This was a hybrid meeting, broadcast on Zoom.
Call to Order: Patrick McGill
Call to Order: 7:33 PM
Attendees: 15 on Zoom
In person: 19
The last meeting’s minutes were approved unanimously.
Committee Reports
Membership – Patrick McGill for Rebecca Reicherter
We received 1 new member application for 2 new members.
Field Trips – Linda Widdop
If you wish to lead a field trip, contact Linda: linda@techimpact.org
Upcoming field trips:
| DATE | TIME | TRIP | LEADER |
| April 18 | 8:00 am – 9:00 am | East Fairmount Park – Lemon Hill | Holger Pflicke |
| April 18 | 10:00 am – 11:30 am | FDR Park | Robert Karchnyak |
| April 18 | 9:30 am – 11:30 am | Center City birding with Parkway Central Library | Holger Pflicke |
| April 19 | 9:30 am – 11:30 am | Pennypack on the Delaware | Holger Pflicke |
| April 22 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| April 23 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park – Montgomery County | Martin Selzer |
| April 25 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Bartram’s Garden | Ben Filreis |
| April 25 | 8:00 am – 10:00am | Bird Walk at The Discovery Center | Barb Bassett |
| April 25 | 9:00 am – 11:00 am | Awbury Arboretum with Dwight Evans Library of West Oak Lane | Sean Bradley |
| April 25 | 10:00 am – 11:30 am | Girard Estates with Thomas F. Donatucci, Sr. Library | Holger Pflicke |
| April 25 | 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Big Timber Creek | Barb Bassett |
| April 26 | 8:30 am – 11:00 am | FDR Park | Robert Karchnyak |
| April 29 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| April 30 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park – Montgomery County | Martin Selzer |
| May 2 | 7:00 am – 11:00 am | Higbee Beach for Spring Migrants | Linda Widdop |
| May 6 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| May 7 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park – Montgomery County | Martin Selzer |
| May 13 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| May 14 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park – Montgomery County | Martin Selzer |
| May 20 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| May 21 | 8:00 am – 9:30 am | Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park – Montgomery County | Martin Selzer |
| May 24 | 8:00 am – 10:00 am | Dixon Meadow Preserve with Liberty Bird Alliance | Troy Bynum |
| May 27 | 7:30 am – 9:00 am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| May 30 | 8:00 am – 10:00 am | Bird Walk at The Discovery Center | Manny Dominguez |
| May 30 | 8:00 am – 11:00 am | The Great Marsh Institute (Chester County) with Liberty | Bernard Brown |
| June 14 | 8:00 am – 10:00 am | Dixon Meadow Preserve with Liberty Bird Alliance | Troy Bynum |
| June 27 | 8:00 am – 10:00 am | Bird Walk at The Discovery Center | Jason Hall |
| July 12 | 8:00 am – 10:00 am | Dixon Meadow Preserve with Liberty Bird Alliance | Troy Bynum |
Conservation – Rob Karchnyak
The Conservation Committee is seeking thoughts on the Heinz Restoration plan.
On Thursday April 23rd the City will be designating Philadelphia an official Bird Town at City Hall between 11-3pm.
Rob also has extra Eastern Bluebird boxes available if anyone is interested.
Purple Martin colonies were put up at Benjamin Rush State Park.
Billings – Art McMorris
Art McMorris presented Christian Shiebe with the Bob Billings Award for the individual with the most bird species identified in the DVOC area. Christian is the youngest winner of the competition at 15 years old. He saw two new birds for the competition: Spotted Towhee and Yellow-Headed Caracara.
Christian gave a talk on his birding efforts for the year in seeing 280 bird species.
Cassinia – Holger Pflicke
No report.
Announcements
Patrick McGill repeated that the American Birding Association community weekend will take place from May 22-25 in Philadelphia with gathering points, social happy hour, and bird walks.
Patrick also reported that the City Nature Challenge will be April 24-27th and that it is “not a competition this year.” The challenge is a bioblitz and the local area includes Philadelphia and its bordering counties. This is a worldwide challenge with hundreds of cities across the globe participating.
Patrick announced that the second May meeting will be May 28th and it will be a joint collaboration with the Academy of Natural Sciences. It will be recorded but unclear if it will be available on Zoom.
Debbie Beer announced that the Raven LunaChicks will be participating again in the World Series of Birding in Cape May after finishing second last year.
The Wissahickon Environmental Center is having an Inaugural Philly Outdoor Gear Swap May 2 at the Treehouse.
Local Notes
Sean Bradley saw 7 Wilson’s Snipes, 5 Greater Yellowlegs, about 35 Laughing Gulls, 2 Caspian Terns, 4 Great Egrets, a few Barn Swallows, a Northern House wren, and 3 Rusty Blackbirds last Sunday at John Heinz.
Martin Dellwo had a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Thrashers, and Hermit Thrush at Rittenhouse Square. He also observed Turkey Vultures copulating near South Street.
Martin Dellwo also saw the continuing Virginia’s Warbler at Riverbend Environmental Center in Montgomery County.
Luc Jacobs reported that an American Bittern continues now for 2 weeks at Exton Park, Chester County. Turkey Vultures seen copulating near South Street.
Sean Braldey also lead a BirdPhilly/Free Library of Philadelphia walk at Penn Treaty Park and the group saw 11 double-crested cormorants, an Osprey, a Tree Swallow, 2 American Goldfinches, 4 Dark-eyed Juncos, a Brown-headed Cowbird, and 4 Common Grackles.
Patrick had 3 Common Raven fledglings at Delaware River and saw the pair doing talon bonding.
Debbie Beer mentioned Purple Martins are back at Governor Printz Park. Pine Warbler and Yellow-throated Warbler are back at Ridley Creek Street Park.
Linda Rowan has had an American Coot at Silver Lake Nature Center in Bucks County.
Nashville Warbler was also at the Rushton banding center per Blake Goll.
Programs – Patrick McGill
The May 7th meeting will be a hybrid meeting with Tanya Burnett giving a presentation on the Panama DVOC Field Trip.
Evening Program
Blake Goll (in person) – Building a Relationship With Nature Through Your Yard
Blake Goll gave a talk on the importance of connecting with nature and how to integrate more native ecology into our yards. She also discussed exploring creative ideas on how to interact with the biodiversity in yards, including the benefits of relationships with nature, and how to cultivate that biodiversity.
Due to technical difficulties, the audio on the recording failed halfway through the program so it will not be posted.
Gallery
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 PM.