 Wood Stork. Photo by Sarah Manning. 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.  American Oystercatcher. Photo by Sarah Manning. 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.  Piping Plovers on Cumberland Island National Seashore. Photo by Sarah Manning. 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.
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 Public comment period extended until December 9, 2024
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:
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. Happy Birthday President Carter! Jimmy Carter will celebrate his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024. In honor of his birthday, we're pleased to share this article from our September 1989 Wingbars newsletter about the time Jimmy and Roslaynn Carter took part in a Breeding Bird Survey with Mark Oberle and Joel Volpi. As Birds Georgia prepares to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of our founding as the Atlanta Bird Club in 2026, we're researching our own history and came across this wonderful account in an old issue of our Wingbars newsletter. We've always heard that the Carters were avid birders, and we're pleased to share this account with you. By Mark Oberle, originally published September 1989 Wingbars newsletter For the last nine years, I have continued to do Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes for the Fish & Wildlife Service in south Georgia, despite my recent move to Seattle. One of them, the Lacross route, passes through Americus and ends south of Plains. Last winter, I analyzed the data from the survey’s beginning in 1973. Since Jimmy Carter had been interested in outdoor issues, I sent him a copy of my write up. He replied, saying that he and Rosalynn had recently become interested in birding after a trip to Africa, and that he would enjoy discussing the local bird life with me.  Photo by the Atlanta Journal Constitution (June 18, 1993) I let him know that Joel Volpi and I planned to do the 1989 BBS, and, sure enough, he called me up in late May to ask if he could join us. I explained that the drill might be somewhat boring for them as we could not spend a lot of time at each stop, but he said that he would enjoy birding with us. I faxed the route map for the Secret Service, and made all the other usual arrangements for a BBS. At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10 (1989), a van pulled up to our hotel, and out came Jimmy and Rosalynn . The sat in the back of the van, while Joel and I had the middle. The Secret Service guard and driver were in front. Having run the route the day before, they knew every unmarked, back country road by heart. The wore small earphones to communicate with the the guards that trailed us in the backup van a mile behind.  Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter. Photo by Rick Carter. South Georgia was the lushest it has been in years, with regular afternoon downpours and a bumper crop of wild blackberries. Since we had set out early, Joel and I pointed out lots of early morning bird songs at the first stop. I was impressed at how quickly the Carters learned these calls, but of course they did have the advantage of growing up in the area. Jimmy wound up being the timekeeper, and impressed us with how quickly he could spot birds and learn field marks. When some interesting bird appeared, Joel would help them locate and study it, while I continued with the survey. When they got more than twenty feet from the vehicle their body guard would follow them. The checked off new birds in the copy of the National Geographic field guide, and in the end wound up with about ten lifers. A male and female Summer Tanager, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and a Yellow-breasted Chat were particularly prized sightings. But the toughest lifer was a White-eyed Vireo that Joel and Jimmy pursued in a thicket despite a particularly odoriferous dead calf. Rosalynn and I retreated before getting a good view. As the morning got hotter, Rosalynn took a rest in the van, but Jimmy was out at every stop, except in downtown Americus, where they might have drawn a crowd.  President Jimmy Carter. Photo by Rick Diamond. Joel and I learned a lot from the Carters about local and national farming issues and the local lore about birds. Jimmy and Rosalynn pointed out some local plants and picked us some blackberries.
