R eport
Snowy Egret
As of July 1st, 2025, the first day of our current fiscal year.
Who We Are
StDR. R SCOT DUNCAN, PhD, Executive Director
LIANNE KOCZUR, PhD, Science & Conservation Director
ELLEN KILLOUGH, Development Director
KEITH A. WOLFE-HUGHES, Financial & Administrative Director
ANDREW LYDEARD, Program Coordinator
ALLISON CIAMARRA, Communications Coordinator
TIM HIGGINS, Black Belt Coordinator
CORTNEY WEATHERBY, Coastal Outreach Manager
OLIVIA MORPETH, Coastal Biologist
SAM FISHMAN, Coastal Biologist
CLAUDIA FROSCH, Seasonal Biologist
DREW HAFFENDEN, Seasonal Biologist
Board of Directors
LOIS WOODWARD, President
MATT HUNTER, President-Elect
LORI OSWALD, Treasurer
WINSTON LANCASTER, VP Conservation & Science
HEATHER McCALLEY, Secretary, VP Development & Membership
MARJ YOUNG, VP Field Trips At Large
MAGGIE AMSLER
DEREK CONRAD BROWN
JONAH COHEN
BARRY FLEMING
GREG HARBER
ANNETTE KINDERMAN
CLIFF MARTIN
JACQUELINE GRAY MILLER
LINDA NEIGHBORS
JOE WATTS
MICHELLE WOOTEN
Thank You Members & Supporters
It’s been another year of exciting gr owth at Alabama A udubon, with major wins in science, conservation, and programming. At the coast, we made breakthroughs in protecting Snowy Plovers and other shorebirds. Our bird banding expanded to winter sparrow research in the Black Belt, and in April we banded a record 500+ birds in one day at Fort Morgan.
The 4th Annual Black Belt Birding Festival in 2024 drew record attendance from eight states, generating over fifty thousand dollars for local businesses and boosting the region’s birding profile.
In FY2025, we hosted 90+ outdoor events for 1,250 participants and reached 3, 000+ people thr ough public presentations. We work hard because Alabama’s birds need us—and we need you. Thank you for supporting the state’s strongest voice for birds and the people who love them.
R .Scot D uncan, Alabama A udubon Executive Director
Red-necked Phalarope
Our Mission
Active since 1927, and formally established in 1946, ALABAMA AUDUBON'S mission has always been to promote conservation and a greater knowledge of birds, their habitats, and the natural world.
Travel & Events
Membership Events
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Chapman Mountain
Gulf Shores Ecotourism Tour
Annual Meeting
Nature at Noon
Events: 7
Attendees: 147
Coastal Outreach Events
Events: 26
Attendees: 2,037
Ticketed Events: 12
Attendees: 216
Free Events:
Coastal: 17 Events / 200 A ttendees
Beginner Birding Events: 7 Events / 96 Attendees
Accessible Events: 9 Events / 111 Attendees
Swift Night Out: 5 Events / 76 Attendees
Presentations : 40 Events / 1,150 Attendees
Volunteer-led Field Trips
Birding Trips: 19
Attendees: 316
Butterfly Field Trips : 2
A ttendees: 52
Belize // November 2024 (8 days)
9 Passengers
229 Species seen Led by R. Scot Duncan
Cuba // March 2025 (8 days)
9 Passengers
145 Species seen
3rd International trip in 3 years
Led by Andrew Lydeard
Arizona // May 2025 (8 days)
7 Passengers
181 Species seen Led by Andrew Lydeard
Northern Gannet
Coastal Stewardship Program
COASTAL SURVEYS & NEST MONITORING
Audubon Coastal Bird Surveys: Routes : 21
Miles: 21
Volunteers: 16
Volunteer Hours: 205
Species Recorded: 171
Total Nests Monitored: 3,250
Total Fledgling: 1,410
The Alabama Coastal Bird Stewardship Program (ALCBSP) is funded with Deepwater Horizon natural resource damage settlement fund provided by the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group. This project is further supported by the National Audubon Society through funding from Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Nest Monitoring: Total Surveys: 725
Acres Surveyed: 1,074
Acres Fenced: 122
Volunteers: 8
Volunteer Hours: 135
Snowy Plovers
Project Safe Flight
Fixed Buildings: In 2025 , we covered 1,038 square feet of windows at Auburn University’s Wildlife Building and purchased decals to cover ~ 675 square feet of windows at Greene Hall.
