Fall 2024 Events Schedule (and New Location for Evening Programs)

 We've updated the Events page with our Fall schedule.  We hope to see you at one of our upcoming field trips, Kids and Families programs, or monthly evening programs.  

Evening Programs are Moving!

After much discussion and a thorough search, LAS has decided to move our monthly programs to a new location. We are thankful to the Berry Center for allowing us to use the auditorium for several years, but since the University of Wyoming installed a pedestrian plaza on Lewis Street around the entrance of the building, attendance at LAS programs has decreased dramatically, with some members stating that lack of available parking in the vicinity is their reason for no longer coming to programs. 

Our new location, effective with Fall 2024 programs beginning in September, will be at Trinity Lutheran Church, 107 S 7th Street (near Ace Hardware and across 7th Street from the Ivinson Museum and Alice Hardie Stevens Center.) The space is café style, with round tables seating up to 39 people, and with a kitchen attached. During programs requiring more space, we will move downstairs to an auditorium-classroom style set up. Both spaces are accessible, and while the church does not charge for our use of space, the Board has voted to make a money contribution for each time we hold a meeting there. There is ample on-street parking around the church, as well as a parking lot in the rear (access is from University Ave.). The location is close to downtown and campus.  If you have questions about this move, or about the space or how to get there, please let us know at laramie.audubon@gmail.com.

Hutton Lake Field Trip Yields Shorebirds and a Surprise Gull

A small group of us birded Hutton National Wildlife Refuge on September 7, 2024. There was only water in Hoge and George Lake, and the shallow levels at Hoge created great shorebird habitat. We were rewarded with 12 shorebird species feeding in the lake, including rather large numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs (72) and Stilt Sandpipers (48). We were treated to four other "peep" species (Pectoral, Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers) and three Semipalmated Plovers. The highlight at Hoge Lake was the observation of a first-cycle Sabine's Gull. We got great looks at the young bird feeding on the shoreline and got to see the diagnostic tri-colored wing pattern when it took to fly and was being chased by an immature Bald Eagle. Luckily this beautiful little gull escaped being the eagle's brunch. Sabine's Gulls breed in the arctic regions of Alaska and Canada, as do many of the shorebirds we observed, and spend their winter in subtropical and tropical upwelling zones off the coast of western South America. Small numbers can be found on lakes and reservoirs in Wyoming during fall migration. Good numbers of Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows were present in the uplands and a smattering of ducks, mostly still in eclipse plumage, were observed on George Lake. For the trip, we recorded 37 species of birds.

                                            Stilt Sandpipers (Heather Johnson)

 

                                            Lesser Yellowlegs (Heather Johnson)