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Quick Links
In This Newsletter
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
What Happened to the Northern Virginia Bird Survey?
ASNV has held the Northern Virginia Bird Survey every June since 1994, providing a picture of the trends over 25 years on the number and species of breeding birds in our area.
Sadly, we could not run the 2020 survey because of the pandemic. The survey requires obtaining permits from several parks and refuges, which were closed when we would have been requesting permits. We would have been organizing teams of counters when pandemic conditions for June were unknown.
We plan to resume the survey in 2021. If you are interested in becoming a survey counter, please contact us at [email protected]. We are looking for birders with some experience who can identify our common Northern Virginia birds by both sight and sound, and who have good hearing.
ASNV thanks Carolyn Williams, who has retired from the survey, for her many years of managing, counting, recording and other work on the survey.
E-Activist Network
Volunteers Needed
The National Audubon Society invites all Auduboners to join its e-activist network. 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.
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President's Corner July 2020
By Tom Blackburn, ASNV President
The covid-19 pandemic had the unexpected result of showing people how important outdoor spaces are for easing the stress of lost jobs, closed schools and worries about infection. But there was another side to the sudden enthusiasm for nature. One Northern Virginia park that remained open had five times its normal number of visitors in April and May. Another local park experienced ten times the number of visitors they had planned on. The number of people venturing into the outdoors for exercise and solace, although soothing and stress-releasing for them, has conversely contributed to more stress on the parks.
As we transition to Phase Three of reopening in Virginia, please “give back” to parks and other outdoor spaces so they can continue to provide the benefits that are so important to us. Good environmental stewardship involves more than simply following the "Leave No Trace" principles of outdoor activity. It also includes taking action to improve our environment. State and county budgets have been hard-hit by the economic downturn caused by the virus. It is inevitable that park budgets will be substantially affected, making it even more important for all of us who enjoy the outdoors to do our part to sustain and improve it. Here are a few things you could do as a steward of the environment:
- Take a small bag with you when you hike, paddle our waterways or birdwatch, and pick up trash as you go. The Cache In Trash Out initiative of the geocaching community is a great example of how to leave nature better than you found it.
- Volunteer to help at a local park. You can plant native plants, remove invasive species, restore trails that were damaged by heavy usage or take on jobs that the parks no longer have the financial resources to perform. Fairfax County’s Opportunity Search page currently lists more than 300 volunteer opportunities, most of them in county parks. You can also find opportunities to volunteer on the websites for Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William Counties, as well as the websites for other counties and cities. Most of these jobs can be done while maintaining social distancing.
- Donate to nonprofit organizations that help protect and enhance the environment. Donations are a great way to help if you can’t get out and do “hands on” work.
Taking care of yourself and others in our community is the most important effort during the pandemic. But if you can also help to sustain and improve our environment, please do your part to help. Taking care of nature is everyone’s responsibility.
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Board of Supervisors Approves a Major Initiative to Enhance County Properties with Native Plants
ASNVers won a big victory on June 9 when the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan to apply natural landscaping to county properties. This will formalize natural landscaping as official policy for the county and is the culmination of many years of effort, led by ASNV.
The vote was 8 to 0, with Supervisors Dan Storck and Rodney Lusk absent because of a Black Lives Matter march in the Mount Vernon area. Previously, the Planning Commission had voted for it unanimously on May 14.
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continued from the previous page
We believe that Fairfax County is the only jurisdiction in the region to adopt this approach as formal policy in a comprehensive plan. Adoption of this amendment means that natural landscaping, which largely uses native plants and trees, will be used on most county properties, especially as the county builds or remodels buildings and grounds.
It would be helpful if Auduboners in Fairfax County thanked their member of the Board of Supervisors. You can find yours here. Click on Find My Supervisor and put in your address.
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Lessons from the Living Landscape – Our Home Habitat: Webinar
With: Rick Darke
When: Monday, August 3, 7:30 PM
Fee Options: $5, $10 or $15
To register, click here.
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.
Sponsors: Audubon Society of Northern Virginia and Plant NOVA Natives.
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Summer and Early Fall Workshops and Classes
Butterfly Identification Workshop with Leslie Ries
 The sight of butterflies fluttering around on a warm day is one of the most iconic signs of summer. These beautiful insects usually only live for a few weeks as adults, but they make quite an impression while they are in their full glory. There is a large variety of butterfly species in our area. Dr. Leslie Ries will focus on identifying the 20 most common butterflies in Northern Virginia. Participants will then be instructed on how to conduct a survey at home or in their neighborhood and upload data to eButterfly. The workshop is FREE, but registration is required.
