By Zaria Dyer, conservation intern

An interview with Kit Robey, children's author and gardener, about the certification of her yard as a Georgia Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary. 
 
Can you give us a brief description of your children's book Hare and the Big Green Lawn?
In Hare and the Big Green Lawn, Hare moves in and lets his big green lawn die under the high hot sun. Hare’s neighbors, Bobcat, Raven, and Skunk, disapprove, to say the least! While they toil and clip, Hare crosses his paws for luck and swings in a hammock. One day, the neighbors march solemnly up to Hare to give him an ultimatum. But instead of a big mess they discover that Hare’s lawn has changed into a beautiful meadow filled with buzzing bees and wildflowers that brings them all together.

How did you get interested in conservation, and how did that lead you to get your property certified?
I was introduced to the idea of conservation when I was a little girl and my father placed 20 acres or so of my childhood home, Silver Creek Farm, into the Soil Bank. He was reimbursed, in part, by Wisconsin, for leaving his field fallow instead of tilling the soil for timothy. In the meadow that summer I found the oven-like nest of a meadowlark.

What is the one plant you cannot live without?
Oakleaf Hydrangea is native and looks fantastic year-round. My plants are in full luscious white blooms now, in late spring. During summer the blooms will turn green and by fall, bronze. Then I can bring them inside for a dried bouquet. In the winter, the leaves turn colors and then drop, leaving marvelous sculpture-like branches until spring, when the buds spring forth again.

Which plant gives you the most bang for your buck?
Well, again Oakleaf hydrangea, but there are various holly species in my yard, all of which provide green throughout the year and red berries during fall and winter. I’ve seen Brown Thrashers, Cardinals, and, of course, Cedar Waxwings feasting on those berries. These holly bushes also provide wonderful shelter for the birds.

Do you have a favorite trick to maintain your property and plants?
I am a bit sheepish to admit this, but if I have a trick, it is to leave maintenance up to nature alone. To a large extent, I leave pruning to the wind, and wildflowers to the rain. I’m always looking for ways to improve upon this idea. We have a large downed tree in our back woods, and I wouldn’t have it removed for anything. Come winter, there will be Winter Wrens in the shelter of its tangled branches. Eventually the tree will disintegrate and enrich the soil, where I plan to plant trilliums.

Reviewed by Anne McCallum

A real-life detective story. The author, a journalist who survived the Iraqi War with a bad case of PTSD, finds solace in fly fishing. One day he learns that one of the most promising up-and-coming fly-tiers of the younger generation (and a virtuoso classical flautist to boot) stole a massive number of irreplaceable exotic feathers and skins from a major natural history museum in England. This sounds to him like a story ready made to get his mind off a messy war and its tragic aftermath, and he jumps into it.
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The book opens with the crime, but then backs WAY up to the real beginning of the story—the amazing life and collecting expeditions of Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s contemporary, who overcame huge personal disasters to become one of the greatest names in biogeography. The next chapter examines the museums that gathered and preserved these kinds of amazing collections for posterity—particularly the Tring Museum of uber-rich Walter Rothchild. Then came the millenary feather craze that almost wiped out the exotic birds themselves before women themselves began the pushback that lead to the legal protections that have become the bulwark against extinction. While wealthy women were sporting exotic feathers on their heads, wealthy men were using them for fly fishing on their estates—an avocation that has today morphed into the cultish fine art of fly-tying.

Enter young Edwin Rist, who, at 22 was so consumed with fly-tying that he was willing to risk his stellar musical career to stage a heist of some of the most gorgeous and irreplaceable Tring specimens to supply his own needs and to sell on secretive online sites.

Guilty or not guilty, your honor? The remainder of the book explores Rist’s motivations, his methods, the discovery and solving of the crime, the plea, his co-conspirators, and the frustrating search for what remains of the stolen goods. Along the way the author meets one angry scientist, Dr. Richard Plum, who happens “to be looking for a journalist willing to shine a light on a hobby that he wanted to stigmatize into oblivion.” (188).
Those of us in the Early Birds Book Club all agreed we loved the book!  We learned new and fascinating things in every chapter. The last chapters are less enjoyable but no less important as we learn of the limits of current legal efforts to thwart such crimes (unless the crime involves rhino horn or ivory!)  

Reviewed by Anne McCallum

Can a history of American Birding really be brief? Weidensaul covers so much in this book—early explorer/naturalists, later explorer/soldier/naturalist/scientists, classic bird books, bird naming, the great slaughter, women to the rescue!, the history of field guides, the history of counting/listing mania, modern conservation movements. Quite a few of those of us in the Early Birds book club didn’t get very far in this book or felt overwhelmed by all the names and facts that kept tumbling out of it.

