Meet Ron Grimes, NVBA board member and treasurer.

We are proud to announce our new name – the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance. Members at our June 9 meeting voted overwhelmingly to adopt the name. We have some work to do to complete the transition, but have already adopted a new logo. We hope you like it as much as we do.

On Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 1:00 pm at the National Wildlife Federation Building in Reston, ASNV will hold a meeting for members only, to vote on whether to adopt “Northern Virginia Bird Alliance” as its new name.

I am pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has recommended a new name for our organization – Northern Virginia Bird Alliance! We are excited about moving forward with this new name because it better matches our mission, our communities, and our values.

The next week signals the start of a massive surge of migration into Northern Virginia. Each spring, 3.5 billion birds and 350 species cross the southern border of the United States on their way to nesting grounds in the northern states and Canada.

I have several times written how fortunate ASNV is to benefit from the dedication, knowledge, and generosity of our volunteers. The important and lasting impact of volunteer service was driven home when I learned of the recent death of Dr. William R. Stott, known to his friends as Bill.  

I ended up on the board of the ASNV because I was seduced by a creek.

As 2024 begins, I look ahead and I am thankful for birds. I appreciate their role in actions such as pollination, dispersal of seeds, production of guano fertilizer, and provision of food. But it is their intangible services that truly earn my gratitude.

I’ve asked myself on occasion what makes us birders?

Hope is winning out, even as I hear chainsaws and backhoes signal the demolition of yet another neighborhood house and all of its majestic oaks. I block out those sounds of destruction by recalling four hopeful ASNV sessions from the past few weeks.

It’s not all about the birds for me. My connection is with nature in general, an all-encompassing love and passion for Pachamama, Mother Earth in the Aymara language of my ancestors. 

ASNV is adopting a proactive approach to our mission of engaging all northern Virginia communities in enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people.

The bird that sent me to the store for my first pair of binoculars and a field guide is the Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

I have been on the ASNV board for exactly one year, chairing the Citizen Science committee and participating in conservation initiatives. A year in I am impressed by the dedication and hard work of my fellow board members and our incredible partners, volunteers, and supporters.

I am excited to announce a new ASNV program called Stretch Our Parks. It is a community-based conservation initiative, centered around northern Virginia parks, to be implemented via partnerships among ASNV, parks, conservation groups, and neighborhood and community groups.

Birding is like finding buried treasure – except that the treasure keeps moving, and you have to focus on everything you see and hear.

Volunteers have always been the lifeblood of ASNV, and we recently welcomed some new volunteers at a February 18 training session.

Board Notes is a new feature, alternating with the President’s Corner, to introduce some of our board members, coordinators, and friends. This month, meet board member Judy Gallagher.

The Tundra Swans have returned to the Great Marsh at Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge after a daunting migration of as much as 3,750 miles.

I was thrilled last month when our eighth-of-an-acre property was certified by ASNV’s Audubon at Home program as a “Wildlife Sanctuary.”