Sunday, May 19, 2024

May Membership Picnic and Potluck

3:00-7:00 PM

CAS Membership Potluck Picnic Sunday May 19th at Wild Haven  Nature Area from 3-7pm.    Lovely New Outhouse is operational. Nature Walk starts at 3:15. CAS will provide drinks, utensils, napkins, and table cloths. We will introduce our new officers and give a recap of the past year.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

April Membership Meeting: Hummingbird Banding, HumGroup and Related Projects

7:00pm

Hummingbird Banding , HumGroup, and Related Hummingbird Banding Projects. We will learn about the delicate process of banding Missouri’s smallest birds, how and why Veronica got started; other banding groups, and what we can learn from this scientific activity. Veronica Mecko holds a Federal Banding Permit thru United States Geologic Survey. Missouri River Bird Observatory sponsors

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March 20th Membership Meeting: Kiwanis Park Restoration by Stephen Bybee

Join us on Wednesday, March 20th as we welcome Stephen Bybee to talk about his work in Columbia’s Kiwanis Park. Stephen serves as the Project Director for Missouri Conserva&on Corps, a local nonpro’t dedicated to engaging the community on invasive species, na&ve plants, and climate resilience. Since 2021, Missouri Conserva&on Corps has organized more than 45

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Note from the President

I would like everyone to know that we have a Nominating Committee that is taking nominations for: President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer and Director. These are the positions that will be expiring on May 31st. Bill Mees and Lisa Schenker comprise the committee and they have a slate of candidates: President (2 yr. term): Lottie Bushmann

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Wild Haven Pit Latrine Construction

The new pit latrine at Wild Haven is almost complete! Nature Areas Committee Members David Neely and Bill Mees have been hard at work getting this structure ready for use. We’ll have an update when it is completed, but meanwhile, know that the construction is very solid, and a lot of work has gone into

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Draft Meeting Minutes Board of Directors Feb 21 Meeting

Columbia Audubon Society Board of Directors Meeting February 21, 2024  Meeting conducted at Boone Electric Cooperative Present: Eric Wood, Lori Turner, Louise Flenner, Shelby Thomas, Eric Seaman Greg Leonard, Jim Gast, Bill Mees Time called to order: 6:00 pm  Previous minutes: Jim corrected last month’s minutes to reflect that the meeting started at 6:03, not

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Note from the President

Our January Membership meeting was on the 17th. We had 15 members attend the presentation put on by local Biologist, Ben West, who works for USGS here in Columbia. His research focuses on the effects of oil spills on migratory birds and he gave a great presentation on which birds were most affected by the

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February Meeting with Mark Glenshaw on How to Find an Owl in your Neighborhood

Mark Glenshaw is widely known for his work on owls in Forest Park in St. Louis. He will be speaking at the February membership meeting Feb. 21, 7pm at Boone Electric Cooperative (1413 Rangeline) in the Amp Room. See the full lising in the Events calendar. Do you ever see or hear an owl in

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Missouri River Bird Observatory’s Winter Webinar February Series

The Missouri River Bird Observatory (https://mrbo.org) (MRBO) Winter Learning Series Webinars continue with topics of conservation concern in Missouri. Join MRBO for the webinars every Monday in February at 6:30 p.m. CST. February 5 – Rare Insects of Missouri and Their Conservation with Steve Buback, Missouri Department of Conservation Insects are the most diverse and

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Former CAS President Dick Luecke dies at 93

Dick Luecke served as a Board Member on CAS between 1977-1980, and served as President in 1976-1977. He was remembered by longtime CAS members as being “a kind man and a good birder.” The following is the obituary that ran in the Missourian in January.   Richard H. Luecke, age 93 of Columbia, Missouri, passed

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Save the Date: 2024 Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference: A 20 Year Retrospective

In 2004, CAS was a founding member of the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, an organization dedicated to all wild bird conservation. As a step-down organization from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, MoBCI plays an important role in habitat improvement in Missouri, as well as larger role working to protect birds throughout their life cycle.

