April 2020

Photo: Prairie Warbler, Will Stuart

By Tom Blackburn

It’s hard to write about anything other than Covid-19 at this juncture, so I’m taking this opportunity to discuss what ASNV is doing as a result of the outbreak and what you can do while we are all at risk.  

Basic ASNV Operations  ASNV Staff are working from home until further notice. Our Board of Directors and committees conduct meetings by telephone. We are answering voice mail, responding to emails and conducting routine business. Please feel free to contact us about ASNV business in the same way as you have done before. 

Classes and activities  We have canceled upcoming classes, bird walks and surveys and postponed client visits by our Audubon at Home Ambassadors.  Given the rate at which new infections are occurring, it’s quite possible that we won’t resume these activities until the fall.  We are investigating whether we can offer classes and activities online and will let you know if we do.  

What can you do while restrictions on activities are in effect?  

• Start a list of the birds you see in your backyard. This is a perfect time to start a yard list just as spring migrants are heading our way. You can get help identifying birds using the free Merlin Bird ID app and the free Audubon Bird Guide App.   

• Take the opportunity to watch the birds more closely.  Put up a bird feeder to attract them to your yard, then watch them as they court, mate, incubate eggs, feed their young and teach them to survive on their own.  

• Contribute to citizen science databases by sending your bird sightings to eBird and your wildlife and plant sightings to iNaturalist. iNaturalist will help identify what you see, just take a photo and submit it.

• Brush up on your birding skills.  If you have a Cornell Lab of Ornithology account, eBird has fun quizzes that allow you to practice identifying birds by sight and by sound.  Purchase one of Cornell Lab’s 15 excellent on-line courses; you can use them with no time limit.

• Improve your yard’s attractiveness to wildlife by planting more native plants. You can get information on what to plant on ASNV’s Audubon at Home pages and the Plant NoVa Natives website.

• Get involved in our advocacy efforts.  We’ll continue to monitor and take action on issues that affect birds, other wildlife and our environment.  Send us an email at info@audubonva.org if you have a concern you’d  like us to look into or you would like to help out.  

Above all, stay healthy!  Please follow the latest guidelines on how to minimize your chance of catching the virus.  

February 2020

Photo: Indigo Bunting, Art Fox

By Tom Blackburn

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying breakfast when we heard a loud thump at our large dining room window.  We’d heard that sound before, so we went outside to see if we could find the injured bird that had hit the window.  We couldn’t find it, but that didn’t mean that the bird had survived.  In many cases, a bird that hits a window dies shortly afterwards due to injury to its brain or body.  In fact, most birds that are killed by window collisions are not found.  They fly off and die later or are quickly scooped up by alert predators.  

Indigo Bunting, Art Fox

This was the last straw for us, so I went off to learn what I could do to protect against bird-window collisions.  But first, I got a stepladder and climbed up so I was even with the middle of the window to see what the birds see.  It was amazing.  There in the middle of the house was an inviting scene with bushes, trees and sky – all reflected perfectly in the window.  No wonder the birds fly into it!  

We settled on  Acopian Bird Savers as a deterrent to bird-window collisions.  This is a series of dark cords spaced 4 inches apart and suspended from above the window so they hang down to the bottom.  You can buy them or make them yourself very easily.  The 4-inch spacing is important since birds will be tempted to fly through the open spaces if they are any larger.  They don’t interfere with our view; we tend to look right past them.      

There are lots of other ways to protect against bird-window collisions.  The American Bird Conservancy has a good list of resources on how to stop birds hitting windows.  And it’s important.  Bird-window collisions kill as many as one billion birds per year – 44% of them from hitting residential buildings.  

You can learn even more about preventing birds from hitting your windows at a special program co-sponsored by ASNV and the Walker Nature Center.  It will be held at the Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Drive in Reston, on March 19.  Put it on your calendar!  We’ll have more information on the event as we get closer to the date.  

January 2020

Photo: Common Mergansers, Gail Norwood/Audubon Photography Awards

By Tom Blackburn

We’ve already had our first snowfall of the season, and it’s getting colder, but that’s not a reason to stop going out to see birds. This is a great time to look for the winter waterfowl that are migrating to our area from colder areas to the north and west.  

Waterfowl are one bright spot among all the disturbing news about the loss of bird populations. Waterfowl populations have increased by 50% over the last 50 years, thanks to funding under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and matching grants from conservation groups. 98 percent of the purchase price of Federal Duck Stamps is used to help acquire and protect wetland habitat and purchase conservation easements for the National Wildlife Refuge system.  

What can you see if you venture out to the Potomac River, wetlands such as Huntley Meadows or sheltered areas like Pohick Bay Regional Park? Look for Northern Pintails, the most elegant of all ducks, with long necks, pointed upturned tails and beautiful gray, white and brown coloring. Male Ruddy Ducks are easy to spot, with blue bills and chestnut-colored bodies. Northern Shovelers, named for their broad, spade-shaped bills, are distinctive with green heads, black backs, white chests and reddish-brown flanks. The large white patch on the head of the male Bufflehead, plus its dark back and white lower body, make this small duck easy to see. Female Common Mergansers and Hooded Mergansers look like they’re having a bad hair day, with ragged red or brown crests.  

