Weminuche Audubon Society

Riverwalk Naturalist Tour
2021-07-27 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-07-24 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-07-23 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-07-20 19:00 - 20:30, 2021-07-17 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-07-16 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-07-13 19:00 - 20:00, 2021-07-10 08:00 - 09:30 (America/Denver) and 1 more date | Riverwalk
Tours are free and last approximately 1 – 1.5 hours. The 1.5-mile paved trail is wheelchair accessible. Please bring water, sunglasses, a hat, and your curiosity! Pets should be left at home. This conservation area is rich in natural history and full of ecological treasures. Meet your tour leader at the Habitat Hero Native Plant Garden on the Riverwalk by the geothermal domes. The Riverwalk Naturalist Program is sponsored by the Weminuche Audubon Society, Pagosa Wetland Partners, and the Springs Resort. For more information contact: pagosawetlands@gmail.com

July Chapter Meeting
2021-07-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Online Presentation
Water, always an important topic in our area, will be the focus of this month’s meeting, on Wednesday, July 21 at 6:30 PM on Zoom. We will learn about the work of the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership, a local organization working to address the management of this precious resource. Al Pfister, on behalf of the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership (WEP) will be presenting the results of data collected in Phase II of the WEP’s assessment of the environmental, recreational, and agricultural infrastructure needs in the Upper San Juan River. The WEP’s data collection is a part of the implementation of the Colorado Water Plan of 2015 in the development of a Stream Management Plan/Integrated Watershed Management Plan. The WEP’s data collection efforts were done to assess local environmental, recreational, and agricultural infrastructure needs in the face of a warming and drying climate.
Pfister is a semi-retired fish and wildlife biologist who has worked in 7 western US states dealing with endangered species issues trying to find a balance between conserving imperiled fish, wildlife, plants, herptiles, and invertebrates, while still allowing the various uses (development, recreation, grazing, timber harvest, energy development,etc) to coexist. In addition to his work with WEP, he serves on the board of the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, and on the board of the San Juan Water Conservancy District. He is a past board member of the Weminuche Audubon Society.
Audubon meetings are open to the public. Use the following link to join the meeting.
Topic: July Chapter MeetingTime: Jul 21, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/81287270778?pwd=[REDACTED] ID: 812 8727 0778Passcode: [REDACTED] tap mobile+12532158782,,81287270778#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Tacoma)+13462487799,,81287270778#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Houston)Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID: 812 8727 0778Passcode: [REDACTED] your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcn1K0Man7

2021 Annual Meeting
2021-06-23 17:00 - 19:00 | CO
June Chapter Meeting We’re having a Party!! June is the month for our chapter annual meeting, a time to review where we’ve been in the past year and to make plans for the future. After more than a year of meeting online, we are excited to be getting together in person this month. We have reserved the covered terrazo space at Yamaguchi Park for our meeting on June 23. As has been our tradition, this meeting will be a potluck, please bring a dish to share, plates and utensils and a folding chair. We will supply water, iced tea and lemonade.Setup will begin at 5 PM with the meeting starting at 5:30. The shortest distance access is provided by taking the gravel road which ends at the river at the south end of Yamaguchi Park.Elections to the Board of Directors will occur at this meeting. A current membership is required to vote. The board wishes to thank Suzanne Coe, who is resigning her post, for her past participation and support of our efforts. The board has made the following nominations for positions: Anne Stevens to continue as Treasurer for a 2 year term, Lisa Tedder for a new 2 year term as Secretary, and Brenda Breding for a 2 year term as director. Nominations from the floor will be accepted for any of these positions.We will be accepting dues payments for the 2021-2022 year at the meeting ($15/year).

