President’s Message

By Tom Atkinson, IRAS President

Hello fellow birders.

Here we are with a bright shiny new year. Welcome to 2003. The question is, what are we going to do with this new year? My hope is that this will be the year when more of our citizens wake up to the fact that we have to take individual responsibility for preserving green space and habitat for all wild things, including the birds that we love so. One thing that you can do, if you have access to the Internet, is sign up for Audubon Advisory and join Audubon of Florida as a Network Advocate. Over the past year, actions taken by members of the Network have led to significant victories. Participants have responded by sending letters, making phone calls and even visiting and meeting with decision makers. Won’t you make 2003 the year that you got involved. If not now, when? If not you, who?

A special thanks go to all of the individuals who participated in the bird counts. This is truly Audubon in action and your Board of Directors wishes to extend our deep appreciation to each person who participated. Again this year your Board elected to pay the entry fee for those participating in the Cocoa count.

Also we owe a debt of gratitude to Brad Martin, Nature Photographer, who regaled us with his “Wading Bird’s” program at the December meeting. Brad has an ingratiating style that people immediately warm up to and this was evidenced by the fact that I could hardly get people to go home at the close of the evening. Everyone just wanted to stand around and talk about birds and congratulate Brad on his marvelous slides.

Your Board of Directors is in the process of proposing changes in the chapter’s by-laws. We have been working on some revisions to bring our by-laws into line with the new Audubon of Florida and National Audubon Society. The Board of Directors approved the changes at their December meeting and copies were made available to members at this past general membership meeting. It is the intention of the Board of Directors to call for a vote on the changes at the January general membership meeting.

I wish you all a happy and involved New Year.