Calling all bird lovers!

Looking for ways to help and protect these feathery, flying members of our wildlife? Lucky for you, a program called Bird-Friendly Communities is making that possible.

The Bird-Friendly Communities initiative is teaming up with the Audubon Society and its partners in hopes of making a serious impact on North Carolina’s preservation of birds and other wildlife.  

Audubon North Carolina is the leader for bird conservation in North Carolina and says communities can easily help to protect wildlife via their daily lifestyles and resources.

Some of the actions taking place under the program include simple and smart alterations for at-home gardening as well as building and having nest boxes in peoples’ backyards.

One of the Audubon Society’s main missions is to help conserve the Brown-headed Nuthatch, which is an ideal bird in the South.

At least one nuthatch resides in 90 of the 100 counties in North Carolina. Unfortunately, the population is starting to decrease along the Piedmont region because of the declining number of dead trees available that the species uses for nesting.

However, it has been found that the Brown-headed Nuthatch will reside in nest boxes and therefore, under the program, the Audubon Society plans to have 10,000 nest boxes in willing citizens’ yards. Interested individuals are greatly encouraged to take part in this.

Bird-Friendly Gardens

Another initiative calls for people to use plants native to North Carolina in their gardens at home. Native plants are a vital part in birds’ nutrition and habitat. Audubon has released accessible guides to inform people of how to grow bird-friendly plants that are native to their area of the state.

Golf courses are also doing their part: Dr. Mark Stanback of Davidson College showed that places where large pine trees are prevalent are popular wtih the Brown-headed Nuthatches for nesting, and many golf courses have these trees. There have been nuthatch nest boxes placed on golf courses in Davidson, Charlotte and Pinehurst.

There are also many other fun activities for families and friends to do together that will help to support conservation.

If you or your family are interested in taking part of this mission or want to learn more, visit http://nc.audubon.org/creating-bird-friendly-communities-2