Hello First name / VFAS Member!

 

Spring is here and nature is ready to steal the spotlight. Read on to learn about upcoming VFAS events, what we've been up to, and learn about two special visitors to our area! Make sure to mark your calendar to join us at an upcoming event to experience the season up close with other, nature-loving folks. Spring is the perfect time to catch nature's live show and VFAS ensures you've got the best seats in the house! As always, thank you for your interest in your local Audubon chapter. We hope to see you at a program soon!

Our 2026 event calendar is full, as usual! Spring migration season is always a busy one for VFAS, a for good reason: there's so much to see!

 

Highlights include: the continuation of our monthly outings to the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, now geared toward beginners, and nature hikes at Ridley Creek SP. In addition, we'll be birding at Gwynedd Preserve, Wentz Run Park, Lundale Farm, and the Schuylkill River Trail, and have special weekday trips to Jenkins Arboretum and Stoneleigh. We'll have a bird banding trip to Rushton Woods and and a Native Tree and Birding tour to Harriet Wetherill Park.

 

 

Our 2025 CBC was our 42nd year! 

 

Species with the highest totals seen over the past 42 years were Hooded Merganser (125), Common Merganser (367), Merlin (9), Red-shouldered Hawk (26), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (79).  Woodpeckers in general continue to do well.  Declining species included Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Kestrel, Field Sparrow, and Common Grackle. Read all about the highs, lows, and notable findings on our blog  

 

Our 2026 spring bird count will take place on June 6. 

If you want to participate, contact Vince Smith (larusvs34@gmail.com) to be assigned to a team.

two rare birds found by Valley Forge Audubon leaders and Youth Birding Club members 

The case for bird-friendly habitat was made in February with the arrival of a rare bird to a suburban backyard.  The bird, a female Common Chaffinch, is a common yard bird in Europe, but a mega-rarity in the United States. This was the first confirmed record of a Common Chaffinch in Pennsylvania.  VFAS leaders Pat & Tony Nastase noticed a different bird while doing a backyard eBird checklist for the Great Backyard Bird Count on February 13. Tony quickly took some photos and uploaded one to the Merlin app.  When he used his location, no matching birds were found but when the location was set to “unknown”, Common Chaffinch popped up as a possibility. Knowing that this was not a North American bird, the Nastase's consulted Cornell's Birds of the World website and the female Common Chaffinch appeared to be the bird that they were seeing.  Photos went out to other VFAS leaders for their opinions and the ID was confirmed that night by a birder friend in the UK and the Montgomery county eBird reviewers. 

 

Once news got out to the local birding community, over 70 people arrived at the Nastase home on February 14 to see and photograph the bird. The bird seemed to enjoy their bird-friendly yard - foraging by a small brush pile and waterfall and perching in the native buttonbushes and viburnums. Enjoying their 15 minutes of fame, the Nastase's opened their yard to birders. Birders kept coming - some from as far away as Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, Texas, and Michigan - to see the special visitor. The neighbors were curious about what was going on with so many cars and people with large camera lenses and spotting scopes, but were supportive and amused. Some stopped by to see the rare bird. A local newspaper even picked up the story. The bird was last seen on February 22 before the snowstorm.  By the time it was over, more than 200 people had come to see this rarity. 

 

 

You can learn more about bird-friendly habitat on our Backyards for Nature webpages and our Bird Habitat Recognition webpage.

The Valley Forge Audubon Society Youth Birding Club has a new claim to fame- and it comes courtesy of one very sharp‑eyed young birder. 

 

During a Youth Birding Club (YBC) outing on March 21, 16‑year‑old Samrudh (“Sam”) Nandagopal spotted a small gray‑and‑yellow bird flitting low through a patch of shrubs.  That quick observation set off a chain of events that would lead to the first-ever confirmed record of a Virginia’s Warbler in Pennsylvania. 

