Chimney Swift Conservation Forum

Friday, August 21, 2015, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Swift conservation leaders from across the United States are converging on Raleigh to learn from each other and craft further conservation efforts for these amazing birds. Meet these and other swift experts at the reception and hear them discuss their work at our free event.

The Forum takes place at the Nature Research Center, part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, at 121 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC. There is another event at the museum on Friday evening in the older building; be sure to enter the newer building with the globe in front.

Parking

Free parking is available on West Jones Street and nearby city streets after 5:00 PM.  Free parking is also available at the public parking lot two blocks east of the Nature Research Center with entrances on Jones and Edenton Streets.

Dessert Reception: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Presentations: 7:00 – 10:00

Meet our presenters

Rick LaRose, Wake Audubon President

Rick LaRose

Rick will welcome everyone to the forum on behalf of Wake Audubon.

John Connors, Naturalist, Environmental Educator and Wake Audubon

John Connors

Board Member

John is one of the leaders in Wake Audubon’s on-going efforts to educate the public about Chimney Swifts and to raise funds for construction of the Chimney Swift Roosting Tower at Prairie Ridge. He will provide historical information on roosting chimneys in Wake County.

John recently retired from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, where he was a tireless advocate for environmental education (especially birds) for decades. In his role as the Coordinator of the Naturalist Center, John had the opportunity to conduct thousands of programs for tens of thousands of children and visitor’s over the course of his career.

John is perhaps most famous for his interpretation of the annual Ground Hog day ritual, where we get to see John in a coat and top hat making his predictions.  He is a past president of Wake Audubon, and continues to be active and engaged with chapter projects, including his current work on the Chimney Swift tower project.  He has helped Audubon North Carolina get work in Nicaragua, established through his work with Finca Esperanza Verde and the Sister Communities program. He continues to work for birds, including helping with Audubon’s Bird Friendly Communities (BFC) Implementation team.

John was one of the founding members of the WakeNature Preserves Partnership. The mission of this group is to organize and provide resources to identify ecologically valuable, publicly owned open spaces within Wake County, NC, and to build capacity for appropriate management and long-term stewardship of those areas.

John recently received the Audubon North Carolina Bird Lore Conservation Education Award. This award pays tribute to an individual’s exceptional efforts to educate the public about birds, their habitats, and inspiring conservation of the special landscapes we share with all wildlife.

Rua Mordecai, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Science Coordinator, South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative

Rua will present information from Chimney Swift nesting studies.

Rua Mordecai

Rua focuses on the technical details of integrating science and partners to inform conservation decisions and support the LCC’s vision of landscape-scale conservation.

The South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SALCC) is part of a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs). LCCs are applied conservation science partnerships among federal agencies, regional organizations, states, tribes, NGOs, universities and other entities within a geographic area.  They are designed to inform resource management decisions in an integrated fashion across landscapes at a broader scale than any individual partner’s responsibility.  The partnership  will consider landscape-scale stressors, including climate change, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and water scarcity as it attempts to provide a vision for a landscape capable of  sustaining healthy populations of fish, wildlife, plants and cultural resources. The SALCC crosses six states, from southern Virginia to northern Florida.

Paul & Georgean Kyle, Project Directors at the Chimney Swift Conservation Association

Georgean and Paul Kyle

Learn about building nesting structures from these swift conservation leaders.The Chimney Swift Conservation Association, formerly called the Driftwood Wildlife Association, is an all-volunteer effort to expand public awareness about the beneficial nature and the plight of Chimney Swifts. The Kyles have hand-reared and released more than 1100 displaced nestlings, cared for injured adults, designed and built dozens of towers for the swifts to use for nesting and roosting sites and worked tirelessly to educate the public about these benign, beneficial avian insectivores. In 1995 they founded the North American Chimney Swift Nest Site Research Project, a continent-wide conservation initiative, and in 1999 received the National Partners in Flight award for their efforts in Public Awareness.  Their book about the secret life of Chimney Swifts and a companion Chimney Swift tower construction guide were published by the Texas A&M University Press in the spring of 2005. They have pioneered the construction of nesting structures for Chimney Swifts. Their building plans are used nation-wide.

Charlie Collins, Professor Emeritus of Biology at California State University at Long Beach

Charlie Collins

Charlie is an ornithologist specializing in avian ecology; the breeding of biology of terns, skimmer and endangered species; and biology and ecology of swifts. He will talk about the foraging behaviors of swifts.

