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Boulder County Audubon Society | |
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On The Wing
The Newsletter of Boulder County Audubon Society
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Call for Nominations for Board of Directors
According to our by-laws, the Boulder County Audubon Society is soliciting nominations for positions on the Board of Directors. Voting will occur in May by email to the membership.
Please send nominations, including self-nominations, to crossbill@boulderaudubon.org.
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Bald Eagle near a nest. Photo by Mia Hock. | |
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Volunteers Needed: Digitalize the BCAS Newsletter Archive
Help complete the digital archive of BCAS newsletters. BCAS newsletters have captured the activities of the organization and its membership since the early 1970s. The articles and announcements contained in the newsletters chronicle the environmental responsiveness across Boulder County during critical years that set the foundation for the places we work and play today. Help make this archive accessible by digitalizing the paper newsletters from 1971-2004.
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BCAS Supports the Cats Aren't Trophies Ballot Initiative
The Boulder County Audubon Society Board of Directors unanimously voted to endorse the voter-led ballot initiative Prohibit Trophy Hunting - Initiative 91, to end the killing of mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx (with a few exceptions) in the State of Colorado.
While this may not directly impact mountain lion populations, it does directly impact the conservation of individual cougar family groups. This includes ending the orphaning and abandonment of cubs during their most precarious time with the killing of their mother, likely dooming the entire family or leading to young cats encroaching into suburban or urban areas looking for food. This is certainly a waste of wildlife left to perish in the environment.
Signatures are being gathered to see if the ballot initiative can make it on an upcoming ballot. Members can learn more, support, or volunteer for this initiative through the Cats Aren't Trophies group.
Bobcat. Photo from Susan Schiff.
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Getting Green Laws in Colorado
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 - 7:00 PM
Advocating for bird-friendly legislation is one of the most impactful ways to help birds and the environment, but without an understanding of the process, it can seem daunting. Getting Green Laws is a free webinar training on how Coloradans can make their voices heard by state legislators on timely environmental laws being considered right now.
Learn More & Register
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World Migratory Bird Day
Saturday, May 18, 2024
9:00–1:30 PM
Walden Ponds
Bring the entire family to celebrate bird migration! Learn about insects and their importance to bird life, take a bird walk, and meet live birds of prey. Learn More
Participants in 2023 World Migratory Bird Day. Photo courtesy of Environment for the Americas
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41st Annual North American Butterfly Association Count at Cal-Wood
Thursday, July 4, 2024
8:00–5:00 PM
Cal-Wood Education Center
Help with this annual census of the varied and abundant butterfly species at the spectacular Cal-Wood Education Center.
There is an option for people to spend the night of July 3rd for owling, mothing, and finding butterflies in portions of the reserve not part of the official count on the 4th.
Learn More & Register
Photo: Female white pine butterfly.
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Thank you to everyone who continues to raise funds for BCAS through King Soopers
Want to join your fellow members supporting BCAS. Link your King Soopers card to Boulder County Audubon. There is no added cost to you, King Soopers donates annually to participating organizations, like BCAS, based on your percentage of spending as it relates to the total spending associated with all participating King Soopers Community Rewards organizations.
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BCAS 4th Tuesday Program Series | |
BCAS programs are in-person meetings. Most programs are also streamed online. Details for remote viewing options will be posted on the individual event pages. | |
A Tale of Two Pikas: from dueling subspecies to dueling visions of the future for an alpine icon | |
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Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 7:15 p.m.
Some pikas live their whole lives looking down on the Everest Base Camp and others that live in the desert heat of Lava Beds National Monument.
Is the pika a hapless poster child for climate disaster, even though it manages to survive in some of the harshest landscapes on the planet?
This talk will show the pika from many angles (and mostly in pictures, rather than graphs), to celebrate the diversity and perfection of one of the many species that might soon become too rare to study.
Dr. Chris Ray studies the dynamics of plant and animal populations threatened by climate change and habitat fragmentation. She has studied pikas from here to Mongolia, and is the scientific advisor for the Colorado Pika Project, a community of volunteers who study how pikas respond to environmental change.
