Wildlife

Bird Feeding Project
Trinity Country Nursery School and Kindergarten, Fairview Village, Pennsylvania
Audubon Partner for the Environment, Trinity Country Nursery School and Kindergarten students proudly display their artwork and bird bulletin board. The class’s bird feeding
project has fueled a number of educational activities, including: identifying birds, testing different types of seeds, learning about bird behavior, and creating artwork
of birds that visit.
 

Golf Course Naturalization
Mesquite Grove Golf Course, Dyess AFB, Texas
In the past five years, Superintendent Danny Walters, along with Natural Resources Manager Kim Walton, and the crew at Mesquite Grove have converted more than 15 acres of formerly managed turfgrass into natural habitat areas.  The taller grasses, along with preexisting woods, meadows, and lakes provide food and shelter for more than 100 species of birds, 14 mammals, and 18 species of reptiles and amphibians. Among the menagerie is the largest member of the tree squirrel group—the fox squirrel.  Fox squirrels prefer woodland borders, where they feed on nuts, seeds, and fruit.  This one laid claim to one of the course’s 30 nest
boxes.

Migratory Bird Protection and Monitoring
Cozumel Country Club, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Many of North America’s “summer birds” spend the winter at Cozumel Island, located off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.  The island is a Mexican National Park and home to a wide array of wildlife, including 543 bird species.  Wildlife biologists at Cozumel Country Club, also located in the park, monitor bird activity using mist nets to study habitat preferences, nest locations, and migration activity.  The data collected is valuable for golf course staff, as well as documentation for ACSP certification.

Osprey Nesting Platform
Hole-in-the-Wall Golf Club, Naples, Florida
Club members and staff erected an osprey platform on the golf course nearly 10 years ago, but for years it remained unoccupied.  Last summer, maintenance staff reworked the platform, adding two perches and raising the sides so that it would more easily contain a nest and prevent it from blowing off in a storm.  Audubon Steward Fred Yarrington reports that after 10 years of waiting, a pair of osprey successfully raised two young this past spring.  “It's been a wonderful event,” says Yarrington, “and without the ACSP, our membership might not have had the pleasure of watching two healthy birds develop.”

School Wildlife Garden
Hinckley Elementary School, Hinckley, Ohio
Students, parents, teachers, and community volunteers worked together to plant the new wildlife garden at Hinckley Elementary School, an Audubon Partner for the Environment.  The project involved 425 students from kindergarten to fifth grade in creating a 2,000-square foot area containing a butterfly garden, bird feeding station, and a dry bed pond.  The garden is intended as a place to learn and to teach about nature and environmental stewardship.