Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 19:00:38 -0400 Reply-To: marshhawk@worldnet.att.net Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: MOS and the World Series of Birding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Dear 'spreyers... For the third year in a row the MD Ornithological Society is sending a team of our finest to New Jersey's World Series of Birding. For those of you new to this topic, let me recap. In 1998, Hal Wierenga, Lynn Davidson, and Mark Garland competed as the MOS Yellowthroats in the Limited Geographical Area segment of the World Series. It rained virtually the entire 24 hours of the competition yet they came in with 153 species, in third place behind Michael O'Brien's Cape May home team and the ever- awesome Kowa team. The MOS raised over $3,000 from donations and pledges associated with their effort that year and we were able to fund an additional MOS Audubon Nature Camp Scholarship and set up the Mist Net Replacement Program, administered by the MOS Research Committee. In 1999, the team makeup was a tad different. Hal Wierenga, Lynn Davidson, Mark Hoffman (Mr. Worcester County), and Marshall Iliff (fresh from his second straight victory in the week-long Texas Birding Classic) combined their formidable skills and tallied 178 species to win the LGA trophy and bring it home to Maryland where it belongs! In so doing, they helped MOS raise over $4,000 in pledges and donations. Well, now we are approaching WSB/2000. We have the same team returning from last year--can they do it again? Fran and I think they can and we plan to be there in Cape May at the Sunday morning brunch to cheer for them one more time. Now comes the tough part. So far I have placed two articles in the MD Yellowthroat. I have written just shy of 100 letters to business across Maryland. I have asked the MOS Board of Directors and each of our 16 Chapter Presidents to solicit pledges in support of the Yellowthroats. We would really like to make this a banner year not only in terms of our team's performance but also in terms of the support your donations and pledges give to the MOS outreach programs-- outreach to the MD educational community, outreach to the MD research community, and any of the other ways we work to make Maryland a better place for birds and birders. Please consider either a direct donation or a pledge in support of the Yellowthroats. All pledges and donations are important, no matter how large or how small. All donors are honored in the September MD Yellowthroat, but the important thing is knowing you were able to participate in a meaningful way in support of the MOS programs. Send donations as a check made out to MOS to: Norm Saunders, MOS President, 1261 Cavendish Drive, Colesville, MD 20905. Send your pledge (expressed as cents per species--we expect our team to see somewhere between 150 and 200 species) to me, Norm Saunders, at marshhawk@worldnet.att.net Thank you all very much for your continuing support! Best, Norm Saunders ================= Norm Saunders Colesville, MD marshhawk@worldnet.att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================