Happy New Year! Welcome to 2006!

My congratulations to Lin Westgard and the Board for a terrific 2005 program. Ann and I wish to personally thank all of the Alaskan Bird Club members for their level of support and camaraderie shown to my flock, my spouse and myself during our transition from the Outside to Anchorage. Without the great support of Alaska Bird Club members, transporting our flock of ten [six cockatoos, three macaws, and an African gray] would have been a nightmare. Club members supported our move by loaning cages, providing toys, and being available to assist during the transition.

I look forward to the opportunity to serve as the Club’s president for 2006. I wish to continue the success of the club’s fund-raising table, speaker series, and Lost/Found-Rescue and Adopt-A-Bird programs. I wish to expand the community’s awareness of the Alaska Bird Club’s presence and abilities to provide the best homes possible for our avian companions. I plan on working with our board and general members to develop and implement avian education and outreach workshops. The Alaska Bird Club has a wealth of knowledge and talent in our members that are ideally suited to providing the workshops in a variety of subjects from general knowledge and care through husbandry.

All members of the Alaska Bird Club know the level of bonding that takes place between our avian companions and ourselves. Personally, Ann and I do not see ourselves as the “owner” of any member of our flock of ten. We see ourselves more as stewards, whose responsibility are to allow our wards the best life possible while in our care. This means more than just their physical well-being; it includes their psychological and social well-being also. We have two distinct members of our flock who were hand raised and are well socialized with humans. In a flock situation, these two [Angel and Charlie] do not realize they are birds and have great difficulty in dealing with the group dynamics of being flock members. The two do not know what it is like to be birds. There is nothing wrong with Angel and Charlie being human-socialized, they are well-liked by guests who come to visit with us and our flock. Birds need to be birds, or at least know what it is like to be a bird. Our avian companions are wild creatures living in our world. Most are barely two to three generations away from the tropical climates they came from. Companion birds are not domesticated, they are wild animals that share our living space.

Providing adequate living space and an enriching environment are what I attempt to provide for my wards/flock, to the best of my ability. For Angel and Charlie, that means more “human time” than “flock time” and that’s okay. For the other members of the flock [Art, Bobby, Chickie, Glory, Mary Ann, Mickey, Sassy, and Tabby, that means more time out of their cages and being able to play and forage with one another during the day. Their flock interactions are a pleasure to observe and note. The mutual play, the mutual preening and the various squabbles they have during the day gives Ann and myself a chance to see a National Geographic-type documentary taking place in our home at any time. The amount of knowledge we have gained over the years of being stewards to our flock is invaluable. When I look back to the budgies, canaries and finches I owned in my earlier years, I wish I would have had the knowledge I have now back then. My personal goal, is to ensure that as many people that I come in contact with, have a level of knowledge about avian stewardship as possible. That they do not make the mistakes that I did with my budgies, canaries and finches as a young person.

I look forward to serving as the Alaska Bird Club’s president for 2006 and supporting our members and communities with our programs.

Gregory D. Wilkie