Note that the Encana Auditorium is in the Energy Innovation Center at the University of Wyoming. The Advocacy Training event on the 15th will be a good chance to learn about the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Citizens' Climate Lobby events
Our local chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby has a couple of events this week. See the poster below if you'd like to get involved in climate action locally! Click here to download a copy of the poster.
Note that the Encana Auditorium is in the Energy Innovation Center at the University of Wyoming. The Advocacy Training event on the 15th will be a good chance to learn about the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal.
Note that the Encana Auditorium is in the Energy Innovation Center at the University of Wyoming. The Advocacy Training event on the 15th will be a good chance to learn about the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Trip report: Hereford Ranch
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| Photo by Laurel Armstrong. |
We found a total of 48 species. The highlights were a Blackpoll Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Red-eyed Vireo. We also found a Blue Grosbeak and Cassin's Kingbird--not unexpected for Laramie County, but not always easy to find. Sparrows were lacking but there were flocks of finches--including more Lesser Goldfinches than I have seen all in one place.
The eBird checklist with photos of the rare warblers is here.
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| Blue Grosbeak. Photo by Nate Behl. |
Upcoming trip: Hutton Lake NWR
We will bird Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge this Saturday, September 16.
The refuge is one of the best places to bird during waterfowl migration. We
should see dabbling and diving ducks of a variety of species, and hopefully will luck into some shorebirds. Hutton also hosted a Little Gull in September 2013, so keep a sharp eye out!
We will meet at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse at 8 am to preemptively caffeinate and carpool. Please bring binoculars, a spotting scope if you have one, field guides, and snacks and drinks. Be prepared for windy conditions. Our trips to Hutton usually last until noon, but anyone is free to leave early if they bring their own vehicle or coordinate with carpool buddies.
We will meet at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse at 8 am to preemptively caffeinate and carpool. Please bring binoculars, a spotting scope if you have one, field guides, and snacks and drinks. Be prepared for windy conditions. Our trips to Hutton usually last until noon, but anyone is free to leave early if they bring their own vehicle or coordinate with carpool buddies.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Project Nest Watch report by the Laramie Girl Scouts
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| Girl Scouts checking nest boxes at Hutton NWR, photo by Lisa Cox |
The Laramie Girl Scouts have been working with the Laramie Audubon Society all summer to check Tree Swallow nest boxes out at Hutton National Wildlife Refuge. They will report back to us on what they learned about bird nesting biology and ecology this summer, as well as describing their experiences with checking nest boxes, and giving us their findings from a summer spent on the refuge.
We will meet in the Berry Center auditorium. Parking adjacent to the building is free after 5 pm. Bird chat and refreshments begin at 6:40 pm, and the talk will begin at 7:10 pm.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Laramie Bird Notes (8/24 - 9/4)
Migrant activity has been really good over the past week, especially in the songbird department. Although the Laramie Valley doesn't generally get a great diversity of warblers in migration, a respectable 11 species were recorded this past week. Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers seem to have made a decent push into town recently, while a few Yellow Warbler reports may be some of our last for this early migrating warbler. In addition to the expected migrant warblers, we also had reports of two unusual species for our area, Black-and-White Warbler and Magnolia Warbler. Good places to find migrating warblers include Greenhill Cemetery, UW campus, the Greenbelt, and generally anywhere with lots of trees. Rock Creek Canyon on the north tip of the Snowy Range can be quite good for warblers in fall migration.
In other songbird news, a decent selection of vireo species has been found around town lately, including Warbling, Red-eyed, Cassin's, and Plumbeous. Sparrows are also on the move, with a few juncos (both Gray-headed and Pink-sided) and Clay-colored Sparrows being seen around town, as well as gobs of Chipping Sparrows. Chipping Sparrows have actually been moving out of the mountains since mid-July, on their way to wetter and more productive regions to complete their molt.
Flycatchers have also put on a good show lately. In town, several Empidonax species have been moving through, including Dusky, Hammond's, Gray, and Willow, along with Olive-sided Flycatcher and lots of Western Wood-Pewees. Further out on the plains, Western and Eastern Kingbirds continue to move through. Be sure to check those yellow kingbirds closely for a Cassin's, or maybe even something more unusual!
In addition to a few miscellaneous songbirds such as Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, and Western Tanager around town, crossbills are still around in decent numbers, though the big push of types 3 and 4 has calmed down a bit lately. Most Red Crossbills around right now are type 2. Even more exciting, an immature White-winged Crossbill was seen at Greenhill Cemetery in a flock of Reds, so be sure to pick through those crossbill flocks carefully! Crossbills moving through are really struggling to find food, so now is a good time to make sure your feeders are filled -- you might get lucky and have a flock visit for a while!
Compared to last week we have several more waterbird species to report. Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Plover are some of the more notable shorebird species. Other waterbirds include good numbers of Franklin's Gulls and White-faced Ibis. Despite modest effort at searching Hutton Lake and Lake Hattie for jeagers and rare gulls, nothing has been found. Those intent on finding these and other rare waterbird species should continue to monitor these lakes, as several reports from Colorado and other nearby states have really picked up recently.
