This winter, join us virtually to improve your birding from the comfort of home, with Virtual Birding, a free online program taking place every other Monday evening, December through February. Through the magic of live-streamed bird feeder cameras, I will guide viewings of birds in Maine and throughout the world. Each program, we will watch videos from several locations and discuss the species and behaviors we are observing.
Wishing you had booked a tropical vacation to escape the cold? No worries—you can observe birds in Panama and South Africa from your couch during Virtual Birding. Likewise, you don’t need to be out in the cold to observe birds in northern Maine and Ontario—we will go there virtually!
We specifically scheduled this program to provide a more accessible way for people to bird, when the cold and snow make it difficult for many to get outside. In addition to becoming more familiar with our local winter residents, we will get to see the difference between these nonbreeding populations around the Northeast, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as farther afield in Europe and Asia. The coolest part about this is the similarities between feeder species in many parts of the world: most places in the northern hemisphere, there will be a similar mix of finches, sparrows, tits (chickadees), woodpeckers, and blackbirds, but there will be different species in each location.
If this sounds interesting to you, join us this Monday, December 4, for our first Virtual Birding program. If you do want to get outdoors, join us at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth where we also have our free regularly scheduled Beginner Bird Walks, including this Saturday, December 2, from 10 am to 12 pm, and free Weekly Bird Walks every Thursday morning, starting at 8 am on Thursday, December 7.
