Events Calendar

Join us to hear Barbara Johnson, member of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, Vice President for Programs speak on the connection of plants and the timing of bird migration. 

How can we lay the best botanical table for the birds coming, going, and raising families here in Eastern Tennessee? Migrating and nesting birds have always relied on abundant fuel high in fat and protein to navigate the challenges of weather, geography, and competition. They must also find species-specific shelter and nesting sites. Add to those challenges diminishing habitat, invasive plants, climate change and human-built dangers. How can we help? As citizens and landowners, we can choose which plant communities to protect and implement, to best support these beautiful, necessary inhabitants of the web of life. Bring on the bugs, berries and branches! 

Barbara Johnson grew up in Kansas and lived in Maryland before retiring to Chattanooga in 2019. She studied Biology at the University of Kansas and worked as an elephant keeper, an ecological guide, an educational consultant, and a breathwork practitioner. She and her husband built a house in 2007 on the outskirts of Annapolis and landscaped two acres with native plants (with the exception of a few Korean viburnum!)  She began birding as a college student in the Flint Hills of Kansas. She served as president of the Maryland Ornithological Society, and now serves as the program chair for Chattanooga’s chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.