Join bird conservationist George Wallace for a presentation on bird populations in Northwest Corner. Learn about changes in bird populations, how different bird species are faring, what their needs and vulnerabilities are, and what we can do to support birds in the Northwest Corner and beyond.

This event is presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association Land Trust.

George Wallace has been active in wildlife research and conservation for over 40 years, working on projects from bird migration monitoring in Canada and California to seabird breeding biology in Antarctica to protecting habitat for endangered bird species throughout the world’s tropics. George recently retired from American Bird Conservancy where he served in multiple capacities over 18 years including as Vice President for International Programs, Vice President for Oceans and Islands, Chief Conservation Officer, and Director of International Programs and Partnerships. In an emeritus role, he is now an ABC Ambassador assisting with public outreach and web and print publications.

A Salisbury READS North Woods event

What’s the connection to North Woods? Daniel Mason's novel is full of bird song and bird sitings, including encounters with Bicknell’s thrush, wood thrushes (chestnut-sided, black-throated blue, black-throated green), tufted titmice, white-throated sparrows, golden-crowned kinglets, robins, cardinals, bluebirds, sparrows, passenger pigeons, hawks, and owls. The novel also chronicles changes in bird populations over three centuries – the loss of some species, the survival of others.  

About the Hairy Woodpecker (pictured above), from the American Bird Conservancy website:

Ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent noted in his Life Histories of North American Birds (published 1919-1968), "The Hairy Woodpecker is a much shier, more retiring bird than the confiding little downy; it is also more active and noisier; it usually will not allow such close approach but will dodge around the trunk of a tree or fly away, if an intruder comes too near, bounding through the air in a series of graceful dips and rebounds."

As befits its bigger size, the Hairy Woodpecker favors more extensive woods with larger trees; this species may even visit well-wooded suburban backyards and parks. This woodpecker can often be located by its explosive “peek” call — incongruously, a higher-pitched call than that of the smaller Downy Woodpecker. ... Since woodpeckers don't sing to attract mates, they use non-vocal means such as drumming to attract potential partners and lay claim to territories. ... Althotugh the Hairy Woodpecker is relatively common and widespread, it is threatened by forest loss, particularly of mature forests with larger trees." (Learn more at this American Bird Conservancy link.)