By Heather Levy, Stewardship Coordinator

Birds Georgia is excited to announce the launch of a new conservation program called the Habitat Stewardship Program. An offshoot of our Wildlife Sanctuary Program, the Habitat Stewardship Program is geared towards larger public and private lands of 10 acres or larger. The goal of the program is to enable property stewards to make improvements to their lands for wildlife while offering educational materials, technical assistance, and connections to cost-share resources. The program is open to properties in any state of conservation, from those who may be new to wildlife management or have recently acquired properties and need a lot of technical assistance to those who have been managing high quality wildlife habitat for decades. The Stewardship Coordinator, Heather Levy, who manages the program, will work closely with enrollees by providing assistance and connecting them with local practitioners and funding opportunities.

The program rubric offers flexibility for landowners who may be in different regions and therefore managing different habitats and/or wildlife. The rubric also differentiates between those managing private lands and those managing public lands. There are three main categories: Habitat, Community Science. Engagement/Education, and Research and Monitoring (an optional category). Within each category are subcategories with minimum criteria that must be selected. For example, Best Management Practices, under the Habitat category, offers 17 potential options, and requires that at least five be selected. Options include actions like implementing a non-native invasive species removal plan, retaining or creating standing dead trees (snags), and using prescribed fire. There is also space in the application to include photos or additional information. The specific criteria that applicants select can be actions they are already implementing or actions they plan to accomplish within a 12-month period.  For example, if a landowner/steward has not yet applied a prescribed fire on their property, but plan to do so within the next year, they may select prescribed fire as a criterion and include in the adjacent text space that they are planning on 50 acres of longleaf pine habitat during the next growing season.

Program participant are eligible for a suite of benefits, including access to a digital library of technical assistance and cost-sharing resources, in-person and virtual property visits from the stewardship coordinator, and more. To ensure all areas of the state are covered and visited by local practitioners, the Stewardship Coordinator will connect any interested enrollees with their local Georgia Department of Natural Resources/Quail Forever Private Lands Program representative, Natural Resource Conservation Service office, county extension agent, and/or local conservation groups. These organizations will also have the most up to date information on current cost-share programs and can let landowners/stewards know if their property may be eligible for funding opportunities. In addition, enrollees will receive a one-year Birds Georgia membership. Membership perks include a subscription to our Private Lands Newsletter, discounts on field trips and programs, and more. Those interested may also opt in to have their properties for available engagement and research opportunities as they become available, such as our current nightjar habitat use program. Enrollees will receive a Birds Georgia Habitat Steward sign or certificate.

To enroll in the program, applicants should review the rubric, fill out the application, and pay the one-time application fee, which is $150 for private landowners and $250 for publicly owned lands. Any public or private land in any part of the state is eligible to enroll. Annual monitoring reports are due near the one-year mark of the original application to provide updates to the Stewardship Coordinator. Instructions on how to apply, the rubric, benefits, and link to the application may be found on our website under the Conservation tab.   

While we were developing the program, we had applicants pre-enroll to provide updates on the status and launch of the program. We were excited to receive over 35 pre-applications and their full applications are beginning to trickle in. Heather Levy is thrilled to be managing this program and offering technical assistance to landowners and land stewards for the benefit of healthy habitats and wildlife. We want to sincerely thank those that have already applied and encourage you to share the program with other landowners and stewards that might be interested. If you have any questions about the program, please do not hesitate to contact Heather via email.

By Sarah Manning, Coastal Conservation Coordinator
 
It’s hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since I joined the team at Birds Georgia. In the last year, I’ve delighted in engaging with folks across the coastal counties and sharing Birds Georgia’s mission of building places where birds and people thrive. I’ve had the unique opportunity to participate in monitoring efforts, recruit and engage volunteers, and attend community events where I’ve met amazing people working diligently to conserve birds and their habitats across the state. 
 
While I am not new to the Georgia coast, this past year led me to deepen my connection to the charismatic cohorts of birds that thrive here. As the ebb and flow of fall neotropical migrants turned to the constant chatter of wintering sparrows and shorebirds, the stream of spring migrants gave way to the boisterousness of the breeding season, the subdued late summer lull has given way to the ebb and flow of fall migration yet again. Along the way, I’ve gained a true sense of place that comes with prolonged time spent observing these small changes. Through all the seasons, Birds Georgia conducts bird monitoring to keep a pulse on select populations, responses to habitat restoration, and as a part of new and exciting partnerships and collaborations. 

This spring was my first full ‘season’ of Project Safe Flight monitoring. We have coastal volunteers from Savannah to Saint Marys who regularly walk routes to search for birds who have collided with windows. We retrofitted windows at the Burton 4-H Center Campus on Tybee Island early this year, which will reduce or eliminate collisions for years to come. This spring, we located very few collisions on the coast, which is typical. However, this fall started off busy, with new species for the coastal collision team: Kentucky Warbler, Mourning Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Northern Parula, Red-eyed Vireo on top of the most commonly-collected species, Common Yellowthroat. We are continuing to engage more partners, businesses, and campuses in our monitoring efforts and Lights Out initiative and hope to wrap up another successful glass retrofit by the end of the year. 

