St. Johns Regional Audubon
promotes the protection, preservation, and restoration of the habitats of birds and other wildlife through education, stewardship, and science-based advocacy.
Current Volunteer Needs
St. Johns Regional Audubon is aways looking for volunteers to help us with our outreach into our local
community. Currently, we are specifically looking for:
- Volunteers who want to work with kids (retired teachers are especially needed!) as part of
our Education Committee. - Volunteers to help at our event tables.
- Volunteers to help us at the St. Augustine Audubon Native Plant Garden.
- Volunteers to help us develop a bird monitoring program at Dr. Robert B. Hayling Freedom
Park.
More Details on Educational Volunteer Opportunities…
St. Johns County Parks & Rec partnership
Bird walk leaders for children and families. Most walks are held at Alpine Groves and Vaill Point Parks and take about 1-1/4 hours of your time. It is not necessary to be a birding “expert,” as these are generally an introduction to birding types of events and may include a short activity such as a scavenger hunt or identification game. It can also be helpful to have two leaders working together.
Girl Scouts and Homeschool Groups
Lessons about birds for youth. Ages can vary from kindergarten through high school. These educational activities would generally take between 1 and 2 hours, but volunteers would also need some prep time to assemble materials and review resources. For the educational projects, we plan to have an in-person meeting for those interested in volunteering to review lesson plans, materials, and resources, possibly in January 2025.
If you have a preference in age ranges to work with, please include that in your email response:
- Early childhood through elementary school
- Middle and high school
- Adults
- General public
Tabling Events
We periodically set up an information table at community festivals and events. We are looking for members who enjoy meeting new people and sharing our topics of interest. We usually also have a game or activity for kids. Volunteers are needed for 2 to 6 hours. The ability to transport and help set up the table, display, and canopy tent would be particularly helpful.
St. Johns Regional Audubon Annual Meeting Results
We want to thank the wonderful folks at the Alligator Farm Zoological Park for hosting us for our Annual Meeting of the Members – and for the lovely tour of its Rookery for our members.
Over 45 current and new members reviewed what we did last year and talked about our future. We are particularly proud of the St. Augustine Audubon Native Plant Garden created under the direction of Laurie Gilmore and our growing education programs led by Kate Teaford.
We also re-elected the following to our Board of Directors:
• Eva Askew-Houser
• Jorge Buening
• Dan Dodge
• Jan Lucas
We elected the following officers:
• President – Amy Koch
• Treasurer – Jan Lucas
• Vice President – Dan Dodge
• Secretary – Mindy Hellman
For details of our accomplishments and future plans, you can view our slide presentation from the Annual Meeting here. If you are not a member, we hope you consider joining us!
Blair Clark to be a Junior Instructor for Field Ornithology at Hog Island
We’re a bit giddy with excitement to announce that our very own Blair Clark has been selected as a Junior Instructor for Field Ornithology at National Audubon’s famed Hog Island Camp this summer!
After moving to St Augustine, Florida, at age seven, Blair’s interest in birds took off when began shorebird stewarding on local beaches. Blair regularly leads bird walks for St. Johns Regional Audubon, assists with bird surveys, and participates in two Christmas Bird Counts annually. He has also led trips for the North Shore Birding Festival and Orange Audubon and is a founding member of and speaker series coordinator for the Florida Young Birders Club.
Blair begins college in the fall and will study wildlife conservation and ecology. After two summers as a teen camper, Blair says he is thrilled to return to Hog Island as a junior instructor.
Blair will be working under the direction of Scott Weidensaul, the author of nearly 30 books on natural history, including “A World on the Wing.”
To read more about Blair and Hog Island (and perhaps apply for a spot), read through this link:
https://hogisland.audubon.org/
Congratulations Blair! You’ve made all of your local Audubon family so proud!”
Found a Baby Bird?
We are not licensed bird rehabilitators, but the wonderful folks at the ARK of St. Augustine are. They are so helpful in explaining how to capture and take care of injured birds. If you need a rehabilitator, please go to their website for contact information:
Resources for Birders
Here are some good web resources for birders.
Our Hot Spot Page: https://stjohnsaudubon.com/hotspots/ This will give your information about and directions to some our the best birding spots in St. Johns County.
eBird: www.ebird.org: Run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is a database where you can add your sightings, as well as find local hotspots, research specific bird species, etc. The app is free.
Merlin Bird ID: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ A terrific and free app for your phone that will help you identify birds by description, photo and recently, by bird call! Most birders are now using this app. A great tool for new birders!
National Audubon Society: www.audubon.org: Everything birds!
Plants for Birds: https://www.audubon.org/plantsforbirds: This database will give you the native plants and trees good for birds for our area.
American Bird Conservancy: www.abcbirds.org: This group engages in scientific research and advocates for the conservation of birds and bird habitat. It is a good source on how individuals can help birds.
Homegrown National Park: https://homegrownnationalpark.org: Dr. Doug Tallamy’s excellent effort to increase habitat one backyard at a time.
Palm Warber