NEWSLETTERS ~ CURRENT PROJECTS ~ BUTTERFLY COUNT ~ CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT ~ NATIVE PLANTS & PRAIRIE ~ VOLUNTEERING & ADVOCACY
Archived news from 2016
December 3, 2016 - Member Jerry Pruett shared this photo of a Leucistic Pileated Woodpecker that has been hanging around his backyard. Leucisim is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment, not just melanin. What a great find!
On Nov. 6th Joyce and Terry Grier led a field trip of nine people to the Brownsville area on the Mississippi hoping to see Tundra Swans. They saw 25 bald eagles and 10 different species of ducks, including thousands of Widgeon and Canvasbacks. There were also hundreds of White Pelicans, but only around 100 Tundra Swans (and the majority of birds were way out in teh main channel, not up close for photography). It may be 2 weeks or more before a strong cold front pushes large numbers of Tundras to this area.
Nov 5, 2016: Our monthly walk at Quarry Hill on the 5th didn't turn up any unusual birds, but the 20 people who came out enjoyed some wonderful weather with temps far above normal. Our best find was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and also some honeybees foraging on still blooming asters. Thanks to Joyce and Terry Grier for leading.
Oct 25, 2016: Many thanks to Monica Bryand for sharing her story about documenting through photography the 166 climate threatened and challenged birds in Minnesota at our October 25th meeting. We all appreciated her stories of searching for the birds (many of which she had never seen before) and the challenge of getting a great photo of each one - as they rarely pose quietly for their portraits to be taken. To see some of Monica's photos, find out what her favorite birding spots are, and to read her blog, visit her web site here: http://monicabryandphotography.com/
October 15, 2016 - Root River County Park Walk. It was a cloudy and very windy morning for a walk but we still managed to see several birds and enjoyed the changing colors of the season. Bluebirds were out in force and we saw nine of them. An Osprey was flying along the river and a Northen Harrier was searching for food in the upper meadow. Click to see photos on our Facebook page.
Oct 1, 2016 - Sparrow Field trip to Kalmar Reservoir & Quarry Hill Walk - A group of 19 made the trek out to the Kalmar Reservoir west of Rochester and were rewarded with sightings of several migrating sparrows and other birds. Many thanks to Jerry Pruett and John Hockema for leading this walk. Some of the birds we saw are shown above - top row: Nelsons Sparrow & Sedge Wren; bottom row: Henslow Sparrow (a very rare bird for this area) & a Savannah Sparrow. Photos all by Brendan Lanpher.
Oct 1, 2016 - Quarry Hill Walk - Sixteen people enjoyed a walk around Quarry Hill this morning and found numerous Kinglets (both Ruby and Golden-crowned, Red-breasted Nuthatchs, Sapsuckers, some warblers and much more. Photos from that walk are available here. The birds are moving south quickly now, so get outside and see them while you can!
Quarry Hill Walk - September 3, 2016 - Our group of ten found some really great birds thanks to Michael Degerstrom and his excellent ears. We hiked the Oak Savanna area, and the meadow plants were in full fall color (well, not the trees, yet) and we spent just a good deal of time trying to identify plants. We highly recommend a trip up to the savanna area of the park if you haven't been there in a while. Photos and a list of the birds we saw can be seen on our Facebook page here.
