Upcoming trip: Sage-grouse lek

This Saturday, March 25, we will head out to a Greater Sage-Grouse lek north of Laramie. Come and watch these iconic birds strut their stuff on their display ground.

Meet at 6 am at the Eppson Senior Center parking lot, at Curtis St. and 3rd St. We will carpool to the lek at 6:10 am sharp.  The early start is totally worth it--there's nothing like being audience to dozens of male Sage-Grouse calling and dancing to attract mates.

In case of inclement weather or poor road conditions, we will reschedule to April 1. This post will be updated in case of cancellation, and we will send out an update email. If you have any questions, contact us via email.

Laramie Bird Notes: Week of March 6, 2017

It was a week of moody weather in the Laramie Valley, with a couple of signs that bird life is returning to the high plains.

Overhead, you may have begun seeing several groups of birds common during early Spring migration: ducks, geese, and gulls. Due to open water on the plains lakes, many ducks have been reported. Some diving ducks like Lesser Scaup, Redhead, and Canvasback as well as dabbling ducks like Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and Gadwall all appear to be spending time in our fair county. If you pay attention to the skies above you, even in town, you might have noticed several groups of Canada Goose as well as a dozen or so solitary gulls flying overhead. Yesterday, two birders found a Lesser Black-backed Gull at Meeboer Lake. Gull diversity has certainly grown leaps and bounds in the past week!

Bald Eagle, a bird seen pretty commonly in our area, seem to be migrating through in large numbers lately. Over 30 individuals were reported on the drive back to town from Lake Hattie yesterday.

Up in the Medicine Bow Range on the other side of the valley, our local crossbill experts are still finding birds pairing up to raise young. If you've ever wondered why crossbills breed at all times of the year or anything else about crossbills, check out Cody's lead article in our December 2015 newsletter which you can download here.

As far as songbirds, a quick look on the eBird data report for Albany County shows the only newly reported bird last week was a Cassin's Finch. Mountain Bluebirds continue to pour onto the plains; Cody saw 50 or so yesterday when out birding with a friend. Be heartened, early migrants typically begin showing up in our area beginning in mid- to late-March. Who among us will see the first Lincoln's Sparrow, or Say's Phoebe, or Hermit Thrush of the year? These are all birds that you might expect to show up early, especially if you look hard enough for them. I hope all of you have a chance to go out and look for birds as the weather becomes a bit more friendly.

Good birding,
Cody and Doug

Upcoming trip: Owling in the Laramie Range

Owls are one of the most celebrated yet least understood groups of birds. Despite a handful of chance encounters over the years, relatively little is known of owl abundance and diversity in the Laramie Range. On this trip to Happy Jack/Vedauwoo, we will target species that have been found in the area, including Northern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl, Great Horned Owl, and Northern Pygmy-Owl. Join us this Saturday, March 18, for an evening owling trip to the Laramies.

We will meet at 6 pm at Coal Creek Coffee downtown. Expect to hike or snowshoe for 2 - 3 miles, and bring flashlights/headlamps. Dress warmly!

Northern Saw-whet Owl. Photo (c) Nicholas Sly.

Trip report: Montane Bird Hop

Clark's Nutcracker. Photo by Lisa Cox.

This post is by Lisa Cox, I'm just putting it up. --Libby

Saturday's Bird Hop was a lot of fun. We had ten total, including two kids, one of whom ticked off two lifers and one who got one.

There was no action at The Beartree, so we wandered around the back into the trees, and found a home with feeders and ALL the action! The owner eventually came out to chat with us, said he'd seen maybe 20 to 22 Clark's Nutcrackers and a bunch of Red-winged Blackbirds earlier in the morning. He invited us back any time, and some of us were talking about how it would be fun to return seasonally just to chat with him and see what's happening around the feeders.

As we were gawking there, a young couple joined us who hadn't been able to get to town in time to meet up. Luckily, we had ended up in front of their house!

We moved on to Albany via Dinwiddie Road, and found the feeder on the deck at the Lodge full, but no birds around there or in the nearby trees. A couple of the guys at the Lodge explained they'd had three cats around for a year, and the birds just haven't really come back since the cats have been gone. Our small group decided to have a late breakfast (great move!) and keep our eyes on the feeder. It was a gorgeous sunny day, with not much wind, and we all enjoyed each other's company--but still saw no birds there.

Here's our list for the day:
Centennial feeders:
7 Evening Grosbeaks
5 Black-billed Magpies
6 Steller's Jays
2 Mountain Chickadees
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Oregon Dark-eyed Junco
4 Clark's Nutcrackers
We heard a nuthatch in the trees, but no one spotted it.

