2024 Helen Engle Award
For those of you who might be new to the Audubon community, it is worthy to note that connections are a huge part of the Audubon Network. Every year, the National Audubon Society’s Washington State office, known as “Audubon Washington” and the independent chapters gather for a 3 day conference called “Audubon Council of Washington” or ACOW. Yes…we think it’s a funny name too!
A big part of the agenda is the awarding of the Helen Engle Volunteer of the Year Award. This award was inspired by Helen Engle who was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award during the 2013 National Audubon Convention. The first award was given out at the 2013 ACOW and has been given out every year since. The recipient of this award gets to hold Helen’s custom “TOWHEE” Washington State license plate for a year.
In October of 2024, Eastside Audubon’s very own Andy McCormick was the recipient of this award, and much deserving of it. Then Eastside Audubon President and current Vice President Jeremy Lucas had the honor of introducing Andy with some remarks and presenting him with the award along with Audubon Washington Executive Director, Trina Bayard.
As we approach the end of Andy’s time to hold the award, we wanted to take a minute to say thank you to Andy for all of his work on birds, bird conservation, and knowledge and leadership in Eastside Audubon. As part of this reflection, below is our submission to nominate Andy for this award.
2024 Helen Engle Award Nomination
Eastside Audubon proudly nominates Andy McCormick for the Helen Engle Award for his continued dedication to birds, birding and conservation. Andy has been a long-time member of National Audubon as well as various chapters as he has moved around the country. He joined Eastside Audubon in 2003 and in that time, he has served as mentor to so many people. From 2009 to 2011 he was our Conservation Chair. From 2012 to 2016 he was our President.
In his 8th year as our Christmas Bird Count Compiler, Andy has begun planning for our 2024 CBC. In addition to updating all route descriptions, he is coordinating with route leaders on confirming their involvement as well as assisting with volunteer recruitment. He has been a route leader since 201.
Since 2019, Andy has been the leader of our Climate Watch project. In 2024, he led two of our four surveys, and trained new volunteers on the project. He is working on a training program so that we can continue to expand the project.
Andy has led two bird walks with elected officials, including King County and City of Redmond Council members. He educates council members on the importance of healthy habitat for birds and talks about various issues important to Eastside Audubon in a more friendly venue than traditional town halls or organized meetings.
Andy writes two monthly columns for our chapter’s newsletter including “Bird Of The Month” and “The Birding Year In The Pacific Northwest”. Both columns are the top read articles in our monthly newsletter. The Bird of The Month article (number 1 read) takes a deep dive into a specific bird species, educating our readers on the biology, ecology, and status of various species. The Birding Year (number 2) has inspired readers to plan their birding seasonally. What might you plan to see if you bird in August and how might that differ from April? Read Andy’s column to find out.
Andy chairs our Birdathon committee. Birdathon is always a huge endeavor and 2024 was no exception. He organized the field trips, co-organized the Big Day teams, led one Big Day Team, and was a member of another.
Andy continues to show that his commitment to birds goes beyond Eastside Audubon. Since 2013 he has led a CBC route for Birds Connect Seattle. He has also led a CBC route for Vashon Audubon since 2018. Since 2016, he has led the Redondo Beach seabird count, as part of the Puget Sound Seabird Survey. In 2022, he published the article “The Tricolored Blackbird in Washington State: First Assessment of Status and Distribution” in the peer-reviewed journal Western Birds.
Eastside Audubon is honored to nominate Andy McCormick for the 2024 Helen Engle Volunteer of the Year Award.