Meetings & Programs

Victoria Sindlinger

Longtime volunteer bander Victoria Sindlinger will share the process and importance of migratory songbird banding. We will learn about what questions bird banding can answer, as well as walk through the entire process from capture to data-gathering to release.
 
Victoria has enjoyed nature and in particular birds from a very young age. She is a devoted volunteer at Rushton Woods Preserve, where she has been participating in both songbird and saw-whet owl banding since 2015. In September of 2021, Victoria had the honor of joining the eBird review team in September 2021 for Philadelphia County. Of all her birding interests, she is particularly fervent about conservation, especially in regards to educating the public on how bird collisions with glass can be prevented. This passion led to the creation of “Hope in the Night,” which is an art installment honoring birds and their power to inspire change. Most recently, to extend her outreach efforts for conservation, Victoria has begun working toward a wildlife permit to own and handle raptors for educational purposes. Outside of all things birds, she also enjoys social dancing, travel, leather working, and opera.
 

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

John details his 2023 trip of February 15 to 22 to Thailand, describing his birding in Phetchaburi Township, and touching Kaeng Krachen National Park and the Coast.

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.

Jeff Kenney & Angela Romanczuk

The massive undertaking to catalogue Pennsylvania’s breeding and non-breeding birds known as Pennsylvania Bird Atlas 3 (PBA3) is already underway. PBA3 will only be possible through the efforts of thousands of volunteers carefully logging their data through early 2029. Years of future conservation and land management decisions will be based upon the data collected in the next five years. This session with Chester County Atlas Co-Coordinators Jeff Kenney and Angela Romanczuk will detail how you can contribute and will provide answers to any questions you may have.

Jeff Kenney has lived in Chester County for most of his life. Having been introduced to birding as a child by his father Mike, Jeff’s passion for birds and nature was mostly dormant until being rekindled in 2020. Now an avid (and moderately obsessive) state and county lister, Jeff’s favorite place to bird in Chester County is the Crows Nest Preserve/State Game Lands 43 complex in Elverson. Jeff currently resides in Phoenixville with his two dogs, Vita and Grits, and is a founding board member of In Color Birding Club, as well as a Force of Nature volunteer with Natural Lands.

Angela Romanczuk has lived in multiple Pennsylvania counties, but has spent most of her adult life in Montgomery and Chester counties. While Angela has always loved being outdoors, it wasn’t until 2020 that she was introduced to birding. She now enjoys exploring under-birded areas all over Pennsylvania and is forever on the lookout for the American Woodcock. Angela’s favorite local places to bird are Crow’s Nest Preserve in Chester County, Congo Road Open Space in Montgomery County and her backyard. She is a founding board member of In Color Birding Club and a Force of Nature volunteer with Natural Lands.

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.

Rob Fergus

Description: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: Sheila Martin

Jump on board with WCBC member Sheila Martin as we pictorially explore untamed Patagonia - where some of the world’s most stunning landscapes are filled with wildlife to the max!

Moment by moment, the experience of hiking the walkways around Iguazu Falls is simply nature at its finest.  And, for Sheila, when Plush-crested Jay & Chestnut-eared Aracari appeared in the parking lot, she knew it would be days of incomparable sighting thrills, including up to two dozen dizzying endemics to follow, just in that pre-tour locale!

Atlantic coastal Argentina in November offers exceptional close-up wildlife observation, straight down to the straits of Tierra del Fuego - with Red Knots ready to migrate, and Austral Negrito & “Loica” ever-present. Farther inland, we find the best puma viewing on the planet!  It was southern-hemisphere springtime ’22 - and all the breeding birds were showing off their best. While in Chile, the quaint atmosphere, friendly locals and Patagonia Sierra-finch, Tufted Tit-tyrant plus Magellanic Woodpecker further enriched her experience.

Relive with Sheila her outrageously memorable jaunt through a stark & jaw-dropping part of the globe, full of scenery, wild mammals, and birds, birds, BIRDS!

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.

Jeff Buler

Dr. Buler will share highlights of recent and ongoing research by his lab and colleagues in the field of aeroecology: the study of the ecology of flying animals aloft. He will talk about how he uses radar and telemetry technologies to make new discoveries into 1) how the Mid-West corn belt is a man-made migration barrier for forest birds, 2) the aquatic nature of Purple Martins in our region, and 3) the reintroduction of Northern Bobwhites into Pennsylvania.

Jeff Buler is a Professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. His broad research interests include avian ecology, landscape ecology, remote-sensing, and conservation biology. Dr. Buler established the Aeroecology Program at the University of Delaware in 2011. He is an international leader in the development of novel methods and software for using weather surveillance radars to study the broad-scale distribution, movement, and habitat use patterns of birds, insects, and bats.

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.

Vinobha Karthik Panner Selvam

Birding in India offers both overwhelming and exhilarating experiences, with a higher density of birds and people per square mile compared to the US. Imagine traveling alongside an Indian immigrant and avid birder, reconnecting with his deep-rooted love for nature as he rediscovers the avian treasures closer to home in the tropical forests he almost forgot.
 
Vinobha Pannerselvam is a Data Consultant by profession and recently found birding as his life’s passion and purpose. He travels regularly to India and spends time enjoying South Indian birds during his travel. He served in a few conservation boards locally and he currently serves as President of Bucks County Birders & is a board member of Warrington Environmental Advisory Council (EAC).

