Program - Debi Shearwater- "Penguins of the World"
Everyone sees penguins in a different way. Ocean adventurers, exceptional divers and amazing survivors, penguins have managed to adapt to the harshest climate on earth, spending their lives in the frigid sea and on ice and snow-covered slopes. Join Debra Shearwater for an in-depth look at these appealing creatures. Using slides, she will discuss every species of penguin in the world, 18 in all. She will explain their adaptations to a life at sea, their behavioral adaptations and breeding and courtship. Debra has personally traveled to all of the world's penguin centers and captured thousands of images of these very special and delightful of all birds!

DVOC World Series team report (no Ornithological Study)

ANNUAL MEETING to be followed by refreshments. Election of officers and new Council members and Fellows, Treasurer’s Report, Endowment Trustees Report, Christmas Count Reports, Refreshments
Ornithological Study - Paleo-ornithological Study - Steve Kacir
Pictures from this Meeting
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Jeffrey Hall - "Birds on the Rocks (Seabirds in the Canadian Maritimes)"
Visit breeding colonies of murres, gannets, and other seabirds off the coast of the Canadian Maritimes, along with other creatures that share the marine habitat of the North Atlantic.
Featured is the Machias Seal Island colony of that most appealing of seabirds, the Atlantic Puffin.
Ornithological Study - Black-capped vs. Carolina Chickadee: How
Can You Really Tell? - Frank Windfelder
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Nathan Gregory, a graduate student at Princeton University. - "Impacts of Controlled Fires and Traditional Livestock Grazing on Bird Communities in Kenya"
When many people think of East Africa, they think of savannas - open, rolling grasslands with scattered trees and abundant wildlife. What they may not realize is that savannas are the products of a long history of human influence in the form of controlled fire and livestock grazing using bomas, temporary thorn-scrub corrals.
Nathan has been investigating how the two components of traditional pastoralism, fire and grazing using bomas, affect bird abundance,diversity, and community composition. Pastoralism as a way of life is declining, and this could have important consequences for conservation.
Ornithological Study - Sexing Bald Eagles - Debbie Beer
Minutes of this Meeting

Program - Mary Gustafson - "TexMex Birds"
Come learn about the birding opportunities just across the border in northern Mexico, a short drive from Texas. How many hours away are great birds like Worthen's Sparrow, Ornate Hawk-Eagle and Military Macaw? There are seven Tamaulipan Brushlands endemic birds and two endemic Chihuahuan Desert birds, only three of which are regular in Texas.
Ornithological Study - Presentation of the 2007 DVOC Conservation Award
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Keith L. Bildstein Ph. D., Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science Acopian Center for Conservation Science, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
"American Kestrel, Studies at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and Elsewhere"
The presentation will detail Hawk Mountain's American Kestrel research and conservation efforts since the 1950s and will offer information on the species' decline as well as thoughts on why this is occurring.
Ornithological Study - North American Lesser Black-backed Gull Research
Project - Sally Conyne (Click Here for the speaker's notes)
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Jeff Gordon - " iBird: Digital Technology vs. Natural History"
Many people think that one of the most valuable things about birdwatching is that it offers a chance to "unwire," to escape from things man-made into a more natural, authentic state. How does this notion fare in the days of ipods, laptops, and camera phones? What are the challenges and opportunities we all face as unprecedented power to collect and share information combines with increasing usage demands on decreasing natural areas?

While Jeff doesn't pretend to have all the answers to these questions, he does have a good deal of experience with birds, birders, and digital doodads. Join him for a conversation about the state of our art.
Ornithological Study - The New Delaware Breeding Bird Atlas - Anthony Gonzon
Minutes of this Meeting

Program - David Errol Pattemore, "On the brink: Conservation of Endemic New Zealand Birds"
New Zealand has been long separated from other land masses and the bird fauna evolved in the absence of ground-dwelling mammals. Since the arrival of humans and associated mammal pests around 1000 years ago, 42% of endemic bird species have become extinct and a further 26 species are currently listed as 'Nationally Critical'. New Zealand's birds are largely unique and exhibit several common curious features such as extreme longevity, flightlessness and gigantism. The conservation of New Zealand's unique birds has involved dramatic and innovative techniques to bring populations back from the very brink of extinction. In this talk David will introduce you to some of New Zealand's weird and wonderful birds (including detail on the kakapo recovery program), describe the continued threats to their existence and detail the steps that are being taken to ensure that someday, even you may get a chance to see them.
Ornithological Study - New North American Birds - Expert Predictions and Actuality - Colin Campbell
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Don Jones and Yoav Chudnoff - “Bigtime Birding in Bulgaria”

Bulgaria has to be one of the best kept secrets in birding. It's a beautiful country which is simply loaded with great birds. Come and share some wonderful birding memories from our June, 2007 trip.

