http://ebird.org/content/va daily 1 2008-03-14T17:41:23Z http://ebird.org/content/va/news/american-bird-conservancy-petition-to-regulate-the-wind-industry American Bird Conservancy (ABC) was recently quoted in an article on wind power and Golden Eagles that has resulted in several responses. We wish to clarify our position, which we believe was misrepresented by quotes taken out of context. No publisher Arun_Bose 2012-01-12T01:06:26Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/cbc December 14 will begin the 112th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season, and the first big weekend of counts will be 17-18 December. The Christmas Count is the largest and longest-running ornithological citizen science project. Its data are a great complement to what we are collecting in eBird, and indeed the CBC has paved the way for eBird in many respects. It is not a problem to enter data in eBird and then submit it for the CBC too, since the two projects are collecting data in similar ways, but at different scales. eBird can be a great way to store your sector-level data and compare it from year to year. No publisher Chris Wood 2011-12-13T19:50:42Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/good-whimbrel-news-update-mostly The report of the illegal shooting of two Whimbrels (Machi and Goshen) that were part of a migration study, and which had been tracked via satellite for 2 years was posted to the VA Bird List on September 13 and 14, 2011. The following is an update from Fletcher Smith (research biologist with The Center for Conservation Biology of The College of William & Mary / Virginia Commonwealth University). "After arriving in Guadeloupe on Tuesday afternoon, a local conservation official and I went to the Port-Louis swamp where Goshen was shot. We made a brief tour of several of the primary hunting locations, noting roughly 10 hunters on a hot, sunny, windless Tuesday evening. No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-09-22T18:14:11Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/19th-annual-eastern-shore-birding-and-wildlife-festival Its not too late to register for the 19th annual Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival. Spots are still open for many of the trips. There are few places where the true scope of fall migration is more apparent then the Eastern Shore of Virginia as raptors, shorebirds and songbirds pour down the Delmarva Peninsula The festival offers opportunities to check out some of the best birding locations on Eastern Shore - including private properties not typically open to the public. Register online at http://www.esvafestivals.com/. No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-09-08T22:43:38Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/virginia-important-bird-areas-conservation-news-focus-on-team-warbler-the-atlantic-flyway-initiative-and-saltmarsh-habitat-and-avian-research-project-sharp Audubon in Virginia has several conservation projects to highlight during this season: one of our most exciting is an international partnership between Richmond Audubon Society, Panama Audubon Society National Audubon Society and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) called: Team Warbler — From Chesapeake Bay to Panama Bay and Back — Cross Cultural Connections Supporting Sustainable Communities. Working under a Community Engagement grant from VCU, championed by Cathy Viverette, VCU Life Sciences Research Associate, this project seeks to connect students, researchers and Richmond Audubon in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to Panama Audubon in the Panama Bay watershed to raise awareness of and better understand the Prothonotary Warbler. No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-08-04T02:53:36Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/vso-honors-two-virginia-ornithologists At its Annual Conference in May 14, 2011, the Virginia Society of Ornithology honored Dr. Mitchell A. Byrd with establishment of “The Mitchell A. Byrd Award for Scientific Achievement.” No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-05-31T01:43:06Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/united-states-fish-and-wildlife-service-re-comments-on-draft-voluntary-land-based-wind-energy-guidelines May 1 , 2011 The members of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Society of Ornithology would like to comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Draft Voluntary Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines”. We urge the USFWS to make these guidelines mandatory, not voluntary. We feel that the construction of wind energy projects should not occur in certain areas where high concentrations of wintering and migrating Golden Eagles exist in the eastern United States. This species is protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and The Migratory Bird Protection Act, and these laws should be upheld. We recommend that you develop siting criteria based on a risk assessment mapping system that would be implemented to identify areas of high risk for eagles. Implementation of this mapping system would prevent construction of wind turbines in locations where eagles are found at high concentration. No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-05-10T02:24:38Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/vso-2011-annual-meeting-harrisonburg-virginia-may-13201315 The annual meeting of the Virginia Society of Ornithology will be held May 13 – 15 in Harrisonburg located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Hosted by the Rockingham Bird Club and headquartered at the Holiday Inn the meeting will feature a banquet, field trips, exhibits, vendors, a technical paper session, and the VSO’s annual business meeting. The banquet speaker will be Dan Cristol, professor of Biology at the College of William and Mary. More details here. » No publisher Arun_Bose 2011-04-15T01:36:48Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/cvwo-at-kiptopeke-video Watch the CVWO