submitted by Guy Babineau
-President Guy Babineau welcomed the roughly 45 in attendance back from summer break. He informed everyone that the MBC Board has been working over the summer, and he called on individual Board members to speak.
-Treasurer’s Report – Guy spoke for Maynard, who was unable to attend. Last year’s financial results are on the website. The Board has approved a budget for this year which includes more school outreach, a few new partnerships (e.g. Chesapeake Bay Foundation), and a roughly “break-even” balance for the year.
-Membership – Myrlene spoke of the membership renewal drive, announced that she would accept renewal checks to hand over to Maynard, and she had new membership forms in tow. She requested volunteers for MBC Publicity tables at a few events. She spoke briefly about her recent trip to Iceland and would recommend an excellent guide for anyone planning to travel there. (Members are encouraged to share brief announcements about exciting birding places they have visited, so that at a post-meeting time they could offer salient travel tips to other interested parties.)
-Club News Reporter – Joanne requested new photos for the website home page picture scroll. She also reported that the MBC Bird Seed Sale Kick Off article was just posted on the website, and she showed examples of fliers (full-size and 4 per page) that can be downloaded and printed from the website to help advertise the sale. Guy also noted that the Bird Seed Order Form and pricing are on the website. Orders may be placed from now through October 24, 2018. Bird Seed Pick Up date is Saturday, November 3, 2018. A link from the home page to the sale will soon be posted.
Field Trips – Susan reported that upcoming field trips plus the Rockfish Gap Hawkwatch Open House details are found on the MBC website and introduced JoAnn Dalley, who shared her generous offer of a trip to Hughlett Point.
-Guy reiterated that Club information can be found on the website and the facebook group. He welcomed 9 first-time visitors to the meeting! (Apologies for not catching everyone’s name, but among the new attendees was Sue Dwyer, had just moved here from Nebraska.) We look forward to getting to know these new folks and are happy they found us.
-A general announcement was offered by Mary Ann Kirkpatrick about the numerous bird deaths due to collisions against glass windows at the new Brooks YMCA. Local Young Birder Walker Catlett, who has been monitoring the bird collisions, is encouraging concerned individuals to express their grievances and possible suggestions for solutions in written form to appropriate sources.
-Lou Tanner introduced our speaker, Marshall Faintich, who gave a presentation on the Birds of England.
