Flyer Cheyenne – High Plains Audubon Society Chartered by the National Audubon Society since 1974

Serving southeastern Wyoming Audubon members

Officers and Committee Chairs

President—vacant

Dennis Saville, Vice president—

307-632-1602, dtsaville@gmail.com

Donna Kassel, Secretary—307-634-6481 Chuck Seniawski, Treasurer, 307-638-6519, chuckski@aol.com

Jack Palma, Audubon Rockies liaison—

jpalma@hollandhart.com

Pete Arnold, Audubon Rockies liaison

Greg Johnson, Bird Compiler—

307-634-1056, gjohnson@west-inc.com

Conservation—Vacant

Belinda Moench, Education—638-8257

Field Trip—Vacant

Historian—Vacant

Mark Gorges, Newsletter, Habitat Hero pro-

gram—307-634-0463, mgorges@juno.com

Art Anderson, Important Bird Areas—

307-638-1286

Wanda Manley, Member at Large

Susan Parkins, Membership

Barb Gorges, Programs—

307-634-0463, bgorges4@msn.com

Lorie Chesnut, Hospitality, Webpage

The CHPAS Flyer is published monthly as a benefit of chapter membership. Submissions are welcome. The current issue is available online at www.CheyenneAudubon.wordpress.com.

Please become a CHPAS member—Send $12 and your name and mailing address to the chapter. Include your e-mail address to get your newsletter digitally to save re-sources and see the photos in color. All chap-ter memberships expire Aug. 31.

Cheyenne-High Plains Audubon Soc.

P.O. Box 2502

Cheyenne, WY 82003-2502 www.CheyenneAudubon.wordpress.com

Wyobirds e-list - Subscribe, post and/or read interesting sightings: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?A0=WYOBIRDS.

May 2017

May 20—Cheyenne Big Day Bird Count 6 a.m. Starting at

Lions Park, we will cover birding hot spots throughout the Cheyenne

area If you want to join us later than 6 a.m., please call Mark, 307-

287-4953, to get a location

update. We also encourage

people to report to Mark (307-

634-0463) all bird sightings

during the 24 hour period be-

ginning at midnight. The mid-

dle of May is the high point of

the spring migration of birds to

their nesting areas from their winter homes.

We will leave from the Lions Park parking lot by the Children’s

Village to hike around the park for about an hour or two. We will then

head to the Wyoming Hereford Ranch. At about lunch time we will

head out to the Agricultural Research Station and the Arboretum west

of the Air Force Base.

Bring a lunch or pick one up on the way; bring water and dress

for variable weather.

Everyone, no matter what your birding skills, is invited; bring

binoculars if you have them. The more eyes we have, the more birds we

will see. We may finish the planned routes by 3 p.m. However you can

join us for as long as you can, and leave when you need to.

May 21—Tally Party/Pot-Luck 5 p.m. We will gather at Greg

Johnson’s house at 329 W Idaho Street. Bring a dish to share and some-

thing to drink.

Bring your bird lists from the Big Day Bird Count and we will

combine all the sightings into one list for the Cheyenne area.

We will also have a short Board Meeting to decide on a couple

of summer field trips.

May 26—Cheyenne Country Club Survey 7 a.m. Contact Chuck Se-

niawski if you wish to take part or be on the email notice list: 307-638-6519. Anyone

is welcome to join the group, but you must register with Chuck by the week before

the survey so that he can make arrangements with the Country Club.

June 17—Field Trip to see Burrowing Owls 8a.m. We will leave from

the Children’s Village parking lot in Lions Park and drive about 35 minutes to Car-

penter in eastern Laramie County. From there we will head south into Colorado,

stopping to check prairie dog town, hopefully, to find some owls.

Continuing south to the Pawnee National Grassland campsite near

Briggsdale, CO, we can bird along Crow Creek and have the picnic lunch that you

should bring with you. We will return to Cheyenne by 3 p.m. via the South Greeley

Highway. Please sign up with Mark Gorges at 307-634-0463 or mgorges@juno.com.

t want to miss this opportunity for learning, net-

s vast network of dedicated chapter, state, national, and international leaders from across all four depth workshops and discussions, exciting field trips and bird-

Conven-

Chapter Officer Elections—New chapter officer and

board positions start in June. See our list on the left side of the

front page. If you would like to help with any of those jobs, con-

tact Dennis Saville at 307-632-1602 or dtsaville@gmail.com.