Along the way out and back:
Scads of Canada geese- "Scads" is the proper technical term, yes? ;)
1 Bald Eagle
2 unidentified raptors
several Horned Larks
several Common Ravens
More elk and deer than you can shake a stick at, as my dad would say.

Great trip. Would love to do it again.

Steller's Jay. Photo by Lisa Cox.

Laramie Bird Notes: Week of February 27, 2017

Despite the windy weather over the last week, bird activity was pretty impressive for this time of the year!

In the migrant department, Dark-eyed Juncos continue to trickle into town and are abundant on UW campus and especially at Greenhill Cemetery. Pink-sided, Slate-colored, Oregon, and White-winged juncos have all been seen around town and in the Snowies recently. Many individuals have been singing, reminding us that spring is...still a couple months away in Laramie. The only missing subspecies is the locally breeding Gray-headed Junco, which should be showing up at some point this month. Mountain Bluebirds and Red-winged Blackbirds also continue to push into the Laramie Valley, so keep an eye out for them on the plains and in the wetlands around town. American Goldfinches, which are pretty uncommon this time of year, were detected at feeders on the east end of town. Thanks to the open water on some of the plains lakes, waterfowl are already making their way into our area in decent numbers. Mallard, Common Merganser, Canada Goose, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Canvasback, and Ring-necked Duck have all been seen on either Blake's Pond or Lake Hattie. Nate Behl also had a Barrow's Goldeneye, an uncommon migrant in our area, on Lake Hattie.

Raptors, the staple of winter birding on the high plains, put in a good show this past week, with Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, and Rough-legged Hawks being especially common. Red-tailed Hawk numbers seem to be slowly increasing. A pair of Ferruginous Hawks, a species that overwinters on the plains in low numbers, were seen between Laramie and Centennial hunting prairie dogs. The pair included one dark and one light morph individual.

The diversity of birds in the Snowy Range this winter continues to delight. Red Crossbills, Pine Siskins, Clark's Nutcrackers, and Pine Grosbeaks are all quite abundant and gearing up to breed. Black-capped Chickadees were heard singing in high elevation drainages this week and a few pairs of Mountain Chickadees were seen nest building. A few Golden-crowned Kinglets and American three-toed Woodpeckers were also found in the spruce forest along Sand Creek Road. With the warm weather this winter, the feeders in Centennial have been less active than usual, though two Gray-crowned Rosy Finches and several Evening Grosbeaks were highlights this week.

Pine Grosbeak feeding on aspen buds. Photo by Cody Porter.

The undisputed highlight of this past week was a flock of 50 Bohemian Waxwings found along the Laramie River west of town. Now would be a very good time to check trees and shrubs with fruit and to pick through those Cedar Waxwings carefully!

Good birding,
Cody and Doug

Laramie Bird Notes: Week of February 20, 2017

Hello readers of the Laramie Audubon Society blog! We (Cody and Doug) are going to begin a weekly report of the birds we see in and around town. You can let us know what birds are around your neck of the woods, too, by leaving a comment below our post!

Last week, we made a concerted effort to break the doldrums of winter and try to see what birds were hiding in Laramie. During daily bird walks on the University of Wyoming campus we were rewarded with a Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), presumably the same one found earlier in the winter by Don Jones and still hanging around the Agriculture building. Other noteworthy birds on campus were a flock of Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) and singing Pine Siskin (Pinus spinus) and Townsend’s Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi). One of Doug's favorite birds, Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) also showed up this week. You can keep track of what birds are on campus by checking the eBird hotspot for the University of Wyoming.

Moving off campus, we lucked into a flock of Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) in West Laramie near the Laramie River. While picking through the flock, Cody noticed a smaller bird that turned out to be a vagrant Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)! We were pretty excited to see an unexpected bird, let alone a species that is almost never seen in southeast Wyoming.

Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) found by Cody Porter in West Laramie. Photo by Nate Behl.

Also in the fields west and north of town we found many wandering mixed flocks of Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) and Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus). We didn't manage to find any Snow Buntings in those flocks, but they have been heard flying over town. Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) has returned to the Laramie Basin and you can also find plenty of predatory birds on the plains like Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus), Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), and Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor).

Lastly, we wanted to report that some of the plains lakes have open water. Blake's Pond and Lake Hattie both had open water where we found Redhead (Aythya americana), Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris), and Mallard (Anas platyrynchos).

There's a lot of winter ahead, but if you look hard enough you just might find something on the wind-swept plains of Laramie!

Good birding,
Cody and Doug

Upcoming trip: Montane birding and cafe-hopping

Lisa Cox and Brian Waitkus will lead us on a cafe-hopping, bird-finding adventure this Saturday, March 4. We will visit Albany and Centennial, enjoy hot chocolate and relaxing feeder-watching, and look for rosy-finches, evening grosbeaks, and other montane specialties.

