by Dottie Head, Director of Communications

Georgia Audubon has been awarded three grants totaling $35,000, two from the Georgia Ornithological Society and one from KEEN, Inc, to fund habitat restoration, native plant public awareness, and STEM-based outdoor exploration for youth.

Established by the Georgia Ornithological Society (GOS) to benefit seasonal and migratory bird habitat, the Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grant will fund bird-friendly habitat restoration along the South River. Georgia Audubon will remove invasive plant species, such as Chinese privet and Japanese hop that currently crowds the riverbank across the 15-acre project site and replace them with appropriate native plants, specifically giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea). Five acres of our project site were previously treated in 2016 by the South River Watershed Alliance, but are now in need of follow-up treatment. The remaining 10 acres have had limited to no restoration efforts and are heavily infested with invasive plant species.
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The 15-acre project site is bordered by the Power of Flight grassland (work funded by GOS and managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources). This specific site is well known for its avian diversity and the broader region is full of wildlife diversity and includes well-known spots like Arabia Mountain, Panola Mountain State Park, Lyons Farm, and the Pole Bridge Wastewater Facility.
 
Restoring a healthy river buffer habitat, with a focus on rivercane, to the South River corridor will further establish critical bird and wildlife habitat. Further restoring the habitat along the South River will enhance the work that has already been done to support a range of species and guilds, including grassland specialists, migratory warblers, river-dependent species, and select focal species like the Swainson’s Warbler.
 
“The Georgia Ornithological Society (GOS) is proud to support the 2021 conservation efforts of Georgia Audubon with a Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grant,” says Jim Ferrari, a GOS Board member who chairs the Conservation Grant Committee and is a professor at Wesleyan College in Macon. “Georgia Audubon’s proposal to remove invasive plant species along the South River floodplain and replace them with native river cane will improve habitat for resident and migratory birds and other wildlife. Not only that, but restoration of the canebrake ecosystem will have benefits for water quality as well, helping to filter runoff and control streamside erosion.”
 
A second GOS Opportunity Grant, with additional funding received from the Cherokee Garden Club in 2020, will fund a native plant demonstration garden along the Atlanta BeltLine. The garden will be installed in partnership with Trees Atlanta at the site of a newly-constructed Chimney Swift tower (funded by a grant from Patagonia Atlanta) on the Eastside Trail section of the Atlanta BeltLine, an area near Ponce City Market where more than 1.7 million residents and visitors utilize the corridor annually.
Approximately 650 native plants will be planted in a 1,500-square-foot area, ranging from native grass and perennial plugs to larger three-gallon shrubs. The exact mix of plant species will be determined based on availability at the time of planting, but examples include Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Blazing star (Liatris spicata), Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia fulgida), Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and Adam’s needle (Yucca filamentosa).
 
Finally, KEEN Inc. recently awarded one of its KEEN Effect Kids Grants to Georgia Audubon, one of nine organizations selected from an applicant pool of more than 400. This grant will be used to fund Georgia Audubon’s Atlanta Urban Ecologists, a program that guides teens through an 8-month exploration of the fascinating, rich ecology of metro Atlanta, providing opportunities for hands-on field experiences, conservation, and community science, while also establishing a network of environmental professionals who can assist with their academic and career development.
 
For more information on these and other Georgia Audubon conservation and education programs, please visit www.GeorgiaAudubon.org.
 
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 Steve Phenicie
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An organization exists for practically anything you can think of, and Rusty Blackbirds are no exception. Ever hear of the International Rusty Blackbird Working Group? This group of scientists has been around since 2005 and exists for a good reason—in recent decades populations of “Rusties” have declined sharply, and the reason is difficult to pin down.

The North American Breeding Bird Survey estimates that populations have dropped 90 percent since 1966. Loss of wet woodland habitat through drainage, clearcutting, and conversion to agriculture is one possible reason—particularly in the southeastern U.S. where some 80 percent of the population winters. Historically, the hunting of beavers across North America may also have reduced habitat by diminishing the number of beaver ponds, but the resurgence of beaver populations may be having a positive effect. Rusty Blackbirds in northeastern North America have been recorded with high mercury counts, which could be contributing to their decline there.

