Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this stressful time. We at Oconee Rivers Audubon Society care deeply about the wellbeing of members within our community. Therefore, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, we will be cancelling our upcoming April monthly meeting. All bird walks are also cancelled through April 7th. Please check our website, social media accounts, and member emails for further updates of our activities. If you have any questions, please reach out to our president, Lauren Gingerella, at president@oconeeriversaudubon.org. We thank you for your support and understanding.

Please join us for our monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5th, at Sandy Creek Nature Center where our very own president, Lauren Gingerella, will discuss her work developing a conservation strategy for Wilson’s Plovers.

Wilson’s Plovers are listed as a “Species of High Concern” on the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan. Predators limit their nesting success, leading to a decrease in the number of chicks produced each year. Lauren conducted an experiment to determine how well nest exclosures work to increase the number of nests that successfully hatch. She found that exclosures were successful at preventing mammal and bird predators from eating eggs or destroying nests.

Please join us for a free screening of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "Bird of Prey" (http://birdofpreymovie.com/) on Monday, February 24th at 7pm at the UGA Miller Learning Center Room 350. The documentary follows wildlife cinematographer, Neil Rettig's journey into the jungles of the Philippines to document the Great Philippine Eagle and tells the story of the species' dwindling population and the group of people striving to save it from extinction.

ORAS is excited to announce the opening of the Spring 2020 Conservation Grant application cycle! If you are conducting research or completing a project with an emphasis on bird conservation, habitat improvement, or environmental education, we encourage you to apply for the grant. Preference will be given to projects located within the Athens-Clarke County area, but considerations will also be given to other locations in Georgia and surrounding states. Application deadline is March 15th, 2020. Please visit our Conservation Grants page (http://oconeeriversaudubon.org/grant) for more information about the grant and application process. 

Please join us for our monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, February 6th at Sandy Creek Nature Center where Gary Crider, Northeast Georgia Invasive Plant Cooperative member, will discuss the most insidious invasive plants in the Georgia Piedmont and what you can do to help native birds. See below for details.

The Oconee Rivers Audubon Society (ORAS) recently received the National Audubon Society's Plants for Birds Burke Grant. With this funding, ORAS will be able to build a high-profile demonstration garden to showcase the importance of native plants to bird conservation while also creating habitat for other wildlife within the Athens community.

Plase join us for the first monthly meeting of 2020 where Clay Delancey, a Research Coordinator at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA, will discuss conservation of Cerulean Warblers. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 9th, at Sandy Creek Nature Center. Please see below for details. 

Student’s from the new Lilly Branch Audubon Society campus chapter will discuss the formation of the chapter at UGA and other topics in ornithology when the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society holds its next meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, December 5th, at Sandy Creek Nature Center.

Local historian, Steven Scurry will discuss Georgia’s first real-estate market, the 10 year war it triggered, and how all that changed the environmental face of the South at our next meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 7th, at Sandy Creek Nature Center. Please see below for details

Botanist and mushroom researcher, Jean Lodge will describe her research on the ancestry, ecology and importance of the mysterious waxcap mushroom during our next meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 3rd, at Sandy Creek Nature Center.