The Delaware County Bird Club meetings and program presentations take place on the fourth Monday of each month, September through April, except in November and December when they are held on alternate days to accommodate the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. Meetings are held in the lodge at Deer Haven Preserve at 4183 Liberty Road, Delaware OH, 43015. Doors open at the new time of 6:30 PM and programs begin at 7:00 PM and will be followed by reports of local bird sightings and socializing. Meeting dates can also be found on the Preservation Parks Calendar at this link: http://www.preservationparks.com/events-calendar/ March 27th: "Dr. Burtt's Mr. Wilson" - Bryan Sharp, Adjunct Instructor, Columbus State Community College. Dr. Edward H. Burtt, Jr. founded the Delaware County Bird Club in 1987, after arriving at Ohio Wesleyan University as a Zoology Professor in 1977. Many of us hold dear, fond memories of Jed. He was an exceptional educator, colleague and friend. Even if you only met him briefly, his benevolent charisma was clearly evident. He also had an insatiable drive to promote his passion for the study of our feathered friends. During the course of his career, Jed gave hundreds of presentations, both nationally and internationally, on his ornithological research, and mentored countless students, earning the 2011 Ohio Professor of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education along the way. Not only was Jed interested in the natural history of birds, but also in the stories of his ornithological predecessors. Of particular interest was Alexander Wilson. Dr. Burtt served a term as President of the Wilson Ornithological Society and wrote several papers and a biography on Mr. Wilson. Many people, even those with considerable avian knowledge, consider John James Audubon to be the founder of ornithology on the American continent. However, Dr. Burtt sets the record straight by rightfully bestowing that title on Alexander Wilson. The publication of Wilson's first volume of American Ornithology preceded that of Audubon's Birds of America by nearly two decades. There exists some evidence that Wilson encouraged, or at least inspired, Audubon to pursue his interest in painting birds, although their encounter appears to have been brief. Whatever the case, Wilson's paintings are worthy of comparison to those of Audubon. In the March 2017 meeting of the Delaware County Bird Club, we will explore the main points of Dr. Burtt's biography of Wilson, and, more importantly, share our own biographical memories of our beloved Jed. Many of us have been touched by Jed either casually or for many, quite profoundly. We want this to be a celebration of many of the amazing things he did for peers, friends, students and club members of the now 30 year old Delaware County Bird Club. For some fun, please wear a bird tie, bird scarf, bird pin or bird article of clothing in tribute to Jed. We hope to have a few things for all to take part in at the meeting. Bryan Sharp is a biologist, educator, hiker and birder. As an undergraduate, he studied the microflora of avian plumage and its effects on feather degradation under the guidance of Dr. Edward H. (Jed) Burtt, Jr. Those studies included banding many songbirds, as did the MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) project on which he worked in San Diego, California while conducting research for his Master's thesis on brood parasitism of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) on Least Bell's Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus). Bryan also holds a Master's degree in Educational Administration and has been a teacher or principal for over 15 years. Other jobs he has held include banding birds of prey for a season in the Florida Keys, being a summer camp counselor in North Carolina and Colorado, conducting point counts of birds in a riparian restoration area and sequencing avian DNA. He has also volunteered as an ecology and bird guide at parks in San Diego, CA and Durango, Mexico. Mr. Sharp currently teaches biology at Columbus State Community College and moonlights as a park ranger with Franklin County Metro Parks in Columbus, Ohio. April 24th: "The Birds of Hocking County, Ohio" - John Watts, Resource Manager, Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. This will be the last program of the season. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]