A couple noteworthy birds that didn't really fit well into the rest of the post include Rufous Hummingbirds (which will likely leave our area entirely in the next couple weeks) around the Berry Center on campus and a somewhat early Merlin on the Greenbelt.
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| Magnolia Warbler. Photo by Nate Behl. |
Flycatchers have also put on a good show lately. In town, several Empidonax species have been moving through, including Dusky, Hammond's, Gray, and Willow, along with Olive-sided Flycatcher and lots of Western Wood-Pewees. Further out on the plains, Western and Eastern Kingbirds continue to move through. Be sure to check those yellow kingbirds closely for a Cassin's, or maybe even something more unusual!
In addition to a few miscellaneous songbirds such as Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, and Western Tanager around town, crossbills are still around in decent numbers, though the big push of types 3 and 4 has calmed down a bit lately. Most Red Crossbills around right now are type 2. Even more exciting, an immature White-winged Crossbill was seen at Greenhill Cemetery in a flock of Reds, so be sure to pick through those crossbill flocks carefully! Crossbills moving through are really struggling to find food, so now is a good time to make sure your feeders are filled -- you might get lucky and have a flock visit for a while!
Compared to last week we have several more waterbird species to report. Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Plover are some of the more notable shorebird species. Other waterbirds include good numbers of Franklin's Gulls and White-faced Ibis. Despite modest effort at searching Hutton Lake and Lake Hattie for jeagers and rare gulls, nothing has been found. Those intent on finding these and other rare waterbird species should continue to monitor these lakes, as several reports from Colorado and other nearby states have really picked up recently.
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| Baird's Sandpiper. Photo by Shawn Billerman. |
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Upcoming trip: Hereford Ranch
Our next field trip is this Saturday, September 09. We'll head to the Wyoming Hereford Ranch on the east side of Cheyenne. The riparian areas at the Hereford Ranch host an incredible
array of expected migrants and often deliver rarities. This trip is a particularly nice one for beginning birders.
Meet downtown at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse at 7 am to caffeinate and carpool. We will get back to Laramie at 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. Bring binoculars, water and snacks, and dress for the weather.
Meet downtown at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse at 7 am to caffeinate and carpool. We will get back to Laramie at 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. Bring binoculars, water and snacks, and dress for the weather.
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| Birding at Hereford last fall. Photo by Libby Megna. |
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Outdoor Movie Screening: The Messenger
With breathtaking visuals, The Messenger is an ode to the beauty and importance of the imperiled songbird, and what it means to all of us on both a global and human level if we lose them. Watch the trailer here.
The event will take place on the South hillside of the Williams Conservatory on the UW campus. The conservatory is located south of the Aven Nelson Building on campus, at 9th and University. Join us at 7:30 pm for refreshments and open access to the conservatory; film starts at 8 pm.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Laramie Bird Notes -- 8/17 - 8/24
As fall migration starts to heat up, the Laramie Bird Notes will resume to bring you all the wonderful avian happenings in the Laramie Valley.
Fall migration this year is starting off with a somewhat strange phenomenon: Pygmy Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches, and at least four different Red Crossbill call types are all over town! Over the past week or so, both nuthatches have been seen at the Greenhill Cemetery, the Greenbelt, and near UW campus, which is pretty strange. It even seems that Red-breasted Nuthatches are much more abundant in town than usual. Type 2 (or Ponderosa Pine crossbills) have been the most abundant crossbill call type around town (especially on campus and at the cemetery), though types 5 (Lodgepole Pine), 4 (Douglas-fir), and 3 (Western Hemlock) have also been found recently.
It seems likely that the influx of nuthatches and type 2 crossbills into town is due to the lack of a Ponderosa Pine cone crop in the surrounding mountain ranges, as these species depend heavily on the seeds from this tree in fall and winter. Similar reports from along the Front Range of Colorado, and the massive movement of type 2 crossbills into the Great Lakes and northeastern United States, suggest that these species are moving across much of the Rockies. Red Crossbill types 3 and 4 are also moving into the eastern United States, indicating that Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock cone crops are failing in the Pacific Northwest. For a nice primer on crossbill ecology and identifying crossbills to call type, check out this wonderful article from Cornell's Matt Young: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/recrtype/.
In more normal migrant news, migrant songbirds are really starting to move through town in decent numbers. In addition to the masses of Wilson's Warblers we get every fall, other migrants around town recently include Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Dusky Flycatcher, Gray Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Bullock's Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Brewer's Sparrow, and Lark Sparrow. Greenhill Cemetery and the Greenbelt have been pretty good for migrants lately and are worth checking.
Waterbird migration is also underway, though the coverage of this group hasn't been great in our area lately. Nonetheless, Common Loons, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Baird's Sandpipers have been seen recently. Those looking to find rarities would do well to check places like Hutton Lake, Lake Hattie, Blake's Pond, and the ponds north of Laramie at the intersection of Highway 287 and Highway 34 near Bosler. In addition to a good diversity of migrating shorebirds, you may be rewarded with unusual species like Sabine's Gull, Little Gull, or maybe even a jaeger or two!