Still there were interesting tidbits to be garnered: For example, the supposed meeting between book peddling Alexander Wilson and failing shopkeeper John James Audubon. The sad ending of Meriweather Lewis (suicide or murder in a frontier inn?) The difference between names of eastern birds—which evolved over time—and western birds—often named shortly after being discovered to honor an explorer or scientist. The link between young George Bird Grinnell and his teacher, none other than Audubon’s long-suffering teacher-wife Lucy! The fact that David Allen Sibley grew up “in the kind of household where he might find a California Condor in the garage.” (His father was an ornithologist.) One of my personal favorites was the account of naturalist Althea Sherman who is buried next to the highway I take to visit my hometown in northeast Iowa. The historical marker by that country cemetery describes her research on Chimney Swifts (c. 1900) using her “Swift Tower” which is reconstructed nearby, but the marker does not mention her vendetta against House Wrens! 

The Early Birds also felt some frustration with encountering some of the same cast of characters in multiple chapters. When a reader thought that she had finished with Bartram as explorer, he shows up again in the section on bird names. And Audubon, probably unavoidably, is in multiple chapters.

So—we decided that the book was a superb reference to all things birdy in American history but that it wasn’t our favorite casual “read.”  

By Anne McCallum, Georgia Audubon Early Birds Book Club, June 28, 2020

Definitely a “green” book—even printed in green ink! As someone in the book club pointed out, this is mostly essays generated by Heinrich’s copious notes documenting a lifetime of observations on plants’ and animals’ reaction to summertime sunshine and temperatures. And, while there are some observations on bird behavior (especially sapsuckers), most of it is entomological—which is the field of most of his scientific publications. He watches every little thing around his home in Vermont and his cabin in Maine SOO carefully. Then he researches or conducts experiments to try to figure out why plants and animals do things the way they do.

I was especially struck by his observation that tasty caterpillars are careful to cover their eating tracks by snipping off half-eaten leaves whereas prickly or poisonous caterpillars apparently do not care if they leave a path of destruction for birds to see. This really hit home when I found a bunch of snipped-off, half-eaten sycamore leaves (“not sassafras” I was instructed by fellow book clubbers!) lying on the ground at Lake Blalock the very next morning.

Why do tree twigs quit growing outward early in the summer? So the trees can add more structural strength (“scaffolding”) to support their canopy. Why do broad leaves drop long before they usually need to? To avoid the devastation of freak early snow-loading. Why are insects carrying stuff here and there? All kinds of different reasons.
I didn’t enjoy the couple chapters so much on deserts (extreme summers) or anthropology. Maybe because he was getting away from the Vermont/Maine woods setting—which was a big part of what appealed to me about the book. Oh—But I did enjoy his lovely illustrations. I hope the book club decides to read his Winter World for January or February.

by Dottie Head, Director of Membership and Communications

The Red Knot is a rufous-breasted, robin-sized bird that makes one of the world’s most epic migratory journeys, travelling nearly 9,000 miles from the southern to northern hemispheres each spring then turning around and doing it all over again each fall. Occurring on all continents except Antarctica, Red Knots travel from High Arctic nesting areas to wintering locations in South America, Africa, and Australia.

There are three sub-species of Red Knots found in North America and all three are in decline. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the rufa subspecies migrates along the eastern U.S. coast. Their migration is perfectly timed to coincide with the egg laying of the horseshoe crab. Arriving between April and May, the Red Knots pause their journey to gorge on horseshoe crab eggs and replenish energy stores.  A single Red Knot needs to eat roughly 400,000 eggs during stopover to complete migration. More than 30 percent of the population of rufa Red Knots visits the Georgia Coast each year. Based on a band re-sighting study, the stopover population of rufa red Knot on southward migration has been estimated at 23,400 birds, while up to 13,775 birds have been documented using the area on northward migration, according to the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.

Like many birds, Red Knots were decimated by market hunting in the 1800s. Passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918 ended the slaughter, but in recent decades populations of Red Knots from the eastern North America have declined sharply due to unsustainable harvest of horseshoe crabs, coastal development, and sea level rise induced by a changing climate. Between 1980 and 2000, rufa Red Knot numbers have declined by nearly 75 percent making these birds a flagship species for shorebird conservation.

“Red Knots demonstrate the true magic of avian migration, traveling from end-to-end across the Earth,” says Adam Betuel, director of conservation.  “They rely on a healthy coastline, plentiful horseshoe crab eggs, predictable climate, and few beach disturbances—all of which are in short supply along the Atlantic Coastline.  Georgia is blessed with an amazing habitat and a network of organizations working to preserve and improve habitat for this threatened species, but there is much work to be done.”
According to the American Bird Conservancy, humans harvest horseshoe crabs for fertilizer, livestock feed, and for its rare, blue blood, which is sensitive to endotoxins and used to test human drugs and medical devices for contamination. Beginning in the 1980s, people began to harvest horseshoe crabs in unsustainable numbers for conch and eel bait, which fueled steep declines of both horseshoe crabs and Red Knots. Other migrating shorebirds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs, including the Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Dunlin.

