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First State National Historic Park (formerly Ramsey Road), Wilmington, DE

For: Migrants and resident birds

Place: Smith Bridge Parking Lot, 8:00 a.m.

Leader: Carol Majors (484-883-8311, carolmajors@gmail.com)

Note: A walk along the Brandywine Creek in Delaware. The walk is about 2 miles over fairly even terrain with a bridge to cross a stream.

Directions: Route 202 South to Smithbridge Road. Turn right onto Smithbridge Road.  At the end of Smithbridge Road, turn left onto Brandywine Creek Road.  The parking lot is .3 miles on the right. GPS coordinates are 39°49'59.7"N 75°34'29.7"W.  In Google Maps, navigate to 'Smith Bridge Parking Lot'.  It is a large parking lot, and we will meet at the south end.  There is a porta-potty at the entrance.

 

Event Series Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

For: Seasonal birds

Place: Exton Park, 8:30 a.m.

Leader: Various leaders in conjunction with Friends of Exton Park

Note: Formerly known as Church Farm Pond and now a part of Exton Park, this pond and surrounding wetland had been a popular birding spot for years.

Directions: From the intersection of Routes 30 and 202, drive west along Route 30 and turn right on Valley Creek Blvd. At the end of the road, make a left on Swedesford Road and park in the gravel parking lot on your left where the perimeter trail starts. This is a 1.5 mile walk and will take between 1.5 and 2 hours.

Exton Park

E.B. Forsythe (Brigantine) NWR, NJ

For: Shorebirds, herons

Place: Forsythe NWR Headquarters, 8:00 a.m. Google Map

Leaders: Bruce Piecukonis (610-354-9471, Pterodroma@comcast.net)

Note: Meet at Forsythe at 8:00 a.m. Minimal walking involved. Bring a lunch, this is an all day trip.

Directions: Meet at the refuge headquarters parking area (800 Great Creek Rd, Galloway, NJ 08205).

E.B. Forsythe NWR, NJ

Chester County Parks Birding Series – Nottingham County Park

For: For breeding birds such as Yellow-breasted Chat and Prairie Warbler

Place: 150 Park Rd., Nottingham, PA 8:00 a.m.

Leader: John Mercer (484-459-2062, mercer1135@aol.com), Patty & John Werth (pattyww@comcast.net)

Note: Nottingham County Park protects a globally rare ecosystem comprised of serpentine rock, oak-pine barrens, savannahs, prairies and many unique plants, which in turn harbor a wide variety of birds, some of which reliably breed here but very few other places in the county. This walk will cover 1-2 miles on gently sloping natural surface trails and will last approximately 2-3 hours. Modern restrooms are available on site at the park office.  This field trip is a collaboration between WCBC and Valley Forge Audubon Society.

Directions: Turn left as you enter the park.  We will meet in the first large parking area just beyond the park office.

Nottingham Park

My Trip to Belize

Club member John Mercer

A travelogue of the trip I took with the Hawk Migration Association of North America to visit the Belize Hawk watch and do a lot of other birding.

 

John Mercer is the treasurer of the West Chester Bird Club.

 

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.

 

Event Series Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

For: Seasonal birds

Place: Exton Park, 8:30 a.m.

Leader: Various leaders in conjunction with Friends of Exton Park

Note: Formerly known as Church Farm Pond and now a part of Exton Park, this pond and surrounding wetland had been a popular birding spot for years.

Directions: From the intersection of Routes 30 and 202, drive west along Route 30 and turn right on Valley Creek Blvd. At the end of the road, make a left on Swedesford Road and park in the gravel parking lot on your left where the perimeter trail starts. This is a 1.5 mile walk and will take between 1.5 and 2 hours.

Exton Park

Event Series Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

For: Seasonal birds

Place: Exton Park, 8:30 a.m.

Leader: Various leaders in conjunction with Friends of Exton Park

Note: Formerly known as Church Farm Pond and now a part of Exton Park, this pond and surrounding wetland had been a popular birding spot for years.

