Central America is blessed with a very large number of bird species thanks to its diverse habitat with oceans on both east and west sides and a tall mountain chain running down its center. Please join us in-person in the library or online for a program by Bill Fintel featuring birding in Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. Bill, and his wife Sally, have birded all of these countries several times. Some of the highlighted birds Bill will discuss range from Resplendent Quetzal, to Orange-breasted Falcon, to many colorful hummingbirds, to several secretive antbirds. He will also share information on historic locations like Tikal and Antigua, as well as non-bird wildlife like sloths, armadillos, dolphins,  and marine turtles.

Bill Fintel has been a birder since he was 12 and got his bird watching merit badge. Bill and Sally became an active birding couple right after they  married in 1970. From early on their travel plans always included birding. Upon moving to Seaford in 1980, Bill taught adult-education birding classes, and at the end of each class, was asked, “How can we continue to learn about birds?” Out of that came the idea to create a local bird club, which became the Sussex Bird Club, of which Bill was the first President. Bill has continued birding education by presenting programs to many groups, plus teaching adult ed birding courses for Osher Lifelong Learning, and leading field trips for the Sussex Bird Club, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and Road Scholar.

Bill graduated from Cornell Chemical Engineering in 1965 and had a 27-year career with DuPont. Bill followed up his DuPont career by forming his own company, Avian Aquatics, which produced specialty water products for backyard birds. After 12 years, Bill sold Avian Aquatics to a larger nature company in the Midwest and was free to bird year-round.

The Sussex Bird Club's primary objective is to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of wild birds through guided field trips and monthly meetings about various aspects of birding. Meetings are open to all and beginning birders are always welcome.

Please check back for this month's topic.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email us.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.