New Mexico Bird Show (09/29/2001) - NM
Judge: Phil Ryan
Exhibitors: 6
Entries: 71

Judge's Comments:

This could have been called "the show that almost wasn't". I got a call on Monday before the show in the morning letting me know the original site for the show was not available. They had scheduled the National Guard Armory and the Guard was not allowing any events because of the need after the terrorist attacks. The show personnel did a marvelous job and called that evening to say that they had a new hall and the "show would go on".

The new site was the Shriner's Clubhouse. This turned out to be a former church which the Shriner's had purchased along with all the support buildings. The show was held in the former meeting room of the church. The setup was quite interesting because the meeting hall was too small for the staging area and the judging area. The staging area ended up in separate room right next to the meeting hall. The result was the noise level was significantly diminished in the judging area and the stewards did not have to walk any further than in other venues.

The weather in Albuquerque was great with the temperature in the low 80's during the day and 60's at night. The show was held in conjunction with a bird fair (which was also located in a different part of the building). We had 6 exhibitors and a total of 71 Love Birds. During judging we had anywhere from 5 to as many as 10 people attending the Love Bird judging. The show as a great success by my personal measurement of participation -4 of the 6 exhibitors placed in the top 12.

We had 4 entries in the Rare Section, 11 in Fischer's, 6 in msked and the remaining 50 were Peachfaced with the largest sections there being 13 each for Green and Blue. There were no Champion Birds entered. The qulity was outstanding with very few birds showing any pin feathers. Color on all entries was very good with no fading noticed at all. I did comment on the fact that I noticed no bill proportion problems - probably the first time I could say that in many years.

Our first place bird was an Orangefaced green and 2nd was an Orangefaced Australian Cinnamon. The Black-cheeked entries were represented by the 3rd place and 12th place birds. Fischer's took 6th and 8th places and a Masked bird was 10th. The Orangefaced peachfaced were very strong with 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th.

I want to thank the show organizers and the show committee for a well planned and executed event in spite of the need for rapid response on the show location. It was not at all apparent to the participants. Also I want to thank the Division Secretary, Janet Garcia, for keeping all the placements straight and for having all the paper work done. The show stewards - Kendall Dunlop and Sparky Newell - kept the show moving so that we made our tight schedule. Glenda Pullum tied the ribbons. Special thanks to Jan Ward for maintaining close contact concerningthe last minute changes.

New Mexico Bird Show (09/30/2001) - NM
Judge: Gary Morgan
Exhibitors: 6
Entries: 71

Judge's Comments:

This show was held just after the terrorist attacks. The show is usually held at the armory. The armory was activated 1 week before the show and threatened the show's being held. The club found a new venue, the Shriner's Hall, and it was great. The show had a great turnout, as usual, with birds in every section. A nice section of greywings. This area seems to always have them. All the birds were a few weeks from being at their peak condition. The New Mexico Bird Club members were great hosts as usual.