Profiling the Brooks Bird Club

The Brooks Bird Club is a regional non-profit natural history organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia. The latest membership directory of the Brooks Bird Club, dated October 15, 2002, lists 421 General Memberships. By doubling Family memberships, I estimate that the active membership of the Brooks Bird Club currently consists of about 600 individuals (with about 325 of them being West Virginia residents).

DISTRIBUTION BY MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES:

The Brooks Bird Club offers eight categories of General Membership. Current distribution (in decreasing order): Individual 165, Family 162, Life 40, Sustaining 24, Student 12, Courtesy 11, Honorary 6, and Family Life 1.

DISTRIBUTION BY STATE:

The 421 memberships span 28 States and the District of Columbia, with the majority (227, or 52 percent, in West Virginia). Memberships by State (in decreasing order): West Virginia 227, Ohio 61, Pennsylvania 34, Maryland 23, Virginia 17, New York 7, North Carolina 8, District of Columbia 5, California 4, Florida 4, Georgia 3, New Jersey 3, Tennessee 3, Texas 3, Alabama 2, Colorado 2, Connecticut 2, Massachusetts 2, Mississippi 2, South Carolina 2, Arizona 1, Idaho 1, Kansas 1, Louisiana 1, Michigan 1, Missouri 1, New Hampshire 1, and Wisconsin 1.

DISTRIBUTION OF WEST VIRGINIA MEMBERS:

The 227 West Virginia members are located in 83 different communities. Nine communities are represented by five or more members (in decreasing order): Wheeling 28, Morgantown 22, Charleston 11, Elkins 10, Huntington 10, Parkersburg 10, Fairmont 9, Bruceton Mills 5, and Buckhannon 5.

LIBRARIES AND EXCHANGES:

The Brooks Bird Club also reports sending courtesy or exchange copies of The Redstart (journal) and The Mailbag (newsletter) to 54 libraries and other institutions.