Category: Meeting Minutes

At 6:01 pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya then introduced the first speaker, Dana Tricarico of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Seascape Program, standing in for Jake Labelle, who was unable to be present. Her talk entitled “The New York Seascape: Promoting Marine Conservation in Our Ocean Backyard,” described the mission of the program as being to Discover through Research, to Protect by informing public policy and to Inspire by engaging and educating the public. The Ocean Backyard of the title is the New York Bight which encompasses some 16,000 square miles of ocean from Montauk Point to Cape May New Jersey. This area has a wide range of habitats from the deep-sea Hudson Canyon to estuarine and brackish waters and is home to a wide diversity of vertebrate and invertebrate species and a migration route for many more. It is also bordered by intense urbanization and is a major shipping area, making conservation a daunting challenge. Dana first described some of the research being carried out by the members of the program on diadromous fish such as eels and alewives and resident shark species such as the sand tiger shark. Migratory and population studies on whales are also a major focus of the program, as several species migrate through the Bight, crossing busy shipping lanes as they do so. Turning to Policy matters, Dana outlined the Ocean Action Plan, which aims to protect wildlife while taking into account the interests of many competing stakeholders, such as those involved in commercial and recreational fisheries, oil and gas exploration, and windfarm development. A plan to designate the Hudson Canyon, with its diverse fauna including cold water corals, as a Marine Sanctuary has not yet been achieved but is a major goal of the program. Also of concern is the seismic impact of both oil and gas and windfarm development on cetaceans with their sensitive acoustic abilities. Next, Dana reviewed the goals of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership, to which the New York Aquarium belongs. This gives strength in numbers to aid in promoting such policies as the campaign to reduce single use plastics and of plastic straws, both of which policies the NY aquarium upholds, and to influence public policy at the state, regional, national and even international levels. As a final comment Dana emphasized the need to educate the public about these conservation issues and the steps that concerned individuals can take, especially in reducing the use of plastic. At the conclusion of Dana’s talk, President Saunders presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Society.

At 7:32 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the minutes of the January meeting. They were approved as read, with a minor tweak proposed by Linnaean Society member Peter Post to remove any ambiguity about the field observation of a Painted Bunting in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented four applicants for membership in the Society: Kathleen Heenan sponsored by Barbara Saunders, Carol Seferi and Christina Colon sponsored by Ken Chaya, all for Active membership, and Theresa Brown sponsored by Paul Sweet for Supporting membership. The applications were approved unanimously. President Saunders reminded the membership of the upcoming Annual Dinner on Tuesday March 10^th, at which the Eisenmann Medal awardee and speaker will be Stephen Kress. She announced the slate of candidates, approved by Council at the February meeting, for Officer positions in the Society: President: Ken Chaya; Vice-President: Rochelle Thomas; Treasurer: Ruth Hart; Secretary: Lydia Thomas; Editor: Jon Hyman. The position of Recording Secretary is open. She then asked for nominations from the floor. When none were received, she said that nominations for any position may be submitted to Secretary Thomas by February 29^th. The membership will vote on the candidates at the Annual Dinner. President Saunders informed members that the Society’s website is being redesigned and will be up and running by the spring. She thanked the members of the design sub-committee for their work in setting up this new and improved website. She also thanked Council member Sherry Felix, who has been Webmaster on the current website for almost 10 years. President Saunders informed the membership that a first-ever LSNY ballcap is to be offered for sale at the Annual Dinner and that Volume XI of the Transactions (a 3-year endeavor) will be published this spring. She then thanked the editorial team and all of the writers and researchers involved with this project. She also urged members to propose speakers for the upcoming season. Past President Rubenfeld’s new book, “American Birds: A Literary Companion,” has been published and a review by LSNY member Patrick Baglee is available on the Society’s website. Conservation chair Rochelle Thomas alerted the membership to a proposal by a golf course to appropriate eighteen acres of wetland adjacent to Liberty State Park. In concluding remarks, President Saunders reminded members of the Society’s Instagram account and to visit the website.   

President Saunders introduced Joshua Hammer, former bureau chief and correspondent at large for Newsweek, whose talk entitled “The Falcon Thief: A Tale of Adventure, Skullduggery and the Search for the Perfect Bird” recounted a series of extraordinary events that began with the apprehension of Jeffrey Lendrum at Birmingham International Airport in May 2010, while he was waiting for an Emirates flight to Dubai. An alert janitor noticed that Lendrum had gone into the men’s room with three suitcases and had remained there for about 25 minutes. After he left, the janitor entered the room and found that nothing had been used, but there was an egg carton with one red egg in a diaper bin. Increasingly suspicious, the janitor called the police counter-terrorism unit, who detained Lendrum and performed a strip search, whereupon they discovered fourteen eggs in woolen socks strapped to Lendrum’s body. Initially, Lendrum claimed that they were duck eggs strapped to his body to help him maintain an upright posture. The police, not convinced by this cock and bull story, contacted Andy McWilliam the head of the National Wildlife Crime unit who realized immediately that these were peregrine eggs being smuggled to Dubai for sale to the falconry community. Eventually, it became clear that Lendrum had stolen the eggs from the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, and that he was a professional egg smuggler. Joshua gave a detailed account of the life and times of Lendrum, who began his smuggling career as a boy in the Matobo National Park in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and of the falconry tradition in the Arabian Peninsula, where wild peregrines are highly prized for their speed and hunting skills. Lendrum has also stolen eggs from northern Québec, Patagonia and South Africa, all the while maintaining that he is a conservationist. Undoubtedly he is a very skilled naturalist and rock climber with rappelling skills of the highest order, but a conservationist he is most certainly not. For his crimes he has served several jail terms, and is currently incarcerated in a British prison where he is awaiting the results of an extradition order to Brazil for crimes committed in South America. As Joshua pointed out, the capture of Lendrum, has not led to the uncovering of the wider illegal network of egg smuggling, fueled by the immense riches of the Arab world, with consequent dangers to the world’s fastest bird. At the conclusion of Joshua’s talk, President Saunders presented him with a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Society.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:53 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:02 pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya then introduced the first speaker, Javier Izquierdo, Assistant Professor of Biology at Hofstra University. His talk, entitled “Improving the Health of Plants by Spying on Conversations Underfoot Between the American Beachgrass and Its Microbiome,” described his group’s efforts to understand the complex interactions between this critical dune-dweller and its associated microorganisms. American Beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata, is a key component of the beaches of the east coast of North America, forming and stabilizing the sand dunes upon which many species depend. Despite growing in a nutrient-poor environment, Ammophila spreads rapidly via lateral roots and reaches a height of two to three feet by the end of the growing season. The stands of grass provide shelter for many organisms such as Piping Plovers, Vesper Sparrows, and Short-eared Owls, and food for herbivores such as deer, rabbits, horses and insects, and for seed eaters such as Snow Buntings. Given its importance to the maintenance of the architecture of sand dunes, efforts to repair damaged dunes involve replanting Ammophila in reconstructed dunes. These efforts are often only partially successful, and Javier wondered if this could be due to a lack of understanding of the microbiome associated with native stands of Ammophila. He and his group set out to describe and catalogue the variety of species of microorganism associated with the plants, and those found in the neighboring sand. Analysis involved sequencing the DNA encoding the gene for the 16S subunit of the ribosome. This DNA sequence is highly conserved, but small differences in the sequence between species allows for enumeration of the members of the microbiome. Remarkably, for such a nutrient-poor environment, there was evidence for upwards of a thousand different bacterial species. Using multivariate analysis of the data, Javier’s group has shown that the community of species intimately associated with the plants is distinct from that found in the sand nearby. This suggests a positive commensal arrangement between plant and microbiome. This idea is made plausible by the presence of many species belonging to bacterial genera associated with nitrogen fixation, and phosphate and ferric ion sequestration. Turning to an analysis of individual bacterial isolates, many showed the ability to produce the plant growth auxin indole acetic acid. Laboratory experiments showed that these isolates could indeed enhance growth of seedlings of experimental species such as Arabidopsis and Switch Grass. Current efforts include the sequencing of the complete genomes of suspected commensal bacteria, with the ultimate goal of assembling a group of species that could be used to promote healthy and successful regeneration of damaged dunes. 

