A typical meeting consists of a brief business session followed by reports of the most recent field trips and of future ones. The major portion of the meeting consists of a presentation by an invited speaker or KBC member on some aspect of birding. These presentations may include slides, videos, or live birds, any or all of which may be the result of research, vacations, professions, love of the hobby, etc. The last portion of a meeting is reserved for field reports by attendees of their most recent sightings. In June our meeting location varies and in July and August, a potluck dinner is held at a picnic area and is followed by an optional bird walk.

Kirtland Bird Club Patch
KBC has a patch available. For ordering instructions click here.

Local Field Trips
Local field trips are held monthly and nonmembers are welcome. These field trips can range from Mentor Headlands to the east, Crane Creek State Park to the west, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area to the south of Cleveland. Each person is responsible for his or her own transportation to the various sites, where the field trip leader is met.

Weekend Field Trips
There are about four or five weekend field trips planned each year. Generally, the group leaves Friday evening and returns Sunday. Some of the locations visited during the appropriate times of year are southern Ohio, Holiday Beach, Ontario, and Niagara Falls. Everyone travels together by carpooling or in a rented van and shares the costs. While overnight arrangements are made ahead of time by the leader, each person is responsible for his or her own expenses for lodging and meals. When renting a van, if the van seats are not all reserved by KBC members, they are then opened to nonmembers.

The CBC was founded in 1905 by Francis H. Herrick of Western Reserve University and is one of the longest-running publications of its kind. The purposes of the publication are to provide information on the movements of birds through the Cleveland region (Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties), to monitor population densities of resident birds, and to help in establishing what the patterns of vagrancy are for species rarely encountered in the region.

All members are encouraged to submit field reports, artwork, papers, and photographs to the editor for consideration for publication in the CBC. Due dates for seasonal reports are the 10th of March, June, September, and December. All reports sent to the CBC are archived at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.