NNAS Events
Location: Grace Episcopal Church, Kilmarnock
Program: History of Audubon Christmas Bird Count & How to Help
Speaker: Kevin Howe, biologist & Chapter Board member
Location: Grace Episcopal Church, Kilmarnock
Program: Kiptopeke Hawkwatch
Speaker: Andrew Rapp, biologist, VA Div. of Natural Heritage
Final Chapter Board mtg for 2026, Front Porch Coffee House
Saturday, Oct. 31 – 9 am - Voorhees Nature Preserve Bird Walk, 322 Bristol Mine Rd, Colonial Beach. This walk is on 729 acres of The Nature Conservancy land and is open to all. Jeff Wright, longtime Birder and Virginia Master Naturalists will lead you through forest to the cliffs sitting nearly 200 feet above the Rappahannock River, birding along the way. The website eBird reports 137 species of birds seen at Voorhees. Email for info - nnaudubon@gmail.com
Sunday, October 18 – 2 pm Virginia Bird Banding Programs, Grace Episcopal Church, 303 S. Main St., Kilmarnock. This program is open to members and nonmembers outlining Virginia’s Bird Banding Program. Daria Sparks, a Waterfowl Biologist with the Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources, will be describing how Virginia monitors and manages its ducks, geese, and swans. The talk covers the surveys and banding programs used to track waterfowl populations in the state, and how GPS transmitters are adding new information about waterfowl movement and habitat. This work is coordinated with other states and Canada to fully understand these migratory populations. Email for info - nnaudubon@gmail.com
Saturday, Oct. 17 – 9 am - Belle Isle State Park Bird Walk, Lancaster. This is a walk for members and the public from beginners to experts of all ages seeking a leisurely walk, seeing and learning about the joy and wonder of birds. If you have binoculars, please bring them but if not, there will be some on hand to borrow. Long-time birder and Audubon Foundation President, Jim Wagner, will be leading this casual stroll though some of the best birding spots at the park. Belle Isle is considered to be a birders “Hot Spot” by the website eBird. They have documented 191 species of birds at the Park – no guarantee you will see anywhere that many but there will be lots to see. Meet Jim at the Park Visitors Center at 9 am where you will receive you parking pass courtesy of the Chapter. Email for info - nnaudubon@gmail.com
Chapter Board Meeting, Lancaster Community Library, upstair
What: Trail Maintenance & Beaver Discouraging
Meet: Hickory Hollow parking lot
Where: Bayview, a private property in Wicomico Church
Leader: Kevin Howe, biologist & Chapter Board member
On Friday, Sept. 25, at 8 am, a bird walk will be held on a private property in Northumberland County on the Chesapeake Bay off Balls Neck Road near Hughlett Point. This is nearing the peak period of the Fall migration for birds so birding could be great.
To sign up or get more information & directions, please email nnaudubon@gmail.com. Happy birding!
Location: Grace Episcopal Church, Kilmarnock
Program: Birding 101 – Tools, Show & Tell
Speaker: Jim Wagner, long time Birder & Pres. of the Audubon Foundation
Northern Neck Chapter of the National Audubon Society invites the public and its members to a “Birding 101” presentation on the basics of birding.
This will be held on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 pm at Grace Episcopal Church, 303 S. Main Street in Kilmarnock.
Join us to learn about the impact of climate change, led by Jeff Wright
Please join us for the Annual Election of Officers for the NNAS Board. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
The Northern Neck Audubon Chapter is sponsoring the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Will Poston at their monthly membership meeting on Sunday, May 17, from 2-4 Grace Episcopal Church in Kilmarnock. Ken Knull, NNAS Acting President said everyone is welcome and that Will's presentation will cover the ecologic role of menhaden in the Bay, the science and management processes, warning signs facing this critically important forage fish, the impact on the Osprey population and upcoming management changes.
Will is a lifelong fisherman, hunter, and conservationist, who has leveraged these passions for a career in conservation and fisheries policy. He currently works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as its Forage Campaign Manager, primarily working on menhaden issues in the Bay. In this role, Will serves as CBF's point contact on menhaden, coordinating the organization's advocacy, policy, and education efforts around this critical forage fish. Will can be reached at wposton@cbf.org.