Although Joel and I were at first apprehensive about taking an ex-President and First Lady birding, the experience turned out to be like birding with an eloquent farmer who happened to be very well versed on national issues. On the birding side, we got a new species for the route - an Anhinga. At the last stop, two Red-tailed Hawks screamed low overhead and gave us all an uplifting end to a BBS day. Photos by Jerry Ray. by Dottie Head, Director of Communications
Birds Georgia has been awarded a grant from National Fish & Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program to restore 19 acres of Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve at the historic Wilburn Farm to promote biodiversity and ecosystem resiliency. This is Birds Georgia’s third focal site centered on the South River Watershed in southern DeKalb County. Birds Georgia will work with a network of regional and statewide organizations, including Georgia Native Plant Society, DeKalb County, Arabia Mountain Heritage Alliance, and the Georgia Conservancy, to remove non-native vegetation from 19-acres of the Wilburn Farm site and install bird-friendly native plants and seed to provide high quality habitat for birds and other species. In collaboration with other partner organizations, Birds Georgia has pledged to engage with at least 100 volunteers and 300 local community members through volunteer projects, bird and wildlife monitoring, and public outreach and education programming. Wilburn Farm dates back to the late 1800s. The farm was abandoned during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and in 1953 it was purchased by Ross Wilburn, who repaired the house, built a pond, and constructed a horse barn. DeKalb County acquired the property in 2000, and it became part of the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve. “Historically, Wilburn Farm was used for agriculture and, in recent decades, large portions of the area have been maintained as a partially mowed field dominated by non-native fescue grasses,” says Adam Betuel, Birds Georgia’s director of conservation. “The ecological value of this site has been limited by the presence of non-native grasses that prevent a diversity of native plant species from becoming established to support birds and other wildlife and to protect the watershed from erosion and sedimentation.” Birds Georgia’s habitat restoration team and volunteers will remove invasive plant species, including Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana), Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense), and Autumn Olive (Eleagnus umbellate), as well as non-native, invasive herbaceous plants such as Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) and Brazilian verbena (Verbena brasiliensis). After the invasive plants are cleared, Birds Georgia will add native seeds, a diversity of wildflower plugs, and gallon-sized woody, native plants to the space to support and jumpstart the native regeneration of habitat. The project is located in the South River watershed, a vital yet often overlooked resource in metro Atlanta and further down river. Encompassing approximately 544 square miles, the South River is an important corridor for migratory birds and nesting area for breeding birds and is one of only two rivers in Georgia with an urban origin. Approximately 40 percent of the watershed lies in the southern part of urban DeKalb County. This and other Birds Georgia projects within the watershed serve as a model of bird-friendly habitat and protect South River-adjacent communities from flash flooding and other effects from climate change that are disproportionately impacting communities of color. This is the fifth grant that Birds Georgia has received to complete habitat improvement work in the South River Watershed, including three grants for work at different areas within Panola Mountain State Park, at Lyon Farm, and now at Wilburn Farm. “We are excited to have the support of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation for this project in the South River Watershed, which is one of Birds Georgia’s priority areas for engagement,” says Betuel. “Wilburn Farm is located near the South River, and our restoration work will directly benefit the larger river corridor that not only provides valuable habitat for birds and other wildlife but also acts as a buffer to protect and enhance the health of this important metro watershed.” This is the seventh award that Birds Georgia has received from The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program, which seeks to develop nation-wide community stewardship of local natural resources, preserving these resources for future generations and enhancing habitat for local wildlife. Grants seek to address water quality issues in priority watersheds, such as erosion due to unstable streambanks, pollution from stormwater runoff, and degraded shorelines caused by development. 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, FedEx, Southern Company, and SalesForce. 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 the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 21,000 projects and generated a total conservation impact of over $10 billion. NFWF is an equal opportunity provider. Learn more at nfwf.org.  This fall, Birds Georgia continues its ninth year of Project Safe Flight Georgia, a project to study bird-building collisions across the state. Since the program began in 2015, volunteers have collected data from more than 4,400 birds representing 137 different species that perished after colliding with buildings. Last year, Project Safe Flight was extended to coastal Georgia with volunteers patrolling routes in Savannah and Brunswick as well as continuing routes in metro Atlanta.
In spring 2024, Cedar Waxwings were the most commonly found species, followed by Ovenbird, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Mourning Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Eastern Towhee, and American Woodcock round out the 10 most commonly collected species by Project Safe Flight volunteers. The top 10 species collected over the course of Project Safe Flight are: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Tennessee Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Ovenbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Common Yellowthroat, and Red-eyed Vireo (in descending order). In general, Atlanta sees fewer collisions in the springtime, as birds take other migratory paths on their way to their breeding grounds. However, we expect to see an increase in collisions in the fall months, as returning migrants and their newly-fledged young take to the skies and head southwards. Atlanta is noted as the fourth deadliest city for birds in the fall, and ninth in the spring, according to a study by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There are a number of ways you can help:
 This September, Birds Georgia will celebrate the Fall Flyway Festival with a host of in-person and virtual events to celebrate native plants and the key role they play for birds and other wildlife. The month-long celebration will include a variety of workshops and events designed to help Georgians learn more about gardening for birds and other wildlife using native plants.
