Dear friends, conservationists and birders
It's peak spring migration time and that can only mean one thing - time for the annual Maryland-DC IBA Birdathon! After last year's great success on the eastern shore where we recorded 174 species, this year we are taking a more ambitious approach. The team: Dave Curson of Audubon Maryland-DC, David Ziolkowski and Mikey Lutmerding from the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Bill Hubick, renowned Maryland birder and photographer, and Chris Milensky of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, will make a noon to noon dash from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachians in a bid to find as many bird species as possible in a 24-hour period. We will start at noon on 18th May and finish at noon the next day. Our goal is 200 species!
Please make a pledge to our Birdathon at http://mddc.audubon.org/, as the effort is all for the cause of bird conservation. The Maryland-DC IBA Program is 100% supported by grants and donations. We need your help to continue to protect Maryland's most important places for birds.
Maryland's 42 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are sites of critical importance for birds and the Important Bird Areas Program continues to work hard for bird conservation at these sites across Maryland. Our achievements over the past year include:
1) The SHARP salt marsh bird survey, part of a regional project from Maine to Virginia, was a great success in 2011. Between April and July, a team of 3 Audubon staff counted marsh birds at 260 randomly selected points in VA and MD (207 were in MD), 3 times at each point. Most points needed boat access. This is the first truly randomized survey of marshbirds in Maryland. Results are being used to prioritize the best marshes for habitat restoration in Dorchester County. We are repeating the survey in 2012 to provide an estimate of variability between years - this year's field crew began the survey in late April.
2) Saving salt marshes from sea level rise: In April, Audubon Maryland-DC, in partnership with The Conservation Fund and Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, completed a Strategic Assessment of the predicted impacts of sea level rise on salt marshes in and around Southern Dorchester County IBA, home to globally important populations of Saltmarsh Sparrows and Black Rails. Sea level rise threatens to drown most of these marshes by the end of this century....... unless an adaptation plan is implemented. The Assessment is the first step toward a strategy and corresponding actions, such as facilitating upslope marsh migration, to conserve salt marshes in Dorchester County for the long term.
3) Audubon Maryland-DC is about to launch a similar sea level rise adaptation plan for Somerset-Wicomico Marshes IBA in partnership with Defenders of Wildlife and the Lower Shore Land Trust.
4) In fall 2011 we were delighted to learn that Maryland Department of Environment had finally denied Charles County's application to build a 4-lane highway, the Cross County Connector, through Mattawoman Creek IBA, home to Prothonotary Warblers, Wood Thrushes and other forest-interior birds. Audubon Maryland-DC had been fighting this road project for 2 years in partnership with other member organizations of the Smarter Growth Alliance for Charles County (SGACC). This was a notable and rare conservation success - MDE very rarely denies such permits.
5) Audubon Maryland-DC continued to push for protection of IBAs through land use planning, working with our SGACC partners to push for a Smart Growth scenario in Charles County's comprehensive development plan, which is currently being revised. Several Smart Growth elements have been well-received and we continue to promote them through this ongoing process.
6) In spring 2012 Audubon confirmed globally important status for the Lower C&O Canal IBA, based on the large numbers of Rusty Blackbirds found at McKee-Beshers WMA in Montgomery County in the nonbreeding season. More than 100 of this rapidly declining species frequently occur at McKee-Beshers during winter and on migration.
Please sponsor our Birdathon team by going to our website at http://mddc.audubon.org/ We will produce a write up of our big birding day for all who sponsor us.
Thank you for your support for the birds.
Happy Birding
David Curson
David Curson, PhD
Director of Bird Conservation,
Audubon Maryland-DC.
2901 E. Baltimore St,
Baltimore, MD 21224
Tel: (410) 558 2473.
E-mail:
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