NFSS 1st Quarter 2004 Board Meeting 

The NFSS 1st Quarter, 2004, Board meeting was called to order by President, Sally Huntington on February 1, 2004. 

There were several discussions during this meeting. The first centered around the concept of Regional Shows. A proposal was put forth to make each region‘s regional show the only NFSS show in that region on that day. This was not deemed a mater to be further pursued by the board. 

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Martha Wigmore presented the proposed General Standard for Finches and Softbills to the board for approval. There was much discussion about the standard and the following modifications were proposed:

1. Change the wording in the General Standard on page 3 paragraph 3:

From: "In pied mutations, symmetry of markings is desirable, but secondary to a pleasing degree of contrast and proportion of pied markings to ground color."

To: "In pied mutations, a high degree of pied markings is most desirable. A bird where markings are symmetrically pleasing will take precedence over a bird of unequal markings when the percentage of pied markings to ground color is equal."

2. Add the following sentence to the end of the 4th paragraph page 3 of the General Standard:

"In the case when all attributes being equal a bird in full color or nuptial plumage, will take precedence over a bird that is in eclipse plumage."

3. Add the following sentence to the end of paragraph 1 page 3 of the General Standard:

"Birds with a high degree of difficulty that have achieved the highest degree of perfection may take precedence over similar birds with a lesser degree of difficulty, when all other attributes are considered equal."

Martha Wigmore will follow procedure for consideration of these proposals and will return to the board with any revisions at a later date. 

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Motion 2004-01: Patrick Vance made a motion that a separate section be created for Gouldian finches in the NFSS show classifications. 

Motion Seconded by Raspbery. 

Motion Passed: 9 Yes / 4 No / 0 Abstain

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1st Quarter - 2004 NFSS Officers Reports

NFSS 2nd Vice President (Publications, Legislative Director) 

Publications Update - NFSS website 

Updates have been made for al of the newly-elected officers on the NFSS website, and new illustrated information pages on the different Softbill & finch species have been added to the website. 

Legislative Update 

Proposed legislation that would affect bird-owners, and the never-ending assault on aviculture by the "animal-rights" groups are being followed, and information on al of these maters can be found on the "Legislative" pages of the NFSS website. 

Harry Bryant,
NFSS 2nd Vice President & Legislative Director

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NFSS 3rd Vice President (Finch/Softbill Save Program and Census Manager) 

FSS: As of 2/1/04 - 31 members, 50 Species, 598 Specimens. 

Changes in the FSS membership fee and application process have been made. I still need to send these to Harry for the website. 

We still need Group Managers for Indo-Pacific, African, European and Waxbills. 

I have had two NFSS members send in the FSS membership fee without registering any birds because they just wanted to help out monetarily! 

The 1st Quarter 2004 FSS NL was mailed out the last of January and I have had many positive comments and many requests for copies. Ron has scanned the NL into Adobe format so that I can more easily send copies to those that request it via e-mail. I printed ten extra copies to try and stimulate interest and it seems to have really stirred that interest! 

Martie has graciously allowed me to have a regular column in the Journal and I have sent in articles for the Jan/Feb and Mar/Apr issues. I entitled the column as: Happenings: Finch & Softbill Save/Census. 

I am in the process of updating the Census Forms for the web-site. 

I am also EXCITED about the program! 

Respectfully submitted, 
Randy Taylor, 3rd VP

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Treasurer‘s Report 

There is nothing of any great significance to report, however we have had a rash of checks being returned unpaid for various reasons. Everyone (so far) has made good on these "bad checks", but please be careful when writing checks to the NFSS. If they bounce, money we thought we had disappears. 

Please don't be alarmed by the financial figures shown below. It does seem like we are in serious trouble, but we knew going into this year that there would be some large checks going out in the first month (payment for two Journals and payment for the second part of the 2004 band order). These numbers should look a lot better by the time I make my first quarter financial report at the end of March. 

For the period 1/1/04 to 2/15/04:

Cash in Accounts - $16,093.42 
Income - $6, 963.31 ($45,081.00 budgeted for 2004) 
Expenses - $14,210.74 ($45,245.00 budgeted for 2004) 
Net Loss - $7,247.43 (told you it looked bad. $344.00 loss budgeted for 2004) 

Respectfully submitted, 
Mark Phelps, NFSS Treasurer

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Band Secretary Report

Band Sales Est. Quarterly Report (as of 1/22/04) 

November 2003 17 pay pal/31 mail in -- $1,1933.00 
December 2003 26 pay pal/44 mail in -- $2,202.55 
January 2004 28 pay pal/ 46 mail in -- $2,070.00 

Respectfully submitted, 
Paula Hansen, NFSS Band Secretary

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NFSS Regional Vice President, Region 4 

I received an invitation to speak at the Alamo Bird Club in San Antonio, TX 2-22-04. I accepted the invitation and will give an abbreviated version of my AFA Convention talk. I plan on taking several birds, sharing some of the extra journals Martie sends, as well as application forms. I cannot say with absolute authority since I do not have any official records, but I will wager that the state of Texas has enrolled a significant number of new members in 2003. We are very fortunate to have so many elected and appointed officers in our state and this translates into very proactive, enthusiastic NFSS members who are beating the bushes and spreading the word. This is very exciting. 