Charlie’s research findings include documenting that Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger) use the same nest in subsequent years and one individual was recaptured in the same nesting colony nine years after the initial banding (minimum age 10 years 1 month). Nest site fidelity and adult longevity probably contribute to the traditional nest site use previously noted for this and other species of swifts. Charlie was also part of a team of scientist who discovered the migratory path of the Black Swifts through the use of geolocators.

Larry Schwitters, Advocate for the Vaux’s Swift

Larry Schwitters

Larry will talk about west coast roosts and their protection. Larry’s success at mobilizing resources and public interest in Vaux’s Swifts’ migrations along the Pacific Coast has attracted widespread attention. Audubon Magazine several years ago described his key role in seizing the opportunity to save a cherished nearby resting spot for the migrating Swifts. In 2007 the tall old chimney at Monroe’s Wagner Elementary School was scheduled for demolition due to seismic hazard. Larry inspired a coalition of the Eastside, Pilchuck, and Seattle Audubon chapters to fund an engineering study that led to the structure’s seismic upgrade in 2009. Larry has also coordinated preservation of other chimneys along the migration route in Washington, Oregon and California. As a result, the National Audubon Society designated the chimneys as an Important Bird Area in the Northwest Region, and Larry is pursuing a National IBA designation for them as well.

Dennis Evangelista, Research Scientist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dennis Evangelista

Dennis will discuss and show videos of flight patterns of Chimney Swifts at roosts. He uses multi‐camera videography to measure three dimensional dynamics of natural flight behavior, in the field under challenging lighting conditions. His goal is to automatically track every bird in the flock. Dennis came to Chapel Hill in 2013 after completing a Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley where he studied aerial maneuvering, stability and control, during ontogeny and evolution and other topics. His general interests include biomechanics, locomotion and control in variable and extreme environments, fast movements in plants, ecomechanics and evolution.

John Gerwin, Research Scientist and Curator of Birds at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

John Gerwin

John will discuss present efforts at the roosting tower at Prairie Ridge and plans for future scientific and education projects.

John oversees the Museum’s research collections of bird specimens and associated elements.  He currently conducts research on the life cycles of migratory birds, with a focus on breeding biology, but he works on the non-breeding component of some species as well.  Species that John studies include: the Painted Bunting (NC/SC), Black-throated Green Warbler (NC), Swainson’s Warbler (NC/SC), Golden-winged Warbler (Nicaragua), and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (NC).  He primarily uses radio telemetry to study how these birds use the habitats they live in, and their nesting chronologies and reproductive success.  John is also involved in collaborative projects to assess the population genetics study of several species, including Black-throated Green and Swainson’s Warblers and several Southern Appalachian species.

John is the Chairperson for the Scientific Council on Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Birds of NC.  He serves on the Board of Wake Audubon Society; the Important Bird Areas Technical Committee for Audubon NC; the NC Partners In Flight advisory committee; and the Greater Uwharries Conservation Partnership Steering and Research/Monitoring committees.  John co-leads ecotours to local, national and international destinations and has been co-leading an annual bird banding/ecotour trip to various bird-friendly coffee plantations in northern Nicaragua since 2005.

 Rich Merritt, Director of Operations, Audubon NY

Rich Merritt

In his 14-year tenure as Director of Operations for Audubon’s New York State program, Rich has taken the lead on a multitude of conservation programs, including erecting Chimney Swift towers in state parks, coordinating Winter Raptor Surveys at the Fort Edward IBA, and conducting field surveys for Mountain Birdwatch in the high peaks of the Adirondacks. Additionally, his leadership has been pivotal to the restoration of more than 15 acres of native trees and plants in critical wading bird habitat on the East River as well as the removal of phragmites (an often invasive perennial grass) from Hudson River saltmarsh at Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary.

For Rich’s TogetherGreen Fellowship Project, the goal was to erect three Chimney Swift towers in city parks in the Capital Region (Albany and Troy). Chimney Swift populations have been declines in the eastern United States, largely because of habitat loss (eastern forests primarily and manmade chimneys secondarily). Rich executed a plan to build these artificial roosting and nesting towers, which can provide habitat for up to 150 of these birds.

The second part of Rich’s project was to involve schoolchildren in a letter-writing campaign to local decision-makers in an effort to get permission to build the towers and make a difference in their communities. The students displayed a sense of pride and excitement about their role that transcended all expectations. In Albany, Mayor Jennings gave each of the students “Heroes of Conservation” certificates in honor of their efforts to positively contribute to their community.

