Meetings and Speakers

November Meeting

Eight years of habitat improvement work in Lighthouse Point Woods, Ithaca - Lessons Learned

by Jody Enck

November 9, 2026, 7:30pm, at Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Conservation Action Committee of the Cayuga Bird Club has been working to improve bird habitat down at Lighthouse Point Woods since 2019. We’ve made a lot of progress removing non-native plant species and planting native trees and shrubs. We’ve also developed important relationships through our public engagement efforts with school groups, non-profit organizations, and college classes. We are proud of our accomplishments. Still, recurring problems and uncertainty about which of many potential pathways forward have led to the need to examine why and how we operate as a group of folks committed to developing a shared space for birds, birders and other community members. This presentation will celebrate our accomplishments and will reveal how social science tools can help us reframe why and how we do our important work.

About the Speaker: Jody Enck’s lifelong fascination with birds began on a farm in south-central Pennsylvania, where he developed a deep appreciation for the natural world. That early passion eventually grew into a career devoted to understanding both birds and the people who care about them. Jody started his career as an ecologist, studying birds and the habitats they depend on. In the late 1980s, he added a PhD and work experience in social science to his repertoire. Decades of studying how individual’s motivations, expectations, and satisfactions influence behaviors, and studying and evaluating organizational behavior have served his well as he has facilitated the activities of the Conservation Action Committee.