Photo: American Pika with Carex sp. grasses for making hay. Photo courtesy of Chris Ray.
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The Staples, Snacks, and Splurges of Colorado's Hungry Birds | |
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 7:15 p.m.
Colorado’s birds have their tried and true “go-to” items and they are champions of opportunism. The true joy of birding is the sense of discovery. Studying what birds eat is fun and full of surprises.
It has long been Dave Leatherman's contention that the skills and tools possessed by birders can be applied to more than “what is it?” and “how many are there?”. The gaps in published bird life histories are MANY and we can fill them by living up to what the world calls us – “bird watchers”. By carefully observing a bird for just a few minutes beyond identification, we can gather valuable information on habitat, feeding habits, and other behaviors. With our phones or point-and-shoot and mega-cameras we can document these things. And all are potentially useful for conservation.
Dave Leatherman's first and only job was as a forest entomologist for the Colorado State Forest Service from 1974-2005. Helping private landowners deal with mountain pine beetle dominated his career. Long a member of the Colorado Field Ornithologists, he was editor of the CFO Journal (now Colorado Birds) and has written 56 installments of his column “The Hungry Bird” in that journal from 2010 to the present. His favorite birds are shrikes, warblers, and crossbills. He has been fortunate to be part of four Colorado first state records (Slaty-backed Gull, Tropical Parula, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Couch’s Kingbird).
Photo: Canyon Wren with prey item. Photo courtesy of Dave Leatherman.
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All program meetings are held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder,
5001 Pennsylvania Ave (west off 55th St. between Arapahoe and Baseline).
Socializing starts at 7:00, the program starts at 7:15,
we are out of the building by 9:00 pm.
No animals, other than service animals, are allowed in the building.
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Boulder County Audubon Society YouTube Channel
Have you missed past programs? Want to rewatch one to remember a detail? You can access recordings of most BCAS programs since 2020 on our YouTube channel. New programs are posted a few days after each meeting. Subscribe to be notified when new presentations are posted.
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All articles in this section are by the members of the BCAS Conservation Committee. | |
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79th Street Proposed Membership Tennis Facility - Application Tabled
In January 2024, landowners submitted an application for a Special Use Review to Boulder County Planning, to construct a membership tennis facility with tennis courts, a swimming pool, parking lot and other structures just northwest of the intersection of 79th Street and Lookout Road. Nearby residents opposing the development created a comprehensive website. BCAS wrote a letter to Boulder County Planning expressing concerns, primarily impacts to surrounding open space lands with special wildlife protections, and opposing the development. Many other individuals and organizations commented. On March 4, the landowners requested tabling their application. Tabling means the application may be considered again in the future. BCAS will stay tuned and comment again if necessary.
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East Boulder Creek Management Plan Update
The Conservation Committee engaged in all phases of the EBC plan over the last year, providing comments to Boulder County Parks and Open Space (BCPOS), the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee, and Boulder County Commissioners, and emailing information to BCAS members and the Nature-Net list.
On January 25, the Boulder County Commissioners recommended that staff remove recreation access to the northeast section of the East Boulder Creek site, now called Prairie Run Open Space, and prohibit dogs on the entire site. However, this turned out not to be a final decision. On March 28, the Commissioners reconsidered the entire plan. They kept the prohibition of dogs. They decided to eliminate the “loop trail” proposed on the north side of Kenosha Wetlands and the east side of Coal Creek, but left in the other recreation activities in the northeast section, including a parking lot, accessible trail, fishing access, shelter, and play area. This was a setback from January 25, but eliminating the loop trail represents an important change that will benefit the important wildlife habitats in Kenosha Wetlands Critical Wildlife Habitat and along Coal Creek.
For more information, see the East Boulder Creek website and BCAS’s online articles with our comments during the various phases of the project.
