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BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICER ELECTION

Elections for Board of Directors and Officers for the 2025/2026 will be held at our Annual Meeting, 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 21st, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 St. Paul's Blvd., Norfolk, VA.

Below is the proposed slate of candidates. All positions are one year terms:

  • Vice President - Tom "Morocco" St. Andre
  • Secretary - Jutta Helm
  • Treasurer - Elisa Flanders
  • Member-at-Large - Judy Hinch
  • Member-at-Large - Mary Jane Hall
  • Member-at-Large - Ken Markley
  • Member-at-Large - Rogard Ross
  • Our President, Patricia Quinn is in the second year of a two year term and is not up for re-election this year.

If you cannot make the Annual Meeting on May 21st, 2025, you may vote on the slate of candidates by proxy. A proxy statement has been prepared and can be submitted here: https://forms.gle/ZEJyRdVyRHFRWoB86

Please note, you should be a member in good standing to vote. You can check your membership status or renew with National Audubon by calling 800-542-2748.  PLEASE RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY. Each club receives funds from the National society based on renewal funds.


Lights Out Hampton Roads.  

It's time for Lights Out Hampton Roads.  We are asking commercial and institutional building owners/tenants to minimize unnecessary lights and make some lighting changes during the peak spring migration period of March 15 - May 31.  

Hampton Roads lies directly along the Atlantic Flyway used by millions of birds every year to migrate north in the spring and south in the fall.  The Chesapeake Bay is a major stopover point for the birds on their marathon journey.  The majority of birds fly at night, navigating with the night sky. However, as they pass through urban areas like Hampton Roads, they can become disoriented by bright artificial lights and skyglow, often causing them to collide with buildings or windows.  And building collisions are just the most acute hazard, many more birds are put at risk by the amount of energy the birds waste flying around brightly lit areas, exhausting and leaving them vulnerable to other urban threats. Lights Out also has secondary benefits that includes protecting moths, reducing light pollution, reducing energy costs for businesses, and reducing the regions overall carbon footprint.

Lights Out is a voluntary program that involves turning off and/or blocking as many external and internal building lights at workplaces as possible at night to help prevent injury and death of birds migrating through the Hampton Roads area during the spring and fall bird migrations.  This can be as simple as reminding employees to flip the switch on the way out of the office and ensuring that the evening cleaning crews make turning off any office lights part of their to-do list.  The next step can be incorporating motion detecting light switches to turn off the lights when no one is around.  All of these steps protect migrating birds and save money!

Specific actions include the following:

• Turn off interior lighting at night, especially on upper floors

• Substitute task and area lighting for workers staying late

• Down-shield exterior lighting or limit lights to the ground level 

• Turn off exterior decorative lighting

• Reduce lobby and atrium lighting where possible  

• Extinguish spot and flood-lights where possible 

We also need volunteers to help with outreach and monitoring for dead and injured birds in downtown Norfolk.  If you can help, please reach out to Pat Scanlon at pescanlon@cox.

Join the list of organizations working to protect birds and the environment in Hampton Roads. Visit our webpage to sign up at https://birdsafehr.blogspot.com/


Climate Lecture Series
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is hosting a climate lecture series at the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach. Topics include: 
  • Renewable energy solutions (May 14th); 
  • Climate challenges (& solutions) facing Virginia's tribes (June 11th); 
  • Upland solutions - cooling our cities (July 8th); 
  • Coastal solutions - protecting our shores (Aug 12th); 
  • Federal and regional approaches to climate change (Sep date not set); 
  • The impacts of climate on fisheries issues (Oct 8th); 
  • Climate impacts and the way forward (Nov 12th).

Visit them at the Brock Environmental Center, 3663 Marlin Bay Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
To learn more, visit https://www.cbf.org/events/virginia/brock-climate-lecture-series.html



Avian Flu

Julie Wobig of Tidewater Wildlife Rescue reported three cases of avian flu in this area recently—a Turkey Vulture, a Common Loon, and a Snow Goose. Avian Bird Flu seems to affect waterfowl, not songbirds. Julie suggests watching for neurological signs:

  • Head shaking
  • Unaware of surroundings
  • Appearing blind
  • Cataracts showing
  • Anything beached
  • Any bird down with no apparent injuries

If you see any bird with these behaviors, you should:

  • Video what you see
  • Do NOT touch
  • Do NOT try to put the bird back in the water
  • Call or text Julie at: 757-592-8453