Birds of Eastern Australia - Evening Program, November 20th

Join us Wednesday, November 20 for our monthly program. We will plan to meet at 7:00 p.m., but we encourage you to come at 6:30 p.m. to socialize and have refreshments. The program will be by retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Heather Johnson on birding Australia -- from the "Top End to Tasmania"! She will share photos and adventures from a recent trip to Australia.

We will be meeting in the new location - 107 S. 7th Street (Trinity Lutheran Church), upstairs in the cafe this month. We hope you can join us!

Greater Sage-Grouse Lek Trip - NEW EARLIER TIME: 5:15 a.m. Saturday 4/13

Meet at the Laramie Eppson Center for Seniors (the corner of North 3^rd and Curtis Street) at 5:15 am. We will leave promptly at 5:25 am. 

Our trip leader drove up to the lek this morning (Friday) to check out access for tomorrow's field trip.  She reports that the road is free of snow and dry and that she observed 35 male sage grouse displaying to 5 female sage grouse on the lek.

We will carpool/caravan to the lek located approximately 35 minutes from Laramie. The 3 mile access road off the paved highway is dirt so vehicles with low clearance are not recommended. Carpooling is encouraged to reduce the number of vehicles that will park and to minimize disturbance to the birds.  We will walk approximately ½ to ¾ of a mile to a location to view the lek. Walking to the lek will be in the dark on relatively flat but uneven prairie. No flashlights can be used to minimize spooking the birds off the lek.

Please bring binoculars and spotting scopes if you have them.

We expect to return to Laramie between 7:30am and 8 am.

What is a Lek?

Depending on elevation, groups of male greater sage-grouse gather at specific locations, called leks,  from late February to early May to strut and to attract females in order to mate..   The leks are generally small open areas located among the sagebrush steppe, such as hilltops, dry playas, and hill sides, and are visited by the grouse year after year.  The lek we are visiting is located on private land . Based of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department data , this lek was first recorded in 1959.  The activity on a lek begins sometime after sunset and continues for an hour or so after sunrise when the birds disperse from the lek.

The male strutting, involves the inflation and deflation of two yellow air sacs located on the male sage-grouse’s breast that, when released, produces a popping or gurgling sound. In addition to producing sound, the white ruff surrounding the air sacs produces a striking contrasting feature along with the male’s fanned tail feathers, and with a dance, in an effort to attract a female.  The females are silent and are often difficult to see within the sagebrush surrounding the leks.  After mating the females will fly off to nest, lay eggs, and raise the young in the surrounding sagebrush ecosystem.

Laramie Audubon thanks the landowner for allowing us to access this lek.

Evening Program: eBird - Leverage Your Birding Observations for Science

 Wedneday, February 28, 7 p.m.

Have you heard the buzz about eBird, but aren't sure how to get started?  Or are you a long-time eBirder looking to maximize your use of the app?  Or are you curious how scientists use the crowd-sourced data collected via eBird to further the goals of bird conservation and research?  Don Jones - long-time Laramie birder, eBird rare bird reviewer, and current University of Wyoming graduate student - will join us to explain how to get the most out of eBird and how your observations contribute to answering bird-related research questions!

Laramie Audubon Society evening programs are currently held in the University of Wyoming's Berry Biodiversity Center's auditorium, located on the street level of the building (corner of 10th and Lewis Streets).  Arrive early to find parking and partake in light refreshments (6:30 - 7 pm) in the lobby. 

Evening Program - Wednesday, March 22: Songbird Habitat and Beavers in Greater Yellowstone

Our March 22nd evening program features two UW graduate students who are recipients of Laramie Audubon Society Small Grants:  Katie Davis (Beaver, Diversity and Connectivity Relationships in Greater Yellowstone) and Emily Shertzer (Carry-Over Effects of Human-Induced Habitat Change in Migratory Songbirds).  The "Grants" page of our website provides more information regarding Katie's and Emily's research as well as the LAS Small Grants Program: https://laramieaudubon.blogspot.com/p/small-grants-program.html

The presentations will begin at 7 pm, but please arrive early for refreshments and Bird Chat from 6:30 to 7 pm.  This event (and most of our evening programs) will take place in the street-level auditorium of the UW Berry Center, located at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  Please allow plenty of time to find parking!

