by Lottie Bushmann, President

Happy New Year!

I hope that you enjoyed the holidays in whatever way you celebrate and that you were surrounded by those you love (and that could be birds…just saying).  There is much to celebrate within our chapter and you can read all about it in this month’s Chat.

The Christmas Bird Count had a weather glitch, but luckily most were able to participate on the rain date and many birds were counted. John Besser has written up an excellent summary for your enjoyment and perusal.

The CoMoGives campaign has come to an end, and we raised over $10,900.00. While that number is thrilling, I find it especially thrilling that we had 100 donors!  That’s 100 folks who understand and appreciate the work we do and want to encourage us and keep us moving forward.  What more could a volunteer organization like ours want?  Thank you to all who donated (either time or money) to CAS this past year.

Our own Bill Mees was interviewed and filmed by a documentarian at the Missourian/university. I hope you’ll watch the short video or check out the newspaper article. It’s quite remarkable and certainly portrays “our Bill” as we know and love him. We owe a huge debt to Bill for his leadership and work at the CANS property.

I’m finishing up Amy Tan’s book The Backyard Bird Chronicles that she wrote and illustrated during the pandemic. She is a 74-year-old author who has written many novels but decided to take up drawing at the age of 64, which in itself is impressive! It’s about the time she came to birds and birding and from those journals, this book was born. I find this read very relatable. She is not an ornithologist, just another bird lover who is curious and wonders “why” as she watches the birds in her yard. I hope you’ll join us for the January meeting at the library where we will discuss this book and perhaps some of the favorite sitings in our own yards. Won’t that be fun? And you might meet a new friend. Details are on the website.

Finally, I’m not much one for resolutions but maybe you are someone who likes to make a resolution on Jan. 1 each year, or perhaps you’re a person who loves to be challenged. How about making attending/leading a CAS event this year your resolution? Join us for one of our many field trips, attend a meeting, and/or work at one of our properties? There are so many ways to be involved in our lively chapter. We’d love you to attend one event or all of them!

How ever you find yourself celebrating as you head into the new year, I hope it will include some time spent with Columbia Audubon Society.