At 7:32 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting and determined that the audience had many first-time attendees. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the minutes of the December meeting. They were approved as read. In the absence of Secretary Lydia Thomas, President Saunders presented seven candidates for Active membership: Caryl Baron and Sylvia Alexander, sponsored by Barbara Saunders; John Wittenberg and Teresa Fung Pesek, sponsored by Ken Chaya; and Linda LaBelle, Jane Krenach and Jerry Krenach, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper. The applications were approved unanimously. President Saunders announced that the City Council bill mandating bird-safe glass in all new buildings, is now law. She also informed the membership that Michael Flynn, a member since 1937, has reached his hundredth birthday. A letter will be sent to him on behalf of the Society offering our best wishes. President Saunders passed on word from Kathryn Heintz that a meeting will be held on January 28th concerning the Jones Beach West End Energy Project. She reminded the membership that the Eisenmann Medal awardee and speaker is Stephen Kress. Annual Dinner invitations will be posted mid-January. She also asked for suggestions for speakers for next season. Field observations included a Painted Bunting (possibly a  juvenile male) in Brooklyn Bridge Park, a Varied Thrush in Prospect Park, an Iceland Gull in Central Park’s Reservoir, a Brown Pelican off the Battery, and a Harlequin Duck in Sheepshead Bay. It was also noted that the numbers of Rusty Blackbirds in Pelham Bay Park are much higher this year. In contrast, Chickadees and Titmice are notably absent in the Metropolitan area. Finally, President Saunders reminded members of the new Instagram account and to check the Society website. 

President Saunders then introduced Ardith Bondi, Linnaean Society member, wild-life photographer and flautist. Her talk “A Tale of Many Penguins: Finding Them, Photographing Them and Comparing Them,” described the eighteen species in six genera that make up the family. They are found in a wide variety of habitats ranging from the Antarctic ice to mangrove swamps, but all have adaptations to a flightless diving existence. Although convergent evolution has made for many morphological similarities to the northern hemisphere Alcidae, they are more closely related to the Albatrosses and Petrels. Common anatomical and morphological features of all penguins are the adaptation of the wings as flippers, with fused and heavier bones, capable of swiveling motion for underwater maneuverability, countershading to avoid predation, and closely packed feathers that act as insulators against the often harsh external environment. Insulation is also aided by a thick layer of fat under the skin. Because of the need to maintain the complete protection provided by the feathers, penguins undergo a “catastrophic molt,” in which they remain ice- or land-bound while the feathers grow back. This may take up to four weeks. Ardith also described the predators to which penguins are subject, such as Leopard Seals, Sea Lions and Orcas in the ocean and Skuas, Giant Petrels and Kelp Gulls that attack on land or ice. She also emphasized the disastrous effects of human intervention on the populations of several species, not only by over-fishing of their food sources, but also in the past by guano mining of their nest sites and harvesting for their oils. Some species have lost over 90 percent of their historical numbers. Happily, governments and private individuals have made concerted efforts to preserve penguins, including the African Penguin in South Africa and the White-flippered and Little Blue Penguins in New Zealand. Some species adapt well to man-made structures for nest sites and can be bred in captivity, although some such as the Yellow-eyed Penguin of New Zealand, will not do so. As Ardith’s photographs so eloquently demonstrated, penguins excite our admiration for their exquisite adaptations to their environment and we must hope that efforts to protect them and their environment are successful.   

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:03 pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya then introduced the first speaker, Kathleen Fallon, who teaches in the MFA programs of Chatham University and West Virginia Wesleyan College, and is the current President of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society. Her talk entitled “Vultures: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird,” began with a brief review of the status of the twenty-three species of vultures worldwide, of which nineteen are endangered, some critically. Declines have been caused by poisoning, accidental or deliberate, electrocution from power lines, and even a cultural practice that employs vulture brains as a means of achieving clairvoyance. The situation in North America is more encouraging.  Turkey and Black Vultures, both protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, are increasing in numbers. All species of vulture are scavengers of carrion and play an important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem by removing carcasses before mammalian scavengers can congregate. As an example of their essential role, Katie cited an increase in human rabies cases caused by the decline in the four species of vulture in India, with a concomitant rise in feral dog and jackal populations. She also pointed out that the acidity of the vulture stomach is close to pH0, so that any pathogens are completely digested, so much so that not even DNA can be found in their excreta. For the remainder of her talk Katie concentrated on the biology and habits of the Turkey Vulture, with population numbers of some fifteen to twenty million birds. There are six sub-species, whose range extends from southern Canada to the southern tip of Argentina. Some are relatively short distance migrants, while those in the tropics are year-round residents. Unlike other raptors, Turkey Vultures have poor grasping talons and cannot take living prey. Instead, they are obligate carrion feeders, with a remarkable sense of smell and an ability to learn productive sites of roadkill. They are also remarkably lead-tolerant, so that they make excellent study subjects for the presence of environmental lead levels. Turkey Vultures nest in caves and abandoned man-made structures, with minimal nest material, and lay two eggs per year. Among their more curious characteristics is the use of projectile vomiting as a defense mechanism and so-called “urohydrolysis,” the washing of their legs with urine. Tracking devices have shown that they migrate slowly, with two of the three North American subspecies wintering in the southern states or Mexico, and returning to their summer homes in the northeast and Arizona respectively. The central Canada subspecies has been tracked as far as the Venezuelan Colombian border. In concluding her talk, Katie reviewed the reasons for the fear engendered by vultures, all of which are unfounded. They are incapable of attacking living animals and do not circle the proverbial wanderer in the desert dying of thirst. Their cartoon image is not a true reflection of their habits and does not acknowledge their essential role in the environment.

