Our monthly club meeting was held on Saturday morning (2/3/2007) at a coffee shop in Laguna Hills, CA.
It was quite a surprise when fourteen members showed up. In attendance was a "Who's Who" in the bluebird
recovery movement. Dick Purvis, a legend among bluebirders, and his close friend Bob Franz were there. Dick
and Bob have worked together on our cause for more than eleven years.

Also in attendance was Linda Violett and Susan Bulger. Linda is widely known for her unique nestbox nicknamed the 'mansion.' It is a two-holed box designed to allow bluebirds to escape if predators make a visit. Susan is an avid bluebirder and has worked with Linda in northern Orange county for many years.

Finally - my good friend Sully Reallon was present. Sully works southern Orange county and has been monitoring nestbox trails for fifteen years. He started in Lake Forest and has slowly worked his way all the way down to San Clemente.

Why am I telling you so much about these fine folks? Consider this; Dick Purvis monitors 400+ nestboxes, Bob Franz has 209, Linda Violett has 100+, Susan Bulger has 148, and Sully Reallon has 45. Combined, these four individuals monitor more than 900 nestboxes! Dick Purvis believes this group fledges more bluebirds in a year than all other CA bluebirders combined. I believe it. Think about how incredible this is.

My friends - that is a lot of experience. These dedicated individuals truly enjoy sharing their experiences and
they all can tell great bluebird stories. I think I can safely speak for every club member when I say how
honored I am to be in a club with these folks.

A new member named BP Hanrath showed up a little tardy but it was great to have him with us. Why? Because he
is just about the funniest guy you will ever meet. He should be doing stand-up comedy at night. Within five
minutes he had the whole group in stitches. Here is a guy that obviously knows birds - but he is fairly new
to bluebirding. He asked some great questions and his humor and enthusiasm are magnetic. It is worth it to come
to our next meeting just for the laughs. Maybe we should charge admission... This guy is that funny.

Ok - on to the meeting. You can find the meeting agenda here and the meeting minutes here. I won't take up too much time here to talk about the meeting because you can refer to these documents. In a nutshell, we are in full support of Dick Blaine's efforts to turn around the CBRP. We are also interested in uniting with the Sea&Sage Audubon Society of Orange County. This will allow us to use their non-profit (501(c)(3)) status, and take advantage of their vast resources. Dick Purvis will attend the February 16th meeting to discuss this with them.

We also talked about the management issues of our club. Everyone agreed we should continue forward with an
informal structure for six months. We will then re-evaluate if we need to create a more formal management structure.

For now, we want to focus on the upcoming, and very near, nesting season. Nestboxes, trail monitors, and
member communication is the main focus of our group in 2007.

Work your network and invite friends and relatives to join our club.

This is one dedicated, talented, and fun/funny group of people to be around.

MGS