by Jim Gast, President

Board Election Results

Congratulations to Greg Leonard who won re-election to the board. He will be serving another three-year term as director.

Picnic on May 22^nd

Instead of a monthly meeting for May, we will be holding a picnic at Wild Haven on Saturday, May 22^nd from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Provided there is a quorum, we will be voting on the proposed changes to our bylaws.  A draft of the new bylaws appears later in this newsletter as does additional information concerning the picnic.

Membership Dues

After soliciting comments from members on a series of proposed changes to the membership dues, the board voted at its April meeting to restructure the membership rates for Columbia Audubon.  The current dues structure has been in effect for over ten years. A new senior membership for those 65 and over will now be available. The business and friend category was merged into one category called friends.  The other category names (student, individual, family and donor) stay the same. Membership Chair Shelby Thomas shares the new rates elsewhere in The Chat. The new rates go into effect on June 1^st, which is the start of our fiscal year.

Canton Estates Update

Last month I wrote about the Canton Estates development that was going before the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission.  The commission voted 7-1 (one member was absent) to deny both the annexation request and the plat for the subdivision.  The request now goes before the city council.  Barring any changes, the annexation request is scheduled to be heard on May 3^rd and the plat is scheduled for May 17^th.

April Program

In  case you missed the April program featuring Ethan Duke and Mike Snyder, you can watch it at  https://youtu.be/nCn5IEtQwYE.

Ethan mentioned the following resources in his talk:

Apps:

http://www.songsleuth.com/#/

Books:

The Singing Life of Birds by Dr. Donald Kroodsma:donaldkroodsma.com

The Warbler Guide: thewarblerguide.com

Peterson’s Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America by Nathan Pieplow:

earbirding.com

Websites:

MRBO’s Missouri Bird Songs: http://www.mobirdsong.org/

World Collection of Bird Sounds: xeno-canto.org

Nathan Pieplow’s (associated with his book): earbirding.com

Software:

Cornell’s Raven (free and pro versions): ravensoundsoftware.com

Audacity (free): audacityteam.org

Mike Snyder mentioned two websites concerning the Parks Sales Tax.  For more information on the sales tax go to https://www.como.gov/parksandrec/parks-trails-facilities/park-sales-tax/.  To make comments on what should be funded should the tax be renewed in November, click on

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Wil1nxPjc5wb_ML73cpYTyIlxGwZZ-CD5EWBe5IiCgc/edit.

 Enjoying Missouri Birds

The Department of Conservation revised their Enjoying Missouri Birds brochure.  This booklet shows the time of year, the location in the state and the habitat for the bird species that appear regularly in Missouri.

Summer Plans

This will be the last Chat until the September 2021 edition.  There aren’t any scheduled membership meeting for June, July and August, but the board will meet at least once during the summer.