Become a Monticello Bird Club Member
When you join MBC, you will receive ten issues of the MBC Newsletter chock full of
information about field trips, speakers, bird sightings, and more. You will be sent timely
notification of our annual Birdseed Sale. You will know that you are supporting birdfriendly
programs locally and regionally. And you will be among a group of warm, friendly,
and sharing people who have a passion for birds and birding!
Mail in the membership form today.

Pete Myers to Speak at Bird Club January 12th

   “If you happen to be hiking in Sugar Hollow and come upon an almost-senior citizen jogging up the South Fork of the Moorman’s fire road with binoculars in one hand and iPhone in the other, you’ve met Pete.” That’s the way our January 12th, 2012 speaker, Pete Myers, describes himself.
   Besides being Sugar Hollow’s super tech, Pete is a man of many accomplishments. He has photographed birds from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego in his more distant past, birds of Albemarle County more recently. In photos he will show to the bird club, he will emphasize a perspective inspired in part by Georgia O’Keefe. Pete is also an accomplished user of eBird and BirdsEye, technological applications of great use to birders. Pete in fact helped create BirdsEye. He will include in his talk electronic applications that can enhance birding.
   Pete received a doctorate at the University of California Berkeley, specializing in shorebird ecology and behavior. For seven years he was a research ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. While there, he founded the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, which has worked to protect key shorebird migratory staging areas throughout the hemisphere. From there he went to National Audubon, where he was senior vice president for science. In 1990 he moved to Charlottesville with his family to become director of the W. Alton Jones Foundation, a position he held twelve years. In 2002, he founded Environmental Health Sciences, a web-based science and journalism non-profit that now employs over thirty people.
   Many of you will recall that in March 2011, Pete found a first Virginia record of Violet-green Swallow right here in Albemarle County. Not only that, he got remarkable photos of it. Come hear on January 12th this man we might call the Legend of Sugar Hollow.
   On another subject, many of you will do some travel in the upcoming months. As you travel, remember the bird club. Take some photos, and consider presenting them at the club. You don’t have to be a great photographer or entertainer to be one of our speakers. You never know, you might be a far better photographer or entertainer than you thought. I am always on the lookout for programs. Let me hear from you if you have any ideas. And don’t forget about dinner with the speaker. We are now taking our speakers to The Brick Oven, in Rio Hill Shopping Center. It’s an excellent restaurant that gets food and check to us expeditiously. So far, it greatly outshines other restaurants we have recently tried.

Looking ahead to February 2012, our speaker will be Ron Luque of Charlottesville. Ron’s painting of Redheads, “Early Light,” won the recent state waterfowl conservation stamp contest. Come hear how Ron does his amazing brush work.  

Barn Swallows by Pete Myers

All members are encouraged to submit photos !

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.