The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) is one of the oldest ornithology organizations in the United States. Founded in 1890, the club has held regular meetings at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for over 125 years, and has published the periodical Cassinia since 1901. Membership is open to any dues paying person with an interest in birds. The club organizes birding field trips throughout the Delaware River valley region, including a dedicated year-round trip schedule within the city limits of Philadelphia (BirdPhilly).
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Meetings
November 05, 2026 @ 7:15 pm - 9:30 pm
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia
The in-person portion of the meeting will be held at the Academy of Natural Sciences, BEES classroom (3rd floor).
Meeting agenda:
7:15 PM: Zoom opens
7:30-8 PM: Club business
8 PM: Presentation followed by questions (might start earlier if club business finishes earlier).
Please register for the meeting whether you will be attending in person or via Zoom. Then watch for the meeting link in your email. Disregard the meeting link if you will be attending in person.
Cultivating Local Bird Conservation Through the Bird Town Pennsylvania Program
Speaker: Heidi Shiver, President of Bird Town PA (in-person)
Discover how local communities are working to create healthier habitats for birds, wildlife and people alike. This presentation offers an in-depth look at the Bird Town Pennsylvania program, a grassroots conservation initiative that empowers municipalities to engage and educate community members of actions that can be taken to protect birds and restore natural ecosystems. We will explore the program’s remarkable growth and celebrate successes that have made it a model for community-based environmental stewardship.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
After teaching for 30 years, Heidi has been working to support environmental organizations and programs. For four years, she served on Bucks County Audubon Society’s Board and for their 50th Anniversary, served as President. She continues to be active on the Doylestown Township’s Environmental Advisory Council after 8 years and leads their Bird Town Committee. Published in 2024, she managed, helped write and edit the 2nd edition of Birds of Bucks County. For over 18 years, she continues to serve as a Bucks County Penn State Master Gardener focusing on pollinators, native plants and birds.
Since 2021, she has been the President of Bird Town Pennsylvania, working with the Board to support the current Bird Towns communities and continuing to grow the program, building partnerships and promoting community-based conservation actions to create a healthier and sustainable environment for birds, wildlife and people. She also serves on the Pennsylvania Audubon Council Board.
She especially enjoys birding in her backyard and down in Cape May, gardening, traveling, reading and spending time with her family, 2 children and 3 grandchildren.
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Field Trips
Free to all members and non-members
We’ll move this event to Saturday, October 17th, at 3:30 pm due to the rainy forecast.
Join BirdPhilly and the Roxborough Manayunk Conservancy for a 2.3-mile guided walk through Germany Hill Park, Fountain Street Steps, and the Manayunk Canal Trail. Our walk will start and end at the Ivy Ridge Train Station. A train will arrive at 9:30 am and we will wait for it to arrive if there is a delay. You can park in the station lot for $2.
Meet at the top of the stairs (near the Gazebo, GPS: 40.034236, -75.235170) — and look for folks with binoculars.
We will explore different bird habitats, including woodlands, riparian forests, and the Manayunk canal’s edge.
All are welcome — we’ll have extra binoculars.
Accessibility: The walk includes nature trails (uneven, rocky ground, grade changes, and climbing up a hill), gravel paths, and paved sections. Please wear appropriate shoes.
No binoculars? No worries! Birding backpacks with binoculars and field guides are now available on loan at all branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
For questions, please reach out to birdphillywalks@gmail.com.
Trip Leader: Holger Pflicke
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Free to all members and non-members
Meet at Moredon Road Parking lot to take a quick walk around Lorimer Park trails (Montco) looking for fall migrants. We will have views into Fox Chase Farm (Philly) looking for birds in the open pastures. Dog friendly for well-behaved pooches. We will wrap up by 9 AM so that we can get back to work on time.
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BirdPhilly is an initiative of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. Founded in 1890, the DVOC has been based at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia since 1891. The DVOC runs fields trips throughout the tri-state region, however BirdPhilly focuses on trips within in Philadelphia city limits in collaboration with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Through BirdPhilly our goal is to increase interest and awareness of Philadelphia’s birds by providing quality birding experiences on expertly guided field trips. All field trips are free unless the site charges an admission fee. These trips are open to children, adults, and well behaved pets. BirdPhilly also participates in DVOC’s Philadelphia Bird Race to raise funds for conservation and research projects.
The club enthusiastically welcomes new members – young people, beginners and anyone else who is genuinely interested in birding. Members benefit from the wealth of information and expertise that this club offers. The bi-annual club journal, Cassinia, is provided to members.
People interested in receiving the club's weekly email newsletter can sign up by using the button below. Note that new club members start to receive the newsletter automatically after joining the club.
© Bert Filemyr
The Delaware Valley is the name given to the region that lays on either side of the Delaware River, centered on Philadelphia. This consists of southeastern Pennsylvania, central and southern New Jersey and the state of Delaware. Tell me more...
The following counties fall within our boundaries.
In Pennsylvania;
Berks County, Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Lancaster County, Lebanon County, Lehigh County, Montgomery County, Northampton County and Philadelphia County.
In New Jersey;
Atlantic County, Burlington County, Camden County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, Gloucester County, Hunterdon County, Mercer County, Middlesex County, Monmouth County, Ocean County, Salem County, Somerset County and Warren County.
In Delaware;
New Castle County, Kent County and Sussex County
DVOC Flickr Page
Want to see and share photos of Delaware Valley birds? Check out our Flickr page.
BirdPhilly is an initiative of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. Founded in 1890, the DVOC has been based at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia since 1891. The DVOC runs fields trips throughout the tri-state region, however BirdPhilly focuses on trips within in Philadelphia city limits in collaboration with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Through BirdPhilly our goal is to increase interest and awareness of Philadelphia’s birds by providing quality birding experiences on expertly guided field trips. All field trips are free unless the site charges an admission fee. These trips are open to children, adults, and well behaved pets. BirdPhilly also participates in DVOC’s Philadelphia Bird Race to raise funds for conservation and research projects.
New Bins for New Birders (NB4NB)
Partnering with DVOC's World Series of Birding Team's corporate sponsor, Nikon Sport Optics, NB4NB is committed to supplying new, serviceable binoculars to organizations that expose young people to birding and the outdoors. We focus on those organizations that are local to the Delaware Valley Region: southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware.
You can quickly and easily make a donation to various DVOC initiatives using PayPal. Click the "Donate" button above to do see a list of initiatives. If you have a Paypal Account please log in. If you do not, use the "Don't have a PayPal account?" section in the lower left-hand corner of the page that appears after you click one of the "Donate" buttons on the next page.
The DVOC is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Contributions to DVOC are tax-deductible.
