Interested in learning more about birds and bird-watching in North Carolina?
Then, you’ll want to visit some of our 206,000 acres of state parks and natural areas this year for a rare and wonderful opportunity.
The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation is partnering with Audubon North Carolina to celebrate the “Year of the Birds.”
Throughout the year, birds and bird-watching will be the focus of special education programs and activities in the state parks. You can see wild turkeys in our mountain parks, bald eagles in the Piedmont or even piping plovers along the coast. Not only are birds an important part of the natural experience in our parks, they also give us a good idea of the health of our natural resources and ecosystems.
State parks are regularly involved in annual bird counts, and the parks are among Audubon’s Important Bird Areas, sites for research about the health of bird populations and habitats. Audubon North Carolina, the state parks and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission were also among partners that are establishing three distinct birding trails in North Carolina in an effort to combine eco-tourism and natural resource protection. If you’d like to know more about that initiative, visit http://www.ncbirdingtrail.org/.
In addition to preparing interpretive programs, state park rangers and natural resource biologists are actively involved in projects to protect and restore habitats for some of our rare and threatened birds, such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and colonial nesting shorebirds. Park rangers and biologists also participate in multi-year bird tagging projects.
Learn more about birds at the division’s Web site, www.ncparks.gov, or the Web site for Audubon North Carolina, http://nc.audubon.org/.