| 1 13:00 -15:00 01/01/2024 1000 Lakeshead Dr., Williamsburg, Va Please join birding enthusiasts Monday, January 1, 2024, at New Quarter Park at the Fire Circle for the “New Year’s Day Bird and Birder Show.” The 2024 gathering will be the 18th “almost-annual” event. We’ll convene at the Fire Circle between 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. If it’s a chilly day, the park may have a fire going in the fire circle. Relax and visit with new and old friends on the benches or venture out around the park to find our wintering birds. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (photo above taken a few years ago at NQP) should end up on our list for the park this day! The address for New Quarter Park is 1000 Lakeshead Drive, Williamsburg. You can find directions to the park on its website at https://www.yorkcounty.gov/1816/New-Quarter-Park. Signage and the Park brochure on the website show the path from the parking lot to the Fire Circle. Come as you are! Bring visiting family, friends, and children; come early, stay late, or just drop by. Remember, every bird is a year bird on New Year’s Day! I look forward to welcoming you to celebrate the start of 2024.
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14 | 15 | 16 | 17 19:00 -21:00 01/17/2024 Join us on the 17th to go birding in New Zealand with Dixie Sommers! New Zealand’s geologic and human history have yielded a unique set of birds. The islands are far from other land masses, were created by tectonic and volcanic processes, occupied by humans relatively recently, and are, of course, islands. All these factors encourage evolution of endemic plants and animals, including many endemic birds: five kiwi species, two endemic penguins, the odd-looking Wrybill, the ubiquitous Tūī, the South Island Takahē —the world’s largest extant rail—and many more. There are also many migratory seabirds as well as introduced species, including some familiar to Virginia birders. Dixie will introduce us to New Zealand’s birds, its conservation challenges and successes, and its beautiful land and seascapes. She visited in November 2022, exploring the North and South Islands as well as Stewart Island, on a tour with Field Guides Birding Tours, as well as spending a week around Auckland before the tour.
| 18 | 19 | 20 09:00 -12:00 01/20/2024 341 Henricus Park Rd., Chester, VA 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. 18:00 -19:30 01/20/2024 1000 Lakeshead Dr., Williamsburg, Va WBC and NQP are having an Owl Prowl Saturday, January 20 at 6pm at New Quarter Park, weather permitting. We will meet in the parking lot at the front gate of the park. Bring flashlights if you have them. We will walk the paved trail into the park listening for owl calls and any other night critters we may hear or possibly see!
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