The bird’s remote breeding grounds in the hard-to-access boreal forests of the far north, from Newfoundland to Alaska and lapping into New York and northern New England, make it hard to study. No other blackbird has such a northerly breeding distribution. In the winter it is found from Iowa and southern New England south to the Gulf of Mexico. There and during migration it usually hangs out in swampy places, wading in shallow water at the edges of wooded streams. Rusties also forage in open fields and cattle feedlots with other blackbirds.  

The Working Group tries to get a better handle on this by organizing birders to report on the birds during specific times of the year, particularly during spring migration. Among its activities are outfitting birds with monitoring devices on their breeding grounds and along western Lake Erie in Ohio and Michigan where they stop during migration. Closer to home, Savannah-based Ogeechee Audubon, in cooperation with the Working Group, monitors Rusty Blackbirds on the campus of a private school. (For the full story on that, see this blog post)

The majority of this species’ diet is insects, including aquatic ones such as caddisflies, mayflies, dragonflies, and water beetles, plus land insects such as grasshoppers and others. It also eats snails, crustaceans, small fish, small salamanders, seeds, waste grain, and a few berries.
 
It sometimes nests in small, loose colonies but more often in isolated pairs. The female typically lays four or five eggs that are pale blue-green, spotted with brown and gray. The nest site is in dense cover, usually in conifers or in shrubs. Typically it is only a few feet above the water or ground, but it can be up to 20 feet high. The nest, built by the female, is a bulky open cup of twigs and grass. Incubation is by the female only. Both parents feed the nestlings, and the young leave the nest about 11-14 days after hatching.
 
Around Atlanta, some good spots for Rusties are Piedmont Park, Grant Park, Decatur Cemetery, Cochran Shoals, Constitution Lakes, and, in smaller numbers, at Zonolite Park. Anywhere with flooded woodlands or large blackbird flocks has the potential for them. The name "Rusty" applies to the colors of fall birds, but it could also describe the rusty-hinge sound of its creaking song.

By Dottie Head, Director of Communications

Students at the Georgia Institute of Technology are creating a conservation legacy on the university’s Atlanta campus. Through a partnership forged between Georgia Audubon and Georgia Tech, students, professors, and staff are working collectively to ensure the campus is a safe and welcoming place for resident and migratory birds.

The partnership began in 2017 when Adam Betuel, Georgia Audubon’s director of conservation, connected with Emily Weigel, Ph.D., an academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences. Dr. Weigel, who also serves as director of internships, was able to connect Georgia Audubon with the Georgia Tech intern program, resulting in a series of interns who have been helping with Project Safe Flight ever since.
“The interns have been a tremendous help with all aspects of Project Safe Flight, including managing the database, identifying birds killed by collisions, and coordinating student volunteer teams to monitor and patrol buildings on the Georgia Tech campus,” says Betuel.

Soon after, Georgia Audubon became involved with the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design on the Georgia Tech campus through a chance introduction. “We were attending the annual Summer Solstice event at Southface Institute, when Linda DiSantis introduced us to the building architects,” says Betuel. “As they were telling us about this amazing sustainable building, I commented on how it would be a shame if it was a threat to birds.” This casual meeting sparked additional conversations and ultimately resulted in the inclusion of special bird-friendly glass in the building design. It was a timely introduction, says Betuel, because retrofitting buildings to make them bird friendly can be expensive and less aesthetically pleasing compared to when bird-friendly glass is incorporated during the initial design phase.
Located on the Georgia Tech Campus, the Kendeda Building for Innovative Design is the first academic and research building in the Southeast to pursue Living Building Challenge 3.1 certification—the world’s most ambitious green building program—which aligns with Georgia Tech’s longstanding vision for its campus to serve as an educational center for innovation that transforms future generations.

Through the Kendeda project, Georgia Audubon was introduced to Steve Place, a horticulturist and the Georgia Tech associate responsible for the landscape surrounding the Kendeda building as well as an eightacre section of the Eco-Commons, located nearby. This thoughtfully designed greenspace will ultimately contain more than 600 new trees and tens of thousands of perennials, shrubs, ferns and grasses following what was originally a naturally occurring stream.

Place’s role is that of facilitator, connection maker, partner, and advocate of the students. “What I try to do in everything I’m involved with is to include the students as much as possible,” he says.

Steve works with three student groups—Students Organized for Sustainability (SOS), Bioengineering and Bioscience Unified Graduate Students (BBUGS), and a Scouts group—that are doing everything from collision work, to landscape design, to choosing native plants, and restoring a small forested area on campus.