Thanks to EBSCO Community Impact & Protective Life Foundation for funding these efforts!
Our first annual Avian Ally Award was presented to UAB Facilities Division for their incredible efforts to make new buildings on campus safe for birds. The new Altec-Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Science Building has bird-safe windows.
Fall 2024
Surveys: 348
Volunteers: 37
Cities: 7
Dead/injured birds: 261
Project Safe Flight
Spring 2025
Surveys: 191
Volunteers: 23
Cities: 7
Dead/injured birds: 89
Most Common:
Tennessee Warbler: 37
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: 22
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 14
Most Common:
Cedar Waxwing: 12 Ovenbird: 7
Rose-breasted Grosbeak: 5
We recruit, train, and rely on volunteers across the state to survey for bird-window collisions, and to help us identify high-risk buildings. When deceased birds are found, the building and species are input into a database. If a high-risk building is identified, we work with the building owners to reduce collision mortalities.
Coastal Banding
FORT MORGAN APRIL 2025
Visitors: 450
Birds Banded: 747
Birds Recaptured: 70
All banding done under BBL federal licenses.
MAPS Banding at Ruffner
Notable Species Acadian Flycatcher Worm-eating Warbler Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler
Banded Bird: 113
Total Species: 18
Recaptures: 57
MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) is a continent-wide program aimed at understanding the productivity, recruitment and survival of birds. During the summer of 2024 we had our second year of MAPS banding at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve.
We recaptured some birds that we banded in 2023, including 4 Carolina Wrens, 2 Eastern Towhees, 1 Northern Cardinal, 4 Kentucky Warblers, 1 Swainson’s Warbler, and 4 White-eyed Vireos.
In partnership with Jefferson County Greenways we started a MAPS banding station at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve in 2023.
Most Common Species
Hooded Warbler: 25
White-eyed Vireo: 17
Kentucky Warbler
Banding in the Black Belt
This winter we started a new research project on the birds that spend the winter in Alabama’s Black Belt prairies. Our goals are to learn more about the species diversity, whether the same birds are staying at a site all winter, and if they come back to the same site in subsequent years.
206 birds across 56 recaptures of 44
The most common species was the Swamp Sparrow, but we also caught Savannah, LeConte’s, Field, White-throated, and Song Sparrows. So far, we’ve learned that some of these birds are sticking around for the winter. We are looking forward to see if they come back this winter! Thanks to Hazel and Mitchell Bell and Elise Smith for letting us conduct this work on their properties and the 30 volunteers that helped us catch birds.
Setting up mist nets to catch birds.
Savannah Sparrow LeConte's Sparrow
Black Belt Bus Tours
2 Bus Tours
Attendees : 50 Areas Explored:
Spillways Falls Perry Lakes Park
M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area
Spillway Falls
Perry Lakes Park
Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
Black Belt Birding Festival 2024
Our 4th Annual Black Belt Birding Festival, held August 2–4, 2024, was our biggest yet! Over 220 attendees from around the US participated in 18 birding activities across Dallas, Hale, Perry, and Sumter counties, with over 500 event registrations—a 36% increase from last year . The festival brought in $50,000 of revenue to local businesses.
The festival kicked off with live blues music by Debbie Bond and the Alabama Blues Project at Project Horseshoe Farm in Greensboro , where conservation partners showcased their organizations.
Guests of Honor included Bonnor Black: singer-songwriter and birder; and Damion Bankhead, birder, musician, and professional photographer.
Black Belt Birding Festival 2024
Saturday’s birding trips included the first-ever tour across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, with Selma native Terry Chestnut sharing his experiences of Bloody Sunday and Civil Rights history.
Additional trips took place at Perry Lakes Park, Payne Lake, and other key birding spots, including the Kite Show at the Joe Farm , where Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites thrilled onlookers. Afternoon events included a Birds of Prey presentation by the Alabama Wildlife Center and a keynote address by Dr. Dwayne Estes on grassland
Community-led events added to the excitement, such as an art festival organized by Aaron Sanders Head at Sumac Cottage , featuring 11 regional artists. UAB art professor Douglas Baulos, along with student Matthew Ragsdale from Bloom Studio , engaged visitors and locals in painting a 'movable mural' showcasing birds native to the Black Belt.
Bird of the Year 2024
2025 Bird of the Year: The Snowy Plover
This tiny shorebird is a species of Highest Conservation Concern in Alabama, threatened by habitat loss, predation, and human disturbance. Snowy Plovers nest directly on sandy beaches, making their eggs and chicks especially vulnerable. Highlighting this species will support our ongoing coastal monitoring and conservation efforts to protect their fragile populations.
