November 10, 2025 Minutes, Covenant Presbyterian Church

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Vice-president Vic Laubach.
New member Luanne Goodloe was welcomed.
Recent sightings: Six Cattle Egrets were seen in Verona, and a Rough-legged Hawk seen on Guthrie Rd. in Stuarts Draft. Hooded Mergansers, American Pipits, a Fox Sparrow, and Lapland Longspur have also been seen recently in the area. The Hawk Watch witnessed 220 Cormorants and 18 Bald Eagles in one day. They have also seen Ring-billed Gulls and 3 Herring Gulls.
Field Trips: A highlight this month was a trip to Highland Retreat banding station to see Northern Saw-whet Owls. Robyn Puffenbarger coordinated this event and hopes to make it an annual trip. Participants were treated to the banding of several of these charismatic little owls. Additional trips this month will be to McCormick Farm, Chimney Hollow, and Bells Lane.
Christmas Bird Counts: This year the Augusta CBC will be December 14 and coordinated by Allen Larner. The Waynesboro CBC will be January 4 and coordinated by Crista Cabe.
Bird Seed Sale: The sale was another huge success with over 9 tons of seed sold. The Expo pick-up site in Fishersville went very smoothly and in addition to ABC volunteers, there were several enthusiastic and very helpful Nature Camp scholarship recipients helping.
Holiday Party: The annual ABC holiday party will be December 8 at 6:30. Members are asked to bring side dishes and the club will provide meat and drinks. Door prizes are always a highlight of the evening. We will again be collecting items to donate to the Wildlife Center. More information will be forthcoming. The WC treats thousands of injured and orphaned birds every year and they appreciate our support.
Virginia Society of Ornithology – The second Breeding Bird Atlas has been completed and is now online. 203 species have been found to breed in Virginia.
Program: Bruce Beehler presented “Flight of the Godwit: Traveling in Search of the Hudsonian Godwit”. We learned that Godwits are “super migrators” traveling between northern Alaska / northwest territories of Canada all the way to Chile and Argentina. These amazing birds can live up to 25 years.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm. Submitted by Marilyn Nash, Secretary