Master Birder: Class is Full! 

Calling all bird nerds: here’s your chance to sharpen your bird ID skills and learn more about the natural histories of birds that live along or visit Georgia’s 100-mile coast.

Register here (EventBrite) 

One Hundred Miles, Coastal WildScapes, Coastal Georgia Audubon Society, Manomet, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are pleased to announce the return of our Master Birder course starting in March 2020. The six-week series will provide birders of all backgrounds, skill levels, and ages with an introduction to ornithology, bird identification, and conservation efforts in coastal Georgia. Don’t miss your chance to learn from the experts and explore coastal Georgia’s birding hot spots!

The per-person course fee of $275 (with an online processing fee, $293.38) includes six interactive evening lectures, 5 guided field trips, a bird book, a course binder, and a graduation dinner. Reduced student rates and scholarships are available based on need. If you are interested in receiving a full or partial scholarship, please call (912) 264-4111 or email Stephanie.

Master Birder lectures will be held Tuesdays (6:30-8:30 pm) from March 16th to April 20th, 2020, in the Susan Shipman Education Building at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Brunswick. An informal final exam and group dinner will be held during the final class. Participants will be able to attend five coastal field trips, held on March 21st, 28th and April 4th, 11th, and 18th. As part of the requirements of this course, participants will complete at least 10 hours of volunteer service with one or more of the participating organizations (OHM, CWS, CGA, Manomet, or GADNR).

Classroom Lectures: Participants are expected to make every effort to attend all lectures.

Monday, March 16 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Introduction to Ornithology and the Tools of Birding
Monday, March 23 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Backyard Birds, Plantings, and Habitats
Monday, March 30 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Avian Anatomy and Physiology
Monday, April 6 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Migration and Navigation
Monday, April 13 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Bird Conservation and Volunteer Opportunities
Monday, April 20 (6:30-8:30 pm) – Graduation: Time to Fledge! (Informal Exam, Group Dinner, Wrap Up and Review)

Field Trips: Participants will be able to attend four field trips during the course PLUS choose from either the LSSI or Altamaha River boat trip for their final excursion. Field trip schedule is subject to change based on weather and birding conditions:

Saturday, March 21 – Jekyll Island
Saturday, March 28 – Altamaha Wildlife Management Area
Saturday, April 4 – Paulk’s Pasture
Saturday, April 11 – Gilman Wood Stork Rookery, St. Marys
Saturday, April 18 – Little St. Simons Island –OR– Altamaha River boat trip

For more information, visit our website. You can also call (912) 264-4111 or email Stephanie Chewning if you have questions about the course. Group size is limited to 20 participants, so early registration is encouraged.

INSTRUCTORS

Dr. Eugene Keferl

Dr. Eugene Keferl is a retired Professor of Biology. He has been watching birds for more than 40 years. Dr. Keferl has traveled to many parts of the world in pursuit of birds and has led birdwatching trips all over Georgia. He helps with the youth birding program TALON, presents at many birding festivals, and assists with several bird banding projects.

Tim Keyes, GADNR wildlife biologist

Tim Keyes is a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ nongame conservation section. After getting hooked on birds during a trip to Newfoundland during college, he has worked with birds in one capacity on another for 22 years. Tim completed his master’s degree at the University of Georgia in 1999 studying forest songbirds in the southern Appalachians. Tim has worked for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources since 2000 and currently works on the Georgia coast as the nongame bird biologist. He established and organizes the Youth Birding Competition and was an editor on Georgia’s Breeding Bird Atlas. Tim’s current responsibilities include management, monitoring, and education primarily relating to shorebirds, seabirds, swallow-tailed kites, and wood storks.

Eamonn Leonard, GADNR wildlife biologist

Eamonn was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama earned a BS in Horticulture (2000) from Auburn University. He worked at the J.W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway and the USGS in Idaho before attending graduate school at Utah State University, where he obtained an MS in Plant Ecology (2007) with a focus on invasive species. Eamonn currently works as a biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and sits on the Conservation Task force for Cannons Point on Saint Simons Island, chairman of Coastal WildScapes, chairman of the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, vice chair of the Savannah Pest Risk Committee, treasurer for the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council, and secretary for the Coastal Plain Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society.

Dr. Robert Sattelmeyer

Bob Sattelmeyer is a retired educator who has been avidly birding the Georgia coast for more than 15 years. He coordinates and leads field trips for Coastal Georgia Audubon and the Georgia Ornithological Society. 

Lydia Thompson

Whether Lydia is talking about, writing about, or drawing birds, her major focus is to intertwine her bird studies and art.  Lydia earned her Bachelors from Mississippi State University. After college she worked in advertising for seven years as a designer. While working she found an etching studio and started learning more about her chosen medium. Realizing that that advertising was not for her, she took some time to travel and learn about birds and drawing. She traveled for more than 38,000 miles and identified 560 species of birds in that year of travel and study before later settling in the Golden Isles of Coastal Georgia. Lydia is a popular columnist for the Jekyll Island Golden Islander newspaper and Golden Isles Magazine. She leads birding tours on Jekyll and is a Wild Birds Unlimited, Certified Bird Feeding Expert. In 2016, she was awarded the Georgia Ornithological Society’s Earle R. Greene Memorial Award for her bird conservation work.