Efroymson Family Fund awards challenge grant to Indiana Audubon

Indiana Audubon has received a $18,000 challenge grant from the Efroymson Family Fund in support of the society’s initiatives centered around combining technology with research into migratory bird movement and nesting behavior in Indiana at select bird diversity hotspots. 

The grant award will allow Indiana Audubon to expand upon the collaborative marsh bird survey program that began in 2018. In addition to monitoring for secretive marsh birds, and analyzing habitat preferences for these secretive species, an innovative new aspect will record nocturnal bird sounds with automated recording units throughout The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands prairies and wetlands in 2022.  Research will be focusing on the secretive Black Rail, who’s numbers have decreased to the point of being federal threatened with extinction.

Additionally, work will continue with the Motus project of tagging songbirds at the Society’s Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary and Saw-whet Owl and Eastern Whip-poor-will movement in the Indiana Dunes.

In 1998, Dan and Lori Efroymson established the Efroymson Family Fund.  The fund continues a long legacy of charitable commitment by the Efroymson family in Indiana. Since Dan’s passing in 1999, Lori Efroymson-Aguilera and their two children, Jeremy and Elissa, have continued the family’s philanthropic legacy in Indianapolis and across the United States by providing financial support to a diverse range of issues including arts and culture, historic preservation, the environment and helping those in need. To date, the Efroymson Family Fund has awarded more than $100 million in grants.

“Indiana Audubon Society is pleased to be a 2021 grant recipient,” said Brad Bumgardner, IAS Executive Director.  “This funding propels the current and planned projects Indiana Audubon Society is working on to gain a better appreciation for bird migration and the habitats they need to survive.  We look forward to expanding our efforts in both conservation and education with the Efroymson Family Fund’s assistance.”

For more information about the grant funded projects or other Indiana Audubon programs, visit them on the web at www.indianaaudubon.org.