Upcoming trip: Banding station

We caught the first Albany Co record of Hooded Warbler!

This Sunday, June 10, we will head out to the MAPS banding station at Fred Lindzey's place near Centennial. This banding station is run by Audubon Rockies, and is part of the North American Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survival banding network. The goal of this banding program is to monitor demographics--survival and reproduction--of breeding birds. We will learn about how birds are banded, what we can learn from banded birds, and how we are able to determine the age of birds by looking at details of their feathers. Families and kids are welcome!

Meet Lisa Cox at Coal Creek Coffee downtown at 8 am to caffeinate and carpool. This is a nice chance for kids to get up close and personal with birds, but be aware that both the grass pollen and mosquitoes can be intense. Feel free to hang out at the banding station, but if you want to walk the net lanes you will be traipsing through standing water that can be over knee boots in places. Be prepared with mosquito repellant and appropriate clothes (long sleeves recommended), antihistamines, and boots or shoes that you don't mind getting wet.

Upcoming trip: Goshen Hole

Join us on Saturday, May 26th for Laramie Audubon’s first trip to the Goshen Hole! We will carpool from Coal Creek Downtown, leaving at 6:30 am sharp and returning around 4:30 in the afternoon. Major stops will be Rawhide WHMA, the Table Mountain complex, and Bump-Sullivan Reservoir, with ample opportunities to bird as we travel between locations. Target species for the trip include specialty breeders such as Orchard Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, and Red-headed Woodpecker; migrating shorebirds including White-rumped and Stilt Sandpiper; and any eastern vagrants we can find!

Bring binoculars, a spotting scope if you have one, snacks/lunch, water, and shoes suitable for walking several miles on uneven terrain. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to trip leader Don Jones at dwilbertjones@gmail.com or (307) 460-8114 no later than Wednesday, May 23rd and include whether you would be willing to drive and if so, how many extra seats you have in your vehicle.

Rawhide WHMA.

Upcoming trip: Hereford Ranch

Our next field trip is this Saturday, May 12--we'll head to the 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 Coal Creek at 8 am to caffeinate and carpool. We will be back to Laramie by 1 pm--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.

Cheyenne Audubon special event - Noah Strycker

Cheyenne Audubon has invited us to join them for a special talk by Noah Strycker, well-known birder who set a global Big Year record in 2015. 

Noah's talk is on May 14 at 7 pm at the Laramie County Library. Cheyenne Audubon and Noah will spend the following day on an all-day field trip looping from Cheyenne, through Laramie, Sybille Canyon, Wheatland, Guernsey, Torrington, and back to Cheyenne. 

For more details about the talk or the field trip, check out Cheyenne Audubon's website here.

Upcoming trip: Arapaho NWR

We will head to Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge near Walden, Colorado, this Saturday, May 5. Meet at 8:00 am at Coal Creek Coffee downtown to caffeinate and carpool. The drive to Walden is about one and a half hours via Hwy 230 to Walden CO. We will probably also stop at Walden Reservoir on our way to Arapaho.

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 should 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 2 pm, but participants in their own vehicles are welcome to leave at any time.

Birding the Wetland Nature Trail at Arapaho. Photo by Libby Megna.

Upcoming talk: Birding by Ear

Next Wednesday, April 25, Libby Megna will give an informal talk on common songbirds of Albany County, and how to identify them by sight and, especially, by sound. Taking your birding skills to the next level involves learning vocalizations--especially helpful for identifying sneaky species or those that spend a lot of time in dense foliage. This talk should be very helpful for beginning birders, and hopefully the experienced folks can learn some new things too. Birdsong is in full spring in April, so you will be able to practice what you learn from this talk right away!

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.

Baird's Sparrows have been reliable near Laramie the last couple summers--but only if you can find them by their song!

Trip report: Snowy Range owling

The group prepares for an epic night of owling. Photo by Jimena Golcher-Benavides.

Last night, 18 hardy individuals braved the heavy snow, wind, and low temperatures of the high elevation forests in the Snowy Range in search of owls. I think I speak for everyone when I say it was completely worth it. Shortly after dusk, we heard a Boreal Owl singing its heart out. After a bit of work, most of the group was treated to stunning looks at the owl singing from a low perch. Later, some of us heard a second owl singing far away in the distance.

Below is a link to the eBird checklist from last night, including an audio recording of one bird singing and a few documentation shots from Adam Klessens.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44583627

Upcoming trip: Laramie hotspots

Join us on a journey through the best birding spots within Laramie this Saturday, April 21. We'll look for migrating songbirds, especially warblers and sparrows. We usually visit Greenhill Cemetery, Labonte Park, and the Greenbelt. After birding, we will clean up our section of the Greenbelt.

We will meet at 8 am at Coal Creek Coffee downtown to carpool. Bring binoculars and field guides, dress for the weather, and bring water and snacks. This is a great trip for beginning birders and families.

Fresh snowfall at LaBonte during this trip last year. Photo by Libby Megna.

Upcoming trip: Owling in the Snowies

This Saturday, April 14, we will look for owls in the Snowy Range. Boreal Owls will be our target species, but Northern Saw-whet and Long-eared Owls are also possible. Depending on snow pack, this could mean up to a 3 mile hike, ski, or snowshoe. We will update this post with conditions as the trip approaches. Meet at Coal Creek downtown at 7:00 pm.

Upcoming trip: Hutton Lake NWR

We will bird Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge this Saturday, April 7. The refuge is my favorite place near Laramie, and objectively one of the best places to bird this time of year--we should see ducks, shorebirds, grebes, raptors, and recently arrived songbirds. Migration is in full swing, so we could luck into a rarity!

We will meet at Coal Creek Coffee 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.

Photo by Libby Megna

Trip report: Plains Lakes

Following the lek trip, some hardy souls refueled on coffee and headed out to the Plains Lakes. We found a lot of waterfowl on Blake's Pond, most of which unfortunately flushed when we exited our cars. The highlight of the stop was an early Marbled Godwit. We also saw all three species of teal--this is pretty early to have so many Cinnamon Teal in the area.

Meeboer hosted the usual American Coots but not much else. We skipped Gelatt and headed to Twin Buttes, where we found the Barrow's Goldeneye that had been previously reported by Jonathan Lautenbach. There were several other species of ducks present on Twin Buttes, and we experienced a few hundred Redhead fly over us.

Our lists for the day are below.
Pahlow Lane
Blake's Pond
Meeboer Lake
Road by Gelatt Lake
Twin Buttes Lake

Red-tailed Hawks at nest by Blake's Pond. Photo by Libby Megna.

Trip report: Sage-grouse lek

We had a great morning at the sage-grouse lek yesterday! The weather was good--not too cold, and calm. We were able to hear the gurgling, ridiculous calls of the males as they strutted for the hens. We counted a total of 28 males and 7 females. We also enjoyed the antics of Horned Larks setting up their territories around us. Our checklist from the day is here.

Greater Sage-Grouse males displaying. Photo courtesy Liz Young.