There are several issues here, and some of them seem easy to make
decisions on, but the newsletter probably needs some serious questions.
Do any of you receive feedback on the newsletter? If I ever did I can't
remember it. Steve's question is very valid--its a lot of time to
produce and I personally enjoy reading it, but are the members getting
anything out of it?
Could we instead, send out a periodic email to all our members?
I mostly agree with most of the points already made.
Guy
On 12/2/2021 4:02 PM, Debbie shetterly wrote:
Hi there, Merry Christmas!!! We don't have a lot going on right now, so I'm not anticipating a board meeting until after the first of the year. However, Steve has sent an email which we need to address. Please read his email below, and let me know your thoughts. Then we'll need to take a vote if we're going to proceed with any of it. Thanks.
Debbie
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: *Steve Dowlan* <owlhooter@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 2:44 PM
Subject: HCAS Newsletter, Bird ID class and tee shirts
To: dshett37@xxxxxxxxx <dshett37@xxxxxxxxx>
Hi Debbie,
I hope things are well with you and Jimmy through this very dry fall. A little rain would be a good thing now, I think. I’m checking in regarding the Hoots newsletter again. Pat offered to write an article about birding travels for the next newsletter, and I asked her to hold off until I talked about this with you. No one else has offered any material for Hoots in a long time, other than Guy’s seasonal field report. I’m still willing to compose a newsletter, but I do not have the interest or time to beat the bushes for material. So it begs the question again…. Is it worthwhile publishing this when (almost) no one demonstrates any interest in providing material or reading it. I’m reluctant to put any work into something no one uses or reads. Or, would it be better to produce and publish one annual or two biannual newsletters with field notes and other news items? If so, someone more involved in HCA activities needs to write and produce photos to place in it.
I’m also doing the Carolina Bird Club newsletter, which is published six times per year, and I have gone back to work part time for Allegheny National Forest, which is likely to last at least through the next calendar year, but possibly beyond that time frame. This limits my desire to be as involved in HCAS activities as I was for a couple of years. The pandemic has further triggered my loner tendencies as well, so my interest in leading field trips has severely waned. I realized that, with limited time to bird the area, I’d rather focus on the Atlas Project. It was fun to lead trips for awhile, but I’m not really a very gregarious person by nature, so birding in groups does not actually come easy for me, especially on a weekly schedule. Paul has done an excellent job with the Valle Crucis bird walks, from what I hear, and he is an easily gregarious person, as far as I can tell… I hope he can maintain his part-time position with the park.
I have spent much of the last year creating an Advanced Bird ID course, part of which I presented at Grandfather Mountain in the spring. I have further modified it since then. It focuses on the following ID problems specific to North Carolina:
Gulls
Peep sandpipers
Dowitchers
Scaup and diving ducks
I have put some thought into how to present it, and I would like to do it at my house using a large television screen. I have the space to accommodate 10 to 12 people in my sunroom, and with the TV screen, dim lighting is not much of a need. This solves several problems… need for a projector, need for a dark space, and need to reserve a place to present.
Because of the subject matter – species associated with aquatic habitats – there is no real need (and no close-by place) for field birding for these species groups as part of this syllabus. I intend to present this as my own production, and I’d like to charge $15 to $20 for the presentation, which would last about 3 hours. If HCAS is interested in partnering, I would kick back a percentage of my fee/tuition to the club. In return, I’d ask that HCAS help publicize it. I’m thinking of a separate session for the two college bird clubs, if there is enough interest, so two sessions might occur.
I want to keep most of the tuition because I have invested a lot of time and effort into acquiring the photos to make this happen, and it has been a long-term personal goal of mine to have a photo library that is sufficient to pull off something like this. Please consult the HCAS Board and let me know what they are thinking. If the Board is not inclined to partner, I will forge ahead on my own.
Last, I have a small inventory of already printed HCAS shirts. I encourage you to consider ways to distribute them, either as prizes or donations to other organizations or to continue to sell what is left. I can print more shirts, but I don’t have time to promote them. I have donated almost everything I have received for the shirts up to this point.
Cheers!
Steve
/Steve Dowlan
Linville Creek to/
/Brushy Fork to/
/Cove Creek to/
/the Watauga River to/
/the South Fork Holston River to/
/the Tennessee River to/
/the Ohio River to/
/the Mississippi River to/
/the Gulf of Mexico/