At 7:32 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the minutes of the November meeting. They were approved as read. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented one candidate for Active membership, Dawn Hannay sponsored by Gina Goldstein. The application was approved unanimously. President Saunders announced the breaking news that the City Council had just passed a bill mandating bird-safe glass in all new buildings. The bill awaits the signature of Mayor de Blasio. She also informed members of the dates of the upcoming Christmas bird count: President Saunders reminded members that the Society now has an Instagram account @LinnaeanNY to which members can post. Seventyeight members have done so to date. President Saunders also urged members who had not already done so to pay their dues. She thanked those who had contributed to the sponsorship fund for the Annual Dinner and reminded members that tax-deductible contributions received before January 1^st will be acknowledged in the invitation. 

President Saunders then introduced Emily DuVal, Associate Professor at Florida State University. Her talk “Dancing Birds, Sexual Selection, and the Evolution of Cooperation in a Tropical Forest,” summarized twenty-one years of field observations and analysis of Lance-Tailed Manakins on Isla Boca Brava off the south coast of Panama. As Emily pointed out, Charles Darwin posited sexual selection as one of the driving forces of evolution. Two mechanisms were proposed. One was direct competition between males for the opportunity to mate with receptive females. The other more controversial idea – at least to Darwin’s Victorian contemporaries – was that females might exercise choice, and thus select for traits that were passed on to future generations. This raises two intriguing questions: why do females exercise choice and how is this choice exercised?  Emily’s group’s research sheds light on both of these questions. Lance-tailed Manakins’ courtship behavior takes place in a so-called “exploded lek” where males display to females within a small geographic area, but in which individual courtships are separate and may only be in earshot of one another. Another odd feature is that two males, one alpha and one beta perform a song and dance display to impress the female but only the alpha will have the opportunity to mate. Painstaking analysis of the behavior of both males and females, and analysis of the DNA of parents and offspring leads to several perhaps surprising conclusions. First, alpha and beta males are usually not related, so kin selection as an explanation of why there are two males involved in the display is not supported. Seemingly obvious cues for female choice, such as brighter colors or a lower parasite load of the males, do not seem to be important either. Instead, age and experience of the males, and a greater degree of heterozygosity of the successful male, are of most importance. The greater the degree of heterozygosity, the better the chance of chick survival. This may be an answer to the “why” question. How this heterozygosity is sensed by the female is still not clear, but a working hypothesis is that volatile compounds in the oils produced by the preening uropygial gland may be the key. These volatiles may be disseminated during the energetic dance display, and the greater the heterozygosity of the male the more variety there will be in the volatiles’ composition. Emily also noted that the beta male may gain some benefit from associating himself with the dominant alpha, perhaps by learning to become an alpha later. She also presented evidence that in displays where two females are present, by-stander virgin females can learn from more experienced females in a process known as mate copy choice. In conclusion, Emily emphasized that the obvious visual cues often thought to be the dominant characteristic in sexual selection may be relics of past selection events and of no great significance in the present. Understanding the behavior of the female, and her choices, is the key to understanding this complex evolutionary mechanism.    

The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:06 pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. She determined that the majority of those attending the lecture were members. Vice-President Ken Chaya then introduced the first speaker, Jason Gregg, ornithologist and anti-poaching activist, whose talk, “Deadly Skies: The Fight to End Illegal Bird Killing in the Mediterranean,” described the extent of the problem, its causes, and possible remedies. Birds cross the Mediterranean on several flyways during both spring and autumn migration and the numbers are immense. As an example, the flyway passing through and over the Black Sea involves some two billion birds, many of which travel through Lebanon or make a stopover on the island of Cyprus. Estimates of the numbers of birds killed are difficult to establish but tens of millions are taken annually, half of them in countries belonging to the European Union, despite detailed legislation prohibiting such activities. Gregg first described the work of the NGO Committee against Bird Slaughter, or CABS, whose remit is to document its occurrence, to prevent such killing if possible, and to alert local law enforcement when efforts to stop the killing fail. In Lebanon the main culprit is sport shooting of large raptors, whose migration path is highly concentrated between the sea and the mountains, making them vulnerable to young men with shotguns. This is a behavior of fairly recent origin and is not deeply embedded in the culture. Local law enforcement is cooperative and, when alerted by CABS, will demand to see hunting licenses, which are expensive, and, if they are not produced, will confiscate the guns. Word of mouth of the confiscations, and the mere presence of CABS volunteers, have both acted as deterrents to this illegal hunting. Lebanese wild-life organizations are also helping to educate the public about the deadly effects of killing such long-lived species. In Cyprus, where CABS has been active since 2007, the main problem is mist-netting and liming of passerine species for food. This is an ancient cultural tradition, and despite robust legislation to prevent it, the rewards are high and enforcement difficult. One of the main species sought by the trappers is the Eurasian blackcap, which passes through Cyprus in very large numbers, but the traps are indiscriminate, catching many other small birds. CABS has also been active in Lombardy, Italy, for over 30 years. As in Cyprus, trapping small birds for food has a long history and the rewards of the illegal activity are high. Initially, CABS aimed to remove the Archetti traps used, but they are cheap and easily replaced. Now efforts are directed to alerting the Federal Forestry Police, the Carabinieri Forestali, to illegal activity. The Carabinieri apprehend and prosecute the trappers. This has had a much greater effect in reducing illegal trapping. As a final note, Gregg pointed out that Birdlife International considers illegal trapping to be one of the five most important factors in declining bird numbers. CABS is therefore in the front line in helping to prevent such declines.  

At 7:30 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the minutes of the October meeting. They were approved as read. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented two candidates for membership, Victor Castanho, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski, and Kristin Ellington, sponsored by Alice Deutsch, for Associate and Active membership respectively. Both nominees were approved unanimously. President Saunders thanked Frances Lee Rogers for putting up the feeders in the Evodia Field in Central Park. She also informed members that the Society now has an Instagram account @LinnaeanNY to which members can post. President Saunders also urged those members who had not already done so to pay their dues, using PayPal on the Society’s website if convenient. She thanked those who had contributed to the sponsorship fund for the Annual Dinner and mentioned that there are vacancies on the Editorial and Website Committees. Conservation chair Rochelle Thomas informed members about upcoming bird safety legislation coming before the City Council (bill # 1482) and similar legislation at the State level. In Field Observations, it was reported that a Purple Gallinule was present November 2^nd at Turtle Pond, the first sighting in Central Park since 1928. An Ash-throated Flycatcher was found on Staten Island, but it was taken by a Peregrine.

