Trip report: Hutton Lake NWR

Yesterday, Saturday 17 September, Tim Banks and Vicki Henry led a great trip to Hutton Lake NWR. We had nice looks at Greater Yellowlegs, Ferruginous Hawks, and a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers working through the greasewood. The vast majority of the waterfowl were American Coots and Eared Grebes.

You can view our full checklist here.

In addition to birding, we cleaned out and performed maintenance on the Tree Swallow nest boxes at the refuge. This past summer almost all of the boxes hosted Tree Swallows, and 13 nests apparently fledged young.

Vicki Henry and Art Denison checking a nest box. Photo by Libby Megna.

Upcoming trip: Hutton Lake NWR, 13 September

This Saturday, 17 September, Vicki Henry and Tim Banks will lead us to Hutton Lake NWR for birding and nest box maintenance! This time of year the refuge hosts migrating waterfowl, coots, grebes, and hopefully some lingering shorebirds. If you can stay for a bit after birding, we will also clean out and perform maintenance on the tree swallow nest boxes we have on the refuge. Feel free to join us for either or both activities.

Meet at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse at 8 am. We should be back to Laramie by noon or so, but of course you can leave early if you drive your own vehicle or arrange with carpool buddies. Bring binoculars, a spotting scope if you have one, snacks/drinks and dress for the weather.

Our trips are free and open to the public. This trip is great for birders of all skill levels.

See you there!

Rush Lake, September 2015. Photo by Libby Megna.

Trip Report: Hereford Ranch

Eight Auduboners met extra early to bird the Wyoming Hereford Ranch in Cheyenne this past Saturday, 10 September 2016. Despite the overnight below-freezing temps in Laramie, we lucked into a very nice day at Hereford.

Our hopes for rare fall migrants were dashed, but we did get nice looks at expected species. Although Wilson's Warblers dominated all of the riparian areas at the Ranch, we did pick out one Yellow Warbler and one Townsend's Warbler. We also found a Brown Thrasher, Say's Phoebes, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Warbling Vireos. Our full trip list is here.

Laramie Audubon birds Hereford Ranch. Photo by Libby Megna.

Upcoming trip: Hereford Ranch, 10 September

Eastern Screech-Owl. Photo by Libby Megna

We will head out to Hereford Ranch in Cheyenne this Saturday, 10 September, for our first field trip of the season. This is a great place to see eastern species that are migrating through the region, in addition to more expected regional migrants. The ranch has riparian habitats that attract a lot of migrants during spring and fall.

Meet at 7:00 am (earlier than usual) at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse to carpool and caffeinate to Cheyenne. We will leave no later than 7:15. Be sure to gas up ahead of time--it will take about 50 minutes to get to the ranch. We should get back to Laramie between noon and 1 pm; of course, you can leave anytime you like if you drive your own vehicle.

Bring binoculars, snacks, water, and layer your clothes for weather. This field trip is open to the public and birders of all levels are welcome. Hope to see you this weekend!

Fall birding at Hereford, 13 September 2014. Photo by Libby Megna.

Golden Eagle Rescuers Needed

The Teton Raptor Center is looking for volunteers who are willing to transport injured Golden Eagles, and potentially other raptors, to licensed rehabilitation centers so that they can receive the care they need. Please see the details below from Carrie Ann Adams, and feel free to share the flyer with others who you think may be interested! Click the image for a downloadable PDF flyer.

If you would like to help, call 307-203-2551 or email raptors@tetonraptorcenter.org.

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Carrie Ann Adams, Program Associate at Teton Raptor Center: "Thank you for your dedication to avian conservation and for providing opportunities for people to learn about birds. At Teton Raptor Center in Jackson Hole, we share your commitment to involving the public in avian conservation, with a special focus in birds of prey. Our mission is to advance raptor conservation through education, research, and rehabilitation. One of our newest initiatives is the Golden Eagle Rescue Network, and we are looking for volunteer Raptor Rescuers.

We have a new opportunity for bird lovers throughout Wyoming to help rescue injured and orphaned eagles. Through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, we are coordinating a network of volunteer drivers, WGFD officers, pilots, veterinarians, and rehabbers to transport injured eagles in Wyoming to licensed rehabilitation centers. Wyoming currently has three raptor rehab centers: Ironside Bird Rescue in Cody, Teton Raptor Center in Jackson, and Wind River Raptors in Lander. Raptors injured near Laramie can also receive care at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program in Fort Collins, Colorado.

We hope that members of the Laramie Audubon Society, or other avian aficionados in your area, will be interested in becoming Raptor Rescuers. Volunteering typically involves transporting injured birds in kennels from a WGFD office to a rehabilitation center. There is no minimum time commitment, and rescuers can choose to participate on a case-by-case basis. While the network is initially intended for Golden Eagles, there will be opportunities to help other injured raptors as well."

