President's Message
Bill Rowe
State of the organization: St. Louis Audubon Society (SLAS from here on) has had a quiet month, at least outwardly—everyone busy with holidays or recuperating from them, kids and grandkids off school, and so forth. But that doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening. Our dedicated staff are still at work, Dan Pearson continuing to set up a productive new season of BCH and locate sponsorships that help support it, and Amy Weeks keeping the whole organization on track. Some Board committees have met or have set a date to meet, notably the new Board Recruitment Committee, which will work on a more structured way of seeking new Board members to meet our needs, and vetting candidates. This will be chaired by our current Past President, Dennis Martin.
Volunteers: Our volunteer habitat advisers and birding trip leaders have had some time off and are now gearing up for a new season of BCH home consultations as well as beginner bird walks and full-length field trips, the latter starting this past weekend (check the website for future dates). Besides these trips of our own, we have agreed to provide help for the short bird walks that the Audubon Center at Riverlands offers on weekend mornings in January and February.
Audubon Center clarification: Speaking of the Audubon Center, questions often arise as to its relationship with SLAS. Basically, no formal relationship exists, except that both of us connect back separately to National Audubon. The Riverlands Audubon Center is one of several Audubon Centers around the country that NAS started and helped fund initially (although they do have their own Board, Executive Director, and staff, and do their own fundraising), while SLAS is a local affiliate of NAS, but independent, with its own Board and responsible for virtually all of its own fundraising. You might think of the two organizations as cousins. We do have a great informal relationship and try to assist each other in programs, communication, and more whenever we can.
CBC’s: Many of our members have taken part in this year’s Christmas Bird Counts, of which there are seven in the St. Louis region (Missouri and Illinois). Of the ones that draw a lot of volunteers from around the area, we are aware of the results from two at this point. The Weldon Spring CBC on December 18 (covering Weldon and Busch Conservation Areas, Babler SP, and more) had a total of 77 species, recorded by 39 observers in 12 parties in the field, plus three people at their feeders. And the Confluence CBC on January 1 (covering Riverlands, Columbia Bottom, Dresser Island, and more) found a preliminary count of 101 species with 30 observers contributing. The difference between the two counts lies partly in the diversity of waterfowl, gulls, and other water-related birds that can be found in the Confluence circle.
Ornithological forecast, January 2023
January is here, with plenty of birds but probably more stability and lower turnover (i.e., less migratory movement) than in any other month except June. Much of what you will find as you go out birding the countryside is as we described for December: a full set of winter-resident sparrows, woodland species, open-field species, raptors, and waterfowl, many of which arrived in November or early December and will stay through February and into March, perhaps longer. There is one big variable, however: the weather. As it gets more persistently cold to the north of us, and cold fronts push down our way, the really “northern” birds that are prized finds around here are more likely to show up. As an illustration, take the gulls: through much of December 2022, fewer than usual were seen around Riverlands, but once the temperatures dropped really low, we received an influx of our common Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, and along with them the vanguard of the ones that we scan the flocks for, like Glaucous, Iceland, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Their continued presence depends on what the weather does. The same effect applies to other scarce cold-weather birds from the north, such as Snow Buntings, Northern Shrikes, Rough-legged Hawks, Common Redpolls, and a whole lot more. Even though January is the main stable midwinter month, it is still unpredictable what will come our way, and it’s never the same in any two years.
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St. Louis Audubon Society & Webster Groves Nature Study Society invite you to join us for a Winter Party!
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location:
Audubon Center at Riverlands
301 Riverlands Way
West Alton, MO
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Bring a potluck dish to share; Drinks will be provided
(Door prizes, too!)
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Planting for Pollinators
Nina Fogel
There are three things that determine the presence of native bees in your yard: garden size, habitat connectivity, and habitat quality. You can’t change the size of your lot, and it’s easier said than done to get your neighbors to install native plants. So the question becomes is there a way to landscape your yard that is better for bees. Unfortunately, as is the case when you ask a scientist anything, the answer is “it depends.”
