Good morning, birders, The ABA is throwing a party in the Springs and you're invited.
The American Birding Association will hold its annual members' meeting, followed by an informal town hall session with the staff and board of directors, in Colorado Springs on Saturday July 23rd, beginning at 3 PM. These meetings are open to all current ABA members, who should have already received an invite. If you're not an ABA member, we'd still like to invite you and all birders to join us for the party afterwards. We've reserved a lovely outdoor location, with shelters in case of a rain shower, in the foothills on the west side of Colorado Springs where we're hosting a barbecue with catering by Buffalo Gals. It will be a great chance to enjoy a summer's evening in a beautiful setting, see and hear a few birds, meet a bunch of other birders, and enjoy some terrific food. After dinner, there will be a fun, informal selection of, "campfire birding tales," (though burning restrictions may not allow us an actual campfire!). We'll hear from ABA board members including Kenn Kaufman (y'all know Kenn, right?) and Lynn Barber, who just published, "Extreme Birder: One Woman's Big Year." Volunteer ABA librarian (and Distinguished Toastmaster) Mel Goff will also take the mic (breaking news: Mel just told me his working title for his tale is, "Birding the World's Greatest Sewage Ponds") and I'm sure that both Ted Floyd and I, neither of us typically at a loss for words, will share a story or two. And what about you? Do you have a short, funny, enlightening, or otherwise entertaining birding yarn you'd like to spin? Let me know and I'll get you on the list. Again, the party, picnic, and "campfire birding tales" are free and open to the birding public. The ABA has benefitted from having its headquarters here in beautiful Colorado Springs for almost 25 years, more than half our organizational life, so far. We value our neighbors and our relationships with the birding community here. We're pretty excited about the group that will assemble here next week and we want you to meet them and them to meet you. I'd like to add that it's been grand adventure for Liz and me to move here and start to get to know a bit about this spectacular state and its vibrant birding scene. Though we haven't gotten in nearly as much field time as we'd like, we've been thrilled with the places we've visited, the birds we've seen, and the birders we've met. The picnic begins at 6:00 PM and will end by 9:00 PM. Food, including vegetarian options, and beverages will be provided at no charge. We will, however, "pass the hat," for voluntary donations to help defray expenses. We ask that you RSVP to me or to Liz, a/k/a The First Lady of Birding (719-884-8232) by this Friday, July 15th at noon. We'll give you all the relevant details. Hope to see you there! Good birding, Jeff Jeffrey Gordon President American Birding Association Colorado Springs, CO jgor...@aba.org www.aba.org 719-884-8226 direct line @ office 302-388-4444 cell Check out ABA's awesome multi-author blog: http://blog.aba.org/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
