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OUR MISSION: The Mission of the Fort Worth Audubon Society is to promote awareness, appreciation and understanding of birds and other wildlife while preserving and protecting their natural habitat.

FORT WORTH AUDUBON SOCIETY GENERAL MEETINGS

Monthly General Meetings are held September through May on the second Thursday of each month. The meetings are free and open to all who wish to attend.

Meeting time: Program starts at 7:00PM. Refreshments and socializing are available starting at 6:30 PM.

Meeting Location: Two ways to join the monthly meetings: In Person and on-line on Zoom

In Person:
UNT Health & Science Center
RES Bldg., Room 100
3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth.
    Click here for School Map.

Virtual (streaming) via Zoom: Click on the Orange button below. The meeting room will be opened at about 6:30PM.

Click here to go to the on-line Zoom Meetings (Meeting ID: 869 2622 7949 Passcode: 477522)

The December 12, 2024, meeting will be both in-person and streamed via Zoom. The meeting room will open at 6:30 PM and the program will start at 7:00 PM. The Zoom meeting room will open at 6:30 PM. We will meet at our usual ‘live’ meeting location. (see details on the left side of this page for directions.)

Have You Checked Out Our Events Calendar for upcoming Field Trips, Meetings and special events? – Click on this button –

News for Birders

The official proclamation by the city of Fort Worth took place at the May 14th, 2024 City Council meeting. Click here to watch the ceremony section on YouTube. Please use fast-forward to go to minute 19:45 for the Bluebird announcement.

The six elementary school team finalist for selecting an Official Bird of Fort Worth is now available. Each school has a video submission that can be viewed HERE. Vote for your favorite bird, or just enjoy watching young students discover how much fun it is to learn about wildlife.

Read more about this FWISD program HERE

Trip Report for Dual State Birding Trip, Sep. 24 to Sep. 27, 2023

Read Tom’s Report Here

Acreage opened to public on
Lake Benbrook shoreline

Last Fall, The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers updated the 1972 Master Plan for lands surrounding Lake Benbrook. The new Master Plan designates more than 1,100 acres as Environmentally Sensitive Areas for preservation. There is a very good article about the new designation on the GreenSourceDFW website. FWAS member Suzanne Tuttle will be leading a new Prairie Walk four times a year to the Sid Richardson Tract on the southeast shoreline of the lake (just east of Mustag Park.)

The 2023 Challenge is over. Visit the website listed below to see a list of winners. Want to participate in 2024? Share your sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle, tips, choices, volunteering, cool DIY projects and post on a social media website. Make sure to use the hashtag #MyEarthMyTexas starting April 1st and ending April 22.
Follow @earthsharetexas for all the updates and useful tips! To be eligible for prizes, register your handle for free
at www.earthshare-texas.org/my-earth-my-texas

Spring 2024 Lights Out Ft. Worth Full Report

Migratory Bird Conservation Bill passed by the Senate

The Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act has been passed in the Senate! This legislation would reauthorize and enhance the bipartisan Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, which protects the habitats of migratory birds all along their seasonal routes. Now the president must sign it into law. Read more here….

2024 Grant Awards

Three $1,000 grants were awarded

• UNT Dept of Biological Science – Kestrel habitat study radio transmitters
• Fort Worth Zoo – signage for bird and native plants area.
• River Legacy Nature Center – feeders and birdbaths

A new travel book about wildlife and nature destinations was recently made available. The book, Wild DFW: Explore the Amazing Nature Around Dallas – Fort Worth by Amy Martin offers a natural history, ecology, and geography of North Texas. FWAS has a featured role in the section on the Village Creek Drying Beds. For more information and where to buy, go to: https://wild-dfw.com.

Conservation at the Fort Worth Prairie Park

Fort Worth Audubon Society offers three $1,000 grant recipients each year.  One of the recipients, the Great Plains Restoration Council, has already put the money to good use and sent us a wonderful report full of great pictures.  Their project was grassland nesting bird habitat restoration through diversity and inclusion community engagement.

Photo journal Fort Worth Prairie Project – place pointer on photo for description of activity.
Use your mouse ‘wheel’ to scroll through photos.

Front entrance as of Aug. 2019

Front entrance to the Fort Worth Prairie Park south of East Dutch Branch Creek prior to start of prairie restoration work.

Removing removing overgrowth

Removing overgrowth of woody increaser vegetation like cedar elms and hackberries on the prairie.

Starting brush piles.

After photo

Ms. Marty Leonard, local philanthropist, business and community leader, conservationist and bird watcher, visits some of our youth and the prairie. With Nicholas, Dylan, and Carlos at the project site after brush clearing

Team members

Youth lunch discussion with adult advocates Vincent and Jarid (not pictured—he’s taking the pic.) From left, Dylan, Vincent, Brandon, Carlos, Nicholas, and Keaundre.

