Past Events

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Migrants and Wildflowers at Wild Haven

8:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.

Late April typically combines the best of the spring woodland wildflower display with increasing migrant songbird arrivals. Where better to enjoy it than Columbia Audubon Society’s own Wild Haven Nature Area, with its mature woods along upper Hinkson Creek? In addition, there’s a small sandstone glade that hosts interesting mosses, a prairie patch, and some

May 5, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 AM

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Hundred Acre Woods: Joint field trip with the Native Plant Society

8:00 a.m.

Join us for a joint field trip of the Columbia Audubon Society and the Hawthorn Chapter of the Native Plant Society at Hundred Acre Woods, a property of the Greenbelt Land Trust.  Hundred Acre Woods is a wonderful property with woodland and grassland habitats that feature high botanical biodiversity. As timing coincides with the season

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Kiwanis Park: Birding Without Bush Honeysuckle

7:00 a.m.

A new local nonprofit, the Missouri Conservation Corps, has worked hard to remove invasive bush honeysuckle from Kiwanis Park. See this story from the March issue of The Chat for more details. What birds will make use of this cleaned-up habitat? The Columbia Audubon Society has been asked to help find out! On May 10,

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Migratory Bird Count in Boone Co.

All Day

Join us for the Migratory Bird Count in Boone Co. If interested in joining, contact  lottie.bushmann@gmail.com Details on how to upload data will be published in the May Chat.  

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-wills-widows at Rocky Fork Lakes CA

7:30 p.m.

Join us for this evening walk through the mixed habitats of Rocky Fork Lakes Conservation Area in northern Boone County to listen for and hopefully hear the distinct sounds of Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-will’s-widows. These nocturnal birds are hard to see but fun to hear once their song begins from dusk into darkness. Meet at 7:30

May 21, 2023

May Meeting: Picnic and Potluck

3:00PM-7:30PM

Join us for an evening of camaraderie at Kiwanis Park, West Side Odor Shelter for our annual May picnic and potluck. We’ll go birding at Kiwanis Park beforehand, and then get together for dinner. CAS will provide plastic ware and plates and soda, but otherwise it’s a BYOB. If you want to make this a

Friday, June 2, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday June 10, 2023

Summer Saturday at 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp and then drive

Friday, July 7, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday July 15, 2023

Summer Saturday at 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp and then drive

Friday, August 4, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Friday, September 1, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Second Saturday Birding: Rock Bridge State Park

8:00 a.m.

Join us for a bird walk at Rock Bridge State Park! Fall migration is underway in early September, and Rock Bridge is a good place to look for migrant songbirds, including warblers. Fall warblers are fun! They’re lively and colorful (even if not quite as brilliant as spring). Song is rarely helpful for identification in

Sunday September 17th

CAS Open House Picnic

3–6:30pm

Columbia Audubon Society Open House Picnic Sunday September 17th Wild Haven Nature Area, 6900 E. O’Rear Road, Columbia, MO Map & Directions 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

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Chimney Swift Roost Watch (1st of 3)

7:00 p.m.

During fall migration, Chimney Swifts roost together in groups that often number in the hundreds or more. In the evening, as the sky really begins to darken, the birds swarm to the roost site, circle, and begin to drop into their communal roost.  And what is their modern roosting habitat? Chimneys, of course! This genuinely

Friday, September 29, 2023

Chimney Swift Roost Watch (2nd of 3)

6:45 p.m.

During fall migration, Chimney Swifts roost together in groups that often number in the hundreds or more. In the evening, as the sky really begins to darken, the birds swarm to the roost site, circle, and begin to drop into their communal roost. And what is their modern roosting habitat? Chimneys, of course! This genuinely

Friday, October 6, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

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

Sunday, October 8, 2023

The Big Sit (Eagle Bluffs, Pool 14/15)

5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Come to Eagle Bluffs and enjoy a day of birding. You can stop in and join the fun at any time between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. CAS will be providing a canopy for some relief from the sun and have a grill to cook food on. Meet at the pool 5 north parking lot

Monday, October 9, 2023

Chimney Swift Roost Watch (3rd of 3): Updated

6:30 p.m.

FINAL UPDATE (10/8): We will convene at the Armory, as originally planned, and we will proceed on foot or by vehicle to possible roost sites, likely splitting into groups. The one-way distance could be anything from 2 blocks to 3/4 mile. We can’t predict how many we’ll see, or exactly where, but we suspect there

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.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Second Saturday Birding: Perry Phillips Lake

4:00 p.m.

Join us for an afternoon bird walk around Perry Philips Lake in southeast Columbia! October brings many migrating birds to Missouri, and Perry Philips packs a few migratory bird habitat types into a short loop! If we’re lucky, ducks, coots, and grebes could be floating on the lake around the lake with the potential for

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

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.

Friday, November 3, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Second Saturday Birding: MU Research Farms (South Farm and Bradford Farm)

8:00 a.m.