“The horseshoe crab, more than 450 million years old, is one of Earth’s oldest animals. It survived the cataclysms of the planet’s mass extinctions, including one where 96 percent of sea life perished. And now, we are drawing down its time, and the time of many shorebirds, dependent on horseshoe crab eggs, whose numbers are also plummeting. Ending the killing of hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs for bait every year, and substantially reducing the hundreds of thousands bled annually for medical testing, are critical steps to enabling birds of “untrammeled wildness and freedom” to fly freely once again,” writes Deborah Cramer in a recent article in Orion Magazine. Deborah is the author of the award-winning book The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey, and was the keynote speaker at the Atlanta Bird Fest closing celebration in 2016.

In Georgia, Red Knots have two distinct wintering strategies. One population travels from breeding grounds in the high Arctic to winter in southern Argentina and Chile, stopping over in Georgia to feed before continuing its migratory journey. A second group breeds in the high Arctic but will spend the winter months along the southeastern coast, from Virginia down to South America. Along its range, including Georgia, biologists are working to gain a better understanding of this species by studying arrival times, stopover duration, and estimating populations.

You will often see Red Knots on Georgia beaches and mudflats from September to May with their medium-sized beaks to the ground searching for horseshoe crab eggs, bivalves, and small crabs. They are easy to recognize in the rufous-red breeding plumage with a plumb, football-like shape. Immature birds and non-breeding birds are a non-descript gray and white and can easily blend in with other shorebirds.
In the coming year, Georgia Audubon plans to hire a coastal biologist to work closely with existing staff from the Department of Natural Resources and Manomet to expand research capabilities and advocate for policies that protect horseshoe crabs and Red Knots.

“Georgia’s 100 mile coastline is unique in its shape, tides, and relative intactness compared to other places along the Atlantic Coast and is a critical habitat for many bird species, including the Red Knot,” says Betuel. “The reliance of the rufa Red Knot on our beaches and marshes highlights the work that we must do to make our coast welcoming to these birds. Georgia Audubon is excited to do our part along the Georgia Coast and add capacity to the amazing work that is already taking place.”     

By Kathie Entz, Albany Audubon Society 

Donnie Lanier, age 90, is Albany Audubon Society’s Bluebird Guru. American Birds magazine placed the Eastern Bluebird second on the Blue List in 1978. Created by National Audubon in 1971, the Blue List was an early warning system for species that were experiencing a reduction in population or range. In response, The Albany Audubon Society founded a bluebird housing project with the ambition of restoring bluebird populations in South Georgia under the initial leadership of Lloyd Kinney. Kinney enlisted the help of Donnie Lanier, and together they installed their first bluebird nesting box in Camp Osborn, a local Boy Scout Camp. The following year they expanded the program, adding additional boxes in Smithville. In the 1980s, Kinney began experiencing some health issues so Donnie took the lead, and he has been spearheading the Eastern Bluebird nesting box project in Albany ever since.
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The Albany Audubon Society chapter was founded in 1972. Donnie Lanier and his wife, Sylvia, joined the local chapter six years later. Donnie retired from the City of Albany after 32 years as an engineer and Director of Public Works. All three of his children still reside in the Albany area. Renowned Georgia wildlife artist David Lanier is his son. Donnie’s passion for Eastern Bluebird conservation is ongoing. The simple beginnings of adding the first birdhouse has grown from Albany, located in Dougherty County, to surrounding counties. Currently there are more than 500 Albany Audubon Society bluebird nesting boxes along 14 different routes, with 30 to 70 nest boxes along each route!

Each year, Donnie uses wood scraps from homes under construction and other donated items, such as paint and nails, to build the boxes for the next season. He estimates boxes need to be replaced every five years and builds 50 to 100 boxes each year to replace old boxes and add new ones. A series of natural disasters in the past 18 months, including two tornadoes and Hurricane Michael, destroyed quite a few boxes, damaged homes, and significantly altered the landscape, making this work even more important. Donnie says that some are even stolen each year.

Eastern Bluebirds nest in wide-open areas. Donnie installs the nest boxes at least 500 feet apart and four to seven feet off the ground for optimal results. Eastern Bluebirds are not as picky about the box openings, so Lanier builds some boxes with circular holes and others with a horizontal entrance. According to Lanier, bluebirds will typically build a nest two to three times a year, building each nest on top of the last nest, and lay four to five eggs with each brood. Each year the Albany Audubon Society cleans and maintains the nesting boxes. In the winter months, Society members record data on each box. Information is collected for each box, including the number of nests, unhatched eggs, current occupants, and the physical condition of the nesting box. This data is used for research projects by students from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Eastern Bluebirds compete for nesting boxes with sparrows, flying squirrels, snakes, wasps, ladybugs, and other insects. The nests are easy to identify because bluebirds create “neat nests” using pine straw, whereas a sparrow nest in a bluebird box will appear “junky and unorganized.” Bluebird boxes that are located near south Georgia’s expansive pecan groves are also susceptible to herbicide spray, adding an additional challenge for successful nests.

Donnie’s enthusiasm for the bluebird project is contagious and is a family affair. His brother-in-law, Will Smith, has donated wood for the boxes, and Donnie also taught him how to build them. Will has begun a route in Georgetown, Georgia. Donnie has already begun construction on boxes for this year, with more than 200 cut out and ready to assemble. At age 90, and with four decades of dedication to the Eastern Bluebird nesting boxes, he is undoubtedly Albany’s official Bluebird Guru.

