March 22 at 5:30pm
Dan BrauningTopic: Recovery of the Peregrine Falcon
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83062878294?pwd=VG1iUzlnWVJvQ1loOXJvR055N01lUT09
Meeting ID: 830 6287 8294
Passcode: 048113
Dial by your location: +1 305 224 1968 US (New York)
Dan will provide a broad overview of the statewide, and even national, efforts to bring an endangered species back from the brink. He was privileged to be "hands-on" with this effort from the earliest Peregrine Falcon reintroductions in the 1980s through the federal and state de-listings. The program will give particular attention to the recovery efforts in Williamsport and Lycoming Audubon's contributions over the years. This is a celebration of the restoration of the world's fastest flying bird to Pennsylvania. The program will review how we got here and the grass-root contributions to this recovery.
Dan was raised in Philadelphia and got his education at Geneva College and Penn State. While at Penn State he assisted with Cornell's Peregrine Falcon reintroduction. He got a huge break in 1983 when offered to coordinate Pennsylvania's first Breeding Bird Atlas and edit the resulting book. He joined the Pennsylvania Game Commission as Ornithologist in 1990 and moved to Lycoming County to raise his family, where he oversaw many research and conservation efforts including the state's Breeding Bird Survey, served as Project Director of the Second Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas Project (2004-2009), and coauthored, with Gerald McWilliams, of The Birds of Pennsylvania.
April 26 at 5:30pm
Rob FergusTopic: Lenape Birds
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82776515786?pwd=bUZRZS9rSWtOWUdlZHpLQjdqSFQwUT09
Meeting ID: 827 7651 5786
Passcode: 236815
Dial by your location +1 305 224 1968 US (New York)
Before this was Delaware County, it was part of Lenapehoking, the traditional homeland of the Unami Lenape people and their feathered bird neighbors. This presentation will explore Unami names for the birds, their stories about birds, how they interacted with them, and how birds fit into their world view. Rob Fergus started birding as a kid in Oregon, has a PhD in bird conservation from the University of Texas (Hook’Em Horns!) and teaches geography and environmental studies at Rowan University. Former BCDC President and current Vice-President, Rob's three children have all fledged and he lives at his favorite birding spot (his yard) in Wallingford with his wife and cairnoodle, neither of which are birders.
May 24 at 5:30pm at the James V. Brown Library in Williamsport
Mary BirdsongTopic: Plovers, Terns and Shorebirds Galore: The 2022 Nesting Season at Presque Isle State Park
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89031563649?pwd=SnlsRjdwRmtzbUNDVm1ESE1XWE9ZZz09
Meeting ID: 890 3156 3649
Passcode: 750202
Dial by your location +1 305 224 1968 US (New York)
Discover what new milestones were reached, the continuing intrigue of a philandering male and the ultimate success of plover chicks fledged into the Great Lakes population. Birdsong will also include an update on the continuing attempt by Common Terns to successfully nest at Gull Point, and a few of the season’s most notable migrant shorebirds.
Mary Birdsong is the Lead Shorebird Monitor for Erie Bird Observatory. She has been monitoring shorebirds, particularly Piping Plovers since 2015. She is also the Program Chair for Presque Isle Audubon, a freelance writer and artist. She shares her home with her husband Mike Plyler and two gray tabby cats, and is the proud Busia to three granddaughters.