Brian Shema, Operatons Director, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Brian Shema

Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania has been working to ensure that Chimney Swifts remain common, before it is too late.  Through their Chimney Swift Conservation Program, they are building and installing Chimney Swift Towers throughout the region.  The towers mimic chimneys and provide the appropriate space and structure needed to support roosting and nesting swifts.  The Central tower is approximately 15 feet tall and the inside diameter of the tower is 16 inches.  In many cases, the tower is surrounded by an informational kiosk that describes the structure, its purpose and ASWP’s role in the conservation of swifts.  Some informational panels also contain a QR code which brings start phone users to our website.  To date, ASWP has installed seven towers in two counties and we have acquired a significant amount of support to install and/or coordinate the installation of many, many more.  We have set a goal of 100 towers installed in southwestern Pennsylvania by 2016.

Amy Weidensaul, Director of Grants and Program Development for Audubon Pennsylvania

Amy Weidensaul

Amy Weidensaul is a self-professed “nature nerd,” thanks to a family that nurtured a love of the outdoors since birth. It wasn’t until college that her interest in the environment evolved into a deeper commitment as she navigated through a variety of studies, from entomology surveys to piping plover monitoring to whale behavior, and ultimately to an internship at the Pickering Creek Audubon Center.

Amy continued her long career at Audubon as director of the Shehan Audubon Center in Maryland, and is currently Director of Grants and Program Development for Audubon Pennsylvania, where she is able to further extend her passion for the natural world. Her latest projects focus on underserved school communities: York, PA, where students are restoring riparian habitat within an urban Important Bird Area, and Waggoner’s Gap, which connects students to a hawk watch site along the Kittatinny Ridge through in-class and field experiences.

With the help of her Toyota TogetherGreen Fellowship, Amy built on a teacher development program she created called Connecting Schools and Communities Along the Kittatinny Ridge. This educational network provides middle and high school teachers with the tools and training to implement place-based education and conservation projects for their students, while also supplementing their own academic and professional experiences. Participants have the ability to collaborate through blogs, chat rooms, websites and social media, to strengthen awareness and inspire action.

The 185 mile-long Kittatinny Ridge ecosystem, along which tens of thousands of raptors migrate each year, and which provides critical open space for millions of Pennsylvania residents, faces many threats. Amy knows we must act now to save this critical landscape. Human encroachment along the ridge has increased dramatically in recent decades, and this rising population and growing habitat fragmentation make community engagement even more critical. Working with a large pool of teachers – and thus with many thousands of students – Amy continues to increase awareness and appreciation of this unique natural resource, and inspire greater community action to protect it.

Curtis Smalling, Director of Land Bird Conservation, Audubon North Carolina

Curtis Smalling

Since joining Audubon a decade ago, Curtis has helped North Carolina add three new chapters, unheard of growth at the time. He also serves and advises on several working groups as well as regional and state partnerships, including the North Carolina State Scientific Counsel for Birds and the Atlantic Flyway Initiative. He is a key player in incorporating IBA data into North Carolina’s Statewide Comprehensive Conservation Planning Process, a major tool in citing issues and threats to natural resources across the state, as well as engaging local partners for conservation.

As the statewide IBA Coordinator, Curtis understands the challenge of trying to protect bird’s nesting and wintering habitats on private property. His Toyota TogetherGreen Fellowship helped expand these efforts, enabling him to communicate more efficiently with these owners, and showed landowners how their priorities can be accomplished while still helping birds and other wildlife. Two thirds of the state’s forests are in private ownership, and over 90% of the land in the priority IBAs where Curtis works is privately held. Steps included recruiting and training Audubon chapter mentors, working with communities and improving under-utilized programs through better technical guidance, active management, and financial incentives.

Through increased outreach, improved communications, and better incentives, Curtis’ work keeps landowners more informed about their options, and therefore more inclined to make better choices for their property and for the birds.

Kim Brand, Bird Friendly Communities Coordinator, Audubon North Carolina

Kim Brand

As the Bird-Friendly Communities Coordinator for Audubon North Carolina, Kim leads a statewide Bird-Friendly Communities implementation team that includes chapter leaders and representatives of more than 20 partner organizations. This team empowers people to help birds in cities and towns, focusing especially on native plants, Lights Out, and nest boxes for Brown-headed Nuthatches. Kim also coordinates the new Audubon Ambassadors program under Audubon’s climate initiative. A 2013 Audubon Toyota TogetherGreen Fellow, Kim has led projects for her Audubon chapter ranging from Lights Out to planting bird-friendly yards in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.