Photo by Earl Harrison

Ornithological Study - Changes in Spring Arrival Dates for Three Bird Species in Lower Merion from 1997-2007 - Patty Thompson
Minutes of this meeting

Program - Bill Fintel - "Antarctica and Seabirds of the Southern Oceans"
This program is a photographic journey covering Bill and Sally Fintel’s visit to Antarctica in January 2007. Their voyage involved major stopovers in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. A few highlights include a colony of about
200,000 King Penguins at St. Andrews Bay on South Georgia, a colony of 100,000 Black-browed Albatross on Steeple Jason, in the Falklands, and close,
in flight photographs of Wandering Albatross with their 12 ft. wing span.

Additionally,Bill will present many photographs of other seabirds, marine mammals, massive glaciers, and spectacular icebergs, and he will cover some of the history of this region, as well as tips for anyone wishing to visit.

Ornithological Study - Swamp Sparrows - A Mystery Unfolds - Sarah Warner

Program - Debi Shearwater- "Penguins of the World"
Debi writes:
"I shot this image of expedition staff member, Kees Camphuijsen of Holland on one of our landings in South Georgia. He was so busy shooting images of King Penguins in front of him, that he did not notice this penguin that had approached his camera! This King Penguin was, literally, inches from his camera lens!"

"Kees then turned around and shot a pic of me, taking pics of the KINGS!"

DVOC World Series team report (no Ornithological Study)

Program - Frank Windfelder -“My Philly Big Year in 2007”
Frank writes:"
Late in 2006, I decided to do a Philadelphia Big Year in 2007. Boy, I didn’t know what I was getting into. Birding practically every day in the city earned me 233 species, eight above Johnny Miller’s 1966 record. Along the way, I saw great birds and met a lot of wonderful people."

World Series/May Run reports (no Ornithological Study)
"Big Day/May Run Reports - this is a DVOC tradition - get your team together, pick a date and location, and see how many birds you can find in a 24-hour period.
Please send your results to Frank Windfelder and/or to Debbie Beer.

Program - Lillian Armstrong, "New Jersey Birding and Wildlife Trail Guides Project"
Ornithological Study

Program - Dr. Howard B. Eskin - “The Challenges of Bird Photography”
Ornithological Study

Program - Bob Fergus - "Urban Bird Ecology and Conservation".
Ornithological Study

Program - Donald P. Freiday, “One Day I Went Birding and. . .” Sometimes birding brings unexpected rewards, not all necessarily directly related to birds. Don Freiday looks back on the funny, strange, spectacular, and dangerous things that have happened in front of him and others while afield with a pair of binoculars.
Ornithological Study

Program - Clay and Pat Sutton, "Birds and Birding at Cape May (a Bird Walk Through Time)," program and book signing by Clay and Pat Sutton

The husband and wife team of Clay and Pat Sutton are long-time naturalists whose names are synonymous with Cape May, New Jersey, a place that has been aptly called the migration capitol of North America. Pat Sutton was for 21 years the Program Director at the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory. Prior to that, she was the Park Naturalist at Cape May Point State Park. Pat is a founding board member of the North American Butterfly Association.

Clay is a life-long resident of Cape May, where he has worked as an Environmental Program Administrator, Vice-President of an environmental consulting firm specializing in threatened and endangered species, and for the past decade as a self-employed naturalist and field biologist. He is a long-time instructor for the American Birding Association’s Institute for Field Ornithology. Today, Clay and Pat are free-lance writers, naturalists, lecturers, and tour leaders.

Pat’s consuming interests include owls, butterflies, and wildlife gardening and wildscapes. Clay is captivated by migration in all its forms.

Clay and Pat have had papers published in a number of journals and proceedings, and have contributed numerous popular articles to virtually all of the popular birding magazines. Clay is a co-author, with Pete Dunne and David Sibley, of the instant classic Hawks in Flight (Houghton Mifflin, 1988), and Clay and Pat together have co-authored How to Spot an Owl, How to Spot Hawks and Eagles, and How to Spot Butterflies, all published by Houghton Mifflin.

Their landmark book, Birds and Birding at Cape May, was published in 2006 by Stackpole Books, the in-depth result of their efforts over many years documenting and protecting the migration and the hometown that they so love. Their program will share the history of birds and birding at Cape May, including DVOC and Philadelphia's major roles.

Program - Scott Weidensaul, “Of a Feather”
Ornithological Study

Program - Photo Contest – Ornithological Study – then results
Ornithological Study