NNK and MP Winter Waterfowl Count Zoom Workshop
In preparation for the NNK and MP Winter Waterfowl Count, there will be a Zoom workshop on January 30th, 7:00 PM. The program will cover tips to help determine just what we are seeing, particularly when the species is challenging to identify.
To sign up for the Zoom, contact Jeff Wright, compiler for NNK and MP Winter Waterfowl Count at pec11908@mac.com
HICKORY HOLLOW NEW YEAR’S DAY WALK
New Year’s Day is the perfect day to get outside and start the New Year off naturally and focused on plants. A number of years ago our Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society started a New Year’s Day Walk at Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve but the scourge of Covid forced that to be canceled for the past few years. But alas, the Walk has been reinstated this new year for Sunday, Jan. 1 at 1 pm with the co-sponsorship of the NN Virginia Native Plant society . The temperature is predicted to be in the fifties.
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NNAS Public Meeting
The Northern Neck Chapter of Virginia, National Audubon Society is excited to offer a free virtual Zoom meeting on Monday, April 4th at 2 pm entitled "Birding Skill-builder Virtual Workshop”. This can be viewed on a home computer and is open to the public.
Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count – History & Your Participation
The Northern Neck Chapter of the National Audubon Society is offering a virtual presentation on Monday, Nov. 1, at 7 pm via Zoom. The speaker will be Kevin Howe, President of the Northern Neck Chapter of Audubon, and a birder and biologist for more than 50 years. The Presentation is titled “Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count – History & Your Participation”.
To participate, please register or learn more, please email nnaudubon@gmail.com
Birds and Climate Change by Dr Amanda Gallinat
The Northern Neck of Virginia Chapter of the National Audubon Society is thrilled to sponsor a Zoom program on climate change as it relates to migrating birds. Our speaker will be Dr. Amanda Gallinat, an ecologist with the USA Phenology Network.
Send an email to nnaudubon@gmail.com for the zoom link.
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Virginia
The Northern Neck Chapter of Virginia, National Audubon Society is continuing the Zoom programs for 2021 with a free virtual program on Monday, June 7th at 7 pm entitled "Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Virginia”. This can be viewed on a home computer and is open to the public, details below.
Old Growth Forest
This ZOOM program will be presented by Dr. Joan Maloof - author, forest ecologist at Salisbury State University (MD) and founder of the Old Growth Forest Network. Get your notebooks ready as Joan will enlighten us all about Old Growth Forests and why they are so valuable.
Photography of Birds (and critters) in our Area
This ZOOM program will be presented by Jeff Wright - Virginia Master Naturalist, long-time birder and former NN Audubon Board member.
Great Backyard Bird Count 2021
Since 1998, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society have promoted the first online citizen science project to collect data on wild birds and to display the results in near real time.
For four days each year, February 12-15, participants spend at least 15 minutes per day watching and recording the birds they see. You can watch through a window to your yard, from your favorite secret birding place or some exotic spot where you always wanted to be (although in Covid-19 times, that is pretty much out). You can be by yourself or with family; but, again, Covid protocol prevails The data can be uploaded easily in a variety of methods.
This is a very valuable citizen science project. All information can be found via a search on the web for Audubon Great Backyard Bird Count.
Bird-watching is certainly a joy in which we should all partake more often. The data we collect and record provides scientists with long-term population trends and a better understanding of a species population before one of its annual migrations. PLEASE PARTICIPATE ...AND, feel free to post highlights of your Count on the NNAS list website: nnasnet@freelists.org
Northumberland-Lancaster Christmas Bird Count
This is the Fifth Year for the CBC in Northumberland/Lancaster Counties. This is an open event to all and free.
Suspended: Bird Walk at Rappahannock River Valley, NWR, Wilma Unit
Details to be announced.
General Membership Meeting 6 April Canceled
Due to the Covid-19 virus, we are cancelling the general membership meeting scheduled for April 6th.
Canceled: Bird Walk at Rappahannock River Valley NWR, Tayloe Unit
Details to be announced.
Bird Walk at Deltaville Maritime Museum & Holly Point Nature Reserve
Meet in the parking lot of Deltaville Marine Museum and Holly Point Nature Reserve at 9:00 AM.
More Details Coming.
Bird Walk at Kendale Farm in Essex County
Meet at the main house of Kendale Farms, Essex County, at 9:00 AM and start the walk shortly thereafter.
More Details Coming.
The Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk on Saturday, February 22, at 9:00 am at Kendale Farm in Essex County. The bird walk will be led by Joe Cooney and Hill Wellford. This beautiful farm, half way between Port Royal and Tappahannock, has fields, woods, salt and fresh water marshes with frontage on Occupacia Creek and the Rappahannock River directly opposite Fones Cliffs.
Possible sightings include Canada Geese, Tundra Swan, Mallards, Buffieheads, Mergansers, Black Ducks, Quail, Wild Turkeys, Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles, Juncos, winter songbirds, Saw-whet Owls, and an Eastern Screech owl in a wood duck box. At Woodpecker Point, there are often sightings of Pileated, Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers.
The GPS address is 1909 Kendalls Road, Champlain, VA 22438.
Directions are as follows:
From Tappahannock, go 13.2 miles north on Route 17. Turn right onto Route 637 (Layton's Landing Road) and go 1.2 miles. Turn right onto Route 661 (Kendalls Road). Go approximately 1. 7 miles. Turn left into the driveway marked by the white Kendale sign.
From Port Royal, go 13.3 miles south on Route 17. Turn left onto Route 637 (Layton's Landing Road) and go 1.2 miles. Turn right onto Route 661 (Kendalls Road). Go approximately 1.7 miles. Turn left into the driveway marked by the white Kendale sign.