Plant Walk Saturday, July 16 -- Please RSVP

Upcoming field trip: Dawn chorus at Happy Jack

Please join Tim Banks this Saturday, June 4, as he leads a birding trip along the Happy Jack Trails to see what forest birds can be found. Many birds are back and singing on their breeding grounds, including various flycatchers, warblers, and other goodies. This will be a more walking-intensive trip than some of our others, so bring suitable hiking gear.

We will meet at 6 am at the Summit Rest Area. Bring binoculars, water, etc. Be sure to gas up ahead of time. It is about a 20 minute drive from Laramie to the Summit area.

Upcoming field trip: Hereford Ranch

Our next field trip is this Saturday, May 21. Note that we'll leave at 7 am (one hour earlier than usual) because we will head to the Hereford Ranch on the east side of Cheyenne. Shawn Billerman will lead the search for songbirds. The riparian areas at the Hereford Ranch host an incredible array of expected migrants and often deliver a few rarities!

Again, meet downtown at Coal Creek at 7 am to caffeinate and carpool. We will be back to Laramie by noon--if you can only join us for part of the time, be prepared to drive your own vehicle.

All Laramie Audubon field trips are free and open to the public; families are welcome. This trip is a particularly nice one for beginning birders. Bring binoculars, water and snacks, and dress for the weather.

Yellow-rumped Warbler at Hereford Ranch. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman.

Upcoming field trip: Arapaho NWR

Saturday, May 7: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge near Walden, Colorado, in North Park. Meet at 8:00 a.m. at Coal Creek Coffee, 110 E. Grand Ave., in downtown Laramie, to caffeinate and carpool. The drive to Walden is about one and a half hours via Hwy 230 to Walden CO with stops along the way at Sodergreen Lake west of Laramie and Walden Reservoir in Colorado.

We will look for shorebirds and waterfowl in breeding plumage, raptors and grassland birds. We may get lucky and see the Western Grebes in courtship display running across the water at Walden Reservoir. At the refuge, there is a hiking/interpretive trail through wetlands where we are apt to see swallows, wrens, warblers, and perhaps a moose. Be sure to bring plenty of snacks and water since this is a lengthy trip. It is possible to eat lunch in Walden after the field trip. We should return to Laramie by 2pm. The trip leader will most likely be taking a different return route on Jackson County Road 6E (gravel). Participants in their own vehicles are welcome to leave at any time.

Trip Leader: Vicki Henry, 307-760-9518. Call if you have questions. Be sure to program the leader’s phone number into your cell phone in case you get separated from the rest of the caravan. Fill your tank ahead of time if you are taking your own vehicle.

Western Grebes doing their courtship display. Photo (c) Steve Zamek, used with permission.

Audubon: the film

Laramie Audubon is happy to announce that it is co-hosting two screenings of a new film about the life of John James Audubon. The film will be shown in the Berry Center at 5 pm on Wednesday, May 4 and at 2 pm on Saturday, May 7.

The Audubon Society is named after John James Audubon, a pioneer of both North American birdlife and realistic wildlife illustration. Audubon's work strongly influenced following ornithological work as well as the conservation movement. Check out the website for the film to view a movie trailer and learn more about Audubon himself.

If you have some time to get lost in John James' beautiful art, National Audubon has digitized the illustrations from Audubon's Birds of America and you can browse them here.

Spring Exploration, 23 April

Laramie Audubon will have a table at the Spring Exploration event this Saturday from 12 - 4 pm at Territorial Prison. Catherine Symchych will have bird-related activities for kids, and we'd be happy to see adult members and friends there as well!

For more info on the event, click here.

Volunteers needed for nest monitoring at Hutton Lake NWR

Brian Waitkus repairing older nest boxes at Hutton.

Laramie Audubon Society has installed 21 nest boxes at Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. These boxes will be used by Tree Swallows and possibly Mountain Bluebirds or House Wrens. We need volunteers for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Citizen Science Project NestWatch. This will involve checking nest boxes every 3-4 days (or once per week) in the mid-afternoon and completing a data sheet online. You must be certified as a nest-watcher. This is easy to do by going online to NestWatch's nest monitoring protocol. LAS will be numbering and mapping the boxes prior to monitoring for easy identification on the data sheets.

If you would like to volunteer, you may sign up for one week or many weeks. You may sign up for a few, many or all of the nest boxes. Hopefully, we can get enough people involved to make it less time consuming for the observers. This will require quite a bit of walking since the refuge is now closed to vehicular traffic except along designated roadways. You will also need a mirror attached to a long handle (back-scratchers at Dollar Tree are one dollar!) to see inside the boxes to count the eggs. The nest boxes are located along the perimeter fencing of the refuge. The refuge is located about 7.5 miles southwest of Laramie. We would like to begin monitoring in mid-May.

Please call Vicki Henry at 307-760-9518 or email her at vickis@uwyo.edu with your interest or questions. Vicki will be coordinating volunteers for the scheduling of observation dates.

One of the many nest boxes built by Eagle Scout Bradley Wahlgren and installed at Hutton last fall.