Boston Flora

Tag: Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

  • Tuesday, December 7, 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm – Nurturing a Bird-Friendly World, Online

    The interest and pleasure in the observation of birds, concern about how climate change is affecting our planet, and the necessity of preserving trees and forests are topics that continue to take on increasing prominence. On December 7 at 6:45, hear from representatives of the National Audubon Society and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo about new and upcoming projects that offer insights into the world of trees and the birds that inhabit them.

    This spring saw the publication of the first field guides to appear from the National Audubon Society since 1995, new and expanded editions of Birds of North America and Trees of North America. The reference books spotlight the conservation statuses of species, highlight the impact of climate change, and feature thousands of full-color photographs. John Rowden, senior director of bird-friendly communities at the National Audubon Society, provides an overview of the new guides and Audubon’s conservation efforts to protect birds and the places they need, from backyards to projects abroad.

    Birds, their migration patterns, and trees are also central to the work of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, and by spring 2022 the zoo’s historic 1928 Bird House will be transformed into a celebration of birds and bird migration through the Americas.

    With almost 100 species of birds, this will be the first zoo exhibition of this size that focuses on the miraculous annual journeys of migratory songbirds, waterfowl, and shorebirds integral to North, Central, and South American ecosystems.

    Through themed walk-through aviaries, interactive experiences, and educational programming, the new Bird House will offer visitors opportunities to connect to birds and the phenomenon of migration in entirely new ways.

    Research wildlife biologist Scott Sillett, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, previews the Bird House project and shares information about bird-friendly campaigns underway at the Smithsonian.

    Rowden and Sillett also discuss ways that anyone can help birds by creating and encouraging bird-friendly spaces and communities, particularly during the winter holiday season.

    Book Sale Information

    Registration Information

    $20 for Smithsonian Members, $25 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

  • Saturday, May 11 – International World Migratory Bird Day

    In 1993, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created International Migratory Bird Day. This educational campaign focused on the Western Hemisphere and celebrates its 25th year in 2018. Since 2007, IMBD has been coordinated by Environment for the Americas (EFTA), a non-profit organization that strives to connect people to bird conservation.

    In 2018, EFTA joins the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) to create a single, global bird conservation education campaign, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). Continuing our tradition with IMBD, WMBD celebrates and brings attention to one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas – bird migration.

    EFTA will continue to coordinate events, programs, and activities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean at protected areas, refuges, parks, museums, schools, zoos, and more. As many as 700 events and programs are hosted annually to introduce the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them.

    This year commemorates the 25th anniversary of International Migratory Bird Dat, the first Hemisphere-wide celebration of migratory birds. In December, 2017, Environment for the Americas (EFTA) formalized an innovative partnership with the Convention on Migratory Species and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.

    This new alliance will further migratory bird conservation around the globe by creating a worldwide campaign organized around the planet’s major migratory bird corridors, the African-Eurasian, the East Asian-Australasian, and the Americas.

    By promoting the same event name, annual conservation theme, and messaging, we combine our voices into a global chorus to boost the urgent need for their conservation. EFTA will continue to focus its efforts on the flyways in the Americas to highlight the need to conserve migratory birds and protect their habitats, which range from Canada to Argentina to the Caribbean.

    For a complete listing of events, visit http://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/events-map

  • Wednesday, September 23, 10:00 am – Birds of Two Worlds

    The Birds & Beansâ„¢ story began in Toronto in 1998 when Madeleine and David Pritchard opened their Café and Roastery – serving only ‘Bird Friendly’® coffee. Ten years later Scott Weidensaul (Pulitzer prize finalist author and naturalist, ‘Living on the Wind’, ‘Of a Feather’) and Bill Wilson took up the cause to shift coffee drinking behavior of bird lovers in New England and New York.  Bill’s Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) ‘Bird Friendly’® certification means that Birds & Beans â„¢ coffee is 100%-organic shade-grown, ensuring the conservation of migratory bird habitat in Latin America. Tanagers, thrushes, orioles, warblers, oven-birds and other wonderful birds nesting in Northeast America find sanctuary in the rustic canopy, rain forest-like environments of family coffee farms that carry the SMBC certification. Sun grown coffee – genetically modified and heavily dependent on chemical fertilization, pesticides and herbicides – adds to the destruction of critical bird habitat in Latin America. ‘Birds & Beans the good coffee’ â„¢ is part of the solution. He wants to help add thousands of hectares of shade grown, organic coffee habitat to the farms already producing a truly sustainable and environmentally responsible crop.

    The Birds & Beans team has grown to include three ‘ Voices for the Birds‘ – authors, naturalists, educators and conservationists. Kenn Kaufman (‘Kingbird Highway’, Kaufman Field Guide series) and Bridget Stutchbury (‘Silence of Songbirds’, Professor and Director of The Stutchbury Lab at York University, Toronto) have joined Scott Weidensaul in getting the word out about The Good Coffee. Kenn, Bridget and Scott are touring New England and New York in 2009 and 2010 for The Birds & Beans Talks â„¢, a series of free lectures about the birds we know and love and how our lives and theirs are inexorably connected.   An optional lunch with our speaker will follow the Garden Club of the Back Bay  meeting, which will take place at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.  Guests welcome. Pre-registration required.  Luncheon is $19 per person.  For additional information, email info@bostonflora.com.

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