Archive for the ‘Directors’ Category

We welcome you to join the 125th Christmas Bird Count!

Southern Maryland Audubon conducts four counts in different locations on different days. Find one—or more—that fits your schedule.

New to birding? No problem, we’ll match you with experienced teams.

Check out our dates, places and count leaders: 

Point Lookout, Saturday, Dec. 14

Compiler: Bob Boxwell, 410-231-1251 or robertboxwell1@outlook.com

Port Tobacco, Sunday, Dec. 15

Compiler: Gwen Brewer. Coordinator Contact Mike Callahan, 240-765-5192 or raptorsrulemc@gmail.com

Patuxent River, Saturday, Dec. 21

Compiler: Ben Springer, 443-771-6636 (text preferred) or ben.springer@comcast.net

Additional location: Saturday, Dec. 21. Lexington Manor Progressive Park, Lexington Park, MD. Contact Molly Moore @ president.somdaudubon@gmail.com

Ft Belvoir, Maryland Shoreline

Saturday, Jan. 4

MD Sector Coordinators: Lynne Wheeler, 301-751-8097 or somdaudubon@yahoo.com and/or Bob Lukinic, 301-283-6317 or rdlukinic@gmail.com

For more information about Christmas Bird Counts see https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count

Learn how you can join the 125th Christmas Bird Count at a hands-on workshop Saturday, Dec. 7 from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Lexington Park Library in St. Mary’s County. Southern Maryland Audubon leaders will share how to participate in the count and demonstrate how the data you and thousands of other volunteers collect is used to help guide conservation for birds. Beginners and experienced birders welcome.

Presentation may qualify for continuing education hours for Master Naturalists.

Register here: https://stmalib.libnet.info/event/10750810?registration=true

Lexington Park Library, Meeting Room B, 21677 FDR Blvd., Lexington Park, MD 20653

Join us on Zoom Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. for a virtual journey through “The Chesapeake Watershed: History, Birds & Insights for Conservation” with Dr. Wayne Bell, senior associate and former director of the Washington College Center for Environment and Society.

You will learn how land use practices have impacted the Chesapeake from pre-colonial times to the present and how habitat restoration and conservation are now addressing the 30% decline in Northern American bird populations for the future. The lecture may qualify for continuing education for Master Naturalists.

The Zoom link to join the meeting will be emailed to our Osprey email list prior to the talk. If you aren’t on the list, you can join here at the bottom of our homepage.

Huge thanks to the Natural Resources Management class at Forrest Career and Technology Center for their hard work moving mountains of compost and mulch to create the Gateway Native Garden at the Lexington Manor Passive Park Community Garden. The students in Dorothy Birch’s class have adopted our native garden as one of their projects for this year. They’ve planted more than 400 natives in two large beds. We at Southern Maryland Audubon couldn’t be more grateful for their efforts and their interest in learning about the value of native plants in home and public landscapes. We received a grant from National Audubon to build this garden. (Photos by Molly Moore)

Eight-year-old Aurora Huhman, avid birder and fisher, faced a quandary. She was catching more blue catfish than she knew what to do with. Learn how a chance encounter connected one of our youngest members and her passions with a rescued Bald Eagle in the  latest edition of “The Osprey” newsletter here: https://somdaudubon.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/12225241/2024-December-January-Osprey-final.pdf

(Photo by Brett Huhman)

Learn from the experts how to transform your garden into a haven for pollinators, birds & wildlife Tuesday, Nov. 19 @ 6 p.m. in person at the Lexington Park Library!

Southern Maryland Audubon President and Master Gardener Molly Moore also will take you on a visual tour of the Gateway Native Plant garden now being created at the Lexington Manor Passive Park to help you get inspired to build your own! Leave with the tools needed to design an outdoor oasis that attracts and supports our native pollinators, birds, & wildlife!

Register here: https://stmalib.libnet.info/event/11775636?registration=true

Lexington Park Library, 21677 FDR Blvd., Lexington Park, MD

Join our monthly nature Zoom talk on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. to witness new discoveries about the fascinating lives of terns in the Chesapeake Bay. Southern Maryland Audubon Vice President Ben Springer will share details of previously unknown staging areas where flocks of Common Terns rest and feed to fuel their migration flights, and the extraordinary research he helped conduct that has given scientists new insights into these long-distance fliers.

To receive Zoom link please sign up for our “Osprey” newsletter at the bottom of this homepage. If you are already signed up, you will receive the Zoom link several days before the talk.

Presentation may qualify for Master Naturalist continuing education hours.

(Common Tern chick by Ben Springer)

“SLOW BIRDING: EXPERIENCE BIRDS DIFFERENTLY” with Audubon President Molly Moore. Slow birding offers a different approach focused on fine tuning your birding skills and forging a deeper connection with birds and their habitat. Join us for a relaxing meander along the paths of this beautiful park with its stately trees, open fields, woodland edges and fascinating history. We welcome beginners wanting to ease into birding, nature journallers seeking an opportunity to sketch, and experienced birders looking for a closer connection to birds and nature. Easy terrain, much of it on paved paths and pedestrian roadways. Loaner binoculars available if you do not have your own. We will provide sketch books and pens. Restrooms in the park near our starting point. Set GPS to above address and look for parking lot with colorful Lexington Manor Passive Park mural. We will meet in parking lot. (It’s across from Three Notch Theatre and past U.S. Post Office. Open to all ages. Please register here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0844A8A923ABFFC70- 50697781-slow

Join us for our Monthly Meeting Zoom talk: Raptor Quest: Chasing America’s Birds of Prey on Wednesday, Oct. 2 @ 7 p.m.

Author and wildlife photographer Scott Harris takes us on his journey find all 53 raptors that call the Lower 48 states home. It took 17 months and more than 100,000 miles across 34 states, but Harris found them all and chronicled his adventures and misadventures in a book, “Raptor Quest: Chasing America’s Raptors.” He shares his tales with us, along with what he learned about these amazing birds and the people he met along the way.

If you are not already on our “Osprey” newsletter list, you can sign up at the bottom of our home page www.somdaudubon.org and we will send you the Zoom link prior to the talk.

Talk may qualify for continuing education hours for Master Naturalists.

Southern Maryland Audubon’s Bird Foto Fest is now open!

We want to fill our first annual bird calendar with photos that highlight Maryland’s amazing bird life and monthly tips for supporting birds and their habitat. 

Winning photos will appear in the calendar. 

Other great shots that don’t make the calendar will be highlighted in our social media, website and our “Osprey” newsletter with full credit to the photographer. Extra credit for birds captured on native plants, trees, shrubs and grasses!

Rules of the game:

Birds must be photographed in Maryland.

Photo should be accompanied by the following info:

• Name of photographer
• Age of all photographers 20 or below. (We want to highlight our youth photographers)
• Email
• Mailing address
• Location and date of photo
• Interesting anecdote about how the photo was captured
• Contestants may enter up to 5 photos

Photograph format:

• Photos must be submitted digitally in landscape (horizontal) format
• Sized 8 inches by 10 inches in a .jpg format with a minimum file size of 6 megapixels.
• Send your entries to president.somdaudubon@gmail.com
• DEADLINE IS SEPT. 30, 2024