“One of the biggest threats to birds in Georgia is habitat loss,” says Adam Betuel, Birds Georgia’s director of conservation. “As urbanization increases and natural habitats disappear, native plants can go a long way to restoring the habitat birds need. Fortunately, we can ;provide birds with high-quality resources through thoughtful landscaping using native plants.” The highlight of the month-long celebration will be the Fall Flyway Festival Round Robin on Saturday, September 14, from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM at the Birds Georgia headquarters in the Trees Atlanta Kendeeda Treehouse, on the Westside Atlanta BeltLine. Offered in partnership with the Georgia Native Plant Society and Trees Atlanta, the Round Robin will bring fellow native plant and bird enthusiasts together who are interested in using native plants to transform their landscape into a bird- and wildlife-friendly habitat. With hands-on sessions focusing on both plant- and bird-related landscaping topics, the event will culminate in a keynote address by Jennifer Ceska, conservation coordinator in the Science and Conservation Program at State Botanical Garden of Georgia, entitled Connect to Protect: A Call to Action from a Conservation Botanist, in Solidarity and in Hope. In addition to this signature event, Birds Georgia will host a number of virtual and in-person events to educate the public about the importance of native plants to birds, including:
Registration is now open for all events and spaces are limited. Learn more or register at https://www.birdsgeorgia.org/fall-flyway-festival.html. By Dottie Head, Director of Communications
From its humble beginnings as a small stream in North Georgia all the way to the Florida border where it joins with the Flint River and ultimately drains in the Florida’s Apalachicola Bay, the Chattahoochee River, or ‘Hooch, is a popular place with outdoor enthusiasts, from birders and paddlers to hikers, anglers and more. In the metro area, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area spans a 48 mile stretch of the river with 15 separate units where residents can relax, recreate, and recharge. Along its 430-mile meandering path through Georgia, the Chattahoochee provides critical resources for millions of birds, including species that live in Georgia year-round and those that migrate through the state. Each spring and fall, billions of birds use the Chattahoochee River as a place to rest and feed during their epic migratory journeys. It’s critical for people, too, providing more than 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s drinking water to approximately five million people. In recent years, Birds Georgia has been partnering with the Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy (CNPC), the National Park Service (NPS), and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to build bird-friendly habitat throughout the river corridor. The work is part of the greater vision of the Chattahoochee RiverLands which strives to reunite the Chattahoochee River with the metro Atlanta region and link suburban, urban, and rural communities into a continuous 100-mile public realm. Once complete, the Chattahoochee RiverLands will be a linear network of greenways, blueways, and parks that bring people to the water’s edge, promote stewardship and conservation, and reveal the subtle magic of the Chattahoochee River to all who visit. Birds Georgia has been working along the Chattahoochee, from the Island Ford Unit in Sandy Springs downriver to McIntosh Reserve in Carroll County, to restore bird-friendly habitat by removing invasive plant species and replacing them with native plants that are good for birds and for pollinators. The habitat team has also assisted the Georgia Department of Natural Resources with prescribed burns at Chattahoochee Bend State Park. Let’s take a kayak trip down the river and look at some of this work. We’ll start our journey at the Island Ford Unit, headquarters of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA), in Sandy Springs. As you approach the historic Hewlett Lodge Visitors Center, you can’t miss the fantastic bird and pollinator garden just outside the entrance. For the past three years, Birds Georgia has been working to install this beautiful and productive garden which welcomes visitors to the park. Chock full of native plants, like American beautyberry, ironweed, mountain mint, rattlesnake master, and