Georgia Audubon today announced the hiring of Corina Newsome, one of the organizers of the #BlackBirdersWeek movement, as the new Community Engagement Manager. In this role, Newsome will work in collaboration with Georgia Audubon’s senior leadership to cultivate strategies and deliver programs that engage diverse communities from across Georgia in the enjoyment and conservation of birds.

“We are delighted to welcome Corina to Georgia Audubon and are eager to begin working to break down barriers that make it difficult for BIPOC, LGBQT+, and other underserved communities to access birding and the outdoors,” says Jared Teutsch, Executive Director. “Georgia Audubon is committed to making birding more equitable and inclusive for all people. Bringing Corina on board as our new Community Engagement Manager is the first step in our efforts to seek out, listen to and learn from, incorporate, and engage voices of more diverse birders in our membership and programs.”

Newsome was one of the organizers of #BlackBirdersWeek, a five-day virtual event that was fledged earlier this year in response to the Christian Cooper incident in New York’s Central Park. #BlackBirdersWeek was created to counter the narrative that the outdoors are not the place Black people should be, to educate the birding and outdoor-loving community about the challenges that Black birders face, and to encourage increased diversity in birds and conservation.

Having experienced the hurdles faced by people of color interested in wildlife careers, Newsome has founded several programs to encourage young people from underrepresented demographics to consider careers in wildlife sciences. According to Newsome, her ultimate goal is to eliminate the systemic barriers that have prevented marginalized people groups from participating in wildlife conservation and exploration of the great outdoors.  
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Newsome comes to Georgia Audubon from Georgia Southern University where she is completing her Master of Science degree with a focus on avian conservation. Her Master’s research focuses on conservation measures for the MacGillivray’s Seaside Sparrow. She began her wildlife career as a zookeeper, and earned a B.A. in Zoo and Wildlife Biology from Malone University in Canton, Ohio.
 
Additional articles on Corina Newsome for reference:

https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/birdwatching/good-birders-meet-corina-newsome/

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2020/its-time-build-truly-inclusive-outdoors

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/corina-newsome-and-the-black-birders-movement
 
About Georgia Audubon: Georgia Audubon is building places where birds and people thrive. We create bird-friendly communities through conservation, education, and community engagement. 

by Dottie Head, Director of Membership & Communications

Visitors to Southface Institute on Pine Street may notice some new, tiny dots adorning the glass on the building. These dots are special window treatments designed to prevent birds from flying into the windows, an all too common problem. The project was made possible thanks to a partnership between Southface and Georgia Audubon, with a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund.

The dots are a special CollidEscape film that reduces the transparency of the glass and breaks up reflection, preventing birds from flying into them. CollideEscape film has been applied to approximately 1,200 square feet of Southface’s exterior windows. Spaced two inches apart, the dots break up the reflection and alert birds that the space is not a clear flyway, causing them to stall and fly in a different, safer direction.

“In recent years, Georgia Audubon has been working with buildings and nature centers across the metro area to treat problematic buildings and protect migrating birds,” said Adam Betuel, director of conservation for Georgia Audubon. “Our goal is not only to educate people about the threat windows and reflective glass pose to birds, but also to show that there are many attractive solutions to make windows safer for birds.”

“Biodiversity in an urban ecosystem is vital and needs to be done responsibly. We are so appreciative of the work of Georgia Audubon and the opportunity to help showcase CollideEscape film. As a demonstration facility for emerging sustainability technology, the Southface campus is a perfect place to help educate the public on this important solution to protect birds in the built environment,” said Andrea Pinabell, President of Southface Institute.

Southface was chosen as a demonstration building because they were experiencing bird collisions and also because their high visitation rate presents a unique opportunity to educate the public on steps they can take to reduce bird-window collisions at home.
Southface is the sixth building to be treated by Georgia Audubon using grants received from the Disney Conservation Fund and from the Georgia Ornithological Society. Other buildings include the Melvin L. Newman Wetlands Center, Chattahoochee Nature Center, the Blue Heron Nature Preserve, the Trees Atlanta Kendeda Center, and the Sawnee Mountain Preserve Visitor’s Center. Later this year, Georgia Audubon will install CollidEscape film at one additional Atlanta location.

Each spring and fall, millions of birds migrate between wintering grounds in Central and South America, the southern U.S., or the Caribbean to breeding grounds throughout North America. Sadly, many never arrive at their destination due to a man-made problem—building collisions. Attracted and/or disoriented by night-time lights or confused by day-time reflections of trees and grass in shiny windows, many birds become disoriented and fly into the buildings, ending their journeys and their lives prematurely. A 2019 study by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology ranked Atlanta number four during fall migration and number nine during spring migration for the potential for bird-building collisions due to high numbers of birds being exposed to nocturnal lighting.

