. All information about this very important fundraising venture will be sent out soon. We have a new pickup site at Augusta Expo in Fishersville. Pickup is scheduled for November 9. Money raised from this sale goes to Nature Camp Scholarships. And the birds love it! Order a lot.
Field Trips: Trips in August included McCormick’s Mill with Jo King, Highland County, and Bell’s Lane with Allen Larner. Check our website for updated field trip information going forward. We’ve learned Staunton Parks and Rec are now offering bird walks.
Hawk Watch: This year marks the 49th year of officially counting hawks on Afton Mountain. This years’ Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch will continue through November. Eight Mississippi Kites and one Swallow-tailed Kite are early exciting sightings, along with an unusual Swainson’s Hawk. Broad-winged Hawk numbers will be increasing soon and peaking later this month. Everyone is encouraged to visit and look for hawks. Next year is the 50th anniversary year and the club is considering an organized celebration. The watch site on Afton Mountain is under consideration for redevelopment and the club will monitor this situation with the goal of continuing the watch there indefinitely.
Program: Vice-president Vic Laubach taught us about 2 important free birding apps, eBird and Merlin, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Through eBird you can easily collect data both for your own birding records, but also as citizen scientists we can contribute to Cornell’s massive database which uses this data for research of all kinds. Merlin is an amazing tool that helps us learn to identify bird sounds. Vic also demonstrated another helpful app called The Warbler Guide which can be particularly useful at this time of year as warblers are migrating through our area. We were encouraged to take some time to explore the many facets of these apps and enjoy our birding even more.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.– Submitted by Marilyn Nash, Secretary