monticello_bird_club_charlottesville

Welcome to The Monticello Bird Club
in Charlottesville, VA

The Monticello Bird Club is an informal group of about 150 people who join together to share their enthusiasm for birds. Our monthly meetings feature invited speakers from throughout the state who share their expertise with entertaining and informative presentations. Field trips with experienced leaders to local or distant sites take us to where the birds are.
The 2007-2008 season marks the twenty second anniversary of the Monticello Bird Club. Our meetings and field trips are always open to the public without charge. If you want to learn more about how to identify birds, their behavior and their life histories, or if you just want to talk to others with similar interests, then please join us soon on a field trip or at a meeting.

The Monticello Bird Club will hold the monthly meetings at 7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. The location is the Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area, familiar to many as the location of the First Saturday Bird Walks. The Ivy Creek Natural Area is on Earlysville Road about a half mile from the intersection of Hydraulic Road, just before the reservoir. Plenty of parking, compatible natural setting, easy access. See you there at future meetings!
Click here for a map to the Ivy Creek Natural Area (with dial-up connection approx. 20 sec. to load image).

Read our current newsletter online here.
The editor of the MBC Newsletter welcomes submissions including articles, photographs
and notices.
DEADLINE for Please email information to Amy Gilmer at akgilmer@comcast.net or send to 2341 Highland Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

Join the Monticello Bird Club to help support bird conservation and stay abreast of all the latest happenings in the club. Please return the membership form with your dues.

Our Program this month is:

Annual Potluck June 12th
6:00 P.M.
Join us for the last meeting of the season at our 22nd Annual Potluck Picnic. Members are invited to bring a dish to share. Please bring your own plates, utensils, and cups.
The Monticello Bird Club will provide the drinks.
The meeting will start at 6:00 pm with a short bird walk
afterwards depending upon the weather.

THE MONTICELLO BIRD ALERT
Rapid Information Exchange about Rare Bird Sightings in Our Area !

The MonticelloBirdAlert provides birders in Central Virginia with an opportunity to post sightings of rare and interesting birds spotted in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and surrounding counties. Members of the group should only post sightings of birds that are sited on public property or viewed from public roadways. Members may also post a siting of a bird on private property, if the landowner has granted express permission for you to make such a posting to this group.

In just the past few months, birds reported on the MonticelloBirdAlert have included the Loggerhead Shrike, Surf Scoter(!), Fox Sparrow, Common Goldeneye, Horned Grebe, Horned Lark, Red Headed Woodpecker, American Woodcock, Northern Harrier, Bank Swallow and many others. The Surf Scoter was only here for one day, and appears to be a county record, so rapid information is very important.

To join the group, please follow these steps:
1) Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/monticellobirdalert/
2) Click on the button: Join this Group
3) If you have a Yahoo ID, sign in and go to "Step 5"
4) If you don't have a Yahoo ID, click on the link: Sign Up. (It's free.)
5) Fill in the required information, read the terms of the agreement, and signify your agreement by clicking on "I Agree".
6) Once your a member, you can post messages by sending messages to monticellobirdalert@yahoogroups.com
7) Remember the cardinal rule (stated above) about respecting private property rights.

The Monticello Bird Club Photo of the Month
Please submit your photos to kk@ecoventurestravel.com for a future newsletter.

Blackcap photographed by Rob Capon in Israel.

To submit your photo(s) for Photo of the Month just attach it as a jpeg file (.jpg or .jpeg extension) and email it to Ken at:
kk@ecoventurestravel.com.
Please include a brief caption for the photo: what it is, where it was taken, under what circumstances, or whatever you find most interesting about the photo. Photos may be cropped and resized as necessary to fit the available space.