Georgia Audubon has been studying bird-building collisions in the metro area through its Project Safe Flight Atlanta Program since 2015. Since the program began, volunteers have collected more than 1,700 birds of over 112 different species that have perished due to building collisions. Since we only patrol a few limited routes during times of peak migration, we know that this is just a small sample of the number of birds that are actually perishing as they fly through the metro area, says Betuel.
In 2018, Georgia Audubon was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) as part of the Fund’s focus on reversing the decline of threatened wildlife around the world. The conservation grant recognizes Georgia Audubon’s efforts to reduce bird-building collisions throughout the metro area.

About Georgia Audubon: Georgia Audubon is building places where birds and people thrive. We create bird-friendly communities through conservation, education, and community engagement.

About Southface: Southface has promoted sustainable development and green building through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance since 1978 under the governance of a board of directors. Over the years, our nonpartisan, data-driven organization has been a leader throughout the Southeast in sustainability. Each day, our staff and board continue to strive for a more sustainable future by educating the population and the market on resilient, resource-conscious lifestyles, researching cutting-edge technologies, advocating for clean forms of energy and working directly on projects to improve building efficiency and reduce the overall carbon footprint of the built environment.

by Dottie Head, Director of Membership and Communications

With COVID-19 continuing to spread across the state, Georgia Audubon is hosting a lineup of virtual and digital events for new and veteran bird enthusiasts. With a variety of free and paid events, everyone is sure to find something of interest. Here’s what is in store for the next few weeks:
 
Friday, August 21, at 9:00 AM: Virtual Bird Walk with Georgia Audubon
​Georgia Audubon Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/georgiaaudubon/)
FREE
 
Join us on the Georgia Audubon Facebook page every other Friday at 9:00 AM for a virtual bird walk with Georgia Audubon staff and volunteer trip leaders as they explore their yards or nearby birdy patches and talk about what they're seeing. 


Wednesday, August 19, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: Birds and Beers Events Featuring Special Guest David Sibley
Admission: Webinar only or webinar with book purchase available
Georgia Audubon and Eagle Eye Book Shop will co-host the next installation of our popular online Birds & Beer, featuring special guest author and illustrator David Sibley. Join us for conversation and illustrations with David Sibley, followed by an audience Q&A, moderated by Georgia Audubon’s Director of Conservation, Adam Betuel, as they discuss David’s newest release and New York Times’ Bestseller What It’s Like to Be a Bird. Tickets and books may be purchased at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/digital-resources.html.
 
Thursday, August 20, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: Birds and Buildings: Understanding This Threat to Birds and How You Can Help
FREE

​Did you know that collisions with buildings and other structures pose a serious threat to birds, claiming the lives of 365 million to 1 billion individuals annually? That is the third leading cause of bird death in the United States! To better understand this issue across the state, Georgia Audubon created Project Safe Flight, a program aimed at collecting data on collisions and working towards making our state safer for our birds. During spring and fall migration, Project Safe Flight volunteers monitor for collision victims, gathering vital data for this initiative. Join Director of Conservation Adam Betuel as he outlines the ways buildings are a threat to our birds, what can be done to make our state safer for birds, as well as how you can participate in Project Safe Flight. This webinar is aimed at participants who want to know more about this issue, those interested in volunteering for our collision reduction program, and for returning volunteers who need a refresher on data collection and correct protocols.
 
Sunday, August 23, at 3:30 PM: Facebook Live Event: A Year in the Life of Hummingbirds with Georgia Audubon
​Georgia Audubon Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/georgiaaudubon/)
FREE

Everyone loves hummingbirds! These tiny birds with extraordinary abilities lead a fascinating life. Join Georgia Audubon Director of Education Melanie Furr to learn about a year in the life of these magical little birds and get a chance to meet our education ambassador hummingbird, Sibley. Join us for this Facebook Live event on the Georgia Audubon Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/georgiaaudubon/)
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Friday, August 28, at 9:30 AM: Virtual Story Time: The Nest that Wren Built, with Author Randi Sonenshine
FREE
Georgia Audubon will be hosting a virtual story time featuring the book, The Nest that Wren Built, with author Randi Sonenshine. Join us for a book reading followed by an interactive "wren-dition" of an at home activity. Bring your imagination!  For more information or to register, visit https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/digital-resources.html.
 
Sunday, September 13, at 3:30 PM: Webinar: Virtual Wildlife Sanctuary Tour
$10 for Georgia Audubon members/ $12 for non-members
This year's Wildlife Sanctuary Tour is going to look a little different due to COVID-19. Instead of an in-person tour, we'll be offering a virtual tour with Gabe Andrle, Habitat Conservation Program Coordinator, giving us a virtual tour of some of our great Wildlife Sanctuaries to show how you can transform your yard into a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. Learn more or purchase tickets at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/wildlife-sanctuary-tour.html.


