Conservation Programs & Resources

OUR PROGRAMS

Conservation in Action Workdays
Audubon Dallas partners with volunteers from the community each month to perform essential maintenance activities in Cedar Ridge Preserve, such as removing non-native plants, restoring trails, and picking up litter. These actions are of vital importance to protect the plants and wildlife in the Preserve, and keep the trails safe and enjoyable for visitors. To learn more, visit the Cedar Ridge Preserve page of this website.

Education and Other Activities
Audubon Chapters enable Audubon members and other members of the community to meet and share an appreciation of their common interests. They create a culture of conservation through education and advocacy, focusing on the conservation of birds and other wildlife, and the preservation of important habitats. Activities and programs organized and/or supported by Audubon Dallas include:

• Advocating for the protection of birds and their habitat by supporting local, state, national and hemispheric conservation priorities
• Offering birding field trips and identification classes
• Conducting nature walks in Cedar Ridge Preserve
• Engaging children and adults in an assortment of educational programs
• Coordinating outreach events including birding festivals
• Involving residents in habitat improvement projects
• Providing data on the health of local bird species through Christmas Bird Counts, the Great Backyard Bird Count, breeding bird surveys, and other local monitoring projects

FEED THE BIRDS!

While most wild birds rely on wild foods for the bulk of their meals, more than 100 North American species supplement natural foods with birdseed, suet, fruit, and nectar obtained from feeders. Bird feeding can benefit birds while also providing pleasure for people throughout the year. Feeders benefit birds most during the winter, when natural food supplies are scarce. However, additional species visit feeders during spring and fall migrations, and some nesting birds utilize feeders during the summer.

Audubon Guide to Bird Feeding  •  Audubon Guide to Bird Feeders  •  Audubon Guide to Bird Seed

CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIRDS

National Audubon Society unveiled the extensive seven-year study our scientists have been involved with to determine the effects on climate change on the home ranges of over 550 species of birds in North America. The results are disturbing, as 314 species face significant range loss scenarios, and could become threatened, endangered or extinct within this current century. Get informed and get involved with protecting critical habitat locally, support responsible carbon reduction action by the leaders of your community, and help us to get people talking and taking climate change seriously. Watch video.

OUR CHAPTER'S POSITION ON AERIAL SPRAYING FOR MOSQUITO CONTROL

We urge everyone to practice the 4 Ds of mosquito control to prevent the spread of the West Nile virus in our community. As guardians of the natural world, we have grave concerns about the immediate and long-term effects of the category of pesticides being used for ground and aerial spraying in Dallas County. The pesticides typically used are adulticide sprays, such as Biomist or Duet ULV, with the active ingredient of permethrin. Permethrin is toxic to honeybees and other beneficial insects, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. Ground-based spraying should be isolated to areas around specific mosquito trap sites that have tested positive for West Nile virus, or, in a public health emergency, only to areas where clusters of human cases have been confirmed. We oppose aerial spraying of adulticides.

WHITE ROCK LAKE

Head on over to White Rock Lake for the For the Love of the Lake (FTLOTL) Second Saturday Shoreline Spruce-Up, 8:30am - 10:30am (register between 8:00 and 8:30). They provide rubber gloves, trashbags, and trash picker-uppers.

Register at their office at 1152 N Buckner Blvd, Dallas, TX 75218, on the NE Corner of Garland Road & Buckner Boulevard in Casa Linda Plaza (Facing Buckner & Doctors Hospital). More info at FTLOTL.

BLACK-CAPPED VIREOS at Cedar Ridge Preserve

At Cedar Ridge Preserve, you will see signs that let you know a little about what Audubon Dallas is doing for the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapilla) more commonly associated with the Hill Country. If you haven't seen one, he's got a black hood with white spectacles and is known as a skulker since he forages for food in deep cover among trees and thickets. CRP is at the northern part of his range and we're hoping that a pair chooses our preserve as a nesting site.

Here is what the signs say: This prairie area is being cleared of woody plants to create an open area surrounded by tall trees. Groups of Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatic), Elbow bush (Foresteria pubescens) and Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa) with foliage from the ground to 3 or 4 feet high will be left to provide food, shelter, and nesting sites. Volunteers have worked many hours to improve the prairie. Funding for this Cedar Ridge Preserve project has come from a Private Lands Agreement between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Audubon Dallas.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T FLY YET? 
In February, besides ducks, owls typically hatch their young and from spring into summer, and other bird species follow. If you see a baby bird and you don't know what to do, first of all, don't panic. The most important thing is to determine whether the bird is indeed an orphan or injured. If it's not injured, the best thing to do is to try to reunite it with its parents if you can reach and relocate the nestling to its original nest. Birds do not have a strong sense of smell, so you may pick up the baby bird. If you can't locate the nest, place the bird in a towel-lined box, keep it warm and quiet, and call Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at 972-225-4000.

The same procedure applies to mammals such as baby squirrels and raccoons. Click here to open an Adobe PDF that outlines what to do in various situations involving mammals. Reuniting them with their natural mother is the best thing to do if possible.