Committed to Conservation
for Over 110 Years
& Counting.
ASO Tree ID Hike with naturalist Jerry Lippert,
Winton Woods, 2010
Garganey and Blue-winged Teal
at Fernald Bio-Wetland 07 May 2011
Native Plants provide food for birds and other local wildlife.
Learn more by attending ASO meetings and field trips.
.jpg)
Tim Tolford banding a Northern Saw-whet Owl
at Fernald 04 November 2011
Park Naturalist Jerry Lippert explains fall leaf coloration
at Sharon Woods 15 October 2011
.jpg)
Paul Krusling leads a turtle identification field trip at
Shawnee Lookout 11 April 2011
Welcome to the
Audubon Society of Ohio |
|
The Audubon Society of Ohio (ASO) was established in 1897 in the Greater Cincinnati area. ASO was the first Audubon Society organized in Ohio, and is currently a local chapter of the National Audubon Society. Calendar**If event description is truncated select "Agenda" at top right of calendarSelected Upcoming Events 20 February 2012 Native Fish of Ohio Brian Zimmerman will talk about some of our more colorful and lesser known fish found in Ohio, where they live, and how to observe them. He will also talk about the project he is currently working on which is intended to have an end product of a revision of the book "Fishes of Ohio" by M. B. Trautman. Brian has always been interested in fish, his dad has pictures of him playing in a stream when he was 2 years old. He grew up in NE Ohio and by the time he was in middle school knew he wanted to get a job working with fish. By the time he was in high school (graduated in 2001) it had become a little more specific in that he knew he wanted to work with freshwater native North American fish. He got his copy of "Fishes of Ohio" at this time from his grandma who worked at a library and they were getting rid of old books that no one ever rented. He went to Heidelberg University in Tiffin Ohio and got his bachelors degree majoring in Water Resources and Environmental Biology (graduated 2005). By the time he graduated he was already thinking he wanted to revise that book that he got in high school because it was out of date. He then went to Bowling Green State University where he got a masters degree in Aquatic Ecology (finished class work 2007 and graduated in 2009 while working elsewhere). After that he worked for a environmental consulting company for the summer and then began working at Ohio State University as the cataloging assistant at the fish division of the museum of biodiversity for about 6 months. He then worked for the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Inland Fisheries Research Unit for 2.5 years. While there he revised the ODNR Web site to include a description for every species of fish in their A-Z identification pages. He also made a lot of the fishing maps they have posted on their Web site. Knowing that he was in a temporary position intended to last two years he took every chance he got to put a bug in the ear of the higher ups that they needed more of a focus on the lesser known non-game fish because no one in their organization worked with them. He also suggested a great way to start would be to revise to old Fishes of Ohio book. He did this a lot, particularly during the extra 6 months they gave him. He was then off work for nearly 5 months and got by on his wife's income and his private native aquarium fish business (ZimmermansFish.com) which he has also been operating for going on 9 years now. He was beginning to think the wildlife guys had forgot about him until he got a call one day asking if he would want to head up a new project they would be funding through Ohio State University to build some new distribution maps for every species of fish found in Ohio, with the intent that these would go into a new Fishes of Ohio publication some day. He has now been collecting data and building maps for that project since March 15th of 2011 and has been told he has another couple of years to get the maps complete. He is working back at the OSU Museum of Biodiversity fish division in Columbus Ohio. See Calendar for additional information. 26 February 2012 East Fork Lake Waterfowl, Gulls, Others Many waterfowl winter in our region and the second half of February marks the beginning of spring waterfowl migration so we should find plenty of ducks at East Fork. Our trip leader, Joe Bens, is an expert birder and knows East Fork State Park as well as anyone. In fact Joe is the compiler of the East Fork Christmas Bird Count for the past 29 years. Joe plans to drive around the lake from one vantage point to another, stopping and scanning for waterfowl and other birds at each spot. A diverse number of other species are also expected on this trip and you can be sure that Joe won’t miss much. Winter residents will still be around as well as a few early migrants. There is a fairly reliable spot for Red-headed Woodpeckers and raptors of several different species are expected, including Bald Eagle. See Calendar for additional information.
The ASO MissionASO is dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of the natural world. Through education and conservation activities in our community, we raise awareness and promote solutions to global environmental problems. The Audubon Society of Ohio was formed to be an environmental leader and educator for those living within the Greater Cincinnati area. We present monthly programs on various topics that are free and educational. These programs are usually held at the Winton Woods visitor center. Some topics have included birding trends in Ohio, including how populations are monitored and studied; travels of birders and photographers to some of the most beautiful areas in the world; and guest speakers from other local, regional and national organizations. ASO provides educational monthly field trips designed to give hands-on experiences in the natural world. In addition to field trips to birding hot spots, our field trips also focus on the rest of the natural world, including trees, wildflowers, butterflies, insects, salamanders and other amphibians and reptiles, and much more. We concentrate on exploring local habitats; to minimize driving, most of our field trips are held in the Greater Cincinnati area. We also host special events, such as our annual Birding Class, a hands-on birding ID series taught by experts to people of all ages in the classroom and the field. The Audubon Society of Ohio actively conserves some key properties in the Hamilton County and Adams County areas. These properties provide beneficial habitat for native flora and fauna. We are also involved in many conservation projects, working cooperatively with other like-minded groups in the area. |
