Last week, I decided to change my exercise routine by taking my kayak to Mason Neck State Park. But when I got into the boat...


** June 2020
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** Quick Links
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** In This Newsletter
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* Conservation Counts
* Election of Board Members and Officers
Sunday, June 7, 2020 
* Celebrate Black Birders Week
* Audubon Statement on Incident in Central Park’s Ramble
* AUDUBON AFTERNOON “International Wildlife Photographer Forever Changed by Local Project”
with Kristi Odom
* President's Corner June 2020
* Natural Landscaping on Fairfax County Properties Moves Forward
Board of Supervisors to Act on Tuesday, June 9
* Upcoming Workshops and Classes
* Webinar with Rick Darke: Lessons from the Living Landscape
* Audubon at Home Continues to offer Wildlife Sanctuary Advice Despite COVID-19  
* ASNV Leads Virginia Audubon Chapters in Support of Regulations to Protect Birds
* Virginia Creates New Habitat for Shorebirds
* Bird of the Month:
The Shoebill:  A Slippery Story
* Improve your Birding Skills at Home
* WE NEED YOUR HELP!
* Other News

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**
Conservation Counts
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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, all of the general wildlife and butterfly/dragonfly surveys in this series are suspended until further notice. While chances of transmission may seem slight for outdoor programs like this, it is only prudent to avoid any undue risks until data indicate it is safe to proceed. I will be giving as much notice as possible regarding resumption of the survey schedule.

In the meantime, any findings you may have from your individual outings in the survey circle would be appreciated. Take very good care of yourselves. Looking forward to seeing you all in the not too distant future.

Jim Waggener


** —
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“Watching over at-risk butterflies, bugs” appeared in the Washington Post on May 19. Written and photographed by Kristi Odom, it follows Jim Waggener and his fellow citizen scientists as they document environmental changes through their 25 years of surveys. Kristi will be our Audubon Afternoon speaker on Sunday, June 7 at 3:15 PM. Read the article on our website ([link removed]) .

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**
E-Activist Network
Volunteers Needed
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The National Audubon Society invites all Auduboners to join its e-activist network ([link removed]) . When you subscribe to the Society’s newsletter, you'll receive alerts about important congressional actions and information about how you can affect legislation by contacting your members of Congress.


** Election of Board Members and Officers
Sunday, June 7, 2020
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Annual Meeting: 3:00 – 3:15 PM via Zoom
Registration: Required and open on June 1 here ([link removed])

Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV) will hold its annual membership meeting virtually on Sunday, June 7 from 3:00 to 3:15 PM. All members are invited to vote on incoming Directors and new terms for Officers.

The following people are proposed as members of the ASNV Board of Directors:

Greg Butcher has been on the ASNV Board of Directors since 2014. Greg is the Migratory Species Coordinator for U.S. Forest Service International Programs. He is a Ph.D. ornithologist who has worked for the National Audubon Society, American Birding Association, Partners in Flight, Birders World magazine, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Greg is a recognized public speaker and interpreter for bird conservation and ecology worldwide. He welcomes the opportunity to contribute to Audubon's environmental mission at the local level.

Judy Gallagher has been an Audubon member for more than 25 years. She loves birding, but is most passionate about documenting insects and spiders and their behavior and environment through macro photography.

Judy is a Certified Master Naturalist and a charter member of the Prince William Wildflower Society. She has a Certificate in Natural History Field Studies from Audubon Naturalist Society. She joined ASNV's wonderful Natural Resources Survey when she retired five years ago and spends most of her free time roaming natural spaces in Northern Virginia looking for bugs. She also participates in several Christmas Bird Counts.

Joan Haffey couldn’t help but become a birder through osmosis and the patience of the birding community in Cape May, NJ, where she has vacationed for 30 years. Beginning with NJ Audubon, she is an ongoing and active member of three Audubon chapters. Joan is an Arlington Regional Master Naturalist whose focus is citizen science. This includes participation in regular natural resource surveys and bird counts as well as stream water quality monitoring. She helps enter historical data for some of these surveys in the eBird and PollardBase databases. Until she retired, Joan worked in global health in approximately 45 countries around the globe, including long-term assignments in West Africa, Central America, and the People’s Republic of China. She is fluent in Spanish and comme ci, comme ça in French.

