We’re so excited that our upcoming bird walk in Tacony Creek Park on June 29th will be led by expert birder Keith Russell of the Audubon Society. We wanted to let you know more about Keith before you join us for this early morning walk!
Mt. Airy’s Keith Russell has been birding since the third grade, where he studied birds in Carpenters Woods and along the Wissahickon Trail. After graduating from Germantown Friends School, he received his B.S in Biology at Cornell University and went on to obtain his M.Sc. in Zoology from Clemson University.
A well renowned figure in the Audubon Society since 1987, Russell began the Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census (PMWBC), for which he received the Julian Potter Award. In addition, he’s the author of A Checklist of Birds of the Fairmount Park Urban Greenways Important Bird Area, a Friend of Carpenters Woods, and a life member of Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.
As Outreach Coordinator for Audubon Pennsylvania, Keith focuses on two areas: providing education and outreach to the Strawberry Mansion community (where Audubon and Fairmount Park are building an environmental education center) and promoting bird conservation projects within the Fairmount Park Important Bird Area.
Keith organized a volunteer monitoring effort during the 2008 and 2009 migrations, which helped reveal how glass windows and building lights affect birds that live in or migrate through the city. His research led many building owners to turn off lights at night during migration seasons in Philadelphia’s taller, most collision prone buildings. Temple University has joined this effort to protect birds, implementing installations in windows to make them visible.
Read about Keith’s first walk through Tacony Creek Park and join us for our upcoming walk on Sunday, June 29th! More details below:
