More than 30 eager viewers attended the BBC showing of Neil Rettig’s stunning “Bird of Prey” film on Tuesday, November 12th, at the Woburn Public Library. Fortified by a variety of refreshments and the library’s state-of-the-art audiovisual technology, viewers who braved windy, freezing temperatures watched as the Great Philippine Eagle was located, tracked, bore, tended to, and ultimately fledged a healthy chick within what remains of the once thriving forests of the Philippine Islands archipelago. Together with a multidisciplinary, multi-national team that included Tree Rigger/Forest Guide Perfecto Balicao, and others, this huge eagle, once named “Monkey-eating Eagle, had been renamed Great Philippine Eagle by former president Ferdinand Marcos, who simultaneously promoted the bird’s name association with and supported widespread deforestation of his country. The film depicts despair and hope, as organizations like the Philippine Eagle Foundation work literally around the clock on essential tasks that include ensuring and monitoring safe nesting sites, tracking released chicks, and engaging school children and communities in education and advocacy for their national bird.
Stay tuned for future BBC-sponsored events that include movie evening, game night, and birds and breakfast/lunch.
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Upcoming Field Trips
The Quiet Beauty of Birding at Winthrop Beach
Winthrop - DCR Winthrop Beach Reservation - Sturgis St 59 Winthrop Shore Drive, Winthrop, MA, United StatesJoin DCR park staff for a leisurely walk across sandy stretches and areas of loose rocks at this Massachusetts State Reservation, a well-known hot spot for birdwatching. We'll be on the lookout for shorebirds, waterbirds, and gulls. Binoculars are recommended. Suitable for adults and children ages 8 and up (with an accompanying adult). Sponsored by [...]
Fruitlands Museum, Harvard
Harvard - Fruitlands Museum 102 Prospect Hill Rd., Harvard, MA, United StatesAll the nesting birds will still be around, with good views of young out of the nest being fed by parents: Veery, Indigo Bunting, Catbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Bobolink, Wood Thrush, Baltimore Oriole, and Warblers. Expect to walk about 2 miles on trails through meadow and woods with some steep sections. Heavy rain cancels [...]
Birch Hill WMA
Royalston - Birch Hill WMA Royalston, MA, United StatesIncludes three to five miles of walking relatively flat terrain. Might include some bushwacking. Driving on hard packed dirt roads. Co-sponsored with the Athol Bird & Nature Club.
Southwick WMA
Southwick WMA - Suffield WMA entrance Point Grove Road, Suffield, CT, United StatesWe will hike the fields focusing on grassland breeders, particularly Eastern Meadowlark and Grasshopper Sparrow.
Millennium Park
Boston - Millennium Park Canoe Launch 300 Gardner Street, Boston, MA, United StatesJoin the Brookline Bird Club in collaboration with Boston Nature Center to look for birds in a unique urban habitat that often draws numerous uncommon and rare birds.Target birds include bobolinks, egrets, flycatchers, grosbeaks, herons, owls, rails, ravens, sandpipers, swallows & swifts, vultures, warblers, and woodpeckers. Birders of all levels will enjoy this trip. The [...]