Native Plant Garden Ribbon Cutting
2021-06-23 11:00 - 11:30 | Riverwalk
Native Plant Garden in Centennial Park
On June 23, at 11 AM, we will be hosting a ribbon cutting at our garden near the domes. Thanks to the efforts of our volunteers who have assisted with plantings and maintenance, the plants are flourishing and the garden is a showcase for the value of landscaping with plants that provide food for birds and other pollinator species.
At this time, we will be dedicating the garden to the memory of Terry Hershey. Mrs. Hershey was instrumental in the formation of our chapter and a supporter of the Audubon Rockies education program which has allowed elementary school students the opportunity to participate in an annual field trip to the Hershey Ranch on Snowball Rd.
We welcome representatives of the Hershey Foundation and Audubon Rockies along with town officials and our partners in this project, including the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, in this celebration of our garden.
We hope to see you there.

Birds of Chimney Rock Tour
2021-06-19 08:00 - 10:00 | CO
Chapter volunteers are leading birdwalks at Chimney Rock National Monument this summer and you are invited to join. Tours explore the birds of the lower level of the Monument, in the areas of the entrance road and around the cabin. This is a Chimney Rock event and a fee is charged. To register, visit their website http://chimneyrockco.org

Plant Walk with Lake McCullough
2021-06-12 09:30 - 11:30 | CO
Weminuche Audubon is pleased to sponsor these popular walks with local herbalist, Lake McCullough. Join us for a fun and educational ramble through the forest, as we discover edible and medicinal native plants. The walks are free of charge! Call Lake at 264-0884 or stop by her great shop, Earthsense Herbals at 144 Pagosa St., to reserve a spot.
In order to handle increased popularity and demand for information about our beautiful local ecosystems, we will be conducting two back-to-back plant walks at each location. The first tour will begin at 9:30 and run until 11:15. The second tour will begin at 11:30 and go until 1:15. There is a 12-person maximum on each walk. Please call ahead to schedule and indicate which time slot you choose. Walks are about 1.5 miles roundtrip. Please be prepared for rugged trails and unpredictable weather, and leave dogs at home.
Saturday June 12th
Native Plants of the Subalpine Forest
First Tour: 9:30 to 11:15
Second Tour: 11:30 to 1:15
Early Summer wildflowers and medicinal herbs growing in the mixed conifer and aspen forest of West Fork Road. A surprising diversity of plants in a small area! Meet on the far side of the first bridge on West Fork Road. From downtown Pagosa, take Highway 160 east approximately 14 miles, making a left turn at the junction of Forest Service Road 648 (West Fork Road). Follow 648 down a steep hill, and past the privately-own Bruce Spruce Ranch. The road crosses Wolf Creek shortly after, on a narrow wood-planked bridge. Park on the far side of the bridge.

Birds of Chimney Rock Tour
2021-05-22 08:00 - 10:00 | CO
Charles Martinez will lead a birdwalk at Chimney Rock National Monument. This is a Chimney Rock event and a fee is charged. Visit their website http://chimneyrockco.org to register for the tour.

May Chapter Meeting
2021-05-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Online Presentation
Learning to identify birds by their songs and calls will be the topic of the next Weminuche Audubon Chapter meeting, on Wednesday, May 19 at 6:30 PM. Keith Bruno, Audubon Rockies Community Naturalist and Weminuche Board Member, will lead us in this exercise of seeing with our ears. With mating season and the arrival of our summer birds, the air is filled with birdsong. Some birds we haven’t heard for several months.
Distinguishing a bird by its unique sound is a fun challenge. Bruno will provide tips for picking apart the song we hear and aligning it with the bird singing it. Learn about the technology available to teach yourself this skill.
Chapter members are getting ready to begin our third season of surveying bird populations in areas of the San Juan National Forest. This citizen science project is designed to study the effects of different fire prevention practices employed by the USFS on bird populations. A link to reports and youtube videos on our study may be found under the Projects tab, Bird Community Monitoring, on our website, www.weminucheaudubon.org. Identifying birds by their songs is an important skill in recording birds that are difficult to see hidden in the canopy or the brush in the forest, and will add to your enjoyment of the birds at your home. All interested parties are invited to join us at our meeting on Zoom. Use the following link to join the meeting.Time: May 19, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/96682817997?pwd=[REDACTED] ID: 966 8281 7997Passcode: [REDACTED] tap mobile+12532158782,,96682817997#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Tacoma)+13462487799,,96682817997#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Houston)Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID: 966 8281 7997Passcode: [REDACTED] your local number: https://zoom.us/u/afn5Dln1

