John McNamara
WCBC member John McNamara will tell us about his travels in northern Peru.
John is a long-time member of the WCBC who is a serious bird photographer. He can often be seen on club trips providing advice to participants on the use of their optics.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
John McFarland
John & Karen were volunteers at Santa Ana NWR along the Rio Grande in Texas, October - December 2024. In that time period and through various bird guides, they got to know many of the hot spots of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This presentation will showcase many of the specialties of this area and give you insight on how you too can easily bird this unique region.
John & Karen have been avid birders for over 25 years. They retired about five years ago and travel the US via RV.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Will Krohn
Purple Martins are the largest species of swallow in North America and, in the east, they nest almost entirely in human-constructed nesting colonies. Southeastern PA is one of two strongholds for Purple Martins in the state, and some of the largest colonies in Pennsylvania are in Chester and Delaware Counties. Purple Martins are a model organism for studying the migration and movement of songbirds due to their large size, conspicuous nature, and proximity to humans. They’re also a strong indicator of overall ecosystem health. Will's research seeks to uncover the rates at which young Purple Martins return to and disperse from the natal colony after hatching. Understanding how far Purple Martins travel from the natal colony is especially important since humans must construct all nesting colonies for the species. Purple Martins have declined by approximately 38% since 1970, so quantifying the rates and distances at which martins disperse will be a key tool for the conservation and management of the species. The Pennsylvania Game Commission and potentially other agencies will be able to use the information he collects in determining where they can best construct new colonies to bolster populations and connectivity, helping steer the recovery of this beloved bird.
Will Krohn is an M.S. student in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, studying dispersal in Purple Martins for his thesis. Will received his B.A. from Colgate University in 2023, where he double-majored in Biology and Environmental Studies. Since graduating, Will has worked as a technician on numerous avian research and conservation projects around the country, and in 2025, Will started his Master's at UD. Will is originally from Bucks County, PA, and he is an avid PA birder. In his free time, Will also enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and anything else that gets him out in nature.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
John Mercer & Dorothy Bedford
Club members John & Dorothy will tell us about their trip to Papua New Guinea for the grand opening of the Comongi Lodge. The lodge is in the mountains of Papua New Guinea and hosts a variety of special birds like Stephanie's Astrapia and other Birds-of-Paradise. This travelog will highlight some of the amazing birds found in Papua New Guinea, many of which are only found in that area on the surrounding islands.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Coordinated by TBD
Every year, we end our meetings and presentations on the first Monday in June with a showing of members' photos. If you would like to contribute and show your photos, below is the process for getting the photos to TBD. This is quite a bit of work for the coordinator, so please get your pictures to TBD as soon as you can.
1. Maximum 50 photos per participating member
(depending on the number of people that want to show pictures, TBD may need to make a selection and pair the numbers down a bit. We think the absolute maximum number of photos should not exceed 300. E.g. if 7 people send 50 photos each, TBD will take out 7 photos per submission to bring it down to 301).
2. The photos need to be in JPEG format. Ideally each photo file should be 2Mb or less. However, if you don't know how to compress your files, TBD with do so himself if it becomes too much for the Powerpoint presentation file
3. Each file name should include the name of the bird. If you want to also show on the slides the location where the photos were taken, please include the name of the location also in the file name, or include a Word document with the cross reference of location to the file name. TBD will then make sure that the location is shown on the slides.
4. The photos should preferably be sent to TBD via websites such as DROPBOX or WETRANSFER. These services are free if you don't exceed 2 Gb for the 50 photos combined.
5.TBD's email address is TBD
6. Please make sure to get your photos to TBD by May 15th at the very latest. Earlier submissions are encouraged.
7. If you want to give the photos to TBD on a memory stick or a CD, get in touch with him via phone (cell: TBD) or via email to discuss day, time and location to hand over the memory stick or the CD, You can also mail a memory stick or CD to his home address at TBD.
NOTE: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Patty Rehn
A big year of birding requires unique drive and dedication. To be competitive, you must be ready to go out in all kinds of weather, willing to drop everything in pursuit of rarities, and able to chase birds in crazy places at crazy times.
In 2013, Patty Rehn decided to participate in the Bob Billings Big Year, sponsored by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC). She was determined to top the leaderboard in birding the “Billings” territory in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. There was no Telegram or Discord social media at that time, and she was working full-time as a teacher in Philadelphia, but she martialed every resource to find more than 350 bird species including some amazing rarities for the region.
In a lively presentation, Patty Rehn shares the highs and lows, challenges and adventures associated with her big year of birding. Tune in to discover what it takes to be part of the quest to see as many bird species as possible in 365 days.
An avid birder for more than 20 years, Patty is a longtime naturalist at Rancocas Nature Center, NJ, and member of the all-women “Raven LunaChicks” World Series of Birding team. In addition to birding, she enjoys photography, hiking, crafting, reading, and traveling the world to see more birds! Patty lives in Burlington County, NJ, with her partner Steve, turtle Magnus, a cat, and many critters in her wildlife-friendly yard.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Prof Amber Rice, Lehigh University
When hybridization occurs, selection against hybrids can maintain species barriers. Learning and memory can be important for fitness in many species, but whether cognition is impacted by hybridization is not well understood. Black-capped and Carolina chickadees naturally hybridize, and also rely on learning and memory to cache and retrieve food as an adaptation for overwinter survival. My research on wild-caught adult chickadees indicates that hybrid chickadees show reduced spatial memory, which persists even after we standardized diet and rearing environment. Much of this reduction in memory may be explained by genetic incompatibilities, but our work also suggests that chickadee gut microbiomes may be influencing their cognition.
Amber completed a BA at the College of Wooster in Ohio, followed by a PhD at the University of North Carolina. She first began working with birds during her postdoc at Uppsala University in Sweden. Amber started her faculty position at Lehigh University in 2011. Across her career, Amber has worked with study systems including plants, spiders, toads, and birds, but her interests have always centered around understanding how biodiversity arises and is maintained.
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Jim Wright
TBD
Bio TBD
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Prof Uehling
TBD
Bio TBD
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Ross Gallardy
TBD
Bio TBD
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Speaker TBD
TBD
Bio TBD
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.
Speaker TBD
TBD
Bio TBD
Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.