Brookline Bird Club – America’s most active bird club!

February 7 BBC Winter Meeting – Social Hour, Used Book Sale & Norman Smith!

Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 7 at 2PM for the BBC’s annual in-person Winter Meeting featuring a social hour with refreshments, our popular used bird book sale table, and our speaker Norman Smith, Director of the Snowy Owl Project. The Winter Meeting is free and open to all. There is plenty of free parking. Please note that this event will be in person only, with no Zoom link.

We will meet up once again at the John Glenn Middle School in Bedford, MA at 99 McMahon Rd. This year we are trying something new. Our winter meeting will take place during the afternoon to make the event more family friendly and make driving there and back easier on our members. The afternoon includes:

  • A social hour with refreshments will precede the meeting from 2PM to 3PM.
  • We will again host our popular used book sale table where you can sell your unwanted books about birds, birding, and other natural history topics.
  • For the first time we will have a family table with displays and activities of interest to kids.
  • Our program, including speaker Norman Smith, will start at 3PM. The program will include presentations about the BBC School Book Fund and by the 2025 winners of the Bill Drummond Young Birder Scholarship to National Audubon’s Hog Island Camp.

The Used Book Sale

Once again we will offer a selection of used books about birds, birding, and other natural history topics for sale. This activity proved very popular last year. Please bring your gently used but unwanted books to donate to the sale table. All proceeds will go to Manomet Conservation Sciences to help support research on the Tawny-Throated Dotterel in Peru. A team of researchers there is in need of optical equipment to support field work on this colorful shorebird.

If you would like to donate books please plan to arrive between 1:30 and 2PM.

The Program

We hope to start our program with presentations by our 2025 Bill Drummond Young Birder Scholarship winners and a few words about the BBC’s School Book & Optics Fund.

Our main speaker will be Norman Smith. Norman is a self-taught naturalist who has worked for the Massachusetts Audubon Society since 1974. He recently retired as Director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and Norman Smith Environmental Education Center in Milton, Massachusetts where he worked for 50+ years. He continues in a part time role to continue his research on raptors at The Snowy Owl Project and elsewhere. Learn more about Norman’s work with Snowy Owls in this short, award winning video.

Since 1981, Norman Smith has spent countless days and nights, in every imaginable weather condition, observing, capturing, banding and relocating Snowy Owls at Logan International Airport. Data has been collected on roosting, hunting and behavior while on their wintering grounds. Since 2000 satellite transmitters have been attached to owls to learn more about their movements. Find out what has been learned to date, what questions remain and how this project developed to include research on Saw-whet Owls. His mission is to use the information gathered from his research to stimulate a passion in everyone he meets to help us better understand, appreciate and care for this world in which we live.

Optional Registration

As we all know February weather in New England can be an… adventure. Make sure you get up to date info on weather related changes by registering in advance. Registering is completely voluntary and will help both us and you plan for the event. Thanks!

For More Information

Please email us at president@brooklinebirdclub.org with any questions.

Snowy owl perched
Students at the Citizen Schools, Boston, recipient from the BBC School Book Fund
Murkland Elementary School, Lowell, recipient from the BBC School Book Fund
Norman Smith and Snowy Owl

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