Instructor: Leslie Ries is an ecologist who focuses on patterns at both medium and large scales. She has worked in the fields of landscape ecology and biogeography with a focus mainly on butterflies. Her current research looks at large-scale patterns.
ONLINE: TBD in July (1 session 1+ hour)
Cost: FREE
Limit: TBD
Register: Here
Photographing Butterflies and Dragonflies with Kristi Odom
The Wonderful Macro World of Bugs
We do not have to go far to marvel at nature, it is all around us. From the patterns on  dragonfly wings to the eyes of bees, you can learn how to photograph stunning images in your own backyard and local parks. This class celebrates the amazing insects found locally and teaches macro photography techniques.
Instructor: Kristi Odom 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. She has a background in sports, concerts and wedding photography but 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.
ONLINE: July 15, 7:00 to 8:30 PM
Fee: $50
Limit: 90
Register: Here
Identifying Shorebirds with Marc Ribaudo
This class is recommended for anyone who would like to tackle shorebird identification on their own. We will spend two evenings online  covering identification tips for shorebirds that can typically be seen in our region. Emphasis will be on shorebirds that pose the biggest identification challenges, such as peeps. We’ll also discuss places to practice and sharpen your new-found skills. A recommended book for this class is The Shorebird Guide by Michael O’Brien, Richard Crossley and Kevin Karlson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006). The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Sibley (Knopf, 2014) is also a good basic field guide.
Instructor: Marc Ribaudo has been birding since he was a teenager in New Jersey in the 1960s. He has a great amount of field experience and is a regular trip leader for the Northern Virginia Bird Club and the Friends of Dyke Marsh.
ONLINE: August 12 and 13 from 7:00 to 8:00 PM
Fee: $25
Limit: 95
Register: Here
Ecological Landscaping with Charles Smith
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 workshop 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.
Instructor: Charles Smith is a native of Arlington, VA, and a naturalist and ecologist with 25 years of experience working primarily in natural resource management, including the Fairfax County Park Authority and five years with Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. He is currently branch chief of Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division, focusing on stream and natural area restoration. He is on the advisory panel for ASNV’s Audubon at Home Program; a US Army veteran; a board member of Virginia Native Plant Society, Prince William Wildflower Society and Prince William Conservation Alliance; and a member of Friends of the Potomac River Refuges. He is a popular Virginia Native Plant Society speaker and has served as an instructor for three chapters of the Virginia Master Naturalists.
Online: September TBD (2 one-hour sessions)
Fee: TBD
Limit: TBD
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ASNV Online Programs
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, 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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Recognizing and Celebrating Black Birders
By Lisa Mackem
After the video of a white woman making racist threats against Christian Cooper, a black birder in Central Park, a group of black professionals working across science, technology, engineering and math known as BlackAFinSTEM, organized #BlackBirdersWeek from May 31 – June 5. The effort resulted in nearly nine hours of Instagram and Facebook Live events and received international attention with over 50,000 viewers and thousands of questions.
Corina Newsome, a field biologist and one of the 30 or more Black Birders Week organizers, wrote an article for Audubon about embracing difficult conversations and building a truly inclusive outdoors. “We have seen the discomfort of white hikers and birders when they encounter us, sometimes suspicious and fearful, other times shocked we’re even there,” said Newsome.
Online events in addition to Black Birders Week and conversations at hashtags like #BlackInNature, #BirdingWhileBlack and #BlackWomenWhoBird received an enormous and positive response, and Newsome was encouraged. “We are at the cusp of a turning point that embraces human diversity as joyfully as the diversity of feathered creatures. To get there, white people must value black lives and hear our voices and lean into uncomfortable conversations about racism and privilege that follow. The birding community must show that it is not neutral.”
Throughout the week, black birders shared their own disturbing encounters with hostile white people and with police officers while they were birding. These experiences included being followed, watched or threatened. Some black birders are hesitant to bird in certain areas, or go birding alone. Black birding panelists also took turns describing their personal happy places to bird – where they saw their favorite birds, or an impressive, colorful diversity of birds.
