By Davi Jacobs

On a campus defined by the roar of construction and the hum of innovation, the University of Maryland Audubon Chapter finds its purpose through a different sound: birdcalls. 

Created in 2024, the chapter’s members have promoted avian conservation through guided bird walks, the introduction of native plants to campus and sustainability-focused service projects. This university’s group is one of more than 90 Audubon campus chapters nationwide. 

Jingkang Wu, a junior biological sciences major and the chapter president, said he sees birding as a hobby that constantly renews itself.  

“The seasons change, the bird communities change,” Wu said. “Any time of the year, there’s always going to be some cool bird activity around.”

Wu said birding is one of the most accessible hobbies – powered by free apps like Merlin and eBird, birders can identify species by song and log sightings, contributing data to real scientific research.

Wu began birdwatching when his Environment, Technology and Economy program for College Park Scholars tasked him to track owls in Northern Maryland. He continued his newfound interest last summer, tracking owls around his own neighborhood. He joined the organization the following semester.

“There’s a thrill of exploration, a thrill of seeing new bird species,” Wu said. 

Birders collect the birds they encounter in a “life list,” a personal collection of all the species they have observed. Wu compared it to collecting Pokémon cards; his list currently contains 134 species. 

Members can add to their life list during the chapter’s organized walks around Lake Artemesia. 

The club’s mission extends beyond observation. Members roll up their sleeves for several hands-on projects to help their feathered friends.

For Earth Day in 2024, the chapter restored a deserted raised garden bed in front of this university’s School of Public Health. The “Bird Beds” promote local biodiversity and introduce students to avian conservation by introducing other native plants. 

Andrew Heffner, a junior plant biology major, is one of the garden supervisors for the Bird Beds. 

“It’s been really cool to just see it explode with color and really fill in…” Hefner said. “The Bird Beds show that students take initiative about issues they care about on campus.”  

The chapter also partners with the UMD Golf Course to acquire and install bird nest boxes. Members monitored six boxes over the summer, which several bird families inhabited to raise their chicks, Wu said.  

Chapter member and former secretary Maxine Hsu, a senior biology and computer science major, is involved in the effort to install bird-repelling window stickers at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Window collisions are the second leading cause of death for birds after house cats, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  

Hsu said her passion for birding was solidified after she took over caring for her family’s bird feeder. She still has some of the Audubon bird plushies she got as a kid.  

“There’s this stereotype that birding is for older folks because they have more time and money,” Hsu said. “But there are a lot of people our age who are also very interested in birding.” 

The growing interest among younger birders highlights how the hobby is evolving. For Wu, that shift means redefining what it means to be a “birder.”  

“If you just look out in your backyard and observe the birds and just appreciate them… you’re a birder,” Wu said. 

Featured Image: UMD Audobon members restore Bird Beds, which are the native pollinator garden in front of the School of Public Health. Photo courtesy of Jingkang Wu.