By Roseanne Guerra, Education Program Coordinator
 
This spring, the Birds Georgia education team noticed a spike in classroom program requests from Gwinnett County Public Schools. It turns out, Gwinnett County has adopted the EL (formerly Expeditionary Learning) Language Arts Curriculum entitled “Growing as Researchers: Birds’ Amazing Bodies.” As part of this curriculum, all Gwinnett County Public School first graders must complete a six- to eight-week module on BIRDS!

The education team, Melanie, Melissa and Roseanne, taught inside the classroom and outside – leading programs on bird adaptations, beaks, and feathers. The most meaningful times for me were teaching about common schoolyard birds and their songs, and then taking the students out on school grounds with loaner binoculars find some of the birds we talked about in the classroom. I was also honored to be invited back to participate with students and their parents in their “Celebration of Learning.” It was so exciting to see how far they had come.

A number of the Gwinnett County schools that requested programs were Title 1 schools, and thanks to the generosity of our members and donors, Birds Georgia was able to offer scholarships to these schools so that ALL first graders could participate. Birds are for everyone! Even for the newly-immigrated students who don’t speak much English yet, binoculars are still fun, and the beauty of birds is universal.

Now that word is out, I’m sure we will be even busier next spring. Bring it on!

To request a Birds Georgia School Program, visit our website.

More details about the EL Education module can be found here.
 

By Steve Phenicie
 
“When you go back to Atlanta, why don’t you take some of those Boat-tailed Grackles with you?” That was the comment made a few years ago by a coastal resident to a group of metro area birders.
 
These often noisy birds — which can leave messy droppings, damage crops and have a call sometimes described as harsh — won’t win any Miss or Mr. Congeniality awards from human beings. Other birds aren’t enamored with them either because of their aggressive behavior, which can include gobbling up eggs and nestlings.
 
As their name suggests, the most prominent feature of the males, their tail, is kind of like Dolly Parton’s wigs – big and showy. This bird is smaller than a Fish Crow but larger than a Common Grackle, with males glossy black all over. Females — which almost look like a different species — are dark brown above and russet below, with a subtle face pattern made up of a pale eyebrow, dark cheek, and pale “mustache” stripe.
 
You won’t find them anywhere near Atlanta — only along marshes, beaches, flooded fields, and mudflats near the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Connecticut to Texas except in Florida, where they pretty much inhabit the entire state. Their diet includes aquatic insects, snails, crayfish, crabs, mussels, shrimp, tadpoles, frogs, small fish, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. For variety, they add parking-lot french fries, bread, rice, dog food, commercial bird seed, and fruit crops.
 
The boat-tailed nests in colonies, usually near water: in cattails, sawgrass, or bulrushes, in bushes or saplings at edge of a marsh, or in taller trees. The nest is generally less than 12 feet above ground or water but can be much higher. Nesting and raising the young is mostly a female affair. She builds a large, bulky cup of twigs, grass, weeds, bulrushes, Spanish moss, or other materials, often with mud added to base and lined with fine grass.
 
There she usually lays two to four pale greenish blue eggs and incubates them for 13 to 15 days. Feeding the young is entirely her responsibility, too, and they leave the nest about 12 to 15 days after hatching.
 
Some cool facts about the Boat-tailed Grackle:

• When it comes to getting around, these birds don’t exactly compete with Delta. Most spend their lives within about 10 miles of where they hatch.
  
• Until the 1970s, this bird was considered to be the same species as the Great-tailed Grackle, but the two overlap on the coasts of Texas and Louisiana without interbreeding.
  
• They are fairly common within their restricted range, but populations declined by about 47 percent between 1966 and 2014, according to the North America Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 2 million, with all of them in the United States.
  
• Their eye color varies with range. Gulf Coast and inland birds have dark eyes, but Atlantic birds have pale eyes.
  
• Their most serious predators are yellow rat snakes that attack their nests, but they are also preyed upon by rats, alligators, and Purple Gallinules.

by Dottie Head, Director of Communications

Birds Georgia was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative Program for a project titled, Grassroots Grasslands: A Community Restoration Effort to Re-establish Native Plants for Pollinators and Birds in Evans, Georgia.

As part of the grant work, Birds Georgia will partner with the Central Savannah River Land Trust, among other local partners, to restore 11 acres of fallow pastures to native grassland habitat for pollinators and birds within a recently donated preserve, engaging the local community through volunteer workdays and educational opportunities.

“Birds Georgia was thrilled to learn of this grant to restore grassland habitat at Laverlea Preserve,” says Jared Teutsch, Executive Director of Birds Georgia.  “We are keenly interested in the response of bird species to this work, including Grasshopper Sparrow, American Kestrel, and other species of concern identified by the Georgia State Wildlife Action Plan.” 

In recent decades, many birds that rely on open and early-successional habitats have seen a decline in population due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and a variety of other factors. Grassland birds in particular have seen a decrease in population by about 53% since 1970 according to a 2019 study (https://www.3billionbirds.org/findings) conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and other partners.

