Guests welcomed and expected! Vol. 30 No. 8 Delaware County Bird Club Newsletter April 2016 DCBC PROGRAMS - SAME GREAT PROGRAMS, NEW VENUE The Delaware County Bird Club meetings and program presentations take place on the fourth Monday of each month, September through April, except in November and December when they are held on alternate days to accommodate the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. And beginning with the meeting on September 28th, 2015, the club will hold programs in the lodge at Deer Haven Preserve at 4183 Liberty Road, Delaware OH, 43015. Deer Haven Preserve is part of Preservation Parks of Delaware County and is less than 5 miles south of the club's old venue at Ohio Wesleyan University. As in the past, conversation and refreshments begin at 7:00 PM; the meetings and programs start at 7:30 PM. Meeting dates can also be found on the Preservation Parks Calendar at this link: http://www.preservationparks.com/events-calendar/ DCBC PROGRAMS FOR SPRING April 25th: "eBird: More than a Bird Nerd's Addiction". Adriana Losey and Bryan Sharp. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird project has taken off over the past few years and with the recent launching of updated mobile apps, the sky's the limit. eBird is easily the largest citizen science project in the world, allowing thousands upon thousands of "weekend warrior" biologists to contribute to a better understanding of birds, including their habitats and migrations. Users of eBird can analyze these data and search for trends in bird movements, or simply find the best places to look for our feathered friends. The program keeps your life list in a very user-friendly format, and, for those who love competition, compares your lists to other bird nerds in your area. Perhaps the most important aspect of the software is that it promotes avian conservation. The more people who use it, the more people there are who are learning about birds and, at least inadvertently, about their status locally and even worldwide. A good example of the latter is Noah Strycker's recent World Big Year during which he promoted eBird to those he met along the way. We hope that you are able to join us in an evening of exploring the features of this multi-faceted project and become an addict, or even more addicted, by the close of the program. Bryan Sharp's love of birds began with his first pet parakeet. More birds followed and the love of all things wild was fostered by PBS shows like "Nature" and "Wild America". When the time to choose a college major came to pass, Zoology was the choice. A visit to his home in High Point, NC by one Dr. Edward H. Burtt, Jr. secured the decision for where to study that degree. Bryan's step into formal Ornithology had begun. His interest in the less formal sport of birding grew tremendously upon teaching ornithology and birding techniques to children at a summer camp after graduating from OWU. A Master's degree in biology focused on brood parasitism of Brown-headed Cowbirds on Least Bell's Vireos followed, as did a trip around the world to see birds and much more. Bryan has banded numerous songbirds and a few raptors and has been a volunteer trail guide and bird walk leader in San Diego, CA and Durango, Mexico. He enjoys sharing his love of birds with anyone who will listen. Adriana Losey is a 12 year-old Ohio Young Birder Club member who has been watching birds from her window for as long as she can remember. She officially started birding on April 26th, 2012 when she watched "The Big Year" with her mom. She has kept a list ever since and has studied her guides front to back. Over the summer she participated in a bird banding program and learned a lot about breeding birds and what birds breed in fields and field/tree edges in the summer. She loves helping people find and identify birds and is willing to help anyone! Special thanks to our newsletter editor Christine Voice. If you wish to receive the newsletter in its entirety, please email Christina Voise [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]