other flowering grassland species, the garden is a bird and pollinator paradise. This work is being funded by the Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy (CNPC), and they have also provided a cadre of volunteers to assist with planting and maintaining this landscape. From Island Ford, we float by our friends at the Chattahoochee Nature Center and portage our way around Morgan Falls Dam on our way down to Cochran Shoals Unit of the CRNRA. This is the most visited unit of the CRNRA, and Birds Georgia was thrilled to receive a grant from the Georgia Ornithological Society to restore the “Sparrow Field” at this site. Both CPNC and the National Park Service are providing support and volunteers for this project which helps fulfill the vision of connecting people with the Chattahoochee River. Birds Georgia has begun working to restore early successional habitat in the Sparrow Field, a popular birdwatching area that has been known to host common sparrow species, like Song and Chipping Sparrows as well as more uncommon species, like Grasshopper and LeConte’s Sparrows. Continuing down the ‘Hooch a few more miles, we pass inside the Perimeter and make a stop at Standing Peachtree Creek. Standing Peachtree was an historic Native American village of the Muscogee Tribe and is the closest Native American settlement to what is now known as Buckhead, in Atlanta. The village was located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River in today’s Paces neighborhood. According to Wikipedia, Standing Peachtree was located in the borderlands of the Cherokee and Muscogee nations and is referenced in documents dating back to 1782. Today, Standing Peachtree Creek is the first stop on the Chattahoochee RiverLand’s Camp + Paddle Trail. Once completed, paddlers will be able to use the newly installed launch for their kayaks/canoes and then camp and paddle their way down the river for 48-miles ending at McIntosh Reserve in Carroll County. The launch site for the Camp + Paddle Trail, at Standing Peachtree will feature a fully accessible kayak launch, and Birds Georgia is working with TPL to remove invasive plant species, like English Ivy and Chinese privet, and replace them with bird-friendly native species. Paddling downriver, past I-285, our next stop will be the Chattahoochee RiverLands Showcase Project, the nearly 3-mile linear park and greenway trail will extend from Riverview Landing downstream through the 140-acre Discover Park, across Nickajack Creek to RiverLands Gateway Park at Mableton Parkway. The entire project serves as a model for the Chattahoochee RiverLands and its work connecting people to the river. In partnership with TPL, Birds Georgia is restoring bird-friendly habitat along this stretch, including at the site for the much anticipated RiverLands Gateway Park that will provide a gateway to the river complete with parking, restrooms, a kayak launch and boat ramp, and other recreation amenities. Birds Georgia and TPL are hosting habitat restoration workdays, bird walks, and other events to showcase this new area. TPL recently received a Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program Grant which will support the development of the land into a regional park and trailhead. Birds Georgia is removing privet and other non-native invasive plant species and installing native plants, like elderberry, river birch, American sycamore, and buttonbus, along the southern one-mile stretch of the project. As the north anchor to the RiverLands Showcase ProjectRiverview Park is a trailhead and provides access to the river with a dock and floating kayak launch. Nearby there is a coffee shop, brewery, and barbecue restaurant which serve the river community.. The Showcase Project will be complete by 2026. Continue paddling downriver until you pass under I-20 and the river is divided by an island. A large sandy beach marks the north end of Buzzard Roost Island. Only accessible by boat, Buzzard Roost will be an optional stop along the Camp + Paddle Trail. Keep your eyes peeled for shorebird species, like Killdeer and yellowlegs, that forage on this sandy spit. The island houses some massive tulip poplar trees, black walnuts, and American sycamores, and is a quiet, peaceful stop for paddlers and other river travelers to have a picnic, and a great place to birdwatch. Birds Georgia has been working at Buzzard Roost, to remove privet and replace it with native rivercane, elderberry, black