Additional declining species that utilize grassland habitat include Eastern Meadowlark, Northern Harrier, Field Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, and Common Nighthawk. By restoring native grasslands and reducing the presence of non-native and invasive plant species, Birds Georgia will create suitable habitat for these grassland-dependent bird species.

Per the wishes of the donor, the goal is for Laverlea Preserve to become an ecological and education site for the community. The preserve comprises upland and mesic forests, bottomland hardwood forests, wetlands and streams, grasslands, and pastures. There are already plans in place to thin the dense mixed hardwood/pine stands that surround the pastures, which will promote more open groundcover and encourage native plants. The preserve also contains over 6,200 feet of the Euchee Creek and adjacent riparian forest buffer that will become a part of a public greenway trail being established by the county. Laverlea is ecologically important and is a remarkably large tract of land in the rapidly-urbanizing town of Evans (near Augusta, Georgia), where the average parcel size is less than one acre.

“Work is expected to begin in early July, and the first step will be cataloging birds, plants, and butterfly species that are present on the preserve so that we can see how these species respond to the treatment,” says Heather Levy, Birds Georgia’s stewardship coordinator who will oversee the restoration project for Birds Georgia. “The next steps will be to conduct a controlled-burn to cull invasive grasses and remove built up thatch so that native plants and wildflowers can thrive. Finally, we will plant a seed mix for warm-season, native grasses across the 11-acre restoration site to encourage the establishment of  native grasses and to control weedy plants. In the following years, we will plant native wildflowers, shrubs, and other plants. The long-term goal is to create a habitat where native grasses and wildflowers can flourish and provide support to grassland bird species and butterfly species.”

In addition, Birds Georgia and the Central Savannah River Land Trust will host volunteer work days and public bird walks on the site with the goal of fostering a diverse group of environmental stewards to assist with the project and to empower and educate individuals about habitat restoration.

The grant is for a one-year period, but Birds Georgia and the Central Savannah River Land Trust intend to use the funds to initiate long-term ecological education at the site. The one-year grant cycle will serve as a kick start to develop a management plan, treat invasive species, and establish the first round of native plantings. Following year one, the partners plan to monitor native plant growth, add additional native grasses and wildflowers, and seek additional funding for large-scale restoration and maintenance of the Laverlea Preserve.

About Birds Georgia: Birds Georgia is building places where birds and people thrive. We create bird-friendly communities through conservation, education, and community engagement. Founded in 1926 as the Atlanta Bird Club, the organization became a chapter of National Audubon in 1973, and continues as an independent chapter of National Audubon Society. Learn more at https://www.birdsgeorgia.org/.
 
About Central Savannah River Land Trust: We are the Central Savannah River Land Trust: a nationally-accredited, local non-profit, passionate about the future of these special places throughout our community. Since 2001, the Land Trust has protected over 10,000 acres of land throughout Georgia and South Carolina. Places like the Augusta Canal Trail, where families can enjoy an afternoon on the river, and scenic views of the Savannah River like the ones from the I-20 bridge, and several Columbia County neighborhoods are just some of our more well-known success stories. Learn more at https://csrlt.org/ .

​At the 2024 Georgia Bird Fest Summit held in Athens on Saturday, April 20, Birds Georgia introduced and presented three new awards: The Legacy Award, the Trailblazer Award, and the Organization Award. 

​​Legacy Award Recipient: Joy Carter
The Legacy Award is awarded to a member who has been volunteering consistently for Birds Georgia over the years and who has made a lasting impression on both the staff and the community. The 2024 Legacy Award was presented to Joy Carter. Known for her helpfulness and dedication towards community, Joy has not only served Birds Georgia but other bird-related organization and is a vocal proponent of birds conservation. Joy is a past chair of the Birds Georgia Board of Directors and oversaw a remarkable period of growth for what was then Atlanta Audubon Society. She also heads up the InTown CBC, volunteers with Wild Nest Bird Rehab, and has been recognized for her work advocating for urban parks and conservation. Joy's work has left a lasting impact, and she is described as an authentic and dedicated community advocate who always finds ways to move forward.

Trailblazer Award: Ella Seifert and Alex Stach
The Trailblazer Award is presented to a new volunteer who has recently joined the organization and has dove headfirst into volunteering and participating in Birds Georgia event. This year’s Trailblazer Award was presented to our two teen field trip leaders, Ella Seifert and Allex Stach. Ella graduated from our Master Birder program in 2022 as the youngest graduate ever. Alex was on the winning team of the Youth Birding Competition in 2024. They both completed the Georgia Urban Ecologist program and then took the initiative to go through field trip leader training and become Teen Field Trip Leaders. They have been leading trips since fall of 2023 and have built a great community amongst the youth birders.

Organization Award: Georgia Native Plant Society
The Organization Award is presented to a partnering or local organization that consistently helps support our mission of building places where birds and people thrive through their collaboration with Birds Georgia or their own efforts in the local community. This year’s awardee is the Georgia Native Plant Society, which works hand in hand for over a decade to ensure that native plants are spread throughout the state to support pollinators and bird populations alike with native plant sales, habitat restoration and public education about native plants. The mission of Georgia Native Plant Society is to promote the stewardship and conservation of Georgia's native plants and their habitats. The organization has 8 chapters throughout Georgia engaging local communities in educational programs, native plant rescues, restoration, propagation, and advocacy. Our former Executive Director, Nikki Belmonte, now serves as Executive Director of GNPS, and we are building new programs and partnership opportunities between the two organizations. 

