Open now daily through October 4!

In August, DOAS launched The Great Bird Migration Challenge, an innovative, field-sized “board game” designed to immerse visitors in the incredible and often perilous journeys of migratory birds. Located at the DOAS Sanctuary on Franklin Mountain, this new interactive experience will offer families and individuals a unique way to understand the many factors impacting bird migration and survival.

The game will be available daily now through the DOAS Open House event on Saturday, October 4 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM), after which it will be stored until next spring.

Adapted from the acclaimed Flying Wild environmental education curriculum, The Great Bird Migration Challenge transforms the DOAS Sanctuary into a dynamic learning environment. Players will step into the “wings” of a local bird species, navigating challenges and celebrating successes as they simulate the arduous journey between breeding and wintering grounds.

Materials to play and track your migration journey are stored in a small deck box at the marked ‘starting’ location in front of the Sanctuary Barn. Visitors can record their successes and report on their migration journey.  It’s a great opportunity to learn about bird migration which is underway throughout the fall months as many of our local birds return to their wintering grounds. 

Fun for all ages – stop on your way to the hawkwatch and take the Great Bird Migration Challenge today!

As part of our 57th annual Charter Dinner, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society is holding a Charter raffle! Tickets are on sale now through October 17. A “flock” of bird-themed Charter raffle items and door prizes will be presented at the Charter Dinner (click here for more info on the dinner).

Tickets for the Charter raffle (a bucket raffle) will also be available online and at the Open House at the DOAS Sanctuary on October 4. Charter dinner raffle winners do not need to be present at the dinner.

VIEW ITEMS AND BUY TICKETS HERE

Open now daily through October 4!

In August, DOAS launched The Great Bird Migration Challenge, an innovative, field-sized “board game” designed to immerse visitors in the incredible and often perilous journeys of migratory birds. Located at the DOAS Sanctuary on Franklin Mountain, this new interactive experience will offer families and individuals a unique way to understand the many factors impacting bird migration and survival.

The game will be available daily now through the DOAS Open House event on Saturday, October 4 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM), after which it will be stored until next spring.

Adapted from the acclaimed Flying Wild environmental education curriculum, The Great Bird Migration Challenge transforms the DOAS Sanctuary into a dynamic learning environment. Players will step into the “wings” of a local bird species, navigating challenges and celebrating successes as they simulate the arduous journey between breeding and wintering grounds.

Materials to play and track your migration journey are stored in a small deck box at the marked ‘starting’ location in front of the Sanctuary Barn. Visitors can record their successes and report on their migration journey.  It’s a great opportunity to learn about bird migration which is underway throughout the fall months as many of our local birds return to their wintering grounds. 

Fun for all ages – stop on your way to the hawkwatch and take the Great Bird Migration Challenge today!

As part of our 57th annual Charter Dinner, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society is holding a Charter raffle! Tickets are on sale now through October 17. A “flock” of bird-themed Charter raffle items and door prizes will be presented at the Charter Dinner (click here for more info on the dinner).

Tickets for the Charter raffle (a bucket raffle) will also be available online and at the Open House at the DOAS Sanctuary on October 4. Charter dinner raffle winners do not need to be present at the dinner.

VIEW ITEMS AND BUY TICKETS HERE

Join Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society (DOAS) on Saturday, October 4 from 10:00-1:00PM at the DOAS Open House and help with making birds for this special project, Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene.

During fall migration in October of 2023, 966 birds died after colliding with windows at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago. This is the highest number of bird deaths recorded in a single day from a single building. Throughout 2023, a total of 10,836 birds were collected on the streets of Chicago. Although urban areas account for less than 1% of window collisions, they are highly visible, and the event in October prompted the Lakeside Center to implement bird-safe window film and other mitigation measures with their lighting. These measures have resulted in a significant reduction in collisions.

The Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene project, led by Holly Greenberg from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, is raising awareness about bird-window collisions by promoting workshops to create replicas of every bird killed in Chicago in 2023. These replicas, tagged with the crafter’s name, location and date, will become part of a large scale art installation of a 4’x300′ foot ‘carpet’ of these birds. To learn more about the project, please visit https://www.hollygreenberg.com/bird-collisions-anthropocene.

Please join DOAS in making bird replicas for this project and learn about the issue of window collisions. Registration is not required and materials will be available until supplies run out. Children are welcome with adult supervision. If you would like to also make/take home Acopian BirdSavers for your windows, please send information about your windows using the form at https://doas.us/order-materials-for-acopian-bird-savers/ so that we can bring materials for you.