 
In April, we began our pilot nightjar study using Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs). We recruited landowners through our newly-launched Habitat Stewardship program to conduct research on their working lands. Fifteen units were placed across the state and recorded from May to July in order to detect if nightjars were present. The good news? Chuck-wills-widows were detected at 11 of the 15 sites, Common Nighthawks at four, and Eastern Whip-poor-wills at one site. We also collaborated with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Nightjar Survey Network to complete 18 driving nightjar routes across the state. Does this sound like fun? We look forward to expanding this work in 2025 and will be recruiting volunteers to help us survey the state. 
 
This breeding season was quite the busy one for coastal birds. We monitored two small wading bird rookeries in Camden County. The sounds (and smells) are not easily forgotten. In early spring, the beautifully-plumed Great Egrets strutted and squawked their way through the courtship phase before finding a suitable site for their seemingly haphazard nest construction. Their eggs incubate for nearly a month before hatching and revealing near-helpless young that will not leave for another three weeks or so. By the time these birds fledge, they look nearly identical to their adult counterparts, save a rogue fluffy feather or two. One colony produced nine Great Blue Herons (who nest earlier and prefer to nest away from other wading birds) and the other, a mix of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Green Herons, Little Blue Herons, night herons, and Western Cattle Egrets. The small colony was guarded by a handful of small alligators… so I did not attempt any close looks and risk meeting their mother. Additionally, we monitored eight nesting pairs of American Oystercatchers on Cumberland Island’s ocean-facing shore. Since most Oystercatchers are fitted with field-readable bands, it allows us to identify unique individuals and determine who is nesting where (they’re also highly territorial). Unfortunately, even with multiple attempts by each pair, all were lost to predators or other natural forces. On the bright side, many Wilson’s Plover pairs and chicks were seen while we did these surveys so it seems that someone had a successful season.​

 
Throughout all the seasons, we also monitor non-breeding Piping Plovers on Cumberland Island National Seashore with the support of the National Park Service. Beginning in late summer 2023, I was tasked with surveying the migratory and wintering Piping Plovers at Cumberland Island National Seashore. This project has been ongoing for many decades, but after longtime volunteers retired from the responsibility, I (happily!) took over the task. Since then, I have surveyed at least once a month with the assistance of the park staff. While on surveys, we take note of how many Piping Plovers are seen, where they are, any leg bands they have, and any disturbances (e.g. boats, bicycles, predators, dogs) that may be present. This is important because Cumberland Island is home to a wintering cohort of the federally endangered Great Lakes population, in addition to wintering members of the federally threatened Atlantic Coast population. The Great Lakes subspecies recently hit a milestone: there were a total of 81 unique breeding pairs across the region this summer (the most since their Endangered Species Act listing), which is one more than last year’s record of 80 pairs. The recovery goal is to have at least 150 pairs for five consecutive years. During the 16 surveys since August 2023, we’ve seen 511 Piping Plovers on Cumberland Island. The most seen in a single survey was 67 individual Piping Plovers along the 17 miles of ocean-facing beach. Many of these birds were banded with unique color bands and flags, allowing us to know individual birds and track them over time. In the Great Lakes population, each and every bird is banded - since fall 2023, I’ve documented 63 individuals by their unique bands – approximately 20 are from the Atlantic Population and the remainder are from the Great Lakes Population. One of my all-time favorite birds is gabbY: she is named for the colors of her bands (light green, light blue, Yellow). She is the oldest known female Piping Plover and is tied for oldest Piping Plover ever recorded (she hatched in 2009). This year, she successfully fledged two chicks at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this summer as a 15 year-old! Another cool note? During Birds Georgia’s May 2023 Michigan trip, Conservation Director Adam Betuel and participants were treated to the other side of gabbY’s life: they were treated to views of gabbY nesting at Sleeping Bear Dunes with the Great Lakes Recovery Team (how’s that for full circle conservation)?
 
I’ve greatly enjoyed connecting with the birds (and people) on the coast for the past year and look forward to all that is to come. ​

Public comment period extended until December 9, 2024
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Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it is considering a proposed boundary expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia. The proposed expansion would add approximately 22,000 acres to the existing refuge — including lands currently held by Twin Pines Minerals, LLC. If passed, USFWS says the expansion would allow it to work with willing landowners to explore conservation actions that would protect the swamp’s hydrologic integrity, conserve wetlands and wildlife habitat, and fortify fuel reduction zones that can safeguard the swamp and landowners from wildfires. 

Birds Georgia fully supports this expansion. This is an important step toward increasing long-term protections for the Okefenokee Swamp. 

How to Support the Expansion

Quick action from individual voices is needed by November 18. The more letters of support received, the better. There are two easy ways to take action:

• Send a brief note via email to [email protected]. Include your name, email, city/county, and state. 
• Click and send a form letter through our friends at 100 Miles. You can customize the letter with your own experiences or send the letter as is. 

More details including a FAQ sheet, map and public meeting information can be viewed at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee. 

Read the letter that Birds Georgia submitted at the link below.