President Saunders then introduced Alan Poole, Associate of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Alan began by recounting that his start in Ornithology began with volunteering for the Great Gull Island Project. His talk, “Ospreys 2019: The Revival of a Global Raptor,” outlined the remarkable come-back of a once abundant species. Ospreys, the only exclusively fish-eating raptor, are found on all continents except Antarctica, and show a marked adaptability in taking both salt and fresh-water fish. They occur in four sub-species, two of which are long-distance migrants. Their numbers in North America suffered a dramatic decline after World War II because of the wide-spread use of organochlorine pesticides, while in Europe their populations had already been decimated or even exterminated by shooting and nest destruction. However, there were still world-wide refugia, where nesting was successful. Once organochlorine pesticides were prohibited, the populations in North America started to rebound, with active help from conservationists installing artificial nesting platforms. In the UK, where the species was extinct, migrants from Scandinavia established new nesting sites in the Scottish Highlands at Loch Garten. These sites have been actively protected and have become a major tourist attraction, with over a million visitors so far. Finland has a very active Osprey conservation program, with one hundred human monitors and several Osprey centers. Artificial nests are built high up in coniferous trees. There are even hopeful increases in nesting success in France and Spain. In closing, Alan described some of the features of the long-distance migrations of the Eurasian and North American sub-species. The former must make a four-day journey over the Sahara, with males and females taking separate routes, while the latter travel large distances over open water non-stop, as they have poor water-proofing characteristics. In concluding, Alan reiterated that this a remarkable success story, which has depended not only on the adaptability of the species, but crucially on the people who have encouraged it by banning harmful pesticides, protecting nest sites, and building artificial ones.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:31 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:03 pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting to order and asked those attending the lecture whether or not they were members of the Society. The majority were members. Vice-President Ken Chaya then introduced Shawn Billerman of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. His talk “What Hybridization in Birds can tell us about Biodiversity, Climate Change and Evolution” described the results of his group’s analysis of bird hybridization zones, in the Great Plains, between the sister species of Bullock’s and Baltimore Orioles and Spotted and Eastern Towhees. Shawn pointed out that some ten percent of recognized bird species can hybridize with closely related species. This hybridization can yield important clues as to the drivers and consequences of speciation, one of the most important questions in Evolution. The Great Plains offer an important laboratory for such studies, as the ranges of allopatric species, formerly separated by the ice-sheets of the last Ice Age, overlapped once the ice disappeared. Of particular importance is the Platte River Basin, where a corridor of trees has allowed species such as the Orioles and Towhees to spread from their ancestral ranges. Extensive historical collections are available for both pairs of species and their respective hybrids. In addition, historical climate data are also available. These data sets allow comparisons of the former and current ranges of the hybrid zones and comparisons with any changes in climate. The data strongly suggest that climate change has a significant effect on the hybrid zone range of the Orioles, but not of the Towhees. Turning to DNA analysis of individuals in the current hybrid zones, Shawn demonstrated that the Orioles show a marked skew in the frequency of particular parental genetic markers, with Bullock’s markers declining rapidly from west to east and conversely Baltimores’ markers declining from east to west. This suggests that there is strong selection pressure against hybrids, although the nature of that selection is unknown. Towhees on the other hand show no such skew in the data, suggesting that all forms of hybrid are selectively neutral. The different outcome for the two species may lie in intrinsic factors, such as the overall genetic distance between the two pairs of species. It is of note that the mitochondrial DNA of the two Oriole species is some 2% different, while that of the Towhees is only 1%. Intrinsic genetic differences might affect mate choice, migration patterns and molting times. Alternatively, the explanation for the apparent selection in the Oriole pair may lie in extrinsic factors such as the tolerance of Bullock’s Orioles to higher temperatures.

At 7:30 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the minutes of the September meeting. They were approved, after a correction made by Council Member Chuck McAlexander. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented three candidates for membership, Amy Simmons, sponsored by Gabriel Willow, and Amanda Bielskas, sponsored by Rochelle Thomas, both for active membership and Kathy Mele, sponsored by Gabriel Willow for supporting membership. The applications were approved unanimously. President Saunders announced that copies of the Proceedings were available to members. She also pointed out an error in the Schedule of Events: the Annual Meeting and Dinner is on March 10^th, not 12^th, as printed in the Schedule. President Saunders expressed her thanks to Council Member Kathleen Matthews for organizing the excellent Homecoming Picnic and to Vice President Chaya and Council Member Willow for organizing the quiz and the nature walks. She also thanked Frances Lee Rogers for looking after the feeders in the Evodia Field in Central Park. The feeders are expected to be available by the end of October. President Saunders also reported that a Spotted Lantern Fly, an invasive Hemipteran had been captured in Riverside Park on September 5^th and she urged members to be on the lookout for this destructive pest. On a more positive note, a Virginia Rail and a Sora had been observed in Abingdon and Madison Square Parks respectively. The president also reminded members to pay their dues, thanked Irene Payne and Elise Boeger for generous donations of books, reminded young members that natural history magazines are available free on the stage and that all members should check with the website for updates for Society news. There is also a vacancy on the Editorial Committee.  

President Saunders then introduced Thomas Gray, Director of Science at the Wildlife Alliance and a committee member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. His talk, “Conserving Southeast Asia’s Elusive Rarities,” emphasized that conservationists must tackle the problem of conserving species that might be present but rarely seen. This is an acute problem in Southeast Asia, with its very high-density human population and its incredible species diversity. He pointed out that this area is a hotspot for species at risk, as monitored by the IUCN. As a researcher in the Cardamom Rain Forest of Cambodia, he has observed a dramatic increase in illegal logging and trapping of bush meat since the advent of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, with potentially devastating effects on the area’s wild life. To address the issue of where elusive species are to be found, Thomas described various methods, including the use of camera traps, interviewing local people about the wild animal food that they are eating, DNA sampling of bloodsucking species such as leeches and mosquitoes and even sampling of river water for ecological evidence of the DNA of specific species. These methods have helped to determine the ranges of rare species such as the chevrotain, the white-eared night heron, the extremely elusive Saola, and the spawning area of the Mekong Giant Catfish. The last is especially important, as a dam is being built between the upriver spawning grounds and the area in which the adults live. Such information may help to persuade governments to protect rare and endangered species, although as Thomas pointed, out enforcement is often lax or non-existent. This is where organizations such as the Wildlife Alliance can help by providing manpower and logistics.  

