January Field Trip: Dutch Gap, January 20

The first Williamsburg Bird Club field trip of 2024 will be to Dutch Gap Conservation Area in Chester, Virginia on Saturday, January 20.  Rose Ryan will lead our trip, which usually focuses on wintering waterfowl.  And the ducks are there – recent postings in eBird show 9-11 species. In addition, the brushy areas along the inlet road provide good cover for sparrows and other passerines. Last year, the group identified 54 species in total.

We’ll meet in the parking lot of the Henricus Historical Park at 9 a.m., and bird through most of the morning. FYI, I’m not planning to organize carpooling on this field trip.  The address in Google Maps is 251 Henricus Park Road, Chester, VA 23836. 

September Meeting: James Abbott “Birding the James River Watershed”

Quarterpath Recreation Center (see below) and via Zoom: Presentation by James Abbott, “Birding the James River Watershed.”

We will be meeting at a new location in September. Join us on Wednesday, September 20, at 6:00 p.m. at the Quarterpath Recreation Center (Meeting Room 2; 202 Quarterpath Road, Williamsburg), as James Abbott, Senior Environmental Educator and Master Captain for the James River Association, shares with us his tips for birding within the James River watershed. The James River watershed is the largest in Virginia, covering about a quarter of the state. It stretches from northwest of Roanoke at the West Virginia border to Highland County and runs east through Charlottesville, Richmond, and into the Hampton Roads area. This presentation will highlight the best birding in the watershed through the seasons.

May 24 Meeting: Jan Lockwood’s Amazing Trip to Kenya

NOTE: This is the fourth Wednesday, not the third.

Join us on Wednesday, May 24 (fourth Wednesday of the month) at 6:00 p.m. as Jan Lockwood, a WBC member, shares with us her amazing birding adventure, “The Best of Kenya!” This will be a hybrid meeting (in- person and via Zoom) at the Williamsburg Library Theater on Scotland Street.

April Meeting: W&M Students Present Their Research

April 19: 6:00 p.m. (in person at the Williamsburg Library and via Zoom): Presentations by W&M students awarded a Bill Sheehan/Ruth Beck Ornithology Research Grant by the WBC.

Join us on Wednesday, April 19, at 6:00 p.m. for an exciting evening to hear firsthand the research results from our 2022-2023

College of William & Mary grant recipients. This will be a hybrid meeting (in-
person and via Zoom) at the Williamsburg Library theater on Scotland Street.

Three students will give presentations:

  • Elizabeth Elliott, “Heat-induced Calling Affects 
    Embryonic Vibrations: Scrambled Eggs or Genine Feedback?”
  • Joseph Di Liberto, “Full Metal Sparrow: Examining the Effects of Sublethal Lead on Ecologically-important Behaviors in a Commensal Songbird.”
  • Moira Meehan, “Novel Approach to the Detection of Avian Window Collisions.”