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Male Yellow-headed Blackbird. Photo by Kevin Smith. | |
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NOCO Places - A New Collaboration
BCAS recently became a partner in NOCO Places, a coalition of eight county, state, and federal public land agencies from north-central Colorado that are actively collaborating to address the challenges the mountains and foothills in this region are facing from high visitation and a growing population. See the member agencies list, mission statement, goals, partners, core principles and more here. NOCO Places is one of a number of Regional Partnerships around Colorado that are part of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) Regional Partnership Program, which was established by Governor Polis in 2020 and provides funding sources for the coalitions.
NOCO Places is working with tourism partners to distribute common messaging about land stewardship and safety to Colorado visitors, who may be new to our state and unaware of how to recreate responsibly and safely on public lands.
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Have you tried the COTREX app?
One tangible activity that NOCO Places is engaging in is to promote CPW’s COTREX app. The app is a great source of accurate, up-to-date trail information for public lands in Colorado from local, state, and federal agencies. It is built for all trail users, including hiking, mountain biking, equestrian riding, and motorized recreation. You can download it from the Apple Store and Google Play.
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Boulder County Weed Management Plan Update
BCAS’s Conservation Committee provided general comments to Boulder County Parks and Open Space and the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee about the weed management plan update. BCPOS is making major changes to the plan based on extensive public feedback, primarily around reducing herbicide use and incorporating alternative treatment methods. Our comments have expressed general support for the direction the plan is taking, using an integrated weed management approach while reducing herbicide use over time and increasing use of other treatment methods.
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Interested in Wildfire and Grasslands Management in Boulder County?
The Watershed Center, in collaboration with the Boulder County Fireshed Grasslands Working Group, has created a Story Map to provide information on the continued management of the grasslands of Boulder County, particularly in relation to wildfire.
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Wild Turkeys in Colorado
By Carron Meaney
Wild Turkeys, native to Colorado, forage in flocks of up to 40 birds, and are very different from farmed turkeys. Ben Franklin was a great admirer; he thought they should be the national bird rather than the Bald Eagle. They were almost exterminated in the 1900s. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) conducted a very aggressive reintroduction campaign in the 1980s, and now estimate that there are 35,000 turkeys state-wide. CPW increased hunting licenses in some places as a result of expanding populations.
Turkeys are omnivorous and eat a huge variety of foods: insects, fruit, berries, seeds, spiders, snails, small animals including snakes, Ponderosa pine and wild grass seeds. Wild turkeys are preyed upon by many species, including coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons, and bobcats.
Photo Above: Male turkey with snood hanging down from the top of the beak, wattle hanging down from the chin area, and feather-like beard hanging down from the chest. Photo by Susan Schiff
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Turkeys are true omnivores and will take bird seed from a platform feeder. Photo by Jim Adams. | |
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Merriam’s Turkey is the subspecies of the foothills and mountains. They roost communally at dusk in large cottonwoods and ponderosa pines, safe from predators. They often line up and fly up one at a time! They go to the same tree or group of trees every night.
Have you ever wondered about all the odd protuberances? Males sport a snood that hangs down from the top of the bill. The longer the snood the higher the testosterone level (and the more resistant to coccidiosis). Females prefer males with longer snoods. The waddle hangs down from the neck area, becoming engorged with blood and turning bright red during courtship. The beard is a feather-like structure that protrudes from the chest. These are all largely male features, although females can have them too. Turkey’s heads change colors from white to blue to red, depending on their emotional state. The red color indicates excitement and occurs during the breeding season.
Photo Above: This young turkey sports a snood that protrudes like a rhinoceros horn! It will grow and hang down over its bill. Photo by Susan Schiff
Turkeys make a number of sounds, including the familiar gobble that can be heard up to a mile away. Males make the gobbling call during spring. They attract females by puffing out their feathers, spreading their tails, and swelling up their snood and wattle (also turning it bright red).
Photo Below: The male on the right is likely dominant and more appealing to females, as his snood and wattle are more engorged and red than the one on the left. Photo by Susan Schiff
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Females build nests on the ground, and cover them with leaves and pine needles when they head out to forage. The female is solely in charge of the eggs and young. She will lay 12-18 spotted eggs. Eggs are taken by crows and other birds. The young, called poults, are vulnerable. Only about 25 percent of them will survive beyond 4 weeks. The Wild Turkey’s average life span is 3 to 5 years.
A young Wild Turkey called a poult. Photo by Susan Schiff
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Share your photos, poetry, or prose with On The Wing readers
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BCAS members are encouraged to submit articles; photos (with captions and credits); book, film or scientific article reviews; poetry; and more on topics of relevance to our chapter. If you have questions or to submit content, please write the OTW editor, Megan Jones Patterson at megan@boulderaudubon.org. | |
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Arthropods at the Butterfly Pavillion - Up Close & Personal
On March 24, 2024, BCAS Teen Naturalists took a behind-the-scenes field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion. Entomologist Francisco Garcia took the group into the collection room to show us how the staff at the Pavilion manages and cares for a large collection of arthropods from all over the world.
Everyone who wanted to got to hold and photograph mantises, stick insects, huge beetles, millipedes, and hissing cockroaches. The staff talked about their training and career paths that brought them to cherish creepy-crawly things. Everyone had a ton of questions.
After the behind-the-scenes tour, Francisco took the group to the free-flight rainforest exhibit and explained how the Pavilion works with sustainably sourced butterflies from farms in the tropics.
Photo of a stick insect held by one of the BCAS Teen Naturalists. Photo by Alisa Robinson.
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Teen Naturalist outings are being planned. Do you have an idea for a trip you'd like to go on? Contact us.
All outings are open to middle and high school students and recent graduates. Younger students may also participate but a parent must attend. Events are always free.
Greater Prairie Chicken. Photo by Teen Naturalist Eva Getman
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Nature Almanac is a monthly series by Stephen R. Jones, R. Carol Cushman, and Scott Severs. For many years, Boulder-area readers have enjoyed the wonderful perspectives of our local natural world the authors so beautifully portray. Steve and Carol are authors of Wild Boulder County and The North American Prairie.
You can read all the Nature Almanac articles online.
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Soaring Into Spring on a Turkey Vulture’s Wing | |
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By Ruth Carol Cushman, with Scott Severs and Stephen R. Jones
March 2024
A hulking black bird associated with carrion is not what most people think of as a harbinger of spring. Nevertheless, the return of Turkey Vultures from Mexico, Venezuela, and points south brings excitement to winter-weary Colorado birders. “TVs”, as aficionados say, or Cathartes aura, as scientists say, soar into Boulder County by early April, riding thermals of warm air to attain great heights with little effort.
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Is this turkey vulture giving the photographer a quizzical look or an evil eye? Photo by Stephen R. Jones. | |
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With wings uplifted in a dihedral, or V-formation, and tilting side to side in the wind, Turkey Vultures look as though they indulged in too many Bloody Marys. The birds are such proficient fliers that the Wright brothers designed their first airplane based partly on the Turkey Vulture's skill of adjusting feathers to control the flow of wind over their nearly six-foot wide wings.
Graceful in the sky but ungainly on the ground, these nearly eagle-sized birds hop clumsily around dead animals or sit hunched in trees as though their two-foot-plus height were too much for them. With a scrawny, featherless red head Turkey Vultures are not pretty close up, and some of their habits could be considered gross. The lack of head feathers lessens the mess when they thrust their heads into the entrails of a bloody carcass. They defecate on their legs to cool off AND they use projectile vomiting as a defense weapon.
Learn more about Turkey Vultures by reading the full article online.
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Upcoming Events & Field Trips | |
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Every Month: Lafayette Birds! First Sunday Bird Watching
Event organized by the City of Lafayette Open Space
First Sunday of every month.
1:00 – 3:00 PM
No cost, no reservations needed
Waneka Lake & Greenlee Preserve, Lafayette
See Details for Upcoming Sundays
Every Other Month: Boulder Birds & Brews
Sunday late afternoon; dates and locations vary.
Convivial, relaxed walks led by those familiar with the local birds and their habitats. After our late afternoon Sunday walks, we visit a local brewpub for conversation and fun. BCAS provides appetizers and attendees buy their own drinks.
Learn more on the MeetUp site
Walden Ponds with Carl Starace
Saturday, April 6, 2024
8:30–11:00 AM
Cottonwood Marsh Trailhead at Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat
Bird Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat with birder Carl Starace, to look for early spring raptors, songbirds, shorebirds and more.
See Field Trip Details to RSVP
Training: Getting Green Laws in Colorado
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
7:00–8:00 PM
Online
Advocating for bird-friendly legislation is one of the most impactful ways to help birds and the environment, but without an understanding of the process, it can seem daunting. Getting Green Laws is a free webinar training on how Coloradans can make their voices heard by state legislators on timely environmental laws being considered right now.
Learn More & Register
Symphony in Stone
Saturday, April 20, 2024
12:30–3:30 PM
NCAR Mesa Lab
Join community naturalist Dave Sutherland and composer Jeffrey Lynch for a musical hike in Boulder’s foothills, to explore ancient stories from the rocks, accompanied by music inspired by Colorado’s rocks and geology.
See Field Trip Details to RSVP
Galaxy Quest: Telescope Exploration
Sunday, April 28/29/30, 2024
8:30–10:30 PM
Boulder Valley Ranch, Sage Trailhead
Explore vast galaxies in the night sky with community naturalist Dave Sutherland. This program will be offered from 8:30-10:30 PM on ONE date - April 28, 29, or 30 - depending on weather. Registered participants will be notified of the chosen date.
See Field Trip Details to RSVP
Birding Old St. Vrain Road with Carl Starace
Sunday, May 12, 2024
8:00–11:00 AM
Picture Rock Trailhead, Heil Valley Ranch, Red Gulch Road, Lyons, CO
Observe early summer birds along Old St. Vrain Road with local birder Carl Starace.
See Field Trip Details to RSVP
World Migratory Bird Day
Saturday, May 18, 2024
9:00–1:30 PM
Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat
Bring the entire family to celebrate bird migration! Learn about insects and their importance to bird life, take a bird walk, and meet live birds of prey.
Learn More
41st Annual North American Butterfly Association Count at Cal-Wood
Thursday, July 4, 2024
8:00–5:00 PM
Cal-Wood Education Center
Help with this annual census of the varied and abundant butterfly species at the spectacular Cal-Wood Education Center. There is an option for people to spend the night of July 3rd for owling, mothing, and finding butterflies in portions of the reserve not part of the official count on the 4th.
Learn More & Register
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Boulder County Audubon Society | |
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Officers
President: Scott Severs
Vice President: Open Position
Treasurer: Carol McCasland
Secretary: Georgia Briscoe
Members-At-Large
Tori McKee
Skye Newman
Janet Smith
Kathleen "Sully" Sullivan
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Become a Supporting Member of BCAS
We get very little return from National Audubon dues and primarily rely on local funding to support Boulder County Audubon Society activities. Join your local society today.
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Interested in one or more of the standing committees or an open coordinator role? Want to be more active in your society? Contact BCAS to learn more. | |
Committees
Conservation
- Bev Baker, Suzanne Bhatt, Lynn Merrill, Alison Cohan, Tori McKee, Linda Andes-Georges, Kathleen Sullivan, Carron Meaney, Pat Billig
Education
Engagement
- Tori McKee, Skye Newman, Megan Jones Patterson, Kevin Smith, Bev Baker
Events
Field Trips
- Janet Smith, Ann Tagawa, Carol McCasland
Habitat Hero Committee
Programs
- Carron Meaney, Carol Kampert, Sandra Laursen, Scott Severs, Megan Jones Patterson, Bev Baker, Yan Chun Su, Tori McKee
Coordinators
BCAS Email
Bluebird Trail
Christmas Bird Count
Membership
Nature-Net Moderator
Newsletter Editor
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Stay Connected with BCAS! | | | | |
