September 18, 2008: Joel Horman presented “An Introduction to Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Long Island”

October 16, 2008: Kimberly Corwin, Co-editor NYSDEC spoke about the new New York State Breeding Bird Atlas.

November 20, 2008: Chad Seewagen, M.A., Project Coordinator, New York Bird Monitoring Program, Dept. of Ornithology, Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo presented "Can Urban Parks Provide Suitable Stopover Habitat for Neotropical Birds?"

December 18, 2008: Annual Member Participation Night. GSBAS’s Members: shared birding slide presentations - four (4) to be exact; with two (2) poetry readings; one (1) short story about a Blue Jay and a magic show by Dr. Mel Bosin! And to top it off all listened to wonderful music presented by Larry Moser.

January 15, 2009: Robert Labuski, photographer presented a slide show “Views through a Lens”: Wildlife, birds, and scenes from Connetquot River State Park Preserve, Long Island, Florida and other areas of the country.

February 15, 2009: David Edelstein, presented “Save Energy, Save the Planet, Carbon Footprint.”

March 19, 2009: Nicholas Laviola presented a short film entitled “Sketches from Great Gull.”

April 16, 2009: Dr. John T. Tanacredi, Chairman of the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences at Dowling College presented: “Horseshoe Crab Conservation and Inventory Efforts”

Program Chair, Alice Heller, secures the speakers for these meetings and thanks to Chapter Publicity Chair, Helga Merryman, the scheduled speakers and their programs get advertised in local papers. Thanks to Hospitality Chair, Mary Plant, and the many monthly Chapter volunteers, these general membership meetings are well supplied with food and beverages. These monthly General Membership Meetings help GSBAS keep a constant presence in the local community, connect GSBAS with the public at large, and keep its members active and involved with Chapter advocacy and events.

These field trips are also free and open to the public, many of which are attended by members of other local Long Island Audubon chapters. Chapter run field trips have resulted in GSBAS gaining many new Chapter volunteers which help GSBAS to continue to accomplish its mission! GSBAS's Weekend Field Trips flyer (for period August - May of each year) is printed courtesy of Board Member, Peter Murphy and inserted in The Sandpiper, detailing these weekend field trips for the upcoming year. This information is also posted to its Chapter’s Website. GSBAS thanks Board Member, Peter Murphy, for donating the printing of the Weekend Field Trip Flyer.

September 13, 2008; and

September 2009 – thru May 2010.

i) Alice Heller, GSBAS’s Chapter President & Program Chair, as the recipient of its Bob Laskowski Conservation Award;

ii) Peter Murphy, Board Member and Field Trip Leader as the recipient of its Fran File Award;

iii) Tom Judy and Warren Davis, were the recipients of its President’s Award. Guest speaker, James Galletto, of Jimmy G’s Nature Photography presented his program “Long Island’s Beach Nesters.”

i) its Fall Seed Sale held on October 4, 2008 chaired by Past President Jack Finkenberg

ii) its Winter Seed Sale held on February 14, 2009 chaired by Judy Davis.

Thanks to Seed Sale Chairs Jack Finkenberg and Judy Davis and their team of volunteers: Bob & Edith Wilson, Larry & Helga Merryman, Kathy Kozakiewicz, Alice Heller, and Barbara & Michael McBrien together with the support of Chapter Members who participated in “prepaid orders.” GSBAS has partnered with Gary Fortcher and Kathleen Mulligan, owners of Wild Birds Unlimited, Oakdale, NY, to run its bi-annual seed sales.

1) Speaker fees at its:

a) general membership meetings;

b) May Annual Dinner;

c) Annual June Outdoor Program at Brookside;

2) Connetquot River State Park meeting room fees for general membership meetings;

3) Newsletters printings and mailing costs;

4) Chapter attendance fees at local Community Outreach Events;

5) special education programs at Brookside;

6) its paid Webmaster, Eric Larson, to keep its Website updated: www.gsbas.org (thank you Eric for another great year as our Chapter’s Webmaster);

7) Verizonwireless service for its phone service for #631-563-7716 (thank you Board Members, Steve D’Amato for retrieving messages and Genevieve Lee for updating the recorded messages) and for the Chapter’s email address: greatsouthbayaudubon@verizon.net (thank you Board Member Juliane Wohler, Communication Committee as the Chapter’s email responder);

GSBAS’s 2008 Annual Appeal was printed courtesy of its Board Member, Peter Murphy. Chapter kudos to Peter Murphy for again donating this printing job! GSBAS also thanks and recognizes each and everyone one of its important Chapter Annual Appeal supporters with a printed supporter’s sheet published in its May/June 2009 issue of The Sandpiper! AGAIN GSBAS THANKS ANNUAL APPEAL DONORS ONE AND ALL!