The SOS group is charged with taking care of the community garden and working with Steve to help choose plants and design installation at the Kendeda Center. They also help with maintenance.

BBUGS is currently working with a group of freshmen to raise money to install a pollinator garden in the Eco-commons. The graduate students are mentoring the freshmen in grant writing to raise funds for these projects so that they can influence and promote the outcomes that they want to see on campus.

Finally, the Scouts group is working on a habitat restoration project to restore a forest fragment that is full of invasive species. “It’s a perfect partnership,” says Place. “I provide logistical help—hauling ivy, helping with plant ID, etc.—and the students pull the ivy. We also discuss regenerative ecology and what plants we want to reintroduce to the area. In two years, when this restoration project is complete, the area will be a safe harbor for birds and will complement the nearby Kendeda Center and Eco-Commons. It will be a great legacy for these students.

Steve has also spearheaded a Bird-safe Glass Committee, with representation from the three groups. “Bird collisions were clearly a concern across campus that different student groups have talked about, and I was able to bring together a group to look at and address this problem,” says Place. The Bird-safe Glass Committee is working to identify the worst bird hazards on campus and write grants to raise money to purchase and install film to treat these problem windows on campus.

“The students have been monitoring bird strikes for a while now and have enlisted landscape services and the Georgia Tech police department to report dead birds,” says Place. “We have a Vertical Integration Program (VIP) made up of students that do different work, including water quality, air quality, energy use, and wildlife. The wildlife group has done a lot of early morning monitoring of buildings, and I was able to plug them in with Adam and his existing data.”

Steve is rightfully proud of his work. “The EcoCommons used to be 90 percent parking lot, and now all of it has been converted to greenspace. We are planting hundreds of trees every year,” he says. “This a huge commitment to creating this habitat and making sure it will last well beyond our time at Georgia Tech.”

Ultimately both the grounds of the Kendada Building and the Eco-Commons will be certified as a Georgia Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary. Gabe Andrle, habitat program manager for Georgia Audubon, has been brought in to consult with students on native plants and the birds that use them. Gabe and Adam led a bird walk on campus earlier this year with students and faculty to begin assessing what birds are currently using the campus habitat and the steps taking place to make campus more bird-safe. Georgia Audubon has been a great partner, says Place.

In recent months, Georgia Audubon has also connected with Dr. Diana Hicks, a professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech specializing in metrics for science and technology policy. In consultation with Georgia Audubon, Dr. Hicks is offering a year-long course in the School of Public Policy which, among other topics, will be addressing possible public policies related to bird-friendly design and how Georgia Audubon could potentially move forward with legislation to ensure future buildings incorporate bird-friendly design elements. Adam is serving as an advisor for this group and will be meeting with them throughout the year.
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“We’re very excited about this partnership and the great work for birds that is taking place on Georgia Tech’s campus,” says Betuel. “Through the work of all of the student groups and with the help of professors and others staff, there is a lot of really substantial progress being made to make the campus a safe and attractive place for birds.”

We are getting lots of calls from people about Pine Siskins at their feeders and concerns ranging from spread of disease to frustration with the sheer volume of seed that these little birds eat. Here are the answers to some of the questions we are hearing.

Why are there so many Pine Siskins this year? - It's an irruption year. Each year, Georgia has a few eBird reports of Pine Siskins, but every few years we have an irruption year and large numbers of siskins migrate to Georgia for the winter. Long story short, it's primarily linked to seed production in pines and other conifers in the boreal forest, but this year Georgia is seeing HUGE numbers of birds.

They are eating me out of house and home. What can I do? - There's not much you can do to discourage these hungry birds, and, as you may have experienced, they can empty your feeders in a matter of minutes. But if you'd like to discourage them, try feeding larger seeds, cracked corn, or even suet. If all else fails, take down your feeders for a few weeks. They should begin dispersing over the next month as they return to their breeding grounds further north. Personally, we prefer to enjoy them while they're here and know that they'll be moving on soon. In the meantime, we’re stocking up on bird food!

