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The Southport Ibis Festival is pleased to announce a photography competition to select outstanding photographs in 2 categories: (1) local shorebirds, wading birds and water birds and (2) sustainable uses of the Cape Fear Estuary waterfront with an emphasis on our traditional heritage and on those sustainable uses that can be carried into the fu-ture. First prize winners in each category will receive $100 gift certificates to Southeastern Camera Co. in Wilmington and their photographs will be matted and framed. Second place winners will receive their photographs matted and framed. Winning photographs will be displayed during Ibis Fest. See the complete competition rules for details.

Atlantic Beach, NC Winter Meeting 2010: Lena Gallitano and John Fussell put together another outstanding meeting, covering all the bases except weather. Saturday field trips were largely disrupted by high winds, cold rain, and a winter weather advisory, declared the “worst weather ever for a CBC meeting”. Hundreds of Razorbills flying past a sheltered observation point at the hotel helped make up for it, and for the weekend an excellent total of 159 species were observed. Presentations by Rodney Kemp and Lynn Barber, along with an excellent buffet dinner, rounded out the weekend.

Photo: Birders on a pier at Atlantic Beach, NC, Jan. 31, 2010, a very cold, gray, windy morning. Photo by Ron Underwood.

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The 3rd annual Santee Birding and Nature Festival is scheduled for April 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2010. There are over 30 field trips as part of the festival, including an owl prowl at Santee State Park, Birding 101 at Santee National Wildlife Refuge, and the ever popular birding trips to Beidler Forest, Wannamaker Preserve, and Manchester State Forest. The Keynote presentation and banquet dinner will be on Friday evening at the Holiday Inn–Santee and will feature Rudy Mancke. Enjoy some of South Carolina's treasures.

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Winston-Salem, NC Spring Meeting 2010: Start planning now for the Winston-Salem Spring meeting from April 30 to May 2, 2010—great spring birding, programs, and more.

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New bonus field trips for 2010: CBC is pleased to announce three new bonus field trips coming up in 2010: we'll be travelling to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina, the coast of Texas, and southeastern Arizona. Come along!

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Hickory, NC Fall Meeting A good turnout of birders from the Carolinas and beyond weathered a rainy weekend in the foothills and mountains, and observed 118 bird species.

Photo: Birders visiting the Wagner property at the Hickory meeting. Photo by Ron Underwood.

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Chat searchable database: There is a wealth of information about the birds of the Carolinas published in The Chat, and as another step toward making it more accessible, a searchable database covering all of the Briefs for the Files and Bird Records Committee reports from volumes 51–70 (years 1987–2006) of The Chat is now available. When was a Red-necked Stint last seen? Little Stint? Have we ever had a good year for Evening Grosbeaks? Find the answers quickly here.

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NC Birding Trail Mountain Guide is now available!

The last of three Trail Guides to cover the state, the Mountain edition joins the previously released Coastal Plain and Piedmont Trail Guides. Each spiral bound guide includes color photos, detailed maps, site overviews, logistical information, and lists special interest species for each location. Birders can visit sites individually or string together numerous "birding drives" that take in multiple sites.

The books can be ordered at the discount price of $10 per copy (shipping included) at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's "NC Wild" online store.

For more information on the NC Birding Trail, visit www.ncbirdingtrail.org.

(The CBC is a Partner with the NC Birding Trail.)

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Clemson Spring Meeting: After a long, cold winter, the promise of migrant and returning summer resident neotropical birds brought CBC members to the Upstate of South Carolina to observe some of the nearly three dozen warbler species that breed or pass though the southern Blue Ridge Mountains each year. The bird list for this meeting numbered 139 species.

Photo: Birders visiting Lake Conestee at the Clemson meeting. Photo by Ellen Sutliff.

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Cumulative Chat index: There is a wealth of information about the birds of the Carolinas published in The Chat, and as another step toward making it more accessible, a 20-year index to The Chat, covering volumes 51–70, years 1987–2006 is now available.

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The CBC's Birds of the Carolinas Research & Programming Grants program is again active. Funds are available to support student research concerning North and/or South Carolina birds or secondary school programming designed to promote an interest by students in birds.

Birding North Carolina, the long-awaited guide to birding sites in the state, has now been published. Edited by Marshall Brooks and Mark Johns, this book features the best birding sites in North Carolina as chosen and described by the members of the Carolina Bird Club. The book is available from Globe Pequot Press.

Birding North Carolina was undertaken by the Carolina Bird Club for two purposes: to promote birding in North Carolina and to make birding more accessible to all skill levels of birders by providing information regarding the wonderful birding opportunities that we have in our state; and to further bird conservation by dedicating the income from the guide to bird conservation projects. Proceeds will go into a special account of the Carolina Bird Club to be used to support and further bird conservation projects in the state.

There are so many birding locations in North Carolina that not all of them could be included in the printed book. Descriptions of an additional 44 locations are published exclusively on this web site. Click on "Birding Sites: North Carolina" in the frame at left.