Fran McMenemy
February 7, 1929 - March 10, 2012 (click to enlarge)
Shown above (left) with John Gray, enjoying his gift of a bird painting acknowledging his 40 years of dedicated service in organizing the Breeding Bird Survey at Wachusett Meadow
• Obituary in Telegram & Gazzette
• Liturgy program part 1| Liturgy program part 2
• Mark Blazis article on Fran (courtesy of Telegram & Gazzette)
• Joan Zumpfe's tribute to Fran (read at annual dinner meeting, 2012)

 


Athol Bird and Nature Club President Dave Small gives a presentation on moths at the Forbush Bird Club meeting on November 18, 2011 (click to enlarge)


 
Forbush President Alan Marble presents the Forbush Fellow award to Charles E. Caron, at the Forbush Bird Club annual meeting and dinner on April 21, 2011 (click to enlarge)


 

Superbowl of Birding VIII

On January 29, 2011, five Forbush Members competed with 20 other teams in the Superbowl of Birding VIII. This is a team contest to record the most points (points are dependent on rarity of species observed) and species from 5 am to 5 pm . The contest area consists of Essex County in Massachusetts and Rockingham County in New Hampshire.

At the end of the day, the Burger Kinglets, made up of Paul Meleski, Rodney Jenkins, Tom Pirro, Chuck Caron and Dan Berard, were awarded the top prize, the Joppa Cup, given to the team with the most points. This competition features some of the best birders around and these guys did a great job. Great field ID skills, strategy and a little luck are needed. Congratulations. For a detailed description of the day, see Tom's blog tpirro.blogspot.com.
(submitted by Alan Marble).

August 27, 2010 trip to South Beach, Chatam (click to enlarge)

August 14, 2008 trip to South Beach, Chatam: group photo; Oystercatchers (click to enlarge)
[group photo by Judith Johnson, bird photo by Richard Johnson]

4/24/08 -- Forbush Bird Club Annual Dinner

(click images to enlarge)

The 77th Annual Dinner and Business Meeting of the Forbush Bird Club was held at the Manor Restaurant on Route 12 in West Boylston, MA. The dinner speaker was Shawn Carey, who gave several multi-media presentations: "Birders", "Massachusetts Wildlife", and "Looking Skyward, a Passion for Hawkwatching".

  2/21/08 -- February meeting

John Van de Graaff was the featured speaker, who gave a very enjoyable slide show presentation entitled "Birds across Europe: A photographic odyssey". If you'd like to see more of his photos, here is John's web site.

  11/15/07 -- November meeting

Bruce deGraaf gave a very informative and entertaining presentation on "digiscoping". It included a comparison of techniques and equipment, as well as how "digiscoping" compares with using a stand-alone digital SLR camera. Here are some useful web links:
• Bruce's web site
• Digital Photography Review
• Steve's Digicams (reviews)

  4/26/07 -- Forbush Bird Club Annual Dinner

The 76th Annual Dinner and Business Meeting of the Forbush Bird Club was held at the Manor Restaurant on Route 12 in West Boylston, MA. The dinner speaker was Blair Nikula, who spoke on "Penguins, Petrels, and Prions: An Antarctic Adventure".  
Outgoing President Joan Zumpfe at the podium

 


Incoming President John Root at the podium

 


Lively discussion at the 2007 dinner meeting

 

Ellen Arnold, a prime mover and shaker in the group "Friends of the Upton State Forest" is looking for someone to talk about birds, or birdwatching. I believe this talk would be sometime in Dec or January. Would someone be interested? If so, please contact me at:

Marion E. Larson
Information & Education Biologist
MassWildlife Field HQ
1 Rabbit Hill Rd
Westboro MA  01581
Ph 508/792-7270x111
Fax 508/792-7275

  11/9/06: Birds of North America Online Subscription

The Forbush Bird Club is planning to take advantage of a special group discount that is offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for an online subscription to the highly regarded "Birds of North America". For details about this comprehensive source of information about birds, see the BNA Online website. The usual subscription price for this resource is $40 per year for an individual, but for Forbush Bird Club members it will be only $25 per year with this group discount. If you are interested in obtaining a subscription, please contact Rick Quimby at rsquimby@wpi.edu. Not already a Forbush Bird Club member? This is a good time to join! See "Membership Form" link above.

