Hi all,

A big thank you to all who participated in last weekend's OOS Annual
Conference extravaganza at Mohican State Park and Forest. It was an awesome
time, with nearly 200 birders from many nooks of Ohio, and as Randy Rogers
pointed out, we collectively found about 160 species of birds. Not to
mention bats, plants, and other interesting critters. I've been sticking up
some photos at my blog: http://www.ohiobirds.org/blog/blog.php should you be
interested.

Mohican was a new locale for us and the conference, and I suspect that we'll
be back there next year, based on the feedback we're getting. While Mohican
State Forest is "only" about 5,500 acres - compared to our last venue,
Shawnee, which is 65,000 - it is packed with stunning biodiversity. We
missed a number of species that should have been found, and I expect next
year's species list of birds will easily surpass the 160 of this year.

Also, I want to publicly thank and acknowledge two of our board members
whose terms expired with Saturday night's election, Micki Dunakin and Rob
Harlan. Many of you know them, I'm sure. Both were involved from the
beginning with the OOS, and have played an important part in helping us to
grow to about 800 members and do the things that we've been able to do in
the short three years since we launched. Micki lives in Antwerp, in Paulding
County, along with her husband Doug, and among many other things they found
the legendary Paulding County Gyrfalcon of 1996. Not to mention a couple of
Kirtland's Warbler. Both are active in conservation efforts in their local
area, and we wish Micki well and thank her for helping us.

Rob is very well known as one of Ohio's best field birders, who also sports
one of the biggest Ohio lists of anyone. He was present at the very first
OOS planning meeting, and played an important role in our formation. Many of
you know his writing, too - Rob writes the "Further Afield" column in the
Ohio Cardinal and has for many years. He also has served as editor of that
publication, and as a member of the Ohio Bird Records Committee.

Next time you run into Micki or Rob, be sure and thank them for what they've
done to help Ohio's birders.

Our new board members, elected Saturday night, are Dana Bollin and Marc
Nolls. Dana is the naturalist at Maumee Bay State Park and longtime birder
and bander, among many other things. Marc is from the Akron area, and is a
newer birder with a wealth of skills that are invaluable to an organization
like ours. We look forward to working with Marc and Dana, and I'm sure
you'll meet them before long if you haven't already.

Jim McCormac, President

Ohio Ornithological Society




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