willow, buttonbush, and Eastern Cottonwood. As you depart Buzzard Roost and travel downriver past Sweetwater Creek, you’ll encounter a boat ramp on property owned by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. This is another good place to launch a boat if you want to access the southern section of the river. From the boat ramp, you can paddle north to Buzzard Roost or continue downriver to historic Campbellton. You’ll find an additional public boat ramp at Campbellton Park, located in the City of Chattahoochee Hills, this is the third site of the Camp + Paddle Trail which provides sites for primitive camping and a new restroom and shower pavilion. The Trust for Public Land has been a tremendous partner to Birds Georgia providing volunteers and other resources for our work restoring a native wet meadow for birds and pollinators in a field adjacent to the boat ramp. The meadow includes a variety of native grasses, including wildrye, deertongue, gamagrass, and big bluestem in addition to beautiful flowering perennials like pink milkweed, cardinal flower, ironweed, and common boneset. In 2023, an Olive-sided Flycatcher was also spending time in this meadow. Other birds you may see here include Indigo Buntings, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Common Yellowthroat, Sedge and Marsh Wrens, and, during migration, a host of migrating warblers. New RiverLands Park is the next stop on our journey and fourth site for the Camp + Paddle Trail. Located in Chattahoochee Hills, this brand new park is not yet open to the public. Once opened this fall, visitors to this park can enjoy a stunning view of the river as well as primitive campsites and new restroom facilities for paddlers. Over the past year, Birds Georgia has been working with TPL to remove invasive plants, including an infestation of privet, multiflora rose, and Elaeagnus (or Autumn Olive). In their place, Birds Georgia is adding native plants, including ironwood, basswood, red mulberry, and American beautyberry. Gabe reports that this is an excellent birding location, having seen species such as Swainson’s Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Kentucky Warbler on breeding territory at the site. He predicts that it will quickly become a new eBird hotspot. Continuing downriver into Carroll County, you’ll arrive at Mcintosh Reserve. This is the final stop along the Camp + Paddle Trail and is across the river from Chattahoochee Bend State Park. Managed by Carroll County, this beautiful park just tripled in size thanks to two new land acquisitions that TPL helped secure. The Birds Georgia team has been working to install a pollinator garden near the new restroom facility. Be on the lookout for Bald Eagles that have been known to nest across the river. This spot is also near Council Bluff, which boasts a beautiful, elevated view of the river and is a great place to have a picnic or just enjoy the scenic beauty of the Chattahoochee. McIntosh Reserve marks the southern end of our work with TPL on the Chattahoochee RiverLands, but at this point of the journey it is less than 50 miles downstream to Columbus, Georgia where you can take on the rapids near downtown or stop and enjoy a meal or a beverage along the wonderful RiverWalk. “It has been a great experience working with TPL, CNPC, and NPS to implement the vision for the Chattahoochee RiverLands by restoring high quality habitat along this river corridor for the birds and people, too,” says Andrle. “The Chattahoochee River is such an amazing resource that runs across the state, and we look forward to continuing our work with these and other organizations to make the Chattahoochee River an even more important resource for birds and for the people who visit.” By Sarah Manning, Coastal Conservation Coordinator 0430: An early wakeup - anything for the birds! 0530: After a quick breakfast, shower, coffee (necessity), and packing snacks and hydration, it’s time to head out to the field. The goal today: band as many Royal Tern chicks as humanly possible! 0615: Arrive in Brunswick at the Sidney Lanier boat ramp. In the distance, the sky is bright with lightning moving offshore.  The Sidney Lanier Bridge in Brunswick, GA spans the Brunswick River and carries four lanes of U.S. Hwy 17 along the Georgia coast. Photo by Sarah Manning. 0630: Field briefing by Georgia Department of Natural Resources Biologist, Tim Keyes. We are waiting for the weather to clear. We load three boats full of gear: tables, chairs, tents, fencing, coolers, and banding equipment. 