Thursday, September 17, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: Nature's Best Hope with Doug Tallamy
Admission: Webinar only or webinar with book purchase available

Georgia Audubon is thrilled to welcome award-winning author and entomologist Doug Tallamy for a webinar on the evening of September 17. Author of the newly released New York Times’ bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard, this is an amazing opportunity to hear Doug’s message of hope and to learn how we all can be part of the solution to address declining biodiversity and save birds, too. Tickets and books may be purchased at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/doug-tallamy.html


Tuesday, September 22, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: How to Identify Warblers & Enjoy Them More, Too
A Holistic Approach to Bird Identification
Instructor: Andrew Dreelin
Cost per device (multiple participants may view on the same device): $7 Georgia Audubon member / $10 non-member
Learn more or register at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/birdfestevents.html

Love watching warblers but struggling to identify those fast-flitting beauties? Get excited because this webinar is for you! Together we'll walk through the warblers of Georgia, teaching you how to go beyond identifying birds by color and pattern alone, to applying subtle but powerful field marks like shape, contrast, behavior, call, and even posture to confidently identify warblers from combinations of small details. Georgia birder Andrew Dreelin learned these techniques while rapidly counting songbirds in "morning flight" during fall migration in Cape May, NJ, one of the world's best migration hotspots. However, these skills can be applied by anyone in any place and during any season, whether you’re in Georgia in fall, Costa Rica in winter, or Québec in spring.

By attending this webinar, you will not only acquire some fancy ID tips, but in learning to identify birds *holistically* by taking in each individual as a whole, you’ll also enhance your appreciation of these colorful migrants as you learn the unique aspects of each species. We'll even talk a bit about the best places to go if you want to revel in warblers during migration. Whether you’ve been looking at warblers for many seasons or just a few, there's something for birders of all skill levels to learn and apply in the field this fall and beyond.
 
Monday, October 5, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: Beginning Birder 101
Cost: $7 per device for Georgia Audubon members / $10 per device for non-members
Learn more or register at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/birdfestevents.html

Birds are fascinating, familiar, and accessible–their colors and songs add beauty to our everyday lives. If you’d like to get started with birding or improve your birding skills, join Melanie Furr, Director of Education for Georgia Audubon, for a how-to class that will help you develop your skills and enhance your enjoyment of our feathered friends. Participants will learn about the common birds of our area and techniques for identifying new birds. We’ll also share information on choosing the best optics, field guides, and smartphone apps to enhance your birding experience, as well as attracting birds to your yard. Your newfound skills are sure to enrich your enjoyment of the outdoors and keep your mind active!



Tuesday, October 6, at 7:00 PM: Webinar: Gardening for Birds & Building Your Backyard Sanctuary
Instructor: Ellen Honeycutt, Georgia Native Plant Society
Cost per device: $7/Georgia Audubon member; $10/non-member (multiple people may view on the same device)
Learn more or register at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/birdfestevents.html

Do you enjoy attracting birds and other beneficial wildlife to your yard? Do you know which types of plants will attract hummingbirds or which plants are the top producers of fruits for other birds? Do you have invasive plants you want to rid from your yard? Join Ellen Honeycutt from the Georgia Native Plant Society for this workshop on how to create a Wildlife Sanctuary on your own property. You’ll learn which plants give the biggest bang for your buck in terms of food production, shelter, and nesting sites and which plants you may want to avoid. Learn how to manage your Wildlife Sanctuary without the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides and where to go within north Georgia to source native plants for your own landscaping needs.
 
Friday, October 16, at 9:00 AM: Facebook Live- Birds & Beans (Coffee!): How You Can Help Birds with Your Morning "Cup of Joe"  
FREE
​Georgia Audubon Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/georgiaaudubon/)
 
Join Adam Betuel, Georgia Audubon Director of Conservation, and Nema Etheridge, Marketing Director for Café Campesino, to learn how the coffee choices you make every day can have far reaching impacts for a variety of bird species that migrate through or spend summers in Georgia but spend the winter months in Central and South America. Cafe Campesino and Georgia Audubon are teaming up to talk about how shade-grown coffee benefits both people and birds. Café Campesino is a wholesale roaster-distributor located in Americus, Georgia, specializing in artisan-roasted specialty-grade coffee. We'll wrap up the presentation with a quick demonstration of how to brew a great cup of coffee!   

Sunday, October 25, at 3:30 PM: Webinar: Saving a Songbird: Conserving Florida’s Endangered Grasshopper Sparrow
Presenter: Rebecca Garlinger, White Oak Conservation
FREE

Recent research in avian conservation has shown staggering evidence of population declines across virtually all biomes in North America. From the shorelines to the arctic tundra, even common bird species are experiencing declines, creating an urgent need for avian conservation action. White Oak Conservation in northeastern Florida is one organization dedicated to combating this loss of native bird species. Currently, one of their programs focuses its attention on a critically endangered Florida endemic, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. This grassland songbird has declined to the brink of extinction, with an approximated 30 known breeding pairs left in their native habitat in south-central Florida as of 2019. In partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and additional conservation organizations, White Oak has worked to develop and establish an ex situ breeding population of these endangered birds at their facility. Their efforts have resulted in the first ever releases of Florida Grasshopper Sparrows from managed care to the birds’ native Florida prairieland in spring 2019. White Oak and its field partners continue to work toward a sustainable, stable population for the critical Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, producing, releasing, and tracking birds in the 2020 season. Please join White Oak’s grasshopper sparrow specialist Rebecca Garlinger as she discusses their organization’s continuing efforts to save Florida’s endangered Grasshopper Sparrow. Learn more or register for this free webinar at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/monthly-meetings.html.
 
