Audubon Society gears up with new programs

Dirk Francisco

The Belize Audubon Society concluded its summer camp program over the weekend. It was a packed agenda in seven groups, including bird watching, photography and hiking through the jungles of the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. According to Dirk Francisco, the Audubon’s Publicity Coordinator, the camp was a major success and they are hoping to expand in 2012. But even though summer is behind us, there are plenty more activities on the agenda for the coming months.

Dirk Francisco, Publicity Coordinator, Belize Audubon Society

“The Belize Audubon Society continues with its work in conserving Belize’s natural resources and at the same time educating Belizeans about conservation in Belize. For the upcoming months we have different activities slated to engage people in what we do. One of the upcoming activities is the launching of our fortieth anniversary book. This book is a historical—it’s the history of the Belize Audubon Society and its work in conservation. We want to bring the knowledge about our work to the general public and anybody interested. Along with the launch of the book, we will have a photo exhibition at the image factory along with the launch of two lector series. The lecture series program again is a venue for people to learn about the work of Audubon and about some important natural resources of Belize. And then in the month of October we will have our third annual urban bird watching activities where we actually take the opportunity to go to different districts in the country of Belize to engage people in participation of bird watching. Like we want to go and have fun watching birds in the different districts. And at the end of the year, we are again engaging people or trying to connect people with nature by engaging people in the Christmas bird watch program. I forgot to mention also in the month of September because jaguars are becoming an issue in some communities in Belize, Belize Audubon Society is proactively engaging other stakeholders in jaguar conservation in Belize. Organizations like the forest department, ERI from the University of Belize and Panthera. We are all joining forces to go to the surrounding communities of the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary to talk about jaguars as an animal; educate them about jaguars, their behavior, their diet and also try to teach them the proper way to handle domestic animals just to prevent jaguars from predating on their animals.”