This walk is for PCV members and volunteers - but members and volunteers are welcome to invite those they personally know to join us in this walk.  All attendees should be registered, so we know how many people to expect.  

Please note that we have two stops for this event - the first is at the Potomac Library, where we meet at 3:30 pm to carpool; the second is at the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center in Great Falls Park off MacArthur Blvd. That's where we'll meet Brad Schmonsees, from The Backyard Bird Feeder, at 4 pm.  Brad will be leading our guided bird walk.   
 
Registration is required, by Sunday, Nov. 2, 5 pm, so we know how many to expect. 

Carpooling is strongly suggested as there is an entrance fee of $20 per vehicle if no one in the vehicle has a National Parks pass.  With a full car, even without a pass, admission will be just $4 or $5 per person. A  National Parks pass gets you free admission to the park for everyone in your vehicle.

If you have a Parks Pass, don't forget to bring it.  if you don't have one and want one, please click  https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm#senior-passes for how to get one.    

When you register, please tell us if you have a National Parks pass in the comments section and if you are willing to drive others.  We will try to make car pool arrangements based on this information. Please also tell us if you expect to get to the park on your own. 

In the event of rain, our Rain Date is Tuesday, Nov. 4.   

Once we meet Brad at the Visitor Center, we'll proceed to our first stop - the area overlooking the river where we can expect to see migrating waterfowl.

From there, we’ll proceed along the C&O towpath. This is an easy walk but sturdy shoes are always a good idea. (Also consider bringing water to drink).

To make the most of this opportunity, we recommend some advance planning with the resources listed below, and don’t forget to bring a pair of binoculars if you have them.

Members - If you need a ride to come, please indicate that you need a ride when you register for this event by setting the ride field to "need a ride".   Everyone, if you can offer a ride, please indicate that as well.  

Resources:  

Download two apps from the Cornell University Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ebird, which will acquaint you with what we can expect to see based on birds recently sighted in the area; and Merlin, which enables you to identify birds by songs and calls that are being recorded in real time on your smart phone. 

Click on this link https://ebird.org/home, and once there, click on the green "Get Started" tab, which will bring you to the page with the ebird and Merlln apps for you to download to your smart phone.     

Thank you to Diane, for making arrangements for this event for us.  She tells us that one of the birds we might see during our walk is a painted bunting, shown in the picture above.