MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS

Meetings are held on the second Sunday of the month from September to April at the Gethsemane Episcopal Church, 320 Park St., Sherrill, NY. A map can be found here. Meetings start at 2 p.m. The church is handicapped accessible. Meetings and field trips are free and open to the public. If you have any questions or need a ride, email Frank Marasco.

Upcoming Programs

January 13
Members and guests will share their nature sightings. This will be followed by BBC Bird video, "The Insatiable Appetite." Birds hammer grubs from trees, search out the tiniest seeds, tear meat and sip nectar. It they can't reach what they're seeking, some of them use tools to help get a meal. Narrated by David Attenborough.

February 10
Urban Forestry & Horticulture by Chris Mercurio
Presentation by Chris Mercurio on Urban Forestry & Horticulture covers the management of the 72 square miles City of Rome municipal tree inventory and horticulture inventory, past, present and future, using Geographic Information System (GIS).

Chris received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Syracuse University-SUNY School of Environmental Science & Forestry. He worked for the US Forest Service in New Mexico and managed retail nursery and landscaping enterprises plus the Forest Services in North Carolina. In Rome over the past seven years, Chris has been City Forester and Urban Planner managing the city's many natural resources.

March 9
The Nature of the Universe presented by W. Joseph Crossman.
Questions about the structure and evolution of planets, stars, and galaxies are asked many times: How big is the universe? How long has it been around, and how long will it last? What was its origin, and what will be its fate? Is the universe a one-time event, or does it reoccur and renew itself? These are basic question, but they are hard questions. Many cultures have asked them, in one form or another, and have developed their own theories about nature. We will see how modern science addresses these important issues and what it has to tell us about the universe we inhabit.

Mr. Crossman worked as a Consulting Engineer and is a Physicist. He is very active in the field of astronomy, with 40+ years of experience at Observational Astronomy, Radio Astronomy and Telescope construction, which includes the designing and making of the optics. He is Co-Chairman of the Curriculum Committee for the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement, a Program that is hosted by SUNY-IT on the Marcy, N.Y. campus. The Curriculum Committee plans the MVILR'S courses that will be taught and serves on MVILR's Board of Directors and is a Facilitator for MVILR. Mr. Crossman teaches courses in Astronomy, Cosmology, Astrobiology and the History of the Pipe Organ, and also a course about Famous Scientists of the 16th and 17 Centuries.

He is past President of the Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS). He also is President of the Rome Academy of Sciences, which is a local scientific organization, which provides a public forum for individuals who work in various scientific disciplines. The Rome Academy of Sciences also sponsors the Science Fair for the Rome School District for grades 7th thru 12th, in which computers systems and various other awards are awarded for prizes.

He was active in a program called "Phototrack", which was part of the International Geophysical Year. He is a licensed Amateur Radio operator, a member of ARRL and a member of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. Joe is a trained organist who has a diverse interest in many types and styles of pipe organs. As past president of the Central New York Organ Historical Society, the Organ Historical Society has preserved and documented historical organs throughout Central New York. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Capitol Theatre and was the curator for the preservation of the 1928 Moeller Theatre Organ at the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY.

April 13
Botswana's Okavango Delta and the Shoebill of Zambia's Bangweulu Wetlands by Don and Donna Traver
The Travers have seen over 700 species of North American birds and over 5,000 species in the world.

This program is about a trip to South Central Africa in search of Shoebill. The Shoebill is a very unusual and uncommon bird that is found only in the dense swamps of Central Africa. As it has no close relatives it is taxonomically placed in a family all of its own. So as dedicated "family listers" we were compelled to go there in order to reach our goal of seeing a member of each of the world's bird families. Of the 204 families (Clements prior to the 6 th Edition) this was to be 202.

The program starts with a stay at three tented camps in the truly remarkable and pristine Okavango Delta where we saw numbers of mammals particularly leopards, lions, cape buffalo, elephants and antelope that were virtually unthreatened by our presence in Land Rovers. Birds were also in great numbers and Pel's Fishing-Owl was spectacular.

Following two weeks in the Delta we arranged an extension for the two of us and flew by bush plane 800 miles northward to the immense Bangweulu wetlands of Zambia. Heading to a remote location known as Shoebill Camp we hoped to see at least one of the huge birds. That little three-day extension turned out to be one of the more memorable adventures of our birding lives.


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