Upcoming BOC Meetings/Programs – September 2024 through May 2025

COVID Policy for in person meetings. - Your Board of Directors asks:  If you are feeling ill, whether with a cold, flu or you have recently been exposed to COVID, or are awaiting the results of a test for COVID-19, please be considerate stay home.  Consider wearing a mask if you wish to minimize your risk for contracting one of these viruses. A highly effective mask (N95, KN95, or KF94) is recommended.

Meeting Location and time

- In-person meetings will be held at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center in the McConnell Hall as in the past. The meetings start promptly at 7:30 pm

- ZOOM meeting invitation links will be emailed to BOC members in good standing several days beforehand. If you haven’t received one by the Wednesday before the meeting you may email a request to Mike Slater at paplantings@gmail.com. The public is also very welcome to participate by emailing a request for the meeting link. The meetings start promptly at 7:30 pm

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Friday, March 14, 2025: 

 Birding in the Footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt:  Pousada Rio Roosevelt 

Robert (Bob) Sprague, Douglassville PA 

(live, in-person at Nolde Forest EEC): 

 Pousada Rio Roosevelt is a remote fishing camp along the river named for our 26th president.  Hidden deep within the rainforest of Brazil's Amazon Basin, the enclave is difficult to access.  Once there, however, it offers an extraordinary chance to view many hundreds of tropical birds and other wildlife.  Bob's talk includes photos of a newly described ant-wren species." 

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April 11, 2025 (in person only) at Nolde Forest  - Members’ Night - Rediscovered journals by Charlie Schaich from 1953 to 1957offer insights into post-war birdwatching and hint at a rivalry between alpha birders Earl L. Poole and Maurice Broun. Presentation by Bill Uhrich, BOC member and historian.  Two other speakers to be persuaded and announced.

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 Wednesday evening May 7, 2025  , BOC and Mengel Natural History Society Annual Dinner - 

 "Let's Work Together for the Birds" Joan Maloof PhD, Old-Growth Forest Network, Easton, MD founder.

· Where: State Hill Craft Cocktails and Kitchen, 1 Wellington Blvd, Reading PA 19610. 

Cost per person, $40.00

Registration ifo will be available soon!

Red-bellied Woodpecker Photo by Mike Slater

Have you seen something in the avian world that left you speechless? Do you have a short topic that might

educate, enlighten or entertain your fellow Baird Club members? We are revitalizing the popular

“Members’ Night”. BOC’s board is asking for participants to share in possibly three brief speaking segments.

Do you have approximately 5 - 15 minutes to take us pictorially anywhere in the world of ornithology? As of

this writing, one approximately 20-minute segment has been claimed. But there’s plenty more presentation

space available for YOU to be among our speakers.

Envision your topic; budget the time and specify how much you’ll need, then stake your claim to at least 15

minutes of birding club fame! First-come/first-served. No polished speaking skill necessary. Contact board

member Russ Hoffman by phone or e-mail (C: 484-794-7053, russhoff@yahoo.com) to be a part of this

Yellow-breasted Chat photo by Russ Hoffman

January 12, 2024, 7:30 pm ZOOM only*

“Mature Forest Management: Wood Thrush Habitat and Opportunities for Carbon Forestry” – N. Scott Parkhill, Audubon Mid-Atlantic’s Forest 

Video link

Program Manager. Join Scott as he discusses opportunities to manage mature forests for bird habitat while integrating the emerging field of carbon forestry. While more intensive forest habitat management can sometimes pay for itself with the material removed, mature forest habitat management is often a more difficult-to-fund activity for private landowners. The emerging field of climate resilient forestry, with the co-benefits of carbon sequestration and storage, offers new approaches to mature forest bird habitat management. Examining the habitat requirements of one of Pennsylvania’s favorite forest birds, the wood thrush, this presentation will show what interventions can be taken in your mature forest to help the wood thrush and many other mature forest birds.

February 9, 2024, 7:30 pm

“The Difference of Birding in Ohio” – Ken Lebo, Past B.O.C. President

Video Link

After leaving Berks County three years ago and moving to the Dayton, Ohio area, Ken will share his new experiences birding in SW Ohio’s metro-parks, fields, and lakes. He will also share with us some interesting differences in the other animals he studies, including moths, butterflies, dragonflies, and wildflowers.

 March 8, 2024, 7:00 pm
“A Defense of the Unholy Trio” – Bernard “Billy” Brown, nature writer for Grid magazine, co-host of the Urban Wildlife Podcast, and cofounder of local nature hub PhillyNature.org.

Video Link

 Pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows are the most abundant and easily observed birds in urban settings. They can be entertaining to watch and listen to. Give them a chance, and you might even appreciate their beauty. Nature writer Billy Brown discusses their history, their place in the urban food web, and why he recommends that beginning birders start with the most disrespected birds in the Philly region. 

Video of the Zoom meeting  

“Do Female Birds Sing? “ - Dr. Lauryn Benedict, University of Northern Colorado

They certainly do! Female bird song is more common and widespread than is generally appreciated. This presentation offers an overview of the diversity of female songs, including a few used in spectacular partner duets. Backyard birders are encouraged to advance a growing body of knowledge by listening to singing females.

Dec. 2023 - Zoom Meeting 

Dr. Robert Curry, Villanova University - Dr. Curry is returning to present new findings in the Black-capped and Carolina Chickadee contact zone where the species hybridize. This long-running study now focuses on rapid northward movement of the hybrids. Collaborative work with the Lovette Lab at Cornell has identified a strong signal linking the hybrid-zone movement with climate change. New information from graduate student research focuses on changes in the Nolde Forest population. 

7:30 PM at Location: Nolde Forest EEC, 

(In person only, no Zoom*)

To paraphrase Thoreau, I have traveled much in Reading. A layoff and COVID-19 isolation allowed me to explore the bird life possibilities within the city limits. We'll talk about the places, the people and the birds I encountered during my City of Reading Big Year counts. 

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Fox Sparrow at Angelica Park

Photo by Russ Hoffman

Mar 11, 2022 7:30pm - American Kestrel Conservation: Successful Partnership, PGC and the Birding Community  - Dan Mummert, PGC, Wildlife Diversity Biologist In 2015, the American Kestrel was added to Pennsylvania’s list of species of conservation concern due to a loss of nearly half their population since the mid-1960’s throughout North America. In response, the PA Game Commission’s southeast region created a kestrel conservation initiative that is working to learn more about their local population and help in their conservation. This presentation will discuss this program and the team effort it has been between the PGC and the birding community.  

Feb 11, 2022 7:30 pm - Ecology of the Northern Clapper Rail - meeting by Zoom only

Elisa Elizondo, University of Delaware, Ph.D. candidate

It's spring! Time to head for the coastal marshes with hopes of glimpsing elusive clapper rails (Rallus crepitans crepitans). The Saltmarsh Habitat Avian Research Program (tidalmarshbirds.org) is 

dedicated to the study of salt marsh birds and recent efforts led by Lisa Elizondo seek to uncover more information regarding this secretive species. This program will include recent data from Delaware on clapper rail nesting ecology and movement patterns, including the first chick survival data and the first GPS tag data.

(Meeting Via Zoom Only)

Read some more about the Clapper Rail research.

 Photo: A GPS tagged Clapper Rail at the Delaware Woodland Beach Wildlife Area (Photo: Elisa Elizondo, University of Delaware)