Betsy Martin spent her career as a researcher improving methods and measurements in the decennial census and government surveys. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. When she retired from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, Betsy enrolled in the then-new Virginia Master Naturalist program and embarked on a second career as an environmental activist and volunteer.

She is a certified Master Naturalist and, since 2012, has served as coordinator for the Audubon at Home program in Fairfax County and as an Audubon at Home Ambassador.


** Election of Board Members and Officers
Sunday, June 7, 2020 (continued)
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She also serves on the ASNV Advocacy Committee. She’s president and a founder of the Friends of Little Hunting Creek, and has led clean-ups and worked to preserve riparian habitat on the creek for 20 years. She advocated for laws to prevent litter that afflicts the creek, and organized demonstrations urging companies and associations to take responsibility for the litter their products create. She served on the Little Hunting Creek Steering Committee; a citizen group that helped the county develop its first watershed management plan. In recognition of her efforts, Betsy received a Potomac Champion Award from the Alice Ferguson Foundation, a Conservation Leadership Award from the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, and an Environmental Excellence Award from Fairfax County.

Betsy serves on Fairfax Supervisor Dan Storck’s Environmental Advisory Committee. She was a member of the Fairfax County Wetlands Board from 2007 to 2016, and is a member (and Chair) of the Fairfax County Chesapeake Bay Exception Review Committee.


**
Election of Officers for two-year terms FY 2021 – 2023
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* President: Tom Blackburn ([link removed])
* Vice-President: Greg Butcher ([link removed])
* Secretary: Connie Ericson ([link removed])


** Celebrate Black Birders Week
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"A group of 30 African American scientists, birders and others are hosting #BlackBirdersWeek starting on Sunday. The goal: to encourage birding among more people of color."


** Audubon Statement on Incident in Central Park’s Ramble
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National Audubon Society issued a statement about the incident in Central Park’s Ramble that occurred when Christian Cooper, who is black and a board member of New York City Audubon Society, asked a white woman to put her dog on a leash. Read the statement here ([link removed]) .


** AUDUBON AFTERNOON “International Wildlife Photographer Forever Changed by Local Project”
with Kristi Odom
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** June 7, 2020 3:15 PM via Zoom

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After the ASNV Annual Meeting, at 3:15 PM, we will welcome Kristi Odom to our Audubon Afternoon. Kristi’s article, “Watching over at-risk butterflies, bugs” appeared in the Washington Post ([link removed]) on May 19. It follows Jim Waggener and his fellow citizen scientists as they document environmental changes through their 25 years of surveys. During her Audubon Afternoon presentation, Kristi will talk about her photography throughout the world and how her perspective changed after documenting the wildlife survey team.

Kristi Odom ([link removed]) is an internationally acclaimed photographer, Nikon Ambassador and motivational speaker. She makes her home in the Washington DC area and travels the world shooting, teaching and sharing her insights to help our planet become a better, more loving place. With a background in sports, concerts, and wedding photography, she now works solely on her biggest passion – wildlife. A photographer and filmmaker, her work focuses on connecting people emotionally to animals and celebrating those who have a connection to the natural world. Her accolades include over 60 international photography awards including several from Nature’s Best Photography. Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and featured by Microsoft, Forbes, The Washington Post, Outside Magazine, Nikon, and Rollingstone.com.


** President's Corner June 2020
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**
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** By Tom Blackburn, ASNV President
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Last week, I decided to change my exercise routine by taking my kayak to Mason Neck State Park. But when I got into the boat my workout plans faded away, overwhelmed by the quiet beauty of a cloudless, balmy morning.

Paddling slowly gave me an opportunity to fully experience my surroundings. The Osprey platform by the Visitor Center was empty. This year, as happened in the two previous years, a pair of Canada Geese fought off the Ospreys and hatched a brood of goslings 60 feet above the ground. The geese are gone, of course; the young left the platform just a few hours after hatching for the hazardous trip to the ground. But by then it was too late for the Osprey to nest there. However, Osprey were nesting on several platforms in nearby Belmont Bay.

