Avian Action Committee: Bird Conservation with the Hoffmann Bird Club

Audrey Werner and Zach Adams from the Hoffmann Bird Club will speak about the club's work to promote birding and bird conservation in Berkshire County. They will share active projects taken on by their new Avian Action Committee: monitoring Common Loons and building Bank Swallow colony nest boxes.  Volunteers are trained to monitor nesting Common Loons beginning in April.  Zach will also talk about getting a new bank swallow nest box program started that helps to bring more nesting opportunities to a recent stream restoration site here in Berkshire County.

Zach is a writer, photographer, avid outdoorsman, and lifelong conservationist. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Juniata College and has worked and studied from the Chesapeake Bay to the Adirondacks. Zach has lived along the banks of the Housatonic River for his entire career, and is passionate about conservation in the Berkshires where he lives with his wife Evelyn and his German Shorthaired Pointer, Millie. He now works for Trout Unlimited, managing stream restoration projects in Berkshire County. You can find him chasing brook trout in the hills, walking behind his bird dog, or scratching his head over a rare bird identification.  Zach writes a sporting column for the Berkshire Eagle, has publications in multiple magazines, and is the author of the field guide, Birds of New England... and he will back at the Milne on April 23rd to talk about his book!

Audrey has been involved with the Hoffmann Bird Club for many years serving as Past President and now Communications Officer. Audrey is a biologist who has worked for a shiitake mushroom farm, taught biology and environmental science at MCLA, and prepared science labs at Williams College. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science and a Master of Science degree from the University of Vermont. She has done bird censuses for Vermont, led bird walks for the club and done research in Panama involving Botany and Iguana Nesting. 

This event is our first of numerous Flight Path programs, an initiative the library is participating in through the Spring.  Be on the look out for more programs about birding, bird conservation and migration, and bird-related films and craft workshops!