Bob Curry

A new meeting has been added to the =1']Ornithology Meetings database. Meeting Description: WOS will hold its 2017 annual meeting at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. Scientific sessions will take place on 10 and 11 March. Field trips and social events will take place at localities including Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Dr. Frank Moore will deliver the 2017 Margaret Morse Nice Lecture on 10 March. Dr. Jerry Jackson of FGCU is the Chair of the Committee on Local Arrangements. Meeting Website: http://www.wilsonsociety.org/wos2017/index.html Click here to view the meeting

A new meeting has been added to the =1']Ornithology Meetings database. Meeting Description: The Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce that registration is open for the 125th anniversary meeting to be held in Williamsburg, Virginia on the campus of the College of William & Mary (7 - 10 March 2013). WOS meetings are known for their unique blend of academic ornithologists and citizen scientists, as well as their extremely welcoming atmosphere for graduate and undergraduate students. The College of William & Mary is a beautiful historic campus surrounded by prime birding opportunities, including breeding red-cockaded woodpeckers. Several first-rate birding trips will be offered. Special symposia on the "History of American Ornithology" and "Birds and Human Disease" will be held, and the plenary speakers are Jed Burtt and Peter & Rosemary Grant. Abstracts for papers are due in about a month (7 January 2013). Registration information, abstract submission, travel information, and the meeting itinerary are all available at the conference web site: http://www.cvent.com/d/hcqx10 Please register now for this exciting, convenient, and inexpensive ornithology conference. Questions should be sent to local host Dan Cristol (dacris@wm.edu). Meeting Website: http://www.cvent.com/d/hcqx10 Click here to view the meeting

Sue, Regarding key issues relating to the SFO concept, you said "we are working on them now in a business plan format and via committees lead by members of every interested OSNA society." I know, as an Officer of WOS, that WOS has declared itself to be an "interested OSNA society" by designating Tom O'Connell as a WOS representative (without knowing precisely what his involvement will entail). However, I am not aware of any WOS members leading whatever committees may exist, at least not as people representing WOS. The major area of confusion at present, I believe, concerns the phase now underway (according to your outline), to "Develop a business plan." It is not clear how that step is happening, and I suggest that this situation is not as "open and straight-forward as possible." I ask that you make public the committee structure for the current planning process, and the membership of the committees, so we'll know who to contact if we have comments about specific aspects. This simple step might help alleviate concerns among many ornithologists. ~ Bob