August 25, 2016 - We had a wonderful sunny afternoon for tagging Monarchs at the Northern Hills Prairie in Rochester. Several families came out, grabbed a net and helped us with this important citizen science project which tracks the Monarch's migratory path to Mexico. Many thanks to Pam Meyer from Quarry Hill who quickly taught everyone how to safely catch, tag and release the butterflies. We also want to thank our Audubon volunteers Joel Dunnette, Keith House, Sandy Hokanson and Terry Grier who helped where needed. Click to view some of our photos here
BUG OUT at Chester Woods - July 24, 2016 - Around 25 kids and adults participated in this year's "Bug Out" at Chester Woods. Under sunny skies and Joel Dunnette's leadership we armed everyone with nets and speciman jars and headed out into the fields to see what we could find. Amongst all the beetles, bees, dragonflies and more we did find one species of butterfly that we had never seen at the park before - a Dog-faced Sulphur - which is usually found further south. After some close up looks we released everything back to the wild. We had great fun and want to thank all the volunteers including Joel and Sandy Dunnette, Sandy Hokanson, Terry and Joyce Grier, Patty Trnka, and Brendan Lanpher. Click to see pictures. Visit our Facebook album to see even more
July 9, 2016 - We had near perfect conditions on Saturday for our Annual Butterfly count in the Rochester area. Surveyed areas included Quarry Hill, Northern Hills Prarie, Assisi Heights, Haverhill, Essex Park, EastSide (Cty 9) Marsh, Chester Woods and more. Many thanks to Joel Dunnette for organizing and leading the count ... and helping us get the gator "unstuck" in Chester Woods. .. and to all the volunteers - including Ruthann Y, Patty T, Anna L, Sarah L, Sandy H and more ) for helping with the footwork... we couldn't do it without you! We'll post the official count results later this month when all the sheets are tabulated. Click to see pictures. Visit our Facebook album to see even more.
UPDATE JULY 15, 2016: the official counts are in! We identified species 39 species this year (our second best year) Total number of individuals counted was 580 which is slightly better than an average year. The monarch count was down from 153 individuals in 2015 to just 36 individuals this year. The highest count for monarchs we’ve had in the 18 years of doing the survey was 233 in 2007. The lowest count was just 11 in 2004. Click here for all the details:
UPDATE JULY 15, 2016: the official counts are in! We identified species 39 species this year (our second best year) Total number of individuals counted was 580 which is slightly better than an average year. The monarch count was down from 153 individuals in 2015 to just 36 individuals this year. The highest count for monarchs we’ve had in the 18 years of doing the survey was 233 in 2007. The lowest count was just 11 in 2004. Click here for all the details:
June 26, 2016 - About 30 people participated in our annual hunt for Damselflies and Dragonflies at Chester Woods Park. It was a perfect day for the search and we caught and handled several kinds. Many thanks to Joel Dunnette for organizing this event and sharing his knowledge about these ferocious flying predators. Also thanks to Sandy Dunnette, Keith and Debbie House, Brendan Lanpher and his daughter Katie for catching enough D&Ds for everyone to handle. Click to see pictures. Visit our Facebook album to see even more!
June 12, 2016 - Seven people participated in our Beginning Butterfly Watching Class today. Joel Dunnette first lead us through a short indoor presentation at Quarry Hill Nature Center loaded with identiication tips, information about the different kinds of butterflies we can expect to find, how to tell butterflies and moths apart and much more. Then it was out to Chester Woods for some field work. We found 12 species in a short amount of time and look forward to using our new skills all summer long. A few pictures can be found here.
June 4, 2016 - Sixteen people participated in this morning's walk at Quarry Hill. It was tough to spot the birds with all the cover available, but still found 27 species of birds (including nesting Cardinals, Barn Swallows and Red Tail hawks) thanks to everyone's keen ears and sharp eyes.
May 31, 2016 - Eight of us braved the weather and trekked to Hayden Prairie. The rain looked like it would let up, and it did - about 10 minutes after we got there. So it turned out to be a pleasant evening on the prairie after all. Vegetation was a bit wet, but we were prepared. Lots of flowers - thousands of shooting stars, dozens of yellow ladyslipper, and so on.
May 24, 2016 - Friends gathered at Quarry Hill Nature Center on May 24, 2016 to celebrate and acknowledge Bill Bruins’ many contributions to our local environmental organizations. Bill has freely shared his talents, muscle, and and voice toward making our world a better place - when a problem needed a solution - Bill always stepped up and calmly figured out a way to “get it done”. Joel Dunnette, Tom Ryan and many others shared memories, reminisced, and thanked Bill for his help, encouragement, and mentorship through the years. We all wish Bill and Ann the best as they move closer to family in Wisconsin ... and look forward to some long distance birding reports, too! See more photos here.