When: First Saturday of the month, May-November, 9 a.m.-1 p.m..
Where: 98 King Carter Drive, Irvington, VA 22480 (Irvington Commons).
Contact: farmersmarket@irvingtonvia.com (Market Manager: Heather Sheehan).
Highlights: Over 80 vendors, live music, playground, crafts, produce, food.
Join us for a walk in the woods with master birder Jim Wagner.
Please meet at the Visitors Center
Open to the public!
Join us to hear Kevin Ernst talk about Bird Houses. Learn the do’s and don’ts for our fine feathered friends.
Open to the public!
Join us for our monthly board meeting, open to the public.
In preparation for the NNK and MP Winter Waterfowl Count, there will be a Zoom workshop on January 30th, 7:00 PM. The program will cover tips to help determine just what we are seeing, particularly when the species is challenging to identify.
To sign up for the Zoom, contact Jeff Wright, compiler for NNK and MP Winter Waterfowl Count at pec11908@mac.com
New Year’s Day is the perfect day to get outside and start the New Year off naturally and focused on plants. A number of years ago our Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society started a New Year’s Day Walk at Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve but the scourge of Covid forced that to be canceled for the past few years. But alas, the Walk has been reinstated this new year for Sunday, Jan. 1 at 1 pm with the co-sponsorship of the NN Virginia Native Plant society . The temperature is predicted to be in the fifties.
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The Northern Neck Chapter of Virginia, National Audubon Society is excited to offer a free virtual Zoom meeting on Monday, April 4th at 2 pm entitled "Birding Skill-builder Virtual Workshop”. This can be viewed on a home computer and is open to the public.
The Northern Neck Chapter of the National Audubon Society is offering a virtual presentation on Monday, Nov. 1, at 7 pm via Zoom. The speaker will be Kevin Howe, President of the Northern Neck Chapter of Audubon, and a birder and biologist for more than 50 years. The Presentation is titled “Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count – History & Your Participation”.
To participate, please register or learn more, please email nnaudubon@gmail.com
The Northern Neck of Virginia Chapter of the National Audubon Society is thrilled to sponsor a Zoom program on climate change as it relates to migrating birds. Our speaker will be Dr. Amanda Gallinat, an ecologist with the USA Phenology Network.
Send an email to nnaudubon@gmail.com for the zoom link.
The Northern Neck Chapter of Virginia, National Audubon Society is continuing the Zoom programs for 2021 with a free virtual program on Monday, June 7th at 7 pm entitled "Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Virginia”. This can be viewed on a home computer and is open to the public, details below.
This ZOOM program will be presented by Dr. Joan Maloof - author, forest ecologist at Salisbury State University (MD) and founder of the Old Growth Forest Network. Get your notebooks ready as Joan will enlighten us all about Old Growth Forests and why they are so valuable.
This ZOOM program will be presented by Jeff Wright - Virginia Master Naturalist, long-time birder and former NN Audubon Board member.
Since 1998, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society have promoted the first online citizen science project to collect data on wild birds and to display the results in near real time.
For four days each year, February 12-15, participants spend at least 15 minutes per day watching and recording the birds they see. You can watch through a window to your yard, from your favorite secret birding place or some exotic spot where you always wanted to be (although in Covid-19 times, that is pretty much out). You can be by yourself or with family; but, again, Covid protocol prevails The data can be uploaded easily in a variety of methods.
This is a very valuable citizen science project. All information can be found via a search on the web for Audubon Great Backyard Bird Count.
Bird-watching is certainly a joy in which we should all partake more often. The data we collect and record provides scientists with long-term population trends and a better understanding of a species population before one of its annual migrations. PLEASE PARTICIPATE ...AND, feel free to post highlights of your Count on the NNAS list website: nnasnet@freelists.org
This is the Fifth Year for the CBC in Northumberland/Lancaster Counties. This is an open event to all and free.