In-person Field Trips (multiple dates and locations): Georgia Audubon has resumed limited in-person field trips around the metro area with social distancing measures in place. The field trips are free to attend but registration is required and guests are asked to adhere to certain safety precautions, including wearing a mask. Learn more or sign up at https://www.georgiaaudubon.org/field-trips.html
 
Georgia Audubon is building places where birds and people thrive. We create bird-friendly communities through conservation, education, and community engagement.

We've developed this Georgia Audubon FAQ to answer some of the questions you may have about the new Georgia Audubon.​

​Why is Atlanta Audubon becoming Georgia Audubon? There is a real need for coordinated, statewide efforts to protect birds and to focus on conservation efforts through the lens of birds. We need to think bigger for birds and for the protection of the habitats they depend upon. As the only staffed Audubon chapter in the state, and with a history of successful conservation, education, and community engagement programs, Atlanta Audubon is uniquely qualified to become a statewide organization. Being a statewide organization will allow us to do more good work for birds by partnering with other organizations to build upon the important work that is already being done and by expanding into new areas.  As a statewide organization, we’ll be able to compete for grants and resources to conduct conservation, education, and community engagement work across Georgia, not just in the Atlanta metro area.
 
What happens to Atlanta Audubon now that the name has changed to Georgia Audubon?  Our current staff remain, but the name of our organization changes to Georgia Audubon. In addition, all current Atlanta Audubon memberships will automatically convert to Georgia Audubon memberships. Atlanta Audubon will cease to exist, but since Georgia Audubon is based in the metro Atlanta area, you will continue to see all the great programming and events to which you’ve become accustomed. Our statewide focus, however, will allow us to expand many of our conservation, education, and community engagement programs statewide, allowing us to reach more people and do more good work on behalf of birds.
 
What happens to my Atlanta Audubon membership? Your Atlanta Audubon membership automatically becomes a Georgia Audubon membership with the exact same benefits. You don’t need to do anything! Your membership dollars and other financial support will now support bird conservation and environmental education on an even larger scale throughout Georgia.
 
How will this change affect our relationship with National Audubon? National Audubon is excited to see us taking this next step in our organization’s evolution. Georgia Audubon will remain an independent 501c3 nonprofit chapter of National Audubon, with our own staff, board of directors, strategic priorities, and budget. We look forward to continuing to partner with National Audubon on a number of important initiatives such as Plants for Birds and ClimateWatch.
 
Will Monthly Meetings at Manuel’s Tavern continue? Yes, absolutely! COVID-19 threw a wrench in our in-person Monthly Meetings at Manuel’s, but we were able to pivot and begin offering that content as webinars. We plan to continue holding regular Monthly Meetings at Manuel’s Tavern once it’s safe to gather in-person again, but we’re also going to continue offering webinars and other digital content to reach a statewide audience. We’ve been at Manuel’s Tavern a long time, and we don’t want to give up that great space or the camaraderie we get from these events. We would also like to collaborate with interested local Audubon chapters across the state to co-host compelling speakers on birds and environmental issues.
 
Will Georgia Audubon be competing with or absorbing other Audubon chapters in Georgia?  No! Before we made this change, we met with the other Audubon chapters in Georgia, the Georgia Ornithological Society, the Department of Natural Resources, and other conservation groups. We received their full, unequivocal support for this transition. We are not looking to supplant any of the good work being done in Georgia, nor will we be absorbing the memberships or territories of other Audubon chapters. Rather, we are hoping to enhance and amplify the critical work of conserving birds and their habitats by becoming a part of a larger team right here in Georgia.
 
I am already a member of another Audubon chapter in Georgia. How will my membership be affected? It will not be affected at all. If you are a member of another chapter, you will remain so. We will be working with other chapters across the state to help organize and amplify their events, to roll out additional programs, and to share information across the network. As a member of another Audubon chapter in Georgia, you will have the opportunity to join Georgia Audubon at a discounted rate to take advantage of early registration and discounts for Georgia Audubon-sponsored trips and events, receive the Wingbars and Bird Buzz newsletters, and receive discounted store purchases.
 
What happens to Atlanta Bird Fest and Georgia Grows Native for Birds Month? Atlanta Bird Fest will become Georgia Bird Fest in 2021, and we’ll be offering additional trips and outings all across the state to celebrate birds and birding. Georgia Grows Native for Birds Month will also become a statewide celebration.
 