Fall migration this year is starting off with a somewhat strange phenomenon: Pygmy Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches, and at least four different Red Crossbill call types are all over town! Over the past week or so, both nuthatches have been seen at the Greenhill Cemetery, the Greenbelt, and near UW campus, which is pretty strange. It even seems that Red-breasted Nuthatches are much more abundant in town than usual. Type 2 (or Ponderosa Pine crossbills) have been the most abundant crossbill call type around town (especially on campus and at the cemetery), though types 5 (Lodgepole Pine), 4 (Douglas-fir), and 3 (Western Hemlock) have also been found recently.
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| Pygmy Nuthatches and Red Crossbills are on the move this fall. Photos by Nate Behl. |
In more normal migrant news, migrant songbirds are really starting to move through town in decent numbers. In addition to the masses of Wilson's Warblers we get every fall, other migrants around town recently include Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Dusky Flycatcher, Gray Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Bullock's Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Brewer's Sparrow, and Lark Sparrow. Greenhill Cemetery and the Greenbelt have been pretty good for migrants lately and are worth checking.
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| It is happening again... Photo by Shawn Billerman. |
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| Will you find a Little Gull this year? Photo by Shawn Billerman. |
Thursday, August 17, 2017
September Membership Month
We hope you are all enjoying this beautiful August weather, and are looking forward to fall migrants that will soon be heading south through town. We at the Laramie Audubon Society are excited both for the influx of migrants and for September Membership Month!
As you probably already know, we’ve changed our membership renewal to be once yearly, rather than every 365 days. So by renewing this September, your membership will be good until we send you a reminder for renewal again in August 2018. You can send your check to our mailing address using the attached form, or you can go online to www.laramieaudubon.blogspot.
LAS continues to be an effective voice for conservation and education around Laramie thanks to the support of our members. With your LAS membership you will continue to receive the Laramie Audubon Society newsletter and support the projects and vision of your local Audubon chapter. We encourage you to receive your newsletter electronically, to save paper.
Remember, September will be Membership Month for Laramie Audubon Society. If you haven’t already, renew your membership now and it will last until August 31, 2018.
Board meeting
We will hold a board meeting Wednesday, 23 August at 6 pm in the second floor conference room of the Berry Center. Our board meetings are open to the public; if you would like to see the inner workings of LAS, feel free to attend!
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Field Surveys Podcast
Last fall, Laramie Audubon funded a small grant request for a local podcast called Field Surveys. The goal of the podcast is to take listeners behind the scenes of how ecology and conservation really get done. We are excited to share that the first two episodes have been released! New episodes will come out monthly for the next year or so. You can listen to the podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/field-surveys-podcast
It is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher, so you can download it straight to your phone.
Jesse Alston, the creator of Field Surveys, will be speaking at our monthly LAS meeting on Wednesday, October 25. Be sure to drop by if you want to learn more about this new podcast.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Trip report: Rosy-finches in Snowies
This post is by Brian Waitkus, I'm just putting it up. - Libby
July 22, 2017
14 members and friends of Audubon gathered at the Sugarloaf Recreation Area, Lewis and Libby Lake parking area for a one mile hike to the Gap. The quest for the trip was to locate Brown Capped Rosy-finch, but other birds, mammals, and butterflies were also observed. The weather was great with cool temps and mostly blue skies. At the Gap, after 45 minutes, we were fortunate to locate a pair of Rosy-finch marking a new species for many in the group.
The following birds were noted:
2 Brown Capped Rosy-finch 2 Robin
9 American Pipit including 3 chicks 2 Yellow Rumped Warbler
2 Wilson’s Warbler 1 Ruby Crowned Kinglet (call)
12 White Crowned Sparrow 2 Flicker
2 Townsend’s Solitary 1 Red Breasted Nuthatch
1 California Gull 3 Swallow (sp?)
1 Bald Eagle 1 Golden Eagle
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow 1 Vesper Sparrow
July 22, 2017
14 members and friends of Audubon gathered at the Sugarloaf Recreation Area, Lewis and Libby Lake parking area for a one mile hike to the Gap. The quest for the trip was to locate Brown Capped Rosy-finch, but other birds, mammals, and butterflies were also observed. The weather was great with cool temps and mostly blue skies. At the Gap, after 45 minutes, we were fortunate to locate a pair of Rosy-finch marking a new species for many in the group.
The following birds were noted:
2 Brown Capped Rosy-finch 2 Robin
9 American Pipit including 3 chicks 2 Yellow Rumped Warbler
2 Wilson’s Warbler 1 Ruby Crowned Kinglet (call)
12 White Crowned Sparrow 2 Flicker
2 Townsend’s Solitary 1 Red Breasted Nuthatch
1 California Gull 3 Swallow (sp?)
1 Bald Eagle 1 Golden Eagle
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow 1 Vesper Sparrow
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| The Laramie Audubon crew. Photo by Laurel Armstrong. |
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