About us
Welcome to Wake Audubon Society – where our love for nature meets a commitment to inclusion and belonging and providing programs, outings and activities where all can safely access and celebrate nature.
As a chapter of Audubon NC and the National Audubon Society, our 1,900-strong community in Wake, Johnston, Franklin, and Nash counties, North Carolina, is proud to lead education, conservation, and advocacy efforts to grow our region responsibly and with concern for the birds, wildlife and places we all live.
There is no requirement to join Wake Audubon Society in order to be a member of this Meetup. There is no fee for this Meetup. We encourage you to join Wake Audubon, however, as we depend on member fees to support our environmental projects.
This group enjoys local (and regional) outings to experience wildlife in the Raleigh, Wake County area of North Carolina. We focus on birding, and we enjoy teaching anyone who is new to birding. We welcome visitors to the area who want to attend our outings.
Wake Audubon hosts free, public, in-person educational programs that are generally held on the second Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Nature Research Center, 121 W Jones St. Raleigh, NC, 4th floor meeting room. Most of these programs can also be viewed virtually via Zoom. See the topic, and confirm the location and Zoom link for each program in our Meetup or calendar posts.
We also volunteer for various events, including river cleanups, invasive species removal, nestbox maintenance, helping with events at various parks and museums, and community science projects such the Christmas Bird Count and Great Backyard Bird Count.
Thanks for your interest in Wake Audubon. Come, join us!
Our mission statement: "To foster knowledge, appreciation, and enjoyment of nature; to encourage responsible environmental stewardship; to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity."
Upcoming events
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Hilltop-Needmore Park (North), 2026-0822
Hilltop Needmore Town Park & Preserve, 4621 Shady Greens Dr, Fuquay-Varina, NC, USBirding at Hilltop-Needmore Park (North)
Saturday, AUGUST 22, 2026
Time: 8:30 to 10:30 am
4621 Shady Greens Drive, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
Leaders: (Various leaders, including Larry Zoller, David Southwick and Matt Florez)
Free Bird Outing with Wake Audubon! Join us for a Wake Audubon bird outing at Hilltop-Needmore Park on the fourth Saturday of most months (check here for updates).
The walk is limited to 20 participants; the RSVP on Meetup opens August 1 at 7 am.We will meet at the lower end of the old Club House parking lot. Look for a "Bird Walk Here" sign. We will start promptly at 8:30 am regardless of the weather and should finish by 10:30 am.
Dress for the weather and be prepared to walk paved trails and occasionally on wet grassy fairways. There is some elevation change but we will not be moving quickly as we stop frequently for birds. No birding experience is necessary. Bring your binoculars and a bird guide if you have one. The walk is not recommended for children under 6. Please leave your pets at home.
Ebird hotspot site: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L16295752Let's Go Birding!
The Leader will make and share an ebird list and share it with your ebird account. Individual lists are discouraged because they duplicate the data, but you can edit your list once it's shared to you.14 attendees
Early Bird at Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve 2026-0905
Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve, 2900 Horse Shoe Farm Road, Wake Forest, NC, USEarly Bird at Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve (registration required off Meetup)
Saturday, SEPTEMBER 5, 2026, 8 am - 9:30 am
Register Off-site only: Requires a login and password:
Login first at LoginThen register for this free event at: Register for Sep 5
Or Click on Search -- Activity Search and type in "EARLY BIRD"
Workshop code is 'HFNPEARLYBIRD"
Grab your binoculars and meet us at beautiful Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve for a bird-watching hike led by Wake Audubon volunteer naturalist, LynnErla Beegle.Spend your morning watching and learning about birds that prefer meadows and forest edges on this approximately 1.5 mile hike. For beginning and advanced birders. Bring your binoculars, or borrow a pair of ours. Pre-registration is required. Limited to City of Raleigh residents.
Meet in the parking lot at Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve 2900 Horseshoe Farm Rd, Wake Forest, NC, 27587 .1 attendee
Wake Audubon Meeting: The Elusive King Rail
Nature Research Center, 121 W Jones St, Raleigh, NC, USWake Audubon Monthly Meeting: Investigating the Elusive King Rail
Meeting is In Person and Zoom
Time: Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026, 7:30 - 9:00 pm
Nature Research Center, 121 W. Jones St., Raleigh, 4th floor conference room
Location: In-person + Zoom
**Our NEW Zoom link is (Click the link below, then paste the code and password):WakeAudubonZoom
Meeting code: 848 5786 3508
Password: 4Birds
Park (for free after 6:30 pm) and walk to the main museum entrance on Jones Street, just to the right of the giant globe. Since the NCSM is closed at night, someone will be at the door ONLY from 7 to 7:45 to let you in, so be on time. Take the elevator to the fourth floor meeting room. The east-facing entrance to the "old wing" of the museum will not be used. If you feel unwell, please stay home and enjoy our presentation over Zoom.Topic: In this presentation, August Gause will share information about research and fieldwork in the marshes of North and South Carolina related to a threatened freshwater marsh bird: the King Rail. The secretive King Rail is approximately the size of a chicken but is difficult to observe due to the dense emergent vegetation it inhabits. Studying this species is therefore challenging, and current knowledge about King Rail is limited compared to easier-to-study species. Monitoring these birds is particularly important because they serve as indicators of the health of freshwater marsh ecosystems. They are sensitive to environmental changes, and their populations have been declining for over fifty years. In the U.S., their distribution has become concentrated along the East Coast. However, these populations face challenges related to climate change. August will discuss conservation concerns, methods of studying this elusive species, and research findings.
Speaker: August Gause graduated with an M.S. in Biology from East Carolina University, where they were co-advised by Dr. Susan McRae and Dr. Christopher Balakrishnan. Currently, August is an environmental planner at a consulting firm and is working toward publishing their thesis research.
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We hope you will help us by joining Wake Audubon and National Audubon!
http://wakeaudubon.org/get-involved/join/*Last updated 2026-07-24 by Beegle
WATCH for updates7 attendees
Past events
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