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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.

Click this button to Check out our social media on Facebook

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: Programs start at 7:00PM. Refreshments and socializing are available starting at 6:30 PM.

Two ways to attend the monthly meetings: In Person and on-line streaming on Zoom.

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

Click here for a map of the meeting location.
NOTE: Due to ON-going Road Construction on Camp Bowie, access the Clifton Street parking lot by using W. 7th Street to get to Clifton.

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

Click here for the 2025-2026 on-line Zoom Meeting link.

Fort Worth Audubon General Meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday evening from September thru May. Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 14, 2026. The program is our Annual Members’ Slide Show with photos and videos shared by our members from their travels (or backyards) in the last 12 months. This will be a live in-person meeting and streamed via Zoom.

A Special Note from Joy Havner, FWAS Membership Chair

Fort Worth Audubon announced the nominations for 2026-2027 Board Members at the April General Meeting. A vote was taken by members in attendance and on line on Zoom. The President position remains open as no one has volunteered for that position, The following positions were approved:
• Vice President, Field Trips: Sheila Sawyer
• Vice President, Programs: Debbie Branch/Scott Hollinger (joint effort this coming season)
• Recording Secretary: Amanda Brochu
• Treasurer: Vicki Moore
• Newsletter: Michael Francis
• Directors At-Large (multiple): Brian Frasher; Jean Ferguson; Tom Haase
• Past President: Chuck Baskin (automatically given to the exiting president)

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

Volunteers Needed for Spring Events!!
We have multiple Spring, Earth Day and World Migratory Bird Day 2026 Events where FWAS members attend to provide information about who we are, about birding in Nort Texas, and our on-going conservation efforts.

For more information, email Jim Jones at jim_jones@fwas.org.

News for Birders
Older News Items have been moved to the News for Birders page.

A Golden-cheeked Warbler has returned to Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center!
We received this news from our friend Sheryll Barker. She has been observing and reporting the GCWA visitors for several years now. Sheryll added that this year, bird watchers have been granted limited permission to do bird surveys on Mount Lebanon Baptist Camp, a forested property of about 200 acres just southeast of Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center. Last Wednesday, Dana Sudborough and Jacob Bliss surveyed a portion of this property and found two male GCWAs in a singing competition with each other! Wow! MLBC is big enough that Dana and Jacob were only able to cover about 2/3 of the property, so there might be more out there. We could use volunteers to survey the additional 1/3 area in the northeast portion of the property, as well as adjacent areas. You will report all species via eBird, with a focus on identifying GCWA and mapping their location by GPS coordinates. Dana and Jacob’s path, including where they found the male GCWAs, is available. If interested in helping, send a note to avianadmin@fwas.org, and we will forward your interest to Sheryll.

Avilist: A Unified Global Checklist
of the World’s Birds

Cornell Lab of Ornithology News Release (6-11-25) announced that the Avilist global checklist of birds is now available. The new checklist recognizes 11,131 species of birds in the world, classified within 252 families. Click here to read the full press release about the working group’s four year journey to harmonize the global checklist.

Avilist: the Global Avian Checklist v2025

66th Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) Check-list of North American Birds published earlier this summer.

The American Ornithologist Society has released the latest supplement to the seventh edition of the Check-list of North American Birds (Americam Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) 1998). A number of changes were made that affects some of the species seen in North Texas. Some changes involved moving a species to a differnt family sub-group. (Cooper’s Hawk and Goshawk). The Warbling Vireo has become the Western Warbling-Vireo and Eastern Warbling-Vireo after DNA studies revealed they are distinctly different.

Click Here to read the full article in the July Issue of Ornithology.

Our Education Chair goes to several Fall, Earth Day and Spring Celebration events. Click this bubble to see his 2024 report HERE. Contact a Board Member if you wish to help getting our name out there.

Acreage opened to public on
Lake Benbrook shoreline

In 2023, 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.)

Visit the website listed below to share your sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle, tips, choices, volunteering, cool DIY projects and posts on a social media website. Make sure to use the hashtag #MyEarthMyTexas .
Follow @earthsharetexas for all updates and useful tips! To be eligible for prizes, register your handle for free
at www.earthshare-texas.org/my-earth-my-texas

Lights Out, Fort Worth!
Fall 2025 Surveys

Texas Conservation Alliance has partnered with several DFW area non-profits to work with city officials and business leaders making our communities and skies safer for migrating birds. Click on this button to visit the Lights Out, Fort Worth! webpage, read their reports, and find out how to volunteer.

Lights Out, DFW! and Lights Out, Fort Worth! webpage

Want to volunteer for Lights Out?
Pick a Date Here.

Congratulations to
Team Lesser Mellowlegs

August 13, 2025 Record Breaking Participation During the 29th Great Birding Classic
A press release from Texas Parks & Wildlife News announced the results from this years Great Birding Classic (GTBC). If you are not familiar with this event, it is the biggest, longest and wildest birdwatching tournament in the country. The 2025 GTBC hosted a record number of 226 teams with 1,315 participants statewide. There are multiple team categories including teams that traveled Texas for a Week Long; traveled Texas Statewide for a Big Day; teams that only traveled certain regions of Texas, and Teams that took part in half-day and full-day Big Sits!.
Our chapter member Ted Drozdowski gathers Team Lesser Mellowlegs each year for a full-day Big Sit. This year the team returned to Richland Creek WMA North Unit which places them in the Prairies and Pineywoods West region. The Lesser Mellowlegs counted 105 species on May 8th, putting the team in 1st Place of 15 teams in their region!

Click this button for the full TPWD News Release

From Mid February until August teams monitor up to 45 nest boxes in the parks around Benbrook Lake.  Every 5-7 days boxes are checked and status updated on the nestwatch app.  Boxes are checked during the day (not too early, not too late, to avoid common egg laying and temperature sensitive times). Most nest sites are along the roads and accessed by car, but some teams choose to walk when checking a series of nests at a park.  Whether you are interested in learning the system with the intent of starting your own box sites, are curious about the process, or want to join a team, you are welcome to join us.  Contact Joy at joyhavner@fwas.org, or click on the NestWatch image above.

2024-2025 Grant Awards

• Grants budget is $3,000
• Awarded 3 Grant requests (Received 5 applications + 1 other application past the
  deadline) Thank you notes / emails received from all 3.
  o UNT Dr Jim Bednarz & Brooke Prater – Continuing American Kestrel winter habitat study
  o River Legacy Nature Center – Custom bench for under the wingspan sign to
  accommodate kids getting up high enough to compare their arm span
  o Blackland Prairie Raptor Center – Pay for 3 raptors to be treated (vet costs) and released in Tarrant or Denton counties.

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….

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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