Attendees: 156
Bird of the Year 2024
Bird of the Year Fundraiser
The second annual Bird of the Year Fundraiser took place February 1, 2025, at Cahaba Brewing Company in Birmingham, celebrating a successful 2024 and revealing the 2025 Bird of the Year.
About Bird of the Year
Each year, Alabama Audubon selects a native bird species—either a year-round resident or regular migrant—that benefits from the organization’s conservation programs. The chosen bird is celebrated statewide through events, outreach, and education, giving the public the chance to learn far more than what’s in a field guide.
showcase her one-of-a-kind painting.
Thank you to all our supporters who came out for food, silent auction, and birdy company!
James Lowery brought his life size albatross wingspan, and life size King Penguin stuffed animal.
Giving Back
Walter F. Coxe Grants Education MiniGrants
We are actively building partnerships throughout the state that support educational nonprofits. Each of our MiniGrant recipients has been awarded a different amount based on project size and demonstrated need, totaling $3,000.
Walter F. Coxe Research Grants provided up to $15,028 in seed funding for projects that advance the exploration and conservation of Alabama’s plants and animals , with priority given to field-based research in the state. There were 7 recipients.
Turtle Point Science Center Director, Sierra Stiles, accepts the Education MiniGrant award.
Turtle Point Science Center, (Escambia County) Dauphin Island Sea Lab, (Mobile County)
J. Larry Newton Elementary School, (Baldwin County)
Kern Freesland. MS student, Alabama A&M University. Breeding and Migratory Ecology of Two Nightjar Species in William B. Bankhead National Forest –Application of Remote Tracking.
Financial Grants
Sessions Foundation
$325,000 Alabama Power Foundation
$40,000 The Daniel Foundation of Alabama
$40,000
EBSCO Community Impact
$10,000 Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation
$25,000 Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation
$20,000 Protective Life Foundation
$5,000
Adam-Stewart Architects, LLC
Alabama Bird Search
Alabama Birding Trails
Alabama Black Belt Adventures
Alabama Civil Rights Tourism Association
Sponsors & Partners
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Alabama Forestry Commission
Alabama Natural Heritage Program
Alabama Ornithological Society
Alabama Power Foundation
Alabama Tourism Department
Alabama Trustee Implementation Group
Alabama Wildlife Center
Auburn Natural History Museum
Auburn Rural Studio
Auburn University
Baldwin County Sewer Service
Bama Buzz
Bham Now
Bank Plus
Becky Humphries
Black Belt Museum
Black Warrior Riverkeeper
Bon Secour NWR
Braided River Brewing
Bryant Bank
Cahaba River Society
City of Orange Beach
Connecting with Birds and Nature, LLC (The Joe Farm)
Conservancy Travel
Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation
Dallas County Chamber of Commerce
Daniel Foundation
EBSCO Community Impact
Elise Smith (Contentment)
Forever Wild Land Trust
Fort Morgan State Historic Site
Fortline Waterworks
Grand Hotel
Greensboro Area Business and Tourism Association
Gulf Coast RC&D
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism
Gulf State Park
Hale County Library
HUB International
JH Wright
Jefferson County Greenways Coalition
Jones Valley Urban Farms
Land Trust of North Alabama
Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation
Mississippi State University
National Audubon Society
PBS
Perry County Commission
Point Break Solution
Project Horseshoe Farm
Protective Life Foundation
Putnam Middle School
Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
Selma Dallas County Public Library
South Alabama Land Trust
Sumter Farms
The Birmingham Zoo
The City of Greensboro
The Nature Conservancy Alabama
Town of Dauphin Island
Town of Summerdale
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Alabama
University of Alabama at Birmingham
US Fish and Wildlife Service
US Forest Service
Ward Trucking
Thank you!
We are looking forward to the next year.
Photo Credits
Cover page-Snowy Plover nest by Evan Barrientos // National Audubon Digital Asset
End page-Great Egret by Greg Harber
All photo rights are owned by Alabama Audubon unless otherwise listed.
Editors & Contributors
R. Scot Duncan
Tim Higgins
Lianne Koczur
Keith A. Wolfe-Hughes
All information presented is within Alabama Audubon’s fiscal year (July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025).
The Annual Report 2024-2025 is dedicated to the everyday birds of Alabama.
Designed by Allison Ciamarra
