October 7 @ 8:30 am – 12:00 pm
This is the fall counterpart of our spring ‘birds-and-natives’ workshop at Kennesaw Mountain. We will explore the relationship between birds and native plant species and the importance of conserving one to protect the other. We will try to identify both birds and native plants found on the walk up the road to the top of the mountain and discuss bird behaviors that we observe. The highlights of our spring trip included wild turkey, cedar waxwings, and a scarlet tanager feeding on native red mulberries. We observed great native plant species like blackjack oak, smooth and winged sumac, American persimmon and wild grapes.
On the upcoming trip, we should see fall migrants such as warblers and thrushes, some of our winter visitors, as well as our year-round birds such as nuthatches. We will look for plants in fruit that the birds rely on during their migration, such as Virginia creeper, fox and muscadine grapes, persimmons, sumac, blackgum and fringetree. Binoculars are encouraged, and remember to bring water and snacks as needed. It is an easy 1.5 mile walk up a paved road to the top of the mountain, and trip participants may avail themselves of the Kennesaw shuttle to ride back down the mountain. The trip leader is Vinod Babu, a GNPS board member who has led bird walks for the Atlanta Audubon Society for a few years. For GNPS members only: go to the GNPS Calendar for October 7 to register.