We though we might kick the year off with a list of CKAS New Year's resolutions. We've polled several members over the last few months, looking for suggestions that might make the group better and might help us better help central Kentucky birds. Here are some of the suggestions:
1)
More bird walks. We had forty people show up at our New Year's Day walk, and each of our walks continues to see larger groups of bird enthusiasts. It's clear there's a growing awareness of the birds in our midst and a desire to see what's here and participate in citizen science.
2)
More specifically: more owl prowls. We've known for a while that owls are popular—ever since we had over 150 people show up to one of the first owl prowls we co-hosted at the Arboretum a few years back. These days we limit the attendance at prowls to smaller, preregistered groups since larger groups don't "prowl" as well and tend to scare off any owls we might be trying to see. But maybe we can offer more owl prowls so more people can participate.
3)
Recruit and train more walk leaders. Most of our walks are led by the same handful of people (who we can't thank enough!). But we really could use a half-dozen or so more walk leaders so the burden doesn't fall on the same folks each week. We're willing to help coach folks until they feel comfortable, co-leading as "apprentice walk leaders" grow more comfortable with their bird ID skills and with leading groups. If you'd like to learn to lead walks, please let us know as we could use you! You don't have to be an expert on every bird so long as you know your way around an ID book—and we can help with that, too!
4)
Try walks in some new areas. CKAS covers ten counties, but most of our walks are in only three of these. As much as we've tried to offer walks in every county we represent, it's proven somewhat difficult to find the best areas to bird in places many of our leaders are just unfamiliar and where eBird often doesn't have a record. We prefer to scope out an area before we invite a group to join us birding there, but this year we may try some un-pre-scouted locations. Who knows what we'll see on these new walks. Bravo to the brave birders who join us.
5)
Purchase at least a dozen good binoculars to lend on walks. For the last few months, we've been borrowing a classroom set of binoculars to pass out at bird walks for people who do not have pairs. This seems to have increased attendance at walks and we hope to continue offering spares so people can better enjoy the birds they see. But we'd like to have our own CKAS set(s) we don't have to borrow.
6)
Arrange some speakers for CKAS meetings. Do meetings need to be all about business? No, but for years, our have mostly been. We'd like to change that. We may invite featured speakers/presenters to some of our upcoming meetings, and maybe establish a committee to help plan a speaker series. Watch for more info in future newsletters.
7)
Engage local college students. At the last National Audubon Society Convention, a third of the attendees were college age and younger. Other chapters around the nation have made conscientious efforts to establish "campus chapters" with local colleges and universities. Could CKAS do this at UK? At EKU? At Midway? Centre? Transy? We think it's worth a try. If you know any students at a local university that might help start a campus chapter, we'd like to talk.
8)
Send representatives to the Mississippi South Regional Summit. Plans are being made for a mini-convention at the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi, March 20-22. There will be speakers, break-out sessions, native plant displays, and (of course) birding. It's a chance to connect with our neighboring regional chapters and see if we can't generate some collective initiatives to help our shared birds. We'll publish info as it's released.
9)
Encourage bird-friendly yards. Native plants for native birds? We need more, starting in your yard. Stop with the privet and burning bush: there are better, native alternatives that would help our local birds through whatever climate change might throw at them. And let's keep the cats indoors;
free-roaming cats kill more birds than wind turbines, power lines, and collisions with vehicles and buildings combined.
10)
Defend the Migratory Bird Treaty. We firmly believe that the MBTA was written to protect bird populations from declines, including by "industrial take"—unintentional but predictable killing of birds caused by "business activity." Please
write or call your representatives asking them to support
H.R. 5552, the Migratory Bird Protection Act of 2020.
