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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The Raven LunaChicks run 2026 WSB in Gloucester County
Remembering Doris McGovern
Meetings
October 01, 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.
Reconstructing the ecology and evolution of North American avian influenza viruses
Speaker: Dr Louise Moncla (in-person)
Dr. Moncla’s research lab focuses on using genomic approaches to understand RNA virus emergence, evolution, and transmission, with a particular focus on highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses. Her lab draws on approaches from virology, phylodynamics, and population genetics to study how emerging and re-emerging RNA viruses cross species barriers, evolve within individuals, and transmit across populations, with the ultimate goal of improving surveillance and public health responses.
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Field Trips
Free to all members and non-members
Please join the Free Library of Philadelphia and Sean Bradley for a Fall Migration Bird Walk! We plan to stay out for 1-2 hours, depending on the location, and walk mostly on flat and well-traveled paths.
All events are open to everyone and all skill levels. We will go over binocular use, field guides, and apps if needed. Everyone is welcome to stay for as long or as short a time as they like. Restroom access is limited or unavailable. Check the weather and dress for comfort. These events will happen rain or shine; cancel for downpours and storms.
Today’s walk will begin at the main entrance located at 8177 Roanoke Street at 4:30pm.
The Free Library loans out Birding Backpacks, containing binoculars, field guides and trail maps at ALL locations! A limited number of Birding Backpacks will be available at each walk.
For questions, please reach out to birdphillywalks@gmail.com.
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Free to all members and non-members
Join us for our yearly Chimney Swift watch, this time at Thomas Mifflin School. During fall migration, Swifts roost together in large numbers.
This is a time-sensitive event. Make sure to arrive prior to sunset; otherwise, you will miss the show.
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.
The event is free and open to everyone.
For questions, please reach out to birdphillywalks@gmail.com.
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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.