Program Calendar

Birds migrating along the East Coast in fall flock to Central Park as a welcoming place to rest and store up energy for the next leg of their journey. Join Tait Johansson on our fall Field Trip to Central Park to discover the ecological value of the park's man-made bird habitats, which include meadows, grassy knolls, rocky outcrops, woodlands, ravines, streams, ponds, lakes, and a reservoir. The park is a truly
exceptional birding location for migrating warblers, thrushes, sparrows, and many other songbirds. 

The group will meet at 7:15am at 72nd Street and Central Park West, the entrance to Strawberry Fields. We’ll stop at the boathouse where you can purchase lunch orbring your own.

Wednesday, September 10, 7:15am-1:30pm. Cost: Free.Level of Difficulty: Easy. Email Susan to register: info@bedfordaudubon.org

HabitatRenewal Volunteer Day

Please joinNaturalist and Board Member Steve Ricker for another Habitat Renewal Day as heleads our work to enhance the quality of the rare shrub habitat for our birdand pollinator friends. Several work projects are underway including a newaccessibility path garden area, as well, removing non-native shrubs and plantsto reveal the historic farmhouse stone wall with a unique carriage stone. Wewill also be removing some invasive shrubs from an historic barn area.

Tools andgloves are provided, but you can bring your own. Loppers and hand pruners arethe most used types. Plants with thorns as well as poison ivy will be present.

Saturday,September 13, 9am-11:30am Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Easy. Email Susan to register: info@bedfordaudubon.org

After our summer break, join us back at Katonah Village for the first of our new Public Lecture Series. We are joined this month by Lee Schlesinger who will share with us some Mysterious Birds.

Birds are always mysterious:  they fly away, they sing odd songs, they become extinct and then are rediscovered. We will focus on a couple of particular cases of “mystery”:  Audubon’s representations of birds that mayor may not exist; and the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, perhaps the most compelling bird mystery of the moment.

After earning a BA from Brandeis and a PhD from Yale, Lee Schlesinger taught Literature at Purchase College (SUNY) for a half-century.  His primary courses were on 19th-century American Literature (Dickinson, Whitman, Melville, Emerson), American Poetry of all periods, and the Bible, and also a course titled “Birds:  Literature, Ornithology”.  His life-long birding association is with the New Haven Bird Club, which he served as president.  He has birded in, among other places, Panama, Costa Rica, Sweden, Hungary, the Falkland Islands, south Texas, the Pacific Ocean, and Iceland.

Wednesday, September 17, 7pm (refreshments at 6:45). Katonah Village Library Garden Room. Cost: Free. No need to register, all are welcome.

Turn warbler confusion into clarity! Join Naturalist Tait Johansson for a special two-part Fall Warbler ID Workshop and Field Trip designed to help birders of all levels sharpen their skills in identifying warblers during the unique challenges of fall migration. As these colorful songbirds make their southbound journey, they trade their bright breeding plumage for more subtle hues, making identification tricky even for experienced birders. During this workshop and field trip you will learn tips and tricks to recognize fall warblers in the field. Workshop at Bylane Farm, field trip the next morning on Reservoir Road in Katonah. Workshop limited to 8 people; register early.

Wednesday,September 17, 10:00am - 12pm (workshop at Bylane Farm) and Thursday, September 18, 6:30am - 7:30am (field trip to Reservoir Road). Cost: $25 members; $35 non-members. Level of Difficulty: Easy.

Identifying birds in flight can be a challenge even for very experienced birders. Learn to tune in to differences in speed, rhythm, intermittent vs. continuous wingbeats, shape, behavior, the plumage characters likely to be visible in flight, the difficulties of judging size at a distance, differences in display flights, etc. The workshop will largely focus on non-raptors. This workshop will take place in two parts, over two days:
Thursday, September 25, 10am-11:30am (Workshop at Bylane Farm)
Friday, September 26, 7am-9:30am: (Field Trip to Croton Point) 

Cost: $25 members; $35 non-members. Level of Difficulty: Easy. You can register online here: https://bedfordaudubon.org/workshops/ or email Susan for more information: info@bedfordaudubon.org

Identifying birds in flight can be a challenge even for very experienced birders. Learn to tune in to differences in speed, rhythm, intermittent vs. continuous wingbeats, shape, behavior, the plumage characters likely to be visible in flight, the difficulties of judging size at a distance, differences in display flights, etc. The workshop will largely focus on non-raptors. This workshop will take place in two parts, over two days:
Thursday, September 25, 10am-11:30am (Workshop at Bylane Farm)
Friday, September 26, 7am-9:30am: (Field Trip to Croton Point) 

Cost: $25 members; $35 non-members. Level of Difficulty: Easy. You can register online here: https://bedfordaudubon.org/workshops/ or email Susan for more information: info@bedfordaudubon.org

More details to follow

We are excited to share our 50^th book with readers this month, since starting the Bylane Book Club in November 2018. Please join Melanie Brocklehurst for our discussion of This Is How a Robin Drinks by Joanna Brichetto, a “delightful, engaging, and insightful introduction to urban natural history” (Doug Tallamy).

In This Is How a Robin Drinks, Brichetto weaves observation, reflection, and commentary with unsentimental wit and an earthy humor into an urban almanac, a collection of 52 essays about the world “under our feet, over our heads, and beside us; the very places we need to know first.”. The book is available to borrow from Westchester Library System, and is available as both e-book and audiobook.

Monday, September 29, 6:30pm. Registration is required by emailing Susan: info@bedfordaudbon.org