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:03pm, President Barbara Saunders called the meeting to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya introduced Jerry Huntley, a Frank M. Chapman Research Fellow in the Ornithology Department at the American Museum of Natural History, who presented on “Rivers and Refugia: Insights into the Avian Diversity of Africa’s Tropical Forests.” Jerry informed the audience about early advice he received from ecologists in the field, who counselled him to study “small things” when he expressed a desire to study wolves in Yellowstone. As a researcher in the field of phylogeography, he explained that while biogeography aims to answer the question of where and why organisms are where they are, the question of why organisms persist in certain places is often the hardest question of all. Turning to his own research, Jerry first differentiated between Lowland tropical forest below 1500 meters – and montane forest above. He explained that the Congo forest basin contains the 2^nd largest block of contiguous tropical forest after the Amazon and is a hotspot for avian diversity. He explained that starting in the 1980s surveys of species richness were conducted in Africa, and diversity in the forests was examined. This resulted in the emergence of the Pleistocene forest refuge hypothesis which contends that, in the early Pleistocene, continued aridity caused bouts of severe forest fragmentation. This fragmentation then led to events of speciation, a view supported by Ernst Mayr. Alternative views included the montane speciation hypothesis, and the riverine barrier hypothesis supported by Alfred Russel Wallace. Talking more specifically about his fieldwork in Benin, Jerry highlighted the country’s high deforestation rate with only about twenty thousand square kilometers of total forest cover remaining, but with a fair amount of avian diversity. Between 2010 and a more recent trip, much of the forest had been transformed into a teak plantation. Showing many species of Bulbuls he explained that many new lineages were being established in the past 2-3 million years, which is also reflected in mammal species in the area. Therefore, he concluded, forests are not evolutionary museums and are instead places where speciation is occurring. He ended with thoughts on the importance of collections in the face of disappearing forests, and the impact they have on conservation efforts. 

At  7:32 pm President Barbara Saunders reconvened the meeting. In the absence of Recording Secretary Hamish Young, council member Rochelle Thomas read the minutes of the May meeting. They were approved unanimously. Secretary Lydia Thomas presented four candidates for membership, Barbara Higham, sponsored by Marian Bloch; Elizabeth Norman, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper; Sema Gurun, sponsored by Anne Lazarus; and Tod Winston, sponsored by David Spawn, Kathryn Heintz, Mary Jane Kaplan, and Gabriel Willow. All were approved unanimously. President Saunders regretted to inform members of the deaths of Tony Lauro, William Yates, and Taeko Tsujimoto. She then announced that Ryan Zucker has been chosen by NYSOA to receive the Lillian C. Stoner award and that on June 4^th Claude Bloch was presented with a special joint award from LSNY and NYC Audubon. She thanked the council members who had helped to coordinate this year’s Schedule of Events, especially Vice-President Ken Chaya, for a great series of programs and Anne Lazarus, Miriam Rakowski, Debra Mullins and Mary Beth Kooper for setting up the field trips, Jill Hamilton for editorial skills and Sherry Felix for being the web master. There is one correction to the printed program – the date of the Annual Dinner is March 10^th not March 12^th. Council Member Kathleen Matthews reminded members about the upcoming Homecoming picnic on September 15^th and asked that those interested in attending should respond to Secretary Lydia Thomas. Conservation Committee Chair Rochelle Thomas announced several local initiatives, including updates on the Jones Beach Wind Turbine Service Stations, the annual International Coastal Clean-up on September 21^st, planned construction in Central Park’s Lasker Rink, and another upcoming Beach Clean-up sponsored by NYC Audubon on October 5^th. Council Member Gabriel Willow reported on the September 10^th NYC Council hearing on bird safe glass. He informed the audience that there was a public comment period ending at 5pm on September 12^th. 

President Saunders then introduced Bill Logan, arborist at the New York Botanical Garden, who presented on “Thousand Year Woods.” Bill opened by saying there are “ornamental” styles of pruning trees which allow trees to prosper while simultaneously benefiting humans. In the past, humans had created synthetic woodlands that lived far longer than uncut forest growth. He explained the methods of coppicing and pollarding. Coppicing, which reduces trees to the ground, differs from pollarding, which creates a series of heads or knuckles at an elevation of about 6 feet, to prevent animals from eating low branches. He showed a 2000 year old coppice of a linden in an arboretum in England. Lindens can sprout from the base forever, which is somewhat exceptional in tree species. The branched linden that resulted might have been used for anything from charcoal to feeding animals to home building materials. Humans were able to keep cutting a single tree for 2000 years while enabling its survival. He then showed photos of Bradfield wood, a coppice woodland in England continuously used for 1000 years. A rake factory used the wood from the coppice forest for many years and helped preserve it. When the rake factory closed, the trees went uncut but were only slightly out of cycle when cutting began again. Bill explained that some species in a woodland only grow when they are cut, and that some species do not thrive when coppicing ceases. He then showed images from Grinde Farm in western Norway, operating since the Bronze Age with continuous tree-cutting. The farming system is on an “itinerary” as farmers move from one farm in spring, to another in summer and another in autumn. To Bill this seems like the most intelligent farming system in the west, especially since the cutting of the trees also helps grass to grow, through the contraction of the tree root system. He then discussed the case of Leitzalarrea, a Basque village where ownership of the landscape is held in common. Pollarded beech and ash helped to fuel the community laundry service. The town also produces the best axe cutters in the world, winning the world championship for 40 years in a row. The concern in Europe is how to preserve such altered woodlands, as many species of lichens, mosses and insects that use the trees could be lost without this type of maintenance. New pollarded groves are being started that could be used in 100 years. Other examples from Japan, native practices in California and the Eastern woodlands, and even the pollarding of the lindens on the Metropolitan Museum plaza show how the intelligent management of trees and woodland can be of benefit both economically and aesthetically to humans and also to the trees themselves, which may live much longer as a result.