 

When Sam first noticed the little bird he called the rest of the group over, knowing that this was a species that should not be present in southeastern Pennsylvania in mid-March. The bird vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but YBC mentor Patty Werth suggested that they try to relocate it to get some photos to confirm identification since the initial views were brief and the bird was partially concealed.  Sam, Patty, and 14-year-old Landon Walker were then able to relocate the bird and Sam got several photos, which later became crucial evidence for the ID. 

 

Deciding that it was most likely a first-year female Nashville Warbler - which would have been noteworthy on its own - the YBC members then moved on to their next stop: volunteering to apply bird-safe window treatments at a local library. As a very busy high school student, Sam did not add his photos to the group's eBird checklist until almost a week later, at which time a sharp-eyed observer in Arizona contacted the local eBird reviewers with the news that the photos indicated that the bird was a Virginia’s Warbler - a species closely related to the Nashville Warbler and of similar appearance, but normally found in the arid Southwest and Mexico and never before observed in Pennsylvania. 

 

Immediately, word spread throughout the local birding community. Within the next 48 hours over 200 people flocked to the sanctuary, hoping to glimpse the unexpected visitor.  For Sam and the other members of the Youth Birding Club, the experience was unforgettable. Not only had they found a rarity—they had discovered a bird no one in Pennsylvania had ever officially recorded before. 

 

As Club mentor, Patty often encourages the members of the group to "be the finders" - to have curiosity, look closely at the world (and the birds!) around them, move slowly, and explore the roads less travelled.  Sam’s careful observation at a location that few birders frequent turned an ordinary outing into a historic one. 

 

Seeking to help the public understand and act to prevent bird-window collisions, the Valley Forge Audubon Advocacy Committee created a new tabletop display. First shown on March 2, 2026, at the Conshohocken Public Library, the display offered information to people interested in a project to make the library’s glass windows more bird-friendly through application of Feather Friendly dots. In the photo, Vince Smith and Leigh Altadonna, key advocates in the Bird Safe Philly partnership, stand beside the display.

 

Advocacy Committee members plan to use the display at other talks and tabling events, including at a Tredyffrin tabling event on April 18, the Media EcoTour April 19, the Rose Valley Native Plant Sale April 26, a Citizen Science presentation May 9, and a VFAS Bird Town Cluster meeting May 17.  They also plan to make the display available to libraries, schools, and municipal buildings. Given the display’s popularity, duplicates are in the works. For more information about the dangers windows present to birds and ways to prevent strikes, see https://valleyforgeaudubon.org/bird-window-collisions/

A cold day in February did not stop over 200 people from coming out to the John James Audubon Center on Sunday February 8th for the opening of “Take Flight: Birds of the World” Art Show, sponsored by the Valley Forge Audubon Society.  Over 40 local artists had their work on display from January 22nd until March 29th. The show featured a wide range of VFAS member work, from photography to oil paintings, sculptural pieces to original pattern designs, and so much in-between. It was a delight to see the range of birds and multidisciplinary talent on display! Thank you to all of our participants, to the team at JJAC, and to our tremendous volunteers (Pat, Tony, Stephanie, and Karen especially!) for helping us pull off a successful exhibition.

 

Even though the calendar has flipped to 2026, we want to take a moment to look back on some successes from last year. In all categories, we were up from the year prior! In fact, our 2025 attendee number is the highest it has ever been since we began keeping track. Amazing! Thank you to our tireless volunteers and to our membership for your continued support.

 

 

 

A look at VFAS's busy calendar of events shows how much our all-volunteer organization can accomplish, and we are proud of all the recreational and educational programs that we provide to the public.  However, we need help!  

 

We have lots of ideas for novel program offerings such as boating, hiking, nature journaling, and artistic and native plant events, in addition to more unique birding programs. If you are interested in joining our team to help make events such as these happen, or if you have ideas for other programs you would like to see offered, please contact Patty Werth, chair of the Programs Committee, at programs@valleyforgeaudubon.org.