This was a hybrid meeting, broadcast on Zoom.
Call to Order: President Barb Bassett
Call to Order: 7:30 PM
Attendees: 22 viewers.
In person: 5 (plus Barb, Navin)
Gregg moved to approve minutes of the last meeting and Marty seconded the motion.
Committee Reports
Membership – Barb Bassett for Rebecca Reicherter
No members joined since the last meeting.
Field Trips – Linda Widdop
If you wish to lead a field trip, contact Linda: linda@techimpact.org
Upcoming field trips:
| DATE | TIME | TRIP | LEADER |
| 10/19/24 | 8:30 – 11:00 | Poquessing Creek Park | Holger Pflicke |
| 10/19/24 | 8:30 – 10:00 | Robbins Park (w/LBA) | Nilesh Shah |
| 10/19/24 | 9:00 – 11:00 | Bartram’s Garden | Edge |
| 10/20/24 | 3:00 – 5:30 PM | Haddington Woods | Edge |
| 10/23/24 | 7:30 – 9:00 | Lorimer Park / Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| 10/24/24 | 8:00 – 10:00 | John James Audubon Center | Sandy Grimwade |
| 10/24/24 | 8:00 – 10:30 | Harriett Wetherill Park | Martin Selzer |
| 10/26/24 | 8:00 – 10:30 | Pennypack on the Delaware | Holger Pflicke |
| 10/30/24 | 7:30 – 9:00 | Lorimer Park / Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| 11/9/24 | 8:00 – 10:00 | The Discovery Center | Rob Bierregaard |
| 11/16/24 | 8:30 – 10:00 | Twining Valley Park (w/LBA) | Nilesh Shah |
Conservation – Perri Strawn
No report.
Billings – Art McMorris
Art recommended “Go Birding”!
Banquet – Navin Sasikumar
Navin summarized the details of the banquet. He urged everyone to get tickets.
Cassinia – Barb Bassett for Holger Pflicke
The new issue will be coming out shortly.
Communications – Navin Sasikumar
No report
Announcements
Barb mentioned Project Monarch being run by the Cape May Point Science Center. It allows participants to detect specially tagged Monarch butterflies through an app downloaded on their phone. It is a great opportunity to contribute to the research on the migration behavior of these beautiful creatures.
The Philadelphia Film Festival is underway. Navin has tickets for “Every Little Thing”, being shown this Saturday. Please reach out to him if you want some.
Local Notes
Manny Dominguez mentioned that Holger Pflicke had found a Nelson’s Sparrow at Tacony Creek Park and Rich Ziegler had seen three Cattle Egrets at Heinz NWR. He also reported that Great Cormorants are back – a pair were seen at Pennypack on the Delaware by Marty Dellwo and one by Manny at the Navy Yard. Manny has been seeing Common and Forster’s Terns as well as Bonaparte’s Gulls at the Yard.
Nilesh Shah reported that a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had been seen in Fort Washington State Park along with a range of expected birds. He also mentioned that the raptor counts have been low this year at the Militia Hill Hawk Watch.
Barb Bassett saw Song, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows on the seed pile on Lighthouse Avenue in Cape May. She also saw a number of White Ibises heading south. She reported that a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was seen in Clarksboro in Gloucester County.
Andrew Ednie reported that a Swainson’s Hawk had been seen at Burrow’s Run Preserve in Delaware. It is only the 8th such sighting in the state and the 3rd not associated with a Hawk Watch. Burrow’s Run is the ancestral home of Crawford Greenwalt. Andrew keeps an annual list for Delaware. This year the total to date is 337 species. The best ever total was 354 in 2020.
Programs: Navin Sasikumar
Programs for the rest of 2024:
- November 7th – “The Uehling Lab – Ornithological Studies – What can we learn from cavity-nesting songbirds?” This program will feature four graduate students from the Lab.
- November 15th – Annual Banquet
- December 13th – “A Closer Look at the Gulls of North America”
- December 19th – Photo contest (Remember to submit your photos!)
Evening Program
Tina Morris presented an absorbing program based on her new book entitled, “Return to the Sky: The surprising story of how one woman and seven eaglets restore the Bald Eagle”. Ms. Morris was one of the first women to engage in a raptor reintroduction program. She gave a synopsis of her work to help seven eaglets fledge between 1975 and 1977 in the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in order to reintroduce Bald Eagles in New York state. Her remarkable story sparked a lot of questions from the audience, which was also very complimentary to her for her contributions.
You can watch the recording of the talk on the DVOC YouTube channel.
Adjournment
After the presentation and some questions, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.