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

 

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.

A Different Kind of Success Story – Mother Nature Takes Center Stage at Huntley Meadows Park

Photo: By Ron Grimes, Northern Shoveler March 2025

Narrative by Mary Ann Bush / Photos are credited below the image.

Success stories can be about a person, a community, a project, or even an event.  These stories may leave us feeling inspired, motivated, impressed, or even lucky! 

This success story is about the amazing Huntley Meadows Park and its extraordinary wildlife, some permanent and some just visiting.  Huntley Meadows Park, the largest park operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority, is home to many birds, amphibians, and reptiles. 

This story starts with the wonderful group of students in the Spring FMN Basic Training class. These students were attending their March 29th field trip to Huntley Meadows Park. This park is a uniquely suitable site for the students to explore and observe the concepts presented in the Ornithology and Herpetology classroom sessions. FMN Instructors and field trip leaders, Ron Grimes – Ornithology, and Alonso Abugattas – Herpetology, are widely respected and experienced naturalists, who coordinated and guided the students through the day’s exploration and observation activities. They are very accomplished and skillful guides who can take classroom curriculum to the field in a way that is tangible, relatable, and at times, exciting.

Huntley Meadows did not disappoint the students.  The park’s majestic forests, wildflower meadows and vast wetlands provided the students with some very memorable experiences. Instructor, Ron Grimes, and student, John Eppler, have graciously shared photographs of their observations.      

The real stars of day: Great Blue Heron, Red-winged Blackbird, Hooded Mergansers, Northern Shoveler Muskrat, White-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Spotted Turtle, Southern Leopard Frog, Tree Swallows, Bald Eagle, Rusty Blackbirds, Eastern Bluebird, Common Ribbon snake, American Bullfrog, Swamp Sparrow, and Cope’s Gray Treefrog.

By Ron Grimes, Northern Shoveler March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Spotted Turtle March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Muskrat March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Tufted Titmouse, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, White-breasted Nuthatch March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Red-winged Blackbird March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Southern Leopard Frog March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Hooded Mergansers March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Great Blue Heron March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Eastern Bluebird, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, American Bullfrog, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Copes Tree Frog, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Tree Swallows, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Swamp Sparrow “Scout” , March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Rusty Blackbirds, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Common Ribbon snake, March 2025

 

By Ron Grimes, Bald Eagle, March 2025

 

By John Eppler,Hooded Merganaser (Lophodytes cucullatus), Male, Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Virginia

 

By John Eppler, Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Virginia.

 

By John Eppler, Male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, Virginia.

 

Spring Ornithology Course with Dr. Chris Haney, Begins March 27th — Canceled

Photo: Courtesy of Chris Haney

Dates: March 27, 29; April 3, 5, 17, 19, 24, 26; May 1, 3, 8, 10,
Time: 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Where: Virtual
Members:  $150
Non-Members:  $175

Click here for Registration and additional details.

This 12-part online course is designed and presented at an introductory, university level, with two one-hour sessions per week over 6 weeks.

The course will cover:

  • Bird song
  • Avian diet and foraging
  • Mate selection and social behaviors
  • Breeding biology (incubation, chick-rearing, postnatal care)
  • Bird populations
  • Avian conservation and sustainable management

Instructional presentations will include PowerPoint slides, auditory or video supplements, and some in-class participatory exercises. Each Zoom session will be made available to all participants by the following day.

This course will be fully virtual. Participants are encouraged to attend at least 3 group bird walks during the 6-week period as homework. Residents of Northern Virginia are encouraged to participate in walks organized by Audubon Society of Northern Virginia or the Northern Virginia Bird Club.

Instructor: Dr. Chris Haney’s expertise in ornithology includes marine science, climate change, wildlife biology, ecosystem management, and conservation policy. His projects and scholarly work have taken him to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, several countries of southern Africa, and the former Soviet Union. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical notes, over 150 reports, abstracts, testimony, blog communications, and other public documents, and delivered more than 150 invited seminar, conference, and workshop presentations. Chris’s knowledge and enthusiasm in the classroom consistently inspire his students!