Lots of other waterfowl spend their winters here. You can find American Black Ducks, Redheads (the birds, not the humans!), Canvasbacks and Ring-necked Ducks, American Wigeons, Green-winged Teal, Gadwalls and scaup.  

Tundra Swans are wintering in the Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and you can see thousands of Snow Geese at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and other areas along the Chesapeake. Watching a huge flock of Snow Geese fly up from the marsh and circle, as they do every 20 or 30 minutes, is simply awe-inspiring.  

Do you want to learn more about the waterfowl that you can see this winter? Come to “Winter Waterfowl of the Potomac,” our next Audubon Afternoon, at 2:30 PM on Sunday, January 12, 2020. Take a look at our website for more information about this Audubon Afternoon and our free Winter Waterfowl Workshop and field trip. 

December 2019

Photo: Sunrise, Chelsea Weithman

By Tom Blackburn

In late November and early December my mailbox is filled with requests from charitable organizations. Some days there are so many, I’m tempted to ignore them all. But I try not to because sadly, charitable donations have declined over the past several years. Without funding, charitable organizations cannot do the work that is critical to protecting birds and the environment.    

As you open your mail and decide how to allocate your own donations, I hope you will keep Audubon Society of Northern Virginia in mind. ASNV is the primary bird and conservation-oriented organization in Northern Virginia.  For over 38 years, we have conducted citizen science surveys of birds, butterflies, plants and other wildlife. We’ve used our data to conserve habitat, advocate before state and local governments and educate our community about the wonder and importance of all native species – birds, insects, invertebrates, mammals and the plants they depend on. 

You might not know it, but most of ASNV’s work is conducted by hundreds of volunteers. Our ASNV community is made up of passionate nature advocates who conduct research, lead bird walks and field trips, teach classes and workshops and advise people on how to create wildlife-friendly habitat. You can read more about their efforts in our 2019 Annual Report.

We need your donation to support their work!

Please make a donation today to help Audubon Society of Northern Virginia continue the work that is critical to the future of our region and the Earth.  You can donate online or send a check to ASNV, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston VA 20190.  

It’s up to all of us to save birds and our environment.  You can help do your part by making a generous gift to ASNV. 

Let’s help birds thrive!

Thank you!

ASNV is a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.  

November 2019

Photo: Tundra Swans, Randy Streufert

By Tom Blackburn

Each November I look forward to seeing some of my favorite birds – Tundra Swans.  More than 100,000 of these birds are just finishing their three-month migration from north of Hudson Bay in Canada to the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and the coast of North Carolina, where they spend their winters. A sizeable flock usually winters from November through February at the Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Sanctuary just south of Lorton. You can see them from the Great Marsh and Marsh View trails but you’ll probably hear them before you see them. Their high, whooping calls are haunting and unforgettable.  

Tundra Swans eat submerged aquatic vegetation and soft-shelled clams.  2018’s extreme precipitation led to a significant decrease in the amount of submerged aquatic vegetation last winter.  Faced with reduced food supplies, many Tundra Swans moved further south to find more to eat. I hope more of them will spend this winter in our area.

November is also the time to prepare for the Christmas Bird Count, our nation’s longest-running citizen science bird survey. ASNV has conducted the count in the Manassas-Bull Run Sector for 37 years. In 2018, 115 volunteers counted over 13,000 birds. This year’s count will take place on December 15 and we need birders of all skill levels to help out. 

If you’re interested in the 2019 CBC, please join Phil Silas, our CBC compiler, who will lead a workshop from 1 to 3 PM on November 24 at the National Wildlife Federation Building, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive in Reston.  The workshop is free, but registration is required.  You can register, learn more about the Christmas Bird Count, and sign up to participate in the count at http://audubonva.org/christmas-bird-count/.  

Don’t forget that November 5 is Election Day.  All seats in the Virginia legislature are up for re-election, as well as other state-wide and county offices, including school board and county supervisor positions.  Bond initiatives are also on the ballot. Be sure to vote – critical issues are at stake. Our planet depends on you.

October 2019

Photo: Brown Pelicans, Syler Peralta-Ramos/Audubon Photography Awards

Tom Blackburn

When I first became interested in birds about 15 years ago, I was simply attracted by their diversity. But the more I observed them, the more I recognized what amazing creatures they are.

I continue to wonder:

• How can a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, weighing as much as a dime, fly 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico without stopping to rest or eat?

• How do three species of boobies – red-footed, blue-footed, and Nazca – exist on the small Galapagos Islands without competing for food and nesting territory?

• How do birds learn their songs? Do bad singers lose out in the mating competition?

• Did some species of manakins actually compromise their ability to fly when they evolved to make sounds that are more attractive to females?

I have found great enjoyment learning about birds but there’s been a depressing side to my education. People who have been birding far longer than I have, lament that there are so many fewer birds than there were in previous decades.

It turns out they are right.

A recent study in the journal Science, tells us that we have lost more than one in four birds in North America since 1970.

The loss of 2.9 billion birds has to be worrisome to anyone who cares about the future of our planet.

How can you help make our environment more bird-friendly?

• Begin by going to 3billionbirds and discover 7 Simple Actions you can take to help birds.

• Visit our website audubonva.org for ways to help ASNV in our efforts to stop bird declines.

• Become a better birdwatcher so that you can participate in citizen science efforts.

We need everyone who cares about birds to learn more and support all efforts to save them.