Maryland Ornithological Society & Others

Maryland Ornithological Society Home Page

The Maryland Ornithological Society (MOS) is a nonprofit, statewide organization of people who are interested in birds and nature. It was founded in 1945 and incorporated in 1956 to promote the study and enjoyment of birds. MOS promotes knowledge about our natural resources, and fosters its appreciation and conservation. The Society also maintains a system of sanctuaries to encourage the conservation of birds and bird habitat, and to help record and publish observations of bird life.

MOS Chapter Meetings & Field Trips

Local chapters throughout the state offer field trips, bird counts, and conservation projects for members and guests. Lively and informative programs complement regular meetings where members and guest speakers share their knowledge and expertise. Seven chapters, in addition to the Howard County Bird Club, have web pages. Visit them by clicking on the links to the right.

Maryland Ornithological Society Chapter Web Pages

Maryland / DC Records Committee

The Maryland/District of Columbia Records Committee (MD/DCRC) was established in 1982 as a committee of the Maryland Ornithological Society. The function of the Committee is:

review reports of unusual sightings within its area of coverage;
determine the adequacy of documentation of such reports;
maintain an Official State List of Birds for Maryland;
publish periodic reports of its findings; and
maintain in a file accessible to interested persons the primary reports, deliberations of the Committee, and, in some instances, opinions received from outside experts and/or copies of some relevant literature

Sightings
of MD & DC birds
maintained
by Norm Saunders

American Bird Conservancy

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. It is the only U.S.-based, group dedicated solely to overcoming the greatest threats facing birds in the Western Hemisphere. A growing human population, consuming ever greater resources, is critically impacting bird populations through habitat destruction, direct mortality from such harmful practices as the unwise use of pesticides, and the introduction of destructive species including domestic cats. ABC believes adequate resources exist to overcome these threats, and that unifying people, organizations, and agencies around common approaches to priority issues is the key to success.

American Birding Association

Learn more about birds. The ABA represents a whole range of birding interests, from identification and education to listing and conservation. It actively promotes the economic and environmental values of birding and encourages the conservation of birds and their habitats. If it's about birding, it involves ABA. Extend your view with ABA.

Audubon Naturalist Society

For 100 years the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States, Inc. has inspired the people of the Nation's Capital and environs to love and respect the gifts of our natural inheritance.

Audubon Important Bird Areas Program

Important Bird Areas are sites that meet rigorous criteria for providing essential habitat to one or more species of birds during some portion of the year (nesting areas, crucial migration stop-over sites, or wintering grounds). IBAs can be small or large in extent, but usually are discrete sites that stand out from the surrounding landscape. IBAs may be National Wildlife Refuges, State Parks or other protected public lands, but they can also be private farms, forests and other private areas. Not all IBAs are open to the public and it is not the intent of the program to highlight the many special places in Maryland and DC for bird watching. The overall goal of the IBA Program is to identify the areas most important for maintaining bird populations and to focus conservation efforts on those sites. It is a strategic conservation-planning tool, and as such it is proactive rather than reactive. Important Bird Areas are identified by an IBA Technical Review Committee, which reviews all nominated sites against scientific criteria based on analysis of bird populations and their habitats. A site may qualify as a state-level IBA under any of the following four criteria:

Exceptional concentrations of regularly occurring birds.
Significant populations of birds of conservation priority.
Bird species assemblages characteristic of rare or representative habitats.
Sites where long-term research continues to generate high quality, and standardized data, which is published, and of value to conservationplanning on a statewide scale.

The Audubon Maryland-DC IBA Technical Review Committee includes: Kyle Rambo (Chair), Patuxent River Naval Air Station; David Curson, Audubon Maryland-DC; Lynn Davidson, Md. Department of Natural Resources; Douglas E. Gill, University of Maryland, College Park; Greg Kearns, Patuxent River Park; Glenn Therres, Md. Department of Natural Resources. Contact person is Dr.David Curson

For more information, download the following PDF documents:

Birding at Howard County Conservancy

The Howard County Conservancy has its home at Mount Pleasant, a farm dating from 1692. The farm is open to the public by reservation or invitation for historic, environmental, and agricultural programs. The Bird Club often has scheduled field trips there.