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.
Read and Listen to this news about “how teens have taken to birdwatching.” Our own Blair Clark is quoted in the article.
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 April 19, 2025
Join us for our Annual Meeting at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park Conference Center and for a free tour of its wading bird rookery (which is splendid in the spring) after the meeting! The meeting is Saturday, April 19 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The public is welcome to join us at the Annual Meeting, but only current members of the SJRA will be entitled to vote at the meeting and participate in the rookery tour.
If you want to check your SJRA membership status, you can do so here.
To participate in the Annual Meeting and sign up for the rookery tour, you will need this Eventbrite ticket, which you can obtain here. Once you have your Eventbrite ticket, we will email you about attending the rookery tour.
Please park in the Alligator Farm’s parking lot furthest south of its entrance to avoid hindering business operations.
Visit our St. Augustine Audubon Native Plant Garden!
Located at 10 S. Castillo Drive in downtown historic St. Augustine, this beautiful 3,500 square foot garden is now coming alive in its first full spring, and it is already gorgeous!
On your stroll through the garden, you will see amazing plants native to NE Florida’s coastal areas and be able to find out all about each plant species we used with the QR codes that we have installed.
Our amazing Garden Team maintains the garden, so if you stop by some morning and see someone working in the garden, feel free to ask them questions about the garden.
And if you are so inclined, please consider contributing the maintenance costs of the garden. We gratefully appreciate any financial assistance you can provide.
Parking is available at the City of St. Augustine’s parking facility by the Visitors Information Center.
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