Our Mission
The club’s mission is to promote bird watching, education about birds and the ecosystems they inhabit, and to build community among and between birders.
Read the MVBC Code of Ethics
We believe birding is for everyone, and we welcome everyone, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or birding experience. We watch and learn about birds primarily on the island of Noepe, Wampanoag lands known today as the island of Martha’s Vineyard.
Birding MV Calendar
Birdwatching w/Luanne Johnson at Polly Hill Arboretum
Birdwatching w/Luanne Johnson at Polly Hill Arboretum
Club Activities
Free Bird Walks
Twice monthly. Led by local birders on Saturday mornings in the off-season (Indigenous People’s Day to Memorial Day); Mondays: Memorial Day to Indigenous People’s Day. Details are in the calendar.
Free Birding 101 walks
Quarterly walks focused on helping beginning birders build their skills held in January, April, July, and October. Leaders will have binoculars and field guides to loan. Details are in the calendar.
Meetings
April, October, and February in the basement of the Mary P. Wakeman Center at 57 David Avenue (off of Lambert’s Cove Road) in Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, or via Zoom. Meetings are open to members and non-members. Our meetings include social time before the meeting, a formal meeting to discuss bird club business, and a presentation from an invited speaker. Details are in the calendar.
Field Trips
We offer periodic off-island field trips focused on pelagic birds, warblers, or other bird groups of specific interest.
Community
We gather for coffee/tea or adult beverages at various local venues to chat about birds and birding informally. Details are in the calendar.
Birding News
Nesting Shorebirds: 2022 Season Summary
The BiodiversityWorks shorebird management team is wrapping up its 11th season of monitoring beach-nesting birds at select sites across the island. The Vineyard's beaches represent critical habitat for these birds and their well-camouflaged eggs and chicks. Our staff...
Black Skimmer Colony Reaches 22 pairs on Martha’s Vineyard!
Black skimmers began nesting in Massachusetts in 1985, but always in low numbers (fewer than seven pairs). They first nested on Martha's Vineyard (MV) in 2010 at Norton Point beach in Edgartown; however, they failed to fledge chicks that year. When a few pairs...
Ways to Protect Birds from Window Collisions
Birds do not perceive glass the same way that humans do. At a young age, we develop visual cues from repeated interactions with the clear surface, this helps us to detect the glass and avoid bumping into it, well, most of the time. To birds, glass is not detectable...
Join The MV Bird Club
Membership in the MV Bird Club is on a sliding scale of $10 to $50, but larger donations are welcome to support the club. Member dues will cover website, communications, and operational expenses for the club as well as speaker fees to guest speakers.
Members will receive advance notice of off-island field trips and guest lectures. MV Bird Club bi-weekly bird walks, led by local birders, are free.
Your donation is tax deductible through BiodiversityWorks, a 501c3 non-profit.