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• Field Trip: All-Day Trip to the Coast

  • When
    January 01, 2025
  •  
    5:30 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Eastern MA
  • Spaces left
    0

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  Begin the new year with birding and join Scott Surner on a day-long trip to the MA coast. The exact location is yet to be determined; it will depend on the status of some interesting birds currently being reported in the eastern part of the state. We’ll depart at 5:30 am (meeting location to be determined) and will return around 5 pm. Bring lunch and be sure to dress for the weather. Questions? Email Scott at ssurner@aol.com. Limited to 10 participants. Register online – you will be contacted with further details as the trip date nears. 
  

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• HBC's January (Zoom) Meeting

  • When
    January 14, 2025
  •  
    7:15 PM - 9:30 PM

  
  

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• Snowy Owls to Saw-whet Owls with Norman Smith

  • When
    January 16, 2025
  •  
    7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

  Snowy Owls to Saw-whet Owls with norman smith

  Since 1981, Norman Smith has spent countless days and nights, in every imaginable weather condition, observing, capturing, banding and relocating Snowy Owls at Logan International Airport. Data has been collected on roosting, hunting and behavior while on their wintering grounds. Since 2000 satellite transmitters have been attached to owls to learn more about their movements. Find out what has been learned to date, what questions remain and how this project developed to include research on Saw-whet Owls.

  Norman Smith is a self-taught naturalist and raptor specialist who has worked for the Massachusetts Audubon Society since 1974. He recently retired as Director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and Norman Smith Environmental Education Center in Milton, Massachusetts where he had worked for the past 50+ years and has taken on a part time role to continue his research on raptors.

  Norman has studied birds of prey for over 50 years, including rehabilitating the injured and successfully fostering over 1,000 orphaned hawk and owl chicks into adoptive nests. His ongoing long-term projects include trapping and banding migrating hawks and owls in the Blue Hills Reservation, banding nestling hawks and owls, and doing research on snowy owls and other raptors wintering at Boston's Logan International Airport. He has also traveled to Alaska to study snowy owls in their native tundra habitat. His research work has been published in National Geographic, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Yankee, Massachusetts Wildlife, Bird Observer, Birding, Sanctuary, Geo, Nature, Grolier Encyclopedia, Owls of the Northern Hemisphere and Owls of the World.

  His mission is to use the information gathered from his research to stimulate a passion in everyone he meets to help us better understand, appreciate and care for this world in which we live.

  
  

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• Field Trip: Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary

  • When
    January 24, 2025
  •  
    8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Location
    127 Combs Road, Easthampton, MA
  • Spaces left
    12

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  Winter Birds, Ecology and Adaptations. Join Bill Randolph and come witness how winter birds use different strategies and adaptations to survive the cold, harsh winter conditions throughout the sanctuary's diverse habitats, including mixed deciduous forest, floodplains, ponds, oxbow and grasslands. We will start with Arcadia’s bird feeders at the Nature Center and the trails around Hulbert’s Pond, then drive ¼ mile down to the oxbow and walk through the grasslands. We’ll hope to observe a variety of songbirds, woodpeckers, and resident bald eagles. Plan on walking 1–2 miles on mostly level, uneven ground. Trail conditions constantly change; keep an eye on the winter weather. Sturdy warm boots and spikes for ice are recommended. We'll meet in the Arcadia Nature Center parking lot at 127 Combs Road in Easthampton at 8:30 am. Restrooms are available in the Nature Center (opens at 9:00 am). There are a few benches along the trails near the nature center if rest stops are needed, but not in the meadows. Questions? Email Bill at warandolph@comcast.net. Limited to 12 participants. (M)
  

  Field Trip designations:
  (E) – Easy conditions, fairly accessible for most, usually flat terrain on improved trails or roads. 
  (M) – Moderately difficult, more challenging trail conditions, short steep sections, longer hikes. 
  (S) – Strenuous conditions, muddy or rocky trails, steep sections, difficult footing in part.
  

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• Field Trip: Hadley Dikes and Connecticut River Shoreline

  • When
    January 31, 2025
  •  
    8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Location
    Cemetery Road Area, Hadley, MA
  • Spaces left
    10

  Register

  This is a monthly 12-part series. Join Bill Randolph for a year-long exploration of the birding “hot spots” located along the Connecticut River shoreline and farmlands in Hadley. Participate in one or all of the birding trips and witness how the ecology and bird community changes throughout the year. In mid-winter, the fallow fields and floodplains can attract horned larks, snow bunting and various raptors. We will take short trips and/or drives to nearby sites in search of winter birds dependent on these big, open environments. Dress appropriately; this location can be windy and very cold. Plan on a 1–2 mile trek on mostly level, uneven ground that may be icy or muddy - shoe spikes can come in handy. Meet at the Transfer Station on N. Branch Rd off of Cemetery Rd in Hadley. Please note there are no facilities or rest areas at this location. Questions? Email Bill at warandolph@comcast.net. Limited to 12 participants. (M)
  

  Field Trip designations:
  (E) – Easy conditions, fairly accessible for most, usually flat terrain on improved trails or roads. 
  (M) – Moderately difficult, more challenging trail conditions, short steep sections, longer hikes. 
  (S) – Strenuous conditions, muddy or rocky trails, steep sections, difficult footing in part.
  