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 Luc Jacobs. Here is the info for photos:

1.  1. Maximum 50 photos per participating member (depending on the number of people that want to show pictures, I may need to make a selection and pair the numbers down a bit.  I think the absolute maximum number of photos should not exceed 300.  E.g. if 7 people send 50 photos each, I will take out 7 photos per submission to bring it down to 301).
2. 2. The photos need to be in JPEG format
3. 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.  I will then make sure that the location is shown on the slides..
4. 4. The photos should preferably be sent to Luc Jacobs via websites such as DROPBOX or WETRANSFER.  These services are free if you don't exceed 2 Gb for the 50 photos combined
5. 5. Luc's email address is jacobsluc52@yahoo.com
6. 6. Please make sure to get your photos to Luc by May 15th at the very latest.  Earlier submissions are encouraged
7. 7. If you want to give the photos to Luc on a memory stick or a CD, get in touch with him via phone (cell: 484-706-1999) or via email to discuss day, time and location to hand over the memory stick or the CD, or you can mail it to his home address at 511 Annadale Drive, Berwyn, PA 19312

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.

Faridah Dahlan & Ingred Rochon

Did you know that molecular and microscopic identification of feathers plays a key role in aviation safety? The Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab processes over 11,000 wildlife strike cases each year to determine which species of birds are involved in collisions with aircraft – the first step to implementing preventative measures to keep both birds and people safe. Learn how the lab identifies both whole feathers and fragmentary bird remains (aka “snarge”) using the Smithsonian’s collection of 600,000 bird specimens, as well as the resources of the museum’s Laboratories of Analytical Biology.

Presenter Faridah Dahlan is a molecular specialist who has worked for the Feather Lab since 2008. Ingrid Rochon began working at the Smithsonian in 2016 as a museum technician, joining the Feather Lab in 2023 as an apprentice microscopist under Dr. Carla Dove.

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.

Club Member Sheila Martin

This is a continuation from last last spring. Jump on board with WCBC member Sheila Martin as we pictorially explore untamed Patagonia - where some of the world’s most stunning landscapes are filled with wildlife to the max! Moment by moment the experience of hiking the walkways around Iguazu Falls is simply nature at its finest. And, for Sheila, when Plush-crested Jay & Chestnut-eared Aracari appeared on the parking lot, she knew it would be days of incomparable sighting thrills, including up to two dozen dizzying endemics to follow, just in that pre-tour locale! Atlantic coastal Argentina in November offers exceptional close-up wildlife observation, straight down to the straits of Tierra del Fuego - with Red Knots ready to migrate, and Austral Negrito & “Loica” ever-present. Farther inland, we find the best puma-viewing on the planet! It was southern-hemisphere springtime ’22 - and all the breeding birds were showing off their best. While in Chile, the quaint atmosphere, friendly locals and Patagonia Sierra-finch, Tufted Tit-tyrant plus Magellanic Woodpecker further enriched her experience. Relive with Sheila her outrageously memorable jaunt through a stark & jaw-dropping part of the globe, full of scenery, wild mammals, and birds, birds, BIRDS!

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.

Tom Lindeman

Birds, native plants and pollinators have CO-evolved over the millennia. The importance of the inter-connected relationships among them has a critical impact on the ecosystem. We will discuss how individuals can make a difference in fostering these relationships and help create a healthy habitat for all concerned.

Tom "Dedko" Lindeman is:
- An Educator, Consultant, and Interventionist as an Ambassodor for The Xerces Society and a local Advocate for DarkSky International.
- A student/observer of honey bees" in central-eastern Pennsylvania (village of Egypt in central eastern Pennsylvania) and has been housing bees, packaging honey products, relocating swarms, making new friends, and sharing "Bee Talk' presentations with civic, education, and fraternal groups. Tom believes there is much to learn from the honey bee "superorganism" behaviors and how they can be applied to human society. He maintains an actively-managed website, www.Dedkosbees.com
- A career educator, holding advanced degrees in education of the deaf/hearing impaired, as well as an administrator of education programs for adjudicated and disadvantaged youth.
He and his wife Diane have two adult children and four grandchildren.

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.

Hank Davis

I became passionate about Hummingbirds on a trip to Cuba with the Delaware Nature Society in 2013. Since then, I have traveled to Ecuador 3 times, Costa Rica 2 times, Brazil 4 times, Mexico once, Trinidad & Tobago once, and Peru once. I still have many more countries to go to. I would love to see all 360+ species but realize that will not happen. There are places where one just does not go to see Hummingbirds. So far, my life list is 160 species, of which I have photographed 149. This presentation is primarily a photographic journey of my quest to see Hummingbirds.

Hank Davis is originally from New York City but has lived in the Delaware Valley for 50+ years. Upon his move to the area, he gained an appreciation for nature and open space. Ultimately, this led to a career in horticulture that lasted many years. Since his retirement, he decided to pursue his lifelong passion in photography. While his primary photographs are of horticulture, he has recently included birds, dragonflies and butterflies to his portfolio.
Hank also serves the community by volunteering to take photographs for the Delaware Nature Society, Bucktoe Creek Preserve, Longwood Gardens and the Delaware Center for Horticulture.

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.