at Kiptopeke Video. No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-11-22T03:20:32Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/750-000th-bird-at-kiptopeke-hawkwatch The Kiptopeke Hawkwatch is approaching a remarkable milestone, 750,000 birds! If you would like to learn more and even enter our contest to predict the species, date and time of the 750,000th bird...see the button on the left side of our Home Page and visit the General Blog for regular updates at www.cvwo.org Good luck! Brian Taber Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-10-25T03:43:08Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/more-bird-habitat-at-kiptopeke On October 8th, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to officially open the newly-acquired "Taylor Pond" area at Kiptopeke State Park. It was made possible through the efforts of those pictured and also singer/songwriter/environmentalist James Taylor, who donated proceeds of a concert held in Virginia Beach. Pictured, from the left are: Fred Hazelwood, District 1 State Parks Manager; Sam Sweeney, Kiptopeke Park Manager; Steve Parker, The Nature Conservancy; Willie Randall, Northampton County Board of Supervisors; Jack Humphries, Eastern Shore Master Gardeners; Laura McKay, VA Department of Environmental Quality, Coastal Zone Management; David Johnson, Director, VA Department of Conservation and Recreation and Daniel Jordan, Assistant Park Manager at Kiptopeke. Trees and other native plants were installed in recent weeks, which, in addition to the freshwater pond, will provide crucial stopover resources for migrant birds at this globally important natural area. No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-10-25T03:38:41Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/ebird-gets-a-supercomputing-kick-from-teragrid Thanks to your continued participation the data analysis potential of eBird is growing rapidly. Through collaboration with partners in the DataONE network at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, eBird was recently awarded 100,000 hours of supercomputing time on the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid system. This powerful computer system will help Lab scientists and colleagues model bird migration phenology at the population level based on eBird data. The process will involve combining bird observations with remotely sensed variables such as landcover and greening index to predict bird movements and to explore how migration timing might change under different climate scenarios. This exciting story was recently profiled in Nature. No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-09-03T03:30:55Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/central-piedmont-iba-survey-summary The Central Piedmont Important Bird Area (IBA), Virginia’s 20th IBA, is composed of a patchwork of farmlands, fallow fields and forests that provide a home for many threatened bird species. Some key species that call this IBA home include the Prairie Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wood Thrush and Grasshopper Sparrow, all B1 species of Continental Conservation Concern. The IBA also hosts significant numbers of at least 4 out of the 10 species recently identified by the National Audubon Society as the Top 10 Common Birds in Decline: Northern Bobwhite (#1), Eastern Meadowlark (#6), Field Sparrow (#9), and Grasshopper Sparrow (#10). The Northern Bobwhite has also been classified as an A1 species of Global Conservation Concern. No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-07-02T02:32:08Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/cvwo-adopts-lower-delmarva-iba Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory has adopted the Lower Delmarva Important Bird Area (see article below on adopting IBAs in Virginia). The Observatory is already very active on the lower Eastern Shore, providing free daily public education to visitors during the August-November bird migration period, at its songbird banding, hawk banding and hawkwatch research stations at Kiptopeke State Park. The lower Delmarva is a bird concentration area of global significance. The Observatory also collaborates with the State Park, the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and other organizations about habitat management and conservation issues. No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-05-01T01:44:45Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/va/news/2009-virginia-plover-summary Submitted by: Carissa Smith1, Alex Wilke2 and Ruth Boettcher3 1Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Wildlife Diversity Division 27270 Baylys Neck Road Accomac, VA 23301 Carissa.Smith@dgif.virginia.gov 2The Nature Conservancy Virginia Coast Reserve PO Box 158 Nassawadox, Virginia 23413 awilke@tnc.org 3Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Wildlife Diversity Division PO Box 476 Painter, VA 23420 Ruth.Boettcher@dgif.virginia.gov Piping Plover and Wilson’s Plover Population Estimates and Distribution The 24th Annual Virginia Plover Survey (VPS) was conducted from June 1 - June 9 to obtain statewide breeding population estimates for the federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) and the state endangered Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). VPS participants examined all suitable nesting habitats in coastal Virginia to locate breeding pairs of Piping Plovers and Wilson’s Plovers. Seventeen ocean-facing sites were included in the survey covering an estimated 194 km of Virginia coastline along with two inshore sites on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. A third inshore site, Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge was not surveyed this year due to logistical difficulties. During the 2009 survey a total of 182 Piping Plover breeding pairs and 9 unpaired single adults (single adults that did not appear to be defending a territory, mate, nest or brood) were observed (Table 1). No publisher Arun_Bose 2010-04-16T03:02:22Z Feature