Carol Whiteside and Sissy Logan of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club will be presenting

Protecting the Eastern Bluebird and other Native Cavity Nesters

 Carol Whiteside’s program will explore what is involved with identifying, attracting and protecting our bluebird box nesters, and will present the Eastern Bluebirds’ history, housing requirements, monitoring updates, displays and more. Carol was born and raised in Roanoke across from Hollins University on her family’s manicured farm. She has been a Roanoke Valley Bird Club member since the early 1980’s, and has served on the board, worked on the club seed sale, bylaws and nominating committees, the two Virginia Society of Ornithology annual meetings held in Roanoke, and has produced the calendar and newsletter for the club. She has been a birder for most of her life with a special interest in bird behavior. For over fifteen years Carol studied and bred domesticated Gouldian Finches (a caged bird native to the northern tropics of Australia), relying on the mentorship of Ed and Joanie Kinser of Bent Mountain. This led to her fascination with Eastern Bluebirds, which are also box nesters – wild, yet easily approached and observed. She has always maintained a 10-box bluebird trail on her Bray Ridge Farm, and is trail chairman of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club Blue Ridge Parkway 33-box bluebird trail, a natural pairing since she leases adjoining parkway land for pasturing her saddle mules and donkey. Carol provides a thousand pounds of seed a year in her numerous backyard feeders, as well as a gallon of hummingbird nectar daily during their peak feedings. In addition to the wild birds, she raises chickens, and has been breeding rat terriers since 1988. Furthermore, Carol enjoys making improvements to her farm, photography, writing, birding, riding, hiking and volunteering for other non-profits. She is a longtime VIP (Volunteers-In-Parks) that includes managing wildlife cameras for the National Park Service in various sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 A Day in the Life of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 Sissy Logan’s program will cover how to attract the Ruby-throated Hummingbird to your yard along with a general overview of this fascinating little bird. For example, did you know they fly 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico twice a year during migrations? Sissy was born and raised on a farm in the Oak Grove area of Roanoke and later lived in Salem. She has been a member of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club since the 1980’s, and has served on the board including treasurer. Sissy currently works on the club calendar sales, and is active with field trips assisting as leader. She chairs the 21-box bluebird trail at Hanging Rock Golf Course in Salem for the Roanoke Valley Bird Club. In her spare time, she enjoys birdwatching, hiking the Appalachian Trail, biking, pickleball and tennis. Sissy loves spending time with her three children, eight grandchildren and, of course, her husband, Fielding.