Minutes of the DVOC
November 6, 2014

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
President Phil Witmer called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM.
Total present:
18 members and 3 guests were present. Guests included:
David Hewitt
Whitney Wiest
Roger Bynum

Committee Reports

Membership:
Bonnie Witmer announced three new members including:
Holly Merker, Robin Madison, Tracey Beerley

Cassinia:
No report

Website:
No report

Youth Birding:
No report

Bylaws:
Chris Walters noted that we can expect changes to the by-laws in the near future.

Orn Studies:
No report

New Bins for New Birders (NB4NB):
No report

Bob Billings Big Year:
Phil Witmer noted that the end of the year is fast approaching for contestants in the Billings Big Year.

Conservation:
George Armistead reported on Philadelphian Dorian Anderson’s big year fund-raiser called “Biking for Birds” in which he’s raising funds for the Conservation Fund and the American Birding Association.

Field Trips:
Bob Horton noted an upcoming field trip with Sandra Keller leading to Barnegat Inlet on Dec. 19.

Programs:
Barbara Granger reminded us that the next meeting is the Annual Banquet on Nov. 20. Currently we have 53 people signed up, and we’ll need to double that to meet the budget. The speaker is Katrina Van Grouw.
Bob Horton noted that other upcoming talks included:
Dec. 4th when Paul Guris will be discussing winter pelagics.
Dec. 18th which is the member photo contest. Dec. 1st is the deadline for submitting photos.

Field Trip Reports:
Bonnie Witmer reported on the club field trip to Hidden Valley for N. Saw-whet Owl, in which all were satisfied to see one owl caught and banded.

Announcements
Mike O’Brien offered bluebird boxes that are available for purchase to be delivered at the banquet.
Phil Witmer reminded folks about the kestrel box program that the DVOC is supporting, and requested carpentry assistance for the building of boxes.

Local Notes:
Phil Witmer recently saw a Purple Finch in the Witmer yard.
Todd Fellenbaum reported on his recent sighting of a Northern Shrike and Common Raven both at Tinicum. This represents the 4th winter in a row that Northern Shrike has wintered at Tinicum and it is presumed the same individual is involved.
Gregg Gorton on the Sunday before Halloween was birding at Kingwood Heritage Trail (R6 Trail) in Lower Merion and enjoyed a good hawk flight that was highlighted by a Northern Goshawk.
Marty Dellwo on Sunday discovered a Vesper Sparrow at Pennypack on the Delaware (POD), and enjoyed a nice close view of it despite the high wind. At B. Rush State Park he noted that the sparrow habitat is improving and he also observed an American Woodcock there.
Mick Jeitner noted a good hawk flight at Cape May recently that included large numbers of Red-shouldered Hawks and he had a stunning view of an Orange-crowned Warbler.
George Armistead reported co-finding a Fork-tailed Flycatcher at Cape May, on October 25th, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Trustee’s Report
No report

Ornithological Moment:
Delivered by Rob Bierregaard on his fascinating work on migrating Ospreys. More information can be found at http://robbierregaard.org/OspreyMainPage.html.

Main Program
Whitney Wiest - "The future of tidal marsh birds in the northeast: Conservation planning in response to predicted sea level rise"
Check out; SHARP website:
http://www.tidalmarshbirds.net/

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:17pm.
The usual suspects then assembled at Cherry Street Tavern for libations and the exchanging of witticisms.

Respectfully submitted,
George L. Armistead, Secretary