Membership Renewal Time
It’s that time of year again when the Athol Bird and Nature Club asks you to please consider renewing your membership that helps us to enhance the appreciation of natural history in the Athol/North Quabbin/Mount Grace region, and to provide activities, including field trips and programs, in natural history observation, management, and conservation. Your membership also supports the Millers River Environmental Center. Our fiscal year will be moving to the calendar year beginning January 1, 2026, so renewed memberships will be valid until December 31, 2026. Become a Member – Athol Bird & Nature Club
Wednesday, November12, 2025 Join us as we enjoy a presentation by our first Robert B Coyle Scholarship recipients Allison Sumner and Billy Hickey. The talk will take us to the Eagle Hill Institute in Maine for a look at the week-long course on Native Bees. The dinner is being held at the Athol American Legion 325 Pequoig Ave Athol. The evening will include our traditional Tin Can Auction (guests may bring up to 5 new or lightly used items for the auction), a 50/50 raffle plus other activities. Folks who do not wish to join us for dinner may arrive before 7:00 for the presentation, auction, and raffles. Doors open at 5:30, Dinner at 6:00 pm, program at 7:00. There will be two dinner options available $30.00 for Braised Beef or vegetarian lasagna for $25.00. Meals include salad and dessert.
Saturday, December 20, 2025, all day Christmas Bird Count
in this “Citizen Science” project, the longest continuously running bird data in the area. Field teams are pretty much in place. There may be one of two slots open, If you want to join a team let us know right away.
Feeder and backyard bird watchers needed. Do you live or work in the circle above? Count the number and species of birds present on Saturday December 20, 2025. This count will be held rain/snow or shine. The potential for a winter storm event makes the feeder reports even more valuable. Send in your reports with street address, species found and the number of individuals observed to Dave by Text email or Facebook message: : 978-413- 1772 or Dave@atholbirdclub.org If you have an unusual bird at your feeders please reach out to Dave at the contact info above so we can confirm identification (feel free to send a picture) and we can add it to the count total.
Count from your home. Looking at the count circle a 7.5-mile radius from the former Athol Junior High School (see map above) Your home is in the count circle. On December 20th, 2025, you can count all the birds you can find around your home. The idea is to count each species seen and to estimate the abundance of each species seen during the day. Mostly an estimate of how many birds you can reasonably think are individual birds. Easiest to count is how many mourning doves are in that flock feeding on the ground. Estimating chickadees is harder but trying to figure how many are in the yard at one time. Ath the end of the day email, text, message, me your totals of the day. Include your address and how much time you spent looking. This is also good if you want to poke around your neighborhood… 978-413-1772 or Dave@atholbirdclub.org
Saturday, December 20, 2025, 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm Christmas Bird Count Tally and Potluck. 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm Christmas Bird Count Wrap-up and Party. Join us as we find out the preliminary results of the Annual Christmas Bird Count. An informal group discussion and meeting. Find out what unusual birds were seen during the days’ count.