I've heard Pine Siskins can spread disease, such as salmonella and finch eye disease. How can I prevent this? - With bird species like Pine Siskins (and House Finches) that travel in large flocks, it is easy for a single sick bird to spread disease to others because of the sheer volume of birds. If you notice an ill siskin or other bird at your feeder (puffy appearance, lethargic, sunken or swollen eyes), the best thing you can do is to take down your feeder, clean it with a mild bleach solution, and keep the feeder down for a few weeks to allow any diseased birds to disperse. Otherwise, just be sure to keep your feeders clean to minimize the spread of bacteria and other diseases that can make birds ill. If you have a sick bird, you can find a list of wildlife rehabilitators on our website. ​

By Lauren Gingerella, President, Oconee Rivers Audubon Society

The North Oconee River flows through the heart of Athens. The forested river corridor provides important habitat for many wildlife species and a stage for the songs of Louisiana Waterthrushes and Summer Tanagers yards from downtown and the campus of the University of Georgia. A linear park system with a network of multi-use greenway trails connects the Athens community to this wonderful greenspace. It is here, along the North Oconee River Greenway, where the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society (ORAS) set out to build a bird-friendly native plant demonstration garden.

Birds need all the help they can get right now. A 2019 study published in the journal Science reported a net loss of nearly three billion birds in North America since 1970. Some of the species with the greatest population declines are common species we may see every day at our backyard bird feeder. Though this is depressing, there are easy activities we can do in our everyday lives to support bird conservation. One of the best ways to help is to add native plants to your yard or garden.

Many of you reading this are already aware of the benefits of planting natives for birds, such as more nutritious food resources, shelter, and resilient landscapes against climate change. However, more people need to be aware of the importance of native plants to help increase avian populations. ORAS wanted to target members of the diverse Athens community not typically involved in bird conservation and native plant restoration. By placing the demonstration garden along the greenway, we are able to engage audiences who use the greenway for exercising, commuting to work or school, fishing, and wildlife viewing.

In January 2020, ORAS was awarded a Burke Grant through the National Audubon Society’s Plants for Birds program to create the high-profile demonstration garden. Our ultimate goals are to emphasize the importance of native plants for wildlife, encourage community members to choose native plants in their home and garden, and create a gathering space to engage the community in conservation efforts. The garden plans consist of more than 1,500 native plants, interpretive signage, a bench, and a small water feature.

The Athens-Clarke County’s (ACC) Sustainability Office enthusiastically partnered with ORAS on this project. The location of the garden at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Parkway and North Avenue fits nicely into ACC’s plans to restore habitat along the North Oconee River corridor. The garden restores approximately 15,000 square feet of wildlife habitat in an area historically fallow and often plagued by invasive plant species. Now, this sunny patch of land will be a mosaic of native prairie and meadow perennials and grasses.

The COVID-19 pandemic added an unexpected challenge to the project. The anticipated springtime site preparation and plantings were delayed until summer and fall. Our vision of large volunteer events was scaled down to a dozen people socially distanced from another. Hand-sanitizer was readily available on workdays, and dedicated volunteers wore masks while shoveling mulch in excessive heat and humidity. By mid-November, the garden was fully planted, and all that still needs to be added are the bench, water feature, and interpretive sign.

Students from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia designed interpretive signage and helped create a list of native plant species. The sign highlights the importance and connection of native plants to birds and other pollinators, and describes the ecological importance of Piedmont prairie habitat. A QR code to access a Spanish translation is on the sign as well, so we can engage as many members of our community as possible.

ORAS purchased many of the native plants from Beech Hollow Farms in Lexington, Georgia, as well as the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. Volunteers, ACC staff, and members of Lilly Branch Audubon Society added more than 30 species of perennials and grasses to the garden primarily as plugs and pint-sized plantings. We are looking forward to seeing the results of our efforts over the next few years as the garden grows, matures, and shows off all its flowering glory.

Next time you are in Athens, grab your binoculars and go for a walk along the North Oconee River Greenway. In ORAS’ new Plants for Birds demonstration garden, you may now be able to spot Indigo Buntings, Field Sparrows, or Eastern Kingbirds and be inspired to add native plants to your own landscape.

Reviewed by Steve Phenicie

If you’re looking for a biography about John James Audubon, the man for whom the Audubon network is named, you’ll have many choices. One of them is by our own Gregory Nobles, a Georgia Audubon member and Master Birder and a professor emeritus of history at Georgia Tech.