As I quietly made my way along the shoreline, a Bald Eagle flew up from a nearby log, carrying a fish; I had disturbed his breakfast. Later, I watched a Great Blue Heron point its bill skyward, the better to let its morning catch slip down its throat. Hundreds of tiny fish rippled the water ahead of me, some taking briefly to the air to escape my boat. I watched a Green Heron land on the bank of Kane’s Creek and immediately melt into the shadows of the grasses along the shore. Painted turtles completely covered some of the half-submerged logs, warming up in the morning sun. Early-season dragonflies zipped above the water.

Flowering plants also caught my attention. Yellow flag irises are not native, but they have been in the area for more than 200 years, and they are spectacular on the edges of the park’s ponds. The golf ball-sized yellow blooms of spatterdock (a type of water lily with leaves standing well above the surface of the water) brightened their green leaves in the creek. And on the shore, I spotted early mountain laurel blooms. In another week they will turn the hillside a delicate pink.

Over the years in the park, I have watched fawns timidly venture to the water’s edge for a drink; a group of fox kits pounce into each rain puddle as they walked down a path followed by the vixen, while the male watched warily from the bushes; heard coyotes howling from the woods; surprised a Longnose Gar in the shallows; and been shepherded out of the creek by a beaver that repeatedly slapped its tail to show its irritation at my presence. Each time, I was moving slowly and observantly instead of focusing on getting from one place to another. I am constantly reminded that in nature it’s not necessarily about the destination – it’s about the journey. I hope that you have opportunities to quietly observe the natural world and that it eases your mind and restores your soul, as it does for me.


** Natural Landscaping on Fairfax County Properties Moves Forward
Board of Supervisors to Act on Tuesday, June 9
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On May 14, the Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously approved an amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan to apply natural landscaping to county properties. This measure is the culmination of many years of effort, led by ASNV. It will formalize natural landscaping an official policy for the county.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will consider this proposal on June 9, sometime after 4:00 PM This will be an online, public hearing (no in-person testimony) and you can watch it on Channel 16.

It would be helpful for Fairfax County ASNVers to contact their supervisor and Board Chairman Jeff McKay and urge them to vote for the proposed amendment. If you can, please contact Glenda Booth at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or 703-765-5233. You can find your member of the Board of Supervisors here ([link removed]) . Click on Find My Supervisor and put in your address.

At the May 14 hearing, held electronically, ASNVers Glenda Booth, Betsy Martin, and Cathy Ledec testified in support of the proposal. Cathy Ledec presented her testimony as President of the Pavilions at Huntington Metro Community Association. No one spoke against it. Others who testified in favor were Renee Grebe, Audubon Naturalist Society; Barbara Ryan, McLean Citizens Association; Margaret Fisher, Plant NoVa Natives; Dean Amel, Sierra Club, Mount Vernon Group; and Alan Ford, Virginia Native Plant Society, Potowmack Chapter. You can watch the hearing by clicking here ([link removed]) . Please note that several cases preceded the hearing on the natural landscaping proposal, which began around 8:30 PM.

Among other points, Glenda told the commissioners, “This proposal represents the culmination of many years of research and analysis by staff and outreach to and suggestions from the public. It will formalize natural landscaping as the County’s policy and is a giant step forward in the county’s environmental policies. It is consistent with the County’s Environmental Vision. . .

“Maintaining and restoring natural biodiversity is critical to providing ecological services, prevent extinctions and sustain the planet. National parks and conservation lands in isolated patches cannot alone stem species losses and restore ecological health. We need action in all U.S. localities. Fairfax County can be a leader and an example in maintaining and restoring the biological foundation on which we all depend.” Her complete testimony is here ([link removed]) .

