Eastern Shore Bird Club Upcoming Field Trips

There are two field trips scheduled for February:

1. EDWARD S. BRINKLEY NATURE PRESERVE: Join veteran Eastern Shore birders Maggie Long and Joette Borzik for a guided field trip. The Preserve includes a diversity of bird habitat including a grove of new growth pine trees, woods edge, open field, wooded wetlands, seaside marsh, and freshwater pond. Identify a variety of winter waterfowl, raptors, and sparrows. 

WHEN: Tuesday, February 13^th at 8:00 a.m.

LOCATION: Meet in the parking lot of the Edward S. Brinkley Nature Preserve, 20001 Seaside Road, Cape Charles Virginia. This is on the north end of the Oyster landfill.

The Program is free, and the public is invited to attend. Rain or Shine. For more information contact Maggie Long at 610.500.9971.

2. OWL PROWL WITH THE NATURE CONSERVANCY at Brownsville Preserve on February 22 at 5:30 pm: This trip requires pre-registration. There are 3 spots available. Please register via email to info@birdingeasternshore.org.

Our March field trips include Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on March 9 at 1:00 pm, and Meriwether’s Seaview on March 19 at 8:30 am. Visit our website or the attached January-April Bird Club calendar for complete trip details. Also, our schedule for April-June 2024 is hot off the press and attached below. I hope you can join us out in the field! https://www.birdingeasternshore.org/eastern-shore-bird-club-1

In conservation news, Professor Bryan Watts and osprey researcher Michael Academia, M.Sc., at the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary are seeking volunteers on the Eastern Shore to monitor active Osprey nests through their Osprey Watch program. Sign up to volunteer through their website: https://www.osprey-watch.org. Osprey Watch is expanding research on the Eastern Shore due to the documented nest failures in Mobjack Bay in 2023, where 83 active nests produced only 3 fledglings. We know there have been many nest failures on the Eastern Shore also (sadly, I have watched osprey parents on my creek lose their chicks for the past 5 years). Another study has been published which highlights the crisis and the need for more research on Osprey nesting in the Chesapeake Bay, see: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1284462/full

The proposed VIMS/Omega/VMRC/CCB menhaden research study is advancing in the General Assembly as House Bill 19, and, if passed, would be the first comprehensive study of the menhaden in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay (and it would also include funding to study the osprey).

If there are any other bird conservation issues that you would like to report on in the monthly emails, please send them to: info@birdingeasternshore.org