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: 7:30 PM
Gregg introduced all the officers and welcomed guests.
Attendees: 14 in-person, 29 on Zoom.
Minutes from the last meeting were approved.
Committee Reports
Membership Committee
The following members were added in September: Meredith Elizalde, Patricia Hastie, Jeremy Fahringer, Christian Scheibe
Field Trips – Linda Widdop
Email Linda Widdop, linda@techimpact.org, if interested in leading any field trips.
Upcoming field trips:
- October 7 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm – Carpenter’s Woods with Ed Edge
- October 7 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Haddington Woods and Meadow with Ed Edge
- October 8 @ 8:00 am – 11:00 am – Carpenter’s Woods with Tanya Burnett and In Color Birding Club
- October 8 @ 8:00 am – 10:30 am – Tacony Creek Park with Holger Pflicke
- October 11 @ 7:30 am – 9:00 am – Wednesday Morning Fall Migration Walks at Lorimer Park with Linda Widdop
- October 12 @ 8:00 am – 9:30 am – Thursday Bird Walks at Harriet Wetherill Park with Martin Selzer
Linda said that we are looking for walk leaders for Palmyra Cove Park as well as the Discovery Center.
Conservation – Gregg Gorton for Anne Bekker
The Conservation Committee is seeking nominations for the Rosalie Edge Award, to be issued at this year’s banquet to “one or more [DVOC] non-members, not necessarily a part of the birding community, in recognition of work done that has made a significant contribution to conservation of the environment.” Please send any nominations with a brief write-up about your candidate to Anne Bekker at conservation@dvoc.org by Friday, October 13.
In addition, there is a request in the weekly digest for nominations for the Witmer Stone Award (to be sent to Gregg Gorton) and the Julian Potter Award (to be sent to Matt Halley).
Billings – Art McMorris
Go Birding
Banquet – Lauren Diamond
The banquet this year will be on Friday, November 17th. The speaker will be Scott Whittle, founder of Terra and co-author of the Warbler Guide, who will be giving a talk titled, Listening for Life: Saving Birds with Bioacoustics. Tickets will be available in the next few days. Keep an eye on Facebook, the weekly digest, and your email for the ticket registration link. Tickets are $59 and it will be a buffet-style dinner with a cash bar.
Communication – Navin Sasikumar
No report
DEI – Navin Sasikumar
No report
Announcements
Gregg Gorton mentioned that the third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas will begin in 2024. It is a 5-year long project that will provide a snapshot of the distribution, abundance, and breeding status of birds in PA. More details can be found in the weekly digest or at this link.
Local Notes
Linda Widdop said she had Dark-eyed Juncos at her house in the Villas, Cape May.
Rob Bierregaard also had juncos in his Wynnewood yard on September 28th.
Barb Bassett reported that a Snowy Egret has been frequenting Big Timber Westville Creek, Gloucester County.
Linda Rowan had two adult Bald Eagles on Sunday, October 1, and a Peregrine Falcon on Thursday, October 5 in Levittown, Bucks County, PA.
Steve Mattan said that he had a Golden-winged Warbler, White-throated Sparrows, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers at Palmyra Cove. He also reported a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Piney Place in Southampton, NJ.
Bert Filemyr has a continuing Ruby-throated Hummingbird in his yard in Meadowbrook, PA.
Robert Horton reported a Western Kingbird at Nockamixon State Park on September 24.
Programs: Barb Bassett
Barb announced that the next event is a special meeting on Friday, October 13, and will feature Dr. Matthew Halley as speaker. His talk is titled “Birds of the Philadelphia Museum – New Light on the History of American Ornithology and the Legacy of Alexander Wilson”. Prior to the meeting, members are invited to attend the Illuminating Birds exhibit at the Academy. Matt’s talk starts at 7 pm and doors will open at 6:30 pm. Since this is a special meeting, there will be no club business and Matt will share his screen via Zoom.
More information is on the Meetings page of the DVOC website for this and other upcoming meetings.
Evening Program
Andrew Farnsworth gave a fascinating and informative talk on monitoring bird migration and how radar data can be used to estimate the number of birds that are migrating any single night. He said that 70% of North American birds are migratory and 80% of them migrate at night. This makes light pollution from buildings a big threat and approximately 340 million birds are killed annually due to collisions with buildings. He said that while radar can estimate the amount of birds in the sky, it is impossible to detect which species might be migrating. New tools that combine radar data with nocturnal call monitoring can be used to bridge that gap and the future potential of what remains for us to learn is inspiring.
You can watch the full presentation on YouTube.
Adjournment
After the presentation and questions, the meeting was adjourned at 9:13 pm.