Bird Monitoring Project Orientation
2021-05-15 09:30 - 12:00 | CO
The trees are marked, the birds are out and we’re ready to begin the 3rd season of our citizen science survey on Jackson Mtn, Fawn Gulch and Turkey Springs. If you’re new to the project or want to refresh your skills, join us this Saturday, May 15 to head out into the forest and learn the protocols of the study. Meet at the Junction Restaurant Parking lot at 9:30 AM. Bring binoculars, water and a snack. There’s still time to add your name to our list of participants. Email us weminuche.audubon@gmail.com for information

Gulf Coast Bird Observatory Virtual Bird Bash
2021-05-15 08:00 - 2021-05-16 16:00 | Online Presentation
Visit the Texas Gulf Coast for this free virtual event. https://www.gcbo.org/connect/virtualbirdbash/ for information.

Global Big Day/Migratory Bird Day
2021-05-08 08:00 - 11:00 | Navajo State Park, Highway 151, Arboles, CO
Join us to celebrate these events. Meet at the Watchable Wildlife Area on Highway 151, shortly before the entrance to Navajo State Park. We will see what we can find and enter our count on http://ebird.org to take part in this tabulation of spring birds. You may also count birds wherever you are and enter your survey to take part in this annual bird count.

Native Plant Outreach Workshop
2021-05-06 12:00 - 13:30, 2021-05-04 12:00 - 13:30, 2021-05-01 09:00 - 10:30, 2021-04-29 12:00 - 13:30, 2021-04-24 09:00 - 10:30, 2021-04-22 12:00 - 13:30 | Online Presentation
This spring, Audubon Rockies and researchers at Colorado State University are collaborating to offer an exciting new series of Habitat Hero workshops focused on native plant outreach. Attendees will learn how to get involved and grow their skills and confidence, not just in planting native plants themselves, but also in encouraging others to plant native plants. Participants will also receive several different $10 coupons for themselves and friends to get a discount on native plants at participating nurseries. Gardeners of all skill levels are all welcome.
This workshop is part of a series of identical sessions. Participants only need to attend one. You can view the other workshop dates here.
Cost: free
Register here

Birding by Ear with Audubon Rockies Keith Bruno
2021-04-29 18:00 - 19:30 | Online Presentation
Bird song can seem complicated. It is, after all, another language! However, with some close examination, one can quickly come to recognize several vocalizations and thus the presence of a bird species. In this free webinar, we’ll not only listen to soundbite recordings, but also look at visual representations of songs and calls, allowing for various means of understanding. Spring is an active time for birdsong, complete with songs aimed specifically at finding suitable mates. Let us help you de-code some of the magic! This event is designed for beginner-intermediate birders to open up the birding experience by analyzing songs and calls of familiar regional Rocky Mountain bird species.
Register

Nobel Prize Summit/ Our Planet, Our Future
2021-04-26 - 2021-04-28 | Online Presentation
Join us for Our Planet, Our Future on April 26-28, 2021 – a virtual event presented by the Nobel Foundation, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research/Stockholm Resilience Centre to engage in an optimistic exploration of the best version of our collective future. The first Nobel Prize Summit will convene talks from Nobel laureates and conversations among experts from the science, policy, arts, and youth activist communities.
Additional speakers have been added to a line-up that will explore three key areas critical to the future of humanity:
Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss
Reducing Inequality
Technologies with the Power to Transform the Way We Live and Work

From Dr. Anthony Fauci to former Vice President Al Gore, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to youth activist Xiye Bastida, to a special presentation of The Oedipus Project featuring performances by Bill Murray, Frances McDormand and Jeffrey Wright, this free, online summit will serve as a global platform for the exchange of ideas and the source of change-making approaches that will engage, entertain, motivate and embolden.
Our virtual auditorium is large but space is limited. Please RSVP for this unique mix of science, discussion, music, theater, and action.

