Newsletter - September 2012

Welcome back from the heat of the summer.

The biggest news is that Steve Smith has done a great job of getting the UFO website up and running at www.ufoofRoswell.com. You can now go there at any time to find out what is going on with the club, including upcoming events like meetings and field trips. We hope to add more informational sections relating to birding, and there are links to places like the website of the J. Kenneth Smith Sanctuary in Roswell.
 
Most of the bird seed donated to the club has been sold, but if you'd like to get your hands on some (and help out the club), contact Steve Smith.
 
While birding last week at Rattlesnake Springs for fall migrants, Steve Smith and I ran into the Trans-Pecos (El Paso) chapter of the Audubon society. They had heard of UFO, and we showed them some spots around the Springs.
 
The next event on our calendar is the Dragonfly Festival at Bitter Lake NWR this weekend. UFO members will be leading all 3 birding tours for this years festival, and they are filling up (or are filled up) fast. Jim Montgomery is leading the saturday morning tour. Jeff Cohen is leading the saturday afternoon tour, and Steve Smith is leading the sunday afternoon tour. I urge all members to come out. If you are interested in volunteering in some capacity, contact Steve Alvarez at the visitor center, but do it soon.

The field trip to the hawk watch in the Manzano Mountains on September 15th has been officially cancelled due to repairs on the road up to the banding station. Hopefully we will get that re-scheduled next year.

The September club meeting on the 29th is set for 10 AM at Mike Richardson's Enchanted Farms. It was moved to the earlier time to accomodate people who wanted to do some birding earlier, and not break up the day for people who wanted to do other things. We will meet at 8 at the Smith Sanctuary to look for fall migrants, and then head over to the meeting.

At the meeting we will try to get an October birding activity scheduled. The next scheduled event is the crane festival at Bosque del Apache. This year it is scheduled for November 13-18th, with a club outing probably on saturday the 17th.