0645: We have boarded the boats and are on our way to Bird Island - a dredge spoil island in the middle of the Brunswick Harbor, meticulously crafted for the birds by the Georgia DNR in 2008. The island has a unique quality - it’s isolated. The typical threats to ground-nesting birds are lessened by this isolation. Mammalian predators have a hard time crossing the river, and the island is closed to recreational use (for the birds’ safety). The island was built high enough to provide reprieve from storms and tidal overwash, creating an oasis of open, sandy habitat perfect for nesting seabirds. It has now grown to be the largest seabird colony in Georgia - and one of the most successful, too. American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, Gull-billed Terns, Royal Terns, and Sandwich Terns nest on Bird Island.  0700: We have arrived. The raucous sound is almost overwhelming as the adults take flight. We’ve landed on the southwest corner of the island to avoid disturbing any active nesting taking place. 0715: Gear is being unloaded. Tents are assembled, tables, chairs, and banding gear distributed. Five teams complete with an experienced bander and their assistants are assembled to complete the daunting task of the day: band just over 660 Royal Tern chicks. There is no shortage of chicks, rather, a shortage of time! Banding is to be completed before the temperature rises enough to stress the young birds. Time is of the essence today, and the safety of the birds is the highest priority. 0745: Royal Terns hatch from one-egg clutches as semi-precocial young (covered in down and able to move from the nest site). From then on, Royal Terns (and other crested terns) form crèches, or gathering of young birds aged two days and up until fledging. The parents return to their chick during the day to provide it with food, able to recognize them in groups of thousands of chicks. A team breaks off to corral the chicks. It is a seemingly simple task, as the chicks cannot yet fly to escape, instead, they move as a large unit. Patience is a virtue: moving too quickly could cause smaller chicks to be overwhelmed by the crowd.  A crèche of Royal Tern chicks. Photo by Sarah Manning. 0800: The first small group of chicks is being separated from the larger whole. Soft-sided dog crates are used to transport the chicks to the teams of banders. Each bird that is large enough will be outfitted with two bands: On their left leg, a metal band, also known as a federal band, complete with a 9-digit code that is near impossible to read without recapturing the bird. On the right leg, a colored, field-readable band (a hard plastic band with a three-digit alphanumeric code) is placed. Field-readable bands are able to be read and reported by anyone who resights the bird - you just need binoculars, a spotting scope, or a camera with zoom, without the need of capturing the bird again. This is a non-invasive way to track the birds’ whereabouts, timing of migration, dispersal to wintering grounds, and much more.  Banding a Royal Tern chick. Photo by Ellie Kania, DNR. 1000: We continue to band, passing the halfway point! The clouds have dissipated and the temperature is starting to rise. We band faster, as if we are an assembly line in a factory. The work comes easier now, with experience. Each group must band an average of 148 chicks if we are to complete our goal. 1130: Success! All color bands have been placed and chicks have reunited with their parents in the crèche, sporting new jewelry. Gear is broken down and packed back onto the boats. All involved are speckled with bodily fluids: sweat, bird poop, and regurgitated juices are just part of the uniform today - all in a day’s work for bird biologists!  Sarah with one of the banded chicks. Get Involved: Report Bands See a Royal or Sandwich Tern with a field-readable band? Report it to reportband.gov. The color of the field-readable band differs based on who banded the bird: Red for Georgia DNR, White for Virginia Tech, and Black for North Carolina. Many Royal Terns will not have field-readable bands but will have a metal, federal band. You can report those if you can read them, too! You’ll receive a certificate for reporting which details where and when the bird was banded. Other species can be reported through ReportBand.Gov as well - see our previous article about shorebirds here.