Nature in Your Neighborhood Walk - May 14, 2016 This morning was cold and windy but we still had a couple neighborhood kids and parents come out to Kutzky Park to see what we could discover. Thank you Joel Dunnette, Patty Trnka and Gail Kinsey for organizing and leading this event. Click here to see more photos on our Facebook page
Quarry Hill Warbler Walk - May 7, 2016 In a strange turn of events - we didn't see a single warbler on this morning's walk! Crazy talk! Hopefully we'll have better luck at Hok-Si-La on Sunday. We know the warblers are coming in because Brendan Lanpher reported seeing Yellow Rumps, Yellow, Palm, Nashville, Black and White, and Black-Throated Green Warblers today near the Plummer House.
April 29, 2016 - ZVAS at Arbor Day. Thanks to Bill, Greg, Terry and Joyce for running the 'bird wheels of fortune' at today's Arbor Day event. LOTS of kids guessing and learning about birds.
Trashion - April 28, 2016 The first Annual Trashion Event at the Wicked Moose in Rochester was a great success. Models created their outfits out of recycled materials and raised money for clean water initiatives. This event was created by Aveda (a long time supporter of Audubon), and Serenity Couture, plus several others. Thank you very much to everyone you made this event possible, including Katie Burns who spoke on behalf of MN Audubon!
Root River Park Walk - April 23, 2016 Ten people came out and saw (or heard) at least 31 species of birds on our walk around the park. Many spring wildflowers also blooming now. A couple unusual finds along the trail included a dead mink and a live bumblebee with a rusty rump stripe. If you've never been to this park it's well worth the visit. Thanks to Michael Degerstrom for identifying several birds for us by ear, and Keith House for getting some great photos of the Osprey (I think the Osprey was tied for "bird of the day" with a Eastern Towhee we also saw. For more photos, see our album on Facebook.
April 14, 2016 : We had a great turn out at the Woodcock Walk at Chester Woods with 25 people participating. We all heard several birds make their signature "peeent" calls and saw several take flight. And ... KTTC came out and interviewed our leaders Jerry Pruett and Jim Peterson ...very fun night. Thank you guys for teaching us all more about these fascinating birds! Here's the news clip from KTTC... http://www.kttc.com/…/birdwatchers-gather-for-strange-matin…
Quarry Hill Bird Walk - April 2, 2016 Woodpeckers were everywhere on this very cold and windy morning. we saw Downys, Hairys, Red-bellied, Pileated (top right), and were very happy to see a pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (male shown top left). We also saw both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets and eastern Phoebes. Visit our Facebook page to see a few more photos.
International Owl Festival - March 5, 2016 - Hundreds of people visited the ZVAS booth at the International Owl Festival on Saturday. Everyone was entertained and educated by the numerous presentations, speakers and live owls to be seen through out the day. Many thanks to all the hardworking volunteers and the staff of the International Owl Center who put on such a great event each year. Click here for photos.
Sax-Zim Bog Field Trip - Feb. 6, 2016 - We didn’t see a single owl, but we found plenty of birds. The sky was overcast with just a few breaks of sunshine, but with temps in the 30s and moderate winds, no one was complaining. All twelve of us were very grateful to the volunteers and birders of the Sax-Zim Bog area who maintain the many feeders we visited in the area. Thanks also to Clifford Hansen for organizing the trip, and our drivers Sam Petrie, Brendan Lanpher, Casey Funk and Dana Funk. Click here to view some photos: Birds we found in the bog area – 19 species*:
Blue Jay, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Crow, Black capped Chickadee, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Ruffed Grouse, Raven, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak (photo above by Brendan Lanpher), Pine Siskin, Snow Bunting, Boreal Chickadee, White Breasted Nuthatch, Northern Shrike, Ringed-neck Duck, Bald Eagle
*When Brendan reviewed his Snow Bunting photos he found a Lapland Longspur in the flock – so that makes 20… we just didn’t know it until later!
Blue Jay, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Crow, Black capped Chickadee, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Ruffed Grouse, Raven, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak (photo above by Brendan Lanpher), Pine Siskin, Snow Bunting, Boreal Chickadee, White Breasted Nuthatch, Northern Shrike, Ringed-neck Duck, Bald Eagle
*When Brendan reviewed his Snow Bunting photos he found a Lapland Longspur in the flock – so that makes 20… we just didn’t know it until later!