In this issue:

• Note from the Past President
• Volunteers Needed for Band With Nature
• CAS Picnic and Bird Hike to kick off the season!
• Missouri Birding Society Fall 2026 meeting
• A Thank You from our 2026 Hog Island Recipient
• Alspaugh Park
• Volunteers Needed!
• Upcoming Events

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

Note from the Past President

by Lottie Bushmann, Immediate Past President

Hi all,

I hope this finds you well and ready for another year of great Columbia Audubon Events. Board members have been hard at work on planning meetings, field trips and other events celebrating birds and their habitats. I hope you’ll be able to join us at our Fall Potluck on Sunday, September 20 from 3-7pm at the Bonnie View Shelter. More details are found in this newsletter. It’s a great time to connect with new friends and reconnect with familiar faces. There are some really great folks in our community of birders and bird lovers, and we’d love to add you to our mix. There are many opportunities for birding together, counting birds together, or learning more about birds together. Together is how we do things best.

 

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

Volunteers Needed for Band With Nature

by Lisa Schenker, Education Committee

On October 19, 20, and 21 CAS will partner with Columbia Public Schools to put on the amazing Band With Nature program. We provide a “hands-on” experience at the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary for every second grader in the district. That’s around 1400 children! Students are bussed to the park where they can picnic, hike, and learn about raptors, bird-banding, and bird songs. They get to use binoculars, dissect owl pellets, and use keys to figure out how to identify birds.

And we need your help! CAS Volunteers perform a variety of roles. If you are interested and available for a few hours on any of the dates above, please contact Lisa Schenker at lisaschenker107@gmail.com.

 

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

CAS Picnic and Bird Hike to kick off the season!

by Greg Leonard, Vice President

Fall Picnic and Bird Walk

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Come one, come all! Please join us for the CAS Fall potluck. Bring your favorite dish to share and come ready to share a bird story or two. We love to hear about all the birds you’ve been seeing. We’ll have a bird walk prior to the potluck. Meet at the pavilion at the Bonnie View shelter (3300 W Rollins Rd, Columbia) at 3:00 and we’ll plan to return there by 5:00 in time for the dinner. Plates, silverware, and napkins will be provided. Hope to see you there!

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

Missouri Birding Society Fall 2026 meeting

by Lottie Bushmann

 Missouri Birding Society

Fall Meeting, Columbia

Friday, Sept. 25–Sunday, Sept. 27

Do you love birds and learning more about them? The Missouri Birding Society is a state-wide organization here in Missouri. We host a spring and fall meeting each year (along with supporting those doing fabulous conservation work) and this month it’s going to be hosted here in Columbia. Check out the details below. The PDF reference guide really lays out the weekend and all that is included. I hope you’ll consider coming out and birding with us. It’s great opportunity to meet some birders from around the state and hear some speakers that really know their stuff. You don’t have to have any level of expertise-just a shared passion for our natural world and the beasts that inhabit it! Hope to see you there!

Edge Wade and Lottie Bushmann, MBS fall meeting co-chairs

Details are on the MBS website, registration closes at midnight on Monday, September 14!

T he Society’s annual fall meeting features guided field trips to hotspots in Boone, Cole, Callaway and Howard counties, led by local birders with years of experience birding the sites. 

Trips will go out for Friday afternoon, Saturday (morning, afternoon, and all-day trips!) as well as Sunday morning.

A special comprehensive PDF reference guide to the meeting (locales, activities, field meeting places, etc.) has been prepared by Lesa Beamer.

The weekend begins with sign-in opening at 4 p.m. at the Boone Electric Cooperative Community Building, 1431 Rangeline St., Columbia, MO. Attendees are encouraged to wear a favorite bird-themed T-shirt.

The evening will feature a get-together with hors d’oeuvres, Bill Clark regaling us with tales of the organization’s first 100 years, and Kristie Nelson on the fun and science of Christmas Bird Counts.

Saturday’s field trips are followed by the banquet (birding attire, not formal wear), a short business meeting, and a presentation by MRBO co-director Marlee Malmborg on American Kestrels in Missouri and the kestrel nest box monitoring project. 

