Audubon to host talk on avian conservation initiatives in Atlanta: Project Safe Flight

ATHENS – Conservation director at the Atlanta Audubon Society, will discuss avian conservation initiatives in Atlanta at the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society’s next monthly meeting.

Adam Betuel, conservation director at the Atlanta Audubon Society, will be speaking about the conservation initiatives he and his colleagues are working on in Atlanta, primarily focusing on Project Safe Flight Atlanta (PSFA).  PSFA is a program focused on the ever expanding issue of bird-building collisions.

Avian mortality caused by collisions with buildings is the third leading cause of bird death in the United States, behind only habitat loss and cat predation. As our society continues to urbanize and as more and more studies focus on complete life cycle conservation, how birds can safely traverse our cities is of great importance. Betuel will discuss what he is doing in Atlanta to better understand this issue locally, how he hopes to make Atlanta a more bird-friendly city, and ways in which you can make your home safer for birds when the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society holds its next meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 2, at Sandy Creek Nature Center.

Betuel is the first ever conservation director at Atlanta Audubon, accepting the position in the fall of 2015. He has a B.S. in Zoology from Ohio State University and is finishing up his graduate degree from Indiana State University. Adam has extensive experience as a field ornithologist; working on purple martin research in the Outer Banks, wetland bird monitoring in central Florida, white-throated sparrow behavioral studies in upstate New York, and avian surveying throughout the nation of Paraguay.

The meeting will be held in the Nature Center’s Education and Visitor Center, 205 Old Commerce Road off U.S. Highway 441 north of Athens. To reach the center from the Loop 10 bypass, exit at U.S. Highway 441/Commerce Road and turn north toward Commerce. Go approximately a mile, turn left at the Sandy Creek Nature Center sign and go to the end of the road. Turn left at Old Commerce Road; parking for the Education and Visitor Center will be on the right.

For more information, visit www.oconeeriversaudubon.org, or contact Audubon chapter President Brian Cooke at president@oconeeriversaudubon.org or Publicity Chair Heather Abernathy at publicity@oconeeriversaudubon.org.