These two properties located southeast of Columbia are active sites of agricultural and horticultural research, but they also include habitat features that attract interesting birds. Recent finds include White-winged Scoter, Red Crossbill, Smith’s Longspur, Short-eared Owl, and Ferruginous Hawk. During November, we can expect to find ducks and other waterbirds, raptors, sparrows, blackbirds, and grassland

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

Sunday, November 19, 2023

Invasive Plant Bingo and Birding at Garth Nature Area

2:30 p.m.

Birders, land managers, and nature enthusiasts: Join us for a bird and plant walk at Garth Nature Area! This can be a good place to watch winter birds, and it also has quite a diversity of non-native and invasive plants. If you manage a yard or a bigger piece of land, whether as an owner

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

Friday, December 1, 2023

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Second Saturday Birding: Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary

9:00 a.m.

Join us for a morning bird walk at the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary. CANS has good diversity of habitat for winter birding, thanks to ongoing prairie restoration efforts and invasive species management by CAS and its members. Woodpeckers, sparrows, and a variety of other species commonly use the area in winter. Meet at 9 a.m.

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

Monday, January 1, 2024

First Day Hike at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park

Celebrate the New Year with the Columbia Audubon Society by joining an afternoon birding hike at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park on January 1st, 2024. We’ll walk the Grassland Trail from 2:30–4:30 p.m., exploring the mixed grassland, shrub, and forest-edge habitats to look for sparrows, raptors, and any other fauna or flora of interest. This trip

Friday, January 5, 2024

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

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

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Rescheduled: Three Creeks Conservation Area

1:00 p.m.

This trip has been rescheduled from a winter-weather postponement. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join us for a winter bird hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area. We’ll hike a three-mile loop along scenic Turkey Creek, where rugged topography and bluffs give the impression of being in the deeper Ozarks. Forest, riparian, and field habitats provide opportunities for a diversity

Friday, February 2, 2024

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Second Saturday Birding: Woodpecker Hollow (accessed from Capen Park)

3:00 p.m.

Join us for an afternoon walk to Woodpecker Hollow, a property owned by the Greenbelt Land Trust. It is open to the public and was formerly owned by long-time CAS members Bill and Glynnis Elder and the Nature Conservancy.  The Columbia Missouri Trail Association (COMOTA) created a trail network that is accessed by using the

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Great Backyard Bird Count Feeder Crawl

9:00 a.m.

As part of the 2024 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), CAS will lead its Feeder Crawl on Saturday, February 17th. Starting at Songbird Station at 9 a.m, we’ll “crawl” to various backyard bird feeders in and around the Columbia area and count birds for at least 15 minutes at each backyard, then submit each checklist

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

Friday, March 1, 2024

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Twilight Timberdoodle Trek at Forum Nature Area

5:45 p.m.

Early spring is the time to enjoy the fascinating twilight mating displays of the American Woodcock (a.k.a Timberdoodle). Wookcocks have arrived in the region, and the weather forecast for Saturday is too good to pass up. Perhaps some theater-goers will need some fresh air by Saturday evening? This year’s trek will be at Forum Nature

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Second Saturday Birding: Rock Bridge State Park

Watch and listen for birds while hiking the Spring Brook trail at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. The trail passes through forested areas in the bottomlands of Little Bonne Femme Creek as well as surrounding uplands. The three mile loop trail has one unbridged stream crossing, but if the region is lucky enough to get

Friday, March 15, 2024

Heron Rookery Count at Gans Creek Recreation Area

8:00 a.m.

Field Trip Leader: Louise Flenner Every year for the past 10 years I have counted the number of herons at the rookery on March 15. There are always some returning birds on that date. When I started counting herons there were two rookeries. Gradually fewer and fewer birds returned to the rookery that was on

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.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Slow Birding at Wild Haven Nature Area

1:00 p.m.

We’ve selected a date (and adjusted the timing) for the Slow Birding field trip at Wild Haven. Date: Saturday, March 23, 2024 Time:  —Meet at 1 p.m. Quick overview. —Disperse to benches or other sitting points. Walking time from 0–20 minutes, distance from 0–3/4 mile. Sit quietly, watch, and enjoy. —Reconvene around 2:30-2:45 p.m. to share

Friday, April 5, 2024

First Friday Bird Hike: 3M Wetlands

8:00 a.m.

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 at 8 a.m. sharp

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Second Saturday Birding: Rudolf Bennitt Conservation Area

Carpool 7:00 a.m., meet on-site 7:45 a.m.

Join CAS as we explore Rudolf Bennitt Conservation Area, ~30 miles northwest of Columbia at the intersection of Boone, Randolph, and Howard Counties. This 3575 acre landscape includes a mix of forests, fields of restored native grasses, and a lake, providing a variety of habitats for interesting birds. In spite of this diversity of excellent

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. This will be presented in a powerpoint, there will not be live bird banding at this