Betsy, Cathy, and Margaret Fisher submitted video testimony, explaining the many benefits of native plants and natural landscaping. You can watch here:
* Betsy Martin Testimony ([link removed])
* Cathy Ledec Testimony ([link removed])
* Margaret Fisher Testimony ([link removed])

The Amendment’s History

On June 21, 2004, at the urging of ASNV, then-Chairman, now 11th District Congressman Gerry Connolly introduced a Board matter directing the county staff to prepare a plan for using natural landscaping on appropriate county properties. Staff submitted a plan in 2005, identified potential sites, and then little formal action was taken until November 20, 2018 when, at the urging of ASNV, Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck won the Board of Supervisors’ support to authorize a comprehensive plan amendment supporting natural landscaping at county facilities.

The comprehensive plan is the over-arching land use guide to decision-making about the natural and built environment. You can read about it here ([link removed]) .

In preparation for the Planning Commission’s public hearing and vote, county staffers met with county agencies, held a meeting with community stakeholders, including ASNV, and organized an informational tour of current county sites, both successful and unsuccessful sites, for the commissioners.

The staff report on the comprehensive plan proposal, including the amendment’s language and rationale, is posted here ([link removed]) . Appendix 2 lists current county sites where natural landscaping has been used.


** Upcoming Workshops and Classes
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** Join us online!
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** Celebrate Pollinator Week!

The World of Pollinators Workshop – Webinar
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With: Larry Cartwright
When: Thursday, June 25, 7:00 to 8:00 PM
FREE, but space is limited and registration is required. WAITLIST ONLY
To Register, click here ([link removed])

There is a wide diversity of pollinators in the world. Most of us are aware of bees and hummingbirds as major pollinators, but there are many other insect and mammal species that distribute pollen from one plant to another to support fertilization. Some plants co-evolved with specific pollinator species and rely solely on them to ensure reproduction. We will discuss how this process is accomplished and what threats face many pollinator species today.

Instructor: Larry Cartwright has been a nature lover for most of his life and is fond of creatures that fly, especially birds and bats. Larry leads the Dyke Marsh Breeding Bird Survey for the National Park Service and the Winter Waterfowl Survey for the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia and compiles the Washington D.C. Christmas Bird Count sponsored by the Audubon Naturalist Society. He is also a participant in a five-year project to update the Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas. Larry has received several awards from scientific and conservation-based organizations, including the Virginia Society of Ornithology’s Jackson M. Abbott Conservation Award for 2013.

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** Ecological Landscaping – Webinar
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With: Charles Smith
When: TBD
Fee: TBD
Coming Soon!

Participants will learn to apply ecological principles to creating backyard habitats and restoring ecosystems. Focus will be on looking not only at the needs of animals, but working with nature and using local ecosystems as examples for selecting species, building soils, and providing natural structure.

This webinar is open to all. It is especially relevant for volunteer Audubon at Home Ambassadors, and will augment basic training for Virginia Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners and qualifies for advanced training hours. It is recommended that attendees have some familiarity with the book, Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy and the ASNV publication "The Nature of Change" which can be downloaded here ([link removed]) .

Instructor: Charles Smith

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** ASNV Online Programs
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We’re now offering most of our classes and workshops online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We will provide recordings of as many of these events as possible and make them available here ([link removed]) , both to keep our members and community engaged while staying at home and to develop an ongoing collection of educational resources. Check back often, as we will add videos and resources as we receive them.

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** Also Coming Soon - Virtual Field Trips!
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Keep your eyes on your inbox and our website ([link removed]) . We’ll be offering field trips from near and far! Weekday events will include visits to birding hot spots from around the world including Florida, Midway, Colombia, and Ecuador just to name a few!

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** Coming this Fall – Ornithology Topics: Avian Biology
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With: Dr. Chris Haney
When: Fall 2020
Check back with us. We plan to offer this course in-person, depending on health advisories.

Instructor: Dr. Chris Haney's expertise straddles the fields of ornithology, including: marine science, climate change, wildlife biology, ecosystem management, and conservation policy. His projects and scholarly work have taken him to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, several countries of southern Africa, and the former Soviet Union. Dr. Haney’s knowledge and enthusiasm in the classroom are contagious!


