General Meeting – March 20, 2006, Chico Municiple Center

Over 60 people turned out for the March membership program featuring local wildlife photographer Ron Sanford.  It was clear from the start that this was going to be a special evening.  Ron’s presentation entitled “The Alaska You Might Have Missed” began with a discussion of how best to visit Alaska and where to spend your limited time.   With a series of slides and stories he took us through Alaska’s Inland Passage, not on a traditional cruise ship but on a small eight-passenger vessel.   We were awed by close-up views of glaciers, killer whales, seals, icebergs and scenery of unimaginable beauty.  Next, we went inland to visit the famous Denali National Park.  Here Ron treated us to some of his award-winning photographs of the Alaska Brown Bear.  Concluding the slide portion of the presentation, Ron showed us some stunning photos he has taken over the years of Bald Eagles.  Here he gave us all a lesson on the many different ways to creatively photograph this magnificent bird.  By this time, Ron had us all believing that Alaska is, as he calls it, “the last, best, wild place remaining on earth”.   Ron stayed well into the evening answering everyone’s questions and giving technical photographic advice and suggestions to the many amateur photographers present.   Earlier, as we do at all our meetings, we discussed the recent sightings of new and different birds moving into the area as the seasons change.  Liam Huber gave us a report on a “big day” of birding he and other members participated in which yielded 116 different species.  Dawn Garcia spoke of the very important Burrowing Owl survey she and other members will be conducting this spring and summer.  Those wishing to volunteer time to this project should email Dawn at mel.dawn@sbcglobal.net or Mike Fisher at fisherml@pacbell.net.