HMANA Lunch & Learn Series: Winter Raptor Survey
Wednesday, Dec 11 at 12:00 pm EST
We welcomed HMA partner Vic Berardi for our December Lunch & Learn. Vic Berardi, HMANA board member and chair of the Winter Raptor Survey shared about the HMA Winter Raptor Survey program. He discussed how to participate in this community science program, some of the raptors that you might see, and an update on the data that’s been collected over the years.
Vic Berardi is the founder of the all-volunteer Illinois Beach State Park Hawk Watch, which has conducted twenty-five seasons of full-time hawk migration monitoring since 2000. In 2013 he co-founded a new site at the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, also on the shore of Lake Michigan, in Highland Park, IL. Both of these sites contribute data to the study of raptors migrating along the western coast of Lake Michigan and through urban areas. Vic served as the Central Flyway Editor for Hawk Migration Studies for several years. In 2014 he was the recipient of HMANA’s Appreciation Award for his outstanding service furthering hawk migration studies and conservation.
In 2009 he was awarded the Service to Chicago Area Birders by the Chicago Audubon Society. In 2007 he was awarded the Grassroots Conservation Leadership Award for raptor education and research. Vic is also an accomplished photographer and regularly donates his photos to raptor conservation efforts. Many of his photographs have been on the covers of Hawk Migration Studies. He has also contributed to books by well-known raptor experts, including Brian Wheeler, Jerry Liguori, and Brian Sullivan.
