Greetings!

As I write this, we’ve just all caught our breath from the 2023 National Bird Show and a whirlwind Thanksgiving Holiday. After a year of uncertainty, the 2023 National Show was a success.  Our home this year was Knoxville, Tennessee; the hall was spacious, the food was good, the motel was luxurious, and we had over 1700 total entries across all divisions, with more than 100 of those in the Finch and Softbill Division.  The National Bird Show Board has already held a meeting to begin planning for 2024   Our home will  be Knoxville again, and our dates will be November 7-9, 2024.  Watch the National Bird Show FaceBook page for updates as plans progress.

We are in the midst of a General Election for officers serving on the NFSS Board of Directors, and those elected will serve for 2024 and 2025.  We do have a few opening remaining – please contact any board member if you’re willing to serve in any of the positions open:  Executive Secretary, Advertising, Regional Vice-President (Region 4), or 3rd Vice-President in charge of the Census.  Current staff are covering each of these positions adequately, but being able to “spread the wealth” of work to some additional people would be welcomed!

I made a personal post to the NFSS FaceBook page during the past month regarding “scammers” and posts about bird sales.  Our Administrators and Moderators are working daily to remove posts from scammers — but, as a reminder, a single complaint from an unsatisfied customer does not constitute “scam” . Situations in which a verified scam has occurred, should be reported to our Administrator, Amber Kincheloe, immediately.   Additionally, a reminder that FaceBook does not allow the sale or purchase of birds.  Our page was set up as a platform for discussing husbandry issues, not a store front for selling birds.  Posts that advertise birds for “sale” will be removed without notice as they jeoopardize our privilege of having the FaceBook page.  We do understand the need to connect with others who may be working with similar species, but we have to be more conscientious about how those requests are included on the NFSS Facebook page.

Upcoming issues of the NFSS Journal will include a summary of all show reports for the 2023 Show Season — Laura Tinker diligently logs this information into spread sheets she  maintains which are used to determine year end award winners for exhibitors and their birds.  Our schedule of shows is greatly diminished from what it once was.  I would encourage any groups or clubs focused on birds, to consider hosting a show.   If your local club already does that – make it a point to support that show – whether it be through exhibiting  your birds, helping out with tasks at the show, or a donation of time or money.  The amount of work going on behind the scenes to make any show successful is astounding and often those few responsible for making sure it all gets done, are the same ones year after year.  Someone willing to volunteer a few hours, or a day, of their time at these shows could make all the difference.

I hope each of you have a joyous holiday season  – don’t forget to put out the cookies and milk for Santa.

Rebecca Mikel, President, NFSS