Sunday morning features field trips and a hawk watch, followed by a catered picnic and the traditional species-sightings tally at the Leech shelter in Columbia’s Cosmo-Bethel Park.

 

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

A Thank You from our 2026 Hog Island Recipient

by Matt Kuensting, Grant Elementary

As I head back into the school year, I wanted to be sure to THANK each of you for your support of my trip to Hog Island, Maine. It is a truly special place. I so enjoyed meeting like minded people and teacher from across the country. The lessons that were shared, the stories that cemented the proof of concept, and the laughs made for a memorable experience for myself and my CPS friends/family.

I know that this is a huge commitment from our local Audubon chapter and I want to be sure to put in action the lessons that I learned. I was inspired to start a bird poster on my class bulletin board in the hallway. I invited the Grant staff to add their favorite bird (living or extinct) or a made-up bird. I am going to ask my students to add their bird as part of building our community to start the year. This is just one small example, but if you see a group of students with binoculars and looking up in the sky or in trees, those could be my students!

Please extend my gratitude to everyone involved locally to protect our birds and bird habitat.

The attached photo is of a sunrise from the north end of the island with a lobster boat heading out for their daily work.

 

 

Tue. Sep. 1, 2026

Alspaugh Park

by Edge Wade

On Tuesday, July 14, Lottie Bushmann, Nancy Bedan, Vickie Park and Edge Wade joined Bruce Alspaugh for a guided walk in Alspaugh Park, located on Mexico Gravel Road a short distance east of US 63 off the Vandiver Drive exit.  John William Auspaugh, Bruce’s father, donated the land for the park with stipulations that its uses not include sports fields, motorized vehicles or bicycle trails.

The walk began with a trek along a mowed path and across the creek to view the work being done at Hinkson Creek Cemetery, burial site of the Keene family and other early Boone County settlers. The cemetery has had more than a century of neglect and stones were moved to facilitate logging operations by a previous owner. There is much discovery and restoration work to be done.

The group backtracked across the creek, looked but failed to find the turkey carcass that dangled in a trailside sycamore on Lottie’s last visit, then walked through the small pecan orchard toward the east end of the property along the original Mexico Gravel Road.

Along the way, Bruce talked of his father’s work and hopes for the land, and told tales of events.  Of course, even as the CAS members read tombstones, learned a little history and discussed the future of the park, they were listening to birdsong.  We only tallied 16 species, but we really weren’t focused on the birds.

Alspaugh Park is split into two eBird hotspots because of the diversity of the property.  The portion on the south side of Mexico Gravel Rd. is designated as Alspaugh Park, and the hotspot on the north side is Alspaugh Park–Christmas tree farm.  Separate bird lists should be kept for the two portions.

As of July, 2026, the south portion has 71 species in eBird, with the first bird sightings reported on July 3, 2024.  The Christmas tree side has had 31 bird species reported.

CAS members are encouraged to bird Alspaugh Park and Alspaugh Park—Christmas tree farm and submit eBird checklists.

This brief description appears on eBird as an aid to birders:

How to Bird Here

Walk the mown paths, explore the woods beyond the small creek.

The list has just begun…

Wed. Aug. 12, 2026

Volunteers Needed!

by Lisa Schenker

On October 19, 20, and 22 CAS will partner with Columbia Public Schools to put on the amazing Band With Nature program. We provide a “hands-on” experience at the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary for every second grader in the district. That’s around 1400 children! Students are bussed to the park where they can picnic, hike, and learn about raptors, bird-banding, and bird songs. They get to use binoculars, dissect owl pellets, and use keys to figure out how to identify birds.

And we need your help! CAS Volunteers perform a variety of roles. If you are interested and available for a few hours on any of the dates above, please contact Lisa Schenker at lisaschenker107@gmail.com.

Upcoming Events

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

Friday, September 4, 2026 | 8:00 AM

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CAS Fall Picnic and Bird Hike

Sunday, September 20, 2026 | 3:00pm-6:00pm

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Missouri Birding Society fall meeting (register by 9/14)

Friday, Sept. 25–Sunday, Sept. 27

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First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

Friday, October 2, 2026 | 8:00 AM

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