“Sierra Club: LI Water Sentinels”

“South Shore Estuary Reserve”

“Open Space Preservation Trust”

“Native America”

“The Friends of Connetquot State Park”

“Seatuck Environmental Association"

“Friends of Wertheim NWR”

"Fire Island Raptor Enumerators (“FIRE”)”

"South Shore Nature Center"

"Starflower Experiences"

“Friends of Edgewood Preserve”

“Coalition to Save EPCAL”

"Suffolk County Sporting Advisory Council;"

"Friends of Fire Island Lighthouse"

"Friends of Fire Island National Seashore"

"OPRH/Robert Moses Golf Course"

New York State Ornithological Association, Inc. (“NYSOA”)

“ABC-Cats Indoors!”

GSBAS has partnered with Friends of Connetquot, Friends of Wertheim, Friends of Fire Island Lighthouse, Seatuck Environmental Association and Edgewood Preserve to present birding field trips, internships, workshops and joint educational programs and supported organizational events through attendance, letters in support of issues and monetary donations.

1) purchase of seed and suet for bird feeders;

2) maintenance of Butterfly Garden;

3) building maintenance expenses incurred, i.e.: alarm system, telephone and internet services, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, deck repairs and grass cuttings at premises.

GSBAS in recognition of the many Chapter supporters of its Annual Appeal prints an Annual Appeal sheet which is inserted in our newsletter’s May/June issue of The Sandpiper. GSBAS thanks Board Member, Peter Murphy, for donating the 2008 Annual Appeal printing and also thanks each and everyone one of its important Chapter supporters!

i) educational programs for children at Brookside;

ii) continued Chapter attendance at Community Outreach events to promote awareness of Audubon and its local Audubon Chapter's mission and goals and try to increase membership;

iii) continue Breakfast & Birding activities at Connetquot River State Park Preserve, GSBAS’s Adopted IBA;

iv) continue to present the Chapter's Annual June Outdoor Program as another form of community outreach to make local residents aware of GSBAS’s Brookside Preserve - right in their own backyards – and get them involved.

1. on local issues;

2. on concerns of the Long Island Audubon Council;

3. on behalf of Audubon New York and National Audubon issues.

i) presenting more educational programs for children at Chapter R11’s headquarters at Brookside Preserve, Sayville, NY;

ii) sponsoring Audubon Adventures at our local area schools.

For the second consecutive year, Great South Bay Audubon Society is actively seeking to make a difference (with help from Audubon New York’s Collaborative Funding Grants) in its adopted Connetquot River Estuary IBA. In addition to sponsoring bird monitoring interns to collect and report breeding bird data in this area, on March 14, 2009, fourteen GSBAS volunteers installed 22 Bluebird nest Boxes at Connetquot River State Park Preserve in Oakdale, New York. These birds are present in the Park and Gary Lawton, Regional Environmental Manger for the Long Island State Park Region, told GSBAS of the Park’s desire to provide nesting opportunities for these birds. GSBAS plans to have its volunteers monitor the next boxes and report the data they collect to the New York State Bluebird Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology NestWatch project.

We divided into 2 groups and fanned out east and west along the beach, filling many garbage bags with all types of litter. The Rangers came along the beach in a vehicle and picked up the bags of trash where we left them. A good day doing something worthwhile, but a little sad without Ed Davis. There was a picture of him posted in the Visitor's Center with some of his sayings - Helga & I listed the one he told everyone the last time he came with us to the Audubon NY Council Meeting to wit: "why did the turtle cross the road - he was looking for the Shell station."

Two surveys per season, data submitted to State Parks. This is not a breeding bird survey but an overall yearwide assessment. We have completed the two winter and the two spring surveys. Two (2) summer surveys were done on July 23, 2009 and August 25, 2009. Fall surveys were scheduled for September and October 2009 one day each to complete the project.

Ken Thompson and Steven D’Amato, Co-Survey Chairs
Larry Merryman, former Co-Survey Chair