Evening Program - Birds at the Museum of Vertebrates - Wednesday, February 22nd, 7 pm

Dr. Elizabeth Wommack will provide a tour of the University of Wyoming's Museum of Vertebrates (UWYMV), with an emphasis on birds! She will share specimens of species that frequent Albany County, providing attendees a close look at plumage in various seasons. The UWYMV is located in the Berry Center (corner of 10th and Lewis Streets) adjacent to the street-level auditorium where LAS typically meets. More information regarding the Museum is available on their website: https://uwymv.wyomingbiodiversity.org/index.php 

Join us at 6:30 pm for snacks and informal bird chat or arrive at 7 pm for the tour/presentation. Remember to leave plenty of time for parking as onstreet parking is now a couple of blocks away.

Evening Program, Wednesday, December 14 (7 pm): Small Grant Recipients

Two recent recipients of LAS small grants will present the results of their research.  

Rachel Arrick, a PhD student in the Ecosystem Science and Management Department will describe her research regarding the Wyoming Toad and the microbiomes or symbiont microbes that may inhibit or aid in clearing the fungal disease Chytridiomycosis ("chytrid").  

Katrina Cook, UW Master's student in the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit, will present the results of a study regarding isolated Wood Frog populations in the Medicine Bow National Forest and the relationship between chytrid status and habitat use.  

This event will be held in the street-level auditorium of the Berry Biodiversity Center, located on the University of Wyoming campus at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  Bird Chat and refreshments at 6:30 pm; talk starts at 7 pm.  Please allow plenty of time to find parking and walk to the Berry Center!

November Evening Program (Classroom Building) - Swift Foxes and SE Wyoming Amphibians

This month we will be meeting in a different location: Room 310 of the Classroom Building!  Bird Chat and Refreshments will begin at 6:30 pm, with the presentations, described below, at 7 pm.

Speaker: Kelsie Buxbaum

Project Title: Ecology of a Sensitive Species, Yet Expanding Population: Examining the Conservation Success of Swift Fox in Wyoming

Description: Kelsie Buxbaum is a master's student in the Haub School of Environment & Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. Her presentation will overview her plans to study westward expansion of the Swift fox, a federally listed sensitive species. The three year study will analyze two areas of known habitation, one within the previously defined short grass prairie ecosystem and the other in the expanded shrubland ecosystem. She will compare diet, prey availability, use of space and movement, survival, and reproductive success between these two areas.

 

Speaker: Mel Torres

Project Title: Near, Far, Wherever You Are: Comparing Species Niche, Connectivity, and Disease on Rarity Type

Description: Mel Torres, a PhD candidate in the department of Ecosystem Science and Management, studies amphibian species in southern Wyoming and Northern Colorado. Mel will tell us about her research testing if the rarity of various amphibian species predicts their ecological niche and the connectivity among populations. this work will also examine the impact of a fungal pathogen on the ecological niche and the population connectivity of these species.

 

Wednesday, October 12 (7 pm) - Grassland Birds / National Audubon Conservation Ranching Program

Matt Allshouse, a UW-trained rangeland ecologist who grew up on a family ranch near Sybille Canyon, will highlight grassland bird species of southeastern Wyoming and their habitat requirements.  His presentation will describe the creation of the National Audubon Society’s Conservation Ranching program, which provides free technical assistance to ranchers with the goal of improving forage quantity and quality while also improving habitat for grassland birds.  

For producers who direct-market their cattle, the initiative can expand market exposure and provide product differentiation; the program can also link producers to agency cost share and incentive programs to help defer costs of implementation. 

Program components include the development of ranch-specific Habitat Management Plans and a third-party certified set of regenerative grazing practices.  The resulting ecological resilience can translate to economic resilience, as participating producers are able to use the Audubon certification logo on their product.  Audubon Certified beef is currently available at two locations in Wyoming: Laramie’s Big Hollow Food Co-op and Sage Brush Beef (Reed Livestock) in Douglas.  

Matt is currently the Conservation Ranching Program Manager for Audubon California.  His experience includes roles as Ranch Manager for Antelope Springs Land and Cattle (Wyoming), Biologist for the Peregrine Fund (Belize and Guatemala), and Ecologist with Trihydro Corporation (Wyoming). Matt holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in Environment and Natural Resources, and Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management from University of Wyoming.

 The event will be held in the street-level auditorium of the University of Wyoming's Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, located at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  

Bird Chat and Refreshments at 6:30 pm; talk starts at 7 pm.  Please allow yourself plenty of time to find parking!

Spring Schedule

The Spring 2022 schedule for Laramie Audubon Society field trips and programs has been announced!  Please see our "Events" page for details:  http://laramieaudubon.blogspot.com/p/events.html 

Reading in the Park

The Laramie Audubon Society invites the public to join us for our first Reading in the Park on Sunday, October 3 at 3 pm.  This event, featuring Kate Northrop (Associate Professor in UW's Creative Writing/MFA Program) and Nell Smith (UW graduate student pursuing an MFA with a dual degree in Creative Nonfiction and Environment and Natural Resources) reading nature-related selections from their work, will take place outdoors at the Washington Park Bandshell (corner of Sheridan and 18th Streets).  Bring your own chair or blanket or plan to sit on the park benches.  Join us afterwards for light refreshments.

