Sign into zoom at 7 for our informal gathering, then enjoy the film.

The film takes you in the field with eagle researchers in Wyoming as they strive to discover how the birds are adapting to the many challenges facing them: climate change to sprawl, lead poisoning, energy development. Rappel into eagle nests; go behind the scenes at wildlife rehabilitation centers; hear stories of Indigenous peoples’ connections to the eagle. Cinematographers Melissa and David Rohm carefully constructed their vision for the film by capturing some truly unique and stunning portraits of the eagles and their habitat in the sagebrush steppe. The film is narrated by well-known naturalist Kenn Kaufman.

This program, sponsored by Patuxent Bird Club and PGAS, will be presented via Zoom and is free and open to the public. There is no need to pre-register for this meeting. Simply sign in to Zoom using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82208474909?pwd=WUw4RCt1R3pTVFZkbnJFREdHSnRhQT09

If joining by phone, dial +1 301 715 8592 (Maryland & Washington DC area), meeting ID 858 4996 8649.

Or use one of the following depending on your location:

+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston

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.

———-

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.

Duck Stamp History and Importance to Conservation

Suzanne Fellows will speak to us about the Federal Duck Stamp Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Duck Stamps are not postage stamps. The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, as they are officially known, are one of the most successful conservation tools available to help preserve our wildlife resources. Wildfowl hunters are required to buy the stamps annually and display them on their hunting licenses. In addition, the stamps are highly sought after by collectors and wildlife art aficionados. Funds from the sale of the stamp are used to purchase wetland habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System, leading to the purchase of over 8 million acres for wildlife conservation in the program’s 80+ year history. The artwork on the stamp changes annually and is selected through an open competition among wildlife artists. Suzanne will talk with us about the history of the Duck Stamp, the annual competition, the junior competition for students in K- 12th grades, and the impacts of using the proceeds from Duck Stamp sales for conservation purchases.

About the lecturer

Suzanne Fellows is the Director of the Federal Duck Stamp Program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She holds a BS degree in wildlife ecology from the University of North Dakota and an MS in wildlife management from Utah State University. She began her USFWS career at refuges in Colorado and Kansas prior to joining the Migratory Bird Program in Denver, Colorado in 2000. In 2013 she joined the Duck Stamp Office at USFWS Headquarters. She has been involved in the Junior Duck Stamp Program since 1996 and currently serves as the national coordinator for the program.

———-

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.

Telemetry Studies of Sora Rails on the Patuxent River

Greg Kearns will discuss his recent work on Sora tagged with microchips that enable their migration routes to be tracked remotely via tracking station beacons on the Patuxent River and elsewhere in the United States. The research is part of an international consortium called Motus (Latin for movement). The newest MOTUS sensor station beacon in our area was recently installed at the Patuxent Research Refuge near the National Wildlife Visitor Center, thanks to a grant from the Maryland Ornithological Society, in cooperation with the Refuge,Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and Friends of Patuxent. Greg has a fascinating story to tell about his years of research and fieldwork studying Sora and Wild Rice on the Patuxent River and throughout the Bay. His energy and enthusiasm will inspire you.

About the lecturer

Greg Kearns is a Senior Park Naturalist for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) at the Patuxent River Park in Prince George’s County. His work of more than 35 years in the Jug Bay Natural Area has had a major impact in the areas of habitat restoration and avian research. His intensive study of the relationship between Sora, Wild Rice, and Canada Geese led to a project to restore the Wild Rice marshes of Jug Bay, benefitting Sora as well as many other species. Another line of research has followed Sora on their annual migrations using a combination of trapping, banding, and now, remote telemetry. Apart from this, Greg has worked tirelessly as an educator, incorporating citizen science into his programs and advocating wetland conservation through presentations at schools, senior centers, and environmental organizations throughout the Chesapeake Bay Region. In 2017, Greg’s work was recognized with a Conservation and Restoration Award from the Environmental Law Institute’s National Wetland Awards Program. Greg was also named Conservationist of the Year by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in 2006 for his work on the restoration of the wild rice marshes in Jug Bay. (Biographical information in part courtesy of the Environmental Law Institute.)

———-

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.

December meeting

Descriptions coming soon

About the lecturer

Descriptions coming soon

———-

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.