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Grasslands Summit 2024: April 9-11 in Jefferson City

CAS is an affiliate organization with the Conservation Federation of Missouri and also with the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative. CAS pledged a 200$ to MoBCI who offered a challenge grant to other MoBCI affiliates to serve as an official sponsor of the Grasslands Summit. MoBCI, with the help of CAS, will be listed as a

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Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Membership Meeting: How to Find an Owl in Your Neighborhood by Mark Glenshaw

7:00 PM

Join us for Mark Glenshaw’s presentation on how to find owls in your yard.   Do you ever see or hear an owl in your neighborhood and want to experience more of these beautiful birds?  Well, award-winning naturalist Mark H.X. Glenshaw aka “The Owl Man” is here to help.  Mark has studied Great Horned Owls

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Wednesday March 20, 2024

Membership Meeting: Update on Kiwanis Park Project by Steven Bybee

7:00 PM

Join us for the Membership Meeting and program by Stephen Bybee about all of the ecosystem restoration efforts that are ongoing at Kiwanis Park.

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Note from the President

Happy New Year! I hope you are able to get out and do some first of the year birding today. We want to first thank you all for your generous donations to CoMoGives this year! We reached and even exceeded our goal of $10,000, ending the campaign with $10,470.00 all with loving donations from our

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Summary of 2023 Christmas Bird Count

The 2023 Columbia Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday December 16. Early birders faced light rain, but temperatures were mild and we persevered to generate a species list of 99 species. This list exceeded totals of 86 and 88 for the previous ‘covid years’ and was the highest tally since 102 species were seen

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January Membership Meeting: Oil Spill Impacts to Birds

The Effects of Oil Spills on Birds Parts of talk: • Two major oil spills that affected birds (Exxon-Valdez and Deepwater Horizon) • What kinds of birds are affected by oil spills? • How does oil affect birds? • Who is involved after an oil spill occurs and how do they help birds? • Initial

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It was a Hot Time at the CANS Prescribed Burn

When last we spoke (December 1st CHAT), we were waiting for the final step before the CANS prescribed burn, waiting for the weather conditions to coincide with the carefully designed “Burn Plan.” John Timmermann’s call came late afternoon December 13th: “Tomorrow is looking good for a burn.” The following morning, Bill Mees and John Besser

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

January Membership Meeting-The Effect of Oil Spills on Birds

7:00PM

By Ben West, USGS The Effects of Oil Spills on Birds Parts of talk: • Two major oil spills that affected birds (Exxon-Valdez and Deepwater Horizon) • What kinds of birds are affected by oil spills? • How does oil affect birds? • Who is involved after an oil spill occurs and how do they

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Note from the President

Last year at this time, I wrote about a Columbia resident that had 2 Rufous Hummingbirds at their feeder. As far as I know, that didn’t happen again this year. But, we do have a Limpkin, and as of November 29th it’s still present at Twin Lakes Recreation Area off of off Chapel Hill! It

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Light My Fire: Prescribed Burn at CANS Prairie

The weather is colder. Grasses, wildflowers and forbs are turning brown and drying out. A small dusting of the “white stuff” confirms it. It might be time to conduct a prescribed fire. That is the future for the prairie at Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary. Columbia Audubon Society has contracted with John Timmermann who specializes in

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CoMoGives Underway!

CoMoGives officially began on Giving Tuesday – November 28th and runs through December 31st. We are excited to be part of this annual online fundraising drive once again that helps local nonprofits raise money to help our community. In 2022, 117 donors contributed over $11,000 to CAS through CoMoGives. Our goal during this year’s campaign

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Christmas Bird Count and Chili Supper: December 16

CBC (Christmas Bird Count) and Chili Potluck, Saturday, Dec. 16th. Bird Count With all our section leaders in place for this year, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a go! Thankfully, birding is a safe, outdoor activity and we have plenty of birders in Columbia that plan to do just that. We will send out

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CAS Participating in CoMoGives Nov. 28-Dec. 31

Columbia Audubon Society is excited to announce our participation in the 2023 CoMoGives fundraising campaign for the 9th year running! This annual online fundraising drive for Mid-Missouri nonprofit organizations begins on the National Day of Giving – Tuesday, November 28th and runs through December 31st. 174 nonprofits are participating in CoMoGives this year and we

