Each summer, NVBA offers a full scholarship and transportation to “Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week” at National Audubon Society’s Hog Island Camp in Maine. Here is what our 2024 scholarship winner shared with us.

King Rail populations have declined over the last ten years primarily due to habitat loss. King Rails are among northern Virginia birds that BirdLife International’s State of the Birds 2022 identified as at a tipping point for extinction, having lost half of their population in the last 50 years, and on a trajectory to lose another 50% in the next 50 years if nothing changes.

Billions of birds die each year from human-made causes. NVBA, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, Nature Forward, DarkSky NOVA, DarkSky Virginia, Friends of Dyke Marsh, and Friends of Little Hunting Creek have formed a partnership, Bird Safe NOVA, in an effort to reduce the devastating toll on birds from excess light and window collisions.

We all know the climate is getting hotter. The week of July 22 included the world’s two hottest days in recorded history. We can only anticipate more heat and more drought in the future. How can you help your garden thrive?

As part of our ongoing commitment to inclusivity and making birding accessible to everyone, the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance is excited to celebrate Birdability Week!

The news reports are filled with coverage about the major party conventions for the upcoming Presidential race. It’s important, but don’t let it distract you from keeping track of what’s going on in Virginia.

Judy Gallagher is an ASNV board member and a regular surveyor of local wildlife who also captures photos of what she sees, in particular the less common species.

Watch this space for an almanac entry in October!

We are proud to announce our new name – the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance. Members at our June 9 meeting voted overwhelmingly to adopt the name. We have some work to do to complete the transition, but have already adopted a new logo. We hope you like it as much as we do.

Recently, we were confronted by the question of whether a yard where the homeowner has taken many steps to improve habitat can be certified as a Wildlife Sanctuary when the homeowner also employs a regular mosquito spraying service. We reviewed the evidence and decided that the answer is no: broadcast spraying for mosquitoes is not consistent with creating a functioning wildlife sanctuary in one’s yard. 

The Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (NVBA, formerly Audubon Society of Northern Virginia) has been associated with Occoquan Bay for over 30 years, conducting regular bird, insect, and plant surveys on the Refuge grounds and providing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) staff with valuable data for making decisions about Refuge management. 

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced on July 10 that it has added more than 200 acres of ecologically significant upland forest and forested wetlands along Accokeek Creek in Stafford County to Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve, ensuring their protection for biodiversity conservation.

A mixed hedge consisting of native plant species has the added value of supporting the songbirds in our communities. Privacy screens don’t always work out as planned, though, so here are a few considerations for creating and maintaining them.

Amid what seems like never-ending doom-and-gloom reports about climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and species declines and extinctions, the Eastern Bluebird is a comeback story and some Northern Virginians are helping tell the story.

Our organization, Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (NVBA), has entered into a partnership with the recently-formed Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance (FIRA).

There are several ways to “harvest” the rain that falls on our property and stretch out its usefulness.

Judy Gallagher is an ASNV board member and a regular surveyor of local wildlife who also captures photos of what she sees, in particular the less common species.

Monday Nature Mystery continues! Read on to learn who correctly identified our last mystery.

On Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 1:00 pm at the National Wildlife Federation Building in Reston, ASNV will hold a meeting for members only, to vote on whether to adopt “Northern Virginia Bird Alliance” as its new name.

Stretch Our Parks is both a conservation and a social initiative, aimed at improving and creating wildlife habitat while building a greater commitment by a broader northern Virginia community in saving wildlife.