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• Field Trip: Crow Roost Watch

  • When
    February 09, 2025
  •  
    4:45 PM - 5:45 PM
  • Location
    Springfield, MA
  • Spaces left
    6

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  Each late afternoon in winter crows travel from all directions to a communal winter roost. In our area, Springfield hosts around 7,000 birds, which is a spectacular sight to see as they stream in by the hundreds and interact and vocalize with each other. Patti Steinman and Jim Lafley will lead us as we watch for behavior, listen to the different vocalizations, and observe this amazing natural phenomenon. The exact location of the roost can change, so a meeting location in Springfield will be provided a few days before the program to those registered. Parking can sometimes be in neighborhoods and participants will need to be respectful of residents. Dress appropriately for sitting out in chilly weather. Please note there are no facilities or rest areas. Questions? Email Patti at psteinman@massaudubon.org. Limited to 15 participants. (E)

  An online Zoom presentation is planned for Thursday, February 6 from 7–8 pm. This is strongly recommended for participants to help you better understand what you are observing on the field trip. The link will be available closer to the scheduled presentation date.

  Field Trip designations:
  (E) – Easy conditions, fairly accessible for most, usually flat terrain on improved trails or roads. 
  (M) – Moderately difficult, more challenging trail conditions, short steep sections, longer hikes. 
  (S) – Strenuous conditions, muddy or rocky trails, steep sections, difficult footing in part.
  

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• HBC's February (Zoom) Meeting

  • When
    February 11, 2025
  •  
    7:15 PM - 9:30 PM

  
  

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• HBC's Novem- I mean, March meeting, featuring Shawn Carey: "The Penguin Photo Adventure"

  • When
    March 11, 2025
  •  
    7:15 PM - 9:30 PM
  • Location
    Wesley United Methodist Church

  

  The Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas are a very remote South Atlantic archipelago with two main islands, East and West Falkland, plus an additional 776 smaller islands, most of which are not inhabited. However, several that are host some of the islands’ amazing wildlife, including five species of penguins, which on certain islands have thousands of birds during the nesting season.

  For this program we will explore two locations on Saunders Islands, The Neck, which has three nesting penguin species plus nesting Black-browed Albatross. Then onto The Rookery with its impressive colony of Southern Rockhopper Penguins and a staggering number of Black-browed Albatross. After that we will explore Sealion Island and our first look at Elephant Seals, Sealions and the Killer Whales that prowl the waters looking to feast on them. Next up is Bleaker Island with its beautiful mile long beach where you can watch Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins as they ride the waves onto the sandy shores. Finally, we will end our photographic adventure at Volunteer Point which has the largest nesting King Penguin population in the Falklands.

  All of this plus a look at the lodges one can stay at, the food and some of the people you will meet along the way. I will share my advice on traveling to this fantastic location plus many tips to help you plan your own Penguin adventure to the Falkland Islands.

  

  Shawn Carey (Migration Productions) produces bird and wildlife-related multimedia presentations, videos and photo workshops that have been presented all over the United States. Shawn moved from his home in Pennsylvania to Massachusetts in 1986 and started watching birds in 1988. Already with an interest in photography and now birds, Shawn began to combine the two in 1991. By 1994 he and good friend Jim Grady started Migration Productions as a way to present their multi-image slide presentations to a live audience.

  Migration Productions has been presenting programs to groups like Mass Audubon, Eastern Mass Hawk Watch, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and countless others since 1994. Migration Productions offers the finest quality bird/wildlife programs with stunning photographs, videos, soundtracks, and interviews with many people involved with bird watching and natural history topics.

  Shawn’s photos have been published in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Science, Mass Audubon's Sanctuary, and many others over the last 20+ years. In 1997 he started teaching bird photography workshops (Fundamentals of Bird Photography) for Massachusetts Audubon and is an instructor for Summer Fields Schools on Cape Cod for Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
  

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• HBC's April meeting - Juncos, with Dr Daniel Shustack

  • When
    April 08, 2025
  •  
    7:15 PM - 9:30 PM
  • Location
    Wesley United Methodist Church

  
  

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• Big Sit Birding at Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge

  • When
    April 26, 2025
  •  
    7:30 AM - 9:30 AM
  • Location
    Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge, Hadley

  Come join us for some seated birding at the Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge during warbler migration. We will meet at the covered gazebo at the beginning of the parking lot. Everyone is welcome. There are benches but feel free to bring a chair or a pillow. You are invited to bring pastries, if you wish!

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• HBC's May meeting - birds in mythology and legends, with Randi Minetor

  • When
    May 13, 2025
  •  
    7:15 PM - 9:30 PM
  • Location
    Wesley United Methodist Church

  
  

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• HBC's Spring Picnic!

  • When
    June 10, 2025
  •  
    6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton

  Our final fling of the spring, before HBC goes on its summer hiatus. BYO picnic dinner and drinks, and we can all share how our spring birding went, and what we have planned for the summer. We aim to start eating around 6, but come early to see what birds are breeding in or still migrating through Arcadia, or to help us set up chairs and tables for the picnic. See you there!
  

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