The program for the meeting was “Congaree Swamp – 20 Years after Hugo” by Dr. Rebecca Sharitz, Senior Research Ecologist with the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. There were thirty people in attendance.

Business Meeting Minutes

Announcements

• The Carolina Bird Club will have its fall meeting September 24-26. It will be held at the Country Inn and Suites in Aiken. A representative of CBC, Marion Clark, made a request for volunteers for field trip leaders. Field trips will be scheduled for all day on Friday and Saturday. Most of the field trips will be one-half day trips. A few will be day long trips. Some of the trips requiring volunteer leaders are:

				Silver Bluff Sanctuary
				Gum Swamp and Horse Creek (all day)
				Gum Swamp (1/2 day)
				Brick Yard Ponds
				Phinizy Swamp
				Lovers Lane and Augusta Levee
				Fort Gordon
				Hitchcock Woods
				Brick Yard Park in North Augusta (Friday only)

A volunteer sheet was circulated so that interested persons could indicate trips that they want to lead. The field trips will be limited to fifteen people per trip. For more information or to volunteer, contact Paul Koehler or Marion Clark of CBC (Home 803-996-0480, Cell 803-920-5731, mclark66@sc.rr.com).

• President Walker received an e-mail from UGA Press. There is a new printing of “The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia”. If you are interested, there is a 30% discount available if you order through the UGA Press website shopping cart.

Old Business:

• The treasurer’s report was given.

• A recap of the July 1st Board meeting was given by President Walker. For the 2010-2011 year we will have six bi-monthly meetings, monthly field trips, two migration bird counts, two Christmas bird counts, one Butterfly count, the Birdathon, and the Auction for Education.

To encourage attendance at the general meetings Doug sent a letter to a noted speaker inviting him to our meeting.

The January meeting will be a “Show and Tell” of favorite nature photos taken by our members. There is a limit of between 10-15 photos per person. John Demko will coordinate the gathering and structuring of the photos into a digital slide show. More information will be included in the September newsletter.

The March 11, 2011 meeting will feature Ken Perrin presenting “Wildflowers of Hitchcock Woods”. He has also published a book on wildflowers.

Sean Poppy of SREL agreed to do a future program on critters. It was suggested that he speak in November to generate interest ahead of the Auction for Education.

Our honorarium budget has been raised to $50 per speaker.

• On August 7th from 6 to 9 PM the annual Storks and Corks fund raiser for Silver Bluff Sanctuary will be held. There is a $35 donation. A volunteer sign-up sheet of food items that are needed will be sent around. If you are willing to help, please contact Carol or Alice who will be coordinating the food. If you cannot go, items can be dropped off at the Badke’s store, Wild Birds Unlimited, or with members who are attending. The food given to Storks and Corks allows more of the donated money to go directly to the Silver Bluff Sanctuary.

• A volunteer sign up sheet for food and drinks for future chapter bi-monthly meetings was circulated.

New Business:

• A volunteer is needed to takeover the organization of the Birdathon. If you are interested contact Doug or Paul.

• The Audubon Auction for Education is going to be held Friday, November 12, 2010. Volunteers to provide food are needed. Please contact Alice or Carol for more information.

• Our chapter now has a Facebook page. Lois set it up and will run it. We have twenty-four people so far on our site. Meetings and events will be listed. Birding questions will also be answered at the site. The Facebook page will have a link to our website.

• Conservation – Gene Howard: Oil is still leaking into the Gulf. BP will try to do a bottom kill as early as July 27th. Carol Eldridge informed the group that a group of oil coated brown pelicans from the Gulf that were cleaned have been released at Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge on the Atlantic coast. Red or blue numbered leg bands have been attached to the birds. If anyone along the coast sees these pelicans, please report them to Carol. They were released last week.

The South Carolina E Bird Coordinator will not accept reports of Canadian geese except for 3 or 4 sites. He considers non-migratory geese to be feral and thus not countable for E Bird. He also considers many mallards to be feral and not countable.

• Gene Howard requests that anyone with information to be included in the next newsletter please contact him.

Bird Sightings

•	Scissor-tailed flycatcher – North of Greenville, SC
•	Chuck-will’s-widows calling at Silver Bluff
•	Glossy ibis and willet at Phinizy
•	Eagles at Parkville
•	Immature Bald Eagles at Clarks Hill
•	Whistling ducks are still at Phinizy
•	Crab-like spiny orb weaver spiders in Aiken
•	Elegant stinkhorn in Aiken

Nancy Demko, Secretary