By Kim Brand, Vice President of Forsyth Audubon

To help restore protection of Panama Bay for birds, donate at http://bit.ly/OMCVMN

For me, the power of Audubon is rooted in connections between people who are passionate about birds and feel an irrepressible urge to do something about it. At Hog Island Chapter Leadership Camp in Maine the last week in August, 28 chapter leaders and 12 Audubon staff members demonstrated spontaneously the power of Audubon to make a difference at the hemispheric level, and North Carolina chapters were at the center of it.

It began with an "aha" moment shared by several Forsyth Audubon members this spring at Chapter Day, when Charlotte Goedsche said that the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society sends its Bird-a-thon proceeds to the Cerulean Warbler Reserve in Colombia. Despite Audubon North Carolina's work on Golden-winged Warblers and Wood Thrushes in Nicaragua, it hadn't occurred to us before that our chapter could help our breeding birds on their wintering grounds.

We might see a Cerulean Warbler in Forsyth County during migration, but Wood Thrushes breed in forest patches even in Winston-Salem city limits. All of us enjoy their flute-like, complex song, and we know they are declining precipitously -- about 40 percent over the past 40 years. Now we had an idea; but how could we help?

I connected with John Beavers, the head of Audubon's International Alliances Program, at an Atlantic Flyway gathering in Baltimore in March. John was delighted to hear that our chapter wanted to help, and he told me about current research and conservation needs.

In July, Shelley Rutkin and I pitched the idea to our board members, who voted unanimously to commit $7,500 over the next 5 years to Wood Thrush conservation and research in Central America, primarily Belize.

In Maine, in front of chapter leaders from all along the Atlantic Flyway, including Jill Paul from New Hope Audubon Society and Shelley from our chapter, I spoke of Forsyth Audubon's commitment during John's presentation about the International Alliances Program's work. John wrapped up by describing a dire situation in Panama Bay, where the Panamanian government has "undeclared" a global IBA that provides critical stopover habitat for shorebirds, opening it up to development.

Moved by our chapter's support of Flyway-level conservation and by the urgent threat facing Panama Bay, Francis Grant-Suttie, Vice President of the Atlantic Flyway, stepped up and made a personal financial pledge to support on-the-ground opposition of the unprecedented -- and dangerously precedent-setting -- removal of protection. Most -- if not all -- camp participants followed Francis's lead, and by lunchtime, pledges totaled $3,000. That grew to $3,500 by the time we left the island at the end of the week. The funds will go to support Audubon conservation partner, Panama Audubon Society, in their efforts to protect Panama Bay from development.

When we come together to share our energy and our passion for bird conservation, our power to make a difference is huge. As Francis said, "This is our Atlantic Flyway."

I am awed by the power of Audubon and proud to be a part of it. Over and over at Hog Island, NAS staff and chapter members alike agreed that the power of Audubon is in our chapters, in our grassroots network. That means us, right here in North Carolina, acting to conserve our birds everywhere they go along the Atlantic Flyway throughout their lives.