Join our Big Sit at the golf course tomorrow, May 1, at 8 a.m. Bring your binoculars for birdwatching and, most importantly, your voice.

We'll be meeting up the golf course parking lot at 6100 16th Street NW.

Don't forget to object to the cutting of over 1,200 trees in Rock Creek Park by NOON TOMORROW MAY 1! Write a short testimony or register to speak by noon tomorrow, May 1, at this link: https://www.ncpc.gov/participate/guidelines

SAVE ROCK CREEK TREES!

On May 2, the National Capital Planning Commission could approve the Rock Creek Park Golf Course rehabilitation project, which includes removing over a thousand trees and replacing them with golf turf. Learn more about objections to the project here.

These trees, some of which are over a hundred feet tall and over 80 years old, are home to American Kestrels, Carolina Wrens, Tree Swallows, Red-shouldered Hawks, American Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, Owls, and many, many more birds and other animals. On April 28, a rare-to-DC Eastern Whip-poor-will was even spotted in the park!

Thank you SO MUCH for your help! We can't save this special D.C. habitat without you!

We don't usually think of birds and architecture together…except in the unfortunate ways construction has not always considered the welfare of birds.

But how about birds IN the architecture ... as part of the very design of the building!

Join us with architecture-enthusiast, Brian Wee, for a very special bird walk as we time travel past buildings like the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials that are replete with architectural elements first introduced in Greek and Roman antiquity. We'll touch on avian life incorporated as sculptural elements in these neoclassical buildings.

And ... of course ... bring your bins for birdwatching along the way!

After this walk, we hope you'll better appreciate the "mystic chords of memory" (President Lincoln's first inaugural address) that connect our contemporary experience on the National Mall to the peoples -- and the birds -- who lived in the Greco-Roman world many centuries ago.

Get your teams together for the 1st Annual Bird Count Derby ... DC style!

Derby-themed outfits HIGHLY encouraged!

We'll meetup when the counting is done to have some lite bites together and continue to build community around birds.

Just $20 per team. Register here.

Here are the super simple rules:

1. Teams must have at least two (2) members and not more than four (4).

2. Make your own schedule as long as all counting takes place on Saturday, May 18th, only.

3. All locations must be within D.C. proper, in any -- or all -- of the 8 wards.

4. The team must maintain an eBird list.

5. Teams must check in, together, at the tally point, 7PM, Busboys and Poets - Takoma DC.

6. The team with the most species wins!

Tie-breakers will be rare species (as determimed by eBird) and the best derby costume(s).

Winning team gets a prize and unlimited bragging rights!