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Note from the President

We had our first meeting at our new location on October 19th. I received some feedback from those who could attend. Sounds like we need to invest in a microphone and some speakers. I’ll be working on that so that we have it set up for November’s meeting which is on THURSDAY the 16th. You’ve

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November CAS Meeting-Thursday Nov. 16 by Bill Palmer on Trap Cameras

CAS November meeting November 16, 7pm Boone Electric Community Bldg – Amp Room 1413 Rangeline St. TRAIL AND TRAP CAMERAS. Presented by Bill Palmer. Bill will explain how he uses remote cameras to capture otherwise impossible to get photographs of birds including hawks, eagles and warblers as well as mammals such as deer, coyotes, and

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Application Now Available for Hog Island Teacher Scholarships

The Columbia Audubon Society is accepting applications from mid-Missouri educators to attend a week long summer ecology or ornithology workshop at the National Audubon Society Camp on Hog Island in Maine. Scholarship recipients must be a teacher or nature educator working in Audrain, Boone, Cooper, Howard, Monroe, or Randolph counties. Each award covers tuition, room,

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Boone County Nature School Council House Dedication Address

The following is Bill Mees’ address at the dedication of the Council House at the Boone Count Nature School. The creation of the Council House was made possible by a generous donation from CAS. Several CAS members attended the dedication: Dave and Nancy Bedan, Lisa schenker, Lottie Bushmann and her husband, Jean Leonatti, June and

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New Benches at CANS

Students from Fairview Elementary School visit Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary on occasion. Students often run to secure a seat on single benches scattered along the trails. This year, Ilia Dimov, working to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, has helped alleviate the scramble for seats. Ilia, with the help of scouts from Troop 708, has

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Honeybees Pollinate and….

A previous issue of the CHAT presented the new trail-side interpretive pollinator sign. The first photos on the sign depict the European Honeybee as well as a typical white box bee hive. The honey bee was included for several reasons. Did you know, it is not a native insect. Early European colonists introduced the honeybee

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Saturday December 16

Christmas Bird Count and Chili Supper, Saturday, December 16

All day

CBC (Christmas Bird Count) and Chili Potluck, Saturday, Dec. 16th. Bird Count With all our section leaders in place for this year, the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a go! Thankfully, birding is a safe, outdoor activity and we have plenty of birders in Columbia that plan to do just that. We will send out

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Note from the President

With our new season we are pleased to announce all of our accomplishments for the fiscal year of 2022 to 2023. We hope to see you at our October meeting with Edge Wade presenting on her beginning at birding and at some of our fieldtrips! Check the Events listing for all the great events we

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Band With Nature 2023: Call for Volunteers

Time really does fly. It was the fall of 2012 that Columbia Audubon Society sponsored the first field trip to Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary for second grade students. Since then, the field trip has grown each year until every Columbia Public Schools’ elementary school now participates. For those of you contemplating the numbers, that translates

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Save the Date! Grasslands Summit

The Columbia Audubon Society, a founding member of the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, will be donating 100$ after a CAS Board approval as a sponsorship match to MoBCI for the Conservation Federation of Missouri’s upcoming Grasslands Summit. CFM is partnering with MDC and NRCS to bring you the Missouri Grasslands Summit, a three day event

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Workdays at CANS to get ready for Prescribed Fire

October Workdays at CANS Prairie We need volunteers on two workdays in Early October to help prepare for a prescribed burn on the CANS prairie: Saturday October 7 — Seed Collection. We will collect native grass seed from the established prairie planting. This seed will be used to over- seed portions of the existing prairie

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Draft Minutes from Sept. 26 CAS Board Meeting

CAS Board Meeting Minutes for Sept 26, 2023 Attending: Lori Turner, Judy Lincoln Eric Seamon, Lottie Bushmann, Lisa Schenker, Shelby Thomas, Greg Leonard, Eric Wood, John Besser, Bill Mees, Allison Vaughn, Jim Gast, Reed Gerdes Meeting called to order 6:03pm April minutes were approved after a spelling correction of MoBCI. Jim Gast moved, Eric Wood

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Saturday, October 14, 2023

Fireline Work at the CANS Prairie Site

9:00 AM

Saturday October 14 – Rake Firelines. We have established firelines with a weed-whacker and brush cutter, but to keep fire from escaping outside the planned burn area, we need to remove flammable debris from the firelines, using rakes or leaf blowers. This work will require moderate physical labor on level and sloping ground.

