Birds Georgia

Join us in sharing a massive CONGRATS to Sarah Cantwell, our Coastal Conservation Coordinator, for winning 1ST PLACE in the Coastal Collaboration Pitch Competition at the State of the Georgia Coast Conference! 🎉

Sarah won $10,000 for her pitch centered around Osprey productivity monitoring across coastal Georgia.

Ospreys have recently experienced severe declines along the mid- and north Atlantic coasts. Here in Georgia, we have limited information about Osprey breeding locations, reproductive success, and long-term population trends.

Sarah’s project would involve Birds Georgia working with partners and coastal communities to establish a standardized Osprey monitoring program. The program would map breeding territories and track reproductive success over time, helping fill important gaps in our understanding of Georgia’s Osprey population.

Thank you to UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant for this opportunity, and another huge congrats to Sarah for her vision and passion for Georgia’s coastal birds!

WEATHER ALERT! With showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, we've decided to reschedule this Sunday's field trip to Sam's Lake Bird Sanctuary.

The walk will now take place on October 18th, from 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM.

We hope you'll join us on this new (and hopefully less rainy) date!

October already? 🎃 Let’s talk spooky season and a bird sporting Halloween colors: the American Redstart!

Male American Redstarts are glossy black with bright orange patches on their wings, tail, and sides.

BUT WAIT!

Females and young birds look very different. Instead of black and orange, they’re mostly gray or olive with yellow patches.

One thing males and females have in common is a behavior called “flashing,” or rapidly spreading and closing their tails.

American Redstarts are primarily insect eaters, but they’ll also eat small berries and fruits. You won’t typically see them at your feeders, but planting native serviceberry, magnolia, beautyberry, and other berry-producing plants may help attract them to your yard.

📷 American Redstart (male) by Ingrid Siegert; American Redstart (female) by Steve Rushing, both members of our Photographers Network

Our Beak of the Week belongs to... a Rose-breasted Grosbeak!

Fun fact: The word “grosbeak” comes from the French gros for “thick” and bec for “beak”! With its chunky bill, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak can crush berries, break open tough seeds, and even grind up insects.

These beautiful birds are a favorite among many birders, especially when they stop by backyard bird feeders during migration!

October is here, and so is our lineup of October events and field trips!

We hope to see you at a Birds Georgia outing soon! 🍂 🐦️

It's time to play Beak of the Week!

Can you guess who this bird bill belongs to? Comment here with your guess, and check our Birds Georgia account later in the day to see if you got it right!

We've had a wonderful September celebrating our Fall Flyway Festival!

From bird walks and webinars to our Round Robin event in Athens, it's been an amazing month of enjoying birds and learning about the native Georgia plants that fuel their migration journeys.

A huge THANK YOU to all of our community partners and collaborators who helped to host these events and an especially big shoutout to our Fall Flyway Festival sponsors for their generous support!

Howell Conservation Fund, Georgia Forestry Foundation , Cafe Campesino Roastery , The Georgia Conservancy , State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA , Sunrise Nursery , Native Forest Nursery

Local writer and outdoor enthusiast Joseph Goodall is no newbie to volunteer work, but when he attended Birds Georgia’s ongoing grassland restoration project at Wilburn Farm, he discovered a new world of community-based nature stewardship intertwined with habitat restoration, historic preservation and a network of wildlife advocates.

Read Joey Goodall’s Field Note recounting his experiences participating in the work at Wilburn Farm, which aims to restore the site as a grassland to amplify bird life cycles, here: https://arabiaalliance.org/field-notes/wilburn-farm-grassland-restoration-hosts-birds-butterflies-and-nature-learning/