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Join Juniata Valley Audubon Society for a post-Thanksgiving afternoon hike on Friday, November 23 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Hikers should meet in the Alfarata Station Trailhead parking lot on Main Street in Alexandria at 1 pm to carpool to the Mount Etna Trailhead to hike a leisurely 5 miles along the Juniata River.

Quittapahilla Audubon Society

Saturday, December 15 Quittapahilla Audubon Society 39th annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). This event includes walking and driving to count birds within a prescribed area.  Contact Fritz Heilman (717-273-0487). All welcome. Free and open to the public. Online  www.QASAudubon.org.

Wednesday December 12 Quittapahilla Audubon Society Christmas Social and Member Digitals.

*Note – Social Gathering starts at 6:30pm, Program starts at 7:30pm.  Join us as members share their favorite slides and digital photos with the group.  This is our holiday social, so please bring a plate of holiday treats to share after the program.  Drinks will be provided. Meet in the Chapel of the Lebanon Valley Home, 550 E. Main Street in Annville. For further information, call 269-0675. Online  www.QASAudubon.org    Free and open to the public. Join us!

Tuesday, January 1, 2019 – Quittapahilla Audubon Society field trip along the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) at the Expo Center for the observation of local wintering birds via a walk on the rail trail.  Meet 11 AM at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center parking lot next to LVRT. Leader Jim Fiorentino. For further information, call 269-0675. Online www.QASAudubon.org    Free and open to the public. Join us!

Wyncote Audubon Society

Lecture: What Locally Common Bird Species Can Tell Us About Migration. Bird migration is a complex and fascinating subject. Over the years, much has been learned but there is still much to learn and understand. Birders see migration occurring locally but we often fail to see the big picture and understand the overall timings and movements. This talk will focus on several locally common bird species and look at their migration patterns. This will provide an insight into the bigger picture of the various types and timings of bird migration. Some species to be covered include Osprey, Bald Eagles, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, American Robins, Chimney Swifts and White-throated Sparrows. Come join Bert Filemyr to learn more about this topic on Friday, November 16 at 7:30 pm.

Annual Dinner: The Remarkable Nature of Edward Lear. Edward Lear (1812-1888) is best known and much loved for “The Owl and the Pussycat” and other nonsense poetry. But Lear was also a fine painter of birds, mammals, reptiles, and landscapes and an adventurous, worldwide traveler. During the golden age of natural history book production, Lear’s parrots, macaws, toucans, owls, and other birds stand out as especially powerful and memorable. Robert McCracken Peck, author of The Natural History of Edward Lear (David R. Godine, 2016), will discuss the remarkable life and natural history paintings of this beloved children’s writer, who abruptly and mysteriously abandoned his scientific work soon after he achieved preeminence in the field. Join us with for this wonderful lecture and dinner on December 9 at 5:00 pm at the North Hills Country Club. Register here: https://wyncoteaudubon.org/event/annual-dinner-the-remarkable-nature-of-edward-lear/.

Valley Forge Audubon Society

Thursday, December 6 at 10:00 am – Valley Forge Audubon Society Hike: Lake Galena at Peace Valley Park. Carpool to this loop hike around beautiful Lake Galena. Bring a snack and water. Eat lunch in Ambler. There are bathroom facilities during the hike.
DIRECTIONS: Take the Blue Route (476) to Exit 20 near the Mid-County tolls. Turn right onto Plymouth Road and drive to the first light. Turn left onto Butler Pike. Stay on Butler Pike until it ends at Route 152 (Limekiln Pike.) Turn left onto 152 North. Stay on Route 152. Route 152 turns right onto W. Butler Ave. in the town of Chalfont. Then it makes an immediate left onto N. Main Street. As soon as you see the Chalfont SEPTA station on your left, slow down. Take the second right onto Park Ave. Park Ave. becomes Callowhill Road. Take Callowhill Road to Creek Road. Turn right onto Creek Road. Drive past 230 Creek Road and the first parking lot to the main parking lot. Look for a sign saying “Peace Valley Park, Galena Village, Boat Rental.” Park near the lake.

Sunday December 9 at 12:00 pm – Holiday Open House at the John James Audubon Center. Join us for our annual celebration of John James Audubon’s love of nature! Come visit Mill Grove decorated for the holidays. Enjoy light refreshments, activities, and crafts in our historic barn. There will also be owl presentations with our own Mill Grove owls, and the traditional cookies and cider.

Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania

Saturday, November 17 at 12:00 pm – Birding 101 at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve. Birdwatching is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the United States. Come learn the basics of birding and why watching our feathered friends is such a captivating hobby. Register here: http://aswp.org/events/8331.

