Annual Birders Meeting a Virtual Four-Day Community, March 6-7, 13-14

LINCOLN—Mass Audubon’s annual Birders Meeting returns for its 30th year with a pair of Sunday-Monday virtual gatherings March 6-7 and 13-14, promising an especially engaging and educational series of programming focusing on birds of prey.

This year’s theme is Raptor Rapture: Research & Recovery, and the four-evening event will note crucial human assistance in the inspiring recovery of some birds, while discussing population restoration strategies for species facing more recent threats such as habitat destruction, climate change, and rodenticide poisoning.

This year’s sessions include:

• Return of the Osprey; Sunday, March 6
• Vultures of the World: New Discoveries and Threats; Monday, March 7
• Living with Urban Red-shouldered Hawks; Sunday, March 13
• Conserving the Broad-winged Hawk from Canada to Columbia: Monday, March 14

Each session runs from 7-8:30 pm.

The 2022 event will follow last year’s online format. Instead of registering for a single all-day event, attendees may register for the full program package ($45 Mass Audubon members, $60 nonmembers) or choose to attend individual evenings ($15 members, $20 nonmembers).

“The Birders Meeting has grown tremendously for bird lovers and other nature enthusiasts over three decades, so this year’s event—albeit again virtual—is expected to draw strong interest,” said Mass Audubon Director of Important Bird Areas Wayne Petersen, who has overseen the popular conference since its inception in 1992.

“With so many more people of all backgrounds and experiences discovering the outdoors during the pandemic, there has been renewed public attention on birds and birdlife,“ Petersen noted, “including the charismatic raptors the 2022 Birders Meeting is highlighting.”