NHBC Indoor Programs

All indoor programs will be held on the second Thursday of the month, with the exception of the November meeting which is the first Thursday.  There are no indoor programs in June, July, or August. The social half-hour begins at 7:00 PM; the program at 7:30 PM.  All meetings will be held in the Jones Auditorium, CT Agricultural Experiment Station, Huntington St., New Haven. The facility is wheelchair accessible with a ramp and elevator.  [Directions to CAES Jones Auditorium]

Cancellation Policy

Inclement weather or another emergency may cancel a meeting. For cancellation notices, check TV channels WTNH (New Haven) and WFSB (Hartford.) Cancellation notices will also be posted online on ctbird.

2009-2010 Schedule

Thursday, September 10, 2009 - Alan Hinde
Wintering Raptors of the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah
As fall approaches and birders' eyes begin turning to hawks, we welcome a man who's been hooked on raptors for more than 25 years-but in an intensely scientific way. Alan started with moni- toring Peregrine Falcons in his native England, and since then he's traveled the world monitoring, banding, counting, research- ring…raptors. He's worked with numerous groups including Hawk Watch International and Cornell and has set up banding stations and done raptor research in places as close as NH and VT and as far as the Navajo Nation and the Great Basin in the American West-and even further away, in Israel. His hands-on experience in so many areas gives him a unique perspective on raptors and their migratory paths and behaviors. His talk will cover his work in the Great Basin where, with field assistance from raptor biologists and other ornithologists, his research is suggesting that the deserts of NV and UT are among the most significant winter ranges for raptors in western North America. He is collecting and providing biological samples from raptors that yield data used in a number of biological and genetic research projects in several states and countries.

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Tom Anderson
What Is Long Island Sound For?
What would Connecticut be like without the Sound? For one, "certainly less birdy." This evening's speaker reminds us how important the Sound has been in so many aspects of our lives. Tom will summarize what the Sound was like before the Europeans arrived, how the last four centuries have led us to the current bad environmental situation, and what is being done to fix it. An expert on the Sound, Tom is an exceptional environmental reporter who has written extensively about it and about the environmental issues relating to it. His book, This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound, was published by Yale to great reviews and he has won numerous awards for covering environmental issues in a number of newspapers, including the NY Times.
Tom will have a few copies of his book available for sale and he will sign copies following his presentation.

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - Ian Newton, OBE, FRS, FRSE
Population Limitations in Migrants
Please Note: The November meeting will be held on the first Thursday of the month, November 6, rather than the usual second Thursday, in order to accommodate Veteran's Day.
Professor Newton, visiting from England, is an internationally known and respected ornithologist who has had a distinguished career in avian ecology and migration research. He is a prolific author and a recipient of several prestigious awards for research and conservation. His interest in birds, beginning in childhood, continued in his Oxford studies and his life work. He will discuss how migratory bird populations may be influenced by conditions in more than one part of the world: in breeding, migration, and wintering areas. Conditions in one area at one time of year can influence survival or reproductive success later in the year in another area. Understanding this "connectivity" is a step toward understanding the population limitation of migratory birds.

Notice! A Bonus: Birder Tag Sale at the November Meeting!
Do you have a bird book that you no longer use? or some avian art that you no longer have space for on your walls? Bring it all to the November meeting. We'll price items at $1, $5, and $10. Proceeds go to NHBC's General Fund.

Thurs., December 10, 2009 - Denise Jernigan & Sara Zagorski
Destination: Antarctica
If it has to be freezing outside, it might as well be uniquely beautiful too. Add a sense of the magical and of the remote, and you've got a good description of the Antarctic, a place that to many world travelers is the ultimate trip destination. To the Antarctic on the ship Aleksey Maryshev ventured NHBC mem- bers Denise and Sara, who've been on many world trips together in the past four decades. Their spectacular photos and lively narrative about their 3-week adventure-filled with tales fascinating, amusing, or simply unbelievable-will be the next best thing to going there yourself. Skuas, icebergs, sheathbills, whales, petrels, albatross, glaciers, …and penguins, penguins, penguins-seven species' worth, some in colonies of staggering size. From Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula on the continent itself-this is a trip you'll never forget.

****  NOTE CHANGE IN PROGRAM FOR JANUARY****
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - Dolores Gall
Mark Catesby: The Colonial Audubon
One hundred years before John Audubon created his monumental works, Mark Catesby published The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, a two-volume set with more than 200 hand-colored illustrations. Our speaker will discuss the natural history of 18th-century America and illustrate her talk with many images from Catesby's work. in 1712, the young Catesby had begun describing, collecting, and painting the plants and animals of the American Southeast. He first had the idea of placing a bird with an element of its environment, which added a layer of scientific value to the illustration. Catesby's book included the first images of the mockingbird and Ivory-billed Woodpecker and a number of animals unknown in Europe. When Linnaeus wrote his Systama Naturae, he relied heavily on Catesby's illustrations of New World species to develop his survey of the animal kingdom. Tonight's speaker is well qualified to speak on the subject. She is a retired art historian and has worked in Yale's galleries and taught at Albertus Magnus College.