** Webinar with Rick Darke: Lessons from the Living Landscape
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With: Rick Darke
Date: Monday, August 3, 2020
Time: 7:30 PM
Fee: Options: $5, $10, or $15
To Register: Registration will open June 15 here ([link removed]) .

Rick Darke and his co-horticulturist wife, Melinda Zoehrer, have been creating and tending their home garden for more than a quarter century. The garden is a living laboratory, devoted to proving how residential landscapes can be beautiful, manageable, and joyfully livable while sustaining a vibrant diversity of plant and animal communities. In this presentation, Rick will share insights and strategies from what continues to be an inspiring journey.

Rick heads RICK DARKE LLC, an independent design firm focused on conservation-based landscape design and management. His work is grounded in an observational ethic that blends art, ecology, and horticulture. His projects include parks, botanic gardens, community landscapes, and residential gardens. His many books include The Living landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden, co-authored with Doug Tallamy. For further info visit rickdarke.com ([link removed])

Sponsors: Audubon Society of Northern Virginia and Plant NOVA Natives.


** Audubon at Home Continues to offer Wildlife Sanctuary Advice Despite COVID-19
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** By Lisa Mackem
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Many Audubon education and advocacy programs have been canceled or paused due to COVID-19. Fortunately, the Audubon at Home (AAH) program continues. Applicant numbers are down, but people who are proactive, enthusiastic and committed about attracting native wildlife to their yards continue to apply. “We have quality over quantity,” says Anne Owen. Anne is a Virginia Master Naturalist, AAH Ambassador and the Program Coordinator for AAH in Loudoun County.

Anne sees the Audubon at Home program’s focus on creating, restoring and enriching wildlife habitat at the individual property level as a great example of Doug Tallamy’s call for “Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Anne explains, “Property qualifies as AAH Wildlife Sanctuary with at least two critical habitat features, typically, a pollinator garden (which can be planted in pots) and a water source (a birdbath, natural stream, or rain garden.) Also, the owner must record at least 10 sanctuary species ([link removed]) over a three year period. Certified properties range from an apartment balcony to acres of woodland.”

Anne lives in Loudoun, where the AAH program is a partnership between ASNV and Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. She became involved with the program as a client, shortly after buying her property. She has spent four years planting native plants on grassy or non-productive land and had her front yard professionally landscaped with native plants. Now, Anne enjoys numerous pollinator insects – her main passion during the summer. She has Eastern Phoebes nesting and has observed them feeding their chicks with caterpillars. She also has Eastern Bluebirds, House Finches and House Wrens nesting on her property, and has seen Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers, Wild Turkeys and Red-shouldered Hawks. Other wildlife on her property include frogs, toads, snakes, eastern box turtles, salamanders, raccoons, skunk, possum, rabbits, foxes – even a bear from time to time. Anne continues to be struck by the tremendously rich flora and fauna in Northern Virginia.

“The key thing that sets AAH apart from other wildlife habitat programs,” says Anne, “is that in normal times, an Ambassador visits each property to meet with the client, tour the property, list suggestions to improve the quality of wildlife habitat and follow-up with a report for the client.” With in-person visits suspended, Anne has been offering clients telephone consultations. “It’s not as good as being on-site but it helps people get preliminary information and start creating their habitat.”

“Nature is in trouble and needs our help,” says Anne. “Few people can replant a forest, but you can start adding native plants on your own land to provide habitat and a food source for native insects, then birds will follow. It’s a fun, practical level of engagement.” For example, a pollinator powerhouse like Coneflower (Rudbeckia spp.) will attract native bees and butterflies and they might bring goldfinches when it goes to seed. Most people can satisfy Home Owner Association restrictions with native plants but Anne advises clients to check their HOA requirements first before substantially investing in property changes.

Click here ([link removed]) for more information about the Audubon at Home program.