Reserve your virtual seat today

Visit our website nobelprize.org/our-planet-our-future to view the full line-up and current agenda, learn more about the Nobel Prize Summit, and to register for the virtual event.

Earth Day Celebration
2021-04-24 11:00 - 14:00 | Riverwalk
Join us in celebrating the Earth with this free Family Friendly event. Tour booths of local organizations while strolling the Riverwalk from Town Hall to Centennial Park. We will be mindful of Covid precautions and masks are required. Stop by the Weminuche/Rockies booth near our native plant garden and get some wildflower seed mix and the latest copy of Migration Adventures.

April Chapter Meeting
2021-04-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Online Presentation
In April we will be discussing our Bird Community Monitoring Project as we get ready for the third season of this study. Join us on Zoom to learn about the importance of this fun citizen science project.
Controlled burns, thinning of tree stands and removal of the brush layer are some of the methods employed by the USFS to protect our forests and our homes from the devastation of wildfire. Changes that people make to the forest structure affect the plants and animals that are adapted to live in these ecosystems, leading members of the local Audubon chapter to wonder how bird populations responded to these manipulations.
Under the direction of chapter vice-president, Herb Grover, Weminuche Audubon designed a citizen science project in 2019. This project addresses the question; “What are the effects, if any, that forest thinning treatments or prescribed fire have on bird community composition and structure?” With input from our partners in the project, The San Juan Forest Health Partnership, Mountain Studies Institute, and the United States Forest Service, 3 similar areas of Ponderosa Pine forest were chosen as survey plots. The differences between them were in the type of fire prevention treatment which had been employed. The plot on Turkey Springs has been subjected to controlled burns, the one on Fawn Gulch to mastication of the brush layer and the one on Jackson Mountain to no treatment in recent time.
Volunteer participants in the study went out in teams to survey pre-assigned points and count all the birds identified by sight or sound in 6 minutes at each point. 2020 was the second year of our study and we all had fun learning from each other and becoming better at bird identification.
Grover will talk about the findings of the first 2 seasons of our study. He has been a professor of biology, ecology and environmental science classes for over 2 decades and continues to teach online classes for Wayland Baptist University. A man of many talents, he has produced videos explaining the project which may be viewed on youtube by searching Grover Bird Community Monitoring. He has also written two reports which may be read on our website under the Projects tab, Bird Community Monitoring. The chapter is indebted to him for the time and energy that he has put into this project.
We are seeking volunteers for the 2021 season which extends from late May into early July. For a time commitment of only 15 hours or less, you can advance the goals of this study and join our dedicated group of participants. You need not be an expert birder. What better way is there to spend your time than out in the woods listening to birdsong. To add your name to our volunteer list or for more information, email us at weminuche.audubon@gmail.com.
Following is the link to join the meeting:
Topic: April Chapter Meeting
Time: Apr 21, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98066384634?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 980 6638 4634
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,98066384634#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,98066384634#,,,,*[REDACTED]# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 980 6638 4634
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/afCGhcIms

Virtual Workshop on the Sagebrush Steppe for Educators
2021-04-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Online Presentation
Stretching across 13 western states and 2 Canadian provinces, the sagebrush steppe is North America’s largest ecosystem. Sadly, most Americans know little about this biologically rich landscape and the wonders found there.
This free virtual workshop is an opportunity for chapter leaders (classroom and informational educators) and community members who lead virtual or in-person outreach efforts to learn about lesson plans, resources, and activities that Audubon Rockies’ award-winning educators have created for the sagebrush ecosystem.
In this 2-hour webinar, learn how these free resources can be incorporated into classrooms, museums, field trips, camps, and more. During the workshop, we will work on developing individualized frameworks for engaging students in critical thinking about sagebrush ecosystems; provide dynamic tools and lesson plans for teachers; and build bridges between educators, scientists, and students.

Register Today
