Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, January 16, 2025
Vice-President Olaf chaired the meeting.
Prospective member Linda Carroll was welcomed
Club Business
Olaf circulated a weekly visiting list so Rotarians could visit Rotarian Gerry. This was done so that Gerry would not be overwhelmed by too many visitors on the same day.
Toonie Quest West Weekly Draw
This week there was no winner so the money will be rolled over so the prize money next Thursday will be doubled. If you have a Toonie Quest West number remember your number is entered into the weekly draw whether you play or not. Make sure each week you pay your $2 and you can always pay in advance for covering you for several weeks. The money each week is halved between the winner and Xavier House and Corner Brook Rotary Club.
Guest Speaker
Olaf introduced the guest speakers Lois Bateman and Julia Briffet who spoke about the annual Christmas Bird Count. Lois and Julia have been avid bird watchers for many years and through their interest have organised the annual Christmas Bird Count and they recognize the valuable information gained from this especially for researchers
Lois began to talk about the history of the Christmas Bird Count which is the oldest project for Citizens in Science and researchers are helped tremendously in understanding bird populations by this project.
In Victorian times birds were killed and their feathers used to decorate hats with Boxing Day being a great bird killing day. In 1900, Frank Chapman of the Audubon Society proposed the first annual Christmas Bird Count as an alternative to the traditional Christmas bird hunt. A Christmas Bird Count was organised with one person in each of 25 locations mostly in New England, USA studying the numbers of birds and the different species sighted in each location.
Julia continued the talk by speaking about the Corner Brook Christmas Bird Count (CBC). This year was the 125th Bird Count in North America and the 41st held in the Corner Brook area.
In the early 1970 -1980 birding activities here were mostly done by back yard bird watchers. In the Pasadena area three residents, Barry May, Wally Skinner and Gene Manion were interested in conservation and environmental issues. This led to the Christmas Bird Count being organised. The count was registered with the Audubon Society with the count circle being drawn having centre Balam Bridge and a 7.5 miles radius in which the bird count would be held.
This circle was sub divided into sections and the map of the area with the circle shown was held up for Rotarians to see. There are of course different counting rules to be followed. This year the count was held on Saturday December 28 with 35 people in the field participating at a specific time of day. This year 44 species were counted. Lois and Julia as the coordinators, direct people to different areas within the circle to do their bird counting and then compile and record the results.
The talk was most interesting and informative. Lois and Julia finished their presentation by offering copies of prints of Newfoundland birds to Rotarians.
Many Rotarians were pleased to receive these beautiful prints.
Olaf thanked Lois and Julia after they had answered several questions and the meeting was adjourned.
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Corner Brook, NL A2H 2V3
Canada