This was a hybrid meeting, broadcast on Zoom. We had a speaker and a live audience in the BEES classroom and the meeting was broadcast on Zoom.
Call to Order: President Barb Bassett
Call to Order: 7:30 PM
Attendees: 33 on Zoom
In person: 8
Linda Widdop moved to approve minutes of the last meeting and Martin Dellwo seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Committee Reports
Membership – Barb Bassett for Rebecca Reicherter
No new members 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 |
| Oct 4 | 9:30-11:30am | Center City birding with Parkway Central Library | Holger Pflicke |
| Oct 5 | 8:00 – 10:30am | Fort Washington State Park – with Liberty Alliance | Jason Porter & Katie Eberhart |
| Oct 5 | 8:30 – 10:00am | Wister Woods Park and Wakefield Park | Sean Bradley |
| Oct 5 | 9:30 – 11:00am | Bartram’s Garden | Holger Pflicke |
| Oct 8 | 7:30 – 9:00am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| Oct 9 | 8:00 – 9:30am | Thursday Mornings at Wetherill Park (Montco) | Martin Selzer |
| Oct 10 | 8:30 – 10:30am | Mt. Moriah Cemetery | Manny Dominguez |
| Oct 11 | 8:30 – 9:30am | Fernhill Park | Holger Pflicke |
| Oct 11 | 10:00 – 12:00pm | East Falls Birding with Falls of Schuylkill Library | Holger Pflicke |
| Oct 15 | 7:30 – 9:00am | Wednesday Spring Bird Walks at Lorimer Park & Fox Chase Farm | Linda Widdop |
| Oct 16 | 8:00 – 9:30am | Thursday Mornings at Wetherill Park (Montco) | Martin Selzer |
Conservation – Manny Dominguez for Rob Karchnyak and Perri Strawn
Conservation Committee is still asking for nominees for the Rosalie Edge award. The committee is also moving their follow up Write for the Birds event to October 21, pending approval on using the Discovery Center. Rob and Perri will be attending a webinar that they will incorporate into the event.
Judy Stepenaske participated in an event highlighting “Solar” on September 21 at Love Park. From Judy “I had info from the PA Audubon Council on our guidelines for environmentally responsible and bird friendly solar, native plants, Bird Safe Philly and making your windows safe for birds”
Billings – Art McMorris
Go Birding!
Cassinia – Holger Pflicke
No report.
Communications – Navin Sasikumar
Navin Sasikumar announced that Jason Hall will be the speaker for the banquet which will be held on November 14.
Announcements
Barb Bassett announced that long term honorary DVOC members Pat and Clay Sutton recently purchased an unpublished 2 volume set of Cape May hawk flights 1930-1935.The two books were purchased from Buteo Books and they will be donating them to the Academy Library. (images will be attached below)
Barb Bassett also announced that today (October 2) marks the 5-year anniversary of the mass bird collision event that killed 1,500 birds in Center City Philadelphia. This event was the impetus for the creation of Bird Safe Philly.
Barb Bassett also made the following announcement:
The Constitution Committee has been reviewing and editing the Constitution and Bylaws of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. This was done to correct some terminology and to reflect the technology of today such as email and on-line meetings. Per our Constitution / Bylaws, notification of these changes to a quorum of members at a meeting, is required prior to voting. In addition, a copy of the marked-up document showing the current and replacement text must be sent either by email or regular mail to all members. The changes are highlighted in red (text to be deleted) and green (text to be added). The DVOC Council has already reviewed and agrees with the changes. We believe we have a quorum of members (minimum 35) at this meeting. This will be double checked to count members only. If there is a quorum, we will vote yes or no at the next meeting on Oct. 16th.
Local Notes
Barb Bassett observed multiple raptors flying in Cape May, she also mentioned there was a day flying Common Nighthawk over the hawk watch yesterday.
Patrick McGill noted several Red-breasted Nuthatches on his block in Germantown, Philadelphia recently. Patrick also had some Common Nighthawks, 3 adult Bald Eagles together and 2 Northern Harriers migrating over yesterday as well.
Peter Hamner mentioned his observation of his 3rd Philadelphia Vireo this fall at John Heinz NWR on Sunday after two together at Houston Meadow a week before.
Martin Dellwo noted at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, he had up to 12 species of warbler, a Brown Creeper, Red-tailed Hawk, Wood Thrush, a number of Pewee/Empid Flycatchers, that were not vocal.
Art McMorris heard his fist Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of fall in his yard in Bala Cynwyd, as well as Red-shouldered Hawks, and observed that the calls of both species are quite similar.
Nilesh Shah noted that he actually saw a Wood Thrush, as opposed to just hearing it, and four Black-and-White Warblers in Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust in Montgomery County
Ethan Kang noted that there were a good number of Philadelphia Vireos in the region this fall, including 1 he observed at Clayton Park, Delaware County.
Linda Rowan mentioned that she is hearing a Screech Owl nightly in Levittown, Bucks County.
Programs
Next meeting: October 16, 2025
Speaker: Ornistudies – Christie Riehl – Beyond the Family: Cooperation and and Communication in a Social Bird
Evening Program
Cin-Ty Lee & Andrew Birch (remote) – Flycatchers Demystified
Cin-Ty and Andrew Birch are co-authors of the recent Princeton Field Guide series to the Flycatchers of North America. They discussed how a more holistic approach, using visual clues, vocalizations, habitat, seasonal status, and range, could help in identification of this group of birds that have long confounded birders of every skill level.
Adjournment
After the presentation and some questions, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm.