CAS Events Listings

Shorebirds and a Social: Katy Trail and Cooper’s Landing

Join Columbia Audubon for a hybrid field trip and social event featuring a couple sections of the Katy Trail and Cooper’s Landing! Feel free to attend the field trip, the social, or both!

Our first birding location will be Columbia Wetland Unit #1, assuming water levels are suitable for shorebirds and/or waterfowl. We will meet at the McBaine Trailhead parking lot of the Katy Trail (map) at 1:00 PM. From there, we’ll walk around 1/3 of a mile out-and-back along the Katy Trail and up a small, grassy hill to Columbia Wetland Unit #1, scanning for eagles, shorebirds, swallows, and waterfowl. After the first stop, we will caravan by car to Cooper’s Landing parking lot (map), with an ETA of 2:00 PM. From there, we will plan to walk out and back along the Katy Trail north of Cooper’s Landing, planning to walk about 2 miles round trip, returning to Cooper’s Landing around 3:00 PM.

For those interested in just the social event, plan to join up with the field trip crew at Cooper’s Landing (map) around 3:00 PM. For anyone unfamiliar, it is an outdoor venue along the Missouri River that serves a variety of beverages, including beer and soft drinks; they usually have food trucks available. To find our group, look for binoculars and potentially bird plushies if we end up securing tables! If it doesn’t look like we’re there yet, feel free to text the trip leader; we probably just got caught up in some good bird activity!

Check back for updates as the trip gets closer, as details may change with shifting weather or water levels! If the weather forecast looks rainy, we will have a rain date of Saturday, April 18, 2026

Contact: Ben West; benjwest@gmail.com

Columbia Audubon April Membership Meeting: Sarah Kendrick on Tracking Migratory Songbirds to Inform Conservation Action

The Wood Thrush is an iconic bird of eastern forests and a priority for conservation in 25 U.S. states and holds threatened status in Canada. Improving our understanding of the species’ full life cycle ecology, including migration patterns between their breeding and nonbreeding ranges, is essential in order to better understand the species’ conservation needs and actions. Join Sarah to learn about an international group of over 60 bird-conservation partners undertaking a hemispheric research and conservation project across the Wood Thrush breeding and nonbreeding ranges from Canada through Costa Rica. This Motus project is the largest to date across a migratory songbird’s annul range to better understand migratory connections, routes, timing, and survival to inform conservation.

Sarah Kendrick is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Biologist and Midwest Motus Coordinator based in Columbia, MO.

Contact: buckinghame@missouri.edu

Swift Night Out: A Tour of Bird-Friendly Chimneys in Downtown Columbia

Join us to explore the architecture of downtown Columbia from the perspective of Chimney Swifts, and to watch for possible roosting activity during spring migration.

These fascinating birds use open chimneys as overnight roost sites, otherwise remaining in constant flight. Trip leaders Eric & Joanna Reuter have observed flocks of swifts roosting in chimneys on 12 downtown buildings. This walk will feature many of these locations while discussing the surprising behavioral complexity of these birds.

In addition to admiring architecture, we’ll watch and listen for all species of birds in this urban area that often has considerable avian activity. The walk is timed to arrive at the most likely sites for swift activity around sunset (7:59 p.m. on April 28), in hopes of watching some spring migration roosting action over the subsequent half an hour. The prior year’s spring Swift Night Out event featured an estimated 400 Chimney Swifts entering a roost. Migration timing and chimney choice are not entirely predictable, however, so we make no promises!

Meet at the corner of 6th and Cherry (in front of the parking garage) at 7:00 p.m. Total round trip walking distance ~2 miles on city streets. We’ll return to the starting point by approximately 8:45 p.m. Bring binoculars if you have them.

No rain date is planned, so the event will go on rain or shine, unless threat of severe weather forces cancellation. For updates, check the Columbia Audubon listing: https://www.columbia-audubon.org/swifts_spring_2026

This walk is co-sponsored by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Columbia Audubon Society.

