About

Hilton Head Audubon celebrates the important role our Island and surrounding Lowcountry play in the the everyday lives of our resident birds and in the journey of migratory birds. We are a bird-friendly conservation-minded community where people and nature thrive together.

White Ibis

Great Blue Heron

Screech Owl

Hilton Head Audubon works to promote the awareness and appreciation of nature, preserve and protect wildlife and natural ecosystems, and to encourage responsible environmental stewardship. Established in 1974, we have a membership base of over 200 people and are a leading voice of conservation on Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Learn more about becoming a member or making a gift to the Hilton Head Audubon Society and be a voice for the birds and habitats we cherish.

The Hilton Head Audubon Society is a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation. Membership and gifts are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

Hilton Head Audubon is served by volunteer officers, board members-at-large, committee chairs and members. You may direct questions or comments by emailing us at hhiaudubon@hiltonheadaudubon.org or completing the form below.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Hilton Head Audubon supports an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment among Board members, staff and membership and in all of its programming. It is the policy of Hilton Head Audubon that diversity of human experiences, traditions, and viewpoints strengthens Hilton Head Audubon’s conservation, education, and community engagement efforts. Hilton Head Audubon shall prioritize recruiting board members, staff, and members, and developing programming in a manner that creates an inclusive organization seeking to embrace multiple cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientations, gender identities, military or veteran status, and any other status that promotes these values.

Meet the Board

Kay Grinnell, President
Kay is a retired business consultant with more than 20 years of advising top executives on matters of strategy and operations as a Deloitte Partner. Since her retirement she has embraced her long-time love of nature by serving on environmentally oriented boards, including the Marine Conservation Institute, the Low Country Master Naturalist Association and Hilton Head Audubon. Kay is the past board chair and current treasurer for The Nature Conservancy’s South Carolina chapter. She and her husband Phil enjoy walking, birdwatching and boating in natural areas around the world, but especially in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Says Kay, “Birding offers an endless opportunity for learning and is a great way of engaging with others at home and around the world through a common interest.”

Lynn Hodgson, Vice President
Lynn has been a member of National Audubon and various local Audubon chapters since the 1980’s. She moved to Hilton Head Island in 2017 and immediately became active in our local chapter. She says, “I’ve always been an outdoors-person and a naturalist, and birding is an outgrowth of that. Birding also gives me an ‘excuse’ to explore new places.”

Patty Kappmeyer, Secretary
My love affair with Hilton Head Island and its diversity of bird species began over 30 years ago when my family moved here. I am happiest when I am knee deep in pluff mud, wandering the marshes or forests seeking out birds. Each bird has a soul and personality that I try to capture through my photography. I spend a great amount of time with my subjects observing their habits and quirks so that my picture tells a story that is unique to the bird and its environment. Through my images I seek to educate, inspire and uplift people to conserve and preserve the fragile ecosystems of Hilton Head Island and the lowcountry. I am a member of the Carolina Bird Club and the Carolina Nature Photographers Association and have written articles for the CNPA magazine Camera in the Wild.

Sarah Gustafson, Treasurer
Sarah is a recent Hilton Head Island resident, moving to the island in 2020. Previously Sarah resided in northern Virginia. Sarah is a former CPA, starting her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, working for the firm in Washington D.C., Moscow and London. She also was VP-Finance for an insurance company in D.C. Sarah served on the Board as a Treasurer for an advocacy group and search and rescue group in Virginia. Sarah is an avid birder, who loves birding in new places and is thoroughly enjoying exploring the low country birding spots.

Shannon Wilkinson, Communications Chair
A native of Beaufort, S.C., Shannon Wilkinson grew up on Hilton Head before moving to New York City and graduating from Parsons School of Design. In New York, she worked as Public Affairs Coordinator for the Guggenheim Museum and as an executive in a leading PR firm before establishing Reputation Communications, a reputation management agency. She returned to Hilton Head in 2021 to live full-time and operates her business virtually.

Terry Cerisoles, Membership Chair
Terry was a longtime member of Birds Georgia (then Atlanta Audubon) and moved to the Lowcountry after retiring in 2018. She completed the Lowcountry Institute Master Naturalist program in 2021 and the Master Birder program in 2022. She is currently serving as Membership Chair, a role she enjoys since she loves to connect with other bird lovers. Terry leads and coordinates the spring “Birdability” field trips at Pinckney NWR where she delights in showing both locals and visitors the amazing rookery and how several species choose to nest together.

Jack Coleman, Newhall Preserve Chair
John J Coleman III (Jack) was born in Boston and educated there at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He was active in academic surgery as Chairman of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Chairman of the Residency Review committee, President of the American Head and Neck Society and other positions. He was a founding board member of the Hoosier Burn Camp, an organization that provides a weeklong overnight summer camp for children who have suffered burn injuries.

Jack was introduced to birdwatching by a medical school classmate and has been active in HHA serving on the Conservation, Special Projects and Newhall committees. He is a long-time member of the Nature Conservancy and other conservation-oriented groups.

Ava Elizabeth Rios, Youth Chair

Ava Elizabeth is currently a senior at Bluffton High. One of six children, she’s lived in the Lowcountry her entire life. After attending monthly workdays at the Newhall Preserve, she grew passionate about protecting the Lowcountry’s biodiversity. Today, she works with the Hilton Head Audubon to involve fellow students in conservation efforts. Her advocacy network, Adolescents Advocating for the Hilton Head Audubon (AAHHA!), participates in monthly projects, such as beach sweeps and oyster bagging. Ava Elizabeth loves playing soccer, volunteering as an Animal Handler at the Coastal Discovery Museum, patrolling the beach with the Turtle Trackers of Hilton Head, and birdwatching with her siblings.

Ken Adams, Education Chair
Ken is an emeritus professor of ecology from the State University of New York, College at Plattsburgh. His teaching and research included plant ecology, fire ecology, forest ecology and management, and wildlife ecology and management.

He has had a life-long interest in birds, with experience identifying northern forest birds by sight and song. He and his wife, Barb, have been spending winters at Hilton Head since 2014. Ken had docent training at the Coastal Discovery Museum and Savannah Coastal Wildlife Refuges to lead tours of HoneyHorn and Pinckney Island. He has participated in Christmas Bird Counts on Pinckney Island since 2016.

Ken is a board member of the Northern New York Audubon chapter which includes the Adirondacks, St. Lawrence River, and Lake Champlain. His previous board memberships include Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension for Clinton County, New York, and the Adirondack Nature Conservancy/Adirondack Land Trust.

Denise Prichard, Program Chair
Denise Prichard has been using storytelling to reach audiences for over two decades, including producing and writing for the National Geographic Channel, Smithsonian Networks, Discovery Networks, HGTV and more.

In 2015, after joining the National Geographic Society, she saw an opportunity to harness her storytelling skills to empower scientists, conservationists, and educators to tell the story of their work. Leveraging her experience in content creation, she created the Sciencetelling Bootcamp™ for National Geographic – a first-of-its-kind media training program for the organization. The multi-day workshop covered key components of storytelling for today’s media-hungry environment and was led by some of the best storytellers in the world. The workshop has trained thousands of people around the globe in multiple languages.

Today Denise continues to connect conservation changemakers to audiences to seed change and grow environmental awareness.

Social Media Consultant
Abby Wirth is a Social Media & Community Outreach professional with over 20 years of experience in both the corporate & non-profit community. A native of Hilton Head Island, SC, Abby grew up exploring the wilder sides of our island and has loved sharing that sense of adventure with her children. She is grateful to partner with and support the local, non-profit community in various ways including Social Media Marketing to raise awareness and engagement.