What we’re about
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 their authentic selves.
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 (4+)
See all- Birding at the NC Museum of Art, Ann & Jim Goodnight Park 2025-0809North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Birding at the NC Museum of Art, Ann & Jim Goodnight Museum Park
Second Saturday of the month: AUGUST 9, 2025, 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
NC Museum of Art: Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park, 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh.
Meet at the Welcome Center (near the tall brick smokestack in the Museum Park closest to the District Drive entrance).
Leader is Lynn Erla Beegle, 919-673-6136
Habitat includes field, forest, and pond, native plants, and outdoor art.Note: Anyone who has low mobility is welcome to join us, even if the 25-birder limit has been reached. The birding will be on paved trails without stairs. Length is about two miles, in two hours. (Limit is technically 25 birders, but it is a public park.)
More information on the North Carolina Museum of Art website: https://park.ncartmuseum.org/
Map of the 164-acre Museum Park:
https://park.ncartmuseum.org/assets/pdf/Park-Map-Web.pdfTurn RIGHT when you enter via Reedy Creek Road entrance for the NC Museum of Art. Meet in upper parking lot close to the big smokestack and Welcome Center (northern end of the main lot). Look for people with binoculars. Restrooms at Welcome Center are open and handicap accessible.
Admission to the Art Museum is free; opens at 10. Backpacks, binoculars, and long-lens cameras are not allowed in the museum, but they have free lockers to stow these items.
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Ebird Hotspot: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L21844918
See you there! - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION NIGHT: Slide Show and Potluck (In-Person Only!)Nature Research Center at NC Museum of Science, Raleigh, NC
Wake Audubon Evening Meeting: AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION NIGHT: SLIDE SHOW AND POTLUCK (NO ZOOM; in-person only, most likely!)
Tuesday, AUGUST 12, 2025: Wake Audubon Society monthly meeting, 6:30-9-ish PM
NOTE EARLY START TIME FOR MEAL!Audience Participation Night means this month’s speaker is you! Bring a dish to share and (if you wish) send in, ahead of time, up to five natural history images. Each person submitting images is invited to briefly describe his/her images to the group. The main point of the evening is to share memories—this is not a photo competition. Please consider participating with whatever images you have (just one is fine!). Don’t miss this fun evening of dining, learning, and socializing. Open to all.
Please send your images NO LATER THAN AUGUST 6 to Missy at mcgawphoto@mindspring.com as attachments to the email (PREFERABLY JPG).
Please name your photos with the birds name and please add 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the file title so we put them in the correct order. You are invited to briefly tell us about each photo, or, you can send a brief description of each. After August 6, send to John Gerwin but no guarantee the photos will make it into the Powerpoint slide show.Event Begins at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Museum of Natural Sciences (121 W. Jones St., Raleigh), William G. Ross Jr. Environmental Conference Center (4th floor). Someone will be at the entry door between the globe and the Daily Planet Cafe from 6:15 - 6:45 and we will TRY to remember to check again between 7:15 and 7:45 for those who, well, forgot about dinner and the early start.
You don't have to bring food (you can still eat, of course) and you don't have to submit photos and you don't have to be a member; please join us!
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http://wakeaudubon.org/get-involved/join/
*Last updated 7-27-2025 by LEBeegleThe Wake Audubon Program Planning committee would like your ideas for speaker topics for our monthly meetings. A few of us happily put together the monthly speaker and field trip programs for each year. And although we have a current list of ideas, we would like to hear from our members, about what topics you are interested in.
Keep in mind that we strive to create a mix of topics - we are not just a bird organization. This is why we have speakers on such a wide variety of topics. We will begin planning the 2026 programs, fairly soon. So if you are so inclined, please send us topics about which you might like to have us host for a program. We keep a running list. We don't/can't get to everything in a given year, so we generally keep working through our ongoing "to-do" list.
If you heard a speaker that you really enjoyed at another event, then send that information, too.
Your topic ideas can be sent to John Gerwin at birdnerdie@gmail.com