A frequent objection to #BlackBirdersWeek was the suggestion that birding should not be politicized and white birders don’t “see color.” Sheridan Alford, a graduate student in natural resources responded that putting the “political” label on the objection was dismissive, used  because the objector simply didn’t want to see the issue. “I think putting that [political] label on it is dismissive and putting a blanket over it, because you don’t want to see it anymore. ‘Political’ is just a cop-out.” Newsome said this objector rejected her humanity, which she wanted to bring into the conversation. Drew Lanham, author, ornithologist and professor of ecology and conservation, said, “The point is not to create Black birders; it’s to realize the diversity of thoughts in nature.”
The American Bird Conservancy is acting on its following statement: “ABC not only celebrates the diversity of birds, but also the diversity of all who celebrate and conserve birds. We unequivocally condemn racism in all of its forms, including threats toward people of color who seek to enjoy nature.”
Sheridan Alford asked white people who consider themselves allies to people of color to try and make those people comfortable. “Go talk to them...start with something like ‘What’s the last cool bird you’ve seen?’ Just an icebreaker.” Christian Cooper said that birders should just help each other. “The birds don’t care. Why should we?”
Additional resources for combating racism and building inclusivity:
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ASNV Membership Elects Board Members
On June 7, 2020, ASNV held its Annual Membership Meeting “virtually” for the first time since our founding in 1980. Members elected three new board members and a current member to three-year terms. We’re thrilled to have such talented and dedicated people guiding ASNV into the future.
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. When she retired from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, she enrolled in the then-new Virginia Master Naturalist program and embarked on a second career as an environmental activist and volunteer. She is an Audubon at Home Ambassador, and since 2012 has served as coordinator for the Audubon at Home program in Fairfax County. Now she is a co-director. She’s a founder and president of the Friends of Little Hunting Creek, leads cleanups, and works to preserve riparian habitat on the creek. She’s organized demonstrations urging companies and associations to take responsibility for the litter their products create, and advocates for laws to prevent litter. Betsy serves on Fairfax Supervisor Dan Storck’s Environmental Advisory Committee and is a member of the Fairfax County Chesapeake Bay Exception Review Committee.
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Thank you to ASNV’s departing Board Members
Andrea Auerbach, Robin Duska and Traci McGillicuddy joined the ASNV board in July of 2017.
Andrea Auerbach served on the Youth Education Committee which administers mini-grants to schools and scholarships for teachers to attend Educator’s Week at Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. Andrea also volunteered to help with children’s activities at numerous public events and shared her technical and editing expertise with several other committees.
Robin Duska spent many hours as the Co-coordinator of ASNV’s Audubon at Home program. She spearheaded a management plan that focused the program on specific goals and objectives. At the 2019 National Audubon Convention, Robin was invited to join a panel discussing environmental work with faith communities. The invitation grew from Audubon at Home’s success in winning and managing Burke Grants for six diverse faith communities in our region.
Traci McGillicuddy served on the Youth Education Committee administering grants and volunteering for many public events, especially those involving children. She also coordinated a successful partnership between ASNV and the Children’s Science Center to teach basic birding skills and support a summer program for children and their families to study our regional birds.
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Non-toxic Mosquito Control
It’s summertime and mosquito control companies are once again pushing their services to kill mosquitoes in your yard. Although the companies may claim they target only mosquitoes, the products they use have a broader impact. The products kill mosquitoes but they also kill other insects and insect larvae that birds, reptiles and amphibians rely on as essential food sources. Over the last 50 years, North America has lost over 3 billion birds. Habitat loss is the primary driver of avian decline, but loss of a food source in an area is also loss of habitat. The good news, if you are plagued by mosquitoes, is that there are easy, non-toxic ways to reduce the population in your yard.
Services we contacted in Northern Virginia use sprays containing pyrethrins or their synthetic form, pyrethroids, to kill mosquitoes. The products are not selective for mosquitoes but can kill  all insects and arthropods (spiders, mites, centipedes and millipedes). The material safety data sheet (MSDS) for a product one local company uses lists the pyrethroid Bifenthrin as its active ingredient. The MSDS shows that the product can be used to kill not only mosquitoes, but also ants, bees, wasps, hornets, beetles, centipedes, cicadas, crickets, flies, gnats, moths, spiders, spider mites and fruit flies, among other insects and arthropods. The MSDS specifies that the product is extremely toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates and is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming crops or weeds.