** ASNV Leads Virginia Audubon Chapters in Support of Regulations to Protect Birds
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ASNV, National Audubon Society and the other five Audubon chapters in Virginia have submitted a letter to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) supporting a discussion draft of regulations to implement Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protections for birds in Virginia. The regulations are necessary because the Trump administration has upended decades of protection for birds by reinterpreting the MBTA to not protect birds from “incidental take,” or unintentional harm, resulting from development activity.

The DGIF’s discussion draft of the regulations ([link removed]) would, if implemented, make Virginia the nationwide leader in offering state-wide protection to migratory birds. The regulations would create a permitting process for incidental take of birds and also require the mitigation of habitat loss associated with development.

ASNV drafted a letter supporting the proposed regulations and a markup of the proposed regulatory language with input from the National Audubon Society. ASNV also solicited the support of the Cape Henry, Northern Neck of Virginia, North Shenandoah Valley, Richmond, and Virginia Beach chapters of the National Audubon Society. All five chapters and National Audubon Society joined ASNV in signing the letter, which you can read here ([link removed]) .

The National Audubon Society is scheduling an on-line meeting with ASNV and DGIF officials to discuss how we can best support the development of the regulations.


** Virginia Creates New Habitat for Shorebirds
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The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) has completed the creation of new habitat for nesting shorebirds that were displaced by construction at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. The South Island at the tunnel complex has for many years been home to 25,000 birds, including 80% of the state’s nesting Royal Terns and Sandwich Terns, 10% of the state-threatened Gull-billed Tern breeding population and over 10% of the Common Tern, Black Skimmer, and Laughing Gull breeding populations in Virginia. That nesting area was paved over earlier this year in connection with the construction.

The American Bird Conservancy, the National Audubon Society, the Virginia Society for Ornithology, and a dedicated group of local citizens advocated for a new nesting area for the birds in letters, phone calls, and meetings with state officials. ASNV and its members also sent letters to state officials. Those efforts paid off, leading in February of this year to a commitment by Governor Northam to create new habitat for the birds.

DGIF has completed the creation of a new nesting area on Rip Raps Island, adjacent to the South Island, by removing trees, eradicating predators, and covering the island with sand and gravel. Seven barges are positioned next to the island and filled with sand and gravel to provide additional nesting space. The National Audubon Society’s Seabird Restoration Program supported the installation of decoys and recorded bird calls to attract birds to the island. The project is a success! One of the citizen advocates reported in mid-May that the island was “mobbed with birds,” a statement that is confirmed by the photo released by DGIF. You can read more about the success of the project in the American Bird Conservancy’s press release ([link removed]) and DGIF’s website ([link removed]) .


** Bird of the Month:
The Shoebill: A Slippery Story
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** By Jessica Bigger
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You’d think with a common name like the shoebill stork (Balaeniceps rex), this four-foot-tall monstrosity, with wings spanning seven inches across, would be in the stork family. It’s actually more closely related to pelicans. Some refer to this bird as the whale-headed stork or Abu-Markhub, which means “father of a slipper” in Arabic, because its bill looks like a large slipper. And if you think you can win in a staring contest with one of these guys, think again. Shoebills’ penetrating “death” stare will stop you dead in your tracks. They don’t talk much, but when they do, their machine gun clatter ([link removed]) just might make you duck for cover.

These birds are so unique looking they have even been found on ancient Egyptian artwork. The Shoebill uses its clog-shaped bill to scoop up and decapitate its prey, as well as bring water to its chicks to keep them cool in the hot African sun. They’re fierce hunters, silently stalking their prey, until...WHAM, they swiftly lean their big head down and forward risking a tumble for a well-deserved snack. Shoebills aren’t picky, they’ll eat a wide variety of small prey, ranging from fish to amphibians. They’ve even snatched small reptiles like baby crocodiles when the opportunity arises. However, their favorite meal is lungfish.

Shoebills live in swamps and wetlands in remote parts of Northeastern Africa (Southern Sudan, Northern Uganda, Western Tanzania, Northeastern Zambia, Zaire, and Rwanda) and their population has been drastically reduced due to illegal poaching, nest disturbance and habitat loss. Bird collectors, especially in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, will pay up to $10,000 for Shoebill eggs and live chicks. There are currently between 3,300-5,300 Shoebills left in the wild compared to 2008, where the numbers were around 5,000-8,000 birds. Consequently, they are listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which puts Shoebills among the 800 bird species that are on the IUCN “vulnerable” list as of December 2019.

