Laramie Audubon
Information about birds, birding, and how to protect birds in the Laramie, Wyoming area, including our local Habitat Heroes program.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Spooky Scavenger Hunt held on a perfect Fall morning.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Are You a Habitat Hero?
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!]
Monday, October 14, 2024
Spooky Kids and Families Event - Saturday, November 2
American Goldfinch, Photo courtesy of Laramie Audubon Society Member Heather Johnson |
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)
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
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.
Saturday, September 7, 2024
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)
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Kids & Families Adventure at Undine Park
Sunday, July 7, 2024
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.Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Trip Report - Thorne/Williams WHMA
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.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Saturday (4/20) BirdingTrip - Red Buttes
We need bird photos! This Clark's Nutcracker was photographed on a LAS trip to Centennial (photo credit: LAS member Lisa Cox). |
Friday, April 12, 2024
Greater Sage-Grouse Lek Trip - NEW EARLIER TIME: 5:15 a.m. Saturday 4/13
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.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Greater Sage-grouse Trip - Weather Dependent
Interested in visiting the Greater Sage-grouse lek this year? Stay tuned to this website! We're planning a trip for Saturday morning (April 13th - 5:30 a.m. departure from MEET AT 5:15 a.m. at the Eppsom Center), but it is dependent on range conditions. The lek closest to Laramie is on private land, which we access with permission from the land owner. In order to maintain that relationship, we are careful to avoid damaging the two-track access road and the surrounding land. We'll do reconnaisance on Friday to make sure that the area is dry enough -- check this website on Friday evening for the final decision. Fingers crossed!!