Audubon

Sure.

Well, I spent nine years as a vice president of the National Audubon Society, and Audubon always prided itself in being politically a centrist organization that could work on both sides of the aisle.

And so I've had the opportunity, and directly, not just as a consultant, but as a practitioner and conservationist, to experience how economic interests and conservation interests while traditionally a lot of people think that's an either or that it really is and can be an and And when you think about it from a collaborative standpoint, some of their greatest things can be accomplished.

So I do not feel like, and I do feel like rivers and waterways in particular are a unique connection where conservation, recreation, economic development can all come together.

Cape Elizabeth, an extremely rare sighting of a gray heron in Maine, has brought hundreds of birders to the state.

The gray heron, commonly found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, was spotted for the first time in the state on Cape Elizabeth, according to Maine Audubon.

A local birder driving around the Jordan's Farm area in search of horned lark and Lapland longspurs instead stumbled across the rare gray and white creature on October 18, according to a post shared on eBird.

The birder quickly reached out to Maine Audubon's Dave Hitchcox and another fellow birder to confirm his discovery.

Audubon released a rare bird sighting alert on its website.

Since then, hundreds of birders have descended on the working farm in Maine to catch a glimpse of the heron.

Alabama, Montgomery.

Mm hmm.

So I found an article on Audubon called What the Heck is a Lek? The Quirkiest Mating Party on Earth, which I love.

And generally speaking, a lek is when a group of birds come together and the males put on a show to impress or attract a mate as females wander by to check out their options.

A quote from the article is, it might seem unwise for second-rate dancers to expose themselves to that kind of judgment and competition, but assembling in large groups offers two benefits.

Yeah, and I was outside today in my bare feet, so I just keep doing that as long as I can until, you know, I'm a guy, so I almost have to get frostbite before I'll give in and say, yeah, okay, maybe it's cold, I should wear at least socks.

There's a similar study that I'm recalling that was done by the National Audubon Society, and it was based on Minnesota bird species.

And it said that over half of Minnesota's bird species face serious risks from rising temperatures.

And then they went on to say that our state bird, the common loon, one day could lose its summer breeding territory in Minnesota and shift completely into Canada if warming continues.

Both eBird and Merlin were developed and are run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, affectionately known as the Lab of O.

The National Audubon Society is also a very strong advocate for birds and the protection of their habitats.

They also sponsor the Christmas Bird Count, which helps give an annual picture of bird populations.

Some birdwatchers travel long distances to see rare birds, maybe not so good for their carbon footprint.

Okay.

I'm just going to link to an article from the Audubon because it is time people are putting them out.

Yeah.

Put feeders at different levels, offer a variety of seeds.