 by Sarah Manning, Coastal Conservation Coordinator Autonomous Recording Units, also known as Acoustic Recording Units or ARUs, are an emerging technology that is beginning to help us understand more cryptic or difficult-to-detect avian species: ARUs have successfully been used to detect Black Rails and Northern Spotted Owls. ARUs can be programmed to record at selected times of day, over many weeks or months. This replaces the need for many hours in the field and provides more flexibility to collect data. While they are not yet able to replace a skilled field biologist or ornithologist, they are a great supplement and can provide valuable answers to various research questions.  Coastal Conservation Coordinator, Sarah Manning, installing an AudioMoth unit near Monticello. Birds Georgia is utilizing ARUs to detect nightjars in Georgia. The Chuck-will’s-widow, Eastern Whip-poor-will, and Common Nighthawk are three species of nightjars found in Georgia. Nightjars are aerial insectivores and tend to be most active at dawn and at dusk, and on bright, moonlit nights. While Chuck-will’s-widows and Common Nighthawks range throughout the entire state, Eastern Whip-poor-wills’ breeding range excludes the coastal plain. Chuck-will's-widow numbers declined by about 1.6%, per year for a cumulative decline of approximately 58% between 1966 and 2019, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Birds Georgia hopes to help fill in some of the data gaps for this species and create more suitable habitat to help these birds, and, as such, we have selected the Chuck-will’s-widow as our 2023 to 2025 Species of Concern. Birds Georgia is directing additional resources and expertise to the Chuck-will’s-widow – restoring native habitat, assisting with species-specific research, and engaging the public to help us better understand statewide population numbers and migratory behavior. To do this, we are promoting the Nightjar Survey Network, formed by the The Center for Conservation Biology and coordinated by the Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) as part of the emerging Global Nightjar Knowledge Network. In addition to the Nightjar Survey Network, we are coordinating with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section) to coordinate survey routes and ensure statistical and scientific rigor. Volunteers are asked to survey one time per year, during late spring or early summer. Routes are nine miles with 10 stops, spaced one mile apart. Observers listen for Chuck-will’s-widows, Eastern Whip-poor-will’s, and Common Nighthawks over a six-minute period. Data is recorded and shared with the Nightjar Survey Network, GA DNR, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2024, we are on track to complete more than 13 routes – the most since the program began in 2007. Our partner, Dr. Clark Rushing and graduate students at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry are studying dispersal and migration of Chuck-will’s-widows along the coast by utilizing GPS tags. We are building off Dr. Rushing’s work by deploying these 15 Autonomous Recording Units (ARU’s) on private and preserved lands with differing management strategies with the goal of detecting which practices may yield better habitat for these nightjars. Private lands, greater than 10 acres in size, are encouraged to apply for our Habitat Stewardship Program. It is designed to enable property stewards to make improvements to their land for the benefit of native wildlife while also connecting them to educational resources, technical assistance programs, cost-sharing and revenue-generating programs, engagement and research opportunities.. Additionally, eBird and iNaturalist users are encouraged to report any incidental sightings of Chuck-will’s-widows, Eastern Whip-poor-wills, and Common Nighthawks. Complete reports and reports with photos, audio, or detailed comments are extremely helpful to learning more about this secretive summer singer.  Birds Georgia has selected 10 sites for the placement of 15 AudioMoth units to assist us in learning more about the life histories of these birds (see figure 2). The sites chosen range from the barrier islands to the piedmont – reflecting the unique land uses and habitats in Georgia. Chuck-will’s-widows and Eastern Whip-poor-wills are known to occur within deciduous, pine (Pinus spp.), oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya spp.), and mixed forests. They also inhabit live oak (Q. virginiana) groves, forest edges, and riparian areas. Openings, including forest gaps, pastures, and scrub, appear to be an important habitat component for foraging, but comparative use of habitat types has not yet been studied in these species. Common Nighthawks favor more open habitat, including dunes, grasslands, fields, and can often be found in suburban areas near bright lights.  Figure 3. A Loblolly pine stand managed by thinning and burning. This site had burned two months prior. Can you spot the ARU? (Hint: It's on the far right of the image, attached to a pine with yellow paracord.) From agricultural and pastoral fields to heavily-managed timber stands, our units were placed in areas with specified management criteria. We are interested in learning more about what land uses are compatible with these species, their habitat preferences, and what we may do to conserve these charismatic caprimulgidae (nightjars). For example, this Common Nighthawk nest (see Figure 4 below) was found 22 days following a prescribed burn. Common Nighthawks appear to respond favorably to prescribed fire, utilizing the newly barren ground to lay their eggs. Conversely, Chuck-will’s-widows have been found nesting in areas that burned 3 to 5 years prior, but not more recently. Units were deployed this spring and will continue recording throughout the summer and into early fall. Stay tuned for our pilot results - coming winter 2024. This work has been generously funded by the Georgia Ornithological Society Lydia Thompson grant.  Figure 4. Common Nighthawk eggs - This site had burned just 22 days prior. The adult flushed off the nest and continued calling until I vacated the area. 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. |
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