Adam Betuel, Conservation Director, Atlanta Audubon Society
“Birds and the Built Environment: Glass, lights, and making our cities bird-friendly”

Seminar is held at 11 a.m. in Conference Room 1101 in the SFWS Building, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, AL.

• Faculty, students and the public are invited to attend this free program.
• Complimentary cookies and coffee will be served.
• CFEs are available by request.
• Advanced registration is not required.
• Parking is available on the 3rd and 4th floors of the South Quad parking deck on Duncan Drive, directly across from the SFWS Building. See Parking Services on Level 2 to obtain a visitor pass.

Abstract:  Claiming up to 1 billion birds annually in the United States alone, collisions with buildings is a major threat to our avian life. Primarily a migratory issue, our feathered friends are attracted and confused by many of our modern architectural preferences and these interactions are often fatal. Adam Betuel, conservation director for the Atlanta Audubon Society, will discuss the causes of these collisions, steps to reduce or eliminate the threats, and what is being done around this issue. Adam oversees Project Safe Flight Atlanta and Lights Out Atlanta, programs focused on monitoring for bird collisions and taking steps to reduce bird deaths. Additionally, he coordinates a monthly Audubon call on this topic, has presented to American Institute of Architects chapters across the Southeast, and is working on making Atlanta more bird-friendly through smart design and building retrofits.

Biography:  Adam Betuel joined Atlanta Audubon as their first conservation director in September of 2015. He has a B.S. in zoology from Ohio State University and is a PhD candidate at Indiana State University (Ecology). Adam is a trained field ornithologists who has worked on projects throughout the eastern United States and South America. Molecular ecology, human-avian interactions, breeding behavior, conservation, and species monitoring are topics he has investigated during his research. Adam has been published multiple times, acted as a manuscript reviewer, presented awards from professional ornithological societies, and awarded multiple grants and honors from his graduate institution.

Since joining Atlanta Audubon, Adam has overseen multiple grants focusing on habitat restoration, bird-friendly structures, and environmental education. He is focused on making Atlanta a more bird-friendly city. To achieve this goal Adam is managing Project Safe Flight Atlanta, a program focused on reducing bird-building collisions. Additionally, the use of native plants, eradication of exotic-invasive species, species-specific conservation, and better understanding how birds can safely utilize the urban landscape are other focal areas of his efforts.