Birds Georgia

#FunFactFriday - The American Goldfinch is a year-round resident across most of Georgia though many people don’t realize it because the males only sport their bright yellow feathers in spring and summer. They are often heard overhead chanting their “potato chip, potato chip” flight call. Winter males are drab, unstreaked brown, and females are a dull yellow beneath and more olive above. Goldfinches are strict vegetarians, and their diet consists almost exclusively of seeds from grasses and trees. Purple coneflowers are a favorite, and you will often see birds perched atop, pulling seeds from the flower. If you want to attract them to your yard, plant native plants like thistle and native milkweed that provide fibrous seeds that goldfinch incorporate into their nest and feed their young. At feeders, Goldfinch are attracted to nyger and sunflower seeds. Photo: American Goldfinch, by Mark McDonald, Audubon Photography Awards.

Last month, Birds Georgia was excited to launch a new conservation program called the Habitat Stewardship Program. An offshoot of our popular Wildlife Sanctuary Program for residential properties, the Habitat Stewardship Program is geared towards larger public and private lands of 10 acres or larger. The goal of the program is to enable property stewards to make improvements to their lands for wildlife while offering educational materials, technical assistance, and connections to cost-share resources. Learn more about this program in our latest article in SaportaReport. https://lnkd.in/g8AF4JDE

Give the Gift of Membership This Holiday Season Looking for the perfect gift for the bird lover on your shopping list? How about a gift membership to Birds Georgia? Gift memberships begin at $35 for a one-year Individual Membership, and you can download a card from our website to present to your friend or family member. (They'll get their welcome packet within two weeks of purchase.) Join the flock. Learn more or purchase today at https://ow.ly/V2Zt50Ur0zN

Seeking Participants for Georgia Private Landowners Story Map With funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Birds Georgia is creating a Story Map that features private working lands around the state that are implementing pollinator and bird-friendly habitat management practices. Story Maps are interactive narratives that use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to combine maps, multimedia, and text to create an engaging and user-friendly website. The goal of this Story Map is to serve as an educational tool to showcase the breadth of the wonderful stewardship efforts of our private landowners around the state. If you are a working landowner who manages habitat for pollinators and birds and are interested in being featured or if you have any questions about the Story Map, please contact Heather.Levy@birdsgeorgia.org.

#FunFactFriday – Winter has almost officially begun, and we are seeing waterfowl arrive in ponds and lakes across the state. A smallish duck with a thin bill, the Hooded Merganser is the smallest of three merganser species. Adult males are a beautiful sight with their sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks and a fan-shaped, collapsible crest that makes the head look oversized. The black head has a large white patch that varies in size when the crest is raised or lowered but is always prominent. Females and immatures are gray and brown, with warm, tawny-cinnamon tones on the head. Mergansers are the only duck species that specialize in eating fish, but they also eat aquatic insects and crayfish that they catch by diving under the water. Their habitat ranges from the Northwest to the riparian forest in the Midwest to oak-cypress-tupelo forest in the Southeast. A cavity nester along wooded waterways, mergansers may also take advantage of Wood Duck nest boxes. Nestling Hooded Mergansers make a bold leap to the forest floor from their nesting cavity or box when they are only one day old. Photo by Stephen Ramsden.

Birds Georgia was thrilled to recognize long-time volunteer Jay Davis as the recipient of the 2024 Scottie Johnson Spirit Award at our Holiday Party and Annual Meeting on Sunday, December 8. Jay has been an integral part of our organization's work, hosting field trips across the city, from Decatur to Marietta and all in between. It’s impossible to quantify how many birders and bird enthusiasts have been impacted by his bird-brained ideas. Learn more about Jay's contributions to Birds Georgia and about the award in this post on our blog. https://ow.ly/M6wv50Up540

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Birds Georgia Holiday Party and Annual Meeting on Sunday at our home at the Trees Atlanta Kendeda TreeHouse. It was a great turnout, and we were so excited to see our long-time friends, make some new ones, and share the good news about our work building places where birds and people thrive. We welcomed new board members, thanked outgoing board members, and recognized our amazing and dedicated volunteers. Thanks to everyone who came out for this event, and, if you missed it, we hope to see you at a Birds Georgia field trip or event in the coming year. Good birding!

Earlier this week, Birds Georgia was part of two ribbon cuttings at sites for the Chattahoochee RiverLands. The first was at the new kayak launch at Standing Peachtree Park. This marks the first river access point within the Atlanta city limits and is part of the Camp + Paddle Trail. The second ribbon cutting was at The Chattahoochee RiverLands Showcase site in Mableton. Birds Georgia has partnered with Trust for Public Land to restore bird-friendly habitat at both of these sites. The Chattahoochee RiverLands will reunite the River with the Metro Atlanta Region, and link suburban, urban, and rural communities into a continuous 100-mile public realm. More than a trail, the RiverLands is a linear network of Greenways, Blueways, parks, and the destinations they create, that will bring people to the water’s edge, promote stewardship and conservation of the river, and reveal the subtle magic of the Chattahoochee to all.

Our project at Laverlea Preserve, funded by the Cornell Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative, is officially six months underway. Laverlea Preserve comprises 345 acres of forests, fields, and riparian buffer nestled among an urbanized area in Evans, GA. Birds Georgia and the Central Savannah River Land Trust are restoring a 14-acre field to native grassland habitat to benefit wildlife and also serve as a place where the community can learn more about native habitat and local flora and fauna. Learn more about this work and how you can get involved at https://lnkd.in/g2fRsXTu

#FunFactFriday – A stunning bird, the Northern Cardinal is a common sight across Georgia. Males are a striking red while females are a more subdued brownish-red. Cardinals do not migrate nor do they molt into duller plumage so the deep red plumage of the male cardinal is seen year-round. A bright red cardinal in the snow is a beauty to behold, and cardinals have many symbolic connections, which explains why they are so often depicted on holiday cards and decorations. During breeding season, male cardinals will fiercely defend their breeding territories from other males. If they see their reflection in a glass surface, the cardinals will spend hours fighting off the imaginary intruder. Northern Cardinals will readily come to bird feeders; black oil sunflower is a favorite food. They also enjoy the berries of native plants, like American beautyberry, dogwood, blackberry, and others. They supplement their diet with insects, like beetles and crickets, and feed their young primarily insects because of the high protein value. Photo by Elizabeth Martine, Audubon Photography Awards.