In-person programs meet at the Seacoast Science Center, Odiorne Point State Park, 570 Ocean Boulevard, Rye. Join us for refreshments and conversation at 7:00; the programs begin at 7:30 pm.

Zoom programs begin at 7:00 pm. 

Contact: Dan Hubbard, 603 978-0218, danielhubbard@peoplepc.com

Program: Bhutan: The Birds of the Last Himalayan Kingdom

Wednesday, September 10

With over 730 bird species in a country only 50% larger than New Hampshire, Bhutan boasts an incredible diversity of life in habitats that vary from subtropical forests to Himalayan peaks. This talk will follow James Smith's journey through Bhutan with a dumbstruck look on his face and usually only a vague sense of the birds he was seeing. From show-stopping species such as Hornbills, Monals and Tragopans, to 20 warblers that all look identical, we'll explore the highs and lows of this magical country and the birds that call it home.

Bio:  James Smith is an enthusiastic amateur birder whose newfound claims to fame include being the easternmost tourist in Bhutan (at the time) and the first Westerner to ever beat a bird guide in the game of Carrom. Back home, he is a staunchly NH-first birder, who is happiest in beautiful places with birds he can almost identify.

Program: Butterflies Without Borders: Tracking Monarch Migration

Wednesday, October 8

The Monarch is a formerly abundant butterfly species that has experienced dramatic and widespread declines since the early 1990s. Conservation efforts are underway across the US to understand and take action to stop this decline. In this presentation, we will examine the natural history of Monarchs, explore some of the cutting-edge technologies and methods used to track Monarch movements and discuss the tracking data NH Audubon biologists have gathered from migrating Monarchs.

Bio: Lindsay Herlihy is a biologist and naturalist-educator with NH Audubon. She has been tagging Monarchs with NHA for three years and is taking the lead on the Monarch Motus tagging program in 2025.

Program: The Birds of Ecuador-From the Andes to the Amazon

Wednesday, November 12

Steve Mirick will give an overview of the incredible bird and wildlife diversity found in Ecuador as driven by the altitudinal forces of the Andes Mountains. He will also provide some thoughts on ecotourism and places to visit in the country.

Bio: Steve Mirick has been birding for over 40 years and has been an active volunteer with NH Audubon and its Seacoast Chapter for most of those years. He has focused most of his birding in New Hampshire, but has also traveled to Central and South America where he has visited 8 countries.

This December program is a followup to our February 2021 3 Billion Birds Lost program by Ken Rosenberg of Cornell. A new expansive study of North American bird population trends was published in Science in May 2025 which will be the subject of this program.

Zoom Program: North American Bird Declines are Greatest Where Species Are Most Abundant

Wednesday, December 10

Effective bird conservation has been limited by a lack of fine-scale population data. This talk presents new analyses using data from eBird to estimate changes in abundance for 495 North American bird species from 2007 to 2021 at a 27-kilometer resolution. Results reveal widespread but spatially complex declines; while 75% show both increasing and decreasing trends in different areas. Strikingly, declines are often steepest where species are most abundant. These findings offer a new lens on population dynamics and provide sharper tools to guide urgent, targeted conservation efforts.

Bio: Dr. Courtney Davis is an Assistant Professor of Global Biodiversity and Ecoinformatics at Cornell University. Her research integrates large-scale data science, ecology, and conservation biology to understand the status and trends of biodiversity. She leads interdisciplinary projects that harness participatory science data, remote sensing, AI and statistical modeling to inform conservation decision making and practice. Her work has been featured in leading scientific journals and widely used by agencies, NGOs, and the private sector working to conserve global biodiversity. 

Zoom Program: Feather Trails-A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds

Wednesday, January 14

Birds are visible, vocal sentinels that alert us to environmental harms. In her book, Feather Trails-A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds, Sophie Osborn shares her experiences reintroducing endangered Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows and California Condors to the wild. Sophie explores the threats that imperiled these birds and reveals that what harmed them threatens us too. She will discuss what led to the endangerment of these three captivating species, recount the efforts of biologists to recover their populations and read a few excerpts fom her book that describe what it was like to work with these magnificent birds.

Bio: Sophie A. H. Osborn is an award-winning environmental writer and wildlife biologist whose work has included the study and conservation of more than a dozen bird species in the Americas. She contributed to reintroduction efforts for several endangered birds and served as the field manager for the California Condor Recovery Program in Arizona for four years. Her first book, Condors in Canyon Country, won the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for Nature and the Environment. Reviewers for the American Birding Association (ABA) chose her second book, Feather Trails, as their favorite bird book of 2024. Sophie also writes the Words for Birds blog on Substack.