The crux of the issue is that home gardens are small in the scheme of things and thus there’s not enough space to do everything for all animals. However, if we reframe the question from “what’s the best planting scheme for pollinators” to “how am I measuring success,” we can arrive at some answers.
Option 1: For the highest abundance of bees
To attract the greatest number of bees, you want to plant flowers that are in bloom for a long period of time, produce a lot of pollen, and are visited by many species. Therefore, it is best to prioritize the number of flowers as opposed to the number of species. Large clumps of plants such as native coreopsis, coneflower (Echinacea), and mountain mint (Pycnanthemum) will attract a high number of bees to your yard.
Option 2: For the highest abundance of specialist bees
Specialist bees are ones that only visit a few types of plants. Therefore, if you want the most of these “picky” bees, it’s best to maximize the number of species of plants. The bees usually have small population sizes, so even a small plant can provide everything the bee needs. Native plants such as rose mallow (Hibiscus), ironweed (Vernonia), golden alexander (Zizia), and field thistle (Cirsium) are good for attracting specialist bees.
Option 3: For the highest diversity of of bees
The best thing to do to attract the most different types of native bees is to make sure you have flowers in bloom all season long. If there’s nothing in bloom, bees are not going to be in your yard. This is especially true if few neighbors have native plants near you. Your yard is essentially an oasis, so having flowers bloom from May through September will attract the most types of bees overall. Therefore, along with summer species, native plants like redbud (Cercis), hydrangea, and foxglove (Penstemon) in the spring and goldenrod (Solidago) and New England Aster (Symphyotrichum) in the fall are going to be crucial for attracting the most types.
For a balance of all three options, create some larger plantings of a few species that are used by a lot of bees throughout the seasons and some smaller plantings of some species which are used by a limited group of bees. You will see the best results if you seek out the straight native species from a reputable source rather than the cultivated varieties often sold at big box stores.
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SAVE THE DATE
JOINT PROGRAM WITH WGNSS
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Ed Spevak, Ph.D.
Curator of Invertebrates, Saint Louis Zoo
Director, Center for Native Pollinator Conservation
Dr. Ed Spevak has dedicated the last 43 years of his career to the conservation of invertebrates and vertebrates, working in zoos and aquariums as a zoo curator and small population biologist. Ed is the Curator of Invertebrates at the Saint Louis Zoo and is Director of Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute Center for Native Pollinator Conservation (CNPC). Ed and the Saint Louis Zoo helped to establish the IUCN SSC Bumble Bee Specialist Group (now the Wild Bee Specialist Group). Ed and the Zoo also helped establish the Honey Bee Health Coalition, Farmers for Monarchs and Missourians for Monarchs Collaborative. Ed is also a member of the Science Advisory Council of Field to Market looking at biodiversity issues in the sustainable agriculture chain. Ed, through the CNPC, has developed a program called Native Foods, Native Peoples, Native Pollinators focused on food security, food sovereignty and pollinator conservation with Native American Reservations and Communities.
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Join others who share your interests in nature, birds and wildlife!
January 22 - Winter Party with WGNSS
February 21 - Joint Meeting with WGNSS
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ST. LOUIS AUDUBON SOCIETY BOARD MEETINGS
Next meeting: Tuesday, February 14
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Please Note: Board meetings will be held by Zoom and will not meet in person until further notice. If you have an interest in joining our volunteer Board, please contact one of the officers or staff members. |
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Officers & Staff
Bill Rowe, President
Jean Favara, VP Conservation
Stephanie Schroeder, VP Education
Gail Saxton, Secretary
Debbie Pfaff, Treasurer
Amy Weeks, Executive Director
(314) 687-3942
Dan Pearson, Director, BCH
(314) 718-3967
dan@stlouisaudubon.org
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