Chapel Hill Bird Club

The purpose of the Chapel Hill Bird Club is to provide engagement and educational opportunities for area birders of all experience levels. We offer interesting educational programs, local birding field trips, Christmas and spring bird counts, and connection to other members via a Facebook group. Members have access to like-minded people including experts who can answer your questions. Whether you watch birds in your yard or travel to the ends of the earth to chase rarities, our club offers something for you. We are a friendly group and welcome all to join us, especially new birders! Our members are mostly from the Triangle area of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Pittsboro, and surrounding towns.

News

September Meeting Program

September 28, 2026 at 7:30 pm — Binkley Baptist Church, 1712 Willow Drive, Chapel Hill

Biel Macedo — Not All Sexual Monomorphisms Evolve Equally: Female & Male Ornamentation in Tyranni Passerines

To attend by Zoom, register here.

Female animals often have ornaments such as conspicuous coloration. However, the evolution of female ornamentation and its contribution to sexual dimorphism are understudied relative to male ornamentation. In this talk, I will show how our research at the Lipshutz Lab addresses this knowledge gap. We investigated the evolution of female and male plumage ornamentation in over 870 species of Tyranni (suboscine) passerines in relation to sociosexual selection, i.e., the differential reproductive success resulting from competition for mates and other socially limited resources (e.g., territories, nest sites). One of our main findings is that females and males show similarly high ornamentation (elaborate monomorphism) in accordance with strong and shared sociosexual selection pressures, for instance in territorial, non-migratory, monogamous species with biparental care, and species nesting in cavities. Our research provides a framework for testing how selective pressures shape both female and male traits, which is key to understanding the evolution of sex differences and similarities.

Speaker Bio: Gabriel (Biel) Macedo is a postdoctoral associate at Duke University in the Lipshutz Lab studying the evolution and genomics of female ornamentation in birds, as well as the transcriptomics of song discrimination in song sparrows. Biel received his PhD in Evolution and Diversity from the Federal University of ABC in Brazil and was a Fulbright visiting researcher at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studying the evolution of songs, coloration and behavior of females and males of Neotropical birds.

Membership and Donations

Annual dues are $25 per individual or family, or $10 if you're a student. Dues go by calendar year, Jan 1 to Dec 31, so renewal season is now for continuing members. If you are a new member, you can join now and we'll credit your membership as being for 2025. To join the club, renew your membership, or make a donation, visit the membership and donation page.

Field Trips

We have bimonthly field trips from September through April, except during bird count seasons. Check our bird walk schedule for dates and times.

Meetings

We have monthly meetings from September through May (except December), generally on the fourth Monday of the month at 7:30pm. We are exploring holding hybrid meetings this season—in-person meetings with a Zoom option. As the night of the meeting approaches, please look for an announcement with the Zoom meeting link on the Chapel Hill Bird Club email list and Facebook page, and Carolinabirds.

In-person meetings are at 7:30 pm on the fourth Monday of the month at Binkley Baptist Church, in the Lounge. Binkley is at 1712 Willow Drive in Chapel Hill, at the intersection with 15-501 near University Mall (map with meeting room pinpointed). Visitors welcome! Come at 7:15 for light refreshments. We don't have a meeting in June, July, August, or December.

Find the lineup of meetings and speakers for our 2026–2027 season on our speakers page.

Our newsletter is the Chapel Hill Bird Club Bulletin. Current issue: September 2026. For past issues, visit our archives page.

Archives and Club History

Find past zoom meeting recordings, all of our newsletters since 1999, and an article on the first 50 years of the club on our archives page.

Counts and Lists

Bird counts, the Triangle Bird Checklist, and link to the Mini-BBS are on the Counts and Lists page.

Club Stuff

Officers, Constitution, and By-Laws of the Chapel Hill Bird Club.

Questions? Email us! chbirdclub at gmail.com

Facebook Group

If you'd like to interact with other local bird folks online, check out the Chapel Hill Bird Club's Facebook group.

Other Groups

You may wish to join the Carolina Bird Club, which covers both Carolinas, as well as New Hope Bird Alliance or Wake Audubon, which also have bird-related programs and activities.

Chapel Hill Bird Club field trip at Oregon Inlet, 1/19/2026

Field trip exploring Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks, 1/19/2026. Photo courtesy of Loren Hintz

Carolina Nature | Carolinabirds info | Triangle Birder's Guide

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