Nobles admires Audubon’s contributions to art and science, but the book does not back away from the man’s shortcomings and character flaws either. “He could be more than a little loose with the truth about his own life,” Nobles notes. One of his more intriguing fabrications is a tale about going hunting with Daniel Boone, which was entirely made up, although an elderly Boone once turned him down.

Our author tells us not to take all of Audubon’s stories literally, but we should take them seriously because it tells us what kind of a man Audubon was. Nobles says he tried to provide us with a different look at Audubon than the others, taking a more topical approach. Still, I think the book might have benefited by including a timeline of Audubon’s life, particularly for those of us who haven’t read any of the others. Here are some of the facts about the man:

• Born in what is now Haiti in 1785, the son of a French naval officer and his mistress; died in 1851 in New York City, where he is buried.
• Grew up in France and immigrated to the United States in 1803 when his father sought to keep him out of the Napoleonic wars.
• Lived on a farm owned by his father near Valley Forge, Pa., and met a neighbor, Lucy Bakewell, whom he married. They had two children who survived to adulthood, both sons.
• Operated businesses in Kentucky and Missouri, and also hunted and fished to feed his family. Painted signs and did portraits when he had to. When he could, he learned taxidermy, drew birds, and conducted scientific experiments. Was largely self-educated.
• Spent much of his time separated from his family as he pursued his passion of searching for birds while his wife taught school.
• In the 1820s started work on the endeavor for which he is best known, “The Birds of America,” a massive undertaking in which Audubon sought to produce a portrait of every bird in the country. He eventually came up with 435 works and spent much of the rest of his life displaying, promoting, and marketing his effort.
• Most noteworthy writing was “Ornithological Biography,” a 3,000-page companion piece to “The Birds of America” in which he described the birds in the paintings.

Audubon, who cultivated an image as an “American woodsman,” relied on his gun as the primary instrument of his ornithological research and artistic efforts. He would use wires to pose his dead specimens in life-like poses while he worked on his drawings. Killing birds makes those of us in the 21st century a bit squeamish, of course, even if we do realize that Audubon lived before photography or spotting scopes, so if you were going to get your hands on birds, you had to kill them. He didn’t seem to have any qualms about this, however, and also enjoyed hunting for sport.

Audubon had nothing to do with the founding of the National Audubon Society–it came along in 1905.

Greg Nobles obviously knows his subject because this book provides a great deal of insight into Audubon’s life and is certainly worth a read. And don’t forget: The author is a member of the Georgia Audubon “home team.”

​By Josh Jackson, Fall 2020 Master Birder Graduate
 
Back in April, after a couple weeks of working from home, I hung a bird feeder that had been sitting unused in my garage. While missing the energy of the Paste magazine (https:// www.pastemagazine.com) office and the bands who’d stop by to perform in the new Paste Studio in downtown Atlanta, I started noticing the birds in my small, urban backyard and realized I often didn’t know what I was looking at. It turns out the colorful bird hopping on the ground just outside my window wasn’t some funny-looking Robin, but an Eastern Towhee. That flock of exquisitely colored birds with little black masks that were darting en masse from tree to tree were Cedar Waxwings. I’d lived in Atlanta most of my life, but I realized I hadn’t really paid attention to its flying fauna.
 
The stress of isolation—of closed offices and crashing advertising markets—was making it harder to go back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night, so I began going for early-morning walks and carrying a pair of binoculars with me. I started visiting places I didn’t even know existed before the pandemic. It seemed there were as many great parks and nature reserves around Atlanta as there were birds that I had no idea ever visited my city. From the granite outcroppings of Davidson-Arabia Mountain to the marshy wetlands of Constitution Lakes to the forests around the Chattahoochee River, there are so many places to experience nature in and around Atlanta, one of the greenest cities in America. And barely five minutes from my house, Legacy Park in Decatur has turned out to be an oasis for birds of all kinds.
 
I used the Merlin app to identify the birds and the eBird app to keep track of what I’d seen. By the end of June, I bought a telephoto lens for my wife’s camera and started carrying it with me and soon after started the Birds of Atlanta project, seeing how many different species I could photograph and post to Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/atl_birds/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/BirdsAtl). My goal was to make it to 100 days. Thanks to all the sparrows, raptors, warblers, wading birds, ducks and colorful visitors that pass through during their migration to more tropical climates, I just posted my 150th bird in 150 days, a Mute Swan that has been hanging out in a small pond in Lawrenceville.
 
