Our meeting on February 26th was lively. Ken gave a trip report on the 3 days to the Okanogan over Presidents’ Day Weekend illustrated with photographs from Pat Damron. Target birds galore, White-Winged Crossbills again, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Bohemian Waxwings, Hungarian Partridge, and many more! Then Jerry Broadus gave us more details on lodgings and food available at Malheur in preparation to the ABC trip there in May.

Finally Willettes Down Under: Faye McAdams Hands gave a great report of the trip to Borneo that she and Wade made in July including interesting reports of Leeches and edible Swiftlet nests! Then Carol Smith took us to the east coast of Australia and Papua-New Guinea, where she racked up an amazing number of lifers and obviously fell in love with Birds of Paradise! Melissa Sherwood then recounted the trip she and Dennis took to New Zealand where they hopped many a plane and boat including two Pelagic trips. Her stuffed Kiwi gave the proper call while we all learned about these weird birds among many others. Finally Diane Yorgason-Quinn recounted her trip with Adam Trent to eastern Australia, successfully finding the Red-Necked Avocet and thousands of Rainbow Lorikeets, as well as being jabbed by a Jabiru. The trip highlight was the total eclipse of the sun from the beach at Port Douglas looking out over the Great Barrier Reef.

Photos: Faye, Carol, Melissa, Diane (Click to enlarge):