Delaware Valley Ornithological Club
Time: 7:37pm (in Commons)
Call To Order:
President: George Armistead
VP: Linda Widdop (absent); Secretary: Gregg Gorton
Minutes from last meeting approved as submitted.
Attendees:
Members present: 20; Guests: Lev Frid & Katie Eberhart
Reports from Council:
none
Committee Reports:
Membership Committee:
Bonnie Witmer
New Members: Olivia Snyder, Max Blaustein, Carl Marcus, John Lemonick, Jonathan Crawford, Ari Rice, George Gerton, Kelly Johnson
New applications received: none
Field Trips:
Discovery Center at East Park Reservoir NOTE: 2 DATES: Oct. 6 & Oct. 27, 2018@8am – 9:30am 3401 Reservoir Drive, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA 19121
Leader: Keith Russell
Join Audubon Philadelphia for a bird walk on the grounds of the newly-opened Discovery Center–a project of the National Audubon Society and Philadelphia Outward Bound School. This site is now accessible to the general public after having been closed for thirty years, and is home to approxi-mately 150 bird species. This one-mile walk should yield some migrating passerines, raptors and waterfowl.
Free to all members and Non-members
–>Please contact Linda if you want to lead a trip outside Philadelphia: Linda@techimpact.org
–>Please contact Tony Croasdale if you want to lead a walk inside Philadelphia (for DVOC’s BirdPhilly initiative): Tony.croasdale@gmail.com
(Details for all walks/trips can be found at http://dvoc.org/activities/field-trips/ )
Programs:
George Armistead (for Linda Widdop)
October 4, 2018@ 7:30pm-9pm (in Commons)
Speaker: Holly Merker “Hawk Watch Warm-up”– An Overview of Hawk Migration
http://dvoc.org/wp/activities/meetings/
Announcements:
George Armistead:
The American Birding Expo will be held again this year at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center beginning on Friday, Sept. 21, continuing on Saturday, Sept. 22, and ending in the afternoon of Sept 23. Rockjumper will sponsor a FREE extension trip to Hawk Mountain on Monday, Sept. 24 100 Station Avenue, Oaks, PA 19456
DVOC members are very much involved as walk leaders and as volunteers to staff the DVOC booth that will be decorated with graphics by Lauren Diamond and Kate Garchinsky. The conservation theme of the Expo this year is the Discovery Center in Fairmount Park, which is a joint project of Audubon and Outward Bound, and which will formally open with a ribbon-cutting on Friday, Sept. 28, followed by an Open House on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 11am-3pm
Anne Bekker:
The Rosalie Edge Award Committee is open for nominations. This award is for a conservation work by one or more non-members of DVOC.
Gregg Gorton:
The Witmer Stone Award Committed is open for nominations. The award goes to a member of DVOC for an outstanding publication that is the result of ornithological research not done by a professional.
Rob Bierregaard:
The Julian Potter Award Committee is open for nominations. The award is given for field ornithological research by a member of DVOC.
Brian Quindlen:
Seeks donation of a tripod or tripod-head for use by his Birding Program at the Garnet Valley School in Delaware County, where he teaches.
Local Notes:
Gregg Gorton: a new member, John Lemonick, who could not be present, sent an email that listed the many species of raptors, as well as other birds such as Red-headed Woodpeckers that he saw flying past the North Lookout at Hawk Mountain on Yom Kippur.
Ann Bekker: saw two Merlins tussling in the air near her house
Bert Filemyr: noted that the potato fields near Bombay Hook are rife with 100’s-1000’s of shorebirds, pipits, Horned Larks, and other birds when the tide in the bay is high, but are empty when the tide is low, since the birds move back and forth from the beaches and other areas at the edge of the bay to the fields. Also, an Anahinga flew over the Militia Hill Hawk Watch.
George Armistead: saw Bobolinks at Bombay Hook, and was able to ID the band on one of them, which turned out to be a male bird first banded in Vermont in 2015. He noted that Bobolinks are a long-distance migrant to the pampas in Venzuela & Argentina, and that species undergoes two molts each year.
Phil Witmer: noted that he has been seeing Blue Jays with missing head feathers due to molt, and commented that they have been gathering in flocks in pre-migration staging.
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Program Speaker:
Stephanie Britten, Staff Member at the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove
“The Life and Art of John James Audubon”
Stephanie gave a compelling and detailed account of Audubon’s life and work, illlustrated by placards (see below). She also introduced us to a denizen of Mill Grove, an Eastern Screech-owl named Scooter, who is imprinted on humans so cannot be released, but enjoys his role as an ambassador from nature.
Stephanie with the very popular Scooter the Owl, who photobombed some members’ selfies
Stephanie lecturing on Audubon
Questions from the audience, including a compliment and a comment by Bert Filemyr (unofficial Club Historian)
Meeting Adjourned:
9:12pm
After Meeting at Cherry Street Tavern:
As usual, some members enjoyed beverages and bird-chat…