​Last December, Mike Ayling became the seventh recipient of Birds Georgia’s annual Scottie Johnson Spirit Award – given to outstanding volunteers – but the first who is involved with the organization’s Photographers Network.

Mike says he first got serious about bird photography when he realized that taking pictures of them would help in identifications and that he could share them with his father, a longtime birder who has been involved with a nature center in Mike’s hometown, Tulsa, Okla., for decades. “It becomes a very exciting thing and a very social thing as well, to see people, to see what they’re seeing,” he said.

“Some of the people who are in the Photographers Network are incredibly experienced and talented photographers. I just want to get a picture of a bird that I’m happy with, and I think I’m happiest with the pictures I get that are of the essence of the bird,” he said. “Every now and then, I find that I get a photograph (that says), ‘That is that bird to me.’”

The Photographers Network is made up of more than 70 volunteer photographers who contribute images that support Birds Georgia’s mission and programs. The staff draws upon them for pictures to be used on the Birds Georgia website, the Georgia Birding Trail, social media content (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), email newsletters, educational materials, and print publications and promotional materials. Photographers submit pictures they particularly like, but sometimes the staff also seeks specific images.

Mike has also been involved in Project Safe Flight, Birds Georgia’s effort to understand the issue of bird/building collisions in metro Atlanta, Brunswick, and Savannah and what can be done to mitigate the problem. Volunteers get up very early in the morning to walk a particular route to check for dead birds that have collided with buildings overnight.

Alarmed when he heard that the nation has lost billions of birds in recent years, Mike notes there are three main causes for this: loss of habitat, roaming outdoor cats, and building collisions. The first two are hard to tackle, but he noted that his children’s school, Drew Charter School in east Atlanta, which is about 10 years old, is a giant wall of reflective glass with trees all around it. After his children and others told him of dead birds, he got permission from the school and started monitoring it. After three years, he has collected 170-180 birds.

“For me, this becomes an opportunity to move the needle on awareness, both for the kids at the school and the city of Atlanta and for the parents at the school, and maybe actually have the opportunity to do something about it in a meaningful way,” he said. In the year just completed, he was able to convince the school to weave his experiences into the school’s curriculum. Ultimately, they hope to make the building more bird-friendly. 

Mike’s day job is with Newfold, a conglomerate of many posting brands that specializes in domain registration and web posting. Mike has lived his entire life in Tulsa and Atlanta except for his freshman year of college in Durango, Colo. He’s been in Atlanta since 1994 and graduated from Oglethorpe University with a major in philosophy. He and his wife, Lori, have two children, Michelle, who recently graduated from high school and plans to attend Mercer University, and Lucas, who is a rising high school junior. 

Mike is especially proud of his Victorian home in the Kirkwood neighborhood and has done extensive research on its history and that of the neighborhood, going so far as giving a lecture at the DeKalb History Center. Mike and the city of Atlanta haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on his efforts to provide a nature-friendly yard, but that’s a story perhaps best left for another day. 

Birds Georgia has been awarded a grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) through its Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program to restore 23 acres of habitat at the Cochran Shoals Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNA), enhancing one of metro Atlanta’s most vital wildlife corridors.

Birds Georgia and partners, with funding support from Southern Company, will restore 4 acres of meadow and 19 acres of riparian forest and wetland currently impacted by invasive species and non-native vegetation. Building on 16.5 acres of previous restoration work completed in 2025 – funded by a Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grant from the Georgia Ornithological Society – this new phase expands efforts to an additional 6.5 acres, creating a more resilient and connected habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife.

“This project represents a major step forward in restoring one of the most important migratory corridors in our region,” said Gabe Andrle, director of conservation at Birds Georgia. “By improving habitat quality and increasing native biodiversity, we’re not only supporting birds and wildlife, but improving the health of the entire Chattahoochee River watershed.”

Once used for agriculture and recreation, parts of the Cochran Shoals landscape have become dominated by invasive plants and woody encroachment, reducing native plant diversity and limiting habitat for insects and birds. This project will reverse those impacts through invasive species removal, native plant installation, and ongoing habitat management.

The restoration effort comes at a critical time for bird conservation. Studies show North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970, including a 53% decline in grassland species and a 28% decline in migratory birds overall. Cochran Shoals provides important habitat for high-priority species identified in Georgia’s State Wildlife Action Plan, including the Grasshopper Sparrow and Henslow’s Sparrow, as well as other focal species such as the Wood Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler, and Rusty Blackbird.

In addition to ecological restoration, the project emphasizes community engagement and education. Birds Georgia and its partners will host volunteer workdays, bird walks, and interpretive programs, reaching an estimated 300 community members and engaging at least 160 volunteers in hands-on conservation activities. Monitoring efforts will include community science data collected through eBird as well as advanced acoustic monitoring technology.

The project is a collaborative effort involving five key partners: the Georgia Native Plant Society, National Park Service, Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and the Georgia Tech Birdwatchers Club. Together, these organizations will leverage their expertise and networks to advance habitat restoration, expand community outreach, and build long-term stewardship capacity.

This is the eighth award that Birds Georgia has received from The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program, which seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing financial assistance to local partnerships. Projects focus on restoration of wetland, forest, riparian and coastal habitats; stormwater management; outreach and stewardship, with a particular focus on water quality; watersheds; and the habitats they support.

​The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration grant program is sponsored by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) with major funding provided by U.S Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, FedEx, Southern Company, and UBS Optimus Foundation.