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by Melanie Harrison Dunn
Certain species of birds that either live year round in Georgia or migrate here during the winter are in danger of disappearing. Georgia birds are being increasingly threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, competition with invasive species and overall disruption of ecological processes. A local man named Charlie Muise, Coordinator of the Georgia Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program, works to end this travesty.
The aim of the Georgia IBA Program is to protect birds by conserving and reestablishing key habitats, particularly breeding and feeding sites that are crucial to their survival. The program is an independent branch of Birdlife International, whose U.S. representative is the National Audubon Society. Muise works diligently to ensure bird habitats are conserved through numerous types of activities ranging from clearing privet, to establishing native grass species, to bird banding.
Muise has been involved in bird conservation since 1992 when he first started bird banding off the coast of Maine. Since coming to Georgia, he has made a big impact on bird conservation and even captured and banded a species of bird thought not to exist in Georgia – the Northern Saw-Whet Owl. This species of owl migrates from areas as far north as Canada to warmer, southern areas during the cold winter months. To date, Muise has captured six Northern Saw-Whet Owls.
Muise commented that two of the owls were actually “recaptures” and had been banded a few months earlier – one in Ontario and one in Virginia. Banding allows Muise and other conservationists a chance to obtain vital information needed to properly conserve the species such as the birds’ habits and numbers in the wild.
Since its inception in 2000, The Georgia IBA program has identified more than 48 sites that represent over two million acres of prime bird habitat. “Georgia IBA works to conserve birds and their habitats by pulling together knowledgeable birders, avian scientists, representatives from state and federal agencies, and conservation organizations,” their brochure reads.
Once sites are identified, the program works to raise awareness of the site and its importance to the local bird population; provide scientific expertise and guidance for land and management and restoration; and increase outreach through community education.
According to Muise, the key to success of the Georgia IBA Program is volunteers. Muise organizes Volunteer Conservation Days where people are able to get involved in bird habitat conservation. These days are held periodically and advertised on the Georgia IBA website, or Muise can coordinate an event for a particular group, such as a church or school group. It is also a fun and educational way for scout troops to earn badges in conservation. Many of these conservation days take place at national wildlife refuges and state wildlife management areas. Volunteers may be involved in hand-harvesting native grass seeds, transplanting small containers of native grass species, reducing invasive exotic plants, preparing sites for prescribed fire, re-marking cavity trees for Red-cockaded Woodpecker, surveying for Bachman’s Sparrows, and restoring a bird watcher/hunter trail at Altamaha Wildlife Management Area. More adventurous volunteers can also be involved in bird banding opportunities, which are also advertised on the Georgia IBA Program website.
A recent volunteer project involved building and donating barn owl boxes to the Georgia IBA Program. These boxes will provide shelter for barn owls, which Muise states are “obligate cavity nesters.” According to Muise, barn owls traditionally would use hollow areas in trees to nest, but such trees are difficult to find with the rapid expansion of urban and residential areas. Barn owls have large broods (seven to 10 young) and provide excellent control of rodents. Muise will place the boxes in areas high enough off the ground to offer protection for the owls and their young from predators.
The Georgia IBA Program requests everyone to help in several ways: learn the IBA areas and go birding frequently; advocate for protection of an IBA and support IBA stewardship whenever possible; become a member of the local Georgia IBA chapter; volunteer your time; or make a donation. For more information, visit the Georgia IBA website at http://www.atlantaaudubon.org/iba/.
The GRIP 
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