Hello, fellow OBOLites and Tweeterians --

This year's Western Field Ornithologists conference will be 29 Sept.
- 1 Oct. in Santa Maria, California. As those of you who joined us
last year in Ashland know, these conferences are a terrific way to:
(1) hear cutting-edge scientific talks on the biology and
conservation of birds of western North America,
(2) see great birds on field trips led by the likes of Jon Dunn,
Steve Howell, and Guy McCaskie, and
(3) mingle and meet fellow birders and ornithologists from throughout the West.

For those interested in attending, please see the WFO website at:
www.wfo-cbrc.org.

For those interested in presenting a talk, below is the official Call
for Papers and Posters.

Sept-Oct. is a great time to bird on the California coast, so make
plans early for what will surely be a fabulous meeting. We look
forward to seeing you there!

Jay Withgott
WFO Board member
Portland, OR

--------------------------------------------------------------

Call for Papers and Poster Presentations
Western Field Ornithologists - 30th Annual Meeting

28 September - 1 October 2005
Santa Maria, California

Abstracts are now being accepted for presentations and
posters at the 30th annual meeting of Western Field
Ornithologists, to be held 28 September - 1 October 2005
in Santa Maria, California. Papers and posters presented
at other conferences will be considered, provided that the
material has not already been published in full manuscript
form. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their text
is accurate and professionally concise.

Oral and poster presentations should reflect original
research or summarize existing unpublished information,
and should be presented in a manner that will be of
interest to serious amateur field ornithologists. Talks
and posters relating to the following special theme of the
2005 meeting are especially solicited:

* Status, distribution, conservation, and management of
birds in human-dominated landscapes. Human-dominated
landscapes in coastal California will be the primary
focus, but we seek contributions on the avifauna of
human-dominated landscapes anywhere in the West.

Talks and posters relating to the following, more general,
themes are also solicited:

* Systematics and biogeography of the birds of the Pacific
Coast region, the North American interior (including
Mexico), and the interface between the two.

* New information on field identification problems relevant
to the birds of western North America and the eastern
Pacific Ocean.

* Techniques for field study of birds, including censusing,
monitoring, and other methods; results of studies
applying such techniques.

All talks and posters should do the following: identify
study objectives; describe study methods and data analysis;
discuss the significance of the research; and propose
future research directions.

We expect to allot 15 minutes per oral presentation,
including 3 minutes for questions and discussion.
Dialogue between presenters and audience is a hallmark
of all WFO meetings.

Posters should fit within a width of six feet. Graphic
materials, tables, and illustrations should be as simple
as possible. Sequence the viewing of the poster with
arrows, letters, or numbers so as to be self-explanatory.
Text, graphics, and illustrations should be readable from
a distance of at least four feet. Poster presenters are
expected to be available for extensive discussion with
meeting participants.

An abstract of your presentation or poster should be
submitted electronically to Ted Floyd <tedfloyd at aba.org>.
Please note that all queries and submissions must be via
e-mail. All abstracts must be received by 15 May 2005 and
should be submitted in exactly the following format:

* YOUR LAST NAME, YOUR FIRST NAME. Your affiliation (if
any), complete mailing address, e-mail address. Title of
your talk. Brief (300-word maximum) summary of the
objectives, methods, results, significance, and
generality of your study.

For more information about the meeting, visit the WFO web
site at <www.wfo-cbrc.org>.

We look forward to seeing you in Santa Maria!

-------------------------------------------------

Jay Withgott
Portland, OR
withgott at nasw.org