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We’re having a winter conference! Think of it — lots of ducks. There will be eiders and loons, too. And if luck is with us, we can look for some rarities to wash up in the Ocean City inlet. A perfect location for winter field trips.

Location - Clarion Resort, Fontainebleau Hotel at 10100 Coastal Highway is our conference headquarters. It offers a large parking lot on Coastal Highway — across from the Clarion — to accommodate our field trip staging. One feature I particularly like is their covered upper deck on the Terrace Level (2nd floor) overlooking the ocean. They will set up tables and chairs there for us — the perfect sheltered area for a sea watch, with warmth just a step away inside the Clarion.

Keynote Speaker - Dave Brinker Appropriately, his focus is goshawks, specifically, “Goshawks Driven by their Prey.” Dave has an encyclopedic knowledge of Maryland birds, and his talks are always informative and interesting.

As always, there will be our Silent Auction and Raffle. This year our nature store will be the Audubon Naturalist Society Bookshop.

Ocean City Pelagic
Our winter conference will feature a PELAGIC field trip out of Ocean City. Because I was given a deadline to organize this trip and obtain a minimum number of participants, information was sent out early via email to conference volunteers, 2011 conference attendees, and MOS Board Members. Chapter presidents were contacted and asked to share the information with their members. As a result, the trip is full. A waiting list is being maintained. Contact Janet Shields if you would like to be added to the waiting list or have questions. As with all Conference field trips, only people registered for the conference are eligible to participate.

Pelagic Trip Information Organized by Paul Guris of See Life Paulagics, the pelagic is scheduled to sail on Saturday, February 25. It will head out at 7 AM and return about 3 PM. We will be aboard the either the 85-foot Thelma Dale IV. The boat is an excellent pelagic birding platform that Paul has used often. Each has a cabin, benches, tables, a birdable top deck, and separate men’s and ladies’ facilities. The trip will visit near-shore Maryland pelagic waters in search of alcids such as Common Murre, Razorbill, and Atlantic Puffin. The leaders will be chumming as we go, to keep a flock of gulls behind the boat, on the lookout for Black-legged Kittiwake and Glaucous, Iceland, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls among the more abundant Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. Paul also expects to find more common seabirds such as Northern Gannets, both loons, Bonaparte’s Gull, and all three species of scoter, as well as Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, and maybe Great Cormorant.

Conference Workshops
Workshop on Ducks given by Derek Stoner on Friday afternoon. Derek will lead a field trip Saturday morning.
Friday, February 24 - 1:30 to 4:00 pm Workshop
Saturday, February 25 – 7:00 am – Field Trip
Derek Stoner, Conservation Project Coordinator for the Delaware Nature Society, will offer a workshop on ducks and waterfowl Friday afternoon and a field trip Saturday morning. Derek is a dedicated ‘ducker’ and will offer tips on identification. He will emphasize ducks found in local waters so you are bound to come out of this workshop with knowledge you can put to immediate use. This is one workshop you don’t want to miss.

Herps Atlas Workshop given by Scott Smith
Saturday, February 25 – 1:30 – 4:00
Saturday afternoon is another ‘must attend’ event. Scott Smith, Wildlife Diversity Ecologist for DNR’s Natural Heritage Program and unofficial State Herpetologist, will offer a workshop on the Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas. For the past 18 years, Scott has concentrated on bog turtle research and conservation, a distributional study of timber rattlesnakes, a malformed frog study, tiger salamander population monitoring, and conservation efforts with our state reptile, the diamondback terrapin. Despite this heavy-duty research, Scott has kept his sense of humor and offers a great workshop ... loaded with information and tinged with his great sense of the absurd. This is another one you just won’t want to miss.

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For each conference, a pin is selected and given to each participant. Conference pins illustrate the conference year and a bird species appropriate to the conference site. Pin designs are selected by competition and are highly treasured conference souvenirs. Many conference attendees proudly display their colorful collection of pins going back many years.