Sometimes as President, I feel the need to pontificate about a large bird focused topic at every dinner but this year it didn't seem appropriate given the state of the world. Instead, I wanted to ride the winds of the hawk releases and speak to our guests about the amazing things PHAS has done, is doing, and will be doing. This chapter has come a long way since I joined several years ago and without our members' increased and constant support, we wouldn't be in the position we are today. 

Our board members and volunteers were also highlighted, namely our Treasurer, Peter Conway who single handedly built the digital infrastructure for the chapter over the course of many years. Every click you make on our website, Peter was the reason why it's there. Peter also managed the chapter's finances and has given the chapter the capability of evolving in the day and age of the subscription era. With our members' support and Peter's financial savviness, we were able to bring on a Marketing/Communication Director to the board, Virginia Ronconi. This has been a tremendous addition for PHAS and we couldn't be more grateful for both Peter and Virginia. 

Our presentation for the evening was about the comeback of the Peregrine Falcon in New York City. Again, sticking with the theme of "good news" our guests enjoyed an exciting and extremely knowledgeable talk on the fastest animal in the world. Chris Nadareski has been working with these birds for over 40 years and has banded countless birds in that time, his presentation style was something rarely seen these days, slides with lots of photos and barely any words due to the depth of knowledge on the topic, he could talk for hours about his experiences.