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More information about the DOAS OPEN HOUSE is coming soon! View our Calendar for details.

The Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society (DOAS) will host an Open House event at the DOAS Sanctuary and Hawkwatch at 52 Grange Hall Road Spur, Oneonta, NY (aka Bird Road) from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, October 4, 2025. The event is free and open to the public. Directions may be found here. Freshly brewed bird-friendly coffee and other complimentary snacks and refreshments will be available throughout the day as well as a display of raffle items for our drawing at the annual Charter Dinner, which will be held on Friday, October 17.

Our schedule for 2025 will be as follows:

• 10:00 AM – Raptor Identification Workshop
• 11:00 AM – Sanctuary Trail Walk
• 12:30 PM – An introduction to Ravens (informal with live bird)
• 1:00 PM – Live Birds of Prey with Deb and John Saltis from Falcon Heart Rescue

Falcon Heart Rescue, based in the Herkimer region, is a non-profit organization that rehabilitates and cares for birds in need. Hawks, owls, and an eagle have appeared with them in the past. More info about Falcon Heart Rescue can be found on their website: https://falconheartrescue.com/ 

This year, in addition to the above, from 10 AM to 1 PM, visitors to the open house can bring window glass measurements and take home an Acopian Bird Saver to prevent bird-window collisions and help to make a bird for the Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene art project. Kids can also enjoy playing a large scale board game, The Great Bird Migration Challenge in the field near the barn and tracking what happened to them along their migration.

Please join DOAS on October 4 for a family-friendly day of fun at the Sanctuary!

Photos above: View at the Sanctuary, photo by Matthew Bechtold, Bechtold Photography (left) and Deborah Saltis, founder of Falcon Heart Rescue with red-tailed hawk (right)

On Friday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m., at the 57th Annual Charter Dinner, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society will welcome keynote speaker Julie Brown, Raptor Migration and Programs Director at the Hawk Migration Association (HMA). This program will be a part of our in-person Charter Dinner event at the 6th Ward Athletic Club Banquet Room, but anyone may attend on Zoom free of charge. Due to space limitations at the facilities this year, in person attendance for the program portion will not be possible. To register for the program only via Zoom, please visit this link: https://tinyurl.com/2f3cmt7c

For those interested in attending the Charter Dinner in person, you must register separately. Please visit this page for more information and to purchase tickets: https://doas.us/2025-charter-dinner .

Our Charter Dinner Raffle is also available with a “flock” of bird-themed prizes. Tickets for the Charter raffle are available online and at the Open House at the DOAS Sanctuary on October 4. Charter raffle winners do not need to be present at the dinner. Learn more about our Charter raffle here: https://doas.us/2025-dinner-raffle/ .

Program Information

Raptor Migration and Programs Director for the Hawk Migration Association (HMA), Julie Brown, will speak about HMA’s work and the continental network of hawk watching sites, why collecting spring and fall migration data is important and what we’ve learned about raptor movements and populations. She’ll dive into migration data collected at Franklin Mountain and across the continent and discuss what it’s showing us about the health of raptor populations.

About the Presenter 

Julie Brown is the Raptor Migration and Programs Director at the Hawk Migration Association. Before joining HMA in 2009, she migrated throughout the US and tropics working as a field biologist primarily with raptors, focusing on human impact studies, migration research and behavioral studies. She received her BS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine and received her MS in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England, where she studied Peregrine Falcon migration in Costa Rica for her thesis. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, whom she met hawkwatching, and her two bird-loving children, a flock of chickens, her dog and lots of fruit trees. She is a volunteer counter at the Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory each fall.

To order, visit: https://doas.us/2025-order-bird-seed/

For all who ordered bird seed, it will be available to pick up on Saturday, November 1 from 9–11:00 a.m.

• ORDER DEADLINE: SUNDAY, October 19, by 5 p.m.
• PRODUCT PICKUP: SATURDAY, November 1, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• PICKUP LOCATION: VP Supply Corp., 69 Country Club Road, Oneonta, NY.

Your order directly supports DOAS’s programs! Proceeds will go toward field trips, special events, the Franklin Mountain Hawkwatch, youth summer programs, and speaker fees for meetings. Thank you to all who support DOAS through this annual sale!

Blue Jay, Photo by Diana Douglass-Audubon Photography Awards