Thursday, February 11, 2010-Mark Szantyr
What Makes a Rare Bird Rare in Connecticut?
Mark probably doesn't need to be introduced to most CT birders. He's one of the most knowledgeable, dedicated, and respected birders in the state, and a college art teacher and fine artist whose paintings and illustrations elegantly portray many of the avian species he sees. With his keen artist's eye, he is also an outstanding photographer who is sure to capture every rare-or even not so rare-bird that appears on the scene. (View his photos at zenfolio.com). With this background, Mark is eminently qualified for yet another of his activities: Being one of the 12 members on the COA's Avian Records Committee of CT (ARCC), which maintains the official CT State list of bird species acceptably documented as occurring or having occurred in the state. The committee also maintains a list of species of rare annual, historical, or not previously documented occurrence. That's what Mark will discuss tonight, focusing on what makes a bird rare. We'll also learn what some of the state's notable records have been in recent years, what species are currently being examined, and what species might be expected to appear in CT in the future.

Thursday, March 11, 2010-Patrick Dugan
Whistle Down the Bird: Birds of Stamford, CT and Their Calls
Patrick is an exceptional birder, having pursued this passion from childhood. He is especially devoted to his hometown birding patch, Stamford, CT, where he has a species list of 308, more than most birders have for the entire state. And he's an excellent trip leader, too. He has co-led birding trips out of state, and on Saturday mornings, if there's a bird to be seen at Cove Island in Stamford, he's sure to find it for those who take his scheduled walks. What makes his walks unique-and extra fun-is his ability to whistle any bird song. He's a veritable walking iPod. He started learning bird calls at an early age. While working in a quiet basement workroom of the family picture framing business, he listened to bird tapes to break the monotony. With time and practice he honed his whistling and birdsong-mimic skills to an art. In fact, he's so good at whistling, he once auditioned for a whistling part in a Woody Allen movie. Allen signed him on and paid a comfortable, (and happily for Patrick, non-returnable) fee up front, but Allen ended up concluding that Patrick was too good for the whistling role Allen envisioned. (Or was Allen just afraid Patrick would steal the show!) Tonight Patrick will show photos of birds he's seen in Stamford and he'll whistle their songs. His Winter Wren is not to be missed. He might even take requests at the end of his talk!

Notice! A Bonus: Birder Tag Sale at the March Meeting!
Do you have a bird book that you no longer use? or some avian art that you no longer have space for on you walls? Bring it all to the November meeting. We'll price items at $1, $5, and $10. Proceeds go to NHBC's General Fund.

****  NOTE CHANGE IN PROGRAM FOR APRIL ****
Thursday, April 8, 2010 - Christopher Clark
How and why birds 'sing' with their feathers
Like humans, birds produce sounds to communicate both through vocalizations and also mechanical sounds; the latter being similar to human instrumental music. Whereas bird vocalizations have been scientifically studied for decades, the mechanics and function of mechanical sounds has received relatively little scientific attention. I will present the results of my recent research on the tonal sounds (so-called 'whistling' sounds) that birds such as snipe, doves, and hummingbirds produce during flight. Birds can produce a a diverse array of sounds with their feathers, which I will demonstrate with high-speed video and sound recordings of the courtship displays of several species of Hummingbirds. Moreover, the physics of how these sounds are produced yields insight into why birds produce them."

Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 6:00 PM
Annual Banquet - Amarante's Restaurant, New Haven
Join us for the Club's Annual Banquet-always great company, great food, and a great program. Reservations required; please watch the spring newsletter for details and reservation forms.  Please remember to bring cash to the banquet to pay for your drinks at the cash bar and to buy tickets for the always-fun raffle of interesting, exciting, and worthwhile prizes!

Banquet /program: Tim Laman, Ph.D
Birds of Paradise: Feathers of Seduction
When Tim Laman isn't in the rain forests of Borneo, New Guinea, or some other remote place taking photographs and documenting little known or endangered wildlife, he's at The Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology where he's a Research Associate. But tonight we're very lucky to have him here in New Haven. Tim's spectacular photography includes dazzling images of Birds of Paradise -National Geographic, for one, has publish-ed many of them. We'll get to see a number of species of these brilliantly colored birds. Males often sport plumages with orna- ments such as ruffs, amazingly elongated feathers, head plumes and fans, and breast shields. Photographed in display postures, the birds show why "feathers of seduction" aptly describes their plumages as they engage in their elaborate dances, poses, and other rituals. But these birds are not easy to get to. They reside in remote habitats, so Tim often has had to climb, while carrying all his equipment, to blinds high in the forest canopy. Photographic work is part of Tim's career focus on endangered species, biodiversity, and rainforest ecology. He believes that promoting awareness through photography can make a difference for con- servation. You'll be inspired by these "divas of the avian world."

"Birds in Words"

A Bird Book Discussion Group

The first year of our book discussion meetings produced some lively and thought-provoking sessions. The group will meet at least four times during the next year. The group picks the next book at each meeting. Last year we read about the history of birding in the U.S., the life of ravens, and the birding travels of Roger Tory Peterson and Kenn Kaufmann. At our next meeting-Wed., Sept. 23- we'll discuss the first five chapters of David Attenborough's brilliantly illustrated The Life of Birds. Attendees are encouraged to contribute one question to be discussed. (The second meeting will be on Mon., Nov. 2.) Meetings are held from 7-9:00 PM in Miller Senior Center, Hamden, behind the public library, 2901 Dixwell Ave. Meetings are free and open to the public. The moderator is Sara Zagorski, 860.275.0322, szagorski@daypitney.com. Come and join us for an informative and fun evening as we discuss various aspects of our favorite pastime.

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