Sarah Conserves Birds

After Audubon PA closed their office in Meadville and laid me off, I could have just walked away from the projects I had been working on for the previous 11 years. Instead, two of the seasonal people I'd been working with (Laura Marie Koitsch and Mary Birdsong) plus myself decided to start a brand new bird-centric conservation and education organization to carry on the work. Thus, Erie Bird Observatory was born in January 2018! 

Since then, we have introduced thousands of people to the wonders of bird migration through public bird banding at Presque Isle State Park, monitored marsh breeding birds every summer, continued monitoring shorebirds at Gull Point, and undertaken an array of other projects. These have included working with the park on a feasibility study for adding birding infrastructure and increasing birder visitation, developing the BirdSafe Erie program to make Erie safer for migrating birds, and helping the recovery of breeding Piping Plovers at Presque Isle. 

I think that is the work I am most proud of; EBO plays a critical role in the partnership of agencies overseeing the recovery of this federally endangered species at their only nesting site in Pennsylvania, and still the only site they regularly breed on Lake Erie. Our staff provide detailed observations of exactly which individual plovers are doing what on a daily basis from April into September, or whenever the last one leaves for the season. We are the ones who are the eyes and ears on the ground, conveying information that the birds tell us through their actions, so that the right management decisions are made each and every day. From the first day a pair started courting in early May of 2017, through this season with three successful nests, there have been countless ups and downs, plot twists and turns, and swings from joy (return of previous year's young in spring!) to tragedy (deaths of breeding adults).  Due to their Endangered status, we were not able to share what was going on in real time with all of our supporters, for the protection of the birds. I fully understand the necessity for this in today's world, but wish we could have shared more of the drama through the years. 

Birds are such an important part of nature, and are so well suited for giving us humans insights into the environments in which they and we live. Birds are inextricably tied to habitats and conditions; if they are doing well, then we know ecosystems are healthy. 

This is why I believe in having a local, or regional, organization that is all about birds in northwestern Pennsylvania. This allows us to think globally, since birds migrate so far, while acting locally- making sure our part of the earth is healthy. Erie Bird Observatory is a critical piece of the worldwide network of organizations that keep local people aware of their own neighborhoods and how important they are on a global scale. The world is made up of all those neighborhoods! Let's keep tabs on our birds and our shared neighborhoods, and keep everybody healthy and happy, as best we can. Please support Erie Bird Observatory!