Fortunately, there are non-toxic alternatives that can control mosquitoes. Removing stagnant water and other materials that can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes is not difficult and doesn’t harm other insects or arthropods.
- Identify and empty out any outdoor containers that can accumulate water, including saucers under pot plants.
- Store other containers that could accumulate water such as wheelbarrows, watering cans and recycle bins in a shed or garage.
- Clean out bird baths and replace the water regularly. Adding an aerator also discourages mosquitoes.
- Fix any leaking outdoor faucets that can cause puddles.
- Clean out clogged roof gutters.
- If your yard has any tree stumps with hollowed-out areas, fill them with dirt or mulch.
- Eliminate flexible downspout extenders, which accumulate water in the corrugations even if they are pointed downhill. Consider installing a rain garden as an alternative to manage excess storm water runoff. A properly installed rain garden drains in 12 to 48 hours and the absence of standing water prevents breeding mosquitoes.
- Cover any rain barrels with screening to prevent mosquitoes from entering to lay eggs.
If your yard has containers that can’t be emptied out, covered or turned over every week, such as septic tanks, pools not in use, or ornamental ponds without fish or amphibians to eat larvae, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests adding Bti, or Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Bti is a bacteria found in soil that produces toxins that kill mosquito larvae, blackflies and fungus gnats when they eat it. See the CDC Fact Sheet on Bti. It comes in a variety of forms, including Mosquito Dunks®.
Other possible sources of breeding mosquitoes may not be as obvious.
- Thin out heavy ground cover (such as invasive English ivy) which can also provide a mosquito breeding ground.
- Manage compost piles to discourage mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are attracted to discarded fruit and nectar-containing flowers. Stir in newly-added materials to the middle of a pile to accelerate decomposition and to avoid attracting mosquitoes and other pests. See "Compost Piles and Mosquitoes.”
Passive mosquito traps can provide additional protection and they do not use pyrethroids. Examples include the Biogents GAT, or the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap, developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and marketed as the BioCare AGO. They lure and trap egg-laying mosquitoes.
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Bird of the Month:
Northern Wheatear
By Jessica Bigger
Last fall Kit Fechtig, an avid birder from Pungoteague, Virginia was birding around Machipongo, on Virginia’s barrier island, when he spotted a Northern Wheatear, a small thrush-like bird who is almost never seen in the continental United States. He reported the sighting to the Eastern Shore Post which wrote an article about this rare find.
Northern Wheatears don’t normally come through Virginia. The Atlantic Coast is not part of  their route. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa and then make the arduous trek to Western North America, Alaska and the Yukon or alternatively, Eastern North American to the Canadian Arctic to breed. They usually travel farther north through Greenland or Asia to get to their destinations.
For such a small bird it travels farther than most bird species. When Northern Wheatears leave Africa to head for their breeding grounds, they either travel more than 15,000 km to reach Alaska or they head in the other direction flying 7,500 km to reach the Canadian Arctic. It takes about 2 ½ months for wheatears to reach North American traveling over Asia and around 3 months to fly back to Africa. They spend very little time at their nesting grounds compared to the 4 to 5 months they spend on their wintering grounds.
Wheatears from eastern North America fatten up tremendously while their western counterparts eat far less in preparation for their long journey. “If these birds were human, the rate and extent of fattening, and the physiological processes underlying them, literally would result in these birds being classified as dangerously obese and with type 2 diabetes,” according to an article from The Cornell Lab.
When Northern Wheatears are on their breeding grounds they tend to forage on the ground for insects, occasionally jumping up for an insect snack in flight, but they also eat berries. These little guys will generally raise one brood per year and the male will defend his territory by putting on an elaborate singing and dancing display as well as imitating other bird songs to deter predators from the nest.
There are some hypotheses regarding why some migratory birds end up in the wrong place. Some scientists believe that a bird gets blown off course. A group of researchers back in 2015 had a different view. Based on some research these vagrants might be genetically predisposed to ending up in the wrong location. Either way, it’s always exciting to spot a rare species. Something to add to your life list.
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Help Solve a Bird Mystery
Do you know what bird constructed this nest?
Glenda Booth, ASNV’s longtime advocate for wildlife, discovered this nest in her front yard. She thinks it might have fallen from a redbud or a holly tree but wonders what bird would construct such an “exquisite” nest? Do you know? Go to our Facebook page and post your suggestions.
First correct answer wins an ASNV cap!
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