The student-run Bird Safe Campus Project at Georgia Tech (GT) aims to reduce bird collisions through two main methods: installing bird-safe film on campus buildings and turning off lights at night that disorient migrating birds. Over the past three years, the team consisting of Kaitlyn Tran (IE ‘23), Shivani Potdar (ChBE ‘25), and Amanda Janusz (CS ‘25), has raised awareness about this issue across the Georgia Tech community.

“The Georgia Tech campus serves as a valuable oasis for Atlanta wildlife. To date, more than 130 species of birds have been recorded via our eBird hotspot. These birds are a large part of what gives our campus character, and it’s devastating to see the lethal damage that our buildings inflict on our most beloved species, from tiny jewel-like Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to our majestic Red-tailed Hawks. It forms a pit in your stomach to see a bird on the ground just because no one thought to install bird-safe glass, or to turn off lights," says Amanda Janusz. 

Through educational tabling, collaboration with campus sustainability groups and Birds Georgia, and meetings with GT administration, the team encouraged students, faculty, and staff to report any dead or injured bird sightings to nationally-recognized data collection website dbird.org. Since the start of the project, more than 400 data points have been recorded so far on the GT campus alone. In 2022, the team succeeded in installing motion sensor lights in select campus buildings to prevent nighttime migration collisions.

Most recently, in April 2024, the team completed a partnership with Georgia Tech campus facilities to retrofit a collision hotspot with bird-safe film. The group installed Feather Friendly film, which was provided at a discount as part of the Feather Friendly Project Recognition Program. A fully transparent pedestrian walkway connecting two classroom buildings was one of the campus’ major problem areas for the local bird population. The students raised 100% of the funds for the project through grants.

This recent retrofit is the first instance of bird-safe film on Georgia Tech’s campus. “We want this to serve as a model for the future of GT’s campus. I hope this can help educate the community about bird collisions, and how it should be a consideration when it comes to designing ecologically-friendly buildings,” says Kaitlyn Tran.

Shivani Potdar agreed, saying “Using the walkway installation as an example, we hope to now expand bird-safe film to other collision hotspots on campus. In the future, we hope to eventually have bird-safe film as a requirement in Georgia Tech’s building design guidelines.”

Adam Betuel, Birds Georgia's director of conservation, has been working with these students for several years in an advisory capacity to help guide their efforts. "It has been a great experience working with these Georgia Tech students to make the campus safer for migrating birds. In recent years, Georgia Tech has made great strides to green and bring nature to campus, and this work will hopefully continue to aid in this progress. In the future, we plan to continue working with these and others students, as well as faculty and staff, to make this urban campus more bird friendly."

Birds Georgia volunteers and Georgia Tech students have been monitoring the campus for collisions over the past nine years, detecting hundreds of birds. Successes like this film installation, as well as the bird-friendly Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, are steps toward a bird-safe campus.

by Sarah Manning, Coastal Conservation Coordinator
​
Over the course of a month, the bluebirds in my backyard went from hatched and helpless, to fully feathered and fledged! The best part? I got to experience it all through NestWatch.

NestWatch is a monitoring program designed to track status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. 

If you have a nest (or box) in your backyard, consider joining the effort. Participating in NestWatch is easy and just about anyone can do it. Simply follow the directions on the website to become a certified NestWatcher, find a bird nest using their helpful tips, visit the nest every three to four days and record what you see, and then share the information on the NestWatch website.

This spring, I monitored my backyard bluebird box through NestWatch. Following Cornell’s guides, I visited the box every three to four days, monitoring its progression throughout the incubating and brooding stages. I reported my visits through their site and contributed to a program that, in 2023, recorded 36,035 nest attempts by 294 species in the U.S. and Canada.

From my office,  I watched the adults (all day long) dutifully pick insects out of my yard and carry them to the nest, leaving soon after with the young’s waste in tow. Being able to get a glimpse into the life cycle of these birds and knowing I can contribute to this project has made me feel even more connected to the birds in my backyard. It is also a great reminder that growing native plants contributes significantly to the reproductive success of your local birds since insects are the bulk of many baby birds’ diet. For example, Chickadees require 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to rear one clutch of young!

NestWatch data is intended to be used to study the current condition of breeding bird populations and how they may be changing over time as a result of climate change, habitat degradation and loss, expansion of urban areas, and the introduction of non-native plants and animals. Thanks to NestWatch data, we know that many songbirds are now nesting earlier in spring because of warmer temperatures brought about by climate change. 

Your observations will be added to those of thousands of other NestWatchers in a continually growing database used by researchers to understand and study birds. And while you are contributing extremely valuable information to science, you will learn firsthand about birds and create a lifelong bond with the natural world.

Questions on how to participate? Contact Coastal Conservation Coordinator, Sarah Manning via email.