The Lynchburg Bird Club meets on the second Wednesday of the month from September through May (except December) at 7 p.m. After a few brief announcements, bird reports, and club business, there is a program presented by a featured speaker. Anyone with an interest in birds (including non-members) is welcome at bird club meetings.
**New meeting location at Liberty University**
Since January 2025, we've been meeting in a new location: Room 128 on the first floor of the Center for Natural Sciences at Liberty University. On this map, the Center for Natural Sciences is Building #4. Parking is available in the Academic Commons Garage located off of Regents Parkway. Handicap parking is available on the north side of the Old Reber-Thomas building (Building #35). It is marked by signs for Student Mail. Detailed directions are included in "The Bluebird" newsletter.
The September-October 2025 issue of "The Bluebird" newsletter has been sent to members. If you are a member and did not receive a copy, please contact the editor, Kate Waller.
PROGRAMS FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS:
On Christmas Day 2024, one of the news items that greeted our nation was the fact that President Joe Biden had just signed legislation designating the Bald Eagle as the national bird of The United States of America. If you thought that the Bald Eagle had long been our official national bird from almost the founding of our country, you were not alone. For our first meeting of the new Bird Club year, Gene Sattler will lead us in a consideration of the story behind The Bald Eagle, Our National Symbol–Myth, Misconception, and Paradox. If you think of our national bird strictly in terms of national pride and veneration, you will be in for a surprise as this program, a mix of history, conservation biology, and natural history, explores the complex and often contradictory story behind the Bald Eagle.
Gene is a past president of the Lynchburg Bird Club and a biology professor at Liberty University where he teaches zoology, ornithology, animal behavior, and vertebrate natural history. He received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Maryland studying hybridization between Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees at the Smithsonian Institution’s Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, and he currently leads a banding study with his students of the Northern Saw-whet Owl’s migration dynamics.
In October, Ann Richard will share about her January 2025 birding trip in Costa Rica. Ann lives in Lynchburg and is a retired science teacher. She is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and the University of Virginia. Her graduate degree included botany and ornithology at Mountain Lake Biological Field Station. Ann’s presentation is a story of restoring the Scarlet Macaw population, lots of bird pictures, and some general information about Costa Rica. She had a wonderful trip and is looking forward to sharing her experiences (and hopes her presentation might even encourage others to repeat her trip)!