Deep Fork Audubon minutes, 12 December 2011, recorded by Karen Bays and Donald Winslow
6:30 PM on Monday, 12 December 2011, in meeting room B of the Shawnee Public Library

Present were Rebecca Carlberg, Deane Carlberg, Karen Bays, and Donald Winslow.

Donald announced that our annual reports (financial report, questionnaire, and chapter leader report form) were submitted to National Audubon, and he thanked Ruth for her assistance with preparing the reports. If you would like to view our chapter’s annual reports, Donald has copies.

Treasurer's report: Deane said that our account balance is $241.75, and we just received our baseline payment of $200.75 from National Audubon Society (having submitted the annual reports).

Donald shared a couple of information sheets, which Br. Damian Whalen found at http://www.ok.gov/redirect.php?link_id=699, on the subject of incorporation and obtaining 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. We would need to develop an estimated budget and proposed activities for the next three years. One of the fees we would have to pay is $400. Considering that this amount exceeds our annual budget at this point, we hope there might be a way to have the fee waived.

Karen will ask the accountants in her family if we need to pay taxes now that we have a tax ID number. (We had to establish a tax ID number in order to open a bank account.) Speculation ensued about which officers might be expected to end up in jail if we fail to file required taxes. We would need to insist on a window in the jail cell through which to view birds.

We tabled the decision about whether to incorporate, pay taxes, both, or neither until we have more information.

The Christmas Bird Count for kids will be held at the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge on 31 December 2011, from 8:30 AM until 1:00 PM. Refuge Manager Lori Jones is coordinating the event. Donald is planning to help, so we will have at least one representative from our chapter. If you would like to participate please let Donald know! The count at Deep Fork is not an official Chistmas Bird Count, but rather an educational program. Official Audubon Christmas Bird Counts taking place in Oklahoma are listed at http://okbirds.org.

The Oklahoma Winter Bird Survey takes place from 5-8 January 2012. This is an event we can do at our own homes. See http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/okwinterbirds/index.html.

The Pontotoc Ridge Winter Bird Count will be held on 28 January 2012. RSVP to Jona Tucker (jtucker@tnc.org). We can discuss carpooling at our January meeting.

We are planning to look for displaying woodcocks (aka timberdoodles) at dusk on Saturday, 18 February. We will need to find a location with open meadows and woods, perhaps Sacred Heart. The moon will be a crescent on that night, so you may want a flashlight.

Br. Damian is working on pricing materials for bluebird house kits. Deane will call the Shawnee Mall to see about opportunities for tabling and selling kits, particularly the garden show in March or April.

Becky emailed the National Wildlife Federation to inquire about funding opportunities that might help us advance our goal of increasing urban bird habitat, but has not received a response. The National Audubon Society lists grant opportunities for chapters at: http://chapterservices.audubon.org/chapter-leader-guide/current-grant-and-other-funding-opportunities.

The National Audubon Society provides educational materials regarding urban bird habitat at http://athome.audubon.org/healthy-yards#, which we could distribute when we table. Donald will look for similar information at other websites, such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

We decided to plan a program at the Shawnee Public Library on the subject of creating urban bird habitat. We will shoot for 31 March, but we want to find out when the garden show is at the mall so that we don't conflict. If we give the library three months notice and write a blurb about the event, the library will help publicize it. We may also plan yard tours at some point.

Karen will write an editorial on urban bird habitat for the Shawnee News-Star, to be submitted to editor McCormick by 13 February.

Our next meeting will be on 9 January 2012, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, at the Shawnee Public Library meeting room B. We have a lot planned for the winter and spring, so please come if you can make it!