Chapter Conservation and Education Grants—See

chapter web page at: https://cheyenneaudubon.wordpress.com/.

Grants available up to $500 for the purpose of conservation,

scholarship, and community outreach.

Chapter Patches—We still have chapter patches avail-

able for $10 each. Talk to Mark at our next function.

April Field Trip to Sharp-tailed Grouse Lek—

Canceled due to rain, snow and muddy roads.

National Audubon Convention—Park City, Utah,

July 14-17. Details at www.audubonconvention.org. Speakers

include:

Kenn Kaufman (Author, Naturalist and Conservationist);

Dr. Drew Lanham (Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Author, Zool-

ogist, and Activist);

Jane Alexander (Actor, Author, Artist and Conservationist);

David Yarnold (Audubon President and CEO).

Wyoming BioBlitz—June 23 thru 25 –Casper Moun-

tain Learn more, including info on timing, registration and loca-

tion at http://wyomingbiodiversity.org/programs/bioblitz/

Annual Plant Sale and Garden Festival—May 20th–

8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Moved from the Depot parking lot to the

Laramie County Archer Complex, Building M. Will feature Wy-

oming native plants that are water wise and pollinator friendly

for your Habitat Hero garden. Sponsored by Laramie County

Master Gardeners.

Chapter and Audubon News

Cheyenne Country Club survey, Apr 28 by Mark Gorges

Four of us went for a two and a

half hour bird survey at the Country Club.

At the start there was heavy frost on the

ground. We were not allowed to walk or

drive on the grass. So we walked concrete

paths and the road to the back of the golf

course until the frost dried up.

We saw the following 33 spe-

cies and one other taxa:

Canada Goose 6

Mallard 6

Northern Shoveler 2

Lesser Scaup 6

Ruddy Duck 2

American White Pelican 5

Black-crowned Night-Heron 1

Turkey Vulture 6

Osprey 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1

Broad-winged Hawk 2

Swainson's Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk 1

American Coot 20

Killdeer 1

Spotted Sandpiper 1

Northern Flicker 3

Black-billed Magpie 7

American Crow 10

Common Raven 1

Mountain Chickadee 2

Red-breasted Nuthatch 4

White-breasted Nuthatch 2

American Robin 11

European Starling 10

Yellow-rumped Warbler 18

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2

Chipping Sparrow 20

Red-winged Blackbird 35

Western Meadowlark 4

Yellow-headed Blackbird 20

Common Grackle 4

Great-tailed Grackle 13

House Sparrow 10

Black-crowned Night-Heron photo by Mark Gorges

Jeff Geyer, the water specialist at the Laramie County

Conservation District, provided us with a very informative pro-

gram. He began with a historical look at Crow Creek, since the

founding of Cheyenne, with photos and sketches of the new town

and where the creek flowed through the last 150 years.

He showed how the creek has been impacted by trans-

portation systems, irrigation and municipal diversions, grazing,

and urbanization for over a century. Today, Crow Creek's func-

tionality as an aquatic system is something less than desirable.

The Conservation District has already initiated steps to

restore Crow Creek and a portion of its tributary, Dry Creek, by

addressing these influ-

ences within Laramie

County. Various plans

are being discussed to

restore the natural

functioning of the

creek to address

flooding and pollution

issues.

Crow Creek in Cheyenne discussed at April meeting by Mark Gorges

Photo from Jeff Geyer

Crow Creek Clean Up—May 6, 8a.m. Meet at East 1st

Street and Morrie Avenue in Cheyenne

Help clean up trash along the Crow Creek trail from

Morrie Avenue to North Greeley Highway. We will be working

along the stream bank and in the water.

Please bring gloves and wading boots at least knee high

if you plan to be in the water.

Contact and RSVP: Brent Lathrop, South East Wyo-

ming Program Director for The Nature Conservancy, at 307-432-

4055, blathrop@tnc.org

Melissa Hill and three coworkers brought to Cheyenne

the Draper Museum Raptor Experience, an exciting live raptor

education program. The Draper is one of five museums at the

Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, WY.

