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

Upcoming trip: Snow Tracking

Photo by Per.

Join us Saturday, February 4, for our annual snow tracking field trip on cross-country skis or snowshoes. Gary Beauvais, Director of the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, will lead us on a snow tracking trip to look for tracks made by mammals and birds. Dr. Beauvais will teach us how to identify what made the tracks while we learn about the behaviors of mammals during cold winter months.

Bring snow-shoes or cross-country skis, whichever you prefer.


Meet at 8:00 a.m. at Coal Creek Coffee, downtown Laramie, 110 Grand Ave., to caffeinate and carpool to Chimney Park Trailhead near Fox Park on Hwy 230. Chimney Park is a fee area so bring $5 per carload or US Forest Service pass to park.

This trip lasts several hours so bring plenty of water and snacks and warm outdoor clothes. You may leave at any time if you have your own vehicle. Otherwise, we should be back in Laramie by 1:00 pm.

Back-up date for this trip is February 11, if the weather is too harsh.

Audubon Crane Festival

The Audubon Crane Festival, hosted by Audubon Nebraska, will occur March 16 - 19 this year. If you would like to attend the festival, Laramie Audubon is facilitating ridesharing and coordinating roommates. On-line registration for the festival itself has begun--see the link above.

For information on crane-watching, the Crane Festival, and facilities in Kearney, contact Tim Banks. To find others who plan on attending, contact Lindsey Sanders. We recommend that you arrange lodgings as soon as possible.

Upcoming talk: Mindy Meade

Chestnut-collared Longspur. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman

Join us this Wednesday, January 25 for our first evening program of the spring season.

Mindy Meade, federal biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, will provide a brief overview of the Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program which relies on voluntary habitat conservation on privately-owned land. She will take us on a photographic tour of her latest projects within Albany and Carbon counties. Presentation emphasis will focus on benefits to migratory birds and declining fish and wildlife species.

As usual, 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.

Upcoming event: Christmas Bird Count!

UPDATE: Change in date to Sunday, December 18

Gray-crowned Rosy-finches. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman.

We are seeking volunteers to take part in the 117th annual Christmas Bird Count!

The Laramie Audubon Society will again take part in a 100-year-old Christmas tradition, the annual Christmas Bird Count. Volunteers are welcome to join in the count with the LAS chapter as it conducts the Albany County Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 18. This will be the 39th count of the Albany County circle. Volunteers are needed to help count every bird present in the 15-mile diameter circle around Laramie on the day of the count. Novices are welcome, and will be paired with more experienced bird watchers.

Volunteers can call ahead (307-286-1972) or meet at Coal Creek Coffee (110 E. Grand) at 7:30 am on the day of the count to get data forms and team assignments. Some teams walk, while others drive through the territory. Volunteers will reconvene at The Grounds Internet and Coffee Lounge (171 N. 3rd St.) at 12:00 pm to drop off morning reports and regroup for those continuing in the afternoon.

Volunteers should wear warm, layered clothing and boots, and bring water, snacks and binoculars if you have them. Feeder watchers are also welcome. Volunteers are invited to a chili supper where results will be compiled beginning at 4 pm the home of Shay Howlin. Potluck items welcome, but not required. Please contact Shay Howlin if you would like to be assigned a route early, would like forms for feeder watching, or have any questions (307-286-1972; wolfhowlin@gmail.com).

Upcoming talk: Science Cafe with the Prather Lab

Join the Laramie Audubon Society and the Biodiversity Institute next week for a Science Café featuring work by Dr. Jonathan Prather and his lab. Prather studies the neurobiology of communication in birds.

A summary of the lab's recent work: "We use our words to communicate with each other every day, and we rely on good decision making to keep us healthy and out of trouble. In both speech and decision making, specialized circuits in the brain enable us to learn from experience. When we take a close look at songbirds, we find that they do they same thing. Birds learn their songs just like we learn the sounds we use in speech, and female birds evaluate the quality of male birds’ songs in order to select their mates. How does the brain do that, and how can we use that insight to understand more about ourselves?"

Dr. Jonathan Prather

Wednesday, November 30
UW Berry Center Auditorium
10th Street and Lewis Street
Laramie, Wyoming
Free parking after 5 pm

6:30 pm Refreshments and Bird Chat
7:00 pm Program begins

The Science Café will feature three talks:

Dr. Jonathan Prather  - How the brain learns to communicate and make good decisions: What studying songbirds can teach us about human behavior

Karagh Murphy - What songbirds can teach us about human behavior

Jeff Dunning - Shedding light on the female songbird brain

We will also hold our annual board member elections at this meeting. Members who cannot attend this meeting will be able to vote via an online survey, coming soon to your email.

Upcoming trip: Laramie Valley

Pronghorn. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman.

This Saturday, 12 November, Tim Banks will lead us on a tour of the Laramie Valley for whatever birds we can find. Waterfowl have been disappointingly absent so far this fall, but raptor diversity is usually good in the valley! Join us for the adventure--never know what we might find.

We will meet at 8 am at Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse to carpool. Bring binoculars, a scope if you have one, and field guides. Dress for the weather and bring water and snacks. I plan to be back in Laramie by 11:45 am; if you can only join us for part of the 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.

Rough-legged Hawk. Photo (c) Shawn Billerman.