​Are you celebrating Year of the Bird at your facility? 2018 marks the signing of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the oldest and strongest pieces of legislation protecting wildlife in the USA. Year of the Bird is being coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, Birdlife International, and National Geographic. Big events you can celebrate are International Migratory Bird Day (May 12) and World Bird Day (October 13), International Vulture Awareness Day (September 1), plus you can host or encourage participation in Hawk Watch counts in the fall, the Great Backyard Bird Count (February 16-19) and Christmas Bird Counts which take place in December.

There’s a Year of the Bird Network on Facebook for your organization’s coordinators to join and you can register your organization on the BirdYourWorld.org website as a partner, where lots of other resources are available, too. We’ve also been loading resources right here on the Raptor TAG website (RaptorTAG.com/YearOfTheBird) to celebrate birds (especially raptors!) all year long! Check out the monthly theme calendar to get started.  

If you’ve got some great activities or lessons you’d like to share on the TAG Education, IVAD, or YOTB pages, we’d love to see them!

​Don’t forget to use the hashtags #BirdYourWorld and #YearOfTheBird. 

What activities are you planning this year? Comment below! 

Using poisons to kill wildlife in Africa has had a devastating effect on many species over the past decade. Species killed by poison include, lions, hyenas, elephants, eagles, and more. Vultures are often impacted at a higher rate by a poisoning incident due to their propensity for feeding in large groups and because they are often the first to arrive at a carcass. The Peregrine Fund has been working with partners across Africa to put an end to the practice of poisoning wildlife, and in collaboration with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Vulture Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and The Gadfly Project, we have now collated all historical and current incidents of wildlife poisoning into the new African Wildlife Poisoning Database (AWPD). We are particularly excited to be launching this new database now as this weekend the world will be celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). IVAD is the first Saturday of September each year set aside for organizations around the world to highlight vulture conservation and awareness. 

​The Raptor TAG education advisors have put together a field activity guide to help everyone come up with new ways to celebrate IVAD at your institutions. This activity guide contains suggested conservation messaging and action items around which IVAD activities can be centered, as well as ideas, templates, and information about games, crafts, and activities. It also includes a quick highlight of ongoing vulture conservation efforts in the field.

In coming together to celebrate International Vulture Awareness Day, we can speak as one unified voice about the importance of saving vultures and the ecosystems of which they are a critical part!
 
We’ve created lots of great resources on the Raptor TAG website for IVAD, but also check out VultureDay.org to register your event and find even more resources! Together we can make a huge impact on the lives of vultures!
 
Sincerely,
 
The Raptor TAG
 
PS- Talking about your IVAD Activities? If you celebrate IVAD this year, we’d love to know about it! Share photos on social media with the hashtags:
 
#IVAD2017
#VultureCulture
#KeepCalmAndCarrion