Good morning COG/Canberra Birds members and chat line subscribers, a reminder that our September monthly will be held tomorrow evening Wednesday 9 September from 7:30 pm.
Details are below, including for the venue. Also, chairs will need to be set up before the meeting and put away after.
Everyone is welcome so please come along to, in particular, have your questions answered about the Avian Flu.
You will also be able to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee after the meeting.
Jack Holland
Speakers for the 9 September meeting will be:
Steve Read - Changes to our constitution
Neil Hermes - The COG Garden Bird Survey. History, thoughts and musings
Rachael Grigson -
Your Avian Flu questions answered
Meeting venue for COG/Canberra Birds
Until further notice the venue for our monthly members' meetings will be the Bugang Room at the Denman Village Community Centre, located at 5 Felstead Vista, adjacent to the
Denman Prospect shops (see Google Maps link
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NqW3XrN5iJf8dzRe9)
This is a light, spacious, modern event venue with a kitchen. There is plentiful parking, under lights, close to the door and with several disabled parking spots outside the
door. The room is on the first floor, accessed by two flights of stairs or by a lift.
To help guide you once there the Canberra Birds Sandwich Boards will be outside the front door.
For people attending the meeting by public transport, the R10 bus provides a very good service around every 15 minutes from the ANU through Civic to the Denman Prospect shops
with the bus stop opposite the venue. For example, a bus runs to there from 6:57 to 7:23 pm and return buses at 9:05 or 9:35 pm arriving at the ANU at 9:31 and 10:01 pm, respectively.
At the September meeting there will be three presentations, the first two shorter ones than usual, followed by a presentation including a Q & A session on the Avian
Flu.
The first presentation will be by
Steve Read, who will outline changes to our constitution that are being proposed to match the updated ACT Model Rules for Incorporated Associations and to underpin our charitable status and requirements as a Deductible Gift Recipient. Details
of the proposed changes will also be emailed to members in due course.
The second presentation will be by
Neil Hermes on “The COG Garden Bird Survey. History, thoughts and musings”
Neil, a former President of COG/Canberra Birds, along with the late Prof Henry Nix, set up the still continuing Garden Bird Survey (GBS). This began in July 1981 and is now
in its 45th year. The GBS records the species and abundance of birds in suburban gardens and allows members and supporters to count the maximum number of individual bird species on a weekly basis. The project has established a unique long-term
set of information, which has been compiled in a detailed computer database, into the annual geographic distributions and population abundance patterns of common, rare and introduced bird species.
Unfortunately, participation in this very valuable project has declined in recent years, partly due to the current lack of a GBS co-ordinator. Neil will give us his thoughts
and musings about the Survey as it developed and changed over time.
The final presentation will be by
Rachael Grigson, Biosecurity Veterinary Officer, ACT Government, on “Your Avian Flu questions answered.”
Rachael spoke to COG/Canberra Birds about H5N1 Avian Flu at the Canberra Birds meeting back in March 2025. That presentation is on the Canberra Birds Facebook page and can be
viewed at any time from
https://www.facebook.com/reel/4061440154092172
In September, Rachael will bring us up to date and then open the floor to your questions. Not only is this a very good opportunity to learn more about what ACT Government and
Australian governments are doing in response to Avian Flu, but the question-and-answer session will be both interesting and valuable.