Ornithology Topics: Avian Biology, Spring Session (The Study of Birds)

National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190
Tuesdays, 24 March – 5 May 2020
7 – 9 pm
Cost: $250 ASNV members, $275 non-members

Join Dr. Chris Haney for a new class, “Ornithology Topics: Avian Biology, Spring Session.” There is no prerequisite for this course and it does not repeat the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia’s fall session of Ornithology but offers all new material.

This course is designed and presented at an introductory, university level in 6 parts, with each classroom session 2 hours long. Ornithology Topics: Avian Biology will feature major underpinnings to ornithology within the fundamental context of U.S. national history. Topics covered in Part 2 of this class will encompass: bird song; avian diet and foraging; mate selection and social behaviors of birds; breeding biology (incubation, chick-rearing, post-natal care); bird populations; and avian conservation and sustainable management. Instructional presentations will include PowerPoint slides, auditory or video supplements, and some in-class participatory exercises. Each night’s classroom lecture will be made available to all participants in PDF format by the following day.

Required textbook: Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure and Function, 1993, Procter and Lynch, ISBN-10: 0300076193

Optional textbook: Handbook of Bird Biology (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 3rd edition, 2016, Lovette and Fitzpatrick, ISBN-10: 1118291050

Recommended supplement: The National Geographic Society’s Field Guide to the Birds of America, The Sibley Guide to Birds, or a similar guide for field identification

Register here.

What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World, by Jon Young

 

Reviewed by Ann DiFiore

Jon Young is an expert on bird language. Growing up near New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, Jon became fascinated with the wildlife outside his door. Under a local naturalist’s tutelage, he learned to recognize birds, their various calls, and the role they played in their habitat. He has since studied with San Bushmen in the Kalahari and indigenous peoples all over the world, learning techniques for tracking and observation, as well as their philosophies towards wildlife, the natural world, and our place in it.

Today he lives in Northern California and teaches seminars on bird language. Birds, he believes, are the watchers and sentinels of the natural world. Understanding bird language and behavior is key to learning how to access, connect with, and understand nature.

By learning the primary, or baseline, forms of vocalization—songs, companion calls, territorial aggression and adolescent begging—we can recognize alarm calls that break the pattern. Young has his students establish a daily “sit spot,” a place to observe bird activity and calls each day, becoming familiar with birds, feeding patterns, habits, and vocalizations. That familiarity opens up a new world of understanding and awareness: “…ultimately the birds will yield to us the first rite of passage:  a close encounter with an animal otherwise wary of our presence” (p. 173). 

Young’s insights into the complexity of bird language (chickadees vary alarm calls to indicate a specific predator, its proximity and approach), the uniqueness of each species and its behavior, infuse the reader with new appreciation for birds and all wildlife. 

In What the Robin Knows, Young discusses human impact on wildlife and suggests we adopt a routine of invisibility, an attitude of awareness, respect, and calm that minimizes disturbance. Heedless humans are responsible for bird plows—an alarm shape or form taken by birds when fleeing predators. While the humans may not mean harm, predators take advantage of disoriented songbirds, swooping down as they flee, using a technique called “wake hunting.” 

Master Naturalists will find Young’s information on bird communications and behavior fascinating. The techniques he uses to promote nature awareness and connection would be valuable to educators and interpreters. 

A section of the book that I found especially enjoyable and eye-opening related to observations of companion calls between mated pairs of cardinals’ daily visitors to my bird feeder. Their basic exchange is a “chip…chip” uttered every five seconds. I learned that what seemed like a bird version of humming is actually a means of checking on each other’s safety:

“Are you there?” 

“Yes, are you okay?”

“Everything’s fine, are you?”

When a “chip” goes unanswered, the mate will follow up with a more insistent “CHIP!” and then go to investigate. Young witnessed a concerned male fly towards his lady’s last “chip” to find her rocketing towards a shrub, a sharp-shinned hawk in hot pursuit. The male flung himself in front of the sharpie, spinning the hawk off course and saving his mate—a true Valentine’s Day cardinal’s tale. 

As Young observes, “If we learn to read the birds. . .we can read the world at large” (p. 173). What the Robin Knows is a great primer.

 

Want to review a resource? We’d love to hear from you. Instructions for submission await your click and commitment.

Hear Mike Bishop on bluebirds, Feb 26

Learn about local efforts to bring back the Eastern Bluebird from Master Naturalist and Virginia Bluebird Society’s 2017 Bluebird of the Year Mike Bishop. He’ll discuss history and recent grassroots efforts to revive populations in Virginia.

