2024 Annual Meeting
2024 TBRC Annual Meeting
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the Texas Bird Records Committee (hereafter committee or TBRC) was held at 11:00 AM on 5 October 2024. Carpenter hosted the meeting at his house in Dripping Springs with Cook, Frank, and Swanson showing up in person; all other members were able to participate online via video conference (Zoom). Arnold did not attend.
Members/Attendees:
● Tony Frank, Chair
● Eric Carpenter, Secretary
● Keith Arnold, Academician (did not attend)
● Sheridan Coffey
● Greg Cook
● Mel Cooksey
● Steve Glover
● Jesse Huth
● Arman Moreno
● Willie Sekula
● Romey Swanson (TOS President)
The meeting was convened at 11:02 AM.
Official review of updated by-laws
After 52+ years on the TBRC, Keith Arnold had let everyone know that he wanted to step-down as of this meeting. With Keith no longer serving as Academician, the committee decided to formally remove the requirement for an Academician on the committee. When the TBRC was created in 1972, access to bird records and specimens was much more limited and a dedicated Academician role made sense then but given the rapid improvement in technology in the interim, the need for a such a person to be on the TBRC has largely disappeared.
With that in mind, Carpenter and Frank had come up with proposed changes to the by-laws such that the committee could exist without an Academician. In addition, there were other minor changes made in the by-laws, also reflective of changes in technology in the past 50 years, that brought the by-laws up-to-date with how the committee has in fact been operating the past couple of decades.
All members of the committee had reviewed these proposed changes in the days/weeks prior and thus, at this meeting, unanimously approved the new version as proposed by Carpenter and Frank.
Fourth Round Records
One fourth-round records was discussed and voted on:
2023-03 - Red-necked Grebe (1) 1 Jan 2023, Bailey's Fish Camp, Old River Cove, Orange County
ACCEPTED, 8-1
Removal of Rose-throated Becard from the Review List
Frank felt like Rose-throated Becard has become regular enough in south Texas that it warranted removal. Members had reviewed the list of accepted records and Frank had provided a spreadsheet summarizing they year-by-year counts, just slightly less than 5 a year the last decade. Carpenter also mentioned that continuing Rose-throated Becards (sometimes as many as 6 seen on a given day/location) at Santa Margarita Ranch, Salineno and the pairs breeding on the islands along the river at/near those locations. Huth provided his recent experiences with this species as he has guided at Santa Margarita Ranch on several occasions. A vote was taken and there was unanimous agreement to remove Rose-throated Becard from the Review List.
Removal of Dusky-capped (Lawrence's) Flycatcher from Review List B
Carpenter started the discussion about removing Dusky-capped (Lawrence's) Flycatcher and referenced the accepted records the past several years. The past winter there were 9 accepted records and in the winter of 2020-2021 there were 8 accepted records. Carpenter also pointed out that each year there are solid Dusky-capped Flycatcher reports or audio recordings in south Texas that clearly indicate a Dusky-capped Flycatcher but without adequate photo documentation, these records are not circulated as subspecies can not be determined (and the full species is not on the main Review List). It seems clear that Dusky-capped (Lawrence's) Flycatcher is a regular somewhat irruptive winter resident in south Texas some years. A vote was taken and the there was unanimous agreement to remove Dusky-capped (Lawrence's) Flycatcher from Review List B.
Clarification of how to vote on Sooty Shearwater records
Huth brought up that there may be confusion amongst voting members when it comes to considering Sooty Shearwaters. Confusing word on both the TBRC website and in the Master List indicates that due to identification difficulties, all Sooty and/or Short-tailed Shearwater records in the gulf can be assumed/will be voted on as Sooty Shearwaters. This stems from many years ago when there were no Short-tailed Shearwater records in either the Gulf of Mexico nor the Atlantic but there are now, in the last decade+, one each from these bodies of water. Carpenter proposed that the caveat and confusing verbiage be removed from the website and committee members should vote to accept Sooty Shearwater records if they feel the bird in question is indeed a Sooty Shearwater. If the bird can not be identified as a Sooty but seems like it is valid to be handled as a "Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater", voting members should vote to reject as "Sooty Shearwater" and, then ask that the record be recirculated for consideration as "Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater". Everyone agreed that this was a good approach.
Election of Secretary
Carpenter has been on the TBRC for 19 years, the last 13 years as Secretary and has decided to step-down. Clayton Leopold (Frank) was the only nominee to replace him and, thus, he was elected to serve as both Secretary and as a Voting Member. Carpenter and Lockwood, the 2 previous Secretaries, had both served multiple years as a Voting Member before taking on the role as Secretary and that experience with the committee certainly helped guide them in how to fulfill the Secretary role. As Leopold is going to serve as Secretary without any prior experience on the committee, Carpenter agreed to help Leopold as much as needed the first several months to help with this transition. Frank and others also mentioned they would be willing to do what was needed to provide Leopold with the support he needed in this regard.
Re-election of Current Members
Glover and Moreno's first-term expired at the meeting and both agreed to serve a second-term; they were re-elected by acclamation.
Election of New Voting Member
Sekula has served 18 years on the committee over the years and the second-term of his current stay expired at the meeting. There were 3 candidates to replace him:
Bob Friedrichs (Frank), Matt Heindel (Cooksey), and Ryan Rodriguez (Moreno)
Discussion was had over the merits of all three. Members voted and Matt Heindel was elected to take Sekula's position.
Thus, effective at the end of the Annual Meeting, current membership and term of service are as follows:
● Tony Frank, Chair - term expires in 2025, can be re-elected
● Clayton Leopold, Secretary (Voting Member) - term expires in 2025, can be re-elected
● Matt Heindel – 1st term expires in 2027, can be re-elected
● Jesse Huth – 1st term expires in 2025, can be re-elected
● Steve Glover – 2nd term expires in 2027
● Arman Moreno – 2nd term expires in 2027
● Sheridan Coffey – 2nd term expires in 2026
● Greg Cook – 2nd term expires in 2026
● Mel Cooksey – 2nd term expires in 2025
The sequence (used primarily for order for oral/4th round records) of members for voting is now:
Heindel, Leopold, Huth, Glover, Moreno, Coffey, Cook, Cooksey, Frank
Adjournment
With no other formal business on the agenda and no additional Any Other Business items raised, the meeting was adjourned at 12:09PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Eric Carpenter
Secretary, Texas Bird Records Committee