The meeting adjourned at 8:58pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary, from notes taken by Council Member Rochelle Thomas

At 6:03 pm President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya introduced Sara Lewis, Professor of Biology at Tufts University whose talk, “Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies,” described the roles of bioluminescence in the life cycle of these ubiquitous and much-admired beetles, belonging to the family Lampyridae. The firefly lineage branched off from the rest of the beetles about 150 million years ago. There are at least 2000 species, with member species occurring on all continents except Antarctica. Bioluminescence occurs when the substrate, luciferin, reacts with the enzyme luciferase, ATP, and oxygen. All larvae exhibit bioluminescence, probably as a warning signal to predators that they contain toxins, while most adults use light in courtship rituals. The pattern of signaling by the flying males is species-specific and evokes a response from females of the same species, who are on the ground. Once mating has been initiated, the male transfers to the female a large “nuptial gift,” a protein-rich substance essential for subsequent successful egg-laying. The eggs are laid in moist soil or leaf litter and the larvae, voracious predators, may remain underground for up to three years. Following pupation, adults emerge and spend the next few weeks without food while looking for a mate. Sara described one notable exception to this cycle in the genus Photuris. A female Photuris mimics the signaling pattern of a different genus, sending signals to unwitting males, who approach and are eaten, thus providing a large protein meal for subsequent egg production. In the remaining part of her talk, Sara pointed out that fireflies, like most insect species, are declining. The main causes are habitat loss, particularly from housing development, loss of wetlands and mangrove swamps, increasing light pollution, which disrupts mating signaling, and the increase in the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. However there is hope for these remarkable insects, as the public is increasingly aware of the problems. Sara noted a new organization called Firefly Watch where observations can be posted to the iNaturalist website.

At the conclusion of the talk, Linnaean Society Member Robert Paxton alerted members to the off-shore wind farm staging area proposed for the west end of Jones Beach State Park. Robert warned that this proposal by NYSERDA would have a major impact on shore birds that frequent the beach in this area of the Park. Society members may wish to express their concerns to the appropriate authorities.  

At 7:31 p.m. President Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the Minutes of the April 9^th 2019 meeting. They were approved after a correction to the timing of the second lecture of the evening. Secretary Lydia Thomas announced the following applications for membership in the Society: Leslie K. Deutsch sponsored by Alice Deutsch, Gabriel Cunningham sponsored by Kathleen Matthews and Mary Beth Kooper, and Ruby T. Senie sponsored by Andrew Rubenfeld. All of the applications for membership were approved unanimously. President Saunders announced that Ryan Zucker has been awarded the Lillian Stoner Award for young ornithologists. She also announced that the Great Gull Island Birdathon on May 11^th and 12^th had raised considerable funds for research and that tax-deductible donations can still be made. The program for the 2019-2020 season is almost complete and will be mailed to all members in August in the Annual Mailing, which includes notice of dues, now payable using the PayPal app. Conservation Committee Chair Rochelle Thomas announced beach clean-ups at Half Moon Beach and Rockaway Beach. 

After the conclusion of the business section of the meeting, President Saunders introduced J. Drew Lanham, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University. His talk, “The Art of Writing Natural History: Using Birds as Creative Conduits to Conservation,” was accompanied by a series of his beautiful photographs of the fauna and flora, mainly of his native South Carolina. Drew, an accomplished poet and naturalist, made a compelling case for integrating the scientific study of the natural world with an appreciation of the cultural, political, and economic context of those studies as a way to engage people in the urgent task of conservation. As a person of color, he is acutely aware of the need to understand the social milieu of conservation efforts. Among many examples of the integration of the social with the scientific, Drew pointed to an Audubon preserve in South Carolina situated in an old rice-growing plantation that abounds in wetland birds. This area was first cultivated by slaves from Senegal and The Gambia who understood the intricate hydrology needed for successful rice-growing. It is thanks to their efforts that the area is such a rich bird habitat today. He also drew historical parallels between the plight of the Maroons, escapees from plantation chattel slavery, and the dwindling Carolina parakeet population, both finding refuge in cypress swamps away from their human persecutors. A further insight came from Drew’s appreciation that while South Carolina is land rich, it is cash poor, with many small-holders living in great poverty. He urged that conservation efforts must be sensitive to the economic pressures and needs of the human communities affected by such efforts. This can be beneficial to both land owners and to the natural world. As an example, Prothonatory Warblers need mature forest for nesting, but the fledglings need a mixed-use landscape typical of the small holders’ parcels. Appropriate stewardship of their land can thus not only enhance the survival of this species but also allow an economic benefit to the small holder. Such an integrative approach, which blends natural history with social and economic justice, and appeals to the heart as well as to the mind, will be necessary for successful conservation. 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:02 pm President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Ken Chaya introduced Tiffany Grade, Squam Lake Project Biologist, whose talk “On the Trail of a Mystery: The Decline of Loons on Squam Lake, New Hampshire,” described efforts to identify the causes of the precipitous decline of the loon population in the 2004-2005 season on a lake made famous by the film “On Golden Pond.” Although the adult numbers have recovered, reproductive success has not improved, with surviving chicks per breeding pair well below the stable rate of 0.48. In New Hampshire as a whole this rate is achieved, so what is causing the specific problem on Squam Lake? Loons, a long-lived species with a low reproductive rate, face many adverse conditions: climate change, lakeside development, chemical pollution, recreational boating, and ingestion of lead fishing tackle. The members of the Squam Lake Project have shown that chemical pollutants such as PCBs, flame and stain retardants and even DDT have entered the lake in at least three sites in the Northeast quadrant of the lake. These pollutants have been found in non-hatched eggs and may well have contributed to the reproductive failure. As fat-soluble pollutants, they enter the adults’ fat stores and are released in toxic amounts during the energy-intensive migration and molt. However, the most important finding is that adult loons are ingesting lead jigs and sinkers during the fishing season. The loon’s gizzard produces lead plumes that enter the blood stream and brain, killing the bird in short order. Because the demographic profile is so dependent on maintaining the cohort of adults, this mortality is disastrous for a stable population. New Hampshire has enacted strict lead fishing tackle legislation over the objections of a vocal minority, but compliance is still an issue. The Squam Lake Project has initiated a lead tackle buy-back scheme, which it is hoped will help to alleviate this problem. One further aspect that the group is examining concerns loon social behavior. When new-comers arrive on the lake to replace missing adult loons, significant fighting occurs over optimal nesting territories. This “social chaos” may also contribute to reproductive failure. The Squam Lake Project is hopeful that with greater understanding by the public of the loon’s importance as an indicator of the ecological health of the lake, this iconic species will continue to delight generations to come.

At 7:29 p.m. President Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the Minutes of the February 8^th 2019 meeting. They were approved as read. President Saunders congratulated the winners of the Silent Auction at the Annual Dinner and thanked Officers and Members of the Council for their work during the past year. Nominating Committee Chair Richard Lieberman announced the names of the new nominations for Council Membership proposed by the nominating committee Elise Boeger, Nancy O’Keefe and himself: Kathleen Matthews to serve until 2020, and Sherry Felix, Mary Jane Kaplan and Bruce Yolton to serve until 2022. The nominations were approved unanimously. Secretary Lydia Thomas announced five new candidates for membership: Gail Hashimoto and Renee Lucier sponsored by Gabriel Willow, Susan Freytes sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper, Sandford Sorkin sponsored by Rick Wright, and Ryan Zucker sponsored by the Society’s Council. The nominations were approved unanimously. President Saunders announced the dates of the Great Gull Island Birdathon on May 11^th and 12^th, and the Spring Cleanup at Plumb Beach on April 29^thsponsored jointly by the Society, New York Audubon and the Wild Bird Fund. Past President Andrew Rubenfeld announced that the 76^th Proceedings of the Society were available at the front of the auditorium to all members, free of charge upon signing.  He observed that spring migration was well under way, with the usual species appearing on time. 

