125th Annual Meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society

Welcome to the registration page for the 125th Annual Meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society, to be held Thursday, March 7th through Sunday, March 10th, 2013 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The 2013 WOS annual meeting also marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Alexander Wilson, the society’s namesake and the ornithologist after whom more North American birds have been named than any other.

This year’s conference, in historic Williamsburg, features a special session on the History of American Ornithology chaired by Jerome Jackson, as well as plenary addresses by Peter and Rosemary Grant and Jed Burtt.

The plenary talks will be Friday and Saturday morning, followed by three parallel scientific sessions from ~10:30am-4pm on both days. The poster session will be Friday night and the banquet Saturday night. There will be an early-morning field trip for local birding Friday and Saturday before the plenaries, and two more extensive field trips on Sunday morning to the site of Virginia’s recovering Red-cockaded Woodpecker population (returning around noon), or Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (returning around 4 PM).

Regular registration includes admission to all scientific sessions, the opening reception (Thursday evening), a poster session/reception (Friday evening), and all snack/coffee breaks. When you register, you will be given the option to add lunch on-campus during sessions days, or you can visit the many local restaurants. You may also purchase tickets for the closing banquet (Saturday) and optional field trips.

Guest registration allows the registrant to attend the opening reception, plenary talks, and poster social, but not the scientific sessions. Guests may also purchase tickets for on-campus lunches, the closing banquet and the optional field trips.

Local Birder registration allows the registrant to attend the plenary talks, poster social, and vendor exhibits but not the scientific sessions or the opening reception. Local Birders may also purchase separate tickets for on on-campus box lunches, the closing banquet and the optional field trips at the time of registration.

There is no on-campus housing because the college is in session. However, the Williamsburg Hospitality House is located immediately adjacent to campus, 5 minutes’ walk from the conference. The special rate ($77 for single or double room) for the conference is very unlikely to be beaten anywhere else in town, certainly not within walking distance. Thus, we highly recommend that participants book at room at the Hospitality House.

Attention Presenters: Talks are 15 minutes long (12 plus 3 for questions), and posters must fit within a 4' x 4' display space.

Three new Sunday field trips have been added, including some that may fit better with your travel plans. You can change your field trip reservations at this time (for any available trip). Field trips are on a first-come-first-served basis. If there are still openings during the conference you can add trips there (cash only), but sign up now to ensure a place on these popular trips.

Margaret Morse Nice Plenary Speakers and Special Symposia on 'Birds and Human Health' and 'History of Ornithology' details announced. See the News Flash page for abstracts of the plenary addresses and titles of the special symposia talks. Click here for details.

NEWS FLASH! Some field trips are now full. Field trip registration is closed until the conference, at which point you will be able to sign up for any trip that has an opening, on a first-come-first-served basis. Please contact Dan Cristol at dacris@wm.edu for field trip questions.

For a detailed look at the conference program, including rooms, times, titles, authors, and affiliations, please download the spreadsheet. You will be provided with a hard copy of all of this information, plus abstracts, upon registration.