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Saturday, October 7, 2023

Warm Season Grass Seed Collection at CANS Workday

9:00 AM

Seed Collection. We will collect native grass seed from the established prairie planting. This seed will be used to over- seed portions of the existing prairie that have been invaded by no-native Kentucky bluegrass. The planned burn will produce a good soil surface for introducing seed from desirable prairie grasses into areas currently dominated by

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Thursday, October 19, 2023

Finding 375 Bird Species in Missouri-How a Birder Was Born by Edge Wade

7:00pm

Membership Meeting 7pm – 8pm Finding 375 Bird Species (and a couple more) In Missouri – Edge Wade Illustrated with photos by Missouri bird photographers, this is a tale of a quest to see as many bird species as possible in the state. Getting off to a late start (almost 50 years old when the

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Note from the President

It’s the end of an era for Columbia Audubon Society. We have been holding our monthly meetings for decades at the Universalist Unitarian Church in their sanctuary. Earlier this year, they asked us to move our meetings to the basement meeting room. This got us thinking – should we consider moving to a more modern

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Summer at the Nature Areas

Summer means school is out, and there’s no homework. But for Columbia Audubon’s nature areas, summer is the growing season, the time when the work really begins at Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary and Wild Haven Nature Area.. Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary The deer exclosures erected in the late spring are already demonstrating the damage associated

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Coexisting with Great Blue Herons

Sometimes we can work together to provide for the preservation of birds and mitigate the effect of expanding human encroachment on their territory. I recently had a positive experience working with Parks and Rec Dept.in Columbia on their plan for a mountain bike trail at Gans Creek Recreation Area (GCRA). When the City acquired the

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Annual Picnic at Wild Haven: September 17

Columbia Audubon Society Open House Picnic will be held Sunday September 17th at Wild Haven Nature Area, 6900 E. O’Rear Road, 3-6:30 p.m. Columbia Audubon members, friends and neighbors are invited to stop by, starting at 3 p.m., to learn about chimney Swift roosting improvements recently completed at Wild Haven Nature Area as well as

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Thank You CAS, from Missouri Conservation Corps

Missouri Conservation Corps would like to thank the members of the Columbia Audubon Society for helping to coordinate and lead an educational bird hike in Columbia’s Kiwanis Park this spring. In May 2023, CAS president Lori Turner and members Eric and Joanna Reuter, Jim Gast, and John Besser organized and facilitated a bird hike and

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CAS participates in 19th Annual Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference

On August 24-25, the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative hosted its 19th annual conference at the Columbia Country Club. This year’s theme centered around conservation efforts in urban and suburban areas of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation’s One Health Initiative, a focus on expanding conservation into underserved or otherwise compromised areas. Nature Areas Committee

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

November Membership Meeting: Using Trail and Trap Cameras by Bill Palmer

7:00 pm

Following the Membership meeting, Bill will explain how he uses remote cameras to capture otherwise impossible to get photographs of birds including hawks, eagles and warblers as well as mammals such as deer, coyotes, and even bobcats. He will share how you can set-up a remote camera in your own yard for less than the

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Thursday, October 19, 2023

October Membership Meeting: How a Birder Was Born by Edge Wade

7:00 PM

Join Columbia Audubon as we hear how our longtime member and birder extraordinaire set out to find 375 bird species in Missouri. It is a story of how a birder was born. Presentation after the Membership meeting. Light refreshments will be served afterwards.

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Eagle Bluffs Update from MDC and Area Manager

Hi all! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer – or at least finding some ways to survive the drought! I know our folks have already felt like they have had a long hot (and dry) summer and we are only half way through it. But, with it turning into July we thought it would

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Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference in Columbia August 24-25

Registration is now live for the 2023 MoBCI Conference to be held Thursday-Friday August 24-25 at the Columbia Country Club. The theme this year is One Health: Community Conservation in Missouri, centered around MDC’s recent initiative to expand their conservation funding to urban and suburban areas. Registration can be found here.  Along that theme, this

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