Matt Johnson, Director at Francis Beidler Forest, will be our guest speaker and will be educating us on the newly established collaboration  with a nature center in Barraquila, Colombia. The Prothonotary  Warbler is a resident at Beidler Forest during the Spring and Summer months, migrating further South during the winter. This small yellow bird is a cavity nester and feeds on insects. The population is declining with the loss of forested wetlands in the U.S. Studies, to understand their migratory behavior, are underway with the scientists at the Columbian Sister Center. After 10 years of work to establish this partnership, preliminary data will be coming in! Matt will update us on how the research is progressing and what the goals of the study are. We look forward to hosting him and will definitely learn a lot more about this little yellow resident of SC.

Matt Johnson is the Center Director at the Audubon Center and Sanctuary at Francis Beidler Forest. A native of South Carolina, he grew up in Columbia and attended Clemson University from 2003-2009, earning an undergraduate degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and a Masters in Biological Sciences. Matt started working for Audubon South Carolina in 2013 as the Education Manager at Beidler Forest, where he fell in love with the old-growth swamp, the cypress knees, Prothonotary Warblers and Brown Watersnakes! He became the Center Director in 2019 and is carrying on the legacy of environmental education, research and conservation at Beidler. Matt particularly enjoys leading programs, conducting bird research, and learning more about the cultural history of the land on which Beidler exists today.