Caroline County Bird Club's Fall 2020 schedule

 In keeping with our current situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic, our fall events will be all outdoors.

We may add events, so keep checking here and our Facebook page for updates.

Saturday, September 12, 2020:  Social distancing members general catch up and bird walk at Martinak State Park.  Leader: Danny Poet.  Meeting time and location: 8 am at the parking lot by log cabin.  

Dress appropriately for the bird walk if planning to join it.  Face mask required.  Binoculars recommended.

Saturday, September 19, 2020:  Social distancing Fall Bird Count.   Contact Debby Bennett at dabennett1996@gmail.com.

NEW DATE:  Sunday October 18, 2020:  Caroline’s Social Distancing Big Sit.    Location: Adkins Arboretum’s Wetlands Overlook near the Visitors Center. Will run from 8 am to early evening for some owling. Dress comfortably, bring your binoculars, a chair to sit on, food and drink.  Please have a face mask with you just in case you need it.

Sunday, November 29, 2020:  Socially distancing bird walk.  Location:  Tuckahoe State Park.  Meet at the boat ramp parking lot at 8:30 am.  Bring binoculars and a facemask.  Leader:  Rich Downs.

Caroline County Bird Club looking for volunteers this summer to help with the Maryland DC Breeding Bird Atlas

The Caroline County Bird Club is looking for volunteers to help with the 3^rd Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas over the summer. The first two atlases were held 1983-1987 and 2002-2006.  The Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas 3 is a comprehensive survey of the birds breeding in the Maryland and DC regions and will run 2020-2024.

Volunteer atlasers collect data on breeding evidence and post their findings on Cornell’s  eBird.  You don’t have to be an expert birder to contribute.  For instructions and resources, please go to  https://ebird.org/atlasmddc/home.  You can count anywhere in Maryland and D.C., but we encourage you to help us cover all of Caroline County for this atlas count. Caroline County’s Coordinators are available as well by email – caroline@mdbirds.org

2020 May Bird Count changed to a Global Big Day Count May 9 and May 10

The traditional May Count, organized by the Maryland Ornithological Society for the past 50 years, is yet another casualty of COVID-19. The May Count is something that many birders in our area look forward to, as a chance to get out and go birding with friends during one of the best times of the year. And it is a chance to contribute to science, by adding your sightings to the 50 years of observations of the passage of the wave of migrants through our area.

Although we can’t hold a traditional May Count this year, MOS invites you to a special weekend of birding, the C-Free May Count. During the weekend of May 9-10, get outside by sitting in your backyard, or by taking to your feet or bicycle, and go birding in the Carbon-free, COVID-free May Count. Go out and see the passage of the spring wave of warblers! And share what you have seen with MOS and the birding community, on the MOS Facebook page or the MDBirding Google group. You can also submit your observations to MOS via eBird, email, or even telephone. Complete instructions can be found at C-Free May Count.pdf. There is but one rule for the C-Free May Count: Go Birding!

If you do join the C-Free May Count, remember that May 9th is also Cornell Lab’s Global Big Day, so any eBird checklist submitted for that day will be included in the Big Day totals. And it is a prime time to contribute to the third Maryland-DC Breeding Bird Atlas, too, which has started collecting breeding bird observations just this year!

Here is a link to where you will find the 2020 checklist in both pdf and spreadsheet format - https://mdbirds.org/go-birdwatching/count-birds/may-count-spring-migration/ so you can download it  to use if you would like.

Celebrate the arrival of spring and the annual migration of the colorful warblers by going birding on the C-Free May Count!

Caroline County Bird Club cancelled May 2 and May 21 events

Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic we have cancelled our Saturday, May 2 Bird Trip to Killens Pond State Park and Thursday, May 21   Evening Bird Walk at Martinak State Park. 

At this point, we plan to hold our May Bird Count on May 9, following social distancing. If this changes, we will post on our Facebook page about it.

Meanwhile, get out and go birding (practicing social distancing, of course)!

Caroline County Bird Club's April 16, 2020 program cancelled

Our Thursday, April 16 –  Program featuring Maren Gimpel, Field Ecologist & Outreach Coordinator, Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory, Center for Environment & Society, Washington College is cancelled due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic.

We will reschedule.

Caroline County Bird Club's March 19, 2020 meeting cancelled

MOS is recommending we all cancel any indoors meetings this month because of COVID-19.

Additionally, following Gov Hogan's directive closing MD public schools and senior centers, the Caroline County Public Library will be closed March 16-28, reopening March 30.

So, no March 19 meeting. We rescheduled Chris Eberly for next November.

Instead, get outside and go birding instead! And wash your hands and stay safe.

Caroline County Bird Club features speaker Chris Eberly, Executive Director of Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership on March 19, 2020

Please join us on Thursday, March 19.  Speaker: Chris Eberly, Executive Director of Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership

The Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership’s mission is to maintain and enhance native bird populations and the Maryland habitats they use by fostering partnerships with public and private entities and promoting citizen action. Chris will review the current state of Maryland’s bird populations and some citizen science projects in which members of the Caroline County Bird Club can engage to help Maryland’s birds.

Chris Eberly is Executive Director of the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership. A Marylander by birth, he worked in the computer industry for 11 years before returning to graduate school at the University of Georgia. After graduating with an M.S. in natural resources/ornithology, Chris coordinated the Department of Defense’s bird conservation program (DoD Partners in Flight program) for 17 years. After serving as Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, he was excited to return to Maryland to head up MBCP. Chris strives to connect people to birds through Bird City Maryland, the Maryland Bald Eagle Nest Monitoring Program, and the Farmland Raptor Program. He is also currently president of the Anne Arundel Bird Club.

Time and Location:   7:30 PM, Caroline County Public Library, 100 Market St., Denton.

All our programs are free and open to the public.