After the conclusion of the business section of the meeting, President Saunders introduced Douglas Futuyma, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, SUNY Stony Brook and Linnaean Society Member. His talk, “World Birding: Travels and Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist,” detailed how an appreciation of birds and their behavior prompts evolutionary questions that illustrate the twin Darwinian principles of descent from a common ancestor and adaptation by natural selection. Using a wealth of examples, primarily from the avian world he has encountered on his travels, Douglas began by describing the nesting behavior of the Malleefowl, an Australian Megapode. The male builds a large nest on the ground that he attends twice a day for eleven months. During that time, females lay their eggs in the nest and these eggs are incubated without direct contact with either parent. The male keeps the temperature correct for incubation by adding or subtracting dirt and decomposing leaves. Upon hatching, the young are able to leave the nest directly for independent lives. Is this unusual life cycle, reminiscent of reptilian nesting behavior, a relic of common ancestry with the nearest reptilian lineage, the Crocodilians? Molecular phylogenetic studies rule this out, as Megapodes diverged after several other avian lineages. It seems more likely that Megapodes have adopted the reptilian-like nesting behavior independently, as a later adaptation. Modern phylogeny has also contributed an answer to the riddle of disjunct distributions in the avifauna. For example, the Trogons and Broadbills are found in South America, Equatorial Africa, and Southeast Asia, with no relatives in intervening geographical areas. Could this reflect the break-up of the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana? Phylogenetic analysis rules this out, as both families evolved later than the breakup of Gondwana. A more plausible scenario is that the ancestors of both groups had a worldwide distribution, but the species in the intervening areas have become extinct. Turning to Darwin’s mechanism of evolution, natural selection, Douglas described work on the Galapagos finches showing changes in bill size occurring within short periods of time, under changing environmental conditions. He also described color and behavioral dimorphism in several species of birds including the two color-morphs in the White-throated Sparrow. White morphs of both sexes are more aggressive, but tan morphs are better parents. This difference is accounted for by different locations of the hormone receptor ERalpha in the brain. Breeding pairs are made up of one white parent and one tan parent, thus harnessing the advantages of both behaviors. Moreover, the behavioral and the anatomic traits are kept together by a genetic trick, a chromosomal inversion encompassing the genes for both traits, thus preventing them from being separated during the production of new gametes. In concluding, Douglas noted that the appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of birds and the scientific evaluation of their adaptations go hand in hand, the former prompting questions and the latter attempting to find answers. 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:05 pm President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Lydia Thomas introduced Mike Bryant, renowned underwater photographer and Linnaean Society member, whose talk “Diving in the Coral Triangle” illustrated some of the fish, cephalopods and crustacea to be found in the area bordered by the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, an area with the most diverse marine life in the world. Mike described the style of diving as “muck diving” whose aim is to seek out bottom dwellers at a depth up to forty feet, preferably with a dark sandy or shingle background for optimal photography of the well-camouflaged species found there. Most of the fish species, many of which belong to the lionfish, scorpion fish and anglerfish families, are best described as “lurkers” waiting for their prey and ingesting them with a sudden opening of their very wide mouths. Although many species mimic their backgrounds, others have spectacular coloration, well-documented in Mike’s photographs. He warned that many species, for example the various scorpion fishes, have poisonous spines so that great care must be exercised in searching for them. Turning to invertebrates, Mike showed the wonderful color and shape changes of the cephalopods and their ability to use human discards such as cans and plastic cups as homes. Among the crustacea, he highlighted crabs that carry sea urchins, jelly fish, or seaweed on their carapaces and mosaic boxer crabs which attach sea anemones to their pincers. In a remarkable example of convergent evolution, mantis shrimps have an uncanny resemblance to the similarly named terrestrial insects, with the same method of catching their prey. Mike’s beautiful photographs clearly demonstrated the amazing diversity and adaptability in this underwater world. 

At 7:30 pm President Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the Minutes of the January 8^th, 2019 meeting. They were approved as read. Vice-President Thomas announced three new candidates for membership: Alice McInerney sponsored by Debbie Mullins, and Kaitlyn Parkins and Susan Elbin sponsored jointly by Council Member Gabriel Willow, Claude Bloch, Kelley Rosenheim and Kathryn Heintz. The nominations were approved unanimously. President Saunders regretted to inform the membership of the death of Joyce Hyon, former member and botany expert. President Saunders reminded members of the need for new Field Trips organizers for the 2019-2020 season, that members who have not done so should pay their dues to Treasurer Ruth Hart, before the Annual Dinner on March 12^th, and that contributions to the fund for Archive cabinets are tax-deductible. She also announced the slate of officers of the Society for the upcoming year, approved by Council, to be voted on at the Annual Dinner. The candidates included: Barbara Saunders for President, Ken Chaya for Vice-President, Lydia Thomas for Secretary, Ruth Hart for Treasurer, Hamish Young for Recording Secretary, and Jon Hyman for Editor. Other nominations should be sent by mail to the Secretary by the end of February. Rochelle Thomas, Conservation Committee chair, announced a public meeting on March 1^st of the City Parks Department for comments concerning a new rule forbidding feeding of wild life in any city park. The aim of the new rule is to reduce the rat population, and to reduce transmission of infectious diseases among the wild life in the parks. Details will be found on the Society’s website. 

