2008 Central Mass Birding Calendar

This calendar lists upcoming events such as bird trips, meetings, and special events such as breeding bird surveys, Christmas counts, etc. To contribute a listing, you can email to rsquimby@wpi.edu or call Rick Quimby at (508) 835-6567 and leave a message. This is not intended as a discussion forum for birding-related topics (MASSBIRD serves this function well), so please confine your submissions to the listing of events that will be of interest to Worcester County birders.

The previous year's listings are archived here.

Here are the current birding events listings in chronological order:

2/3/08 -- WICN radio interview: A Brief History of Birding

Two shows of interest this SUNDAY ON WICN (90.5FM):
• 9PM: People have been watching birds in America with rapt interest even long before the Europeans landed. Tonight on Inquiry, we speak with award-winning natural history author SCOTT WEIDENSAUL about the legions of ornithologists and myriads of birders that have tromped through forests, swamps and deserts, risking life and limb, just to learn more about the birds that live in our country. Scott's monumental history of natural history is titled OF A FEATHER: A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN BIRDING.
• 9:30: HERBERT A. RAFFAELE has been engaged in wildlife conservation in the Caribbean for over 35 years and has authored two important field guides to the area. He also spent some time as a naturalist for the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources and his new book BIRDS, BEASTS & BUREAUCRATS: A NATURALIST ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND is his fascinating memoir of those years. For Herb it was a time of exhilarating discoveries of new breeding species, as he wrote the definitive guide to the birds of that island. But it was also a time of frustration working for a bureaucracy that was under funded, understaffed and that sometimes had crazy ideas about natural resource management. Like the plan to introduce hippos to control water plants!

  WICN (90.5FM) is broadcast throughout central New England and is also webcast throughout the world. To get WICN on your PC, go to: www.wicn.org and click on "Listen Online".
  (submitted by Mark Lynch).

3/2/08 -- Raptor Informational Session

Meet North American Birds of Prey Up Close!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
2:00 p.m.
North American Martyrs Church
Parish Hall
8 Wyoma Drive, Auburn, MA
Free!
Open to the general public
Light refreshments will be served
Silent Auction
Presentation by: Wingmasters (www.wingmasters.net)
Funded by: The Auburn Foundation
Hosted by: Auburn Birdbanding Research Station
Web: www.auburnbirdbanding.org
Contact us: auburnbirdbander@aol.com
For more information call: Marcia Reich at (508) 757-5700

(submitted by Colleen Morin).

3/12/08 -- Owls of New England with Tom Wansleben

Wednesday, March 12 - 7:00 PM
Lawrence Library, Pepperell's Lawrence Library
15 Main Street
Pepperell Ma 01463
978-433-0330 (Contact: Deb Spratt, Library Director)

Join Tom Wansleben, Stewardship Biologist who specializes in avian and
forest ecology, for an exciting evening of owls with a special focus on the
local favorite, the Barred Owl (Strix varia). Tom did his graduate research
on Barred owl habitat use in southwestern New Hampshire, which showed that
Barreds need large contiguous forests. Refreshments served. Registration
suggested. Co-sponsored by Nashua River Watershed Association and is
supported by a grant from the Pepperell Cultural Council, a local agency
which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
This program is part of the Lawrence Library's series titled "Our Natural
Environment".

Free and open to the public. Location: Pepperell's Lawrence Library, Art
Gallery

(submitted by Susan Edwards).

3/15/08 -- Statewide Bird Conference in Waltham

This conference is all about Massachusetts birds and for the people who enjoy them-at backyard bird feeders, in your community or in the fields, forests, waterways or coastlines of Massachusetts! Register for the 16th Annual Birders Conference co-sponsored by MassAudubon and MassWildlife. This year's theme is "Massachusetts Birds: Our Common Wealth and Natural Heritage." Whether you feed birds at home, seek birds with binoculars, spotting scopes or hunting gear, you are sure to find topics that appeal to your interest in Massachusetts birds including: research findings, waterfowl identification, youth bird clubs, conservation stamps, bird calls, habitat management techniques for birds in decline and many other topics of interest. Presentations will be offered by a variety of experts from state agencies and conservation organizations. Visit displays and exhibits offered by bird oriented groups and businesses and lunch with bird enthusiasts from all walks of life! Proceeds from the Birders Meeting will support MassAudubon's Important Bird Area (IBA) program and MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. (submitted by Marion E. Larson, MassWildlife Field Headquarters).

3/30/08 -- Radio shows on WICN of interest to birders

SUNDAY, MARCH 30 starting at 9PM EDT on WICN (90.5FM):

How do you like your dinosaur? Southern Fried? Au Vin? Fricasseed? You may
think that's just a chicken in your pot, but recent studies in cladistics
and new discoveries in paleontology seem to indicate that all of today'Rs
living birds are in fact dinosaurs. Skeptical? Tune in tonight when we talk
with LUIS M. CHIAPPE, paleontologist for the Natural History Museum of Los
Angeles County about his stunning and revelatory new book GLORIFIED
DINOSAURS: THE ORIGIN AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF BIRDS. You'll never look at a
pigeon the same way again!

Then at 9:30, we talk with JULIE ELLIS, PhD of Tufts University, about an
amazing project that has volunteers walking the beaches of New England to
look for dead seabirds. Though that may sound grotesque, SEANET, the Seabird
Ecological Assessment Network, is a wonderful example of "citizen
science",
and involves the public in gathering data on the causes of recent massive
mortality events among seabirds and by doing so, to learn more about the
health and ecology of our oceans.  If you would like to help out in this
important project, tune in! SEE: 
www.tufts.edu/vet/seanet.


WICN (90.5FM) is broadcast throughout central New England and is also
webcast throughout the world. To get WICN on your PC, go to:
www.wicn.org
and click on "Listen Online".

(submitted by Mark Lynch). 



4/13/08 -- WICN radio interviews on natural history

Two shows of interest this SUNDAY ON WICN (90.5FM):

SUNDAY, APRIL 13 BEGINING AT 9PM EDT USA ON WICN (90.5FM):

In 1818, through a bizarre series of circumstances, taxonomy and science
were put on trial in a courthouse in New York City. What started as a minor
case about the inspection of barrels of whale oil, became a showcase trial
on the publics understanding of natural history and the new order of nature.
The whole cause célèbre court case revolved around a deceptively simple
question: was a whale  a "fish" or a "mammal"? Tune in tonight when
Inquiry
speaks with writer D. GRAHAM BURNETT about his thought-provoking history of
science and society: Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court
Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature.

Then at 9:30: Golden Wings and Hairy Toes by natural history writer and
Rhode Island native TODD McLEISH is one of the most enjoyable and
informative books on New England wildlife published in some time. McLeish
came up with a short list of some of New England's most endangered birds,
mammals, reptiles, invertebrates and plants, and then arranged to spend some
time in the field with the biologists and conservationists trying
desperately to preserve the remaining populations of these plants and
animals. Tune in and find out about the rare Sandplain Gerardia that seems
to survive only in old New England cemeteries, and the American Burying
Beetle, who finds a fresh corpse to inter for it's young.


WICN (90.5FM) is broadcast throughout central New England and is also
webcast throughout the world. To get WICN on your PC, go to:
www.wicn.org
and click on "Listen Online".

(submitted by Mark Lynch). 




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