August 21, 2006 trip to South Beach, Chatam: Curlew Sandpiper (click to enlarge)
[bird photos by Richard Johnson, group photo by Ed Banks]

May 6, 2006 trip to Buck Hill: group photo (click to enlarge)
[photos by Michael Walker]

August 18, 2005 trip to South Beach, Chatam: group photo; seals (click to enlarge)
[photos by trip leader Ed Banks]

This bird was seen on the Forbush Bird Club trip to Plum Island on Aug. 22, 2004. (click to enlarge). Pull out your field guide and try to identify it. The answer is in the trip listings. (photo by Bruce deGraaf).

Forbush Bird Club members study the birds on South Beach in Chatham, Aug. 17, 2004. (click to enlarge). Here is a photo of some Black Skimmers seen on the trip.

The Forbush Bird Club held the annual bird census at Wachusett Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary on June 13, 2004. Here the participants relax after the count (click to enlarge).

After the annual bird census conducted at Wachusett Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary by members of the Forbush Bird Club, census organizer Fran McMenemy was acknowledged for his 40 years of dedicated service in organizing the Breeding Bird Survey at Wachusett Meadow. Photos below are from this June 8, 2003 event:

	Joe Choiniere, Sanctuary Director of Wachusett Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, presents, Fran McMenemy with a Barry Van Dusen original (a framed page from one of Barry's sketch books).
	Bob Aiello, a Forbush Club member, presents Fran with one of his own original watercolors depicting a great egret in a wetland setting.
	Fran McMenemy shows off his gift to Forbush Club member, John Gray.

The Forbush Bird Club held a well attended November, 2002 meeting at the Holy College library. (click to enlarge)
The program speaker was Ms. Rose Clancy Miconi who spoke on "Loons:Conservation and Preservation." Individuals interested in Loon conservation can visit the web site www.macsloons.org.

Tom Ricardi, Wildlife Rehabilitator, spoke to the Forbush Bird Club at its meeting on October 18, 2001 (click to enlarge)

Birds shown by Tom Ricardi 10/18/01 (click to enlarge)
[photos by club member Bob Ricci]

Field Trip October 7, 2001 (click to enlarge)

Compiling trip list, Oct. 7, 2001 (click to enlarge)

Club meeting March 2001 (click to enlarge)

Field trip, Jan. 1, 2000 (click to enlarge)

Club meeting, October 1999 (click to enlarge)

Other birding links of interest:

• Worcester County
  • Central Mass Bird Update
  • Birds of Institute Park (Worcester, MA)
  • Birds of Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary
  • Events Calendar
  • Birder's email Directory
  • Worcester County Checklists
  • Places to Bird
  • Photo Gallery
  • Extended trip report narratives
  • Auburn Bird Banding Station
  • The Bird Store and More: (Sturbridge, MA, proprietors Bill and Nancy Cormier)
• Massachusetts
  • Massachusetts Birding (Nice index of birding info for Massachusetts)
  • Massbird Archive (Don Crockett)
  • Massbird Archive (from Birding on the Net)
  • MASSBIRD mailing list info
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society
  • Mass Audubon's Breeding Bird Atlas | Draft Handbook
  • Brookline Bird Club
  • Hampshire Bird Club
  • Bird Observer
• New England
  • NorthEast Hawk Watch (NEHW)
  • Rhode Island bird sightings (yahoo group)
  • New England Hummingbird Project
  • Birds of New England -- Beth Engleton's nature information center
• National
  • USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center | ( Bird ID info)
  • Cornell Institute of Ornithology
  • Birds of North America Online (subscription required)
  • Virtual Birder
  • Birding on the Net
  • eBird: National bird sighting database (submit via internet)
  • Barry Van Dusen Bird Paintings