Sully Government Center

4900 Stonecroft Blvd, Chantilly, VA

February 26, 7.30-8.30 pm

Admission is free and families are welcome

Approved for continuing education credit for FMN members

Hike along Buttermilk Creek Trail in Reston, 8 July

The Reston Association and The Bird Feeder of Reston is leading a hike along Buttermilk Creek Trail to watch for birds, and maybe feeding hatchlings.

Buttermilk Creek
11032 Ring Road Reston, VA, 20190
Sunday,  8 July 8 2018
7:30-10:30 AM

Approved for continuing education credit for certified master naturalists.

Become part of Nature’s Notebook, a platform from the National Phenology Network

Are you looking for a meaningful project? Does becoming a citizen scientist intrigue you? Want to learn a 21st-century tool that connects naturalists?

Nature’s Notebook is the National Phenology Network’s (USA NPN) online program and platform through which amateur and professional naturalists regularly record observations of plants and animals to generate long-term data sets used for scientific discovery and decision-making. As a citizen scientist, you can become a part of the community of observers by downloading the app (IOS or Android) and signing up for a campaign, such as Flowers for Bats, Shady Invaders, and others relevant to naturalist work in Virginia.

You can also start your own project and become certified!

If you just want to get your feet wet, or find materials for your classroom, NPN offers free, sharable resources.

Take a systems view and broaden your understanding of the network effect

As naturalists, we know that phenology (the study of periodic plant and animal lifecycle events and how they are influenced by seasonal variations in climate and habitat factors) is nature’s calendar—when dogwood trees bloom, when an eagle builds its nest, and when leaves turn color in the fall.

Phenologists take a systems view of the natural world. According to the National Phenology Network (USA NPN): “Many birds time their nesting so that eggs hatch when insects are available to feed nestlings. Likewise, insect emergence is often synchronized with leaf out in host plants. For people, earlier flowering means earlier allergies. Farmers and gardeners need to know the schedule of plant and insect development to decide when to apply fertilizers and pesticides and when to plant to avoid frosts. Phenology influences the abundance and distribution of organisms, ecosystem services, food webs, and global cycles of water and carbon. In turn, phenology may be altered by changes in temperature and precipitation.”

Learn more

Identify shorebirds with Audubon instructor Marc Ribaudo, 16 August

Join instructor Marc Ribaudo for an evening class and accompanying field trip that will cover identifying shorebirds.  The class is recommended for anyone who would like to tackle shorebird identification on their own.

The group will spend an evening in the classroom covering identification tips for shorebirds that can typically be seen in our region. Emphasis will be on shorebirds that pose the biggest identification challenges, such as peeps.

On the Saturday following the class, the group will visit Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware to put into practice what they’ve learned in class. Bombay Hook is one of the top shorebird spots in the northeast and provides ample opportunities to view many species of shorebird in close proximity to each other. The group may also visit Port Mahon or Taylor’sDitch, depending on tide and what is being seen at the time.

Fairfax High School, Fairfax, Virginia; Bombay Hook NWR, Smyrna, DE
Thursday, 16 August 2018; Saturday, 18 August 2018
$50/member; $60/non-member

Learn more and sign up

 

Become part of the Habitat Network

Cornell Ornithology Lab and The Nature Conservancy have joined together to create Habitat Network, the first citizen science social network. Habitat Network is a citizen science project designed to cultivate a richer understanding of wildlife habitat, for  professional scientists and people concerned with their local environments.

The Network collects data by asking individuals across the country to, literally, draw maps of their backyards, parks, farms, favorite birding locations, schools, and gardens. They connect you with your landscape details and provide tools for you to make better decisions about how to manage landscapes sustainably.

The kinds of questions they are seeking to answer with your help:

  • What practices improve the wildlife value of residential landscapes?
  • Which of these practices have the greatest impact?
  • Over how large an area do we have to implement these practices to really make a difference?
  • What impact do urban and suburban wildlife corridors and stopover habitats have on birds?
  • Which measures (bird counts? nesting success?) show the greatest impacts of our practices?

Service Project C253-Habitat Yard Mapping is approved for credit for FMN graduates. You can map your own yard, a local park, or other public or private property for which you have access permission. 

Learn more