I am in the process of contacting all of the affiliated club secretaries in the other states in Region 4. Like all the regions, Region 4 is large and I hope to find consistent ways of creating dialogue and communication with folks in other states. I have posted the same to the NFSS Forum list and Finch Breeders as well. I encourage any kind of constructive feed back. I would really like to see NFSS members dialogue more often through the Journal, via letters to the editor. 

Several bird marts are on the near horizon throughout the state, and I plan on attending as many as I can. I cannot say enough about the positive impact our professional Journal has on new comers and potential members. Super job Martie. I believe we have an extremely skilled, turbo-charged BOD, and while I am new to this fold, I am very proud to be a part of the NFSS in what can only be described as exciting and dynamic times. 

Respectfully submitted, 
Clint Harris- Region 4 VP

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NFSS Regional Vice President, Region 6 

This VP has begun a youth Bird club at his place of work, Mount Tabor Middle School. The kids meet for one hour, twice a month. 10 kids between the ages of 8 and 14 are members of the club. Al but two have birds. The ones who don't have birds at home do not because they have house cats. However, they care for the birds in the classroom and have just as active an interest as those who have birds at home. 

Cages were donated for the initial cause. Birds, societies and zebras, were also donated. Donations were given on the honor system. One year of active participation in the club and the birds and the cage are the kids to keep. 

Already, several students have bought their own cages and have returned old cages for redistribution. 

Topics covered so far include general care, banding, nest box construction, egg food, and hand feeding an eager Java finch (also a donation.) 

Pitfalls include having to re-teach some participants not to hold their birds regularly like they would a puppy, and having to move the club meeting day to accommodate the school's homework club. 

Future immediate goals include, 1) getting the kids to attend the adult bird club in the area, 2) getting them to join NFSS, 3) recruiting NFSS Membership within my local club and 4) getting myself acquainted with NFSS members throughout Region 6. 

Respectfully submitted, 
Raspbery

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FinchShop Manager 

The FinchShop management was transferred from Sue Abercorn to Robert Mel at the end of December. Thanks to Chris Fairchild, the Husbandry Video has been converted to DVD format. The new format will be offered at the same price as the video and the website should be updated to reflect this soon. I am currently investigating some new items for the FinchShop to carry. The first new product that will be added is an Egg Candler. I am in the process of doing a tri-fold that will explain candling and will show various stages of development as well as eggs that have gone bad. This along with a cool high intensity light will be offered starting March 1st for approximately $22. We have very few copies of the cage plans left and have sold the remaining Gouldian pins so these items will be phased out. I am currently working with vendors to find a show cage bag (that would be NFSS logo monogrammed), a new pin with the NFSS logo, and logo polo shirts. There will be a limit on how fast we can add products as most vendors require a minimum number of items to be order and the expenditures for the FinchShop is limited. In fact, given the limited funds available and the required minimums on most items, I am unsure what if anything can be added. Either we need to realize that for the FinchShop to expand, we may have to take a loss (in order to add inventory) or realize that the impact of the FinchShop will be minimal. On February 1st, Chris Fairchild staffed a FinchShop Table at the Hampton Roads bird Mart. Income from that show was $73.00 against expenses of $109.81. Although the expenses did provide for stock of DVD's none have sold. I showcased the FinchShop at the Tyson's Corner Virginia Bird Mart. Although we just broke even it was a lot of PR for NFSS. I will be promoting NFSS at the Baltimore Pet Show Feb. 7 & 8. Although I cannot sell any products I will be handing out membership applications and FinchShop catalogs. Chris Fairchild has secured a donated table for NFSS at the Virginia Bird Clubs convention in late March. Sales for the FinchShop so far this year are $189.00 with expenses of $140.00 (not included the figures above).

The reason for the approximation is that some items are invoiced directly and not included. The inventory of Judge Handbooks, Husbandry videos/DVD, and screensavers has been significantly increased. I was able to reproduce the handbooks, videos and screensavers at less than half the previous cost but the DVD production was twice the original video and six times the current video cost. 

I would like to see the FinchShop offer more educational materials. The husbandry profiles being developed by the FinchSave program I believe would be an excellent item to offer. Naturally FinchSave members would receive these in the Newsletter but non-NFSS members or non-FinchSave members could purchase them at a nominal fee. I would also like to see the FinchShop develop a video showcasing various members' set-ups from the pet owner to the serious breeder. I plan to launch this project in the summer when I am of work (public school employee). Please contact me if you are interesting in helping or donating footage for this project, Lastly, I have been asked by several members to upgrade the screensaver. I am awaiting information from the original developers and then will consider what we can do to expand it and make it more 
compatible. (There have been several complaints that it does not work with all operating systems.) I am putting considerable effort into trying to make the FinchShop profitable and offer items of interest to our members. I am always 
open to suggestions and comments.

Respectfully submitted by:
Robert Mel - FinchShop Manager

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