Hoffmann Bird Club

10/05/2026

Next Monday, join us for our October monthly meeting at Berkshire Community College! We will have a social hour starting at 6pm, followed by our meeting at 7pm. After some brief club business, we will be joined by guest speaker and author, Chris Sweeney.

Chris will be speaking about his book, “The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne,” which tells the incredible true story of Roxie Laybourne, a scientist stationed within the Smithsonian who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology and studied feathers recovered from airplane crashes, murder scenes, poaching cases, and other calamities.

Chris will be bringing some of his books for sale.

We hope to see you! For more information, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events.

09/30/2026

Fall bird migration is underway! Join us for one of our upcoming October events, including family birding, a walk at Howden Farm, and our October monthly meeting at Berkshire Community College. For more information, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events.

09/16/2026

09/12/2026

Join us Monday at 7PM for our September club meeting, featuring a presentation by Hugh Powell. Hugh is the Senior Editor for Digital Content at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and will be preseting "Birding with Insight; A Primer on Cornell Lab Tools for Better Birding".

Got questions about how to make the most of Cornell's tools, like Merlin, eBird, and All About Birds? Hugh will be sharing tips and tricks to take your birding experience to the next level.

For more information, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events!

09/01/2026

Fall migration is starting and Hoffmann Bird Club is back for our 2026-27 season! We're excited to share our September events and get out into nature. The club has a new hawk watch this fall, as well as other unique experiences, including journaling, biking, and even a historical tour. We hope you'll join us. For more information and to register, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events!

08/23/2026

Join us for our September 14th Monthly Meeting at Berkshire Community College featuring a presentation by Hugh Powell, Senior Editor for Digital Content at Cornell University presenting “Birding with Insight; A Primer on Cornell Lab Tools for Better Birding” See our website for all the details! All are welcome for this free event. https://hoffmannbirdclub.org/ Bring your cell phone and notepad for this exciting information!

Birding the Berkshires since 1940

08/15/2026

The 2026-2027 Hoffmann Bird Club season kicks off tomorrow with our annual Common Nighthawk watch!

The watch is a 15-night big sit where club members and the community watch the skies for migrating Common Nighthawks and record sightings of the Nighthawks and other birds. The watch kicks off Sunday in Pittsfield at the Canoe Meadows community garden with our past-president's celebration and picnic. Then Monday, we'll also be watching in Williamstown at Williams College and Ashley Falls at Bartholomew's Cobble.

The Pittsfield event is co-hosted by the Hoffmann Bird Club and Mass Audubon (Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley)and is held with permission on Mass Audubon’s Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary property. They are providing use of the site throughout the Nighthawk watches and also including the use of the pavilion on 8/16/26.

To learn more about how to participate, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events!

06/09/2026

Summer is here and birds are nesting! Things will start to quiet down over the next month as we get deeper into the summer, but we still have some great opportunities to explore the birds in our community! Do you have ideas or suggestions for trips and locations you'd like to see us bird this fall? Let us know in the comments!
For more information and to register for these events, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events

05/17/2026

The results are in! This weekend was Hoffmann Bird Club's 75th annual Century Run! In this 24 hour challenge, teams of birders search Berkshire County with the goal of finding at least 100 bird species. The event ran 5pm Friday through 5pm Saturday. Despite some rain Friday evening, we had warm temperatures and clear skies on Saturday. At last night's count-up, the unique species total across all teams was an amazing 148 birds! Thank you to all who participated, and congratulations to our first place team, who found 114 species during their run, many of which were found on one single property!

05/01/2026

May is here, which means you can go birding with Hoffmann Bird Club multiple times a week! With spring migration underway, it's one of the most exciting times to be outside amount the sights and sounds of migrating birds. We have some fan-favorite trips and brand new experiences this month. We hope you'll join us!

For more information and to register, visit hoffmannbirdclub.org/events!