Don't be confused by the sign on 17 that says CHANCE. There used to be a post office there, but it now marks the exit for Route 637. Meet at the house at 9:00 am.
There will be several loaner binoculars available. For programs, events, activities, and information, visit www.northernneckaudubon.org. Northern Neck Audubon bird walks and programs are always open to the public
Bird Walk at Regent's Point
On Monday, February 10, Joe Cooney of the Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk at 9:00 am at Regent Point Marina on Locklies Creek near Topping in Middlesex County.
Bird Walk at Fones Cliffs in Richmond County
Audubon Bird Walk Monday, January 13, at Fones Cliffs, the Newest Tract of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge
On Monday, January 13, the Northern Neck Audubon (NNAS) Society will conduct a walk at 9:00 a.m. in Richmond County at Fones Cliffs, the newest tract of the Rappahannock River National Wildlife Refuge. This will be a very special opportunity as this will be the first public bird walk on this new refuge site. Fones Cliffs lie within an area designated by the Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area (IBA) with global significance. The Fones Cliffs formation is nationally recognized as having one of the highest concentrations of bald eagles on the entire East Coast and is highlighted in the National Geographic map “Treasured Landscapes of the Chesapeake Bay.” If you google Fones Cliffs, there are fascinating articles on the history of the area including the fact that Captain John Smith was attacked in 1608 by the Rappahannock Indians as he navigated his shallop below the cliffs.
On December 15, Joe Cooney, leader of the walk spotted 17 species of birds, including an American Woodcock, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, 16 Bald Eagles, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, 22 Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows and 50 Red-winged Blackbirds.
The Address is 850 Carters Wharf Road (Rt. 622), Warsaw, VA 22572. From Warsaw, take Rt. 360 West towards Tappahannock. Go 2.4 miles and turn right onto Newland Road (Rt. 624). Go 11 miles and turn left onto Carters Wharf Road (Rt 622). Go .9 miles and the entrance road will be on your left. The gate for Fones Cliffs will be approximately 100 yards in from Carters Wharf Rd. Follow the gravel road about 5 minutes to the parking area.
There will be several pairs of loaner binoculars available. For NNAS programs, activities, and information, visit the website at www.northernneckaudubon.org. Northern Neck Audubon bird walks and programs are always open to the public.
Middle Peninsula Audubon Christmas Bird Count
The Middle Peninsula Audubon Christmas Bird Count is being organized for Sunday December 29, 2019, 8 am to 2 or 3 pm. The NEW count will include parts of Gloucester, Middlesex, and King and Queen counties.
4th Annual Northumberland-Lancaster Christmas Bird Count
All, this is a heads up that the 4th Annual Northumberland-Lancaster Christmas Bird Count is on Tuesday 17 Dec 2019.
Bird Walk at Hughlett Point and Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserves
On Monday, December 9, the Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk led by Joe Cooney at Hughlett Point and Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserves in Northumberland County. Both preserves lie on peninsulas jutting into the Chesapeake Bay. Hughlett Point offers a wonderful opportunity for viewing birds and wildlife as it includes coastal forest, shrub, salt marsh, and sandy beach habitats and a viewing platform. Dameron Marsh offers views of the Chesapeake Bay, Mill Creek and Ingram Bay. It also has a viewing platform, sand beaches, marshes and a large fallow field with scattered shrubs.
This will be a good time for bird watching as many migrating birds are still coming through the Atlantic flyway, and the waterfowl are still arriving. Among possible sightings are pine and yellow-rumped warblers, Eastern phoebes, catbirds, swamp and white-throated sparrows, belted kingfishers, royal and Forster terns, brown pelicans, great egrets, American black ducks, mergansers, buffleheads, loons, tundra swans, gulls and bald eagles.
Meet at 9 a.m. at the parking lot at Hughlett Point, 5411 Balls Neck Road, Kilmarnock. Directions: From Burgess, take Rt. 200 south. Go approximately 8 miles and turn left (east) on Shiloh School Road (Rt. 606). At the end of Rt. 606, turn right onto Balls Neck Road (Rt. 605). Go approximately a mile and a a half. The Hughlett Point parking lot will be on the left. From Kilmarnock, take Rt. 200 north. Go approximately 5 miles and turn right (east) on Rt. 606, Shiloh School Road. At the end of Rt. 606, turn right onto Balls Neck Road (Rt. 605). Go approximately a mile and a half. The Hughlett Point parking lot will be on the left.
There will be several pairs of loaner binoculars available. IFor NNAS programs, activities, and information, visit the website at www.northernneckaudubon.org. Northern Neck Audubon bird walks and programs are always open to the public.
Middle Pennisula Bird Club Bird Walk in the Ware Neck Area
We will meet at Woodville Park (3904 Woodville Park Rd.) in Gloucester County at 8 am.
Bird Walk at Menokin Near Warsaw
On Saturday, November 23, the Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk at 9:00 a.m. at Menokin Plantation located on Cat Point Creek and the Rappahannock River about 4 miles from Warsaw. Menokin, built c. 1769, was the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Menokin is now the remains of an historic mansion surrounded by a vast cultural landscape, 325 acres of which are in a conservation easement that is part of the Rappahannock River National Wildlife Refuge.
Middle Pennisula Bird Club Bird Walk in Gloucester County
We will meet at Woodville Park (3904 Woodville Park Rd.) in Gloucester County at 8 am.
Bird Walk in Lancaster County
AUDUBON BIRD WALK, NOVEMBER 11 AT RWC IN IRVINGTON
On Monday, November 11, the Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk at Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury (RWC) 132 Lancaster Drive, Irvington. Meet at the main parking lot in front of the RWC building at 9:00 a.m.