Restoration team joined by U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey

U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey speaking with some of the youth on a hike at a site where swale prairie merges up onto a prairie barrens shortgrass prairie ecosystem component of the endangered Fort Worth Prairie. Thank you Congressman Veasey for your caring about our Earth and young people’s future

Discovery of a Texas spiny lizard

Discovery of a Texas spiny lizard with his head stuck inside a shotgun shell. On land or at sea, plastic trash is a lethal danger to native wildlife and human health.

Texas spiny lizard rescued

He survived! Rescue of Texas spiny lizard from being trapped in the shotgun shell, via surgical removal with a manicure clippers that Johnny Muhammad from TCAP (Texas Coalition of Animal Protection) went and bought at Walmart.

Saved and released

Release of Texas spiny lizard back into the prairie

Work continues

Preparing to cut, separate and stack some more downed cedar elms and hackberries that had choked out the prairie.

Another wood pile needed.

Deciding on the 2nd pile location.

Managing the new wood pile

Youth planned the consolidation and compression of stacked tree limbs and branches, with Carlos (in photo gesturing) serving as Pile Manager to continually collapse the large volume into much less space.

Allelopathy on the prairie is where the native plant communities are killed out by tree and brush overgrowth.

Between these two piles is the main front swath that was cleared of trees, brush and plastics, and raked and prepared for seeding with custom-curated Fort Worth Prairie seed mix, courtesy of Native American Seed, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, and Suzanne Tuttle and Michelle Villafranca.

Pausing for a photo before seeding.

A total of 7 formerly incarcerated youth, from our partner Tarrant County Advocate Program, worked on the site. They were paid $10 an hour, and taught the introductory lessons of Tier 1 of Ecological Health practices and principles, for which there is a certification. Notice we are using non-plastic bags, even for trash cleanup near the road. If we think about it, there is always a healthier, greener option these days.

A special seed

We purchased $600 worth of custom-curated, Texas-sourced native Fort Worth Prairie seed mix, plus received a donation of local collected Fort Worth Prairie seeds from the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.

Pocket wetlands

A daylighted tiny prairie creek at the front. There are also a couple pocket wetlands on this trailhead swath that we cleaned up.

Ecological Health practices and principles

Yoga stretching on the Fort Worth Prairie: Stretching and releasing muscle tension at the end of a week of good, hard work. Ecological Health practices and principles teach physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being as part of hands-on ecological restoration and preservation.

Becoming part of something bigger:

Meditating on the prairie and learning tactical diaphragmatic breathing. Both meditation and diaphragmatic breathing can be used in any area of life, particularly during stress and/or consternation.

Supporting our youth and the prairie

Alice Barrientez (Apache/Comanche) from the American Indian Youth Council, who previously served as a "GPRC Mom" for participating youth in an earlier program years ago, came out to visit and re-engage

Bonus photo:

East Dutch Branch Creek — Fort Worth Prairie blue sky, sun, wind, grass and clean water. (And fish who don’t yet want their pics taken. ) We are grteful to Jarid Manos Founder Great Plains Restoration Council Thank you for the report and photos,

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Member’s Photo Gallery – Use your mouse ‘wheel’ to scroll through photos.

Member’s Photo Gallery

American Kestral

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Black-capped Vireo

Photo taken by A. Richards in Texas

Belted Kingfisher

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Eastern Bluebird

Photo taken by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Wilson's Snipe

by Amanda B.

Hooded Merganser

Photo by A. Richards of Arlington, TX

Osprey

Photo taken by A. Richards of Arlington, TX

Osprey

Photo taken by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

Tri-colored Heron

by Janice C.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Greater Roadrunner

Photo taken by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

Bald Eagle

by Jerry T.

Eastern Screech Owl (red-morph)

by Amanda B.

Barred Owl

Drying feathers after rainstorm by Phil C.

Red Tailed Hawk

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Great Horned Owl nestling

by Ann R.

Scissior-tailed Flycatcher

Photo by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

Barred Owl nestling

at Colleyville Nature Center by Ann R.

Great Egret

by Jerry T.

Great Horned Owl (mama & nestling)

by Ann R. Taken in Dallas White Rock Lake area

Green Heron

by Missy M-K

Eastern Screech Owl

by Ann R.

Wood Duck

by Ann R.

Great Egret on Nest

by Ann R.

Great Egret and Snowy Egret

Bad Hair-Day by Jerry T.

American White Pelicans

by Jerry T.

Wood Duck (f) with ducklings

by Jerry T.

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