Contact: Erin Holmes, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, erin_l_holmes@fws.gov

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

First Friday Fun! Join the Columbia Audubon Society for a bird walk. This walk is open to anyone who enjoys birds, and beginners are encouraged to attend. We will walk at the 3M Wetland Trail, just off the MKT Trail near Forum Blvd. We’ll meet at the Songbird Station parking lot (map) at 8 a.m. sharp and then drive down the hill to park near the wetlands (less than a 5 min. drive). We’ll enjoy all the Missouri birds in this natural, lush landscape. The walk is about 1.75 miles on a level, gravel trail. Waterproof shoes are recommended, but not required. After our walk, we’ll return to Songbird Station by 11 a.m. and enjoy coffee and donuts.

Contact: Lottie Bushman, lottie.bushmann@gmail.com

Weeknight Social at Logboat Brewing Co.: Pre-Global Big Day Edition

Join us at Logboat Brewing Company! Meet-up with fellow birders while making plans to take part in Global Big Day on Saturday, May 9, or ask others what they’re bringing to the CAS spring potluck on Sunday, May 10!

Regarding Global Big Day, we hope to: 

• to get lots of folks out looking at (& listening to) birds on Saturday,
• to make connections between birders with varying skill levels so they can bird together,
• to spread out our efforts in a variety of places, at various times, and potentially through various modes of travel (hiking, biking, vehicle), and
• let folks self-organize in a fun way, live and in person, without a million emails!

Beer, hard cider, and non-alcoholic options are available from Logboat. Food trucks are sometimes an option, and bringing your own food/water is always allowed. The organizer will try to remember to bring bird plushies to mark our tables! We will be outside, possibly on the upper deck.

From 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., we’ll encourage participants to find birding buddies and make plans for Global Big Day. Feel free to show up early or stay late for additional socialization!

If you want to partner up with others on Global Big Day but cannot attend the social, either email the social event organizer before the Thursday social or ask folks on the CAS Facebook page. If you email the organizer, let him know where, when, and how long you would like to go birding on Saturday, and he will try to match you with someone at the social!

Disclaimer: Though CAS is encouraging folks to bird together, CAS does not view the outings on Global Big Day as official CAS-sponsored events from a liability perspective. 

Contact: Ben West; benjwest@gmail.com

Global Big Day!

The second Saturday in May of each year is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Global Big Day! This coincides with peak songbird migration in central Missouri, so it’s a great excuse to head outside in order to look and listen for birds. Check out the article in the April 2025 edition of The Chat on “A new tradition for Birding Big Day!”. (Note: Links in that Chat article are for the 2025 events!)

Our hope is that many small groups will expand our reach across the landscape. We hope many of you will join us at the May 7 social/planning event at Logboat Brewing Co. to connect with birding buddies for your Global Big Day outings. 

You can also bird on your own: Bird anywhere you like: In your backyard, in a nature area, even in a parking lot; wherever you are, there are probably birds! You can use the Merlin app to help with identification of bird sounds, though please always maintain a healthy skepticism with regard to Merlin’s results; it is amazing technology, but it does make errors!

Contribute to community science by submitting your Global Big Day bird observations to eBird.

Disclaimer: Though CAS is encouraging folks to bird together, CAS does not view these outings as official CAS-sponsored events from a liability perspective. 

Contact: N/A

May 2026 Potluck and Bird Walk at Bonnie View and CANS

Contact: Lottie Bushman, lottie.bushmann@gmail.com

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

First Friday Fun! Join the Columbia Audubon Society for a bird walk. This walk is open to anyone who enjoys birds, and beginners are encouraged to attend. We will walk at the 3M Wetland Trail, just off the MKT Trail near Forum Blvd. We’ll meet at the Songbird Station parking lot (map) at 8 a.m. sharp and then drive down the hill to park near the wetlands (less than a 5 min. drive). We’ll enjoy all the Missouri birds in this natural, lush landscape. The walk is about 1.75 miles on a level, gravel trail. Waterproof shoes are recommended, but not required. After our walk, we’ll return to Songbird Station by 11 a.m. and enjoy coffee and donuts.

Contact: Lottie Bushman, lottie.bushmann@gmail.com