Audubon Observer, June 2019
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2018/2019 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
We also hosted nine excellent speakers at our monthly program meetings, including native gardening expert Ginny Stibolt, local artist and parks advocate Kathy Stark, avian wildlife specialist Mary Ellen Petraska from White Oak Conservation, and our very own Field Trips and Programs Chair Deborah Kainauskas, who gave an outstanding presentation on the White Birds of the Coastal South, featuring many of her own beautiful photographs! Duval Audubon board members also presented programs about birds and conservation at local schools, libraries, and garden clubs, and shared our love of nature and the outdoors at environmental festivals throughout the year.
Next year promises to be just as busy! We will continue our monthly Beginning Bird Walks at Fort Caroline National Memorial as well as our regular schedule of field trips and programs so we can share our love of nature and birds with all who want to learn more about the natural world around us. During the summer months, we'll be planning our activities for the upcoming season, so if you are an Audubon member and live in Clay, Duval, or Nassau counties, look for your 2019/2020 calendar in the mail at the end of the summer. We hope to see you in September! NEW MONTHLY PROGRAM LOCATION
We will continue to hold our monthly program meetings on the third Monday each month. Meetings will start with refreshments and networking at 6:30 pm, with program presentations starting at 7 pm. Many thanks to Community Hospice & Palliative Care for allowing us to use their lovely meeting rooms for the past two years. And a special shoutout to board member Deborah Kainauskas for all her hard work facilitating the meetings for us. Thanks, Deb! ANNOUNCING OUR 2019/2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Duval Audubon Society's Board of Directors for 2019/2020 are:
Current board openings include: Clay County Conservation Chair, Education Chair, and Volunteer Chair. If you would like to join our board to help our chapter achieve its mission of connecting people with nature, please contact chapter president Jody Willis at jody_willis@comcast.net. SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2019 AUDUBON ASSEMBLY! Save the date to join us in Gainesville for Florida’s premier conservation gathering, where grassroots leaders from around the state join Audubon’s professional staff and partners to grow their knowledge and skills to protect Florida’s precious natural resources. Audubon Florida's annual Assembly not only features great speakers and informational sessions, but as an attendee of the Audubon Assembly, you’re also invited to join local Audubon experts in exploring the Gainesville area and surrounding areas on spectacular birding field trips!
Audubon Florida's new Conservation Action Agenda for 2020 will be set at this year's Assembly - please join us!
Duval Audubon Society, Inc.
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The end of May marks the end of our scheduled activities for the season, and what a wonderful season it has been! Since this season officially began in July 2018, we have hosted more than 50 field trips to great birding spots in the Jacksonville area and beyond. Several hundred nature lovers joined us throughout the year, many of whom were repeat attendees - we love seeing familiar faces! AND new ones - EVERYONE is welcome to participate in any of our activites!
2018/2019 was also an amazing season for volunteering. We hosted cleanups at three different parks in the Jacksonville area, with over 50 community-minded volunteers helping to pick up trash and keep it from harming the wildlife we love. At our Crosby Sanctuary conservation property in Orange Park, we hosted monthly work days where more than 40 volunteers, many from the Ridgeview High School Earth Club, helped us to beautify and maintain this incredible nature sanctuary by installing and weeding our new native plant garden, marking and maintaining trails, and picking up trash.
Duval Audubon Society is an all-volunteer organization operated by a Board of Directors who manage the day-do-day business of running a chapter of the National Audubon Society.
Hundreds of conservation leaders, Audubon members, and Audubon staff gathered at last year's Audubon Assembly to set 
