Charleston Audubon Calendar
Events are listed in chronological order. Listings are color coded: We sponsor fieldtrips, lectures and events – we also list events and activities sponsored by other organizations: we do our best to provide contact numbers and/or web links for up-to-date information on non-Audubon activities.
Wine & Warblers
A Beidler Forest Event
Saturday, April 26th, 5 p.m.
Join expert birdwatchers for an evening on the boardwalk and explore the wide variety of songbirds that travel to Beidler Forest each Spring. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and wine tastings as you explore this ancient swamp forest. Proceeds benefit Audubon South Carolina.
Reservations and advance payment are required. $35 per person. Walks begin at 5 p.m. Please make reservations for your time slot by calling (843) 462-2150.
Overnight Fieldtrip —
Silver Bluff Audubon Center
Saturday-Sunday, April 26-27
Note: Anyone interested should contact Don Jones ; by phone at 572-8232 or as soon as possible so we can make car-pool arrangements etc. Don will also have motel information.
On April 26-27 we’ll visit Silver Bluff Audubon Center near North Augusta SC. We plan to leave Charleston midmorning on Saturday the 26th, bird for several hours in the afternoon, check into our motel and have dinner. We’ll get up early Sunday, bird until midday and then start home. It’s about a three and a half hour drive counting pit stops and wrong turns.
The center has fresh water impoundments, walking trails, mixed-hardwood/ pine forest and some frontage on the Savannah River. Late April is prime time for migrating shore birds such as Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper in addition to warblers, vireos, thrushes, etc. We should also see lots of egrets, herons, Wood storks, Anhinga and Wood ducks.
Lecture: Dogwood Alliance's Michelle Smith
Preserving Our Southern Coastal Woodlands:
A Campaign of Public Awareness of Packaging
Wednesday, May 14th,
6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. talk
Southern activists formed Dogwood Alliance in November 1996. Originally, the group focused on stopping the expansion of chip mills – facilities that grind whole logs into wood chips for making paper and chipboard – across the South. Recognizing that environmental groups were successfully using market campaigns to compel companies to protect forests, Dogwood Alliance adopted the strategy and launched the first market campaign focused on retail suppliers of office copy paper. And in 2002, Staples, the largest office supply superstore in the world, announced a new environmental paper policy in a joint press conference with Dogwood. And now the work continues...
Last year Dogwood Alliance launched the Packaging Campaign which is
focused on securing long term protection for the forests of the Southern coast and wetlands. The Dogwood Alliance’s Paper Campaign convinced office supply giants Staples, Office Depot and Office Max to agree to strong forest protection commitments for the Cumberland Plateau and Southern Appalachian region. Those commitments have created pressure on the powerful paper companies and led to significant protections.
Now the Packaging Campaign is set to bring national attention to the Southern coastal forests. On Wednesday, May 14, Michelle Smith, Development
Director of Dogwood Alliance, will talk about this high-profile campaign to protect Southern coastal and wetlands forests and how Charleston Audubon Society can participate.
For a great preview, check out the short video on the Dogwwod Aliance website.
Fieldtrip —
Spring Island
Saturday, May 10th, 7:00 a.m.
Note: Anyone interested should contact Don Jones prior to May 9 as the group size is limited; 572-8232 or by .
Spring Island is a private community located among over 6,000 acres of maritime forest and marshland. There is a 1,200 acre nature preserve, with fresh and salt water ponds. 90 species of trees have been identified on the island and those along with open fields, marshland and water features provide diverse habitat for birds such as warblers, vireos, painted buntings, blue grosbeaks, orioles and many species of wading birds. Our group will be led by one of the four naturalist who oversee the preserve.
We’ll meet in the Food lion parking lot at the intersection of U.S. 17 and S.C. 165 at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 10. You will need to bring lunch, water and your birding gear. The drive to Spring Island which is south of Bluffton will take about an hour and a half and we will car pool.