Abstract
By Lee Phillips President, A.F.A.
It is an honor and a privilege to have been elected to preside over the American Federation of Aviculture for the coming year and I thank you for the confidence you have placed in me.
The eminent British ornithologist James Fisher once wrote "The observation of birds may be a superstition, a tradition, an art, a science, a pleasure, a hobby or a bore; this depends entirely on the nature of the observer.'' For most of us here tonight the observation of birds is a pleasure and for some of us a distinct privilege.
There exists in us an empathy with nature, a love for birds and a deep and abiding concern over their future in captivity and in the wild.
It was for this reason that the American Federaton of A viculture was founded and it is because of the existing threats to the future of birds that we cannot become complacent. We cannot sit back and permit problems to develop. We must address issues now so we will know what battles we have ahead of us and communicate with each other regarding them.
I feel very strongly that the purpose for which AFA was founded is a very good thing for us as bird breeders and for the future of aviculture in general and I am very optimistic about AFA's future as a forum for those concerned with all aspects of the preservation of birdlife. Let's determine our goals for the immediate and the distant future.
Surely the formation of our Conservation Committee under the aegis of Bob Berry is a great stride forward. I hope it will be the genesis of a whole new dimension of growth for AFA. Please follow Bob's suggestion for funding this committee and set aside one pair of producing birds to benefit this endeavor.
The funding of grants by the Avian Research Committee with Dr. Susan Clubb as chairman is a positive force particularly now that we are learning the results of the studies. It will be interesting to follow the grants which were funded this year.
The continued excellence of our A.F.A.Watchbird magazine is a tribute to the talents and dedication of our editor and art director, Sheldon Dingle and Jean Hessler. It is an unfailing source of pride to me to exhibit Watchbird as the representation of our organization.
The full benefits of our Bird Census program under Larry Shelton's direction will not be felt until each of us presents our breeding information to Larry. Let me assure you that the confidentiality of these records will not be breached by the AFA.
In the past year we have added a number of new affiliated clubs, new State Co-ordinators have been appointed and several states have shown a promising increase in membership. Under Tom Ireland's leadership AFA has weathered several crises and with your help I look for a stronger AF A than ever.
I feel that AF A has been successful in fulfilling two of its three founding purposes. Our encouragement of captive breeding programs cannot be rivaled and we are now funding scientific research projects. It is in the area of educating the general public that I feel we have fallen short. Let's get our bird shows and bird fairs out of church basements and into shopping malls where we will have an entirely new audience.
It is estimated that 22 % of the households in this country include a bird for a total of approximately 45 million. What an audience to educate. Let people know where we stand and what we are doing.
I ask that you share your knowledge and encourage and help others to become responsible bird breederschannel the enthusiasm of newcomers to aviculture in the right direction.
The eminent ornithologist Dr. Frank M. Chapman called birds "the most eloquent expression of nature's beauty, joy and freedom." We must all work together to address the problems of aviculture if future generations of aviculturists are to have the diversity of birds which we enjoy.
I ask for your support in the year ahead to strengthen and expand AFA. If each of you present here tonight would recruit one new member each month, by next year's convention we would have an increase of 6000.
Dr. Chapman also said "Everyone is born with a bird in his heart." Let's keep those birds in our heart while we do all that we can to preserve the birds on earth.
I thank you for being here and I look forward to seeing you next year in Orlando .•