November meeting

Descriptions coming soon

About the lecturer

Descriptions coming soon

———-

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.

Presentation

The Bird Banding Laboratory was established in 1920 to coordinate bird banding activities across the United States and its Territories. Bird banding has been widely practiced in the United States since the 1950s and has evolved into a program of approximately 1700 master banders and 5000 subpermittees who band more than one million birds annually. While bird banding was originally a practice where birds were marked with numbered metal bands to gain knowledge about the movement patterns of birds after banded birds were recovered and band numbers reported, in recent decades, technological advances have greatly expanded our ability to track bird movements. Satellite transmitters, geolocators, and other devices now allow for more detailed tracking of the movements of individual birds and provide remarkable insights into migratory behaviors that we never could have imagined. Because birds are good indicators of the health of the environment, the status and trends of bird populations are critical for identifying and understanding many ecological issues and for developing effective science, management and conservation practices. This presentation provides a history of the bird banding program in the United States and its contributions towards advancing the scientific understanding of bird migration and other aspects of avian ecology.

About the lecturer

Bruce Peterjohn moved to Maryland in 1991 to become coordinator for the Breeding Bird Survey for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After serving in that position for nearly 8 years, he worked as a wildlife biologist on various bird population monitoring projects at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. In October 2008, he was appointed Chief of the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory, and has been responsible for the U.S. banding program for the past 11 years. When not in his office, Bruce is an active hummingbird bander with an interest in the winter hummingbirds of the Mid-Atlantic region.

———-

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.

Mexico & Monarchs

Lisa and Chris Garrett will discuss their recent bucket-list trip to Michoacán, Mexico, to visit the El Rosario Biosphere Reserve, the largest of the Monarch Butterfly overwintering roosts, with over 5 million butterflies this past winter. Gloomy reports of the monarch butterfly’s survival are in the news. Naturalist Lisa Bierer-Garrett and Park Ranger Christopher Garrett will put a positive spin on the news by describing how local folks can do their part to help monarchs and all butterfly species in their own neighborhood garden patch. Discover how planting your garden with milkweeds and other nectar-rich plants help this colony survive. One person can make a difference! The presenters will have photos of birds and butterflies seen on the trip, as well as some of the amazing archaeological sites they visited.

About the lecturers

Lisa Bierer-Garrett is currently the Director of Eco-Tourism for the town of North Beach in Calvert County. Previously, she served as a Park Naturalist with M-NCPPC, leading programs in Prince George’s County parks. She earned certification as a Maryland Master Naturalist at the American Chestnut Land Trust site. Lisa is an active butterfly and monarch researcher, participating in Monarch Butterfly tagging, annual butterfly counts, as well as bird counts, including Project Feeder Watch. Lisa is a long-time member of PGAS and serves on the PGAS Board of Directors. Chris Garrett is a Park Ranger with M-NCPPC parks in Prince George’s County. He is also a talented musician. Together, Chris and Lisa enjoy traveling and enjoying the wonders of the natural world.

———-

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.

The Ordinary, Extraordinary Chimney Swift

Although the hummingbird is the closest taxonomic relative to the swift, swifts certainly did not inherit the hummingbird’s “pretty” genes - but these plain, little birds are extraordinary in so many ways. The Chimney Swift is the only swift that migrates to the Eastern U.S., so Joan will discuss this particular species in regard to anatomy, speed, dexterity, nesting, and migration based on sixteen years of research and observation. During the Baltimore Bird Club’s migration swift watches, we have counted as many as 7,000 Chimney Swifts entering a roosting chimney in less than an hour!

About the lecturer

The first decade and a half of Joan’s adult life was devoted to studying and subsequently teaching medieval art history at the collegiate level. Naturally, she then spent the next three decades as a survey methodologist for health-related studies. In the decade since retirement, she has dedicated herself to birding, travelling extensively throughout North and South America for this purpose. She has been an active Baltimore Bird Club (BBC) member during this time, including a six-year tenure as President. For the past sixteen years, she and two other birding colleagues have sponsored spring and fall swift migration watches for BBC. Joan is the past committee chair and editor of MOS’s Maryland/DC Birding Guide (https://www.mdbirdingguide.com), and brought the Guide to life as a 

———-

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.

[Speaker info]

———-

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.