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!

Spooky Scavenger Hunt held on a perfect Fall morning.

Thanks to the kids and families who joined us at Washington Park Bandshell on Saturday morning, November 2 under a sunny sky with no wind. We learned that spiders are arachnids and how to tell they are not insects, talked about different colors and kinds of owls, and heard about how a local crow gave a scolding for placing a crow plushy in a cottonwood tree for the big hunt. Then we looked up and down and found all 8 spooky items on our list before choosing the materials to bring home to make our own bats, crows or black cats. Boo! The little dino skeleton was the toughest to find! Please join us on Saturday, December 21, at 9am at the Schoolyard Trails (parking by Snowy Range Academy) for a Welcome Winter Walk. We will use all 5 senses to discover nature on the first day of Winter, and by popular request, will bring home a snowy owl token to remember our trek. Keep your fingers crossed for a little snow so we can do some tracking! This will be our last Kids & Families activity for 2024. Stay tuned for 2025!

Are You a Habitat Hero?

We are starting a Habitat Hero Program to help Albany County residents improve their landscape to benefit birds, pollinators, and other wildlife!

The following article was originally posted on our blog in 2015.  Now that we are starting a Laramie-based Habitat Hero program, we thought our readers might be interested in revisiting the 2015 post!

Habitat Heroes are people who practice a form of landscape stewardship, called ‘wildscaping’ - landscaping designed to attract and benefit birds, pollinators and other wildlife. Whether the landscape you tend is a residential yard, a few pots on a balcony, a public park, or schoolyard garden, Habitat Heroes believe in growing a healthy community. By combating the loss of open spaces and creating green corridors that link your wildscape to larger natural areas by providing habitat for wildlife we can feel good about doing something positive for ourselves, the environment and our wild friends.

Take part in the Audubon Rockies Habitat Hero program to provide resources for birds and other wildlife!  [2024 note: stay tuned to learn more about the Laramie-based program!]

Spooky Kids and Families Event - Saturday, November 2

American Goldfinch, Photo courtesy of
Laramie Audubon Society Member Heather Johnson

Let’s make spooky season last longer! 

For our final scavenger hunt** of 2024, think of what we see at Halloween - bats, black cats, owls, witches, skeletons, spiders and more. All of these will be on our scavenger hunt list. 

We will meet at the Bandshell in the SW corner of Washington Park at 9 a.m. to learn about the items on our list, and then will go hunting for them! All kids and families will pick a craft to assemble at home or, if weather is good, at the Park if preferred. 

This year we will make crows, bats or black cats!  

** Although November 2nd is our final scavenger hunt, there are two additional Kids and Families events scheduled in 2024 - November 16th and December 21st.  See our Events page for more information.

(THIS IS A DIFFERENT DATE THAN ORIGINALLY ANNOUNCED - THIS EVENT IS NOW ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd)

Fall 2024 Events Schedule (and New Location for Evening Programs)

 We've updated the Events page with our Fall schedule.  We hope to see you at one of our upcoming field trips, Kids and Families programs, or monthly evening programs.  

Evening Programs are Moving!

After much discussion and a thorough search, LAS has decided to move our monthly programs to a new location. We are thankful to the Berry Center for allowing us to use the auditorium for several years, but since the University of Wyoming installed a pedestrian plaza on Lewis Street around the entrance of the building, attendance at LAS programs has decreased dramatically, with some members stating that lack of available parking in the vicinity is their reason for no longer coming to programs. 

Our new location, effective with Fall 2024 programs beginning in September, will be at Trinity Lutheran Church, 107 S 7th Street (near Ace Hardware and across 7th Street from the Ivinson Museum and Alice Hardie Stevens Center.) The space is café style, with round tables seating up to 39 people, and with a kitchen attached. During programs requiring more space, we will move downstairs to an auditorium-classroom style set up. Both spaces are accessible, and while the church does not charge for our use of space, the Board has voted to make a money contribution for each time we hold a meeting there. There is ample on-street parking around the church, as well as a parking lot in the rear (access is from University Ave.). The location is close to downtown and campus.  If you have questions about this move, or about the space or how to get there, please let us know at laramie.audubon@gmail.com.

Hutton Lake Field Trip Yields Shorebirds and a Surprise Gull

A small group of us birded Hutton National Wildlife Refuge on September 7, 2024. There was only water in Hoge and George Lake, and the shallow levels at Hoge created great shorebird habitat. We were rewarded with 12 shorebird species feeding in the lake, including rather large numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs (72) and Stilt Sandpipers (48). We were treated to four other "peep" species (Pectoral, Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers) and three Semipalmated Plovers. The highlight at Hoge Lake was the observation of a first-cycle Sabine's Gull. We got great looks at the young bird feeding on the shoreline and got to see the diagnostic tri-colored wing pattern when it took to fly and was being chased by an immature Bald Eagle. Luckily this beautiful little gull escaped being the eagle's brunch. Sabine's Gulls breed in the arctic regions of Alaska and Canada, as do many of the shorebirds we observed, and spend their winter in subtropical and tropical upwelling zones off the coast of western South America. Small numbers can be found on lakes and reservoirs in Wyoming during fall migration. Good numbers of Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows were present in the uplands and a smattering of ducks, mostly still in eclipse plumage, were observed on George Lake. For the trip, we recorded 37 species of birds.