Directions: From the intersection of Routes 30 and 202, drive west along Route 30 and turn right on Valley Creek Blvd. At the end of the road, make a left on Swedesford Road and park in the gravel parking lot on your left where the perimeter trail starts. This is a 1.5 mile walk and will take between 1.5 and 2 hours.

Exton Park

Hibernia County Park, Coatesville, PA

For: Local Birds

Place: Pavilion 4 Lot 790 Cedar Knoll Rd.

Leaders: Kris Debolt and Peter Wade (215-219-5637, wadedeb@verizon.net )

Note: 3 hr. trip, about 2 miles in mostly flat field or hard dirt paths

Directions: From Downingtown, take the Rt. 30 Bypass west, to exit for Rt. 82 north. Exit ramp, go left on Rt. 82 to the top of the hill then take a left onto Cedar Knoll Rd. Proceed about 1.9 miles to second park entrance on left, #790. DO NOT go to #720 which is the first entrance to the park.

Hibernia Park

Members’ Photos

Coordinated by Luc Jacobs.
 
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 Luc Jacobs.  This is quite a bit of work for Luc, so please get your pictures to Luc as soon as you can.
 

1. Maximum 50 photos per participating member
(depending on the number of people that want to show pictures, Luc 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, Luc 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, Luc 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.  Luc will then make sure that the location is shown on the slides.

 

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.Luc's email address is jacobsluc52@yahoo.com

 

6. Please make sure to get your photos to Luc by May 15th at the very latest.  Earlier submissions are encouraged.

 

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, You can also mail a memory stick or CD 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.

Event Series Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

Every Thursday Morning Exton Park, Exton, PA

For: Seasonal birds

Place: Exton Park, 8:30 a.m.

Leader: Various leaders in conjunction with Friends of Exton Park

Note: Formerly known as Church Farm Pond and now a part of Exton Park, this pond and surrounding wetland had been a popular birding spot for years.

Directions: From the intersection of Routes 30 and 202, drive west along Route 30 and turn right on Valley Creek Blvd. At the end of the road, make a left on Swedesford Road and park in the gravel parking lot on your left where the perimeter trail starts. This is a 1.5 mile walk and will take between 1.5 and 2 hours.

Exton Park

Willisbrook Preserve, Malvern, PA

For: Summer residents

Place: Lot .5 miles south of Paoli Pike (Not ball fields lot), 8:00 a.m.

Leaders: Sue Vanasse (484-459-4189, hsvanasse@verizon.net)

Note: Half-day trip, approximately a 3 mile walk over relatively flat terrain in both woods and open fields. Trail can be muddy, with roots, so wear sturdy shoes. There is a portable bathroom in the lot.

Directions: From Routes 202 and Paoli Pike, take Paoli Pike east between 3.5 and 4 miles to Line Road. Turn right on Line Road. Go past the soccer field parking to the preserve parking, about ½ mile.

Willisbrook Preserve

Hopewell Big Woods

For: The birds that inhabit this rare meadow terrain, such as Chat, Prairie and Blue-winged Warbler.

Place: 165 Center Rd. Douglasville, PA (Lat/Long: 40.24705, -75.79200)

Leaders: Jared Brandt (jabrandt@pa.gov), and Sheila Martin (610-858-6005, sheilamartin554@gmail.com)

Note: Join West Chester bird club and State Park Staff for a morning of birding along the ADA accessible Hopewell Big Woods trail. During the walk we will be spotting the birds that inhabit this rare meadow terrain. This trail is plentiful with indigo buntings, yellow breasted chats, and summer season warblers such as prairie and blue winged warblers. This is the best time of year to get a view of these birds! The walk will be easy terrain with some inclines. Binoculars provided for participants who do not have any.

Directions: The most direct route is to take Rt 100 N to Rt 724 W then, just before entering Birdsboro, go left on Center Rd to parking on the left.   Do not use the website below for directions, they will take you to the wrong place.

Hopewell Big Woods