What are the staffing implications of becoming Georgia Audubon?  How can you possibly do all this work with existing staff?  As Georgia Audubon, we will work with statewide Audubon partners to scale out conservation and education programs for the benefit of birds and people. Additional capacity
will come from two key positions we plan to hire in the near future: 1) a
coastal staff position focused on building monitoring and science capacity on
the coast, and 2) a community engagement position devoted to reaching
diverse communities throughout the state by incorporating existing
conservation and education programs . We’ll be collaborating with other Audubon chapters to build a statewide presence of diverse volunteers such as field trip leaders, naturalists, and program leaders to ensure representation of all races and cultures in our work and programs. Existing staff will expand their work to include statewide duties, but, other than the two new positions listed above, we anticipate being able to accommodate the change to Georgia Audubon with existing staff capacity.
 
Why was the Red-headed Woodpecker chosen for the new Georgia Audubon logo? The new Georgia Audubon logo features a Red-headed Woodpecker on a native oak branch. The Red-headed Woodpecker is a striking bird that may be found across Georgia, in rural, suburban, and urban settings. It is also a bird that was identified as most at-risk in National Audubon’s recent report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Species on the Brink. The report builds on the 2014 Birds and Climate Change Report using the latest climate science research methods and modeling to capture a deeper, more extensive analysis of the effects of climate change on North American bird species. You’ll also note that the woodpecker is perched on an oak branch to signify the important connection between native plants and birds. We didn’t get too specific on the species of oak, as there are a variety of oak trees found across the state, all of which are host to insects vital to Georgia’s resident and migratory birds. The Red-headed Woodpecker fiercely defends its territory, mirroring the commitment that Georgia Audubon brings to protecting birds and habitat, educating the public, and engaging communities in our work.
 
How will Conservation programs be impacted? Atlanta Audubon has had great success building our conservation programs in recent years. As Georgia Audubon, we will be looking to build on these successes and roll some of these programs out statewide with support (and financial benefit) for other Audubon chapters in Georgia. Current programs that lend themselves to scaling include:

• The Wildlife Sanctuary Program can easily be turned into statewide program. In fact, Oconee Rivers Audubon already certifies properties and we have already talked with them about combining efforts to create a unified program. We are currently working with National Audubon on mapping software that would allow us to generate a map showing a web of wildlife sanctuaries all across Georgia with great benefits for birds. In the coming months, habitat conservation staff will be reaching out to other chapters to gauge interest in becoming a part of this program so that it can become a true statewide program.
• Both Project Safe Flight and Lights Out can easily be expanded to other metro areas in Georgia, allowing us to gather more data about the number of birds being killed or injured by collisions with buildings and to encourage more property owners/managers to retrofit their buildings to decrease collisions and to design bird-friendly buildings.
• We are partnering with the Jekyll Island Authority and Georgia Sea Grant to create a Georgia Audubon Coastal Fellow position that will allow us to add to the important bird conservation work already being conducted on the coast. Georgia’s 100-mile coastline is a critical stopover location for a number of shorebirds, including the threatened rufa Red Knot.
• Being a statewide organization will also enable us to apply for grants that are not available to smaller, local groups and to partner with state and national organizations to amplify the work to conserve birds from the mountains to the coast and everywhere in between.

 
How will Education programs be impacted? We will continue to offer the excellent educational resources to which our members are accustomed, but we plan to scale some of our popular programs statewide to increase reach and educate more people about birds and the natural world.

• Our Connecting Students with STEM through Birds program will continue on a statewide basis, allowing us to bring a schoolyard native plant gardens and a year-long series of programs and events for schools in a diversity of communities.
• Our Taking Wing teacher training program can also be expanded statewide to reach more teachers, thereby educating more students and amplifying our impact.
• Many of our in-person workshops, like Master Birder and Birding 101, will also be offered as webinars, allowing more people from across the state to experience our education offerings. In Fall 2020, we plan to roll out the Master Birder Program in the Macon area with online courses and weekly field trips hosted by members of Ocmulgee Audubon Society. In time, we hope to be able to offer this course statewide.

 
How will Community Engagement programs be impacted? If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that we are already well-equipped to reach statewide audiences through virtual programs. We can’t be in every place at once, but we are eager to engage more communities and more diverse communities in our field trips, classes, events, programs, volunteer efforts, and habitat work.  We also plan to:

• Work closely with local chapters to amplify their projects and programs and to share them with a larger audience to increase visibility and awareness.
• Collaborate with other chapters and partners on bird-related issues across the state, from advocacy to outreach.
• Work to bring our conservation and education programs to audiences across the state, both digitally and in-person.
• We will share the joy of birds and birding with more people through field trips around the state and by offering additional domestic and international travel opportunities.

I’m excited about this change! How can I help? If you’re not already a member, consider joining Georgia Audubon. And, if you’re a member of another local Audubon chapter, consider joining Georgia Audubon as well to take advantage of all the programs, workshops, travel opportunities, and virtual and in-person events that we offer. When you join Georgia Audubon, you are contributing to on-the-ground education, conservation, and community efforts that protect birds and their habitats across Georgia.  And please share this great news with your friends and encourage them to become involved with our organization. Together we can do more good for Georgia’s birds … from the mountains, to the coast, and everywhere in between!