Our Previous Community Events
We offer quality programs and events to the St. James community.
Check out the list below and make plans to attend our next event.
December 3, 2025
Hugh Shaw and Ernie McLaney
"Winter Bird Counts"
The Birders of St James Club hosted a presentation by club staffers Hugh Shaw and Ernie McLaney on our upcoming bird counts. Shaw provided a background and history of the Christmas Bird Count, since 1900, and its useful information that everyday birders provide and which is then used by scientists studying birds, their habitats, and population changes.
Hugh and Ernie encourage all St James residents to stuff their feeders with "good" feed prior to the counts in order to attract the birds.
Members attending this event also enjoyed Hugh's presentation on all the bird food that he uses with his numerous blends and his own mixtures for his feeders.
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The Christmas Bird Count will be held on January 4, 2026.
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The Great Back Yard Bird Count will be held from February 13-16, 2026
More information on the bird counts is available on this website.
November 12, 2025
Patrick McMillan "The Changing Nature of our Coastal Birds"
The Birders of St James Club hosted a presentation by botanist, biologist, naturalist, scientist Patrick McMillan. McMillan had hosted a nature program on PBS Carolinas titled "Expeditions with Patrick McMillan" from 2007-2019.
For the Birders of St James, McMillan presented on "The Changing Nature of our Coastal Birds." About 100 people attended this informative meeting at the Homer Wright Event Center learning that the choices that our ancestors had made and choices that we make today in our own habitats affect the habitats of birds.
As our world changes, so too do our birds with their movements. The Carolina coast has changed and the birds tell our story.
October 6, 2025
Bald Head Island Bird Tour
What a lovely day for a bird tour! The weather was perfect with low 80s and sunny. This excursion was planned months ago so we were fortunate that the weather cooperated. Fourteen of us Birders of St James met at the Bald Head Island Terminal early to take the 8am ferry to cross.
We were met at the island by Jennifer of the Bald Head Island Nature Conservancy and transported via a tram to their building and then transferred into golf carts. Guides Heather and Olivia drove us all over the island, through a “maritime forest”, described as a thick canopy of oak trees and moss, then out to marshes and beach heads. We stopped and did the birder thing looking at birds through our binoculars and their telescope.
This day we saw pelicans, gulls, herons, egrets, king fisher, osprey, and hawks. Not a bad take. We were looking for the elusive Painted Bunting, making bird calls but no luck this time. There’s always next time!
September 10, 2025
Mary Ellen Rogers from Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter
The newly formed Birders of St James held their inaugural meeting at the Homer Wright Event Center with over 80 attendees. The meeting featured Mary Ellen Rogers of the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter in Oak Island and she came with her educational bird Benson the Barred Owl.
We are all fortunate to have Mary Ellen Rogers and her Sea Biscuit Shelter providing an important service to injured birds from the surrounding communities. In 2024, Rogers and her group treated 1,153 injured birds in the Brunswick County area. However, Benson the Barred Owl was hit by a car at a young age and is not releasable. Benson, and other birds at the shelter, perform educational roles in the community.