Club History

The Santa Cruz Bird Club was founded in 1956. The first meeting was organized by Elaine Reinelt on January 13rd of that year. It was held at the Santa Cruz library. Eighty-nine people attended the first meeting and eighty-two joined and paid dues. Elaine Reinelt was interested in birds from the time she was a child and gradually she came in contact with other people who shared her interest. Nonetheless, she was quite surprised by the turnout for the Bird Club’s first meeting. Dues were set at $1.50 Individual per year; $2 Family. In 1981 they were $4 Individual and $6 Family.
Early pelagic trips were taken with Malio Stagnaro’s ocean-going fishing boats. The boats went twelve miles out to the rock-cod fishing grounds.
The summer picnic and the Christmas Bird Count have been traditional activities of the Bird Club.
The Bird Club’s newsletter, The Albatross, was first sent out in blue mimeograph in the fall of 1956.
A history of the first 50 years of the club written by David Suddjian may be found here.
​Some past rare bird lists from The Albatross are here:
Fall 76            Spring 83              Winter 86

​ Past Presidents of the Santa Cruz Bird Club

1955 (Preliminary Meeting hosted by Elaine Reinelt)
1956-9       Otto F. Van Buren
1959-61     Frans Erkelens
1961          Stanley Mythaler
1962          Claude Hooper
1963          Doris Kelley
1964-8       Lester Cox
1968-70    Wallace Rankin
1970-2      George Burrington
1972          Marilyn Watson
1973          Virginia Sharp
1974-7       Ernest Atkinson
1977-9       Nancy Adams
1979          Gary Harold
1980          Dorothy Lilly
1981-3       Bob Hargis
1983-5       Irene Manicci
1985-89     David Ekdahl
1989-94     Clay Kempf
1994-98     David Suddjian
1998-01     Jeff Davis
2001-05     Todd Newberry
2005-07     Tonya Haff
2007-10     Bob and Bernadette Ramer
2010-14     Steve Gerow
2014-16     Phil Brown
2016-         Lisa Sheridan

Steve Gerow – July 8th 1956 – May 10th 2017
Our beloved friend, mentor and long-serving officer of the club will be missed by us all. A tribute issue of the Albatross can be found here. A memorial ebook can be found here.

SInce 2008 the club has organized 861 Field trips.
Steve Gerow led an astonishing  321 trips.
Other leaders over this time include:
David Suddjian 83 trips
Phil Brown 75 trips
Eric Feuss 68 trips
Alex Rinkert 51 trips
Nick Levendosky 30 trips
Todd Newbury 28 trips
Jeff Bleam 27 trips
The Ramers 24 trips
​Rod Norden 19 trips
Clay Kempf 16 trips
Scott Smithson 11 trips
Roger Wolfe 11 trips
Christian Schwatrz 10 trips
​Nelson Samuels 9 trips
Kathy Kuyper 9 trips
Matthew Strussis-Timmer 8 trips
Bonnie Bedzin 8 trips
David Sidle 6 trips
David Ekdahl 6 trips

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