Melissa talked for over an hour about raptors in general

and individually about each of the four birds that they had

brought with them: a Red-tailed Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, a

Peregrine Falcon and a Northern Saw-whet Owl.

While Melissa

told us about each bird

and its lifestyle, her

coworkers walked up

and down the aisles with

that bird so that every-

one could get a close

look at each one.

Excellent eye-

sight is a major charac-

teristic in many raptors

to help them hunt. They

see more wave lengths

of light than humans do,

and their brains process

what they see much fast-

er than we do.

We heard how

these birds are built to

hunt and to dine on other

animals. Some raptors, like hawks, have great power in the

curved, sharp talons on their feet with which they can grab on to

and kill their prey. Others, like owls, have stealth features like

extremely soft feathers that are essentially noiseless in flight.

Owls also have ears placed in different locations on each side of

their heads giving them extremely good hearing for hunting in

dim light or in the dark.

All hawks have strong hooked beaks suited to plucking

fur or feathers from their prey and

used to tear off chunks of meat for

their meals. The Peregrine Falcon

has a uniquely shaped and strong

bill that it uses to snap the neck of

its prey after it knocks a bird out of

the sky. We got to watch the Pere-

grine Falcon eat half of a thawed

quail, chunk by chunk, at the li-

brary.

Thanks to cooper-

ation between the Cheyenne School

District No. 1 Science Department

and the Cheyenne-High Plains

Audubon Society, and equal sponsorship by both, the Draper

Museum was able to bring their birds to Cheyenne. The Raptor

Experience program was presented during the day to eight differ-

ent school groups in Cheyenne (about 900 students) on Thursday

and Friday, and to a public audience at the Laramie County Li-

brary on Thursday evening (112 adults and children).

Raptor Program at the library, April 27, a great success Article and photos by Mark Gorges

The birds played to a packed house at the li-

brary

Peregrine Falcon at the library

Go birding with Wildcat Audubon out of Scottsbluff, Nebraska

See the list below for summer outings with our neighbors to the East. For contacts and further information, go to their Facebook

page at www.facebook.com/WildcatAudubon. May 13, 2017 - Field trip to Crow Valley in the Pawnee National Grasslands in Colorado. May 27, 2017 - Scotts Bluff County Spring Bird Count Meet at RCI, 27th and Ave I, at 6:00am. We will be back in town about 1:00 and may go back out in the afternoon. June 3, 2017 - Field Trip to Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge. June 10, 2017 - Field Trip to Morrill County - We will bird

around Facus Springs and the Redington area. June 23-24, 2017 - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies BioBlitz at - Oliver Reservoir in Kimball. For more information contact Am-ber Schiltz 308-633-1013. August 13, 2017 - Annual Audubon Picnic will be held at 5:00pm at Gardener Park in Gering at the shelter. September 2-5 (Labor Day Weekend) - Bird Banding open to the public at Chadron State Park (not an Audubon field trip). September 2, 2017 - Field Trip to Sowbelly Canyon and Gilbert Baker WMA in Sioux County.

Wyoming Wilderness Association Summer Outings

Get geared up for 17 outings around the state this sum-mer! Please join us for these amazing opportunities to get outside and enjoy Wyoming's stunning landscapes! For details, go to www.wildwyo.org. For information, or to register for an outing, please call (307) 672-2751 or email heidie@wildwyo.org. Led by local experts and WWA staff, hikes get you into beautiful country and show you how to help protect our public wild lands. Trip details, including meeting time and location, will be emailed to participants after registration. May 12-14 – Hyattville, Medicine Lodge WSA Hike & Camp Outing June 3 – Rock Springs, Run the Red Trail Run June 3 – Dayton, National Trails Day Stewardship Project June 17 – Buffalo, Full Bloom Wildflower Hike June 23 – Shell, Shell Canyon Natural Area Hike

