The

Raven's

Nest

April

2024

Dear Nancy,

It’s getting to be that time of year! Well, yes’m, it’s spring migration and with it the prospect of Neotropical migration getting underway, filling the woods with buoyant birdsong. And yes! It’s getting to be time for our 2024 Birdathon, which will be raising money for some valuable Saw-Whet Owl habitat research in Western North Carolina (read more on this below!). But I am talking about the approach of Audubon North Carolina’s Advocacy Day, which is coming up on May 22 this year!

Every year, members of all the North Carolina Audubon chapters converge on their elected state representatives and make our cases for bills and funding that will help protect birds and the places they need to survive in the state of North Carolina. Last year we succeeded in helping pass a Native Plants bill that calls on the state to plant native trees like oaks—that host over 500 varieties of native caterpillars and insects that nesting birds depend on— rather than exotic ginkgo trees that are destitute of bird food. 

But last year the general assembly also oversaw a considerable weakening of wetlands protections in our state. The end result is that approximately 2.5 million acres, which is more than half of North Carolina’s wetlands, no longer have protections. So this year we will be advocating for wetland protection as well as conservation funding and family land protections.

If you have never participated in Advocacy Day, I highly encourage you to join us. It is a unique opportunity to engage (on Zoom this year—no Raleigh road trip required!) with our elected representatives. Blue Ridge Audubon has maintained a very healthy relationship with our elected leaders and our time with them is really productive. There is no experience necessary! We will have a zoom training session in early May to get everyone up to speed on the issues. If you only have a little time available on May 22, our meetings will be sprinkled through the day, so feel free to join us for the one or two that fit with your schedule.

We hope that you can join us for this great opportunity to speak for the birds. You can register here or contact us for more information. (Please note that the registration alludes to in-person Advocacy Day which chapters closer to Raleigh are doing, but Blue Ridge Audubon will be doing our meetings by Zoom.)

John Koon

President, Blue Ridge Audubon

Join Blue Ridge Audubon for a presentation by Lee Sherrill on the North Carolina Bird Atlas project and its importance to conserving the birds of North Carolina. Learn about the fascinating data on birds that has been collected and how the project will progress during its final 2 years. The North Carolina Bird Atlas is a comprehensive project aimed at documenting the distribution and abundance of bird species throughout the state. Led by a collaboration between the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and North Carolina State University, this ambitious undertaking relies on contributions from the birding community and professional researchers. Through its interactive online platform and community engagement efforts, the North Carolina Bird Atlas fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse birdlife of our state. By collecting data on bird populations across various habitats, the Atlas provides valuable insights into avian ecology, migration patterns, and conservation priorities. 

Lee Sherrill is a Mountain Science Support Specialist in the Wildlife Management Division of NCWRC. A native of North Carolina, Lee graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in natural resources management. Post-graduation, Lee joined the Peace Corps and served 3 years in the upper Amazon region of Ecuador. He began his career with the NCWRC in 2006 at the former Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, first as an educator and then as the program coordinator. In 2022, Lee moved to the Wildlife Management Division within the NCWRC and joined the NC Bird Atlas management team.

See you Tuesday at 7 p.m. in room 206 at the UNCA Reuter Center or online via Zoom!

Blue Ridge Audubon programs are free and open to all. 

It’s time for our chapter elections and we have some amazing candidates this year to present to the membership. The Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter board voted on this slate at our April board meeting and will present it for vote by the membership at the May 21 program meeting.

Board officers will be Danielle DiBella-Lenaway, Vice-president, Dora Brande, Treasurer. Our returning at-large board members are Tom Tribble and Jay Wherley.

Our 2024 nominees for at-large board members are: Jennifer Burke, Kevin Burke, LaShanda Brown, Paula Caycedo, Anna Hardy, Art Hulse and Joe Simon. We are thrilled that these talented and dedicated people have agreed to join our board. You can meet them at the May 21 Blue Ridge Audubon program meeting where there will be a vote on the slate. The board thanks all our candidates for their willingness to serve on the Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter board.

It’s Birdathon time! In early May, teams of Blue Ridge Audubon birders challenge each other to a friendly competition, searching for and identifying as many species of birds as they can in one 24-hour period. Their goal is not only to spot the most birds but, more importantly, to raise money for bird conservation. Since 2010, with your generous support, our Birdathons have raised over $80,000 for bird conservation. This year’s donations will go to the Wild Bird Research Group to support their Northern Saw-whet Owl tracking project. They plan to do a thorough study of Northern Saw-whet Owl breeding and habitat usage in the Southern Appalachians. This information will in turn yield valuable information about Saw-Whet Owl habitat conservation in North Carolina. 

We welcome you to support our efforts! You can join in the fun by forming a team to compete in the Birdathon. Or you can make a donation directly in support of our fundraiser at our website or by printing out this donation form and mailing a check to: Blue Ridge Audubon Birdathon, PO Box 18711, Asheville, NC 28814. You can support the team of your choice with an online or mailed donation. Just be sure to specify or check the team name.

We are most grateful for the generosity of our members in helping us raise money for bird conservation. Thank you all very much for your support! We invite everyone to attend our special Blue Ridge Audubon program on Tuesday, May 21 at the UNCA Reuter Center. Anthony Squitieri of the Wild Bird Research Group will do a presentation on their current work and on their plans for the Saw-Whet Owl research. We will also announce the winning Birdathon team! Our programs are always free but at our May program, we ask folks to please make a donation to the Birdathon at the door. We’ll see you there for a fun and informative evening!

Golden-winged warbler by Alan Lenk

The North Carolina Bird Atlas is a community science project mapping the birds in our state. Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary is located within a 10 square mile “priority block”. A total of 937 of these similarly sized rectangles are roughly evenly spread across the state. With the motto of “People Count Birds Count” this 5-year data collection effort began in 2021. The block containing the Sanctuary is named “Weaverville SE” and has over one thousand hours of volunteer survey effort so far. 

Observers record their input using eBird checklists and add breeding related information to their data. 43 bird species have been confirmed to breed in the block to date.

To learn more about the NC Bird Atlas you can attend or watch the April 16 BRAC Program Meeting “The NC Bird Atlas: The Past, Present and Future” presented by NC Wildlife Resource Commission specialist Lee Sherrill at the UNCA Reuter Center at 7pm.

* * *

Recent notable sightings at Beaver Lake include Osprey and Eastern Meadowlark.



Images:

NC Bird Atlas effort in Weaverville SE Priority Block, March 2024

Pileated Woodpecker feeding young, BLBS, May 2022