Missed some of our recent online programs?  You can access them below:

Zoom Program: Wildlife of the White Mountains

December 2023

Watch the recording

Wildlife viewing is a favorite activity of White Mountain residents and visitors. This illustrated program, by David Govatski, US Forest Service retiree, features the natural history of many of our iconic species that we might see along the trail including black bear, moose, snowshoe hare, bobcat, Canada lynx and American marten. We will also learn about interesting and unusual insects, reptiles, amphibians, and birds that make the White Mountains their home. We will discuss trends in wildlife populations such as range expansion and contraction.

Bio: David Govatski retired from the US Forest Service after a 33-year career as a Forester and Silviculturist. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Silviculture from the US Forest Service. He has a keen interest in forest and wildlife conservation and he co-authored “Forests for the People: The Story of the Eastern National Forests.” His articles and photographs have appeared in several magazines and he is a frequent guest speaker and trip leader.

Zoom Program: Caught in the SNOWstorm: 10 Years of Snowy Owl Research

Janaury 2024

Watch the recording.

The winter of 2013-2014 saw the largest invasion of Snowy Owls into the eastern United States in perhaps a century and marked an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about these mysterious Arctic hunters. Author and researcher Scott Weidensaul will share the story of Project SNOWstorm - how a huge collaborative effort focused on Snowy Owls came together in a few frantic weeks, funded with the help of people from around the world, and continues to make discoveries and unexpected insights into the life and ecology of this great white raptor.

Bio: Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind" and his latest, the New York Times bestseller "A World on the Wing". Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon and writes for a variety of other publications, including Bird Watchers Digest and the Cornell Lab's Living Bird. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and an active field researcher, studying Northern Saw-whet Owl migration for more than 25 years, as well as winter hummingbirds in the East, bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of Snowy Owls through Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded.

Zoom Program: There's Something About Owls 

February 2024

Watch the recording.

Owls are much loved in the bird world and seeing any owl is indeed a thrill. The secretive lives of owls are part of their mystique and can make them very difficult to find in the wild. "There's Something About Owls", presented by Gina Nichol, founder of Sunrise Birding LLC, goes beyond the incredible adaptations of owls and reveals strategies to increase your chances of seeing owls in your backyard, local patch, and beyond. Preparation for your search, ethical field practices, skills, and tactics for success are discussed and illustrated with anecdotes and experiences from the field. Suggestions for what you can do to help owls are also included.

Bio: In 2005, Gina Beebe Nichol founded Sunrise Birding LLC, a company offering personalized, authentic, affordable birding and wildlife tours around the world. A naturalist and birder for more than thirty years, Gina first became fascinated with the natural world in rural upstate New York where she spent most of her childhood exploring the outdoors.

She received her B.S. in Environmental Education from Cornell University and her M.A. in Educational Technology from Fairfield University. She began her career as a Naturalist at the Rye Nature Center in Rye, NY. Gina's interest in human/wildlife interactions then took her to Volunteers for Wildlife in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. There she coordinated the operation of a 24-hour Wildlife Crisis Hotline and developed programs dealing with wildlife rehabilitation.

In 1987, she became Program Director for the National Audubon Society in Greenwich, CT. In that capacity, she led numerous environmental workshops and local field trips. Also while there, Gina also led ecotours for Audubon Nature Odysseys. Destinations included Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, the Pacific Northwest and Baja CA. Upon leaving Audubon, Gina taught biology, chemistry, physical and environmental science, and computer courses for several years at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT.

Gina's avid interest in wildlife biology led her to the Yellowstone Institute in Wyoming where she studied animal behavior as well as methods for tracking animal movements. She also worked on a research project on the Isle of Skye in Scotland where she investigated habitat requirements of Eurasian otters. In addition, she participated in an Earthwatch study of mountain lions in the Jim Sage Mountains in Idaho.

Her varied interests and love of the natural world have taken her to all seven continents. She has led wildlife tours to Central and South America, Alaska, Antarctica, China, Kenya and countless countries in between.

Zoom Program: A Birding Cruise around Cape Horn

Wednesday, January 8

Join Becky Suomala on a boat trip from Santiago, Chile around Cape Horn to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to seabirding for albatross and the other pelagic species in southern waters, there were landbird stops in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. One of the highlights was a visit to a penguin colony on the Falkland Islands. See some of the great seabirds, landbirds, and even mammals such as guanacos, as well as the beauty of Cape Horn, the Magellanic Strait, and the Beagle Channel.

Bio: Becky Suomala is an avid birder who birds extensively in New Hampshire and takes birding trips to far flung places. She retired from NH Audubon in 2024 after over 36 years as a biologist. She led research on Common Nighthawks in NH and participated in numerous field projects including Common Tern restoration at the Isles of Shoals. She is a songbird bander at the Appledore Island Migration Station in spring and fall and tends her garden in the summer.