We are currently accepting nominations for this year’s Margaret Morse Nice Medal! Established in 1997, this annual award, the most prestigious award bestowed by the WOS, honors an individual’s lifetime contributions to ornithology. Those considered for the Nice Medal typically have an outstanding record of publication, a history of excellence in mentoring of young professionals, and are known for giving excellent presentations. Please submit nominations via this online form; once made, nominations are held and considered in all future years by the selection committee. Additionally, if you are interested in volunteering for a one-year term on the selection committee for this award, please contact current chair Jim Chace at jameson.chace@salve.edu. Thank you!

Registration is now open for WOS 2023! This year’s annual meeting will take place June 20–23 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For those unable to attend in person, there is also a virtual registration option that includes plenaries and oral presentations, the awards ceremony, and selected other events.

Early registration ends May 15, and we encourage you to register by this date to receive the best rate. Students may receive an additional discount on registration by signing up to volunteer at the meeting. On-campus housing options are also available.
We encourage you to browse the meeting website for details on the symposiums, workshops, field trips, etc., that will be offered, as well as information about travel options for getting to Allentown, our COVID-19 policy (masks will be mandatory again this year), and more. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in June!

The Wilson Ornithological Society is excited to be providing a $4,000 sponsorship to Field Inclusive, a nonprofit founded last August by WOS members Murry Burgess and Lauren Pharr with the goal of supporting marginalized and historically excluded individuals who work outdoors in any natural resources field. Funds from the WOS will be used to provide monetary support for an intern at the Cape Fear Bird Observatory to gain experience with the observatory’s Painted Bunting banding program, as well as for travel and research grants for bird-focused projects.

“Scientists, professionals, or individuals belonging to marginalized or other historically excluded communities need support when it comes to social field safety issues,” said Field Inclusive’s founders in a statement. “This is why Field Inclusive was founded; we feel that social field safety should be put on the same level and given the same attention as physical field safety because you’re talking about someone’s health, someone’s well-being.” Burgess and Pharr are both current ornithology PhD students at North Carolina State University.

If you’re interested in learning more about Field Inclusive, you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and donate to support their programs here.

Details on Caregiver Grants for WOS 2023 are now available on the meeting website! These need-based grants are intended to facilitate the participation of those with caregiving responsibilities (including but not limited to parents) in the meeting by helping offset caregiving-related expenses that might otherwise be prohibitive. Funds may be used in any manner to support dependent care—for example, to cover the cost of travel to the conference venue for an accompanying adult caregiver, the cost of dependent care at the conference venue, or the cost of additional dependent care at home during the conference. Applications are due March 1.

Although registration will not open until March, for those who like to plan ahead, we’ve posted a great deal of travel-related information to the meeting website in recent weeks as well. You can now view a schedule overview for the meeting, a list of field trips that will be offered, details on registration and lodging costs, and our COVID policy (masks and rapid tests will be provided again this year, with masks required in all indoor spaces). We have also opened our call for student volunteers (deadline April 15)—students can receive discount registration for the in-person meeting in exchange for volunteering a minimum of six hours of their time while there.

Remember, abstracts are due March 1. Whether you’ll be attending in person or virtually, we can’t wait to see you in June!

We are now accepting abstract submissions for our 2023 annual meeting, to be held June 20–23 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania! Please note that this year there are opportunities to present your research both in person and virtually, so we encourage you to consider participating even if you won’t be able to join us in Allentown.

The call for abstracts and submission form can be found here on the meeting website. The deadline to submit an abstract is March 1, and decisions will be sent to lead authors by mid-April. There is no virtual option for poster presentations, but if you are interested in presenting research and unable to attend the in-person meeting, please consider submitting an abstract for a virtual oral presentation. Students planning to present in person are also invited to apply for Student Travel Awards to offset their travel costs (deadline March 1).

We look forward to seeing you in June!