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Get Your Early-Bird Ticket to Ornithology 101, Starting May 26

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Photo by Research Graphics at UMBC – Course Instructor, Kiersten Newtoff

When: 10 Sessions starting Monday, May 26, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Where: Virtual
Member Ticket: $160 Early Bird through 4/27; $175 after
Non-member Ticket: $185 Early Bird through 4/27; $200 after

Learn more and register here.

Are you fascinated by birds and eager to learn more? Join us for Ornithology 101, a beginner-friendly, 5-week virtual course designed for bird lovers of all backgrounds! Whether you’re a budding birder or simply curious about the avian world, this interactive series will introduce you to the fundamentals of bird biology, behavior, identification, and conservation – as well as ways you can get involved locally to help protect birds and their habitats!

Sign up by April 27 and you’ll benefit from the early bird price, and as a bonus you’ll get a special list of NVBA’s favorite insider birding spots to help you find migrating spring warblers during peak migration time in early May.

The course will cover the following topics:

  • Week 1: Introduction to Birding and Ornithology (Monday, May 26; Thursday, May 29)
  • Week 2: How A Bird Works, Anatomy (Monday, June 2; Thursday, June 5)
  • Week 3: Reproduction and Life Cycle (Monday, June 9; Thursday, June 12)
  • Week 4: Bird Migration: Benefits and Risks (Monday, June 16; Thursday, June 19)
  • Week 5: Habitats and Climate Change (Monday, June 23; Thursday, June 26)

Each session will be 90 minutes long, for a total of 15 course hours. This course will take place virtually. The sessions will be recorded and videos will be shared with all registrants.

The course includes several optional in-person field trips to locations in northern Virginia. Information about how to register for these is coming soon – if you are interested, please select the free ticket ‘I’m interested in local field trips’ when you check out. Dates for field trips: May 31, June 7, June 21.

Kiersten Newtoff is an associate professor of biology at Montgomery College, a community college in Maryland. Over the past 8 years, she has been teaching her students about the local avifauna, which led to the development of the campus nestbox trail where over 300 fledglings have called Montgomery College their home. Recently, Kiersten has started a PhD in Biology at UMBC to better understand the impacts of urbanization on Eastern Bluebird reproductive success. She holds a Master Banding Permit to explore her research. When she’s not working on teaching or research, she can be found doing yard work, playing boardgames (like Wingspan!), or creating a fun cocktail.

30,000 Miles in Search of Godwits with Bruce Beehar, March 18th

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Photo: Hudsonian Godwit – David Seidensticker/Audubon Photography Awards

Tuesday, March 18, 2025
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Virtual
FEE: $15 member; $25 non-member

REGISTRATION

Event Sponsored by the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (NVBA)

Between 2019 and 2022, the speaker completed five field trips in search of Hudsonian Godwits. Beehler visited stop-over sites through the Great Plains; visited breeding habitat in western Alaska, Churchill, Manitoba, and the High Arctic of western Canada; and did field surveys at a famous autumn staging site in James Bay. In all, Beehler traveled solo by car more than 30,000 miles, encountering Hudsonian Godwits in 10 states and provinces. He also spent time with Marbled and Bar-tailed Godwits, and 33 additional shorebird species. Moreover, Beehler accompanied various shorebird fieldworkers as they studied godwits and other species in remote and iconic field sites. In this illustrated lecture, Beehler will recount the highlights of his more than five months in the field, from Nome and Point Barrow to Tuktoyaktuk, Moosonee, and Monomoy Island.

Bruce Beehler is an ornithologist, conservationist, and naturalist. He is currently a Research Associate in the Division of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and a Scientific Affiliate of the American Bird Conservancy. Beehler has spent much of his scientific career studying and conserving birds and their forest habitats. After conducting doctoral fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Beehler worked for ten years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, followed by stints at the Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Department of State, Conservation International, and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.