Birds of Michigan

Stay tuned for updates on exciting avian programs coming up this summer! KNC will blend avian science with art from July to September in our newly renovated Visitor Center. The exhibit will feature the beautifully precise work of illustrator Olivia Mendoza. And, on September 12, we’re thrilled to host Dr. J. Drew Lanham, a Clemson University ornithologist and best-selling author of the memoir “The Home Place.” His book explores race, environmentalism, and Lanham’s family legacy on a farm once worked by his enslaved ancestors. He writes about what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity”— a Black man, scientist, and birder in a profoundly White profession.

Of course, birds aren’t all we care about at KNC. Our Education, Conservation Stewardship, and Research programs run the gamut from invasive species control to forest carbon surveys and butterfly propagation. In all these areas, we continue to grow in scientific knowledge and human understanding. Yet our work with birds illustrates nicely how a KNC focus area can evolve and deepen over time.

With your support, we’ll help conserve birds, healthy forests, clean waters and so much more on our KNC properties and beyond. We’ll stay true to our roots, even as we put down new ones to sustain us in the seasons ahead. We are grateful for your support!