September 11, 2009: Peter Andruszkiewicz

September 18, 2009: Mark Speece

September 25, 2009: Mark P. Becker

President:
Bryan Downs

President-Elect:
C.J. Becker

Past President:
Mark Hastings
 
Secretary:
Alan Dishman

Treasurer:
Jason Conn

Sergeant-at-Arms:
Doug Torbush

District Governor:
Roy Strickland

 

Unbeknownst to President Bryan, upon invitation to give our invocation, the Rev. James Brewer-Calvert also encouraged us all to read banned books

Our Club Member Scott Thompson introduced the speaker, John Yow, who describes himself as a writer, reader, birder (armchair variety), gardener (vegetables mostly), golfer (only because birds love golf courses), husband of Dede (recently retired English professor and Agnes Scott graduate), father of Ruthie (graduate student of American Studies at Yale), servant of Peanut and Moses (dogs).



John began the program by sharing the beautiful sounds of the Carolina Wren, Mourning Dove, and Woodthrush from his iPod.  He claims his is the "best bird book ever written" because of the concept he utilized. This book is not a complete bird guide, but a helpful, interesting, and at times humorous resource about the birds we already know.  While John is not an ornithologist, he made use of several classics in the field in his research.  Dent's Life Histories of North American Birds, Forbush's Natural History of North American Birds, and Audubon's Ornithological Biography were all mentioned. 

Armchair Birder covers the lifestyles of roughly forty familiar birds with a 5-6 page anecdotal essay on each variety.  Since John moved from the suburbs to the woods fifteen years ago, he has become increasingly interested in and knowledgeable about the birds that inhabit our geography.  John's story about the fascinating yellow-billed cuckoo, who eats an incredible amount of spiny caterpillars and then sheds its entire stomach lining, his description of Audubon's frightful encounter with the sand hill crane (just who was the hunter and hunted?), and his sharing of the freelance mating habits of the ruby throated hummingbird piqued the interest of the Club.

After the meeting, numerous Rotarians gathered to purchase one of John's books and greet the author as he signed their copies.

Library Book:  What else? Armchair Birder by John Yow

Book-Signing Hosted After the Club's Meeting

Numerous Rotarians gathered to greet the author and have their copies of his book signed

As if Scott Thompson weren't busy enough this past weekend, he introduced our speaker, as well



President Bryan displays the copy of the speaker's book, which is to be donated to the DeKalb Public Library System