Along the way, I met and learned from a community of birders here in Atlanta and took the Master Birder course at Georgia Audubon, which I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn more. My project might be over, and this strange, difficult year may be drawing to a close, but I'm looking forward to a lot more birding in the years to come—and to finding out what birding is like when we're not in the middle of a pandemic. Here are some of the photos I took along the way.

Georgia Audubon announced four new members elected by members to the Board of Directors at their virtual annual meeting on Sunday, December 13. Joshua Andrews, Robert Cooper, Marc Goncher, and Susie Maclin were elected for three-year terms, beginning January 1, 2021. In addition, Shannon Fair was elected to return for a second three-year term.
 
Joshua Andrews currently serves as the Manager of Environmental Affairs for Georgia Power Company, in Atlanta, where he is responsible for managing a multi-faceted team in support of environmental compliance and policy related activities related to air, water and natural resources permitting, environmental laboratory, and environmental compliance assurance. He has nearly a decade of experience working with an electric utility with a primary focus on state electric utility regulatory efforts. Joshua has worked for Georgia Power Company since 2017. Prior to this time, he worked for Southern Nuclear Operating Company in Birmingham, Alabama, and Savannah River Remediation, in Aiken, South Carolina. He earned a B.S. in nuclear and radiological engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology where he swam on the varsity swim team. Joshua lives in Powder Springs.
 
Dr. Robert Cooper is Professor of Ecology and Wildlife Ecology in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens. The Dennis and Sarah Carey Distinguished Professor, Dr. Cooper specializes in wildlife ecology and management, nongame and endangered species (including birds), and wildlife population dynamics. Bob’s research focuses on how human activities influence ecological systems and the services they provide. Birds are his primary focal species because they serve such important ecological roles and are often good ecological indicators, but his research has also touched on other disciplines, including conservation biology and landscape, population, behavioral, and restoration ecology. Since coming to UGA in 1997, Bob has given or co-authored more than 250 presentations at local, regional, and international professional meetings. He has also received more than $10 million in grant money for his research alone or in collaboration with colleagues. Bob holds a B.S. and M.S. from UGA, an M.S. in statistics from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. in wildlife biology from West Virginia University. He is also a member of the American Ornithological Society, the Georgia Ornithological Society, Oconee Rivers Audubon Society, and The Wildlife Society. He has served as an Advisor for Georgia Audubon for the past several years. 
 
Marc Goncher is the Environmental, Safety and Sustainability Legal Counsel for The Coca-Cola Company. Prior to joining Coke, he served in the City of Atlanta Law Department for 12 years, a large portion of which was spent advising the City on compliance with the Clean Water Act. Marc eventually became the Deputy City Attorney that managed the finance legal team, advised the City Council, and reported directly to the City Attorney. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Georgia Attorney General Office's Environmental Section and started his legal career working in private practice in Savannah, Georgia. Marc grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and came to Atlanta in 1993 to attend Emory University, staying to attend Emory Law. Since his arrival in Georgia he has managed to travel to many parts of the state, helped by his participation in the 2011 Class of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership.
 
Susie Maclin is a life-long bird watcher and retired corporate archivist who splits her time between homes in Georgia and Montana. A native of Dallas, Texas, Susie has lived in places ranging from the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) to Kenya, Oklahoma, and New York. She has served in an advisory capacity for both Houston (Texas) Audubon and Montana Audubon, along with her late husband, John Whitmire, who also served on the board of National Audubon for eight years. Susie says that home has always been where “I am currently.” In 2015, on the recommendation of a friend, she signed up to participate in the In-town Christmas Bird Count, where she was a member of Joy Carter’s team, and so began her affiliation with then Atlanta, now Georgia Audubon. Susie participates each year in a Big Bird Day in Montana, and 2021 will mark her 20th consecutive year participating in this event.  Susie has a B.S. in history, from Bartlesville Wesleyan College, and a Masters in library and information science from the University of Oklahoma. She spent her career as a curator and corporate archivist in locations ranging from the Oklahoma History Museum to the Rare Books and Health Sciences Library at Columbia University. She also served as Corporate Archivist and Curator of Special Properties for the American International Group (AIG) in New York City before retiring in 2002.