Meet at Coal Creek at 8 am to carpool. If you can only join us for a short time, feel free to drive your own vehicle or arrange with carpool buddies. Bring binoculars and dress for the weather.

Evening Grosbeak in Centennial. Photo (c) Brigid Grund.

Trip Report -- Snowy Range Hike (2/18)

Yesterday morning 27 participants went for a beautiful hike to the Brooklyn Lake area in the Snowy Range. The excellent cone crop of Engelmann Spruce in the area this year is supporting a large number of winter seed-eating birds compared to most years. In a couple hours, we managed to find the following species:

1 Steller's Jay

1 Gray Jay
2 Clark's Nutcracker
2 Common Raven
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 Mountain Chickadee
6 Red-winged Blackbird
7 Pine Grosbeak (including a couple of singing males)
10 type 2 Red Crossbill
6 type 5 Red Crossbill (including one very cooperative pair building a nest)
4 Pine Siskin

One group also observed a Rough-legged Hawk and a Golden Eagle on the drive back to Laramie.

A small contingent also went out looking for owls yesterday night. While no owls were heard or seen, the group was treated to stunning views of the Milky Way and a handful of bright meteors. The only animal activity detected was a Red Fox feeding on a fresh Mule Deer carcass along the road near Centennial.

Pictures courtesy of Jimena Golcher.

Change of location for this weekend's field trip

All,

Given the lack of birds along Vedauwoo Rd. in the Laramie Range, and the abundance of birds in the Snowy Range this winter, we have decided to visit the latter instead of the former for our winter birds field trip this weekend (2/18).

Target birds for this trip to the Snowy Range will be White-winged Crossbills, Red Crossbills, Pine Grosbeaks, Gray Jays, Clark's Nutcrackers, all of which have been seen in the area in the last week.

We will meet at 8 am at Coal Creek Coffee to carpool. Bring binoculars and field guides. Dress for the weather and bring water and snacks. If you can only join us for a short time, be prepared to drive your own vehicle or coordinate with carpool buddies.

Birders of all levels are welcome! Our trips are free and open to the public.

Upcoming talk: Birding by Ear CANCELLED

Next Wednesday, February 22, Libby Megna will give an informal talk on common songbirds of Albany County, and how to identify them by sight and sound. We will especially pay attention to easily misidentified species. This talk should be very helpful for beginning birders, and hopefully the experienced folks can learn some new things too. February is too early for most birdsong in Wyoming, but start practicing now to be ready for spring migration!

We will meet in the Berry Center auditorium. Parking adjacent to the building is free after 5 pm. Bird chat and refreshments begin at 6:30 pm, and the talk will begin at 7:00 pm.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds sound hilarious--listen here. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman.

Upcoming trip: Winter birds

Join us this Saturday, February 18, for a winter bird walk  Vedauwoo Glen Road in the Laramie Range (see map for meeting place) LOCATION CHANGED TO SNOWY RANGE. Last year, the highlights were some early Mountain Bluebirds, a family of Red Crossbills actively feeding young, a wandering flock of Common Redpolls, and a group of noisy Pygmy Nuthatches. We will also keep our eyes peeled for Northern Pygmy-Owl, which was found in the Laramie Range for the first time last year.

This trip will coincide with the Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen science initiative to gather data on numbers of birds during the Presidents' Day weekend. We will count the birds we see and submit the data to eBird. If you can't join us for this trip, I encourage you to count birds in your backyard--or anywhere else!--during 17 - 20 February.

We will meet at 8 am at Coal Creek Coffee to carpool. Bring binoculars and field guides. Dress for the weather and bring water and snacks. If you can only join us for a short time, be prepared to drive your own vehicle or coordinate with carpool buddies.

Birders of all levels are welcome! Our trips are free and open to the public.

Trip report: Snow tracking

This post and photos are by Brian Waitkus

Tracks left by a weasel

On Saturday the 4th of February four people joined Dr. Gary Beauvais, Director of the University of Wyoming’s Natural Diversity Database, for what has long become an annual Laramie Audubon winter outing. We once again joined Gary to learn about identifying animal tracks left in the snow. The lessons learned over the years have been expanded to include other winter animal behavior and effects of forest session on various animal and plant species.

This year a light snow fall and wind combined to erase much of the evidence of animal movement. We were able to discover coyote/fox, pine squirrel, weasel, and moose tracks while also learning how domestic dog prints can easily be discerned from other canid tracks. The family dogs rarely practice the perfect step of their wild cousins. This occurs when the snow deepens and to conserve energy animals place their hind feet into the same location they stepped with their front feet.

Bird sightings in the deep forest was slightly better than most years with 3 stellar jays, 2 crows, 2 gray jays, and more than 20 mountain chickadees being observed.

Gary Beauvais discussing forest succession with the group