Celebrate Black Birders Week starting May 31st by following along on social media. Read on to see the special hashtags and events for each day.

National Audubon Society issued a statement about the incident in Central Park’s Ramble that occurred when Christian Cooper, who is black and a board member of New York City Audubon Society, asked a white woman to put her dog on a leash.

Join us online! Read on to learn about some of the virtual classes, workshops and events we have planned.

ASNV, National Audubon Society and the other five Audubon chapters in Virginia have submitted a letter to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) supporting a discussion draft of regulations to implement Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protections for birds in Virginia.

Last week, I decided to change my exercise routine by taking my kayak to Mason Neck State Park. But when I got into the boat my workout plans faded away, overwhelmed by the quiet beauty of a cloudless, balmy morning.

Many Audubon education and advocacy programs have been canceled or paused due to Covid-19. Fortunately, the Audubon at Home (AAH) program continues. Applicant numbers are down, but people who are proactive, enthusiastic and committed about attracting native wildlife to their yards continue to apply.

You’d think with a name like the Shoebill Stork (Balaeniceps rex), this four-foot-tall monstrosity, with wings spanning seven feet across, would be in the stork family. It’s actually more closely related to pelicans.

It’s been difficult to get out birding as much as we’d like during the shut-down. That gives us a great opportunity to brush up on our birding skills and knowledge from the comfort of our homes.

If you missed Bill Young’s popular four-part series on Spring Warblers, you can now view the first two sessions on our website here.

Looking for a reason to get out into nature? How about making your property more wildlife-friendly by adding plants native to Virginia? If you missed the Audubon at Home Earth Day webinar that discussed why native plants are important and was full of tips on how to integrate them into landscaping, click here to see the recorded version.

Peregrine Falcons have been nesting on the Riverfront Plaza Building in Richmond since 2003. For thirteen years the same pair, “Ozzie” and “Harriet” occupied the nest. Harriet was last seen in 2016 and Ozzie’s last appearance was in 2017. Last year a new banded male showed up and was joined by an unbanded female this spring.

Bryan Watts, Director of The Center for Conservation Biology, has written a timely article about the importance of social distancing or spacing among various bird species.

Our birding friends tell us how glad they are to have birding during this time of social distancing. Even though they might not be visiting their favorite parks and hot spots, they can walk outside and experience the songs and displays of our region’s spectacular spring migration. When ASNV decided in March to cancel all of our in-person activities because of Covid-19, we received many questions about what was safe to do.

When schools closed due to the Coronavirus, my husband and I decided to homeschool our 10-year-old daughter. We wanted to come up with some interesting science projects to keep her engaged during these challenging times. We started off raising tadpoles, where our daughter would gather data to calculate their survival and growth rates. We thought about designing a vegetation habitat survey or an invertebrate creek survey. Can you tell we’re biologists?

Barred Owls are some of our most intriguing local birds. Most people will recognize their hoot-sequence call that sounds like, “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?” Unlike many other owls, they are semi-nocturnal. Their name comes from their striped plumage, or “bars.” They are the only eastern owls with deep brown eyes, which can appear blue-black in certain light. Females are larger than males, and only females incubate chicks, or owlets.

Last month we announced the winner of our Hog Island Scholarship for teachers, Phoebe Riegle, a fifth-grade teacher at William Ramsey Elementary School in Alexandria, VA. Unfortunately, she will not have the opportunity to attend “Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week” this year. Hog Island Audubon Camp cancelled their summer programs out of concern for the health and safety of campers, volunteers and staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While in-person Audubon at Home Ambassador visits are paused you can still plan for spring planting with information on our website. Native-only plant vendors in our area will be taking orders in advance and arranging for curbside pick-up.

While working in my garden the other day, I simply had to stop and listen to the chorus of birdsong coming from a nearby tree. In rapid succession, I heard the “peter, peter, peter” of a Tufted Titmouse, a Northern Cardinal’s “cheerily, cheer-up,” the “teakettle, teakettle” song of a Carolina Wren, and assorted chip notes that I couldn’t place – followed by what was unmistakably the ring of a cell phone.

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.

Nearly 70 species of birds that call Virginia home are at serious risk of extinction from climate change and related threats like sea-level rise, forest fires and false springs, according to the National Audubon Society’s recent climate report, Survival by Degrees. And nationally, that number grows to two-thirds of North American bird species.