Awards

The Kingfisher Award is Kitsap Audubon Society’s highest honor, and is awarded each year to an individual or couple for outstanding dedication and service to KAS and its mission for at least five years. The award is presented at our annual general membership dinner meeting in May. To be considered, the candidate should have demonstrated the following characteristics:

  1. Has actively participated in the chapter for at least 5 years.

  2. Has produced work of high quality.

  3. Has demonstrated the ability to complete tasks responsibly and in a timely fashion.

  4. Has advocated for wildlife and for the environment.

  5. Has shown a dedication to the KAS chapter.

If you have any nominations for the next Kingfisher Award please send them to info@kitsapaudubon.org. Many people work very hard to make KAS the great chapter it is, and we want no one to be overlooked. Thanks! We appreciate your help.  See below for past winners.

2024 Winner

Jamie AcKer

 The 2024 Kingfisher Award was presented to Jamie Acker at the May 2024 meeting of the Kitsap Audubon Society by previous recipient Lynn Willmott. This is Kitsap Audubon’s highest honor and is given annually to an individual or couple who have given outstanding service to Kitsap Audubon for five or more years. Jamie Acker is a long-time member of Kitsap Audubon who has been leading owling and Kitsap Audubon Christmas Bird Counts for nearly 30 years. Jamie began banding and surveying owls 25 years ago and has published numerous papers based on his research. Kitsap Audubon helped fund telemetry equipment for his surveys. He has given many presentations to Kitsap Audubon and other organizations and taught classes on Washington owls for the Seattle Master Birders Program. In 2020 Jamie came to the Kitsap Audubon Board with a proposed Motus Wildlife Tracking Station at Point-No-Point County Park in Hansville. The Kitsap Audubon Board agreed to fund and sponsor the project. Thanks to Jamie’s diligence and determination our new Motus station was recently installed. It became a part of an expanding global network that allows wildlife scientists to track suitably tagged birds, bats and butterflies and gain invaluable information about the behavior and health of birds and wildlife.

2023 Winner

Sandy Pavey

The 2023 Kingfisher Award was presented to Sandy Pavey at the May 2023 Hybrid meeting of the Kitsap Audubon Society. Sandy has been Kitsap Audubon’s Purple Martin Chair since February 2010, 13 years. In that role, she leads the team of volunteers that maintains the Brownsville Purple Martin colony, one of four colonies funded by Kitsap Audubon and maintained by Kitsap Audubon volunteers. In addition to the Brownsville Marina colony, Kitsap Audubon supports colonies in Poulsbo’s Oyster Plant Park, the Seabeck marina, and Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island. As Chair, Sandy assists other volunteers with expert guidance, education and training, as well assessment of potential sites. She is currently working with Cathy Cohoon to re-establish a former Kitsap Audubon Purple Martin colony in Silverdale. Sandy says she first became infatuated with Purple Martins in Virginia when one of her coworkers mentioned that she had a perfect setting for Purple Martin houses. Not knowing anything about these birds, she and her husband Robert did some research and installed an apartment-style house with eight compartments. The apartments were so successful in attracting Purple Martins they put up more and were hooked! Soon after moving to Poulsbo 15 years ago she attended a meeting of Kitsap Audubon and learned that Purple Martins migrate here as well. Once she witnessed the Kitsap Audubon colonies in Poulsbo, Brownsville, and Seabeck she wanted to get involved. She and Robert now maintain the colony at Brownsville marina. This includes monitoring their arrival, their nesting activity, and successes, and cleaning out their gourds at the end of the season in preparation for the next year. Sandy and her husband also installed four gourds on their own property on Liberty Bay and look forward to the return of the Purple Martins each year.

 

2022 Winner

Jennifer Standish

Jennifer Standish was presented with the Kingfisher Award at the May, 2022, meeting of the Kitsap Audubon Society. This is Kitsap Audubon’s highest award, and is given annually to an individual or couple who has given outstanding service to Kitsap Audubon for a period of five or more years. The award was presented by Lynn Willmott, who was last year’s recipient. Jennifer joined Kitsap Audubon nine years ago, and has served as one of our official Christmas Bird Count compilers for the past five years. She has been on the Kitsap Audubon Board for four years, three of them as either Treasurer or Co-Treasurer. She has been especially active in recruiting and training volunteers to participate in Climate Watch and other community science programs. Jennifer is known for her personal warmth and dedication, as well as her wise and insightful contributions to the Board’s decision-making process. Jennifer first volunteered for Kitsap Aububon’s Christmas Bird Count in 2013, and quickly became a big fan of citizen science. She has participated every year since then, and is the compiler for the Port Gamble count circle which was reinstated in 2017. In 2016, Jennifer joined Seattle Audubon’s Puget Sound Seabird Survey. Volunteers for the survey go out once a month (October through April) and record any birds seen on the water using the distance sampling method. Another of Jennifer’s favorite spring activity is participating in Alaska Audubon’s Great American Arctic Birding Challenge. This challenge runs for three months, and encourages participants to find species of birds that summer in the arctic. Jennifer and her 5 teammates had the honor of placing first in the Lower 48 category in 2017 and 2018. She has also been a volunteer Long-billed Curlew data checker for the Intermountain Bird Observatory in Idaho since 2019. Jennifer lives on Bainbridge Island wih her husband and son.

 

Past Kingfisher Award Winners:

  • 2021- Lynn Willmott

  • 2020 - Connie Bickerton

  • 2019 - Diane Bachen

  • 2018 - Al Westphal

  • 2017 - Michael Szerlog

  • 2016 - Janine Schutt

  • 2015 - Sharron Ham

  • 2014 - Milly (Renee) Bellemere and Bob (Robert) Schumacher

  • 2013 – Judy & Don Willott

  • 2012 – Vic Ulsh

  • 2011 – Byron & Sara Kane

  • 2010 – Jim Ullrich

  • 2009 – Sandy & Gene Bullock

  • 2008 – Dawn & Hans Hansen

  • 2007 – Dee & John Finkbeiner

  • 2006 – Glenn Anderson

  • 2005 – Richard Anderson

  • 2004 – Fay & Ernie Linger

  • 2003 – Nancy Ladenberger

  • 2002 – Morry Walsh

  • 2001 – Morna Blessing

  • 2000 – John & Claudia McDonald

  • 1999 – Ivan & Phyllis Summers

  • 1998 – Paul & Joan Carson

  • 1997 – Jack & Martina Hendry

  • 1996 – Ken Short

  • 1995 – Frank Beyer

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