Common Raven - Photo: Dow Lambert
PRESIDENT’S NOTES
March — April 2024
by Ken Wiersema
Ken Wiersema
Ahh Spring
As we move into spring our busiest time of the year arrives. Many of our resident birds are pair bonding and beginning their nests while our migrant birds are heading north to nest here or pass through our unique Olympic Peninsula environs. Get out, watch, learn, and enjoy.
Our “Harlequin Happenings” Editor
Last week Rob Hutchison, our superb newsletter editor for over 15 years, suffered a cardiac emergency. He underwent surgery on 28 February. His spirits remain good. One of his major concerns, as he was being diagnosed and prepped for surgery, was getting our newsletter out to you. The timing of his recovery and return is undetermined. Our OPAS Board, and article writers have pulled together this edition, led by our multi-skilled, and dedicated Webmaster, Mary Porter-Solberg. In times of need, Mary is our stalwart!
OPAS Awards 2024
Each year we strive to recognize and thank those of our members and non-members who have made significant contributions to birds, OPAS, and our community. Our Harlequin Award is presented annually to a deserving OPAS member. You can see the criteria and a list of past recipients on our web site: https://olympicpeninsulaaudubon.org/harlequin-award . Our Conservation Award is presented to those in our community who have made a significant contribution to conserving birds, their habitat, and our environment. Our Conservation Committee recommends deserving individuals or groups to our board for approval. We ask our members who know individuals whose actions are worthy of recognition to send their nominations to a member of our board or me. We’ll consider them for recognition in 2024. Thanks.
BirdFest and Birdathon
Each spring delights us with two birding activities. BirdFest (see the poster in this newsletter) is a large, bird centric festival, whose registration has been open since January 1st of this year. I urge you to review the wide array of activities and events that are part of BirdFest ’24 and register to join those that interest you. The funds derived from BirdFest go to support the operation and education programs of the Dungeness River Nature Center. In a separate activity, OPAS leads a one-day Birdathon which is Clallam County wide. It is a bird census and a primary source of our annual operating budget. In April you will receive a letter from us explaining Birdathon activities and ways we encourage you to participate. This year Birdathon occurs on Saturday May 11th, also International Migratory Bird Day. Please join us to Count Birds and Give!
Annual report to National Audubon and naming
Each year we submit a summary report of OPAS accomplishments, projects, membership, and leaders to National Audubon. Our report keeps us current within the family of some 600 nationwide chapters of Audubon and qualifies us for a “Baseline Fund” distribution. It also enables us to apply for Audubon’s Collaborative Grants to support specific OPAS projects. As you may be aware, several of the larger urban chapters are removing “Audubon” from their name. In the west for example, those include Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. These chapters remain in the Audubon network. Your OPAS board is evaluating our need to consider renaming. Should we move to change our name, we too would intend to stay in the national network. As your board addresses our identity and naming, we will seek input from you, our members. In the near future we plan to survey OPAS members on whether we should act to remove Audubon from our name. How we move forward must be fully understood and worked out. As the proverb, or curse, goes --- “May we live in interesting times.”