After the business section of the meeting, President Saunders introduced Victoria Johnson, Associate Professor at Hunter College. Her talk “American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic” described the life and work of the man best known as the physician present at the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. To his contemporaries however, he was the driving force behind the establishment of the first botanical garden in the new United States. Hosack was convinced that the new republic needed to emulate the great gardens of Europe such as the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and the various physic gardens in England, which collected plants from far and wide for potential medicinal uses. Hosack enrolled in Columbia Medical School in 1786 but after the doctor’s riot of 1788 he transferred to Philadelphia to study with Benjamin Rush. Later he travelled to Edinburgh, one of the premier medical schools of its day, where he pursued his passion for both medicine and botany. In 1793 he travelled to London to study at the Linnaean Society where he met botanical luminaries and apothecaries such as Joseph Banks, James Edward Smith, and William Curtis, director of the Chelsea Physic Garden. Returning to the USA in 1794, to take up a position as Professor of Botany and Medicine at Columbia University, he set about establishing a similar botanical garden in New York City. Although many of his efforts met with scant success, as in his request to President Jefferson to have the Lewis and Clark Expedition of Discovery collect plants for his garden, he was able to establish a garden complete with conservatory on the “middle road” near present day Radio City Music Hall. He named it the Elgin Botanical Garden in honor of this father’s birthplace in Scotland. Here he planted a wide variety of potentially medicinal plants, with contributions from many famous botanists world-wide. He in turn sent specimens to several renowned institutions including the Jardin des Plantes, and became famous himself, culminating in the naming of a new genus Hosackia by David Douglas. As well as his pioneering efforts to establish the garden, he contributed to the founding of the New York Historical Society among other civic institutions. In its later years the Elgin Botanical Garden fell into disrepair for lack of adequate funding and Hosack established a new collection at a site near Hyde Park. Turning to Hosack’s relations with Hamilton and Burr, Victoria pointed out that even though he was a close friend of the former, having saved his son Philip from a case of typhus, he maintained close relations with Burr as the latter fled south and then to Europe after the death of Hamilton. Burr kept him abreast of botanical news. Although Hosack was a true pioneer in the field of medical botany and much admired in his time, he did not find a curative treatment for any disease and after he died in 1835, his reputation declined until now he is remembered as the physician who attended to the dying Hamilton. Dr. Johnson’s book about David Hosack should help to rescue his reputation as an important early botanist in the new Republic.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:41 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary

At 6:03 pm President Barbara Saunders called the meeting of the Society to order. Vice-President Lydia Thomas introduced Rick Wright, author and tour leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. His talk, “Sex, Science, and the Way We Bird Today,” explored the origins of the current division between the largely amateur pursuit of birding, whose emphasis is on the identification of birds and the collection of lists, and the scientific discipline of ornithology. This distinction arose at the turn of the 19^th and 20th centuries as a reaction to the popularity of several books on birds written by female authors, including “Birds Through an Opera Glass” by Florence A. Merriam, “Bird Ways” by Robin Thorne Miller and “Bird Neighbors” by Neltje Blanchan. Although these and others were well reviewed by professional journals, such as The Auk, and contained a wealth of information about bird habits and habitat, they could be criticized for their occasional sentimentality and moral judgments. As a reaction to their perceived shortcomings, Robert Ridgway published “A Manual of North American Birds” in 1896. This book emphasized systematics as the only true scientific approach to ornithology, in contrast to the more popular natural histories just described. Although this distinction was criticized at the time, the idea gained ground that the only true scientific endeavor was the ability to identify birds accurately. Ludlow Griscom, and Roger Tory Peterson with his Field Guides, continued this trend, with its competitive male-dominated ethos. Rick pointed out what we would now call politically incorrect statements in Peterson’s influential “How to Know the Birds.” He also noted the ruler present inside the back cover of the Field Guides. Because living birds are to be identified by field marks alone, the ruler is of no practical use, but may be a symbol of the perceived scientific seriousness of the guide and its user. Rick’s talk, which emphasized the contributions of the earlier women authors, ended with acknowledging the painstaking observational work of Margaret Morse Nice, one of the founders of the modern science of animal behavior. 

At 7:31 pm President Saunders reconvened the meeting. Recording Secretary Hamish Young read the Minutes of the December 11^tth 2018 meeting. They were approved as read. Vice-President Thomas announced two new candidates for membership, William Yates sponsored by Diane Elliot and Mary Braza sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper. The nominations were approved unanimously. President Saunders reminded members that the Society needed to appoint new Field Trips organizers for the 2019-2020 season, that members should pay their dues to Treasurer Ruth Hart, and that the Annual Dinner is on March 12^th, 2019, at which the Eisenmann medal will be awarded to Peter Pyle. The fund for the Archival Cabinets has reached its half-way goal. Tax-deductible donations are still needed to reach the final total.  President Saunders also advertised upcoming field trips to Croton Point Park, Jones Beach and Pelham Bay Park. Web and Outreach Committee chair Sherry Felix made a plea for articles and reviews for the website. 

After the business section of the meeting, President Saunders introduced Lee Dugatkin, Professor and University Scholar at the University of Louisville. His talk,“How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog),” described the extraordinary efforts of Dmitri Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut to use artificial selection to recreate a dog-like canid from the silver fox. In 1958, Belyaev, a decorated war hero of the Red Army in World War II, and a geneticist who trained at the Ivanova Institute in Moscow, was posted to the new science city, Akademgorodok, outside Novosibirsk, in the wilderness of Siberia. He was put in charge of the Central Research Laboratory of Fur-bearing Animals, a prestigious post as the fur trade was a significant source of hard currency for the Soviet Union. Despite the prevailing Lamarkian views of Trofim Lysenko, who was a scientific fraud but extremely influential politically, Belyaev set about a bold experiment in domestication. The hypothesis was that by selecting and breeding from the calmest and friendliest animals, not only would the silver fox become domesticated, but also the offspring would begin to show other features of the so-called Domestication Syndrome, a collection of physical and behavioral traits common to all domesticated species, regardless of their uses to humankind. These traits include floppy ears, curly tails, white forehead chevrons, more juvenile facial features, and a lack of fear and even friendliness towards humans.  After Lyudmila Trut was recruited from Moscow State University, she set about finding a suitable venue for the breeding experiments, finally settling on Lesno fox farm some distance from Akademgorodok. Of the 10,000 breeding silver foxes present on the farm, five hundred were selected according to a set of rules regarding their behavior, and the calmest were crossed. Within two generations, some kits could be held by their handlers, and in succeeding generations, kits began showing characteristics of the Domestication Syndrome, such as tail wagging and whining, curly tails, floppy ears and even licking the hands of the researchers. By the fifteenth generation, stress hormones were 50% lower in the selected animals and females had two periods of oestrus. At that point the investigators did the key experiment to show that the changes were inherited and not caused by learned behavior. Transplants of “calm” embryos to aggressive females and “aggressive” embryos to calm females, showed unambiguously that the traits were inherited. Further selection made a truly dog-like fox, with behavioral and physical traits identical to the domestic dog. Recent DNA sequence data have shown that the changes on chromosome 12 of the domesticated dog-like fox have their counterparts on the homologous regions of dog chromosomes 11, 35 and 5. Belyaev and Trut had succeeded in domesticating a wild canid in less than 1/100^th of the time taken for the domestication of the dog, a truly remarkable accomplishment.      

The meeting was adjourned at 8:53 pm.

Respectfully submitted by
Hamish Young, Recording Secretary