Grasslands Bird Trust

About this event

If not, you’ve missed something truly wonderful. Join the library and Adirondack Mountain Club to learn more about Grassland Bird Trust (GBT), a 501(c)(3) land trust conserving critical habitat for endangered, threatened and at-risk grassland birds. Join speakers Samantha Carouso Peck and Keith Swensen for this important conversation. No registration required.

GBT’s mission is to protect and conserve critical and vanishing grassland habitat for endangered, threatened, and rapidly declining grassland birds in the 102,000-acre Washington County Grasslands. NYS grassland birds include the State Endangered Short-eared Owl, the State Threatened Northern Harrier, American Kestrels, Eastern Meadowlarks and Bobolinks. Altogether there are 11 grassland bird species are at risk in NYS.  

GBT is a stop on the NYS Birding Trail, a statewide map of birding hot spots. GBT’s trail winds through the grasslands and along the Dead Creek, offering spectacular views from all directions. With a little luck, you’ll see increasingly rare grassland birds. On Dead Creek beavers have built dams and created a wetland area. So, you may see them or the muskrats and the bird species that have the wetlands as their habitat. It is a wonderful walk, appropriate for all ages, with eight benches strategically positioned along the way for maximum viewing enjoyment. The benches are conducive to a technique called ‘slow birding’. It involves relaxing for a bit letting the birds come to you and then not just getting a glimpse of them but observing their behaviors. 

More about our speakers: Samantha Carouso Peck who holds a from Cornell University studying the behavior, learning, and communication of birds. Keith Swensen who is currently Vice-Chair of GBT, having served on the board for 6 years.