The Steering Committee of the Menotomy Bird Club met on August 25, 2005 at Marj. Rines’s house. In attendance were Stephen Baker, Lew Bushnell, Janet Crystal, Debora Diggins, Ann Gurka, Karsten Hartel, Wendy McIntosh, and Marj. Rines (Chair).The meeting was called to order at 7:15.

Thank you party for leaders

The Trips Committee wanted to have a party to thank the people who have led trips for the club, and we did some finalization of details:
The party will be held at 1:00 PM on Sunday, September 18 at Marj’s house
The club will pay for a ham and a vegetarian main dish, and Steering Committee members volunteered to contribute pot luck dishes.
Marj’s contribution will be paper plates, cups, and napkins, and iced tea. Other beverages are bring you own.
Debora is organizing the party and will work with Marj. to design and send out an invitation.

How to evaluate trip leaders

The Trips Committee asked the Steering Committee for a discussion of how to evaluate new leaders, and there was a general discussion of leadership styles, and the final consensus was that with new leaders someone on the Trips Committee, or someone designated by the Trips Committee, would go on the walk to welcome the new leader and to get an idea of leadership style.

The subject of finding new leaders was brought up, and it was suggested that an announcement be made at the Leaders picnic to suggest that current leaders be on the watch for people who are qualified to lead or co-lead future trips.

Inviting members to the Steering Committee meetings

Everyone present agreed this was not a good idea, but it was suggested that the Chair announce to the ArlingtonBirds listserv when a meeting is coming up, and ask people to contact her or another member of the Steering Committee if they have questions, comments, or suggestions.

Program Committee

Stephen (Chair of the Program Committee) asked the group whether an honorarium would be possible in the future for a very special program. Everyone agreed that it was possible in theory, but that it would have to be vetted through the Steering Committee.

Stephen also gave us a list of some of the possible programs for the coming year:

Scott Surner on Monhegan Island
David Sibley on Birders and Conservation (suggested by John Harrison)
Mark Lynch and Sheila Carroll on the Blackstone Valley Corridor (they volunteered to do this at the meeting when they spoke last year).
Mark Johnson on Foster Parrots of Central and South American (suggested by Shawn Carey)
Donald Kroodsma on Birds and Song
Clair Walker Leslie on Field Sketching (alternative to the original suggestion of Mount Auburn)
Norm Smith on banding owls
Diana Fruguglietti and Paul Ippolito on birding the Amazon and the Galapogos
Members’ slide night

Suggestions from the floor included Chris Leahy (citizen science), Simon Perkins (wind power and birds) and Andrea Jones (Coastal Waterbird Program), all from Mass Audubon.