Bird Double-Header Tomorrow (Saturday, 10/10)

Saturday morning (October 10th), we'll meet at Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge at 8 a.m. for a few hours of birding. Please bring your binoculars if you have them! Directions are provided below.

Saturday afternoon, we will host our October "Evening Program" featuring Martin Grenier (Ducks Unlimited Manager of Conservation Programs in Wyoming and Colorado). Martin will fill us in on the wetlands enhancement project completed at Laramie's Monolith Ranch. We will meet at the ranch and walk in approximately one-quarter mile along a fairly flat two-track road to the restored site. After Martin's presentation there will be the option to spend a little time birding along the edge of the wetlands, so bring binoculars if you have them! Please note that this area is closed to public access - the Laramie Audubon Society and Ducks Unlimited received permission to visit for this event only. Directions will be emailed to those who register for the event.

If you plan to attend either event, please register by sending an email to laramie.audubon@gmail.com and indicating which event(s) you plan to attend.

COVID-19 Considerations: Attendees are required to wear masks for the duration of each trip/event and to practice social distancing. We are not arranging carpools for the foreseeable future.

Directions to Hutton Lake NWR: Head south from Laramie on 3rd Street/ US-287, turn right onto County Road 22 (as if entering the cement plant), then turn left onto Sand Creek Road (parallel to railroad tracks - many people have missed this turn and mistakenly entered the cement plant parking lot). Stay on Sand Creek Road for about 8 miles, then turn right at the National Wildlife Refuge sign. Meet at the parking area just inside the fence, adjacent to the Refuge's information board. If you are early or late, look for us near the observation deck at the far end of the Refuge.

(Photo of a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope courtesy of LAS member Liz Young)

Wednesday Night Program (9/30)

The Laramie Audubon Society is doing things a little differently this Fall. Our September evening program will be Wednesday evening (9/30) at 6:30 p.m. in the Washington Park Bandshell. Our theme for the evening is Our Best Birding Stories. Join local celebrities, including our own Tim Banks, former LAS President, for an outdoor evening of sharing stories about past birding adventures. If you feel so inspired, perhaps you’ll share as well.

Please wear your mask and be prepared to physically distance. Feel free to bring your own food and/or beverage and remember to bring plenty of warm clothing. You may want a blanket or cushion for sitting on the metal park benches.

Fall Event Schedule

Please see the Events page of this blog for Laramie Audubon's Fall 2020 schedule.  In consideration of Covid-19, we've made some changes to our typical protocols.  Please be sure to wear a mask and be mindful regarding social distancing at all LAS events.  Due to potential risks associated with carpools, our Fall schedule focuses on birding spots within or close to Laramie.  In addition, we are REQUIRING people to pre-register for field trips by emailing us at laramie.audubon@gmail.com so that we can plan for the anticipated group size.  Depending on the group sizes at our initial trips, we may set size limits for the later trips.  

The Fall field trip schedule kicks off at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning (September 5th) at Greenhill Cemetery's south gate near the corner of Willet and 19th Streets.  

February Evening Program - Burrowing Owls, Curlews, and More!

Burrowing Owl (photo courtesy of Grant Frost)

Join us for our next evening program: Wednesday, February 26th in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center.  The Berry Center is located at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets on the University of Wyoming campus.  The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments and Bird Chat in the street-level lobby.  At 7:00 p.m. we will migrate into the adjacent auditorium for the talk. 

Grant Frost, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife biologist stationed in Cheyenne, will give a presentation on some of the species that the department is surveying or studying that are of great interest, including long-billed curlews, burrowing owls, black-footed ferrets, and others that he has helped studied throughout the state. 

Joining Grant will be Andrea Orabona, WGFD's statewide nongame bird biologist from the Lander office, to talk about an ongoing study radio tracking Wyoming's burrowing owl migration and wintering areas.  Andrea collaborates with Courtney Conway (University of Idaho) and with research partners in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.  The burrowing owl is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Wyoming.  Andrea will discuss the need for this project, its objective, methods, and results.

Due to on-going construction on campus there is no longer a parking lot in the immediate vicinity of the building, so budget a little time for finding on-street parking in the surrounding area. 

Rail Tie Wind Project (Presentation Wednesday 1/29, 7 pm)

Representatives from ConnectGEN reached out and offered to speak at a LAS meeting regarding the Rail Tie wind project planned for southern Albany County (south of Laramie on US Highway 287 near Tie Siding).  They will provide general information regarding the project as well as more specific information regarding measures being taken to minimize and mitigate project impacts. 

