The Washington Ornithological Society was chartered in 1988 to increase knowledge of the birds of Washington State and to enhance communication among all persons interested in those birds.
New Details for the 2025 Yakima Conference!
Western Field Ornithologists and Washington Ornithological Society are teaming up for the
2025 Annual Conference
5–8 June
Yakima Convention & Event Center
Yakima, Washington
The 2025 Annual Conference is just around the corner!
*Main Conference Page*
Hosted by the Western Field Ornithologists and Washington Ornithological Society, this year’s event promises an incredible birding experience in the diverse habitats of Yakima, Washington from June 5-8, 2025.
We’ve got some important updates you don’t want to miss!
Science Sessions
We now have the details on the science sessions scheduled for the afternoons of Friday June 6 and Saturday June 7. These will cover everything from Snowy Plovers in Baja, to the distribution of Tricolored Blackbirds in Washington to first evidence of a Virginia-Colima warbler hybrid.Hotels
We’ve added a hotel (Holiday Inn of Yakima) to our list of conference hotels with special rates. View the updated hotel options here.Exclusive Conference Artwork
This year’s artwork by Jack Delap features the Ferruginous Hawk and the Yellow-breasted Chat in Yakima’s breathtaking habitat. Don’t miss your chance to grab this one-of-a-kind keepsake.
To see larger-size images of the artwork, go to the Conference Artwork page.
Official WOS-WFO Joint 2025 Conference Merchandise
Check out our merch at Bonfire.- Customize your conference t-shirts and hoodies!
- Official conference hats are being developed and will be available on-site at the conference.
Field Trips
- It’s NOT too late! There are still many fantastic field trip openings available!
- We need a few trip leaders!
- Passionate about leading a birding expedition? Trip leaders enjoy free conference registration. Email Laurie Ness at pennifurs.mom@gmail.com to volunteer.
- Trip leaders enjoy price breaks on registration cost and more — depending on how many trips you lead.
And Much Much more!
Dive deeper into the conference with a stellar workshop, engaging presentations, and field trips featuring up to 190 possible species of birds. With highlights like the Keynote Address by Jeff Kozma, Stump the Experts: Bird Quiz Night and the Sound Identification Team Challenge, you won’t want to miss this event. Explore More & Plan Your Conference Trip at our Conference Web Page.
We can’t wait to welcome you to Yakima for an unforgettable birding adventure.
Warm regards,
The 2025 Yakima Conference Team
Seattle Parks and Recreation has Teen Life Centers that offer a wide array of programming to Seattle area youth including: special events, Late Night Programs, computer labs, recording studios, cooking classes, social recreation and much more.
Meadowbrook Teen Life Center in northeast Seattle holds a weekly bird walk for participating students, led by J’Anna Chilcoat, Recreation Leader with Seattle Parks. Students use eBird and Merlin regularly to document their sightings. We can support young birders with your donations of gently used optics. For more information and to donate optics, please email jody@wos.org.
The Washington Bird Records Committee added three species to the State Checklist after accepting state first records for a Great Knot and a Lesser Nighthawk seen in May and a Marsh Sandpiper reported in October. Decisions by the American Ornithological Society and the American Birding Association Checklist Committee this year also brought changes to the state checklist. The Lesser Nighthawk was seen by Dave Swayne and others between May 23 and May 27 at Getty’s Cove near Vantage in Kittitas County. Cameron Cox reported a Great Knot on the Smith Creek mudflats of Willapa Bay in Pacific County on May 15. Liam Hutcheson and Jayson Zolle saw the Marsh Sandpiper in Neah Bay’s Wa’atch Valley on October 19. The Washington State Checklist now stands at 528 species. The committee accepted 35 reports as valid new records; 19 reports were not accepted. Check out the full Fall 2024 meeting results report.
The Sound to Sage website was originally launched in 2006 by Birds Connect Seattle (BCS), back when it was known as the Seattle Audubon Society. It has been resurrected in a new form and is now available on the WOS website. The project, which provides accurate data about which bird species are breeding in specific locations within four contiguous counties, was hosted on a website for many years by BCS. But the proprietary software used to display the data became outdated and was no longer functional. Hal Opperman, one of the leaders of the intensive data-gathering effort, worked with WOS volunteer Randy Robinson to produce a new web version with current, non-proprietary software. BCS made the data available and cooperated in the effort. The new site, which displays the breeding bird data on maps for Island, Kitsap, King and Kittitas counties, is best viewed on a tablet, laptop or desktop computer. It also provides the data in downloadable spreadsheets and .pdfs. The website is available at https://wos.org/documents/soundtosage.
The annual Washington Ornithological Society elections have concluded. All three officer nominees and two returning director nominees were unanimously re-elected. Participation was robust with 107 WOS members voting. President David Kreft, Vice President Rob Faucett, Secretary Sophia Krupsha, and Directors Maureen Traxler and Laurie Ness begin their new terms October 1, 2024. For biographical information and pictures of these candidates, please go to the 2024 elections page.
Patrick Sullivan
Undergraduate students with ties to Washington State are encouraged to apply for grants from the Patrick Sullivan Young Birder’s Fund (PSYBF) to support research related to wild birds or related topics in Washington state. Applicants should propose research to take place during the 2022 calendar year that is done under the coordination or supervision of their undergraduate faculty. Grants will range from $1,000 to $1,500. The new approach is part of the board’s effort to strengthen the Young Birder’s Fund and also WOS’s diversity and inclusion efforts. For more information, go to the PSYBF page.
Thanks to a partnership with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, WOS offers a terrific benefit for WOS members: FREE online access to “Birds of the World,” the world’s largest online encyclopedia of birds. Inside its 10,700+ scholarly, in-depth species accounts you’ll find expertly curated media galleries with photos, videos, and sound recordings, dynamic range maps, breeding calendars, and other life history details. Soak up detailed accounts of every species and every family and use the Taxonomy Explorer to explore the birds in your own county. Learn more about this benefit and how to get access to it on our Birds of the World page.
Go to WOS’s Monthly Meetings page for information on our fabulous monthly meeting programs. WOS members who live outside the Seattle area (or are on the road) can still attend using a computer, tablet or phone. It’s easy!
Our monthly meetings are being held via Zoom (no in-person attendance). They are open to all, as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos
