Natural Lands Trust Wednesday announced it will offer an exclusive birding workshop series, Your Big Year, to its members, beginning in November.

Natural Lands Trust was founded in 1953 when a group of avid birders banded together to prevent Gulf Oil from dumping dredging spoils from the Delaware River into the Tinicum Marshes, now the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Today, the organization is dedicated to preserving open space throughout eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, and owns 42 nature preserves totaling nearly 22,000 acres.

“The support of our members is critical to our efforts to restore and maintain habitats on which birds and other native wildlife depend,” says Molly Morrison, Natural Lands Trust’s president. “As a thank you for their support, we’re pleased to offer these workshops and hope they will help to foster our members’ enjoyment of the birds that call our nature preserves ‘home’.”

Throughout the fall and winter, Natural Lands Trust members of all levels may attend a variety of birding workshops. Under the wing of the organization’s seasoned birders, participants will learn to identify the field markings, calls, and nesting habits of songbirds and raptors; and discover ways to promote local bird populations and diversity.

Come spring, Natural Lands Trust members will be ready to take flight as knowledgeable birders at a series of birding outings on Natural Lands Trust’s nature preserves. These field trips will take place on the first Tuesday of the month from November to April (with the exception of the first workshop, which will take place on November 6).

The workshop series will culminate with a discussion of a Big Year, an informal birding challenge to identify the most bird species within one calendar year. Birding experts will share their success stories and tips for birders who would like to take on their own Big Year.

Natural Lands Trust members can register for the series online, or by calling 610-355-5587 x243. Members can also register for individual workshops in lieu of the whole series; space is limited.

Natural Lands Trust is unique among regional land trusts for the amount of land the organization owns and stewards.

“One of the reasons we own so much land is because we believe that saving land from future development is only the first step in conservation,” says Morrison. “We are dedicated to caring for the lands we own—for the benefit of both people and wildlife. Our staff of 15 land managers is expert in a variety of stewardship and restoration techniques and actively engage in projects such as the creation of new wetland areas to improve water quality and biodiversity, the reintroduction of native grasslands to improve grassland bird habitat, reforestation of former farm fields, and the use of prescribed fire to regenerate grasslands and wildflower meadows.”

Volunteers and staff have installed and maintain bird boxes that provide nesting places for bluebirds, chickadees, owls, and—as of last spring—American Kestrels. Surveys at Natural Lands Trust’s Hildacy Farm, Stroud, and Crow’s Nest Preserve shave yielded sightings of more than 100 bird species at each preserve.

At Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary in Easton, Pa., where preserve manager Tim Burris and expert bird photographer and volunteer Carole Mebus will lead the November workshop, a wildlife viewing blind allows visitors to observe birds without disturbing them. Burris leads walks and hosts a bird census at the Sanctuary every spring.

Not a member? To learn more or sign up, visit natlands.org/membership. Along with access to the free Your Big Year: Birding Workshop Series, members at the $50 Family level and above will receive the 2014 Birds of Natural Lands Trust calendar. This special calendar features beautiful photography of some of the native bird species throughout the region.

For more information visit the Natural Lands Trust website.

10/28/2013