March 30 – SATURDAY – 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Catch some of the earliest signs of migration at one of Maryland’s peak hotspots with trip leader Phil Rouland. Attendees will meet at the picnic area parking and together we’ll walk down to the Point. We’ll scan both the Chesapeake and Potomac waters for any remaining winter waterfowl as well as for spring arrivals including Osprey, Brown Pelican, and tern species. At the point we’ll target Northern Gannet which are in peak numbers passing by on migration. We’ll spend what time is left around the picnic area and on trails around Fort Lincoln. Highlights could include arriving swallow species, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Yellow-throated Warbler. Flat but unpaved, approximately 2 mile walk. Gate fee $3 per car. Restrooms available. Point Lookout State Park, St Mary’s County
10444 Point Lookout Rd, Scotland, MD 20687

Limit 12.
RSVP at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0844A8A923ABFFC70-47681455-early or to phin.rouland@gmail.com.

Monthly ZOOM presentation 7-8 pm Wednesday, March 6.

An estimated 1 billion birds die every year in window collisions. Dr. Mark Southerland, director of Safe Skies Maryland, will provide solutions for how you can stop bird collisions with your home windows, as well as how you can get involved in community efforts to equip public buildings with bird-safe windows.
Dr. Southerland earned a PhD in ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and works as an environmental consultant supporting the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. He also leads the legislative program of Safe Skies Maryland campaign for bird safe buildings laws at county, city and state levels.
To receive the Zoom link for our talk, sign up for our “Osprey” newsletter at the bottom of our homepage at www.somdaudubon.org. 

STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS! APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN for Southern Maryland Audubon’s 2024 scholarships for teens and educators at Audubon’s amazing summer birding and nature camp at Hog Island, Maine.

Audubon’s Hog Island Camp is part of an extraordinary nature sanctuary and research center off the scenic coast of Maine and is home to Project Puffin.

Southern Maryland Audubon offers three scholarships for teens, educators, and others with a serious interest in ornithology, birding, or environmental and nature studies. The scholarships cover all tuition, room, and board. Recipients are responsible for travel expenses.

The scholarships opportunities include the following courses and dates for this year:

For teens: Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens (ages 14-17). June 23 – June 28, 2024

For educators: Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week. July 14 – July 19, 2024

For birders & others: Field Ornithology. June 16 – June 21, 2024

The deadline to apply is February 29, 2024. Apply to acook.somdaudubon@gmail.com

Applicants must be residents of Southern Maryland.

To apply please send the following:

*A one-page letter explaining:

How you will benefit from the Hog Island opportunity.

How you will use the experience and knowledge to benefit others in Southern Maryland and support our mission of promoting and protecting birds and wildlife and their habitats.

Your signed letter must include:

Mailing address

Email address

Phone number

Recent photograph (can attach as separate file)

*One or more signed letters of recommendation describing your interests, work, or studies relating to ornithology, the environment, or nature and how the experience will benefit either your organization, school, or Southern Maryland Audubon’s mission.

To learn more about each camp session and other details about Hog Island Camp, please visit

https://hogisland.audubon.org/…/2024-hog-island-camp…

We welcome your application!

Ben Springer has reported hundreds of banded terns and gulls to the U.S. Geological Survey.

But, he wasn’t prepared for the notice he received on a Royal Tern he spotted at Point Patience at the Solomon’s Navy Recreation Center this past July.

“I just got a band return for one of the Royal Terns I reported this summer and he’s 30 years old, banded in 1993!” Springer texted me when he received notification from the USGS. “That’s only six months younger than the oldest ever known.”

Springer’s Royal Tern Number 174-29837 169 was banded as a nestling in 1993 before it could even fly, according to the certificate USGS sent Springer. It was banded July 9, 1993, at Rhodes Point in Accomack County, VA. Thats about 34 miles, as the tern flies, from where Springer photographed it this July 12.

The year the Royal Tern hatched Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Beanie Babies first hit the market, gasoline was $1.16 a gallon, Bill Clinton took office as President and Ben Springer had not yet been born.

Springer, who is vice president of Southern Maryland Audubon and is a senior at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, surveys for banded terns as part of an internship he’s had for three years at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

“This one was in a flock with some other terns and gulls,” said Springer. “There was a flock on the point most days and I would go out to get band numbers. Most of the time new birds would be there each day I went out.”

Royal Terns stand out with their brilliant tangerine orange bill and racy black crest against a snowy white head.

Springer tucked his camera under his t-shirt and straddled a paddle board with a kayak paddle to get close enough to the birds to photograph the small silver bands on their legs. His 30-year-old tern was one of 21 Royal Terns he identified that day.

Springer estimated he has reported about 120 banded Royal Terns and 130 Common Terns this year. But, in the bird world, No. 174-29837 169 stands out as true royalty.

Photo by Ben Springer. Story by Molly Moore

Jan de Regt, winner of our Southern Maryland Audubon Field Ornithology scholarship to the famed Hog Island Audubon Camp, has just returned from her birding adventure with Atlantic Puffins and other species on the island off the Maine coast. Enjoy her account!

Southern Maryland Audubon provided three fully paid scholarships to different programs at the camp this summer. Jan earned the adult birding scholarship. Two other scholarships were awarded to an educator and a high school student.

Jan captured this shot of a beautiful Magnolia being banded.

If you’d like to apply for one of our 2024 scholarships for next summer’s Audubon Hog Island camps, stay tuned to our website www.somdaudubon.org.

Since the story about the Port Tobacco River Park Bluebird Trail in the June edition of the Osprey, the tallies for the trail continue to grow.

