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Youth Birding Update November 2015

DVOC YOUTH BIRDING – FIELD TRIP OPPORTUNITIES

Saturday, November 14, 6:30 PM Northern Saw-whet Owl banding with Scott Weidensaul.
At the DVOC silent auction at ABA headquarters back in August, I successfully bid on, and won, a bird banding session to shadow Scott Weidensaul at his Hidden Valley banding station not far from Hawk Mountain. When I contacted Scott to make arrangements, he offered a banding session for a small group. Since DVOC already has an annual trip to Scott's banding station, I would like to first offer this opportunity to young birders along with an adult chaperon. Please feel free to share this opportunity with friends, neighbors, scouts, school groups, etc.
There is still room on this trip, contact [email protected] for further information.

Sunday, November 15, 9:00 am. Joe Hudson, Edie Parnum, and Dan Sullivan will be leading a walk for young birders for the Valley Forge Audubon Society at the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, PA. Please visit Valley Forge Audubon for further information: http://valleyforgeaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/COE-Fall-2015-Spring-2016.pdf

Saturday, November 28, time TBA. Sandra Keller will be leading a DVOC field trip for beginning birders to Barnegat and Forsythe NWR. Please visit the DVOC website for information: http://www.dvoc.org/FieldTrips/FieldTrips2015/FieldTrips2015.htm

Saturday, December 12, 10:00 am. Keith Russell will be leading a Bird Philly field trip to
East Park Reservoir. Young birders and families are welcome to attend this trip.
The reservoir is one of the best spots in the area for diving ducks including locally rare canvasbacks. We will also look for wintering ducks, sparrows and other birds. This location is the future home of Pennsylvania Audubon and Outward Bound’s new Discovery Center. From there, we will explore nearby Sedgley Woods.
Meeting Location: Disc Golf Course parking lot at 33rd and Oxford Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19121

SADIE GLOVER BLOSSOM CAMP

DVOC Youth Birding Committee members Cindy Ahern, Sandra Keller, and Joe Hudson, along with Valley Forge Audubon leader Dan Sullivan, led a group of children from the Sadie Glover Blossom Camp on a nature walk at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge on July 20.
This was our fourth year providing a nature-based program for this group of underserved children from the Southwark projects in Philadelphia. Campers are hosted by the Southwark Queen Village Community Gardens, as part of a community outreach program, and our ongoing partnership with this group was arranged with garden representatives Janice Chorba and Ed Mitinger, also DVOC members.
Despite the extreme heat, the group of approximately 25 children ranging in age from 6 to 13 enjoyed a walk around the impoundment of the refuge.
Highlights from the walk included meeting a garter snake, finding a number of Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, swallows, Painted Turtles and Red-eared Sliders. The kids loved seeing viewing the egrets through the scope as they perched in trees and hunted in the marsh.

2015 DVOC Adam J. Sabatine Memorial Scholarship Award
Our Adam J. Sabatine Memorial Scholarship was recently awarded to 14 year old eighth-grader, Kristen Johnson. Kristen submitted an impressive scholarship application reflecting her passion for birding, volunteering, and conservation. Our scholarship team voted unanimously to award Kristen the 2015 Adam J. Sabatine Memorial Scholarship. Many thanks to Edie Parnum, Joe Hudson, Mary Bowler, and Sandra Keller for reviewing applications and selecting our award recipient.
Kristen attended the American Birding Association’s Camp Avocet in August, held at the Virden Retreat Center in Lewes, Delaware, and shared her experience from Camp Avocet at the DVOC meeting in September. Her brilliant photo slide show took us day by day through each location visited during the week-long camp, including Bombay Hook, Cape Henlopen, Prime Hook, Chincoteague, and Cape May. Kristen enjoyed visiting a variety of habitats, added numerous species to her life list, and birded and attended workshops with well-respected educators and leaders in the field, including some of our very own DVOC members.
Kristen was very grateful for this wonderful experience, and has shared her presentation with the DVOC. Click Here for her presentation.

2014 DVOC Adam J. Sabatine Memorial Scholarship Award

2014 Sabatine Award Winner
James Haley Familetti speaking at the 2014 DVOC Banquet

James Familetti had this to say at the banquet:

"I first learned about birding in Kindergarten when my teacher taught a lesson on birds and assigned us each a bird to study and draw. I was assigned the White-Breasted Nuthatch, which was the first bird I could ever identify. I soon began to see them in my backyard, and had a craving to learn about and be able to identify more birds.

My love for birding grew over time, and is still growing, so when I was able to apply for the scholarship to Camp Avocet and when I received the scholarship, I knew that I was going to have a week of amazing and fun birding. When I first pulled into the Virden Center and unpacked my bags, I knew that I would be comfortable for the 6 nights that I would be there. The facilities were amazing, and with delicious breakfast and dinner served every day, I couldn’t have asked for more. We visited many different birding hotspots, including Cape May, Chincoteague, Prime Hook, Fowlers and Slaughter beaches and Bombay Hook.

The highlight of my week was seeing the large amount of flycatchers and warblers, including my first redstart and olive-sided flycatcher, and I accumulated 131 life birds because I had never been shore-birding before and almost every shore-bird I saw counted towards my life. Some of the shorebirds I saw included a large variety of plovers and sandpipers, and also my first Red Knot. I also saw a very large group of eegrets take to the air when a bald eagle swooped down towards them. We had the privilege to view presentations from camp staff and birding guests. On our second to last day we got to participate in “Birding’s Big Green Hour,” where we had to spot as many species of birds as possible in an hour in Cape Henlopen.

During our free time, we had frisbee catches with most of the camp involved, and sat around the firepit in the middle of our facility. I was immensely sad when we had to leave, and I made sure to get contact info from all of the great friends I made before I left.

Camp Avocet was one of the best weeks of my life, and I will remember all of the great birds and great people there for the rest of my life.

Thank you"

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The DVOC Adam J. Sabatine Memorial Scholarship Award was established in 2014 as an ongoing scholarship fund. The purpose of the award is to help encourage, enlighten, and foster ornithological skills in young birders between the ages of 13-18. At least one scholarship will be awarded each year, subject to the availability of funds raised by the Youth Birding Committee, in the amount designated by the DVOC Youth Birding Committee to assist with the costs associated of attending a program specified by the committee. The amount of the award will be at least 30% but no more than 90% of the actual cost of the camp fees and related expenses in any given year. The successful candidate and their family will be required to make a financial commitment for the remaining amount due for the program fees and for all transportation fees. In cases of exceptional circumstances, a larger amount may be awarded at the discretion of the Youth Birding Committee.

The award is established in the name of Adam J. Sabatine, a passionate young birder who spread his knowledge of birds and shared the importance of bird conservation with nearly everyone he met. Adam lost his battle with diabetes at the young age of 26 in April 2012. His enthusiasm for birding was a driving force in his life and he spread that passion like wildfire throughout the birding community.

Adam was employed at various universities doing ornithological research. He graduated from Bangor High School, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He studied at University of West Virginia and was a member of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.

The DVOC is a club devoted to the science of birds. We want the passion for birds, avian knowledge and all things related to ornithology to spread like Adam’s inspiration has spread throughout the Delaware and Lehigh Valley birding communities. We would like to acknowledge Adam’s contribution to birding with this ongoing award in his name.

• Instructions (*.pdf file)
• Application (*.pdf file)