                                            Stilt Sandpipers (Heather Johnson)

 

                                            Lesser Yellowlegs (Heather Johnson)

 

Kids & Families Adventure at Undine Park

A small but curious group met on Saturday morning, August, 17, at Undine Park for our monthly Kids & Families program. We took our BINGO cards with some new items on them, and crayons, and put on our eyes and ears to find most of the items on the cards to win a prize! This month our young explorers learned about lichen and turkey vultures, both of which we found in the park. We looked up to see flying insects, clouds, nests and a spider web, and we looked down to find mushrooms, feathers, sticks, and water- in the form of dew on the grass and in a small pool in a tree trunk! Keep your eyes peeled for our last few events of 2024: September 14 at WyoBird Day, October 26 in Washington Park for a Spooky Spectacular final scavenger hunt of the season, an indoor extravaganza in November with Wyoming State Parks, and we will return outside to the Schoolyard Trails on December 21 to welcome Winter! Laramie Audubon Society is working on next year's programs already, and we need your help! In order to bring even better programs to help Kids & Families have fun outside and with nature, we will be posting a short survey soon on our Facebook page. We hope you will take a couple minutes to tell us what you would like to see on the menu!

Trip Report - Hutton Lake NWR Tree Swallows

On Saturday, 6 July, a small group of Laramie Audubon members met students from the University of Wyoming's WYOBIRD project at Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge for a demonstration on Tree Swallow banding. WYOBIRD grad student members and undergrad interns are monitoring the nest boxes at Hutton and banding nestlings, and some adults, to learn more about their biology and ecology on the Laramie Plains. We were given an overview of banding techniques and shown the various measurement data students are collecting. By the end of the season, >200 nestlings will carry a unique silver anklet.

After the banding demonstration, we hiked up the ridge beyond Rush Lake to have a look at the newly acquired parcel within the designated Wyoming Toad Conservation Area. Originally acquired by the Conservation Fund, the parcel was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the fall of 2023. Additional lands along the Laramie River were also acquired by the City of Laramie.

Marsh Wrens were still signing in the rushes and American Avocets were busy protecting their young. Although we saw foraging White-faced Ibises, we did not confirm their nesting or find the previously observed White Ibis.

Thanks to Auna, Kim and Chloe for giving us a great overview of the Tree Swallow project.

Trip Report - Thorne/Williams WHMA

For our trip on 4th of May (May the 4th be with you) we had eleven observers and we saw a total of 32 species. European Starlings represented the largest total, but the Spotted Towhees also put in a strong showing.  We saw two wrens (Rock Wren and House Wren) and two Towhees (Spotted and Green-tailed Towhees). 

 A favorite moment was when a Golden Eagle flew over, then a Prairie Falcon came to join, then a Red-tailed Hawk, and then we spotted a high Accipiter (Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-shinned Hawk) in the kettle at the end. 

The Turkey Vultures also had a lot of fun sunning on the rocks and showing off for everyone. The weather and company - including three birders from Cheyenne - was lovely, and we had a great time at a really unique area of Albany County, WY.

Trip Report - Red Buttes

We had a cold and intrepid group of Audubon people attend the Red Buttes field trip on Saturday the 20th of April 2024.

A total of 7 people attended, and the wind howled at us the entire time. We met at 0800, and lasted about 40 minutes outside, ending at around 1000 after also doing a tour of the Red Buttes Facilities. The weather report said that with wind chill the temperature was ~14F, so it was a pretty cold time.

For the birding, we stuck to the fish ponds and riparian areas immediately around the facility, and used my scope to also look at Leazenby Lake. Even with the horrid weather we still managed 15 species. Highlights were several Franklin's Gulls, a Say's Phoebe who actually came to hang out with us in the wing, and the local breeding Swainson's Hawk came by.

The group agreed that the field trip was in a really cool place, but that mid-April might be too early to come to Red Buttes. A couple weeks later might give a better chance at less volatile weather.

Three cheers to our amazing birding group who braved some true Wyoming weather to see early spring migrants.

Saturday (4/20) BirdingTrip - Red Buttes

Meet at 8 a.m. at the University of Wyoming Red Buttes Lab (on the east side of US 287, 8.3 miles south of WYDOT). We will survey for migrant songbirds in both riparian corridors and short-grass prairie wetlands. Serving as a migratory stop over point for spring migrants, the Red Buttes research site (which is not typically open to the public) provides habitat for grassland, wetland, and riparian corridor birds. Hiking boots or shoes with good traction are a must. We will probably get a little muddy, but it will all be for the birds!

We need bird photos!  This Clark's Nutcracker was photographed
on a LAS trip to Centennial (photo credit: LAS member Lisa Cox).

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.