This was a hybrid meeting. The in-person portion was in the BEES classroom. Instructions for registration were announced on the website and weekly digest.
Call to Order: President Gregg Gorton
Call to Order: 7:31 PM
Gregg introduced all the officers and welcomed guests. Gregg also welcomed Liz Billings and Karen Walters for the special Billings night meeting.
Attendees: 22 in-person, 10 on Zoom.
The minutes from March 16th were approved.
Council Report
Council is reviewing a plan to fund a memorial bench at Pennypack on the Delaware for former DVOC president, Frank Windfelder who passed away last May. More details about fundraising for the bench will be coming in the next few weeks.
Committee Reports
Membership Committee – Linda Timlin
The following members were added in March: Carol Cunningham, Denise Coogan, Susan Behr, Daniel Wolfson, Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, John Jensen, Lauren Hallden-Abberton, and Emily Griffith.
Nilesh Shah added that we got a paper membership application form in the mail from Bryn Mawr.
Field Trips – Navin Sasikumar for Linda Widdop
Email Linda Widdop, linda@techimpact.org, if interested in leading any field trips.
Upcoming field trips:
- April 09 @ 8:00 am – 10:30 am – Tacony Creek Park with Holger Pflicke
- April 09 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Carpenter’s Woods with Ed Edge
- April 09 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Morris Park with Ed Edge
- April 12 @ 7:00 am – 8:30 am – Dixon Meadow with George Armistead. This field trip will be repeated for four consecutive Wednesdays (this is the 2nd).
- April 12 @ 7:30 am – 9:00 am – Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm with Linda Widdop. This trip will be repeated all through April and May.
- April 16 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Carpenter’s Woods with Ed Edge
- April 16 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Morris Park with Ed Edge
- April 22 @ 8:00 am – 10:00 am – FDR Park with Robert Karchnyak
- April 22 @ 8:30 am – 10:00 am – Robbins Park, Upper Dublin with Wyncote Audubon and Bird Town led by Nilesh Shah.
- June 20 @ 7:00 am – 12:00 pm – Lakehurst Naval Station for Upland Sandpipers with Bob Horton. Registration is required for this trip and you need to be a US citizen. Please send an email to Bob Horton before May 29th with your full name, driver’s license number and state, and date of birth.
Conservation – Barb Bassett for Anne Bekker
The Heritage Conservancy will be running a 24-hour bioblitz at their new Croydon Woods Preserve – 80 acres of Coastal Plain forest – from Thursday 5/18, 3 pm through Fri 5/19, 3 pm, followed by a closing ceremony which will run untill 6 pm. This biodiversity survey is a bit different -it will consist of teams for each taxon, with times for each team to survey particular taxa on both days. Email Tyler Kovacs (tkovacs@heritageconservancy.org) with your name, phone number, and indicate your area(s) of interest and expertise. There’s room for all levels of experience.
Communication – Navin Sasikumar
Victor Lefevre will be taking over as web admin over the next few months. Please add Victor to any requests sent to Navin so that he can start working on some tasks. You can also just use webmaster@dvoc.org and both of us should get those emails.
Navin added that we have a Youtube channel where recorded meetings are posted.
DEI – Navin Sasikumar
Nothing new to report
Announcements
Barb Bassett announced that the Gloucester County Nature Club hosts an event every year called Bird Quest. This year it is on May 6th. For $15, you get a T-shirt and lunch. Details are found in the link.
Navin Sasikumar announced that the City Nature Challenge will be happening again this year from April 28 – May 1. If you are in Philadelphia county or any of the counties that share a direct border with Philly – Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks in PA, and Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington in NJ – take photos of any wild organism during those four days and upload them to iNaturalist. There are nearly 500 cities competing across the world this year. Philly’s goals are to beat NYC, DC, and Boston and also get at least 1000 people participating in our area.