June 24-25 – Rock Springs, Hike & Camp in Adobe Town WSA June 29 – Jackson, Exploration in Palisades WSA July 8 – Lander, Red Desert Auto Tour July 8-9 – Laramie, Savage Run Wilderness Hike July 12 – Sheridan, Cloud Peak Wilderness Hike July 22 – Jackson, Repeat Photography in Shoal Creek WSA July 29 – Cody, Grizzly Ecology Tour July 29 – Sheridan, Rapid Creek Yoga Hike August 12 – Moran, Fire Lookout Hike in Teton Wilderness August 12-13 – Buffalo, Rock Creek Recommended Wilderness Hike August 18 – Jackson, Solar Eclipse Volunteer Opportunity September 9-10 – Green River, Devil’s Playground WSA Week-end Camping

Cheyenne – High Plains Audubon Society

P.O. Box 2502

Cheyenne, WY 82003

Coast comes through with great birds

Published Apr. 30, 2017, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle By Barb Gorges

If I added these bird species to my life list last in March, where would you say I’d been? Surf scoter, pelagic cormorant, western gull, band-tailed pigeon, Anna’s hummingbird, Allen’s hummingbird, Nuttall’s woodpecker, California (formerly western) scrub-jay, California towhee, golden-crowned sparrow. If you guessed California, you would be right. But it isn’t the birds with “California” in their names that is the best clue. That would be the Nuttall’s woodpecker, found entirely in the state and the northern tip of Baja California. We saw ours in the arboretum at the University of California Davis. Five of the species new to me—the hummingbirds, pi-geon, towhee and scrub-jay—were in the backyard of the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Olema, California. The host fills the feeders every morning at 8:15 a.m. just before serving breakfast and his guests are treated to a flurry that also includes numerous California quail, white-crowned sparrows and, just like home, Eurasian collared-doves. The pelagic cormorant would tell you that we spent time at the ocean. Despite the “pelagic” part of its name, which should indicate it is found far offshore, this cormorant is a shore dweller. Mark and I saw it way below us, in the rocks, at the lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore. At Point Reyes Beach North, we encountered signs warn-ing us about the protected nesting area for the federally designat-ed threatened western population of snowy plovers. The area of the beach to be avoided was clearly marked with 4-foot white poles and white rope. Mark and I, and our Sacramento friends, formerly of Casper, dutifully gave it a wide berth. And then the birds flew up in front of us anyway. We watched as five or six of the little white-faced sand-colored shorebirds fluttered away and settled down again nearby—in hu-man footprint depressions. The American Birding Association’s “Field Guide to the Birds of California” says that the snowy plovers breeding on beaches like to find depressions so they don’t cast as much of a shadow to avoid detection by predators. They like the depressions for nesting too. Makes me think someone should walk once or twice through the official nesting area to make some, but who

wants to pay the fine for trespassing? Besides, human activity and loose dogs scare the birds and prevent them from breeding. Snowy plover was not a lifer for us—our first ones were at Caladesi Island State Park, Florida managed at the time by Bill Gruber, former Wyoming Tribune Eagle Outdoors editor. There too, their nesting area was delineated and protected, though in Florida they are only on the state-level threatened species list. Snowy plovers are more than oceanic beach birds. You might find nesting populations across the southwestern U.S. at shallow lakes with sand or dried mud. One bird I wanted to see was the wrentit. California, west-ern Oregon and northern Baja California are the only places to see it. At the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, I found two cute little birds that seemed to match the field guide. Another visitor noticed them popping in and out of a two-foot-long hang-ing sack made of bits of vegetation woven together and a red flag went up in my mind. Didn’t this hanging nest remind me of one I’d seen before in Seattle? Made by bush-tits? Well darn, those were bushtits. They are only 4.5 inches long, whereas wrentits are 6.5 inches long, and wrentits build cup-shaped nests instead. If you were to draw a line from Seattle to Houston, bushtits can be found south of it, anywhere brushy and woodsy. This was our first trip to California as eBirders, recording birds we saw at eBird.org. As usual, it came about as the result of a fam-ily commitment, which almost all our travel-ing does. We might have seen more species had we been on a birding tour, like we’ve done in Texas and Florida, but I think we did well at 86 species. The birds just seemed to pop out and give us a good look. Or maybe you could say they took a good look at us. Have you ever been scrutinized by three turkey vultures on three adjoining fence posts next to a trail? We’ll have to make a point of visiting our family and friends in California more often. There are 571 bird species left to see—and half would be life birds.

Bushtit and nest by

Mark Gorges