White Mountain Audubon Society Education Programs

The White Mountain Audubon Society is involved in several activities which promote conservation of birds and bird habitat and also educate our community about birds.

Beginning Birdwatching Workshop. If you're new to birdwatching, and want to improve your bird identification skills, join us at one of our annual-and very popular-Beginning Birdwatching Workshops. Usually held in late winter, this one-day seminar discusses bird identification tips, how to use field guides and binoculars, using computers to test your birding skills, and attracting birds to your backyard. We also take an afternoon field trip to a local lake to look for waterfowl, Bald Eagles, and other species. Participants come away with lots of information and new friends! Keep checking our calendar for upcoming workshop dates.

Christmas Bird Counts. White Mountain Audubon Society hosts two annual Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) in December of every year. Teams of birdwatchers spread out in their designated survey areas (either Pinetop-Lakeside-Show Low or St. Johns areas) and count every species-and every bird-seen or heard. All our data is submitted to a national repository sponsored by National Audubon Society and is part of an analysis of bird population trends across the continent. The CBC program is the oldest citizen-science bird survey in the world; people have been conducting Christmas Bird Counts since 1900!

Audubon Adventures. We also coordinate with the National Audubon Society to support Audubon Adventures, a school curriculum for teachers of grades 3-6. Teachers are sponsored by our local White Mountain Audubon chapter, and they received a school-year's worth of monthly programs on various environmental topics, including 30 copies of a monthly newspaper-style magazine and an educator's guide. This program is free to interested teachers, and we raise funds throughout the year from local businesses to support this program. Click here for more information on Audubon Adventures.

Great Backyard Bird Count. Get your binoculars focused on your back yard for this program! The Great Backyard Bird Count, held the third weekend in February of every year, is a voluntary survey where individuals tally the number and species of birds seen at their backyard feeders over a three-day weekend. Surveyors enter their data online, and you can see real-time updates on species numbers and geographic locations. Thousands of people have conducted this survey, and now even schools can participate! For more information, click here. This program is sponsored by National Audubon Society, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and Wild Birds Unlimited.

Attracting Birds to Your Yard. White Mountain Audubon Society members can also help YOU attract birds to your home through landscaping, nestbox placement, and birdfeeding. If you are interested in learning more about how to improve your yard for wildlife, please contact us. Check our Links page for web sites you can visit which help you create a bird-friendly yard.