Nilesh Shah said that Wyncote Audubon is sponsoring a Birdathon from 5 pm on May 5th to 5 pm on May 6th. This is the second time Wyncote Audubon is sponsoring the Birdathon after taking over from Wissahickon Trails in 2022. Anyone can form a team to participate in the Greater Philadelphia Area Birdathon to raise funds for their own not-for-profit and bird conservation projects. To participate, simply recruit a minimum of two or more individuals who will look for birds anytime during the 24-hour period of the Birdathon.
Local Notes
Rob Bierrergaard reported his first warbler of the year for his yard – Palm Warbler. He also had a Bald Eagle soaring over his house which was only the second time the species has been seen from his yard. He’s also had Chipping and White-throated Sparrows recently.
Debbie Beer reported a Yellow-throated Warbler singing away at Ridley Creek State Park. The park has had a pair breeding there for the last five to seven years. She also had Pine and Palm Warblers there as well. She also had a Hermit Thrush in her backyard in Springfield, Delaware County.
Jim Wiley, who is a recent member, asked how he could get help IDing birds from photos he has taken. Various members present at the meetings suggested apps – iNaturalist and Merlin, posting in the BirdPhilly group on Telegram, or even bringing them to the meetings.
Marty Dellwo had a second-hand report of the first Philadelphia record of a Swallow-tailed Kite. There were no photos, but the description was good.
Nilesh Shah said he observed an unbelievable amount of bird activity at Stroud Preserve. He said he was impressed by the sparrows, both the individual numbers and the species. He said he had Fox and Field Sparrows in addition to the usual species.
Manny Dominguez reported four Horned Grebes at the Navy Yard this afternoon. He also had ten Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm and Pine Warblers, and a Hermit Thrush this morning at FDR Park.
Steve Mattan said that his yard in Southampton, Burlington County has had Louisiana Waterthrush, Barred Owls calling at night, Eastern Phoebes, Wood Ducks in the woods at the back, and Pine Warblers singing.
Programs: Barb Bassett
Barb announced that the next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 19th. From 5 pm to 6:15 pm, DVOC has an exclusive invitation to attend the Conversations with Birds exhibit at the Academy. The original specimens from historic City Hall window strikes (1899 and 1906) are showcased at the exhibit. You have to register for this part through the DVOC website.
For the second part of the evening, DVOC members are invited to attend the ‘Academy Town Square’ at the auditorium. The topic for the evening is Grassland: Preserving Bird Habitat with Zoe Warner and it will be moderated by WHYY’s Maiken Scott. For more information and to attend the Town Square register on the Academy’s event page. The Town Square is a pay-as-you-wish program starting at $0, with the recommended amount being $15.
More information on the Meetings page of the DVOC website for this and other upcoming meetings.
Evening Program
Art McMorris, chairperson of the Billings Committee, said that Bob Billings was a long-term member who had the idea of giving an annual monetary award for the person seeing the most species of birds in a calendar year. He left money to fund a cash award each year. Art expressed thanks to Bob for his foresight and generosity and to Liz, his wife and Karen Walter, his daughter, who were present at the meeting.
Art then announced that Ken Walsh was the winner of the 2022 Bob Billings Big Year Award. Ken had 272 species of birds in the DVOC program area, including one species new to the count (Hermit Warbler).
After receiving the award, Ken gave a brief presentation of his Big Year effort and showed us some of the sketches he made while in the field.
Barb gave us a history of the Billings competition and tidbits from the lives of the Billings family. She then went over the rules of the competition and explained how the initial donation from Bob Billings was augmented through donations from club members, especially Jewel and Hart Rufe. Barb then took us through the past winners and gave a chance to past winners who were present to give a quick summary of their Big Year. She ended the evening with a birds-eye view of various statistics from the competition through the years.
The full presentation is available on Youtube.
Right row coming forward: Barb Bassett, Rick Wainstein, Linda Timlin, Kaitlyn Evans, Lauren Diamond
Left row coming forward: Gregg Gorton, Ken Walsh, Debbie Beer, Art McMorris, Nilesh Shah, Marty Dellwo
Adjournment
After the presentation and questions, the meeting was adjourned at 9:06 pm.