President's Corner
Your Chapter Is Still Active Over The Summer
by John Shenot
As most of you know, FCAS does not publish newsletters or hold chapter meetings in the summer months (June–August). It’s been that way since before I moved to Fort Collins. I’m curious whether our members would be interested in changing that. It would keep us in touch throughout the year, but also would increase our costs and might require an increase in membership dues. Drop me a line if you have an opinion, please.
Just because we aren’t publishing in the summer doesn’t mean our activities cease. In fact, this summer might just be our busiest ever. The best way to keep up with us or contact FCAS during the summer months is to follow us on Facebook and check our website from time to time. However, I thought it might help to outline some of the summer activities we already have planned.
As you will see elsewhere in this issue of The Ptarmigan, our field trip committee chair Sirena Brownlee has lined up lots of great summer outings. Most summers we only have the monthly Bobcat Ridge surveys. We’re curious to see if these extra summer trips will be as popular as those we offer the rest of the year. Summer trips offer great opportunities to observe late arriving and early departing species that are hard to see in spring and fall. There are also more opportunities to observe nesting, hatching, and fledging.
The FCAS education committee also has been busy organizing a wide variety of summer events to reach beyond our membership to the broader northern Colorado community. As you’ll see in Barb Patterson’s article elsewhere in The Ptarmigan, we’re partnering with several local organizations to offer birding classes and hikes, and we’ll take our education booth to several community festivals.
Finally, I want to note that the Board of Directors continues to meet monthly throughout the summer. We’ll be ready and available if you have questions or concerns, or if there is an urgent need to engage in public interest advocacy efforts on behalf of our members.
Find FCAS on Facebook for Field Trip Information
FCAS has a Facebook page where we post announcements about upcoming field trips, last minute changes to scheduled trips, and high-lights of most of our outings. Just click on the “Like" button in the plugin to Like our page! Our announcements should then appear on your wall. You can also click on "Fort Collins Audubon Society" to be taken directly to the Facebook page. Note: All field trips are also announced in the Ptarmigan and on our website.