Laramie Audubon Society evening programs are held in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center auditorium (Room 138) (unless otherwise noted).  The Berry Center is located on the University of Wyoming campus at 10th and Lewis Streets. Note that there is no longer a parking lot across the street from the building - parking is available on the surrounding streets. Bird chats with refreshments begin at 6:30 p.m. and the programs begin at 7:00 p.m.

Spring Field Trips and Evening Programs

Northern Pygmy-Owl (Photo courtesy of Cody Porter)

This Spring, the Laramie Audubon Society has a great variety of trips planned - chances to look for owls, mammal tracks, Greater Sage-Grouse, migrating waterfowl, and eastern song birds at the westernmost edge of their migratory range.  Our series of evening programs kicks off on January 29th.  For details regarding the trips and evening programs, fly over to the "events" tab of the blog: https://laramieaudubon.blogspot.com/p/events.html. 

Natural History of the Laramie Area - Wednesday, November 20th, 7 pm

Red-flanked Bluetail (an Asian species seen on the mainland
of North America on only a handful of occasions) sighted by Cody
Porter in his backyard in Laramie. (photo by Laurel Armstrong)

Careful observation of the natural world is key to unraveling the mysteries of life.  In this presentation, Cody Porter will detail a few of the unexpected patterns he and others have observed in the avifauna of the Laramie area. 

Cody is a PhD candidate in the Program in Ecology at the University of Wyoming, where his research focuses on adaptive radiation and speciation, primarily in red crossbills.  Prior to moving to Laramie in 2014, Cody received a degree in Zoology from Michigan State University. 

Although his research is primarily on crossbills, Cody has a wide range of taxonomic interests, including everything from moths and butterflies to snakes and trees.

LAS will host bird chat and refreshments in the street-level lobby of the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center (UW campus at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets) beginning at 6:30 pm and Cody's talk will begin at 7 pm in the adjacent auditorium.  Please remember to allow yourself plenty of time to find a parking space - the 10th Street parking lot and adjacent on-street parking are no longer available due to construction. 

Please note, members wishing to cast paper ballots for Board, those will be available at this meeting.

Bats!

The topic for the October LAS evening program is Bats of Wyoming.  Join us on Wednesday, October 30th (refreshments and bird chat at 6:30 p.m., followed by the program at 7 p.m.)

Larisa Bishop-Boros, a mammalogist who has been studying threatened and endangered bats in 39 states and 3 Canadian provinces since 2008, will give a brief introduction to the bats of Wyoming: how to tell apart the different species, where you would expect to find them, and generalized life histories.  She will also describe threats to our bats, novel strategies to mitigate these threats, and surveillance techniques. 

Larisa received an M.S. degree from Missouri State University investigating the influence of weather and latitude on bat ecology and reproduction in 12 species, as well as a B.S. from the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry comparing acoustic monitoring and echolocation identification techniques of bats.  Larisa moved to Laramie in 2014 and is employed at WEST, conducting research to mitigate bat fatalities for renewable energy development and assisting state agencies with population and white-nose syndrome monitoring.

Programs are held in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center auditorium (Room 138).  The Berry Center is located on the University of Wyoming campus at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  Note that there is no longer a parking lot across the street from the building - parking is available on the surrounding streets.

Tricky Bird ID

Join us Wednesday evening (April 24th) for our April meeting.  Arrive early for refreshments and bird chat, beginning at 6:30 p.m.  At 7 p.m. Libby Megna will teach us the fieldmarks of commonly misidentified and otherwise tricky species around Laramie. Hone your skills for spring migration! 

As usual, the April meeting will take place in the lobby and auditorium of the Berry Center, which is located on the University of Wyoming campus at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  Note that there is currently limited parking in the immediate vicinity of the building due to construction.

Eagle Banding and Raptor Research (Wednesday Evening Talk)

Wildlife biologist Mike Lockhart, formerly with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, will be giving a talk on Wednesday evening (March 27th) regarding his years afield trapping eagles and other raptors for scientific research projects.  The talk will center more on anecdotal experiences in the field rather than scientific findings, and will discuss interesting events and observed behaviors witnessed for eagles and a variety of other wildlife. 

As usual, the venue is the Berry Center Auditorium, located on the UW campus at the corner of 10th and Lewis Streets.  Arrive at 6:30 pm for birdchat and snacks or at 7 pm for the talk itself; leave yourself plenty of time to find parking - much of the formerly available parking is now obstructed by new construction.