Nonprofit launches Eastern Kentucky birding ‘hotspots’ to encourage bird documentation

A land conservation nonprofit in Kentucky is using grant funding to add signs near birding “hotspots” in Eastern Kentucky that people can use to document birds through an app supported by an ornithology lab at Cornell University. 

The Kentucky Natural Lands Trust is using part of a $10,000 grant from the Cornell Lab of Ornithonology to place six signs at various Eastern Kentucky trailheads and spots as a part of the “Pine Mountain Birding Trail” along the Pine Mountain mountain ridge that stretches about 125 miles from Tennessee through Kentucky. 

Visitors can use QR codes on the signs that direct people to the Cornell lab’s eBird app where users can document birds they see, create birding checklists and share the data as a part of a crowd-sourced effort.

The nonprofit describes the region as “one of the most biodiverse temperate regions” in the world and a “key link in an intercontinental migration route” for hundreds of millions of birds every year, according to a Tuesday press release.

In a provided statement, Sara Barker, the Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative Program Leader at the Cornell lab, said the lab wanted to work with an organization like the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust that is “rooted in the land, trusted by local communities, and equipped to work across property lines to safeguard and elevate awareness of this region’s extraordinary biodiversity.” 

“Central Appalachia’s forested ridges are among the most critical — yet often overlooked — corridors for birds in the Mississippi Flyway,” Barker said. “The partnership between the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust and Cornell Lab is turning Pine Mountain into meaningful data for hemispheric bird conservation.”

The sign locations are at the Chained Rock trailhead in Bell County; the Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve in Harlan County; the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County; Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County; Little Shepherd Trail in Letcher County; and the Bad Branch State Nature Preserve in Letcher County. 

The grant funding has also been used to offer guided birding hikes, free public workshops and other programming and research, according to a release from the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. The nonprofit lists the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, Kentucky State Parks and the Pine Mountain Settlement School as partners involved in the birding trail.