National Audubon Society's Annual Photo Contest Entry Period
2024-01-10 12:00 - 2024-02-28 12:00 (America/Denver)
Audubon’s Annual Photo Contest Entry Period (recycles every year)
This event recycles every year, in a similar time frame & mode. – you were able to submit photos/videos between January 10th, 2024 at 12 pm-February 28th, 2024 at 12 pm. https://www.audubon.org/get-outside/audubon-photography-awards-2024-official-rules
Judges awarded eight prizes to photographers and videographers in 2023: the Grand Prize, Professional Prize, Amateur Prize, Youth Prize, Plants for Birds Prize, Fisher Prize, Female Bird Prize, and Video Prize.
Prizes included in 2024:
Grand Prize: $5,000 USD
Professional Prize: $2,500 USD
Amateur Prize: $2,500 USD
Plants for Birds Prize: $2,500 USD
Video Prize: $2,500 USD
Female Bird Prize: $1,000 USD
Birds in Landscape: $1,000 USD
Fisher Prize: $1,000 USD
Youth Prize: Six days at Audubon’s Hog Island Audubon Camp for Teens during the 2024 season
Previous Years winners
There are some very nice photos to look at.
The winning photos were already sent out in Audubon’s magazine
https://www.audubon.org/section/audubon-photography-awards
2023 winners
https://www.audubon.org/news/2023-audubon-photography-awards-winners-and-honorable-mentions
2022 winners
https://www.audubon.org/news/the-2022-audubon-photography-awards-top-100
2021 winners
https://www.audubon.org/news/the-2021-audubon-photography-awards-top-100
2020 winners
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2020/the-2020-audubon-photography-awards-winners
2019-2017 winners
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2019/the-2019-audubon-photography-awards-top-100
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2018/the-2018-audubon-photography-awards-top-100
https://www.audubon.org/news/the-2017-audubon-photography-awards-top-100

Climate Watch Winter Season - January 15th-February 15th
2024-01-15 00:00 - 2024-02-15 23:59
Climate Watch Winter Season – January 15th-February 15th
Climate Watch – The summer and winter seasons repeat each year.
Climate Watch is sponsored by the National Audubon Society (NAS) & takes place during two distinct seasons—winter (January 15-February 15) and summer (May 15-June 15). Below is the alert for any season (winter or summer) .
Like the Christmas bird count this is a chance to help create “citizen science” for birds. Climate Watch focuses on these target species: Eastern Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird, Western Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, Painted Bunting, Eastern Towhee, and Spotted Towhee.
These birds are easy to identify, have an enthusiastic constituency, and Audubon’s climate models for these species offer strong predictions for range shifts for us to test. In future years, Climate Watch may include additional target species threatened by climate change. We believe that western bluebird and painted bunting are not normally in SD. All the other birds occur in all or parts of SD.
Visit this page to see where these birds are in SD, and which are near you:
https://www.sdakotabirds.com/species_main.htm
Location Climate Watch focuses on areas of predicted change for these 12 species at each location across the continent. Audubon provides volunteers with online mapping tools with a grid of 10 km x 10 km squares showing species-specific predictions for each square based on the climate models. A Climate Watch Coordinator can help select your location and survey square. If you are participating on your own, use the online maps to decide in which square to do your surveys. You will be able to see which squares are already “claimed”.
How to count Volunteers should first make sure to read through all of the materials including the full protocol manual. The Climate Watch protocol is different than any other birding program. Then using the planning done with the online maps, volunteers survey appropriate habitat for the target species within a square and conduct 12 point counts of five minutes each within one morning, then record the number and species of all birds seen or heard within 100 meters. Participants send the data to the National Audubon Society.
How data will be used Audubon’s 2019 climate change report, ‘Survival By Degrees, – https://www.audubon.org/climate/survivalbydegrees – reveals that up to two-thirds of North American birds are vulnerable to extinction due to climate change. For example, the beautiful Mountain Bluebird is vulnerable because in the vast majority of its summer range, the climate conditions that this bird needs—temperature, amount of rainfall, and other environmental factors—will shift northward and eastward. This bird may be able to move into new areas over time, or it may struggle to adapt. To test the report’s predictions, Audubon has developed Climate Watch, which aims to document species’ responses to climate change and test Audubon’s climate models by having volunteers in the field look for birds where Audubon’s climate models predict they will be in the 2020s. This information helps Audubon target our conservation work to protect birds. See the Climate Watch results page here to see our early reports and results from the data received by Climate Watch volunteers so far!
Link to the Climate-watch program on the National Audubon Society web page
https://www.audubon.org/conservation/climate-watch
Climate watch instructions for participants
https://www.audubon.org/news/participant-resources-climate-watch
Climate watch for beginners webinar, – this has much of the same info as our November meeting
https://audubon.zoom.us/rec/share/xe9NAZTe6WVOf7fz2kbRAYAQMI66eaa8hCFL_fNZn0k3a8uNjHkvp4-EZzq7vlq_?startTime=1588186808000
