XC Ski/Snowshoe "Winter Tracking Trip" POSTPONED TO FEBRUARY 1

 Meet at intersection of Hwy 130 & Sand Lake Road at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 25 Saturday, February 1.  BYO equipment. See other post, below, for more details.

Christmas Bird Count Again Sets New Record

The 49th Albany County Christmas Bird Count was held on December 15, 2024. Thirty-four participants conducted field surveys or watched feeders during count day, and observers spent 66 party-hours afield. Effort in 2024 was higher than an average count between 1975 and 2023 for participants (20) and party-hours (45). We recorded a total of 6,772 individual birds (107 birds/party-hour), which greatly exceeded the average of 3,155 birds (71.8 birds/party-hour) recorded on previous counts. A great effort given the blustery day! Thanks to all field and feeder observers who made the 2024 Christmas Bird Count a huge success.

For the second year in a row, we tallied more species during both count day (54) and count week (57), surpassing 2023 records of 47 species during count day and 54 species including count week. New species for the Albany County count in 2024 included a count day male Wood Duck, found by Spencer Hurt and Kyler Smith on the Spring Creek Pond creek, and an immature Black-crowned Night Heron, observed by Mary Schvetz along the Laramie River Greenbelt Trail, and a Gray Catbird, found by Laurel Armstrong in her backyard, during count week. Al Zerbe added a backyard White-crowned Sparrow during count week. These additional three species raised the total to 100 species observed during 49 years of Albany County counts.

Although temperatures were relatively mild, high winds (maximum gusts of 53 mph at the airport!) hampered finding some songbirds. Despite the winds, high counts for several species were achieved in 2024 (in addition to the three new ones above) including Mallard (1,659 individuals), Green-winged Teal (200), Eurasian Collared-Dove (450), Sharp-shinned Hawk (4), Ferruginous Hawk (3), American Kestrel (3), White-throated Sparrow (2), and Great-tailed Grackle (9). Compared to the average count adjusted for effort (1975–2023), more species and numbers of waterfowl were recorded in 2024, whereas winter finches (e.g., crossbills, grosbeaks, rosy-finches) were less abundant. Rough-legged Hawks were noticeably absent from much of the count circle. A table of results is WYAC 2024 Results.

Thanks again to all who participated in this record-setting year. I hope everyone had fun time and will plan on joining our 50th count next year.

Photos by Heather Johnson: White-throated Sparrow, Mallard, Ferruginous Hawk, Black-crowned Night Heron.

Brad A. Andres

 

First Winter Field Trip - POSTPONED - NOW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1st

 Clues in the Snow: Bird and Mammal Tracking Trip (Snowshoe/XC Ski Outing) 

Clark's Nutcracker observed during previous Laramie Audubon Trip (near Centennial, WY).

Dr. Gary Beauvais, Director of the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, will lead a snowshoe/cross-country ski trek through forest and riparian areas of the Medicine Bow National Forest on Saturday, January 25 Saturday, February 1.  This trip, sponsored by the Laramie Audubon Society, will focus on identification of animal tracks and other signs written into the winter snow. The group will also discuss the natural history of the winter environment.  This is a favorite annual trip and we learn something new each year!  

Attendees must provide their own equipment* and be prepared for cold winter conditions.  Please dress in layers and bring plenty of snacks, water, and sun protection.  *Please coordinate with us if you need snowshoes - one of our members has a few extra pair and has offered to lend them to trip participants.  UW students can check with the UW Outdoor Program for equipment.  Local outdoor stores also have daily rentals available.

The group will meet at 9:00 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 130 and Sand Lake Road (approximately 6.3 miles west of Centennial).  Attendees will return to Laramie by approximately 1 p.m.; those with their own transportation are free to leave at any time.  Some participants may elect to stop in Centennial for a no-host lunch (depending on group interest).  Backup date (in case of bad weather) - Saturday, February 1 (we are postponing and will host the trip on this backup date - FEBRUARY 1 - due to the forecast for the original date).

Congratulations to Our Fall 2024 Small Grant Recipients!

Conservation Grants - Fall 2024

Laramie Audubon thanks the numerous applicants to our Fall 2024 grant cycle.  We award grants to a variety of conservation-related projects each Spring and Fall.  This season we awarded grants of $500 to two outstanding projects: 

• Enhancing Wyoming toad recovery through disease mitigation: bolstering individual disease resistance mechanisms through immunization and probiotics
• Bug Day: Fostering Laramie’s Aquatic Biodiversity Awareness and Conservation of Sensitive Aquatic Ecosystems

See our Grants page to learn more about these projects.  Applications for our next funding cycle are due on March 31, 2025.    

Annual Albany County Christmas Bird Count

Interested in participating in the 2024 Christmas Bird Count?  This year's Albany County count will take place on Sunday, December 15.  The event begins at 8 a.m., however, teams can count in the morning and/or afternoon.  Feeder-watchers are also welcome.  Contact Brad for more information: baandres1@yahoo.com.

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!