The Shoebill’s population decline has not gone unnoticed. Several organizations have been working with locals to watch and monitor their nests. In Zambia, the nonprofit organization that manages the Bangweulu Wetlands partnered with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to establish the Shoebill Guard Program in 2012. During the Shoebill’s breeding season (September – December), local fisherman head out into the field to monitor these giants’ nests. The program has also built more community awareness about these incredibly unique birds.

The importance of getting local community buy-in to protect any threatened or endangered avian species is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to reduce poaching and habitat loss for not only the Shoebill, but for so many other bird species across the globe.



** Links
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** Improve your Birding Skills at Home
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** By Tom Blackburn
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It’s been difficult to get out birding as much as we’d like during the shut-down. That gives us a great opportunity to brush up on our birding skills and knowledge from the comfort of our homes.

Thayer Birding ([link removed]) has a great software program that is free to download during the Pandemic. The download takes some time, but it’s well worth it. The program includes over 1,000 North American species, more than 6,500 photos and 1,500 songs. Quizzes to help you learn your birds are its best feature. You can use the pre-made quizzes or easily create custom bird lists and turn them into personal quizzes. You can also choose from multiple quiz formats, including flash cards, multiple choice or fill-in-the-blanks and specify photos, songs, or both. Last night my wife and I created a custom list of birds and turned it into a quiz on bird songs. We can’t take an ASNV Birding-by-Ear workshop this spring, but maybe online programs will improve our skills.

eBird ([link removed]) is well-known for its user-friendly capability to upload bird lists. You can also prepare for birding trips by finding out what’s been seen at birding hotspots ([link removed]) recently or in any month during the current year or up to the past ten years. eBird’s free Photo & Sound Quiz ([link removed]) option is less well-known but very good. You can create quizzes for a country, a state or a specific location. You can even specify a date, and eBird will create a quiz based on bird lists uploaded for that date and location in the past ten years.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World ([link removed]) program is normally $49 per year, but there’s a 10% discount through June 30. I normally shy away from rentals of software, but Birds of the World’s information about more than 10,000 birds, plus photos, video and audio, convinced me to sign up. And your money is going to support a world-class nonprofit operation.

There are other free bird quiz sites that are fun to explore. You could try Birdingquiz.com ([link removed]) , Birdquiz.net ([link removed]) , Birdphotos.com ([link removed]) or any number of other programs. However, my favorite is the Thayer Birding software I mentioned above because its quizzes can be customized so easily. Of course, you may find your own favorite. The next time you are starved for a little birding experience, try an on-line program!


** WE NEED YOUR HELP!
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ASNV is primarily a volunteer-driven organization. We rely on people like you to carry out most of our organization’s functions.

If you would like to volunteer your time to help support birds and the environment, check out the following opportunities. If you are interested, please send me an email at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) and if you have other ideas about projects you’d like to undertake, let me know about those too.

Volunteer Coordinator: We need an enthusiastic person to help us manage our volunteers. You would keep a roster of volunteers, publicize volunteer opportunities in our newsletter and website, coordinate the volunteers’ activities, and help ensure that their volunteer experiences are good ones.

Speaker: We receive requests from time to time for speakers who can talk about birds, wildlife, habitat, and conservation. Let me know if you would like to join our Speakers Forum. ASNV can provide some training, access to photographs from the National Audubon Society website, and an already-prepared slide show of common birds that you can use or modify to suit your preferences.

Thanks!
Tom Blackburn

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Other News

Bird Feeder in Reston

This store offers a 10% discount to current ASNV members, good on all purchases excluding optics and sale merchandise. When you visit, just tell them you are a member of ASNV and ask for the discount.

1675 Reston Pkwy, Suite J, Reston, VA 20194. (703) 437-3335

New Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Closed Sunday
Curbside service available, call the store at 703-437-3335
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