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| If you are reading this page, you are probably interested in how to help birds and other wildlife survive in our ever increasing urban environment. Here are a couple of ways you can turn a fascinating hobby into citizen science. You are already doing the important part - watching birds in your yard, neighborhood and probably any place you go. Now you can contribute to their conservation by sharing your observations with environmental biologist who making decisions about wildlife habitat at the county, state and national level. Here are a couple of ways for you to do it. |
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| Contribute to the Regional Avianfauna Database |
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| Most of you have participated in one of the many ‘counts’ that Mecklenburg Audubon does throughout the year, but have you ever thought about making you daily/weekly bird watching activities really count for the birds in Mecklenburg County? Back in February several board members met with folks from the Conservation Science Office [CSO] of Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Dept. Our primary reason for meeting was to discuss the need for data to support conservation initiatives and local habitat protection efforts in Mecklenburg County. |
| Mecklenburg Audubon’s records of bird species found in what is now the Evergreen Nature Preserve was very influential in getting that property designated a nature preserve. We are again being asked to help in identifying habitats in the county that need protection. COS is compiling a compre-hensive, historical database of Mecklen-burg aviafauna [that’s science talk for birds]. They will be using this information to plan species conservation and habitat preservation efforts in the county. The database will help them with vital questions such as – What is the current local status of species? What species are in decline? What species are increasing? They will also use the data to support land purchase recommendations. |
| CSO has several staff members that monitor most of the county’s public lands and Natural Heritage sites that were identified in the mid 90s. But they need your eyes and ears to tell them what birds are being seen when and where on a daily and seasonal basis. They also need to know where birds are breeding. If you have blue birds, chickadees or robins nesting in your neighborhood they want to know about it. |
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So how can you help? First, take a look at the Field Data Sheet on page five of the newsletter. [There is an electronic copy available on the Mecklenburg website.] Fill out the sheet and submit it whenever you spend more than fifteen minutes looking at birds during a day. Although the database is being compiled by the Mecklenburg Park and Recreation Dept. they are soliciting information from surrounding counties, so you folks in Gaston, Union, Lincoln, Iredell, Cabarrus and York counties aren’t off the hook. This database is intended to be a source of regional information and will be shared with all the surrounding counties. |
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| Secondly, if you have birds nesting in yard, neighborhood or know of any nest elsewhere in the area report them as well. There is a form for reporting nests on the web site as well. |
| Finally for those interested in photography, if you have pictures of birds in Mecklenburg or the surrounding counties, they are needed to support the occurrence of the species. Birds on nest would be great but don’t disturb the nest! Here is a short list of photos needed – bufflehead, Cooper’s hawk, broad-winged hawk, kestrel, Bonaparte’s gull, herring gull, rock pigeon, mourning dove, chimney swift, kingfisher, red-headed woodpecker, yellow-bellied woodpecker, crow, white-breasted nuthatch, brown-headed nuthatch, starling, waxwing, chipping, field, fox, and swamp sparrows, cardinal, red-winged blackbird, grackle, house finch, goldfinch and house sparrow. Check the web site for a longer list of needed photographs. When you send copies include a date and location for the picture. Pictures don’t have to be recent – I am submitting my Anna’s Hummingbird pictures from ‘98. |
| Although I have stressed birds, you can also use the Field Data Sheet to report butterflies, mammals, reptiles, amphi-bians, and plants as well. For more information about this project contact Don Seriff at 704-432-1391 or 9401 Plaza Rd. Ext., Charlotte, NC 28215. Oh, they also need folks to enter the information into the database! |
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