Saturday, December 1 at 12:00 pm – Christmas Bird Count Warmup at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve. Want to participate in the world longest running citizen science program? Come enjoy coffee, bagels, and a bird hike as you learn how you can help count birds for science. Learn or review the birds most likely to be seen for Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Counts. Beginners welcome! This includes a classroom session and a short birding walk, conditions permitting. Appropriate for adults and interested youth. 

Summer News 2018

Wyncote Chapter Sees 2,300 Native Plants Finding Homes!

The Wyncote Audubon Society was present and assisted in two native plant sales over four days in Montgomery County.  On May 4th and 5th, over 100 individuals attended the sale at the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust in Huntingdon Valley.  The organization which is based within an Important Bird Area, sold over 700 plants.  The second event was at Collins Nursery in Glenside on May 5 and May 12 and hosted nearly 500 visitors over those two days.  Sixteen hundred plants were sold and are likely thriving in their new home and providing for birds.  Wyncote was also present at the sale at a local nature center and Earth Festival where even more plants found homes! 

Wyncote provides an information table, native plant presentations, and bird walks for partner plant nurseries.  In addition, they accept applications for Bird Habitat Recognition, adding to the 1,100 properties across the state enrolled in the program.  Their efforts, including the upcoming “Arts in the Park” sale and one at Cheltenham Township’s (Bird Town) High School Park Native Plant Sale, are made possible by the Plant for Birds Burkes Grant.

Making the plant-bird connection, Wyncote leads a walk during the native plant sale at Collins Native Nursery in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

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Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania’s Certified Backyard Habitat Program

Your backyard is your sanctuary - and we can help you to make it a beneficial location for birds, insects, butterflies, and animals. When you landscape with native plants, you attract native species to your yard, patio or balcony.

Through a series of simple actions, your yard or patio can serve as a mini nature reserve that will provide important habitat and food sources for birds, pollinators, and wildlife. It’s critically important that we take collective action to protect and improve the environment. Just how critical is it? Bird populations have declined over 40% since the 1960s. Climate change is threatening at least 314 species of birds in the US -- nearly half of the birds in our country! The Monarch Butterfly population is at its lowest since scientists began tracking in the 1970s.

You can help make a difference for wildlife in your backyard. Your property represents an opportunity to make a difference for the health of our natural landscape. Join the movement to help birds, pollinators, and wildlife by creating a Certified Backyard Habitat.

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program will connect you with the resources that you need to make real change in your backyard. We will visit your yard twice during the process, create a custom plan for your property, and provide you with a variety of resources to help you along the way. Our Backyard Habitat programs are an Audubon at Home initiative. Learn more: http://www.aswp.org/pages/backyard-habitat-program

Want to learn more about programs happening at AWSP? Read our newsletter: http://www.aswp.org/pages/the-bulletin

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Appalachian Audubon Society Provides Grant Funding For Audubon PA School Programs

Audubon PA partners with Harrisburg City and Carlisle Area school districts to provide hands-on watershed education to students. Audubon staff works with students and teachers in the classroom throughout the school year, then takes them outside for an exciting field experience in the spring. In Carlisle, 2nd, 5th and 7th-grade students explore bird and aquatic life, and habitats in and around LeTort Spring Run, a world-renowned trout stream. In Harrisburg, 4th-grade students investigate ecosystems and wildlife at Gifford Pinchot State Park. For many Harrisburg students, this is their first experience on a trail or at a state park. All told, Audubon serves nearly 2,000 students between the two school districts.

AAS members who have volunteered with these programs witnessed magical moments — students connecting with the natural world while discovering how aquatic insects, land use, riparian buffers and woodlands, and in-stream habitats are related to water quality and overall community health.

A habitat enhancement project is part of every field experience, and is often the most memorable part of the day for students. Students create or enhance native perennial gardens, remove invasive plants, plant native trees and shrubs, and/or clean up riparian areas. Your donations will support these conservation efforts, such as (but not limited to) purchasing native plants, equipment, tools and/or other materials. 

Planting natives along the riparian buffer.

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Valley Forge Audubon Society Calendar of Events

http://valleyforgeaudubon.org/calendar/

The Valley Forge Audubon Society (VFAS) is a chapter of the National Audubon Society serving members residing in regions of Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Chester County in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Our mission is to preserve birds, other wildlife, and their habitats by promoting appreciation and stewardship of the local natural environment through education and active participation. In partnership with the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, VFAS offers regular bird walks, hikes, events and educational programs that preserve and sustain Audubon’s artistic, scientific, and historic legacy and serve the goals of the National Audubon Society (NAS), “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.”

American Goldfinch

How you can help, right now

Audubon Maryland-DC and Audubon Pennsylvania have joined forces to become Audubon Mid-Atlantic.