WOSNews Issue 198 has been published!

WOS Board Member Dave Kreft reports on the pleasures of the first in-person annual conference in two years. This year’s conference in Spokane Valley had 124 attendees. Michael Hobbs discusses the bird sightings for the trip — 180 species in all. Other topics this issue: a super-full Chestnut-backed Chickadee nest box, tributes to the late Wayne Weber, an unusual hummingbird hybrid, new birding styles that emerged during the pandemic (for good and bad), thoughts of an anxious trip leader, Washington Field Notes, and the upcoming board and officer election. For all this news in new editor Chris Rurik’s first issue, see the Current Newsletter.

 WOS Board announces nominees for 2022 board and officer positions

After serving two years as vice president and two years as president, Jennifer Kauffman is retiring from the WOS Board. The board is still looking for a volunteer to replace her as president, but has identified three new board candidates and a new nominee for vice president, Board Member David Kreft. Treasurer Bob Schmidt and Secretary Jon Houghton are running again for their positions. For more information about the candidates and upcoming WOS election, go to the 2022 WOS elections page.

 Young Birder’s fund seeks undergraduates to apply for grants

Undergraduate students with ties to Washington State are encouraged to apply for grants from the Patrick Sullivan Young Birder’s Fund (PSYBF) to support research related to wild birds or related topics in Washington state. Applicants should propose research to take place during the 2022 calendar year that is done under the coordination or supervision of their undergraduate faculty. Grants will range from $1,000 to $1,500. The new approach is part of the board’s effort to strengthen the Young Birder’s Fund and also WOS’s diversity and inclusion efforts. For more information, go to the PSYBF page.

 WBRC accepts 26 reports as valid new records at its Spring Meeting

The Washington Bird Records Committee (WBRC) The Washington Bird Records Committee met /April 28, 2022 via Zoom for its spring meeting.

• • 26 reports were accepted as valid new records.
  • 1 additional record was accepted as continuing sighting of a record previously accepted at an earlier meeting.
  • 13 reports were not accepted.
  • 2 reports were tabled for further analysis.

No species were added to the official Washington state list. The list remains at 522 species, including 510 species fully accredited (supported by specimen, photograph, or recording) and 12 species which are sight-only records (supported only by written documentation). Read the WBRC Spring 2022 Meeting Results here.

 Great New Benefit for WOS Members Is Now Here!
Thanks to a partnership with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, we now have a terrific new benefit for WOS members: FREE online access to “Birds of the World,” the world’s largest online encyclopedia of birds. Inside its 10,700+ scholarly, in-depth species accounts you’ll find expertly curated media galleries with photos, videos, and sound recordings, dynamic range maps, breeding calendars, and other life history details. Soak up detailed accounts of every species and every family and use the Taxonomy Explorer to explore the birds in your own county. Learn more about this benefit and how to get access to it on our Birds of the World page.

 Volume 13 of Washington Birds has been published
Volume 13, edited by Ed Swan, features articles by more than two dozen contributors. Included are four general interest articles covering diversity and inclusion in birding, habitat change, and birding highlights from all 39 Washington counties. Also in this issue are seven articles with updates, analysis, and expanded knowledge on regularly occurring species covering topics such as the end of the Northwestern Crow as a distinct species and the “Western Flycatcher” problem in Washington. And 11 articles provide species accounts for 14 species new to the Washington State list since 2005, when the latest Birds of Washington State by Wahl et al. came out. Finally, you’ll find the 11th report of the Washington Bird Records Committee (previously published in Western Birds). Read Volume 13 now.

 WOS Expands Its Online Presence
WOS Board Member Jason Fidorra has created a Facebook Groups page to allow for more interaction and participation among WOS members in hopes of engaging a broader public with birds and birding topics in Washington. Thanks to Elaine Chuang, WOS also is now posting many of its monthly meeting presentations on WOS’s YouTube channel, so that people can view them at any time. For more information about WOS’s online offerings beyond this website, go to the WOS Online page.

Go to WOS’s Monthly Meetings page for information on our fabulous monthly meeting programs. WOS members who live outside the Seattle area (or are on the road) can still attend using a computer, tablet or phone. It’s easy!