“We are excited to welcome Joshua, Bob, Marc, and Susie to the Georgia Audubon Board of Directors,” says Esther Stokes, board chair. “These individuals bring a wealth of talents and experiences to the Board that will help Georgia Audubon fulfill its mission of building places where birds and people thrive.”
 
Additional Georgia Audubon board members include Linda DiSantis, LaTresse Snead, Ellen Macht, Melinda Langston, Esther Stokes, Leslie Edwards, Angelou Ezeilo, Jairo Garcia, Joshua Gassman, Gus Kaufman, Evonne Blythers Lapsey, Emmeline Luck, Paige Martin, Jon Philipsborn, and Amanda Woomer.
 
For more information on Georgia Audubon, visit www.GeorgiaAudubon.org.
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About Georgia Audubon: Georgia Audubon is building places where birds and people thrive. We create bird-friendly communities through conservation, education, and community engagement. 

Charles Loeb was presented with the 2020 Scottie Johnson Spirit Award at the Georgia Audubon Annual Meeting on December 13. Charles has been a dedicated and generous volunteer with Georgia Audubon and has served on the board of directors since 2015, serving as treasurer for most of his tenure. Georgia Audubon would not be the organization that it is today without Charles Loeb. Under his advisement, Atlanta Audubon established and reached a number of meaningful financial milestones, including the creation of our reserve investment account, and this financial leadership placed the organization in a position to become the statewide Georgia Audubon earlier this year. Charles and his wife, Susan, are well known in the Audubon community as avid birders, sanctuary certifiers, and volunteers. We thank Charles for his dedication to Georgia Audubon.
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About the Award
In 2018, Georgia Audubon lost an incredibly dedicated volunteer and dear friend, Ms. Eleanor Scott Johnson. Scottie, as her family and friends called her, was an avid birder and long-time volunteer for Georgia Audubon. There wasn’t a task that Scottie wasn’t up for, whether that was giving educational presentations, walking a Project Safe Flight route, certifying wildlife sanctuaries, or writing the Ask Chippy column. Scottie always raised her hand to help us out. She was a nurse, a mother, a Master Birder, and a wonderful human being with an amazing spirit. Although we lost Scottie to cancer in 2018, we continue to celebrate her spirit, kindness, and perseverance annually by honoring an outstanding volunteer with the Scottie Johnson Spirit Award. Anne McCallum, a long-time volunteer with Georgia Audubon received the inaugural award in 2019.

Georgia Audubon commissioned a watercolor painting of a Red-headed Woodpecker by Amanda Woomer, Georgia Audubon Board Member, to present to Charles in recognition of his service to Georgia Audubon.
 

by Dottie Head, Director of Communications

Visitors to Elachee Nature Science Center, in Gainesville, will notice some new window treatments on the Visitor Center windows, including images of Georgia birds and wildlife and tiny dots adorning the glass. The purpose of the treatments is to prevent birds from flying into the windows, an all too common problem. The project is thanks to a partnership between Georgia Audubon and Elachee Nature Science Center, with a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund.

The treatments are a special CollidEscape film that reduces the transparency of the glass and breaks up reflection, preventing bird-window strikes. CollideEscape film has been applied to approximately 538 square feet of Elachee’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 Betuel. “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.”

“The Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve is designated as a National Audubon Society Important Bird Area,” explains Peter Gordon, Elachee’s Director of Education. “As Elachee Nature Science Center sits in this 1,440-acre protected green space, these special window treatments are a terrific addition to our buildings. With a mission to promote environmental understanding through education and conservation, these treatments will also be an invaluable teaching tool emphasizing the importance of bird conservation to the tens of thousands of children and nature lovers who visit Elachee and hike in the Chicopee Woods each year. Special thanks to Georgia Audubon for selecting Elachee for this beneficial project.”

Elachee Nature Science Center 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.

Elachee Nature Science Center is the seventh 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, Southface Institute, and the Sawnee Mountain Preserve Visitor’s Center.

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 Program since 2015. Since the program began, volunteers have collected more than 1,700 birds of over 115 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 across the state. Georgia Audubon recently announced that it has received an additional grant from the Disney Conservation Fund to treat four additional buildings beginning in 2021.

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 Elachee Nature Science Center: Elachee Nature Science Center promotes environmental understanding through education and conservation.