March meeting

The Third Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas Project, presented by Gabriel Foley. Breeding Bird Atlases are a great way for birders to explore new birding areas, learn more about the behavior of their local birds, and contribute directly to bird conservation! On January 1, 2020, Maryland and DC are beginning their 3rd Breeding Bird Atlas, or BBA3. BBA3 will be a survey of the birds breeding in Maryland and DC. It will rely on volunteer citizen scientists for its data collection. BBA3 will use the popular website eBird for data collection, so collecting data for BBA3 will be different from previous atlases. Gabriel Foley, Coordinator for BBA3, will be discussing what the Atlas is, how it is used to conserve birds and their habitats, and how you can get involved.

About the lecturer

About the presenter: Gabriel Foley is an avid birder from the prairie province of Saskatchewan, Canada, located north of Montana and North Dakota. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. For his master’s thesis, also at the University of Regina, he researched nighthawk habitat use in Canada’s boreal forest. Gabriel has also published research on acoustic analysis and interactions between bats and nighthawks around the Washington Monument in D.C. Over the past decade, birds have taken him around the world. He studied White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nest-building behavior at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, as a visiting researcher. He has worked on research projects in Alaska, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nunavut, coordinated Saskatchewan’s nightjar surveys, and hosted a weekly nature radio show, The Prairie Naturalist. Now, he is excited to be the Coordinator for the 3rd Maryland-DC Breeding Bird Atlas. You can connect with him on Twitter and Instagram at @birdnirdfoley and read more about BBA3 at https://ebird.org/atlasmddc/home.

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PGAS monthly programs are held on the second Tuesday of each month, September through June, in partnership with the Patuxent Bird Club, a chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society. There are no programs scheduled in July or August. PGAS members are encouraged to attend monthly meetings and non-members are always welcome.

The formal program always begins at 7:30 pm, but doors open at 7:00 for informal conversation, refreshments, and exchange of birding news.  Each program opens with brief statements from leaders of both clubs about upcoming events, items of interest and other club business, followed by the featured speaker with a question-and-answer period afterwards.

The programs are held at the College Park Airport Operations Building, 1909 Corporal Frank Scott Drive, College Park, MD.