As of 6/25/2023, there have been 28 Bluebirds fledged and another 14 young and 4 eggs still in the boxes. Three boxes are currently on, and one has completed, their second broods. In addition, at least 3 Tree Swallows have fledged this past week. Photo by Rebecca Turner.

As mentioned above, there was unexpected, but welcome, residents on the Bluebird Trail. Tree Swallows built a nest and laid eggs in one of the boxes. The increase in Bluebird trails nationwide has also helped the Tree Swallow population. The males arrive first early in the season to select a nesting site. Pairs are not lifelong partners; they will select different mates each year. Tree Swallows lay 4-7 eggs that are pale pink to white. The Port Tobacco trail box had at least three eggs that could be counted. The nest cup appears to be a loose version of a Bluebird nest cup with a little extra something. After the eggs are laid, the parents place feathers of other birds gently over the eggs. For this reason, we are not exactly sure of the number of eggs laid. Look closely at the picture to see a second Tree Sparrow flying back to the box. Photo by John Posey.

Members of Southern Maryland Audubon Shelly Posey (left) and Rebecca Turner (right) are monitoring the boxes weekly to assess the health of the hatchlings, remedy problems and track the hatchling development for fledge time. Recently, ants were discovered at several boxes but dealt with quickly. Photo by John Posey.

If you would like to become a monitor, please email ptriverpark@gmail.com.

Look for final tallies to be published at the end of this season.

Southern Maryland Audubon has a new look!

Our bold new logo features our region’s iconic Osprey set against a brilliant sun. The updated logo was chosen in a vote of our membership at our 2023 Annual Membership Meeting and Picnic.

Olivia Lunger, 23, an illustrator based in Providence, RI created the new logo. A native of Bethlehem, PA, Olivia specializes in editorial illustration and print design. She is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design.

“I was inspired by the black, white and yellow color scheme matching Maryland’s flag,” Olivia said. “I wanted to use those bold colors to highlight the Osprey’s sharp, dignified silhouette against the sun.” Olivia visited Southern Maryland last summer and had the chance to meet some of our Ospreys up close and personal.

You’ll see our new logo on all our social media platforms, website and other communications.

SMAS logo and photo by Olivia Lunger.

Hope and Chandler, the Bald Eagles whose nest is in the eye of our eagle camera at Port Tobacco River Park, have raised three offspring this year—a highly successful brood. In the picture above, the eagle cam captures three young eagles “branching,” or venturing out of their nest onto a nearby branch.

The eagle parents are now teaching their growing eaglets to hunt, fish and support themselves as they venture out. But like the teenagers they are, the three continue to spend time in their massive nest where Hope and Chandler still bring them fish and other fare. They are expected to leave the nest for good by summer’s end.

It will be another four or five years before they become fully mature and sport the snowy white head and tail so distinctive to Bald Eagles.

The Chesapeake Bay area supports one of the most productive eagle populations in the species range. Our rate of three-chick broods is one of the highest in the country. Hope and Chandler are doing their part to keep our statistics high!

All three eggs laid in early February hatched in mid March.

Southern Maryland Audubon thanks Charles County Recreation, Parks & Tourism and Wild Streaming for their support in providing a peek into this Bald Eagle nest. You can watch the eagle family live at the bottom of this home page at www.somdaudubon.org.

Southern Maryland Audubon has named St. Mary’s Public School teacher Dorothy Birch “Conservationist of the Year 2023” for her outstanding work training the future generation of conservationists.

Birch teaches and directs the Natural Resources Management program for high school students at Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center in Leonardtown.

“Dorothy has led this forward-thinking program for the past four years, training and inspiring our future conservationists, biologists, zoologists, landscape designers and others in fields where they will be instrumental in making their communities and the planet better places to thrive,” Robert Lukinic, Southern Maryland Audubon’s conservation chair, said in announcing the award.

Each year for the past two decades, Southern Maryland Audubon has awarded the “Conservationist of the Year” to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to conservation in Southern Maryland and beyond. It is the highest honor the organization awards.

“We can’t think of any mission more important than training our future generation of conservationists,” said Lukinic. “And no one is doing it better than Dorothy Birch.”

The Natural Resources Management program is a two-year curriculum for St. Mary’s high school students and covers a range of environmental, conservation and sustainability subjects in addition to providing hands-on experience.

Students also participate in community service activities.  This past year students learned to harvest native seeds and grow seedlings. They planted them in the “Front Yard” native plant garden at the St. Mary’s Public Library in Leonardtown.

Birch has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a master’s degree in environmental education. She has observed and taught nature and the environment in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and Maryland. Birch is also a trained Master Naturalist in both Maryland and Virginia.

Please join us Sunday, June 4, from 1-4 p.m. for Southern Maryland Audubon’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Picnic at gorgeous Historic Sotterley in St. Mary’s County.

We’ll have it all: good food, fun fellowship, a native plant sale, elections, and a bird walk. And you’ll meet our Conservationist of the Year.

The meeting will be at the open-air Riverside Pavilion on a secluded bluff overlooking Sotterley Creek and the Patuxent River. This is one of our loveliest meeting venues and best bird walks with the varied habitat and nature trails this location offers.

Meeting is open to all. Only Southern Maryland Audubon members will be permitted to vote in the elections and choice of a new chapter logo.

Here is the schedule:

• 1:00-2:15 p.m. Potluck Lunch
• 2:15-3:00 p.m. Welcome, Award Presentations & Elections
• 3:00-4:00 p.m. Bird Walk

Directions to Historic Sotterley in St. Mary’s County:

• 144300 Sotterley Lane, Hollywood, MD 20636
• From MD Rt. 235 go north onto MD 245, Sotterley Road. Turn right onto Sotterley Lane. Follow signs to the Riverside Pavilion.
• Parking is available.