Hello Virginia Birders,
The Audubon Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program is looking for volunteers
to help out with our second year of Golden-winged Warbler and (this
year) Bewick's Wren surveys in the Allegheny Highlands region of
Virginia. We will be conducting these surveys on the first Saturday in
June (the 3rd). No experience is necessary.
Last year was a great success and I feel confident in saying that a
great time was had by all. We covered all of Highland and parts of Bath
counties and discovered 26 singing Golden-wingeds - 4 times that of the
recent Highland and Bath County foray! These results helped to identify
this area as an IBA but we need more information to determine exact
boundaries. This year we plan to branch out and survey parts of western
Rockingham and Augusta counties as well as areas in Bath County that we
did not cover last year.
This will be a joint effort by the IBA Program, the USFS, and this year,
the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB). CCB is conducting
Golden-winged Warbler and Bewick's Wren surveys throughout the Ridge and
Valley province this spring to gather comprehensive information about
their population status and distribution in Virginia. As many of you
know, the Bewick's Wren is thought to be extinct in Virginia, but
comprehensive surveys of suitable habitat could turn up undiscovered
pairs (think Ivory Billed!). Our efforts will jointly contribute to
this initiative, the IBA and USFS conservation goals, and the Cornell
Golden-winged Warbler Atlas Project.
Margaret O'Bryan has again generously offered her farm in northern
Highland County as a home base for these surveys. We will be
celebrating our efforts on Saturday night with a big barbecue and
potluck dinner with good people and fantastic scenery.
Please let me (Aimee Weldon) know if you are interested and I will put
you on my list!
Aimee Weldon
_______________________
Aimee Weldon
Virginia IBA Coordinator
P.O. Box 1089
Ashland, VA 23005
804-752-5850 (office)
804-370-3528 (cell)
804-752-5882 (fax)
www.audubon.org
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